TV Trivia, maybe you knew, maybe you didn't

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21 Jump Street
*The character of Booker was supposed to be killed off at the end of the third season. However, he proved so popular that he was spun off onto his own show.

*This led off the Sunday night lineup during the first season presented by the Fox network.

*Johnny Depp had always been Patrick Hasburgh's first choice to play Tom Hanson but Depp turned the role down. Jeff Yagher was then cast as Hanson and filming for the pilot began. But Fox was unhappy with his performance and halted production after three weeks. Fox wanted Josh Brolin for the role but Hasburgh wanted to offer the role to Depp again. This time Depp accepted the role and Yagher's scenes were re-shot.

*After the second season, a spin-off was planned titled "City Court". The intention was to follow the Jump Street cases through the court system. A two-hour pilot was planned in which Tom Hanson is put on trial for murder. But because of the 1988 writer's strike, the series was never produced. The storyline featuring Hanson's murder trial was later used for the third season finale.

*Ioki's real name was Vinh Van Tran.

*Johnny Depp refused to participate in episode #3.14 "Nemesis". He objected to his character keeping quiet while someone was murdered. The episode was rewritten for Richard Grieco's Booker character. But Depp was convinced to appear in one scene.

*The show was based on a real life undercover unit in Los Angeles, CA.

*Judy Hoffs, the only character who was college educated, was the only officer to reach the rank of Detective

*Holly Robinson Peete was the only original cast member to remain with the show throughout its network and syndication run.

*Johnny Depp and Peter Deluise sang the JUMP!! backup vocals to the opening theme song while Holly Robinson sang the lead.

*The Mustang that Tom Hanson drove belonged to his father, who was killed in the line of duty.

*Johnny Depp did not want to work on a television series but agreed to a six-year contract only because he did not believe the show would last more than one season. He also found it difficult to turn down the money and the chance to work with Frederic Forrest. But the show became a huge success mostly due to Depp's presence. By the third season, Depp was chafing at having to stay with the show instead of accepting various film offers. He began to complain about the scripts and often gave listless performances. With the help of his lawyers, Depp was released from his contract and left the show after the fourth season.

*If you look closely, in the Season 2 Episode, "Champagne High" (2-17) at approximately 10 minutes into the episode, you can see a poster of Peter DeLuise on Judy Hoffs' locker door. This was taken from the Tiger Beat magazines that both DeLuise and Depp posed for in order to create publicity during the show's heyday. It was most likely put there by the production staff as a joke/gag.

*According to the liner notes of the Season 2 DVD, the episode "Christmas in Saigon" was based on the actual experiences of Dustin Nguyen's escape in Vietnam. However, the difference between the episode and Nguyen's real life is that Nguyen's parents survived (whereas in the episode, his parents died).

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Sister Sister
*In the episode "Big Twin on Campus" Tia pretends to be a college kid. Her friends at the coffee house are named after the cast of "Friends" (1994), Matthew, David, Jennifer and Courtney.

*For the 1994-1995 season, the show ran on the ABC Television Network. However, at the end of the first season, the network cancelled the show due to low ratings. At that time, The WB Network just launched and picked up the show for the remainder of its run, from 1995-1999. It used to run at the 8:00 PM Sunday night time slot.

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The Brady Bunch
*464 girls and boys were interviewed by producer Sherwood Schwartz to find the Brady kids.

*In addition to the albums recorded by the Brady kids, there was an album featuring only Maureen McCormick and Christopher Knight. It was a commercial failure.

*Robert Reed was written out of the episode "The Hair-Brained Scheme" because he felt that the plot involving hair tonic was implausible. When he began arguing with the producers over the script, studio security wanted to remove him from the set. However, Sherwood Schwartz would not allow it because he felt that it would be too distressing for the kids. Reed remained on the set to watch the filming of the episode, which would ultimately become the final episode of the series.

*The word "sex" was not mentioned until the final episode of the series. It was spoken by, of all people, Cousin Oliver.

*The theme song during the first season, unlike subsequent seasons, was not sung by the Brady kids, but by a group known as The Peppermint Trolley Company.

