30 Pieces of TV Trivia That Harken Back to the Heady Days of ‘TV Guide’

This list sadly won’t have a crossword puzzle at the end
30 Pieces of TV Trivia That Harken Back to the Heady Days of ‘TV Guide’
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TV Guide was a huge influence on us. Not only did it help deepen our love for TV, but its TV listings gave us the idea for TV fact listings. 

It was a one-stop shop for everything we love: TV and lists. Today we shed a tear and pour one out for our fallen mentor. This list of classic TV facts is dedicated to you, old friend.

Ed Sullivan

Ed Sullivan took heat for kissing Pearl Bailey on the cheek & shaking Nat King Cole's hand. Не also had a Ford executive thrown out of the theater for suggesting he book fewer Black acts. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Fred Rogers

Fred Rogers The host and creator Fred Rogers insisted that every word used on the show be intentional. Не did not want to mislead or confuse his preschool audience. CRACKED.COM

An American Family

The distinction of being the very first reality show goes to the 1973 PBS mini series An American Family. The show followed the Louds (a large middle class Californian family) which documented their divorce and featured their openly gay son-both rare on TV at that time. CRACKED.COM

The Munsters

The mansion in The Munsters was also used in Desperate Housewives. THE MUNSTERS The appearance of the building was further modified after the first season, supposedly because it was too recognizable. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES CRACKED.COM

The General Lee

PING Golfer Bubba Watson SHIN owns the General Lee. a MILLE Over 300 Dodge Chargers were trashed during the run of The Dukes of Hazzard, but Watson has the original - the one that shows up in the opening credits. Не had the confederate flag painted over in 2015. 01 CRACKED.COM

Jerry Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke had a brother who was both a comedian and a TV actor. Jerry Van Dyke showed up on a bunch of TV shows starting in the '60s, and got four Emmy nominations for playing Luther Van Dam in Coach. CRACKED.COM

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

Diff’rent Strokes

COMEDY NERD Check out the Diff'rent Strokes episode Santa's Helper for classic Christmas cheer. There's nothing particularly innovative or groundbreaking about it, but it's a great old-school sitcom Christmas special. CRACKED.COM

Good Times

CRACKED EDDIE MURPHY OWNS A PAINTING FROM THE 1970S SITCOM GOOD TIMES. developed by NORMAN I R A replica of the painting sold at auction for 16 million dollars.

The Brady Bunch

CRACKED.COM The Brady Bunch The kids didn't have a toilet. Family TV was very restrictive-viewers should never imagine that the Brady kids ever needed to relieve themselves, based on the set design of the kids' bathroom.

Adam West in Tim Burton's Batman?!

Facts about the Batmen 1960s Batman show Adam west West spent decades lobbying to play Batman again, pitching wilder and wilder projects. Не was disappointed when he wasn't cast for Tim Burton's movie. CRACKED.COM

Cheers

COACH CHEERS CRACKED.COM After being cast as Coach, Nicholas Colasanto developed heart disease and an inability to remember lines. That forced producers to hide his script in places the audience couldn't see. When Colasanto became too sick to perform, the cast read letters from 'vacationing' Coach until the actor's death during Season 3.

The Robert Taylor Show

The Robert Taylor Show A 1963 drama based on real stories from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's official files. The network realized no one had gotten the government's permission, and canned it. CRACKED.COM

What the Blank!

What The Blank! MICHA ENNIS LAND EAVER 300 This remake of Match Game from the '70s, hosted by Fred Willard, was inexplicably dropped by 3 different networks! CRACKED.COM

The First Presidential Debate

The First Presidential Debate The 1960 debate between Nixon and JFK was the first time America collectively decided we want a hot president. CRACKED.COM

Hot L Baltimore

The First Gay Couple HOTEL BACTIMORE George and Gordon from Hot I Baltimore, a short-lived but groundbreaking show in 1975, were the first gay couple on screen. CRACKED.COM

M*A*S*H

HENRY BLAKE M*A*S*H SI GRACKED COM Blake was one of the first major sitcom characters to die, rather than being recast or written out of a series. Most of the cast didn't know Blake's fate until moments before filming the scene when Radar announces the sad news.

Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball was actually a very serious and responsible person, despite being famous for playing silly and funny characters. And her natural hair color was brown. CRACKED.COM

Laugh-In

A comedy show predicted when the Berlin Wall would fall. In 1969, Laugh-In reported a piece of news from the future about the Berlin Wall being torn down in 1989. The show also joked that Ronald Reagan would be elected president in the '80s. CRACKED.COM

The Vulcan Salute

The Vulcan Star Trek salute Leonard Nimoy based the live long and prosper hand sign on a blessing he had seen as a child, during a synagogue service. 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 Original Oscar

Sesame Street Oscar the Grouch was orange. The grumpy muppet was a completely different color in the show's first season (and Jim Henson's original idea was to make him magenta). CRACKED.COM

Fonzie’s Motorcycle

Fonzie rode a motorcycle because that was the only way he could wear a leather jacket. Network executives thought a leather jacket made the wearer look like a shady character and wouldn't allow it, so creator Garry Marshall had to sell them on it by saying it was safety gear for Fonzie's motorcycle. Which meant he had to give Fonzie a motorcycle, of course. CRACKED.COM

Maude

The first decision to get an abortion 1972 CRACKED COM 2 months before Roe v. Wade, Bea Arthur's titular character on Maude chose to get an abortion at age 47. Or, actually, her husband decided on the abortion. Baby steps.

The Honeymooners

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE HONEYMOONERS SHOULD GO STRAIGHT TO THE MOON The Dallas Morning News said, The comedy wannabe has the lamest, most predictable banter of any recent movie. Other than that, The Honeymooners was pretty good.

The Golden Girls

CRACKED.COM Queen Elizabeth II loved The Golden Girls. The queen was such a fan that she requested the cast to fly out to the London Palladium to perform some scenes from the show in person.

The Fonz

THE FONZ scared the hell out of Mrs. С HAPPY DAYS CRACKED.COM In the early Happy Days, the Fonz was a streetwise gang member itching for a rumble. On one occasion, he even threatened Richie with a beat down. A few seasons later, the delinquent dropout was the new shop teacher at Jefferson High.

Jim Nabors

JIM NABORS GOMER PYLE CRACKED.COM In the years after playing Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith Show, Nabors recorded and released 28 albums. Не came out in 2013 at the age of 83 and married his partner of 38 years.

Batman

A 1960s Batman episode had Batman, Robin, and Batgirl fight all their villains at once. THE IMPROVISATION: There was no money to actually show that, so the villains turned invisible and the trio punched air. Then they turned off the light to even the odds, leaving the screen black. THE RESULT: An episode in which the show topped itself in campy hilarity. CRACKED.COM

Charlie’s Angels

Angels '88 CHARLIE'S ANGELS 300- -4 A revival of Charlie's Angels that, due to a Writers Guild strike, would have just reused old scripts. It was postponed, renamed Angels '89, and eventually canned. CRACKED.COM

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