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

[lostnfound117]

Family Matters
*At the beginning of the series the Winslow family had 3 children. The youngest, Judy, was ultimately phased out. (I still can't believe they made that child walk up the stairs and never came back down)

*The character of Steve Urkel was named after a friend of one of the producers, and was only supposed to appear once. However, the audience's response was so overwhelmingly positive that the producers decided to make Urkel a regular character.

*On the ABC Family airings, there is an extended opening sequence, which presumably has not been used since the series originally aired on ABC.

*The theme song for the pilot was "What a Wonderful World," not "As Days Go By".

*Many sets used in scenes inside the house were also used in "Hogan Family, The" (1986) and "Step By Step" (1991) .

*Jo Marie Payton-Noble's Harriet Winslow originated in Perfect Strangers as an elevator operator.

*Telma Hopkins's tight rope walk scene on episode "Life of the Party" was added because she had learned how to do it for "Circus of the Stars", as part of the highwire act.

*The character of Steve Urkel was so popular, that it spawned a series of merchandise including a talking doll, trading cards, posters, books, lunchboxes and t-shirts. The character even had its own limited edition cereal.

*The show was cancelled by ABC after its eighth season but eventually picked up by CBS in hopes of attracting a younger audience.

*There was supposed to be a 10th season featuring Steve and Laura's wedding but CBS cancelled the show after one year on the network.

* Jo Marie Payton-Noble left the show when it moved stations from ABC to CBS because she didn't like how the show overemphasized the Steve Urkel character. (Why the momma always wanna leave?)

[lostnfound117]

The Incredible Hulk
*This tv show became the first sci-fi series to win an Emmy Award in a non-technical category when Mariette Hartley won in 1979 for "Outstanding Actress in a Dramatic Series".

*The reason that Dr. Banner was working on experiments to increase human strength is that his wife died in a car accident and, although he was there, he couldn't get her out of the wreck.

*Richard Kiel ("Jaws" from the James Bond films) was first offered the role of the "monster" on the program but turned it down. Then Arnold Schwarzenegger was rejected for the role because he wasn't tall enough. Lou Ferrigno who had co-starred with Schwarzenegger in the movie documentary "Pumping Iron", finally landed the role.

*The series set records for its special effects spending at the time. Because of this, in order to keep other costs down, lots of footage was used over and over again in multiple episodes and some other tv show footage (from other series).

*Ted Cassidy who narrated the opening segment of each episode is best known for his role as "Lurch" in the 1964-66 series, "The Addams Family".

*Even though the "monster" had died in the third and final movie "The Death of the Incredible Hulk", Bill Bixby was working on a fourth movie when he himself fell ill and died. That movie was to have been called, "The Rebirth of the Incredible Hulk".

*Lou Ferrigno had been a professional body builder and football player from Canada. He won the "Teen Age Mr. America" title in 1970; "Mr. America" and "Mr. Universe" titles in 1973; and "Mr. Universe" again in 1974! At that time he weighed 275 pounds, his chest measured 59 inches, and he had 22 1/2" biceps! He was so popular that he averaged 2,000 letters per week from fans!

[lostnfound117]

Knight Rider
*The premise for the tv show has interesting origins. It seems that Brandon Tartikoff felt that it was pretty difficult to find handsome male stars for the cast that could also act. He imagined a concept where the leading man would be getting out of bed with a woman and simply say, "Thank you". Then, while chasing criminals, he would simply say, "Freeze"! When the innocent victims thanked him, he'd only respond, "You're Welcome". Otherwise, the majority of the dialog would be done by a car with artificial intelligence. Luckily for us, David Hasselhoff was able to do a little bit better than that!

*The car's name, Kitt is an acronym for "Knight Industries Two Thousand". It was stated in one of the episodes that the car cost $11,400,000 to produce!

*Michael, Kitt and their support staff worked out of a huge estate called "F.L.A.G. - The Foundation For Law And Government". F.L.A.G. was originated by a dying billionaire who spent the final years of his life building the organization to fight evil and benefit mankind. Devon Miles took over his "vision" after his death.