*We saw the Brady's bathroom many times, but not once did we see a toilet. The popular joke was that the Bradys are so good, clean and wholesome that didn't even go to the bathroom. The truth is, they had intended putting a toilet in the bathroom, but the network censors wouldn't let them.

*Sherwood Schwartz originally wanted Gene Hackman for the role of Mike Brady, but Hackman wasn't considered well-known enough at the time.

*Tiger, the Bradys' dog, disappeared after the second season of the show. In reality, Tiger ran away and supposedly got hit by a car. The reason the dog house remained was because one of the studio lights fell and burned a hole in their beloved Astro-turf, so they moved the dog house to cover up the burn hole.

*Joyce Bulifant was the original choice for the role of Carol Brady.

*Even though this show stayed on for five seasons, it never was a ratings hit. The highest it ever got was number 34 in the Nielsens, but stayed on the air due to its popularity among children.

*The Brady's next door neighbors, the Ditmeyers, were talked about, but only Mr. Ditmeyer was seen on one occasion.

*The girls originally had a cat named Fluffy, but it was only seen in the pilot. The cat was gone by the time the second episode aired.

*Even though Greg dated a lot, you never actually saw him kiss any of the girls he went out with. The only Brady kid to have a kissing scene was Bobby.

*The Bradys all drove Chrylser Corporation vehicles (until the final season). Mike Brady drove a 1968 Dodge Polara convertible in the pilot; a 1969 Plymouth Fury III in years one and two; a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda convertible in year three; a 1972 Plymouth Barracuda convertible in year four (actually, a modified 1971 model), and a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice convertible in year five. Carol, on the other hand, drove only two vehicles: a 1970 Plymouth Satellite wagon, and a 1971 Plymouth Satellite wagon (which took the "bunch" on their infamous Grand Canyon trip). The vehicles were loaned to Paramount by the Chrysler Corporation for filming. Incidentally, the 1969 Plymouth Fury III convertible that "Mike Brady" drove was recently restored to showroom condition.

*The house used for exterior shots, which was normally seen at the beginning of every episode as well as various points throughout the show's run, is at 11222 Dilling St., Studio City, California. Since the series ended, the owners of the home have erected an iron fence, let heavy shrubbery grow to cover much of the front, and have suffered numerous trespassers. They also refused to let producers use the home for exterior shots in the subsequent films in the 1990s.

*Because of difficulties with Robert Reed, Sherwood Schwartz considered the possibility of either hiring a new actor to play Mike Brady or killing off the character altogether, if the series were to be renewed for a sixth season. However, neither idea ever materialized since the show was canceled at the end of its fifth season.

*Due to its (suprisingly) marginal ratings, the show was never renewed for a whole season until its last season on the air (1973-74). During its first four seasons, it was only renewed for thirteen weeks at a time. Several members of the cast have admitted that, when they finished taping thirteen weeks worth of shows, there was always an air of apprehension while they waited to see if ABC would renew the program or not.

*Robert Reed, who famously disliked his role as Mike Brady, claimed he only took the part because producer Sherwood Schwartz told him the show would be a serious, boundary-pushing look at modern family life.

*The names of Mike's and Carol's previous spouses were never mentioned on the show. In fact, the only time a picture was shown of Mike's first wife was in the very first episode.

*Sherwood Schwartz's technique for auditioning child actors was to set out a bunch of toys on his desk, then during the interview see if the child paid attention to him or was distracted by the toys. If the toys went unheeded, Schwartz knew the child had the concentration needed to work on a television series.

*Was the first television series to be created and produced by Paramount Studios, which up until that time had been a movie studio exclusively. Earlier TV shows, such as Star Trek and Bonanza were acquired by Paramount when the studio purchased Desilu.

*'Barry Williams' and 'Susan Olsen' (Greg and Cindy Brady) are the only two Brady kids to appear in every single Brady Bunch episode.

*The Lucille Ball film Yours, Mine and Ours, with its similar theme, inspired ABC to finally green-light this series.

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Who's the Boss?
*ABC originally planned to cancel the show at the end of the seventh season but that the producers were able to convince the network to renew the show for an eighth season. As part of the deal to renew the show (and to revive fan interest) it was decided to base the entire eight season around Tony and Angela finally becoming a couple. When ratings for the eighth season failed to increase, the show was cancelled.

