# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/261 "2011-06-24T02:20:38Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Koenig started in season two. If the Pravda article is to have influenced anyone, it would have to have been written/read before then. (Season 1 was Sept '66 to sometime in '67.) Good point. So much the easier for someone to do the research, then! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/262 "2011-06-24T02:36:13Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Only one head on a ship with a crew of over 400? Why else do you think they were so anxious for shore leave? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/263 "2011-06-24T03:06:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Another TV personality who got great reviews for his Lincoln was Fred Gwynne, who played him opposite Kate Mulgrew as Mary Todd. Pity he never had a chance to play the role of the politician he was born to portray: [http://www.diegovelazquez.org/Portrait-of-Philip-IV-1652-53-large.html](http://www.diegovelazquez.org/Portrait-of-Philip-IV-1652-53-large.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/264 "2011-06-24T03:16:41Z")
More Sanford & Son trivia: Demond Wilson starred in a couple of more sitcoms: (_Baby I’m Back_ (forgettable but not terrible sitcom about a man trying to win back his ex-wife) and an _Odd Couple_ remake with a mostly black cast (he was Oscar and Ron Glass from _Barney Miller_ & _Firefly_ played Felix) that even used some of the same episodes if not the same scripts as the original, and he did some guest shots, but then he basically left the business. He was offered the role of Lamont in a reprise of _Sanford & Son_ for, at least in his telling, big money (and even small money for TV is big money for most fields) but declined. Instead he became a minister. Larry King said Demond Wilson was the [worst guest](http://www.mrpophistory.com/popculturefiles/askmrpophistory_q1226.htm) he ever had on his radio show. Demond Wilson would probably agree; he admits he was not a happy person during that era. Unfortunately he’s one of the holier-than-thou shouting-is-believing variety of ministers. He’s very anti-gay and fundamentalist- always a shame when that happens. He has built from his own money halfway homes for ex-cons, so at least he does good deeds. He returned to sitcoms in a recurring role on _Girlfriends_ as the biological father of one of the characters whose birth mother was played by Ellen Geer, most famous for playing Sunshine Dore in _Harold & Maude_ and daughter of Waltons star Will “Grandpa” Geer. Redd Foxx, famous for his money problems (not the least of them caused by signing away his residuals for S&S to his wife in a divorce settlement) _did_ reprise the role of Fred of course in _Sanford_, a P.S. series to S&S that actually had a couple of good moments but was nothing at all like the original. The show overwrote _Sanford Arms_, a four episode spin off of Sanford & Son whose main character was Phil Wheeler, had bought the Sanford “empire” and made it into what we’d today call a B&B. Some of the supporting characters from Sanford & Son appeared (Aunt Esther, Bubba, Grady and his wife Dolly [played by Norma Miller who appeared on a hysterical episode of S&S as the same character and a couple of others as different characters) appeared but Fred and Lamont were said to be in Arizona. [Opening credits](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJG2DGNl00c). Phil was played by Theodore/Teddy Wilson. , a character actor who was kept busy in the 1970s. His most famous character was probably Sweet Daddy Williams, a flashy criminal who appeared in several episodes of _Good Times_, but he also appeared on many other shows (and in fact appeared on episodes of GT when he wasn’t Sweet Daddy). Sadly, he died of AIDS received from a drug transfusion. _Grady_ was also a S&S spinoff for a few episodes. The pilot was incorporated into Sanford and Son (the episode where he buys the awful nude painting for his suburban daughter and her husband). Grady’s grandson was played by Heywood Nelson who later played Dwayne on _What’s Happening?_. Mayo’s [real life son](http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/bios/mayoRahn/mayoRahn.htm) is a legislator in Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/265 "2011-06-24T03:40:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > A casting call went out for an actor who was approximately West’s size and would resemble him in the Bat-costume. Dick Gautier, who was well-known for playing Hymie the robot in “Get Smart,” showed up and was given the part. In addition, that’s Gautier imitating West’s voice. Holy Smokes, Batman, that guy looks and sounds exactly like Adam West (at least in that clip). > [@Infovore](#): > > Also interesting that if this article can be believed, Chekov was planned as more of a “Monkees type” than a “Beatles type.” But the Monkees are just “Beatles” types, especially Davy Jones, the short one that Roddenberry mentions. I mean, he’s the British one. Just learned a new one today: Chuck Jones acknowledged that he got the idea for Wyle E. Coyote from reading the description of a coyote by Mark Twain: > [@](#): > > The coyote is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, with a gray wolfskin stretched over it, a tolerably bushy tail that forever sags down with a despairing expression of forsakenness and misery, a furtive and evil eye, and a long sharp face, with a slightly lifted lip and exposed teeth. He has a generally slinking expression all over. The coyote is a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry. He is always poor; out of luck and friendless. The meanest creatures despise him, and even the fleas would desert him for a velocipede. _Mark Twain In His Own Words_, special edition magazine from American History Magazine, citing _Roughing It,_ 1872. ---