*Kitt may have seemed unstopable at times but the car did have one weakness. It could not see (scan) through lead.

*Michael and Kitt both had "evil doubles" on the tv show. They were Garthe and K.A.R.R. Garthe was the son of the dying billionaire, and his face was the model for Michael's plastic surgery. Convenient, huh? David Hasselhoff could play both parts. K.A.R.R. was built by Knight Industries just like Kitt but they forgot to include the directive to protect human life in K.A.R.R.'s programming! It was left with its primary programming being "self-preservation at all costs".

*Kitt's serial number was "Aplha Delta 227529".

*Prior to receiving his new identity, Michael's last name was "Long".

*David Hasselhoff was a huge rock star in many countries around the world! In Germany (1989) he was selected the "Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year"! He wasn't just a hero on the tv show either. In 1995 he saved a drowning child AND helped to rescue the victim of a car crash! In 1996 he finally got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[lostnfound117]

Moonlighting
*The episode "It's a Wonderful Job" has a dream sequence where the Blue Moon detective agency becomes the Hart Detective Agency, with an employee named Lionel, played by Lionel Stander. Both are in-joke references to "Hart to Hart" (1979).

*Much of the show's popularity derived from the unconsummated sexual tension between the main characters. When the writers finally relented and allowed the characters to get together, the show's ratings plummeted.
*In the episode "When Girls Collide" 'Bruce Willis (I)' is seen standing in front of a film poster for Die Hard.

*In the episode when Maddie and David sleep together for the first time, the bed scene was filmed with the mattress propped vertically against a wall and the actors standing and leaning against it (notice Shepherd's hair falling the wrong direction). The reported reason is that Willis had a broken shoulder and Shepherd was pregnant. Also, parts of that scene were filmed with a body double for Willis because of his injury.

*The episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" opens with an introduction by Orson Welles. Welles died five days before the episode was broadcast, thus his cameo was likely the last time Welles ever appeared before a camera. Welles's name didn't appear in either the opening or end credits so you could in some way say that he was uncredited but "he received" a captioning in the beginning of the episode though, that read "This program is dedicated to the memory of Orson Welles 1915-1985".

*During episode 4.3, "Take a Left at the Altar", there is a chase between a car and a biplane, and part of the theme from North by Northwest can be heard. Eva Marie Saint, who co-starred in the film, guest-stars in the episode as Maddie's mother.

*Episodes of the show were delayed so many times, one promotional spot for the series featured an actor playing a network employee waiting for the next episode to be delivered.

*Glenn Gordon Caron was hired away from the series Remington Steele, another series about a pair of bickering detectives, to create and produce this show.

*Bruce Willis was the very last of about 3,000 actors to audition for the role of David Addison.

[lostnfound117]

Melrose Place
*Heather Locklear was credited as a "special guest star" for six seasons.
*Thomas Calabro,(Michael Mancini) was the only original cast member to remain on Melrose Place throughout the entire run.

*Melrose Place is a so-called "branch" of Beverly Hills, 90210 since part of the Melrose Place story begins there. The storyline between Jake Hanson (Grant Show) and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) continued during the beginning of the series. Also in the pilot the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 which included Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green, and Tori Spelling made several recurring guest appearances.

*Actress Hunter Tylo was originally cast in the role of Taylor McBride, but became pregnant soon after being hired, and was fired. Producers said the pregnancy violated the change-in-her-appearance clause in her contract, and she sued them. Tylo won the suit against Aaron Spelling and the other producers, and was rewarded $4.9 million.

*Stephen Fanning was originally cast in the role of Billy Campbell, but was fired when filming first began because he had gained too much weight. He was replaced by Andrew Shue, who re-shot the "Billy" scenes in the pilot two days after getting the role.

*The third season was originally going to end with Kimberly blowing up the apartment complex, but that was scrapped since the Oklahoma City bombing occurred a month earlier. Not wanting to be insensitive to the national tragedy of the Oklahoma City bombing, the producers had the final shot of the season being Kimberly hitting the detonator, then showed the explosion in the season premiere in the fall of 1995.