*The original ending for the series, as proposed by the writers, was for Angela and Tony to get married. ABC executives however balked at this ending and were supported by Tony Danza, who was against having Tony and Angela get married in the series finale. So the series ended with Tony and Angela breaking up but with Tony appearing on Angela's doorstep to apply for the housekeeper job in a scene that is almost identical to the opening scene in the pilot episode.

*The pilot episode was filmed in October 1983 but held back from ABC executives for nearly a year due to the producers of the series being afraid that the show would be rejected by ABC executives if pitched as a mid-season replacement series.

*At the end of season three, the producers of the show decided to spin-off the Mona character into her own series. As a result, the season ended with a two-part episode where Mona moves away in order to run a hotel with her brother while Tony and Samantha move into Mona's loft apartment. However, due to the fear that Mona's departure might harm the success of the show, the plans for the spin-off were squashed by ABC executives and a tag sequence was added at the end of the two-parter which featured Mona returning home and Tony and Samantha moving back into Angela's house.

*Episode #115 (Living Dolls) was never shown during the series' original prime time run and instead premiered when "Who's the Boss" first entered syndication. The episode, which was meant to be a pilot for a new ABC series "Living Dolls", was pulled from the schedule do to last minute casting changes to the series. Several months later, a second episode (episode #123 "Life's A Ditch") was filmed to serve as a pilot for "Living Dolls", which aired on the same night "Living Dolls" premiered. (I remember that, that was the first time I saw Vivica and Hally - Vivica was in the pilot but then they dropped her re-written and re-casted the role with Hally)

*The exterior shots of the home used in the opening sequence as well as various points throughout the show's run is in real life located on 13 Onondaga St., Rye, New York.

*German network RTL showed a German version of the show called "Ein Job fürs Leben" (A life-time job). The scripts and every single joke of the original's 1984-1985 season were translated, but it was canceled after one season (1992).

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The Wonder Years
*The tv show was on the air from 1988 through 1993. The show's stories took place twenty years earlier from 1968 through 1973.

*Poor Jason Harvey's character (Wayne Arnold) was so hated that one time in a bar a guy came up to him and said, "I had a brother just like you" and then punched him in the face! Fans generally didn't like him and obviously couldn't separate him in real life from his character on the Wonder Years!

*Probably the two biggest goofs made in filming Wonder Years both concerned school and space flight. On episode #5, "The Phone Call" Kevin fakes being ill so he can stay home from school. He states that later in the evening Apollo 8 will be going into orbit around the moon. That actually happened on Christmas Eve in 1968. There's no school on that day. Then in episode #41, "Faith", Kevin comes home from school to watch Apollo 13 lift off. That happened on Saturday, April 11, 1970. There is no school on Saturday.

*Fred Savage began his acting career at age 4 in the movie, "Dinosaur (1980)". He directed an episode of "Boy Meets World (1993)" in 1998. His younger brother Ben Savage stars in that series. Fred graduated from Stanford University with a degree in English in 1999.

*Kevin's dog was named "Buster". His grandfather gave him the dog.

*You might think of Danica McKellar as the cute little girl "Winnie" on the tv show. In real life, she went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a degree in mathematics. She also co-wrote a paper in 1998 that was published in Britain's "Journal of Physics" which mathematically proved a theorem of magnetism in two dimensions (Whatever that means)! She also speaks fluent French!

*The influence of the Vietnam war was often felt on the tv show. Winnie found out her older brother Brian had been killed there in the very first episode. Dan Lauria (Jack Arnold) actually served a tour in Vietnam in real life as a Marine Corps Captain!

*Karen got married in 1992. Her husband Michael was played by David Schwimmer. A couple of years later, he would get the part of Ross Geller on "Friends (1994)".

*Kevin once dated a girl named Becky Slater. After they stopped seeing each other, she decided to become Kevin's worst nightmare! Becky was portrayed by Crystal McKellar, Danica McKellar's (Winnie) real-life sister!

*On the final episode of the Wonder Years, the viewers got a look at what would be happening to the Arnold family and their friends in the future. Kevin and his father had a "falling-out" but reconciled before Jack Arnold died (Only 2 years after the events at the end of the series). Wayne took over the family business. Karen gave birth to a baby boy. Paul Pfeiffer went to Harvard and got a law degree. Winnie travelled to Paris to study art. Kevin married (no, not Winnie) and had a son.

