33 Bits of TV Trivia With Poorly-Timed Ads Since We Refuse to Pay for the Ad-Free Plan

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33 Bits of TV Trivia With Poorly-Timed Ads Since We Refuse to Pay for the Ad-Free Plan
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If these get interrupted by a mid-fact ad, we apologize. The higher-ups at Cracked won’t spring for the ad-free plan, so a lot of our TV facts have been reading something like, “Did you know that the first season of The Simpsons was… Liberty, Liberty, Liberty!!!!” 

We bet you read that in the Liberty jingle, didn’t you? 

Ugh! We just realized that we put an ad in the middle of our pre-list blurb too! When will it end? You know what? We’ve had enough. For your full enjoyment of these facts, we’re paying for the ad-free plan out of our pwn pockets. You’re welcome.

Quincy Jones

Record mogul Quincy Jones created and produced MADtv CRACKED.COM Following Gaines' death in 1992, the music monolith and father to Rashida purchased the television rights through his production company QDE which, at the time, was enjoying the success of Jones' first venture into comedy programming, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Friends

COMEDY NERD The original pilot script for Friends features pretty different characters. HOUS CLOSED Phoebe was into busking, Monica was cynical, and Joey was actually sort of mean. CRACKED.COM

Another World

Anne Heche Movies Another World This was Anne Heche's first role (first two roles, actually). Heche played twin sisters Vicky Carson and Marley Love in this soap opera. Not only was it her first TV job, but also her first Emmy. CRACKED.COM

Jay Leno vs. Arsenio Hall

COMEDY NERD In 1992, when Jay Leno got The Tonight Show, Arsenio Hall was out for blood. Не told Entertainment Weekly that he was going to kick Jay's ass - because Leno only got the show because he was anointed, apparently. CRACKED.COM

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives The show was meant to be a 30-minute comedy. Marc Cherry noticed the pilot script he was writing kept getting longer and a bit more dramatic. Instead of fighting this, he decided it would be a different kind of show. CRACKED.COM

The Wayne Brady Show

The Wayne Brady Show CRACKED.COM Wayne Brady was absolutely crushing it on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and ABC thought they had a superstar on their hands. They gave him his own show, first as a prime time variety show, later moving it to daytime. Despite winning a bunch of Daytime Emmy Awards, it only lasted 3 seasons.

The Dana Carvey Show

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS Mainstream met 'nerd pirates' on the DANA CARVEY SHOW CRACKED.COM ABC wanted Carvey to play his famous characters, while his writers wanted to bring bleeding-edge comedy to prime time. The tension shows up in the first sketch where Carvey plays Bill Clinton (good!), opening his shirt to breast-feed baby animals (cue ABC execs passing out).

South Park

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS FOX TURNED DOWN THE SHOW. SOUTH PARK Before landing on Comedy Central, Trey Parker and Matt Stone pitched the show to Fox. Executives at Fox turned them down because they didn't think a show about kids could work and wanted it to be more family-centric. CRACKED.COM

The Guardian

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM WILL FERRELL HAD A RANDOM CAMEO ON THE CBS DRAMA THE GUARDIAN. My manager Jim, who was also a producer on it at the time, and we basically forced CBS to write a guest role for me which looks like I'm going to be a series regular, he said.

Roswell

Roswell fans saved the show by mailing Tabasco sauce to the network. When the WB drama Roswell was about to be canceled after one season, the fans organized a mass mailing of Tabasco sauce bottles to the network. And they were successful(ish), as UPN picked up the show for another season. CRACKED

Debates Gone Wrong

33 Bits of TV Trivia With Poorly-Timed Ads Since We Refuse to Pay for the Ad-Free Plan

The Thorn Birds

Colleen McCullough declared that The Thorn Birds TV adaptation is instant vomit. Despite being the second most watched miniseries in TV history, the author would refuse to talk about it during interviews. In 2009, McCullough helped develop a THE musical based on Colleen THOR her book that better BIRDS reflected her writing. CRACKED CON

Mad TV

COMEDIES that shouldn't have been saved MAD TV Let's go bland! For 14 seasons (1995-2009), Mad TV gave SNL some zanier, spicier competition, and sprouted some now household names. The 2016 revival on The CW failed to produce new interesting characters, and the primetime slot watered down the Mad TV style CRACKED

That ‘80s Show

That '70s Show THAT '80S SHOW CRACKED.COM Ever wonder what That '70s Show would be like if it took place in a Hot Topic and starred a pre-fame Glenn Howerton? Buddy, have we got a show for you!

