29 Bits of TV Trivia That Were Just Popular Enough to Warrant A Second Season

Facts that really start coming into their own
29 Bits of TV Trivia That Were Just Popular Enough to Warrant A Second Season

Some shows don’t really hit their stride until Season Two, so they should be extremely grateful that they were able to survive that long. A few less viewers or a few less inklings of possible greatness could have gotten them canceled, and we would have never seen their true potential.

These TV facts started out that way as well. The first few are good, but man do they pick up some serious steam after that. The best part is that they actually stick the landing with an incredibly satisfying finale!

Captain Kangaroo

CRACKED BONES et In 1981, a very young TONY HAWK appeared on Captain Kangaroo. Playing Skateboard Johnny, Hawk performed a dance to the sea shanty Drunken Sailor. Yes, it's as awkward as it sounds.

Modern Family

MATT I EBLANC MODERN FAMILY CRACKED.COM LeBlanc turned down the Phil Dunphy role. I reading it thinking, this is a really good script, (but) I'm not the guy for this, LeBlanc said. I'd be doing the project an injustice to take this. Self-awareness for the win!

The Smurfs

PAPA SMURF HELPED WINNIE THE POOH GET A KID OFF DRUGS. Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is a drug prevention special from the '90s that features several popular cartoon characters. In it, Papa Smurf and Pooh team up to stop a kid from buying weed with his little sister's pocket money. CRACKED.COM

Game of Thrones Theme Song

An early version of the Game of Thrones theme can be found on the soundtrack to the first 'Iron Man! CRACKED.COM 18 seconds into 'Mark Il' you can hear composer Ramin Djawadi wrestling with the notes that will three years later become part of the Game of Thrones tune.

House of Cards

House of Cards is a remake of a British TV series from 1990... в В с THE OF which was in turn based on a 1989 book by the same name. CRACKED.COM

SNL

GILDA RADNER was the very first hire for Saturday Night Live. The actress was the first to be cast in SNL in 1975. She stayed for five years. GRACKED GOM

The Sopranos

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS CRACKED.COM LORRAINE BRACCO COULD'VE PLAYED CARMELA SOPRANO. Söpranos Bracco was offered the role of Soprano's wife, however, she refused it because she didn't want to play another mobster's wife after Goodfellas. Instead, she fought to get the role of Dr. Melfi.

The Office

aff ewsle eon TH MIF The Office Phyllis had her role made up for her. Phyllis Smith was working as a casting assistant as the show was being put together. Everyone was impressed by her performance as she read opposite other actors at the auditions, so they wrote a part for her. CRACKED.COM

Star Trek

The signs in Star Trek: The Next Generation are full of nonsense. 2 OPTICAL DATA NET SERVICE ACCESS JUST SIT RIGHT BACK AND YOU'LL NEAR A TALE, A TALE OF A FATERIL TRIP, THAT STARTED FROM THIS TROPIC PORT, ABOARD THIS TINY SHIP... Lead graphic designer Michael Okuda, who made them, didn't think they'd ever be legible on '80s and '90s TV screens, so he filled them with stuff like the lyrics to the Gilligan's Island theme song. CRACKED.COM

Raymond Cruz

CRACKED.COM Raymond Cruz had to bow out early from BREAKING BAD due to other commitments. Deprived of Tuco Salamanca, Vince Gilligan decided to replace him with an antagonist who was Tuco's complete opposite - eerily calm instead of a raging maniac. So Gus Fring was born.

Cheers

COMEDY NERD Turns out, Alex Trebek had a cameo on Cheers! - he was in a 1990 episode. In What Is ... Cliff Clavin?, Trebek winds up going to Cheers to get a drink and, among other things, is propositioned by Carla Tortelli. CRACKED.COM

Twin Peaks

CRACKED.COM LAURA PALMER wasn't meant to be much more than a corpse. Shery Lee was only hired for a few days' work on Twin Peaks-to play a corpse and do some flashbacks. David Lynch was so impressed by Lee's acting skills that he expanded her role as Laura, and created the character of Maddy as a way to keep her on the show.