(And I remember that the girl who the played the sister, she's from London and has a real accent. She created a American accent for the show!)

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Magnum P.I.
*Magnum P.I. was to have premiered in May of 1980 but had to be delayed until December due to a writer's strike. Ironically, Tom Selleck had turned down the lead role in the 1981 movie, "Indiana Jones - The Temple of Doom" because he would be doing the Magnum P.I. series during the movie's filming. The movie finished filming by December of 1980. If Tom would have known there would be a writer's strike, he could have taken the role in the movie. As a small concession, Tom did get to portray Indiana Jones in the Magnum P.I. final season episode titled, "The Legend Of The Lost Art" which was a parody of the movie!

*Magnum P.I. replaced the series, "Hawaii Five-0" which had run on CBS for 12 years. This allowed CBS to use the huge production facilities that were in place on the islands for another 8 years! Both shows took place in Hawaii around the same time period. Magnum P.I. characters would even refer Detective Steve McGarrett and his Five-0 unit from time to time!

*In episode #70, "Operation: Silent Night", footage is used which shows the Navy destroyer, "U.S.S. Wren". That episode aired in 1983 and the "Wren" was scrapped in 1975! Oops!

*From bits and pieces of information from numerous episodes, we can piece together a biography for Thomas Magnum. When he wore his naval uniform, we could tell that he had won the Navy Cross, the countries second highest honor for naval personnel. The uniform also carried a naval special warfare insignia which means that Thomas had been a Navy SEAL. It had been mentioned that Thomas' father and grandfather had also served in the Navy. Thomas graduated from the Naval Academy and served as a SEAL in Vietnam. After the Vietnam War ended, he was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as a Naval Intelligence officer. And that's how he came to his life as a P.I. in Hawaii on the TV show!

*In episode #9, "Lest We Forget", Miguel Ferrer played the part of his father, "José Ferrer" at an earlier age. In the same episode, Anne Lockhart played a younger version of her mother, "June Lockhart".

*ABC was planning to cancel the show at the end of the seventh season. There were a huge number of complaints from fans and ABC decided to renew the show for another season. The "series finale" episode had already been filmed, however, with Thomas Magnum being killed by gangsters! When the next season rolled around, Thomas was portrayed as a ghost for a couple of episodes. Then it was explained that his "death" had been a dream.

*In the two-part final episode, "Resolutions", Thomas Magnum is reunited with his long lost daughter, quits the private investigator business, and rejoins the Navy.

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The Osbournes
*There were stories about how a producer of the MTV series, "Cribs" was so impressed with the uniqueness of the Osbournes' lifestyle that they came up with the idea for a reality show. Actually, Sharon Osbourne had been planning this TV show for several years. She couldn't find any network interest until the Osbournes' appearances "Cribs".

*Whether you like Sharon or not, you can't deny that she's one good businesswoman! For the first season of "The Osbornes", MTV was unsure about the show's potential so the entire family received only $20,000 per episode for 13 episodes. When the show turned into a hit, Sharon went into negotiator mode. In the second season, the family received $20 million for the season, plus MTV bought them a new home, and (the most "Osbourne" part of the contract) MTV also agreed to pay for their dog's psychotherapy. (No, that's not a joke!)

*Ozzy and Sharon's oldest child (daughter) is named Aimee and chose not to appear on the TV show. If you want to see her, she does appear on the Season 2 Uncensored Dvds. She can be seen briefly during episode #20, "My Big Fat Jewish Wedding", during the wedding vow renewal and she also makes a cameo appearance as a commentator on the last two shows on Disc 2 of the same Season 2 Dvds set.


NYPD Blue
*David Caruso left the series to pursue a movie career. It was greatly publicized and most assumed that he would become a huge star due to the overwhelming popularity of NYPD Blue. Many felt that NYPD Blue simply couldn't survive his loss but audiences soon grew equally fond of Jimmy Smits who replaced him. Then when Smits decided to leave in 1998, the same was said about him but the TV show went on just fine with his replacement ... Rick Schroder. Also, Jimmy Smits was offered Caruso's role first! When Smits turned down the role, it was offered to Caruso and the character's name was changed to "John Kelly".