Seinfeld

Seinfeld was never pitched as a show about nothing. It was pitched as a show about how a comedian gets his material. CRACKED.COM

The Drew Carey Show

THE DREW CAREY SHOW GRACKED The Drew Carey Show was a sitcom on ABC from '95 to '04, 9 seasons. It followed a Cleveland guy and his wacky pals, and was known for its wild humor. A grand total of 1 season is on streaming.

Cops

COPS The reality show is deeply unsettling when you realize it's just exploitative reality show copaganda. CRACKED.COM

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Rob McElhenney had a nightmare that inspired the show. Glenn Howerton describes, The show started as a night terror, basically. A late-night sweating station. BEHIND THE SCENES CRACKED.COM

Lost

Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment, got the idea for the show Lost after he watched the movie Cast Away. 0 ST CAST AWAY CRACKED.COM

The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show CRACKED.COM Before there were Muppets, there were just freaky-ass puppets. Kermit looks positively traumatized by his first castmates on Jim Henson's Sam and Friends, a local Washington DC kids' show.

Home Improvement Spin-off

Home Improvement BUDDIES CRACKED.COM Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer made a cameo on Tool Time that became an instant classic. They were rewarded with a spinoff starring Chappelle and... some other guy. Breuer was replaced after a few rehearsals, and the show was cancelled after 5 episodes.

All in the Family

The first content warning 1971 The program you are about to see is ALL IN THE FAMILY. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns. CRACKED.COM All in the Family featured several of the first slurs to appear on TV, and was preempted by this warning to contextualize them-kind of like how Disney+ warns kids about their racist crows and cats.

Ted Lasso

TeD LASSO'S HOMAGE TO Scorsese's CLASSIC Season 2's Beard After Hours episode pays homage to the 1985 dark comedy After Hours and drew inspiration from the film to create the entire plot of the episode. CRACKED.COM

Zombieland

CRACKED.COM Zombieland was created as a TV series. Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's project was too expensive for TV-so the script was taken to Sony, and turned into a movie.

Archer

33 Bits of TV Trivia With Poorly-Timed Ads Since We Refuse to Pay for the Ad-Free Plan

The Office

CRACKED COM The placement of the office in Scranton, PA turned the once-struggling former coal city into a tourist attraction. The fandom has brought thousands of guests to the city, revitalizing its downtown, resulting in improvements in commerce and housing. THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON the office CONY ENTION - - The Office 10th Anniversary Convention

The Star Wars Holiday Special

STAR WARS IT WASN'T A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. Life Day is a Wookiee version of Thanksgiving, not Christmas. The show was broadcast in November 1978, a few days before Thanksgiving. HOLIDAY SPECIAL CRACKED.COM

Michael Che

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM MICHAEL CHE PITCHED A RACIALLY SPECIFIC JOKE ABOUTTHE AVENGERS FOR SNL. And, well, it didn't air. As he describes it, it was about the Avengers accidentally killing an unarmed Black teenager, and for obvious reasons, there's no way that's going on .

Mr. Burns

The way Mr. Burns answers his telephone is a callback to the original invention. CRACKED.COM Of course Mr. Burns is so old that he would an- swer his phone the way Alexander Graham Bell thought people should when he first invented it: Ahoy, hoy!

Nancy Kerrigan

NANCY KERRIGAN MARCH 12, 1994 CRACKED.COM Time Magazine called Kerrigan's hosting gig a supremely awkward performance. At least she didn't get kneecapped.

John Ritter

Performers Bookends First episode / Last Episode John Ritter Ritter made his TV debut on the Burt Reynolds detective show Dan August, and his last recorded performance was the voice of Great Uncle Stew on Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up. CRACKED.COM

Game of Thrones

LORD PETYR BAELISH AKA ITTLEFIINGER, IS A minor LORD In GAME OFTHRONES. YET HE PREDIGTED THE DEATHS OF 3 MAJORCHARACTERS WITH one comment. People die

Firefly

FIREFLYFAnS WeRE SHOCKED TO LEARn THAT INARA WAS DYING. At tone point vosswhedonplannedto hava BUT HER ILLNESS WAS SHOWn In THE FIRST EPISODE. In that

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