# Odd television facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833 "2011-06-17T14:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/181 "2011-06-22T01:00:04Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I might be misremembering because it’s been awhile since I read the books, but in one of the Star Trek nonfiction books written by David Gerrold, I believe it’s mentioned that both of these were factors in Chekov’s addition to the cast. Pravda actually complained about the fact that Star Trek didn’t contain a Russian character (with Russians at the time making big strides in space exploration) and Roddenberry agreed. But they also did want a young Beatles type. I believe Koenig wore a Beatle wig to his audition. was gonna comment on the difference in his hairstyles between seasons, but you all beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/182 "2011-06-22T01:28:43Z")
Remember that old UL about Groucho dropping a totally non-broadcastable jokebomb on _You Bet Your Life?_ It really happened. [The Master Speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/380/did-groucho-marx-utter-a-famous-double-entendre-ad-lib-on-the-air) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/183 "2011-06-22T01:39:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It really happened. [The Master Speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/380/did-groucho-marx-utter-a-famous-double-entendre-ad-lib-on-the-air) He says: “BS after all.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/184 "2011-06-22T01:41:43Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > He says: “BS after all.” “May be BS after all,” he says. “May be.” Please don’t take this away from me! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/185 "2011-06-22T01:45:11Z")
Related to me by a friend who saw Stephen Furst speaking at a sci-fi con some years ago on how he got the part of Vir Cotto in [Babylon 5](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105946/). Stephen Furst appeared for the audition, but when he appeared he was in street clothes, and everyone else for the audition was in alien make-up. Stephen panicked. He rushed to the bathroom and tried to spike his hair up using soap an water, but it wasn’t really taking and soap got in his eyes making them burn and hard to see, and then his name was called. He went in and began apologizing for his appearance, and the trouble he had trying to get into character, and how he didn’t know, and J. Michael Straczynski turned to the other interviewer (name forgotten) and said, “It’s Vir…” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/186 "2011-06-22T01:56:45Z")
The producers of the James bond movie, Diamonds are Forever had wanted Frank Sinatra to not only sing the title song but to appear as the Las Vegas millionaire held by Thumper. He declined. This is why the title song is sung in that Sinatra style. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/187 "2011-06-22T03:39:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Remember that old UL about Groucho dropping a totally non-broadcastable jokebomb on _You Bet Your Life?_ It really happened. [The Master Speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/380/did-groucho-marx-utter-a-famous-double-entendre-ad-lib-on-the-air) After years of denying it happened, because he honestly thought it didn’t, somebody Eubanks was presented with a clip of the [“in the butt” answer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XM5hbS7GlU&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/188 "2011-06-22T03:56:37Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > “Friends” debuted a year after “Frasier.” I think you mean she got the call to be Ursula in “Mad About You,” which I think officially counts as her break. Incorrect. It’s the other way around. [Frasier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frasier) began Sept. 16th, 1993. While [Friends](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends) debuted Sept. 22nd, 1994 - a year later. Kudrow _was_ originally cast as Roz. Here’s the full [story.](http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/12/frasier-starring-lisa-kudrow.html) More trivia (that I’d actually thought somebody would have beaten me to posting): 1. When Gary Burghoff (Radar O’Reilly) was ever onscreen in M.A.S.H. (film and series), careful attention was paid to obscure one of his hands. He was missing part of a finger, which in reality would have precluded him from doing service in the military. 2. On U.S. television, on any commercial for any type of alcoholic beverage, it is illegal to show alcohol being consumed. Just look at any beer ad - nobody ever takes a sip. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/189 "2011-06-22T04:01:43Z")
John Ratzenberger spent many years working in England (which is why he has small roles in _Star Wars_ and _Superman_). In England, actors generally don’t audition for roles by acting out scenes; they discuss with the director their ideas about the character and the show in general. Upon returning to the U.S., his first audition was for a new sitcom set in a bar. He was handed the script of a scene and sort of glanced over it, but was totally unprepared when the producers asked him to act it out. He did his best, but knew he had blown it pretty badly. As he was heading toward the door, he turned and asked, “Is there a know-it-all character in this show?” When told no, he said, “Every bar has a know-it-all in it.” He then did a quick riff from a stage act he and another comedian had done many times in England about a know-it-all in a pub. (I assume he used an American accent.) The producers were impressed, and wrote the role of Cliff Clavan for him. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/190 "2011-06-22T04:20:01Z")