*Jimmy Smits has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brooklyn College and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Cornell University. Jimmy wanted to become an actor before he graduated but when he told his parents of his desire, they said he should finish his degree so that he would be able to teach High School Drama.

*Dennis Franz served 11 months in Vietnam with the 82nd & 101st Airborne Divisions. He was a mailman before becoming an actor. He always takes his pet bird with him when he travels.

*The exterior of the 15th precinct on the NYPD Blue TV show was actually the 9th precinct in New York City. The 9th precinct's exterior was also used for the precinct house on the series, "Kojak".

*During the summer of 1998, Rick Schroder built his own log cabin! He's also that Hollywood rarity known as a "conservative". He spoke in honor of (Then) Governor George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention in 2000 and he's a member of the National Rifle Association.

*Producer Steven Bochco honors his father on NYPD Blue and most of his other productions. Right before the closing credits, you can see his father playing the violin. Actually, they used computer animation and his father's portrait to make it appear as though he's playing the instrument.

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Party of Five
*The title, "Party of Five" refers to the Salinger kids all eating together at their late father's restaurant as a, "party of five".

*Julia became the first of the Salinger clan to get married when she eloped to Nevada with Griffin.

*Jennifer Love Hewitt's brother Todd had a crush on a girl named Jennifer. That's how she picked her first (stage) name. Her mother's best friend at college was named "Love" so that became her middle name. She also has adopted "Love" as her nickname. She performed for the first time at a livestock show in her home state of Texas at the age of 3. At the age of 4, she disappeared at a restaurant-dance hall. Her mother found her on the stage singing, "Help Me Make It Through The Night". By age 5 she was taking ballet, jazz and tap dancing lessons. Soon thereafter she joined the "Texas Show Team" and toured Europe and the Soviet Union. She was discovered by talent scouts at 10 years old and they encouraged her mother to move her to Los Angeles. Almost immediately, she got a job on Disney's show, "Kids Incorporated (1984)". Like many actresses and actors, she got several television roles for series that didn't make it before she finally landed her "break-out" role on "Party of Five" when she joined the TV show in 1995. She finished high school by correspondence while doing Party of Five, graduating in 1997. She was offered a role on the TV show, "Charmed" to replace Shannen Doherty but turned it down. She broke her finger while filming "Heartbreakers (2001)".

*Neve Cambell had a nervous breakdown at age 14. She lost all of her hair and claims that only acupuncture would get her hair to grow back. She has a "no nudity" clause in her contract. Neve is also her mother's maiden name.

*Scott Wolf got his role on "Party of Five" after Jerry O'Connell backed out to take the lead role on the TV show, "Sliders (1995)". He has a degree in finance from George Washington University and is a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity.

*Jeremy London won a role on the TV show, "I'll Fly Away" but couldn't take it due to conflict with another job. Then his twin brother Jason auditioned for the role and got it. They had a sister Diedre who died in an automobile accident. Jeremy was voted the "Most Talented Male" at his high school and is an avid anti-smoking advocate.

*Matthew Fox attended college on a football scholarship and graduated with a degree in Economics at Columbia University and originally intended to have a career on Wall Street. His girl friend's mother was a talent agent and got him, first, some modelling jobs and after that, some television commercials. At that point, he decided to pursue acting.

*Lacey Chabert was a finalist on the TV show, "Star Search" in 1991. She got her first break into show business with a cough syrup commercial. She then appeared on Broadway in, "Les Miserables" for two years. The violin music you heard Lacey play on "Party of Five" was not actually her playing, contrary to common belief. She did play the violin well enough to look convincing on screen but not quite as good as what you heard on the show. She won the title of "Miss Junior Mississippi".

Touched By An Angel
*The word angel means messenger in the Greek language.

*The show was cancelled during its first season. It was brought back the next year after the fans staged a letter-writing campaign.

*John Masius's original pilot script was much darker than that which was eventually shown on TV (In the original pilot, Tess was a chain-smoking angel who was frequently at Monica's throat.)

*The show became so popular that it caused the "spin-off" of another series called, "Promised Land (1996)". In fact, the first episode of "Promised Land" appeared as episode #36 of "Touched By An Angel". The second episode appeared 2 nights later in its own time slot.