**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 24, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/266 "2011-06-24T03:58:11Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > This [public service advertisement](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szZsKdJYR-A) from the Department of Labor has Batgirl showing up to rescue Batman and Robin from a bomb. They couldn’t find Craig’s Batgirl costume - they had one that was worn out, because Craig wore it out doing her stunts, and one that was unfinished, but they couldn’t find the usable one they had had. Eventually, Burt Ward said he had a friend who may have one - and sure enough, soon he brought in the actual costume she’d worn. Craig is convinced to this day that Ward’s friend is fictional, and that he had the costume himself. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/267 "2011-06-24T07:08:11Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Chuck Jones acknowledged that he got the idea for Wyle E. Coyote from reading the description of a coyote by Mark Twain. Which reminds me: Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny and many, many other toons, was allergic to carrots\*. \*At least, according to urban legend. His autobiography makes no such claim, and in a Straight Dope column, a Blanc confidante confirmed that Blanc only spit out the carrots because of time constraints, and not because of allergies or general dislike. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/268 "2011-06-24T08:09:33Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > They couldn’t find Craig’s Batgirl costume - they had one that was worn out, because Craig wore it out doing her stunts, and one that was unfinished, but they couldn’t find the usable one they had had. > > Eventually, Burt Ward said he had a friend who may have one - and sure enough, soon he brought in the actual costume she’d worn. > > Craig is convinced to this day that Ward’s friend is fictional, and that he had the costume himself. I don’t think I’d bother keeping the costume without having Yvonne Craig in the costume. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/269 "2011-06-24T09:33:04Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > Those are all spin-offs of spin-offs. I’m looking to go one level deeper, which I haven’t been able to do. **All in the Family,** while not a spin-off, was a re-make of a British show [Till Death Do Us Part](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060035/). **Good Times** may yet count… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/270 "2011-06-24T11:51:27Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I don’t considered _Good Times_ to be a spin-off. The only thing that was the same was the character’s name. Florida, was married to Henry (played by the same actor), she lived in NYC and wasn’t poor. Suddenly her husband has a different name and she’s in the ghetto in Chicago. And why was Wilona their neighbor. A young SINGLE female wouldn’t be in public housing 😃 Bear in mind I was a wee bit younger then, if I saw the same actress playing a lady named “Florida” I probubly assumed it was a spin-off. Dyn-o-mite! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/271 "2011-06-24T12:38:53Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t think I’d bother keeping the costume without having Yvonne Craig in the costume. Hey, as long as you can find a girl willing to wear the costume… Assuming Ward wasn’t wearing it himself!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/272 "2011-06-24T14:29:08Z")
The soap opera “Edge of Night” was originally conceived as a daytime version of the Perry Mason" character that was popular in books, radio and a couple of movies. But author Earle Stanley Gardner didn’t like what was planned and wouldn’t cooperate. > **[The Edge of Night](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_Night)** > > The Edge of Night is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. > It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its run until November 28, 1975. The series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984. 7,420 episodes were produced, of which some 1,800 are available for syndication. > Writer Sir P. G. Wodehouse, actresses Be... When the 1950s version of “Perry Mason” was cast, Raymond Burr went to audition for the perpetually losing District Attorney Hamilton Burger (as a former lawyer, Gardner didn’t like DA’s and deliberately chose an insulting name for his). Mason had played a heavy in a number of films like Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and Errol Flynn’s"Adventures of Don Juan". But Gardner saw mason and said “That’s Perry Mason!”