All in the Family

COMEDY NERD Archie Bunker from All In The Family was originally called Archie Justice. And the show was called And Justice For All-and that was just the first of the show's three pilots. CRACKED.COM

Breaking Bad

Walter White's wardrobe in Breaking Bad S5 reflects Gus' influence. According to the costume designer, it's almost like he takes on Gus's sartorial fussiness ... he puts a little bit more thought into his clothes. I think he picks that up from Gus; it's almost like Gus is channeling through Walter White a little bit.JRACKED.com

Grey’s Anatomy

Patrick Dempsey got a teenager out of a wrecked car. When he saw a car flipped over, the actor, known for playing Doctor Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy, rushed over immediately and pried the doors open with a crowbar. Не then stayed with the teenager and called his mom. CRACKED COM

Adult Swim

CRACKED.COM adult swim They owe their success to reruns Reruns of shows from other networks like Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill were hugely responsible for the Adult Swim's early success. The viewers attracted by the shows also gave the untested original programming a fighting chance to build their audiences.

Anthony Bourdain

RK 2017 Anthony Bourdain was banned from Azerbaijan Bourdain really tested the premise of his show, Parts Unknown, by visiting an off-limits part of the country, just like when you got 86'd for sneaking backstage at Chuck Е. Cheese. CRACKED

South Park

EASTER EGGSTRA South Park The sound clip of Captain Picard. In the Something You Can Do with Your Finger episode, Randy freaks out and smashes a glass cabinet, yelling No! Noooo! It's the same audio from Star Trek: First where Captain Picard yells it before smashing glass. CRACKED.COM

Kit Harrington

Kit Harrington walked into his audition with a black eye. The night before, he'd got into a fight with a stranger while on a date in McDonald's. Harrington (hardly the most skilled actor on Game of Thrones) now credits the shiner for making him look tough enough for his Night's Watch role. CRACKED.COM

Evangeline Lilly

Evangeline Lilly acted in a phone sex ad. She was working as a stewardess for Air Canada when a scout for the Ford modeling agency spotted her. The phone sex gig was not what she had in mind, but it was an acting role, and it launched her career. CRACKED.COM

Game of Thrones

Rory McCann didn't have his audition script. His sister printed out just the opening lines, by mistake. When he came to the audition, he saw everyone else had prepared a long speech he knew nothing about. So with nothing prepared, he just acted crazy ... and got the part. CRACKED.COM

Gunther

Gunther's actor only got the part for his coffee skills. James Michael Tyler showed up for an audition for extras with coffee experience. His Coffee Guy character skulked in the background of Central Perk for a season and a half before the show's creators even asked if he knew how to act. CRACKED.COM

Deadwood

CRACKED.COM Al swearengen was written for Ed O'Neill. Deadwood creator David Milch intended loser Al Bundy to play scary pimp Swearengen. But HBO said no because, well, he was loser Al Bundy. Then lan McShane made Swearengen his own and no one looked back.

Batman

CRACKED.COM Tim curry would have made a sick Joker. Mark Hamill's Joker is one of the best things about Batman: The Animated Series. But Hamill was brought in as a replacement for Tim Curry. The producers weren't happy with Curry's take on the character (while Curry himself says he just had bronchitis.)

The Hulk

CRACKED.COM Jaws from James Bond was almost the Hulk. Richard Kiel was the first actor to be painted green for the pilot of The Incredible Hulk. Не was replaced by bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno after a few days, as Kiel, big as he was, wasn't bulky enough to make a good Hulk.

The A-Team

29 Bits of TV Trivia That Were Just Popular Enough to Warrant A Second Season

I Love Lucy

CRACKED.COM A fan colorizes I Love Lucy better than CBS. When CBS started colorizing / Love Lucy, Lucille Ball's hair ended up looking like some radioactive carrot. Zach Smothers of Pop-colorture.com doesn't have CBS' budget, but he managed to get much better results.

Friends

Friends was almost destroyed by Coca-Cola. For Friends second season, Coca-Cola spent $30 million to promote Diet Coke with the help of the hip twenty-somethings. The campaign was huge-so huge, in fact, that people got sick of seeing the characters everywhere, and rankings plummeted. (They got better, though.) let CRACKED.COM

Frasier

CRACKED.COM Lisa Kudrow wasn't a good ROZ. Kudrow and Peri Gilpin were the two final choices for Roz Doyle in Frasier- and the producers went with Kudrow. But her quirky style wasn't a good fit for the character, so the runner-up stepped up after a short time.

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