*Della Reese is a Reverend of the "Understanding Principals for a Better Living" Church in Los Angeles, California. She toured with the renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson when she was only a teenager. She was the first performer to sing gospel music in Las Vegas Casinos!

*Roma Downey was born and raised in Derry City, Northern Ireland. She graduated from Brighton Art College in England. In 1997, she was chosen one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People Magazine! Prior to her appearance on "Touched By An Angel", she was probably best-known for her role as Jacqueline Kennedy on "A Woman Named Jackie", the mini-series.

*The Touched By An Angel TV show is filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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The Sopranos
*In the pilot episode, a group of senior citizens is seen watching an episode of, "The Rockford Files (1974)". David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, got his first big job in the business as the producer/writer of The Rockford Files. David also based the character of Tony's mother on his own mother whose name is also "Livia". You can see David in episode #17, "Commendatori". While in Italy, Paulie speaks Italian to a man at a cafe and the man ignores him. That's David!

*Dominic Chianese who plays Tony Soprano's uncle on the TV show also played mafia member Johnny Ola in the movie, "Godfather: Part II (1974)".

*The "Bada Bing" strip club on the show is shot at "Satin Dolls" in Lodi, New Jersey.

*The "Green Grove Retirement Community" is shot at the "Green Hills Retirement Community" in West Orange, New Jersey.

*All of the characters on this HBO series own a Philips television sets. You think maybe they all "fell off" the same truck?

*Actor Frank Vincent played Phil Leotardo on the series and killed someone in the trunk of his car while they begged him to let them live. Frank played a role in the movie, "Goodfellas" where he got killed in exactly the same way.

*Actor Michael Imperioli who plays Christopher on the show shot someone in the foot for being disrespectful in episode #8, "The Legend of Tennesee Moltisante". He also appeared in "Goodfellas" as a character who got shot in the foot for being disrespectful. By the way, besides acting, Michael whose character on the series is struggling to become a screenwriter, is also a screenwriter in real life!

*In the beginning, there was some concern that viewers might think the title, "The Sopranos", meant that the show had something to do with singers. Other titles were considered but they finally decided to simply add a gun to the Sopranos logo.

*Tony Sirico (Paulie Gaultieri) would only agree to do the role if his character was guaranteed to never "rat out" the mob.

*The series character 'Uncle Junior' (Corrado Erico Soprano) is played by Dominic Chianese, the very same Dominic Chianese who played Johnny Ola in The Godfather: Part II.

*In January 2000, the Coalition of Italian American Associations issued a joint statement condemning The Sopranos for perpetuating negative Italian-American stereotypes.
*In Season 5, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) are waiting on Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli). Upon arriving late, Christopher says that the "highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive", the lyrics to a Bruce Springsteen hit "Born to Run". Steve Van Zandt is in Springsteen's E Street Band.

*Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) is based on a character of the same name in a short story that Van Zandt wrote and showed to series creator David Chase.

*Steve Van Zandt and David Proval originally auditioned for the role of Tony Soprano.

*Drea de Matteo appeared in the first episode as an unnamed maitre d'. She was only intended to appear in that one scene. But David Chase liked de Matteo's enthusiasm and decided to expand her role. In the third episode, the unnamed maitre d' became Christopher's girlfriend, Adriana.

*Lorraine Bracco was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano, but she felt that the part was too similar to her character in Goodfellas. She decided the role of Dr. Melfi would be more challenging.

*David Chase had planned a major story line for the third season concerning Tony's efforts to prevent Livia from testifying against him in court. But Nancy Marchand's death caused Chase to revise a large portion of the season.

*Tony Sirico had undergone major back surgery during the shooting of the fourth season. David Chase put Sirico's character, Paulie, in jail so the actor could fully recover.

*Although Nancy Marchand, who played Livia Soprano, had passed away by the time Episode 28 ("Proshai, Livushka") began filming, she appears in a brief scene at the beginning in which she has a conversation with her son, Tony. Producers pieced together dialogue from previous episodes for Livia's half of the conversation, and used state-of-the-art CGI effects to place old footage of her face on a body double. The effect cost about $250,000, and took two weeks to put together.

