35 Random Classic TV Facts That Could Care Less About Getting With the Times

Back when channel-changing could help you get your steps in
35 Random Classic TV Facts That Could Care Less About Getting With the Times
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You kids these days with your precious streams and whatnot. Back in our day, a stream was just a thin river. And we know those watery streams still exist today, okay? We’re not saying that all this new-age TV watching somehow eliminated flowing water. That’d be an insane claim. 

We’re old, but we’re not senile — yet. 

Where we we? Oh yeah! We found some facts about classic TV that are glad they only know that one type of stream.

Batman

In the 1960s Batman series, Batman and Robin buckled their seatbelts before taking off in the Batmobile. This occurred after a complaint by the National Safety Council & the Dynamic Duo set a good example thereafter. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The First TV Drama

Hobbies older than we knew 1928 TV shows In 1928, Izetta Jewell starred in the first TV drama, The Queen's Messenger, based on a one-act play. It was a big step for TV when radio was the main source of dramatic entertainment. CRACKED

Mary Kay and Johnny

Mary Kay and Johnny 1947-1950 CRACKED.COM The very first U.S. sitcom featured the first time a couple slept in the same bed and the first time a woman's pregnancy was shown on TV.

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.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sabrina The Teenage Witch CRACKED.COM Sabrina hails from the Archie universe. She had her own animated series in the 70's, but her first appearance was as the new kid at Riverdale in 1968's The Archie Show.

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver 1957 CRACKED.COM Although not quite the first show to feature a toilet (it was edited out for being too scandalous), it was the first show to show a toilet tank and certainly one of the first to even include a bathroom.

Mork & Mindy

Mork & Mindy CRACKED.COM Mork from Ork originally appeared on Happy Days, attempting to kidnap Richie Cunningham. The episode was technically one long dream sequence, but people loved Robin Williams' performance so much, they edited the ending and spun off a four-season show.

Candid Camera

Candid Camera 1948 Candia Camela CRACKED COM The show (originally a radio show called Candid Microphone) was the first televised reality show, featuring regular members of the public as its stars.

Happy Days

Happy Days RONNY-HOWARD CRACKED.COM The Happy Days crew started out on an episode of Love, American Style, which was basically an anthology of unconnected rom-com pilots. Their episode was meant to be a pilot for an entirely different show that was never picked up. Two years later, the characters and settings were yoinked for Happy Days.

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.

Spock

Spock was originally supposed to have red skin. But TV sets at the time were still black-and-white, so Spock would have looked black on screen. So, thankfully, Gene Roddenberry dropped the idea. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show CRACKED.COM The world was introduced to Andy Griffith in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. Thomas takes time off from being a good comedian and terrible father to get arrested in the small town of Mayberry.

Columbo

COLUMBO The American TV series Columbo was very popular in Romania. In fact, Romanians were so devoted to the show that when the government learned the series was coming to an end, they feared a riot might start over what would be perceived as censorship. As a solution, they broadcast a statement in Romanian read by star Peter Falk, which averted the crisis. GRACKED.COM

The Original Batmobile

The original Batmobile sold for $4.2 million The Batmobile from the original TV series was bought by 56-year-old who owned a logistics company. CRACKED.COM

Star Trek

King Abdullah II of Jordan appeared in Star Trek. CRACKED.COM King Abdullah is a fan of Star Trek and had a small non-speaking role on Investiga- tions, a 1995 episode of the TV series Star Trek: Voyager.

The Incredible Hulk

CRACKED In the classic The Incredible Hulk TV series, as in the comics, the Hulk owes his powers to an overdose of gamma radiation. Unfortunately, gamma radiation plus human body equals diarrhea, radiation sickness, infertility and even cancer. Nothing incredible about that.

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 Rural Purge

CRACKED COM In the early 1970s, CBS cancelled all its shows set in the country. Rural shows like Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies made up the bulk of CBS's programming - but their audience skewed old, and execs wanted their network to be young and hip. So they cancelled the lot of them-a move that went down in history as the Rural Purge.

Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge McDuck's first cartoon was capitalist propaganda. In the original comics, Scrooge was pretty much, well, a scrooge - but in his 1967 animated debut in Scrooge McDuck and Money, his villainish side disappears as he becomes a wise advisor, giving Huey, Dewey, and Louie valuable lessons about how capitalism works. CRACKED.COM

The Love Boat

THE LOVE BOAT Those aren't paid actors or extras in the background. They're regular people who paid up to $8,000 to take a highly restricted cruise in the viscinity of celebrities. CRACKED.COM

The Tonight Show

Joan Rivers THE TONIGHT SHOW CRACKED.COM Joan Rivers was a permanent guest host on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show... until she launched a competing show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on FOX. Her ban lasted until Jimmy Fallon invited Rivers back on in 2014 to play Karaoke Pictionary or whatever.

The Adventures of Champion

The Adventures of Champion 1955 CRACKED.COM The first TV show spin-off was based on The Gene Autry Show, with the titular Champion being Gene Autry's horse.

The Andy Griffith Show (Again)

THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW Andy's maps are upside-down. Weirder still: why does a sheriff in North Carolina need maps of Idaho and Nevada? CRACKED.COM

Marilu Henner

Marilu Henner has an extraordinary memory. The actress from the sitcom Taxi is one of the few people in the world who have hyperthymesia. The condition allows her to recall almost every day of her life, in vivid detail. But most importantly, it really comes in handy when reading scripts. CRACKED.COM

Mister Ed

Mister Ed won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Comedy in 1963. The show about a talking horse and his owner, Wilbur, has aged like milk. What was once amusing, now comes off as a gimmick. CRACKED.COM

Steambath

The First Female Nudity Wardrobe malfunctions date back to at least the 1950's, but the first scripted nudity was on PBS' Steambath in 1973. CRACKED.COM

Gilligan’s Island (Again)

Gilligan's Island is based on the seven deadly sins. Each one of the castaways symbolizes a sin: Skipper is Anger, Professor is Pride, Ginger is Lust, and so on. That's not a fan theory or anything, it's how creator Sherwood Schwartz conceived of the characters. CRACKED.COM

The Danny Thomas Show

The First Major Character Death 570 Jean Hagen Actress Jean Hagen left The Danny Thomas Show in 1956. Producers decided an unexplained death would be less controversial than divorce. CRACKED.COM

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The Talk-Show Host Whisperer

Peter Lassally produced Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson. In his youth, he survived a concentration camp and went to grade school with Anne Frank. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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Mork & Mindy (One More Time)

MORK & MINDY WoUND DOwN WITTHA THREE PART STORY. YeT THE PAIR STILL WoUND UP STRANDED FOR eTeRnITY. What's regarded as the series finale of Mork & Min

Happy Days (Again)

on HAPPYL DAYS, Richie HAD An OLDER BROTHER named CHUCK OR HE DID, UNTIL THE SECond season. Chuck was away at college for much of the first season, an

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