. To make sure he didn’t lose the role, the always overweight Burr had himself locked in a hotel room for three days for a crash diet. Only one “Perry Mason” episode was shot in color.Ironically anothef famous fat actor was the bad guy - Victor Buono. Paul Drake was played by William Hopper, son of notorious gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. William had stayed away from acting for a decade and didn’t want to make it because of his mother. Hopper’s father DeWolf was a vaudeville actor who recited the baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” some 10,000 times in an overwrought manner. When the series was resurrected in a bunch of TV movies in the 1980s, Barbara Hale’s son William Katt played Paul Drake Jr since Hopper was dead. William Talman, who played DA Hamilton Burger. Gardner was especially taken with his performance, saying he conveyed that Burger always looked like he was going to win a case but never did. Actually there are some exceptions: he once had Mason defend a friend and remarked at the dinner afterwards that he won and he got a conviction of a Mason client, but it was someone else using the clients name. Talman was arrested on a morals charge and CBS wanted to get rid of him. But Burr liked Talman and insisted he be kept. He was, but didn’t appear on as many episodes ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/273 "2011-06-24T14:50:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Most House fans are aware that Hugh Laurie is English, from _Oxford._ [nitpick]Cambridge[/nitpick] ---
**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 24, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/274 "2011-06-24T21:25:25Z")
> [@Mycroft\_Holmes](#): > > [nitpick]Cambridge[/nitpick] Your nitpick dosent hold up. Wikipedia says he was born in Oxford. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie) > [@](#): > > Laurie was born in Oxford, England So does [IMDB](http://www.google.com/m/url?client=safari&ei=6gAFTtj8PIKqrAP36rf5Aw&hl=en&oe=UTF-8&q=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491402/&ved=0CBYQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFO0MBTI25Ia5ESm-ZXS63hHIzx-Q). ---
**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 24, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/275 "2011-06-24T22:05:20Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Your nitpick dosent hold up. Wikipedia says he was born in Oxford. > > [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie) > > So does [IMDB](http://www.google.com/m/url?client=safari&ei=6gAFTtj8PIKqrAP36rf5Aw&hl=en&oe=UTF-8&q=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491402/&ved=0CBYQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFO0MBTI25Ia5ESm-ZXS63hHIzx-Q). Wait, I see. You meant he attended school at Cambridge. However, I meant his birthplace was Oxford. So it looks like we’re both right. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/276 "2011-06-24T22:56:58Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > When the 1950s version of “Perry Mason” was cast, Raymond Burr went to audition for the perpetually losing District Attorney Hamilton Burger (as a former lawyer, Gardner didn’t like DA’s and deliberately chose an insulting name for his). Mason had played a heavy in a number of films like Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and Errol Flynn’s"Adventures of Don Juan". But Gardner saw mason and said “That’s Perry Mason!”. To make sure he didn’t lose the role, the always overweight Burr had himself locked in a hotel room for three days for a crash diet. Cite? I’d always heard he was auditioning for the Paul Drake part. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/277 "2011-06-25T17:16:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Cite? I’d always heard he was auditioning for the Paul Drake part. Once again, jumping in with a quote from Forbidden Channels: “Fred MacMurray, the first choice for the lead in Perry Mason, turned down the role because he didn’t want the work load of an hour-long weekly dramatic show. The part went instead to Raymond Burr, who had originally read for the supporting role of prosecuting D.A. Hamilton Burger. In landing the lead, Burr delivered himself from B heavies and Godzilla flicks, not to mention creating an indelible alter-ego that would dominate his entire career.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/278 "2011-06-25T17:31:32Z")
Fair enough. Still, a quick google got me this: > [@](#): > > William Hopper, who played Paul Drake, auditioned for the role of Mason, and Raymond Burr auditioned to play Drake. According to various accounts, Erle Stanley Gardner, the author who created the characters, took one look at Burr and said, “That’s Perry Mason!” > **[Like rain or the MAX, 'Perry Mason' a part of Portland](https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2009/02/perry_mason_a_northwest_tradit.html)** > > For decades, viewers have spent their lunch hour watching reruns on Fox 12. