25 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 12, 2025

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25 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 12, 2025
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When I was growing up, if I wanted to watch my favorite shows, I had to double-check TV Guide to confirm it was coming on at its usual time slot, and I had to make sure to plan my day around being free and near a television while it was scheduled to be on. Sure, I could catch the reruns, but sometimes I managed to miss both, and ended up without the context of an entire episode. I guess that’s why shows used to do the whole “Previously on….” thing. Now with streaming, none of this is an issue; you can watch anything at the touch of a button. Just like you can read these wherever, whenever you want! 

Family Guy

Family Guy was supposed to be a series of shorts on MADtv CRACKED.COM Similar to how The Simpsons began on The Tracy Ullman Show, Family Guy was originally pitched to Fox as a series of animated shorts for MADtv. Ultimately, MAD didn't have the budget for the animation, so the network decided to give Seth MacFarlane his own time slot. Fitting that the wild little brother of SNL almost launched the wild little brother of The Simpsons.

Source: IGN

Modern Family

MATT BLANC MODERN FAMILY LeBlanc turned down the Phil Dunphy role. I remember 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!

CNN

The X-Files

HOMER SIMPSON GOT A VISIT FROM MULDER AND SCULLY In The Simpsons episode The Springfield Files, Homer encounters an alien in a forest, and agents Mu

Peter Griffin's Vibe

FAMILY CRACKED CO GUY Peter Griffin's accent, look, and mannerisms came from a security guard named Paul Timmins who worked at the Rhode Island School

Saul Goodman

STRANGE PHONE NUMBERS YOU CAN CALL RIGHT NOW Call 1-505-503-4455 ...to reach the law office of Saul Goodman. You can also leave a message for Saul at 1-505-842-5662 CRACKED.COM

Sheldon

COMEDY NERD Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory was actually originally named Kenny. But they changed that to Sheldon in homage to great TV producer Sheldon Leonard. CRACKED.COM

He does radiate Kenny energy. 

Source

Tuco in Better Call Saul

Tuco breaking Lars' and Cal's legs in Better Call Saul involved pig squeals. They used those sounds, among others creator Vince Gilligan wanted those screams to sound absolutely horrific, and pig squeals were part of the solution. CRACKED.COM

Source

Ants

There's an ant with a spine So dragon-like that scientists called it the Pheidole drogon, after Drogon from Game of Thrones. The ant uses its defined

Now they just need a Pheidole rhaegal and Pheodole viserion.

Danai Gurira

Mostly known as Michonne in The Walking Dead, and Okoye in Black Panther, Danai Gurira COMICAVE 813910 INEINI is also a playwright, who wrote Eclipsed

Game of Thrones

In Game of Thrones, THE LANOISTER8 ANO THE STARKS are feuding royal families with a convoluted, violent history, vying for the Iron Throne. Their name

All My Children

CRACKED.COM In the 1970s, soap opera All My Children was incredibly popular among college students. Reasons varied - some loved it because it was real, some because it was so unreal, but thousands of students were fans. Some students even went as far as planning their class schedules around it.

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

Tina Fey

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS Sarah Silverman's role could have gone to TINAFEY CRACKED.COM The 30 Rock star auditioned for Patty Di Marco, the part that went to Silverman. Tina of course was/is wonderful, says casting director llene Starger, but her schedule on Saturday Night Live was complex and conflicted in part with our filming schedule.

Dot Comedy

Disastrous Comedy 2000 Dot Comedy As the internet was still this new and exciting thing, ABC tried to capitalize by having a terribly unfunny host show off silly computer products, like a mouse that doubles as a deodorant stick. It aired one episode and was canceled two days later. CRACKED

The Guardian

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM WILL FERRELL HAD A RANDOM CAMEO ON THE CBS DRAMA THE GUARDIAN. My manager Jim, who was also a producer on it at the time, and we basically forced CBS to write a guest role for me which looks like I'm going to be a series regular, he said.

Baby Bob

Disastrous Comedy 2002 Baby Bob Food Turning an ad into a sitcom, this talking baby got his own CBS primetime show after a string of Freelnternet.com commercials. It's 14 episodes of Wait, that baby can talk? moments that got old right away. CRACKED

Albert Brooks

ALBERT BROOKS PREDICTED REALITY me TV IN 1979. FILMING THANKSGIVING His mockumentary film Real Life featured an obnoxious, intrusive camera crew trailing a family and deliberately stirring up conflict. It was meant as a sendup of a PBS documentary series, but with the twist that most of the drama was generated artificially by the producer. CRACKED.COM http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/real-life-1979

Yep, this is literally just standard practice now.

Source

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