*When the series ended, people who worked on the show sold bottles of the swimming pool water on EBay.

*Courteney Cox, Dean Cain, Calista Flockhart, Julianna Margulies, Paul Rudd, Robert Sean Leonard, Sherry Stringfield, Pamela Anderson, Noah Wyle, and Kathy Ireland all auditioned for roles when the show was first being cast in 1992.

*As "Matt Fielding" on this show, Doug Savant played the first openly gay character in a prime-time American soap opera.

*Both Linden Ashby and Rob Estes had guest appearances in the first season and second season and then became prominent members in the cast later in the series as completely different characters. Ashby played Jo's ex-husband and then became Dr. Brett "Coop" Cooper and Estes played Sam and then became Kyle McBride.

*By early 1999, FOX decided that the ratings erosion as well as the extremely high production costs (it was said that they could have filmed an entire pilot just on Heather Locklear's salary) warranted cancellation

[lostnfound117]

In Living Color (some of this we know already)
*The pilot episode began with a skit entitled "Love Connection", starring Keenen Ivory Wayans as 'Mike Tyson', Jim Carrey as 'Chuck Woolery', and Kim Coles as 'Robin Givens'.

*The dance troupe on this show was called The Fly Girls. In the third season, a new dancer, Jennifer Lopez, was cast as one of the Fly Girls.

*Actor Shawn Wayans first appeared as the show's music DJ "SW1", but later gave those reigns to DJ Twist to focus more on his acting.

*According to an Oscar profile in Entertainment Weekly, Thomas Haden Church auditioned for a spot on the show, but was edged out by Jim Carrey.

*Homey D. Clown's real name is Herman Simpson

*For the first few episodes, an exotic-looking logo was used for the opening credits. After the band Living Colour claimed the show stole the logo from them and threatened to sue, the logo was changed to one with rather plain-type letters.

*Keenen Ivory Wayans left the show in the middle of the fourth season over disputes with Fox about censoring the show's content and rerunning early episodes without his consultation. At the end of the season, Kim Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans followed their brother in leaving the show. Damon Wayans had already left the show at the end of the third season to pursue his film career.

[lostnfound117]

Family Ties
*Stars Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter share the same birthday: 21 June 1947. Gross was born in Chicago and Baxter was born in L.A.

*The producers originally wanted Matthew Broderick to play Alex P. Keaton, but the actor had to decline the role when his father became terminally ill.

*It was never revealed what the P in Alex P. Keaton stood for.

*Ed O'Neill was considered for the role of Steven Keaton.

*The show was modeled after producer Gary David Goldberg and wife Diane's real-life experiences as former 'hippies' transforming into suburban family life.

*Michael J. Fox added the P. in Alex P. Keaton as an ad-lib in his audition, the writers loved it and kept it. 'Michael J. Fox' 'qv) almost didn't get the role of Alex - due to the fact that NBC exec Brandon Tartikoff didn't find it believable that Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross would have a son that was so short.

*According to Michael J. Fox's last Spin City episode, Alex P. Keaton became a Junior Congressman from Ohio.

*One year before playing Michael J. Fox's father in _Back to the Future (1985)), Crispin Glover played Alex P. Keaton's friend in the episode Birthday Boy.

*When Meredith Baxter became pregnant during the hiatus between the second and third seasons, her pregnancy was written into the show. However, she still was written out of several episodes after giving birth to twins in real life.

*Tom Hanks played Elise Keaton's brother Ned.
*Alex was born in Africa when Elyse and Steven were serving in the Peace Corps.

*'Michael J. Fox' 's first audition was deemed terrible by 'Gary Goldberg' because Fox came off too smart-aleck. Casting director 'Judith Wiener' really liked Fox and begged Goldberg to see him a second time. Fox took a different approach, the audition went great, and Fox was offered the part.

*The cast wanted to end the show with the entire Keaton family dying in a plane crash. They absolutely didn't want to do a reunion show in the future.

*Throughout the series' run, exterior establishment shots of the Keaton home were never used in any of the episodes, which is very unusual for a family sitcom. The vast majority of all scenes were played out in the kitchen.

