32 Seasoned Bits of Classic TV Trivia That Have Been Around the Block and Know A Thing or Two About A Thing or Two

You young TV shows could learn a little something from these
32 Seasoned Bits of Classic TV Trivia That Have Been Around the Block and Know A Thing or Two About A Thing or Two
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Gather ‘round you young TV show whippersnappers. These old dawgs wish to impart some classic TV wisdom, and you best not miss a single word. 

Okay, so we know you don’t have too much time, so we’ll give you the CliffsNotes. Basically, it’s a lesson about stopping to smell the roses. Enjoy the days that you’re still on the air, because they won’t last forever. 

See, their speech was basically a 20-minute version of that, but that’ll happen when you’re retired and have nothing but time to fill.

The Jeffersons

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE JEFFERSONS Spin-offs are often written off as money grabs, pushing comfort over substance. All In The Family spin-off The Jeffersons defies that characterization on every front. The Jeffersons was not only a success, but an incisive and fearless show, treading into topics that most current sitcoms would steer clear of.

Happy Days

HAPPY DAYS was almost COOL. That's what the show's creator, Garry Marshall, wanted to call it. However, the name made test audiences think it was a brand of cigarettes, so it got changed to Happy Days at the suggestion of one of the producers. CRACKED.COM

Ron Howard

Happy Days Ron Howard joined to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Since the government wasn't accepting college deferment for service, Howard auditioned and got the acting job to get a work deferment. CRACKED.COM

All My Children

CRACKED.COM In the 1970s, soap opera All My Children was incredibly popular among college students. Reasons varied - some loved it because it was real, some because it was so unreal, but thousands of students were fans. Some students even went as far as planning their class schedules around it.

The First Laugh Track

The first laugh track 1950 CRACKED.COM The Hank McCune Show, a TV show about a guy running a variety show, was kind of like an early 30 Rock, except it was cancelled after 3 weeks.

The First Instant Replay

The first instant replay 1963 CRACKED.COM The technology was ready just in time for the big Army-Navy game... at John F. Kennedy Stadium!

The Flintstones

The first infertility arc 1963 CRACKED.COM After Pebbles is added to the Flintstones crew, Barney and Betty work through their depression over being unable to have kids themselves.

The First 24-Hour Newsday

The first 24-hour newsday 1963 CRACKED.COM The networks threw their regular programming out the window to cover the assassination of JFK around the clock.

Good Times

JAMES EVANS GOOD TIMES CRACKED.COM John Amos's constant complaints about too much J.J. and his dy-no-mite brought a call from producer Norman Lear. Big John, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news? The show was picked up for another season. The bad news? You won't be with us.

The First Toilet Flush in TV History

The first toilet flush 1971 CRACKED.COM Leave It To Beaver was the first to show a toilet (tank only!) in 1957, but All In The Family really went there with a daring toilet flush sound effect.

Fred and Ethel Mertz

BEHIND-THE-SCENES SFACTS THE ACTORS PLAYING FRED AND ETHEL MERTZ ON I LOVE LUCY HATED EACH OTHER. CRACKED.COM The odd couple, Vivian Vance and William Frawley, were always tossing insults at each other on screen, but it apparently didn't stop there. Vivian allegedly called Willian an old poop, and William responded creatively by calling her a bitch.

Charlie’s Angels

CRACKED.COM Worst TV Finales Charlie's Angels The show chose to end with a clip show, of all things. Jaclyn Smith's character gets shot, and the rest of the cast just waits and remembers better scenes from better episodes. No thrills, just waiting. And then Charlie finally shows up-wearing a surgeon's mask.

The Six Million Dollar Man

The '70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man accidentally discovered a corpse. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN When a camera crew came to an amusement park and tried to move a hanging man prop, the arm came off - the prop was a real body. CRACKED.COM

Westworld

The first CGI. 1973 CRACKED.COM We get to see through the eyes of an evil robot in a scene in Westworld, and it's... boring. The motif was inspired by the first images of the surface of Mars.

The First Home Computer on TV

The first home computer 1965 CRACKED.COM In The Addams Family, the gigantic family computer, Whizzo, is used to cheat at gambling and help rig an election. Pretty spot-on.

Mary Tyler Moore Show

CHUCKLES MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW CRACKED.COM Chuckles the Clown was leading a parade dressed as Peter Peanut when he was tragically shelled to death by a rogue elephant. With a can't-stop-laughing funeral, it's the classic episode of a classic sitcom, at one point ranked #1 on TV Guide's list of the Top 100 Episodes of All Time.