Most House fans are aware that Hugh Laurie is English, from Oxford. Not too many people may be aware that he fooled executive producer Bryan Singer into believing he is an American. Singer was looking for a “quintessentially” American actor to play Greg House and felt he could not even consider a non American actor for the role. Other actors considered for the part of House were Patrick Dempsey, Rob Morrow, and Denis Leary. Laurie was in Namibia at the time of casting, filming “Flight of the Phoenix,” and assembled an audition tape in his hotel’s bathroom. When Singer saw the audition, he commented on how well the “American” actor grasped the character, not being aware that Laurie was English. Laurie credited his American accent to “a misspent youth, watching too much TV and too many movies.” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/191 "2011-06-22T04:23:28Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > “Friends” debuted a year after “Frasier.” I think you mean she got the call to be Ursula in “Mad About You,” which I think officially counts as her break. > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Incorrect. It’s the other way around. [Frasier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frasier) began Sept. 16th, 1993. While [Friends](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends) debuted Sept. 22nd, 1994 - a year later. So…Friends debuted a year after Frasier. Isn’t that what **Justin Bailey** said? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/192 "2011-06-22T04:28:00Z")
TV pioneer (that is, an inventor of the technology, not a producer or performer) [Philo Farnsworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth) not only was involved in ugly patent fights with Vladimir Zworykin – you can read the story in Cecil’s article [“Who Invented TV?”](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1600/who-invented-tv) – he seems to have been even more concerned with public recognition. I read once, but cannot find the cite now, that as a publicity stunt, Farnsworth arranged for a friend to send him a letter addressed only to “The Father of Television,” figuring the Post Office would deliver it to him and bragging rights with it. The letter never arrived. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/193 "2011-06-22T04:29:04Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > 1. On U.S. television, on any commercial for any type of alcoholic beverage, it is illegal to show alcohol being consumed. Just look at any beer ad - nobody ever takes a sip. According to Cecil, that is not exactly true, at least according to a Straight Dope column he wrote 20+ years back… Not illegal, but for years it was forbidden by part of the voluntary “code” that alcoholic beverage manufacturers designed for themselves, but apparently, there are a few manufacturers that do indeed have commercials that show actual consumption. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/194 "2011-06-22T04:45:44Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > He was missing part of a finger, which in reality would have precluded him from doing service in the military. Isn’t this also true of Scotty on Star Trek? Also, makes me wonder, what the minimum amount of self-disfigurement possible was for draft dodgers. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/195 "2011-06-22T10:54:25Z")
Yes, it’s true. James Doohan saw action at Juno Beach on D-Day and was struck by six enemy rounds, one of which struck his right middle finger, causing it to be amputated. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/196 "2011-06-22T11:58:23Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Er…random free association aside…another interesting bit of trivia - Bull wasn’t initially conceived as being bald - Moll had shaved his head for another role (Hurok, in Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn), and everyone agreed the look worked for him, so, we got a bald Bull. Funny… while I don’t doubt this, I saw an interview with Moll where he stated he shaved his head for his role in Zusia in _The Sword and the Sorcerer_. It was still shaved when he went to his auditions for Metalstorm and Night Court and they asked him to keep it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/197 "2011-06-22T12:36:04Z")
Speaking of John Ratzenberger, he has portrayed Cliff Clavin on 6 different TV series: _Cheers_, _Frasier_, _The Tortellis_, _Wings_, _St. Elsewhere_, and _The Simpsons_. George Wendt joined him as Norm Peterson in all these appearances and the two shared the record for most appearances by the same actor as the same character on different shows – until Wendt popped up as Norm on a 2007 \*Family Guy \*episode without Cliffy, and took the record for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/198 "2011-06-22T13:01:27Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Funny… while I don’t doubt this, I saw an interview with Moll where he stated he shaved his head for his role in Zusia in _The Sword and the Sorcerer_. It was still shaved when he went to his auditions for Metalstorm and Night Court and they asked him to keep it. It’s possible - I’m not sure if he shaved for The Sword and the Sorcerer (he was in fairly heavy makeup, so it’s pretty much impossible to tell), and most sources I found when I tried to remember the movie he’d done it for say Metalstorm, but it may well have been TSatS. The general point of the story - that he’d shaved for another roll and came to the audition bald, and the NC people asked him to keep it, because they liked the look - remains either way. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/199 "2011-06-22T13:07:01Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Speaking of John Ratzenberger, he has portrayed Cliff Clavin on 6 different TV series: _Cheers_, _Frasier_, _The Tortellis_, _Wings_, _St. Elsewhere_, and _The Simpsons_. > > George Wendt joined him as Norm Peterson in all these appearances and the two shared the record for most appearances by the same actor as the same character on different shows – until Wendt popped up as Norm on a 2007 \*Family Guy \*episode without Cliffy, and took the record for himself. I was actually trying to look that up about a month ago and the best I could come up with was Frasier on **Cheers** , **Frasier** , **Wings** , and **The Jon Larroquette Show**. Thanks! Now if only someone could tell me if there has ever been a live action show that is a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/200 "2011-06-22T13:13:40Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > Now if only someone could tell me if there has ever been a live action show that is a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off. Good Times was a spinoff (with significant changes in the character of Florida, who was the one spun off) of Maude, which was a spinoff of All in the Family. Checking In was a spinoff of The Jeffersons, which was a spinoff of All in the Family. Nurses was a spinoff of Empty Nest, which was a spinoff of Golden Girls. There are likely others, but those 3 I know offhand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=11)