[lostnfound117]

ALF
*ALF's name is Gordon Shumway, and he's from the planet Melmac.

*Producer 'Paul Fusco' was the voice of ALF.

*Michael Eisner, head of The Walt Disney Company, made an unsuccessful bid to buy the series outright before Lorimar made a syndication deal with Alien Productions.

*The final episode ("Consider Me Gone") was, indeed, intended as a cliffhanger. At the time it was filmed, NBC was still up in the air over whether the show would be cancelled. The cliffhanger format was intended to help persuade NBC to give the show one more chance, if only to resolve the "To Be Continued" ending. Six years later, the TV movie Project: ALF finally brought closure--although the lack of the original human cast, and poor writing, cause many fans to reject Project: ALF as part of the show's canon.

*The name of every episode is also the name of a song. Each is relevant to the episode's plot.

*ALF stands for Alien Life Form.

*The names of the Melmacian holidays and currencies mentioned by ALF in some episodes are actually the surnames of the crew-members.

[lostnfound117]

The Bernie Mac Show
*The show is shot in single-camera style with no laugh track or studio audience.

*Bernie was originally hesitant about doing the show for fear it would tone down his comedic style.

*The idea for the show was originally pitched to NBC, ABC, CBS and the WB.

*Production on the fourth season had to be suspended for eight weeks in order to allow Bernie Mac to recover from a serious case of pneumonia.

*Larry Wilmore, who created and executive produced the show, was fired by FOX during the show's second season. Reports cited that Wilmore and the network constantly clashed over the show's creative direction. FOX executives felt that the show didn't have enough laughs and were disappointed with the show's ratings in its second season while Wilmore was frustrated with FOX's treatment of the show and creative interference.

[lostnfound117]

Mork and Mindy
*Many of the gags seen on the show were on-the-spot improvisations by Robin Williams, and later by Williams and Jonathan Winters. If you pay attention to Pam Dawber, you can often see her having difficulty not laughing at the ad libs.

*When Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr temporarily left the show, their absences were explained by having Fred fulfilling his dream of becoming a conductor and going on the road and Cora joining him there.

*Unlike humans, who evolved from the apes, Orkans evolved from chickens.

*Mork and Mindy's downstairs neighbor, Mr. Bickley, wrote greeting cards for a living.

*As of 2004 Mork and Mindy's house is the most popular landmark in Boulder, Colorado.

*The house used for the exterior shots of Mindy's home is at 1619 Pine St near downtown Boulder. Mindy's father's music store was actually a bookstore on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.

*Producer Garry Marshall said he came up with the basic concept of the show during a phone call with an ABC executive. He said he set the show in the college town of Boulder because he had a friend with a child attending Colorado University.

*Jonathan Winters' first appearance on the show was as Dave McConnell (one of Mindy's relatives) in "Mork and the Family Reunion". Winters went on to join the cast full-time as Mearth in the following season.

*Mork's furry alien pet, Bebo, was credited as himself.

[lostnfound117]

Bewitched

*During the second season, five babies played Tabitha Stephens. Cynthia Black in the episode where Tabitha is born. then it went to twins Heidi Gentry and Laura Gentry. The final set of babies in season where Julie Young and Tamar Young. In season three the Young Twins had been replaced by fraternal twins Erin Murphy and Diane Murphy. By season five the role was solely played to Erin Murphy although Diane did appear in a number of episodes afterwards - always wearing a wig.

*Although fraternal twins Erin Murphy and Diane Murphy shared the role of Tabitha Stephens up until the middle of the fifth season, Diane only played Tabitha on her own in one episode - Samantha Fights City Hall.

*During the first six years, practically every car in sight is a Chevrolet, because the car company was one of the show's original sponsors.

*The 4 April 1968 episode "I Confess", was interrupted by ABC during its original airing for news coverage of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King

*Many of the plots from earlier shows were repeated later.

*Elizabeth Montgomery didn't actually twitch her nose to cause Samantha's magic to occur; she twitched her upper lip, causing her nose to follow.