Gilligan's Island

CRACKED.COM Gilligan's Island was almost rebooted in the '90s (with more cannibalism). According to James Gunn, Charlie Kaufman managed to get a Gilligan's Island reboot greenlit, with the starving castaways killing and eating each other. The project was nixed by Gilligan's creator Sherwood Schwartz.

The Golden Girls

CRACKED.COM THE GOLDEN GIRLS was inspired by MIAMI VICE. In 1984, NBC shot a humorous skit titled Miami Nice, starring two older actresses, for a special advertising their new shows (like Miami Vice). Execs liked it, and the idea was developed into a full series about old ladies living in Miami.

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ on TV

It became a Christmas classic thanks to a lapsed copyright and TV. REA - 04 The film accidentally became public domain after Republic Pictures forgot to renew the copyright for it in 1974. This allowed every TV station to play the movie whenever they wanted, until 1993, when Paramount managed to secure the rights for the film. CRACKED.COM

The First Content Warning in TV History

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.

Kurt Russell

KURT RUSSELL The action dramastar is the son of Bing Russell, who played Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza. CRACKED.COM

Ron Reagan on SNL

RON REAGAN FIRST SON CRACKED.COM VIEWERS WITH DADDY ISSUES LIKELY HAD A FIELD DAY WITH THIS EPISODE, WHICH WAS ONE BIG UNDERWEAR-FLAUNTING, BALLET-DANCING EFF YOU DIRECTED AT THE CONSERVATIVE COMMANDER IN CHIEF. (RON SR. REPORTEDLY LOVED IT.)

Early Spock

CRACKED STAR TREK SPOCK In the original pilot, Spock smiles, giggles, shows emotional depth, and has a youthful energy. Не also looked quite different, and walked with a limp (at Gene Roddenberry's request).

Star Trek

The Star Trek episode Amok Time showed us Vulcans' mating season, which is triggered by a condition called Pon Farr which would kill Spock unless he mates... Unless you saw the German edit, which changed Pon Farr to a space fever, cut out all mating references and turned everything else that happened into a hallucination Spock was having. CRACKED COM

The Cosby Show

COMEDY NERD Stevie Wonder once showed up as a guest star on The Cosby Show. The story is that Theo and Denise have a car accident involving Stevie Wonder, and he gives them a chance to visit his studio (yeah, it's kinda contrived, but it's a sitcom -that's how they work). CRACKED.COM

Happy Days

Happy Days Love HAPPY AMERICAN STYLE DAYS CRACKED.COM THE PILOT THE SHOW Originally called New Family in Town, the show's pilot was shot three years before the first episode aired. In the interim, ABC chucked the pilot up on the anthology series Love, American Style.

The Addams Family

The Addams Family Producer Scott Rubin came up with the idea of turning The Addams Family TV show into a movie after a bunch of people in a van returning from a 20th Century Fox screening started singing the show's theme song. НЕ PITCHED HIS ADAPTATION IDEA THE NEXT DAY. CRACKED.COM

Batman

Canceled? Really? R BATMAN ABC decided not to renew the '60s series, but NBC offered to pick it up. ABC agreed but didn't tell the art/props department, so the sets were destroyed. NBC wasn't willing to build a whole new Batcave, so Batman met an untimely end. CRACKED

I Love Lucy

I LOVE LUCY, CBS The cast's wardrobe, as well as the set and props, were all shades of gray to make sure that the show looked good in black and white. CRACKED.COM

The Gilligan’s Island Pilot

Gilligan's Island STARRING BOB DeNVER STARRING BOB DENVER as GILLIGAN CRACKED.COM THE PILOT THE SHOW Lost for over thirty years, the original pilot featured different actors playing The Professor, Ginger, and Mary Ann (known as Bunny) - as well as a truly jarring calypso theme song.

The Great Rural Purge

Canceled? Really? The great Rural Purge of 1971 With Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D, and Hee-Haw, CBS was dubbed, The Country Broadcasting System and the Hillbilly Network. They canceled them all. Actor Pat Buttram said, It was the year CBS killed everything with a tree in it. CRACKED

All in the Family

st. Paddy's Day in fiction All in the Family The series finale is a st. Paddy's Day episode. This episode revolves around a big party that Edith is trying to help Archie with, and ends with a confirmation of Archie and Edith having a loving relationship, before the show was rebooted as Archie Bunker's Place. CRACKED.COM

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