*The cast is signed up through 6 seasons and creator David Chase is signed up for 5 seasons.

*During seasons 2 and 3, Steve Schirripa had to wear a fat suit, in order to play Bobby Baccala.

*David Chase claims the relationship in the story between Tony and his mother Livia is based on his relationship with his own mother, who was also named Livia.

*In episode #17 "Commendatori", Tony and the gang goes to Italy to conduct business. While Paulie is dining at a cafe he notices a man and speaks Italian to him the man turns away and ignores him. This man is the show's creator, David Chase.

*During the first season, HBO execs were initially opposed to Tony Soprano murdering Febby Pretulio in the "College" episode. They felt that it would make him an unlikable character. Producer David Chase, on the other hand, felt that the audience wanted to see Tony as a character with his own sense of ethics, murder being part of that ethic. In the end, Chase won out.

*Just before the attempt on his life in Season 1, Tony buys orange juice. In The Godfather, Vito Corleone buys oranges before the attempt on his life.

*Originally James Gandolfini wanted to keep the character of Richie Aprile alive but the writers decided against it and he was killed in Episode# 25.


*Phil Leotardo played by Frank Vincent kills Angelo Garepe in the trunk of his car, while Angelo is begging for mercy. Frank Vincent's character in Goodfellas was killed in the same way.

*Joe Pantoliano was told when he first took the role of Ralph that the character would only last two seasons.

*The first cable-television series to win the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series.

*In episode #4.01, "For All Debts Public and Private", Carmine Lupertazzi remarks to Tony, "A don never wears shorts." This was actual advice give to James Gandolfini by someone connected with the Mafia, commenting about an earlier barbecue scene in the series. After Carmine Lupertazzi dies, Tony goes back to wearing shorts, most notable in episode 5.08 "Marco Polo".

*Drea de Matteo had to spend four hours in hair and makeup before shooting each episode in order to achieve her "mob girl" look. It took two hours to prepare her hair, and in the instances in which her arms, legs, and/or torso were uncovered, an hour and a half to apply makeup to cover her tattoos.

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Taxi
*The person driving the taxicab in the opening credits was Tony Danza. The name of the cab company was the Sunshine Cab Company.

*Andy Kaufman had invented the persona for his character in his comedy act prior to working on the show, including the famous line "tank-you-veddy-much". It was the show's writers that came up with the name of Latka Gravas.

*Before closing their doors for good in 1982, the Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo Michigan supplied cars to the series.
*When Danny DeVito was starting out in the business, he had to have a roommate to make ends meet. His roommate was Michael Douglas.

*The idea for the TV show was from an article in an issue of the New Yorker magazine about cab drivers' lives.

*When ABC canceled the series in 1982, the cable network HBO considered purchasing the show, only to lose out to NBC.
*When NBC acquired the series for its 1982 fall schedule, the network ran promotional ads that stated, "Same time, better network".

*In the episode "A Full House for Christmas", Louie's brother, Nick, was going to be played by Andy Kaufman's infamous alter ego, Tony Clifton. During rehearsals, Clifton created such chaos on the set that security had to remove him. Tony was replaced by Richard Foronjy at the last minute.

*Reverend Jim's real name was James Caldwell. After eating some "funny brownies", he changed his name to Ignatowski, believing it was "star child" spelled backwards.

*Due to almost identical plotlines and storylines, Taxi has often been referred to as a forerunner for the TV series, "Cheers (1982)". Danny DeVito (Louie De Palma) is married to Rhea Perlman (Carla on Cheers).

*Did you ever wonder if Judd Hirsch was really that smart or if his character just seemed to be in comparison to the others? Well, in real life, Judd has a college degree in Physics!

*Tony Danza's character on the TV show dreamed of being a professional fighter. In real life, Tony Danza actually was a fighter before Taxi.

*Andy Kaufman loved to confuse his audiences by doing something they would never suspect or couldn't understand. He appeared on the very first episode of "Saturday Night Live". He played a record with the theme song to "Mighty Mouse". He just stood there looking at the audience while it played and would only sing the words, "Here I Come To Save The Day". It was hilarious, but you couldn't figure out why. When he died, people wouldn't believe it. They thought it was just another one of his gags. Oh yeah, he was also Elvis Presley's favorite as an Elvis impersonator.