*Almost all of the female witches' character names end with the letter "a", including Samantha, Endora, Esmeralda, Clara, Hagatha, Enchantra and Tabitha. Some exceptions include Abigail Beechum (Maurice's private secretary) and Mary (friend of Bertha, Endora and Clara).

*The show's now-famous animated opening credits were created by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

*The role of Samantha was originally offered to Tammy Grimes.

*Helen Hunt and Jodie Foster were once considered for the role of Tabitha.

*The theme music to the show was a variation of the Chevrolet jingle, "See the USA in your Chevrolet". There would be a scene in the opening credits where Samantha's broom turns into the Chevrolet logo.

*Jim Backus was the first choice to play Abner Kravitz, but turned it down, because he was already working on Gilligan's Island.

*Darrin graduated from the University of Missouri class of 1950.

*When it became clear that Dick York could not continue with the series, William Asher considered canceling it, not only because of York's departure, but because he and Elizabeth Montgomery wanted to move on. However, the ratings were still high enough that the network wanted the show to go on. Dick Sargent was brought in to replace York, but there was still one problem: how to explain why Darrin looked and sounded different. Many people working on the show came up with ideas, but Asher thought the viewers understood this was an actor playing a role, so he decided that the best explanation was no explanation.

*In the episode "Hippie, Hippie, Hooray", we see Larry and Louise Tate in their kitchen. It's the same set used as Tony Nelson's kitchen from I Dream of Jeannie.

*The exterior of the Kravitz house is the same exterior as used in The Partridge Family and The Donna Reed Show.

*During the hiatus between the 1968-1969 and 1969-1970 seasons, the network reran all 14 episodes in which Dick York did not appear in hopes of making it easier for fans to accept Dick Sargent as the new Darrin.

*Samantha's maiden name was never revealed.

*After the third season, it was often not known if Dick York would be well enough to work any given week, because of his back pain issues. "Darrin-less" scripts were therefore on hand, or scripts were made Darrin-less (often by giving his lines to Larry Tate). Most sources tend to assume York missed thirteen episodes from his back pain issues, when in reality, most of the episodes York "missed" were actually filmed after he had already left the show (in season five). They were then aired mixed with episodes he had completed. At least one of the two episodes he missed in season three had nothing to do with his back pain issues, but was because his father had died.

*After her initial five-year contract was up, Elizabeth Montgomery announced she would move on to other things. Desperate to keep the show going, the network gave her part ownership as part of her new contract.

*Irene Vernon (the first Louise Tate) was let go by the Ashers from the show after season two because of her association with producer Danny Arnold, who left at that time.

*Running for eight seasons, this was the longest-running of the so-called "fantasy sitcoms" that dominated the airwaves in the mid-1960s (i.e. The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, etc.), as well as the last surviving example of the genre when it went off the air in 1972 (a year after All in the Family ushered in a new era of reality sitcoms).

*The names of Samantha and Endora parallel the Biblical story of the Witch of Endor (I Samuel 28). In the passage, Saul consults a medium (traditionally referred to as a witch) at a place called Endor to bring up the spirit of Samuel. Thus the parallel: witch, Endor, Samuel...witch, Endora, Samantha.

*Despite popular stories, Dick Sargent was never William Asher's and Elizabeth Montgomery's original choice for the role of Darrin. Dick York was always their first choice. Sargent was only considered for the role when Tammy Grimes was still being considered, before Asher and Montgomery became involved with the show.

*There were some protests when the show was about to premier, primarily from viewers in "Bible Belt" states who were afraid that the show was going to promote devil worship.

*Rehearsals for the pilot were set to begin on November 22, 1963. However, they were postponed because of the assassination earlier that day of President Kennedy, who was a good friend of William Asher.

*The series marked the first time that a married couple was seen in the same bed together. Prior to this, most shows featured married couples in separate beds.

*Agnes Moorehead was chosen to play Endora after a chance meeting with Elizabeth Montgomery and William Asher at a Bloomingdale's department store.