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/279 "2011-06-25T22:27:54Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Cite? I’d always heard he was auditioning for the Paul Drake part. Two reviews of “Perry Mason 50th Anniversary Edition” DVD set:[ul] [li][dvdtalk.com](http://dvdtalk.com) section [Extra Features](http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/32898/perry-mason-50th-anniversary-edition/)[/li][li][dvdverdict.com](http://dvdverdict.com) section [The Evidence](http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/perrymason50th.php)[/li][/ul]Per the two links: > [@](#): > > Hopper is okay as Perry and Burr’s just fine as Burger, but whoever did the final casting made all the right choices. and > [@](#): > > …Raymond Burr testing for the role of Hamilton Burger in a scene with an unknown Mason…Next up, William Hopper…auditions as Mason…The next link in the chain is Burr auditioning as Mason… So, per the above links: At least Burr tested for Burger, and Burr and Hopper tested for Mason. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/280 "2011-06-25T22:40:48Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I’d never heard O’Neill was up for Sam Malone. The big names I always heard were Fred Dryer (when the character was conceived as an ex-football player) and William Devane. Funny side note: according to Brandon Tartikoff’s autobio, William Devane, for reasons known only to him, decided to audition for the role of Sam barefoot. Everything was going fine until he knocked one of the glasses off the bar and it shattered on the floor. The casting people would have let the audition stop while the broken glass was cleaned up, but Devane apparently didn’t want to “break his rhythm” so he continued, gingerly stepping around broken glass on the floor, trying to do the scene. Needless to say, he didn’t get the part. > [@Sampiro](#): > > _Hee-Haw_ began as a CBS show, was cancelled after two seasons, was brought back in syndication and became one of the most profitable shows ever, running for more than 20 years. Eventually Clark and Owens and the other owners sold it to a Hollywood based production company who immediately changed everything to catch a younger demographic and the show was a total failure within a year. Elvis loved the show and wanted to sing a Gospel number with the HeeHaw Gospel Quartet (for those unaware there was a Gospel number in most episodes) but his owner, Col. Tom, wouldn’t let him. _Hee Haw_ was conceived by Bernie Brillstein, who in later years would become the manager of such luminaries as John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Lorne Michaels, Dabney Coleman and others too numerous to mention. HH was shot in blocks: all the music segments, then all the sketches, then all the blackouts in the cornfield. They could shoot an entire year’s worth of shows in three months. > [@Drum\_God](#): > > I read that Paramount was wanting to buy the adjacent studio lot called DesiLu. DesiLu had several properties, but it’s most profitable was _The Lucy Show_. Paramount was willing to pay top dollar to acquire the rights to Lucy. When the deal finally went through, the got their precious Lucy, along with a couple of lesser properties. The least valuable property was this short-lived TV show called _Star Trek_. > > Somehow, they managed to earn their investment back on that one. _Mission: Impossible_ also has earned them a few coins. Actually, it was a conglomerate called Gulf & Western that bought both Paramount and Desilu. It was run by an Austrian mogul named Charles Bluhdorn. I think he saw the two small studios together and decided to combine them, making Desilu the television division. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Cassidy also appeared as an alien robot in an episode of _Star Trek_’s original series: [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ruk](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ruk). In full makeup and costume, he impersonated Roddenberry in a practical joke played on a persistent insurance agent who kept trying to sell insurance to the show’s creator. The agent was a bit taken aback by “Roddenberry”'s appearance at first, but then launched right into his sales spiel for several minutes before the gag was explained to him. Nitpicking: it was actually a clothing salesman. Boy, I’d have loved to been a fly on the wall that day. Cassidy, in the Ruk makeup, is playing the part to the hilt, waving a cigar around and talking on the phone (“Listen, babe, I need another three grand in the effects budget or the _Enterprise_ ain’t gonna fly, _capisce?_”) and glaring down at the salesman from the rafters (“Young man, I’ll take care of you in just a minute!”). The salesman did recover pretty fast and started showing swatches of material “imported from Japan.” Cassidy made a show of being interested (“You have anything in fuscia?”) before Gene and his cronies, watching from the doorway and just _dying_, finally explain the gag. They just wanted to make sure the Ruk makeup was startling, but not frightening. For a tag, Gene ordered two pairs of pants. When he got them, they didn’t fit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=15)