*His role as "Reverend Jim" was not the first time that Christopher Lloyd was seen as a "less than stable" person. In 1975, three years before Taxi began, he had a role in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" as one of the mental patients. Oh, by the way, Danny DeVito also played one of the mental patients in that movie!

*Marilu Henner dated both Tony Danza and Judd Hirsch during the show's run (One at a time).

[lostnfound117]

Dallas
*Dallas was the top-rated series on the air for three seasons! When it aired, the "Who Shot J.R." episode became the most watched episode in television history! The final episode of "M*A*S*H (1972)" beat that record in February of 1983. Larry Hagman was threatening to leave the series due to a contract dispute. The producers got prepared, just in case. If he would have left, the ambulance carrying J.R. to the hospital after his shooting would have crashed and caught fire in an accident. J.R. would have required extensive plastic surgery and Robert Culp (Star of the 1965 series, "I Spy") would have taken over the role.

*"Knot's Landing (1979)" was the only Dallas "spin-off" but there's no doubt that it inspired the productions of several others such as "Falcon Crest (1981)", "Dynasty (1981)", and "The Colbys (1985)". In fact, Robert Foxworth who was offered the role of J.R. Ewing and turned it down, agreed to do a very similar role later on "Falcon Crest". After Foxworth turned down the role of J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman refused the starring role in the series, "The Waverly Wonders" to become J.R. That was a good move as "The Waverly Wonders" didn't last very long.

*Larry Hagman owns a ranch in Ojai, California named, "Odd Ball". Larry has some traits that may relate to that name. He has a ring made from his gallstones that were removed during a liver transplant. One day each week he doesn't speak at all to test his self-discipline. He makes autograph seekers either tell him a joke or sing him a song before he will give them an autograph. He's a vegetarian and his nickname is "Mad Monk of Malibu".

*Larry is the son of Mary Martin, best known for her role on broadway as Peter Pan. Larry also is the godfather to Bridget Fonda.

*Patrick Duffy's son Conor played the role of "Little J.R."on the final episode of Dallas. His son Padraic played Mark Harris on the show. On the series, "The Man from Atlantis (1977)", Patrick also played a character named Mark Harris.

*Dallas would often make the audience believe that someone had died and then find ways to keep them alive. Several characters died in someone's dream and then they'd wake up. Sometimes there would be a report that someone had died and then they'd show up alive and the report turned out to be false.

*The dream death that had the most impact on the series was Bobby Ewing's death. Originally, he died because Patrick Duffy left the series in the seventh season. Then he decided that he wanted to return for the ninth season. Patrick's wife told him that the only way that could happen is if his death had really been someone's dream. Duffy relayed this idea to the producers and even though that meant that they entire eighth season would become Pam Ewing's dream, they went along with the idea and Patrick Duffy returned.

*When Jim Davis passed away, his character was reported as missing in the Amazon jungle. After a while, he was declared legally deceased. A picture of Jim was placed over the fireplace at Southfork Ranch after his death.

*Both J.R. and Bobby married and divorced their first wives twice on the show. Then they each got married to a new wife. J.R. divorced his second wife too and Bobby became a widower when his second wife died.

[unknown2u]

ttt

[whiteandblack]

regarding 'good times', I also read where john amos left the show primarily because of JJ's buffoonery...but if you notice after he left, the character of the show went downhill. they brought in the characters of penny, bookman, thelma's husbands, etc. (as fillers), but none could compare to that one character of mr. amos.

[Tickled Pink 2]

This was on Oprah a while ago (hope I'm not double posting...)




"Kevin Clash provides the distinctive voice for Elmo, the immensely popular Muppet character introduced on "Sesame Street" in the 1980s. Told to provide a voice for Elmo soon after joining Sesame Street as a puppeteer, Clash came up with Elmo's distinctive voice and laugh, turning the puppet into one of the show's most popular characters. It also netted Clash an Emmy Award."

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/bla...ries/28.clash/

[whiteandblack]

watching the 'surreal life', I didn't realize sherman helmsley was such a quiet, shy guy. I guess playing such a boisterous, loudmouth was his release! lol