[MeezDiscreet]

Originally posted by lostnfound117
The Cosby Show
*The black button that Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) wears in some of the later seasons says "SD Jr," a reference to Cosby's close friend Sammy Davis Jr., who died during the series' run.

i ALWAYS wondered what that pin said and meant!! thank you because i didn't think i would ever know

[lostnfound117]

Growing Pains
*In 1990, the producers chose to "leap" the character of Chrissy five years, and she suddenly became seven years-old.

*Producers had to seriously re-tailor the show to better include other cast members after the network complained that the pilot too heavily focused on the Mike character.

*'Leonardo Dicaprio' was brought on in a last ditch effort to pump new life into the show and appeal to the teenage fan base, but alas, the show performed poorly, Dicaprio's character dropped, and the show cancelled.

*Alan Thicke was predominantly known as a Canadian talk show host before the role of Jason on the show. Most involved with the production did not want him, but when no one reading for the part fit the bill, Thicke was auditioned and hired.

*Kirk Cameron was so intent keeping the show devoid of adult themes that he phoned the president of ABC and accused producers Guntzelman, Marshall and Sullivan of being "pornographers". The three then resigned from the show, having had enough of Cameron's shenanigans.

*'Matthew Perry' appeared in the 88-89 season as Carol's boyfriend, Sandy. After a handful of episodes Perry is killed off by having his character die from injuries sustained from a drunk-driving accident.

*Tracey Gold (Carol) suffered from severe anorexia and missed most of the show's final season. Pay close attention to the final episode and you will notice Gold does not take one bite of the pizza she is holding.

*Cameron met his future wife Chelsea Noble, who played Kate, on the show.

*Julie McCullough, who played Kirk Cameron's love interest Julie Costello during the fourth season, was abruptly fired from the show at the start of filming for the episode "Mike and Julie's Wedding" (in which her character would have married Mike Seaver). When she arrived for filming, she was given a new script, in which Julie left Mike at the altar. While no official reason was given to McCullough, it was common knowledge that Kirk Cameron had demanded that she be fired from the series. Cameron, who had become a born again Christian several years earlier, disliked McCullough because the actress had posed in Playboy months before being hired, and demanded her firing as a condition of his signing a new contract. This caused a huge backlash among fans of the series, forcing the show's producers to bring a reluctant McCullough (who had wanted nothing more to do with the show and Kirk Cameron) back in a hastily written episode to give the Julie character proper send-off. (I remember all this stuff!)

*Julie McCollough was unaware of her firing as she was handed the script just moments after showing up on-set. She found it difficult to do a follow-up episode a year later, as her character makes good with Mike, when in real-life she resented Cameron for having her fired.

*Although Mike is the oldest of the Seaver kids, actor Kirk Cameron actually was more than a year younger than Tracey Gold who played Mike's younger sister Carol.

*Growing Pains ran for seven seasons, beginning on September 24th, 1985 and ending on April 24th, 1992. 165 episodes.

*Maura Tierney admitted to having been fired from the show.

*The show was originally supposed to air an episode arc in and around Europe, but the idea was later scrapped when 'Kirk Cameron' expressed a fear of flying.

[lostnfound117]

Saved by the Bell
*Elizabeth Berkley originally auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski and was turned down in favor of Tiffani Thiessen, but the producers liked Elizabeth so much that they created the Jessie Spano character especially for her to play.

*Jennie Garth auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski

*This show follows Good Morning, Miss Bliss which takes place at John F. Kennedy Junior High School, in Indianapolis, Indiana. When several of the students and Mr. Belding move up to Bayside High School in Saved by the Bell the series is suddenly set in Pacific Palisades, California.

*The show originally was going to have three guys and two girls, but the character of Jesse was created when Elizabeth Berkley had a successful audition.

*Dustin Diamond was three years younger than the rest of the cast. Other actors considered for roles of main characters include Jaleel White, Johnathan Brandis, Brian Austin Green, and Jennie Garth.

*The segments where Zach remembers memories of junior high were added to the beginning of "Good Morning Miss Bliss" episodes that were re-edited from The Disney Channel as "Saved By the Bell" episodes for syndication.

*Some episodes are actually re-edited episodes of Good Morning, Miss Bliss.

*Singer Michael Damian performed an alternate rendition of the show's theme song, which was used during the first season.

*Lisa Turtle was originally written as white Jewish girl, but the producers liked Lark Voorhies, and gave her the part.

*The original role of Miss Bliss of the pre-Saved by the Bell Good Morning, Miss Bliss (called Saved by the Bell in the reruns) was written for Sandy Duncan. Duncan was busy with The Hogan Family, so Hayley Mills was cast instead.

*When the original series Good Morning, Miss Bliss was being developed, producers were considering casting Brian Austin Green, Jaleel White, and Jonathan Brandis.

*Dustin Diamond is the only actor to appear in all Saved by the Bell episodes, spin-offs and movies.

*The final "Graduation" episode had already been shot when the network ordered additional episodes. Tiffani Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley were attached to other projects by that time, necessitating the creation of a replacement character Tori, played by Leanna Creel. The Tori episodes aired in the middle of the other final season episodes to sidestep continuity problems (though the disappearance and later reappearance of Kelly and Jessie-and vise versa for Tori- went unexplained). (I didn't like those episodes, the Tori character was corny as hell)

*Mark-Paul Gosselaar had to dye his hair blonde every two weeks while shooting the show.

*Scott Wolf and Denise Richards made cameo appearances before making it to stardom. Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills, 90210) also made an appearance as a recurring character named Violet Bickerstaff - who was Screech's love interest.

*According to producer Peter Engel, at a meeting before the show had been created NBC President Brandon Tartikoff suggested the show be given a name that used the word bell (such as "When the Bell Rings"). One of Engel's colleagues then suggested the name "Saved by the Bell", which Tartikoff liked. Engel disliked the name but, believing that someone else probably owned the rights to the phrase "saved by the bell", went along with it. As luck would have it, NBC's legal department discovered that in fact nobody owned the rights to the phrase, and by the next day Engel's office was covered in large banners that said "Saved by the Bell".

*In the episode Home for the Holidays, the Santa Claus in the show was credited as Himself.

*Lisa's last name is Turtle, Jessie's middle name is Myrtle, and Zack's pet turtle's name is Myrtle.

*Mark-Paul Gosselaar has an interesting ancestry. His father was Dutch and his mother was Indonesian. He actually speaks fluent Dutch. He met his wife "Lisa Ann Russell" on this series.

*Lark Voorhies also appeared on the series, "Good Morning Miss Bliss (1987)". She also starred on the daytime dramas, "Days Of Our Lives (1965)" and "The Bold and the Beautiful (1987)". She has also done TV commercials and appeared in many music videos. Her mother named her "Lark" after a character she saw in the movie, "Cool Breeze (1972)" when she was only 14 years old.

*Since leaving the series, Elizabeth Berkley who played Jessica Spano has appeared in several movies including "Showgirls" which disappointed some of her fans because she played the role of a stripper. She has stated that she sometimes has felt like the woman wearing the "Scarlett Letter" since doing that film. And, surprisingly, she only received $100,000 in salary for her role in the movie! Elizabeth once said that she sat on an airplane next to a guy watching "Showgirls" and he never even recognized her! She also earned a degree from UCLA in English Literature! She is a vegetarian and has two differently colored eyes! Her right eye is half-green, half-brown and her left one is all green.

[lostnfound117]

Family Matters

Michelle Thomas the character who played Myra Monkhouse, in real life

Dated Malcolm-Jamal Warner, whom she met while playing his girlfriend, Justine, on The Cosby Show.

Once diagnosed with cancer, she refused treatments for her condition for she was afraid that they would interfere with her chances of conceiving children. Ironically, she passed away before she could have any children. ( )

Actor and former boyfriend Malcolm-Jamal Warner was at her bedside when she died on December 22, 1998 ( )


During the last season of "Family Matters", her cancer grew worse, making it harder for her to do her scenes. Her screen time grew shorter and shorter, before she had to leave the show for good in 1998 shortly before it was canceled. ( )