# 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:** 8
**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 21, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/141 "2011-06-21T03:05:42Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I remember back when Harold & Kumar came out in 2003 that Harris’ real-life gayness was part of the joke of playing “Himself” in the movie. I didn’t know he was gay then (despite having more than one reason for vested interest), but the joke worked equally as well as a contrast to his sweet innocent Doogie role. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but Barney sure seems like a close cousin of H&K-verse NPH so one had to wonder about possible influences ---
**Author:** ![bahia\_hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bahia\_hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahia_hombre)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/142 "2011-06-21T03:41:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > It must be common knowledge or else somebody would have mentioned by now that [Mary Tyler Moore’s](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001546/bio) Mary Richards was to have been a divorcee beginning a new life in Minneapolis in the MTM show, but that was considered too controversial for the time (1971) and so it was written to be a broken engagement instead. The opening montage was shot with her standing between lanes of live traffic downtown, eliciting the incredulous look from the older lady in front of the Dayton’s department store as she tossed her hat into the air. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/143 "2011-06-21T03:46:47Z")
The Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” came about when a college student named David Gerrold submitted an unsolicited story outlines for the show. The producers chose to film his story about a creature initially called Fuzzies but renamed Tribbles. Eventually he won both a Hugo and a Nebula award for “The Martian Child.” ---
**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 21, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/144 "2011-06-21T03:52:52Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I didn’t know he was gay then (despite having more than one reason for vested interest), but the joke worked equally as well as a contrast to his sweet innocent Doogie role. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but Barney sure seems like a close cousin of H&K-verse NPH so one had to wonder about possible influences Another average schmoe. For all I know, many people in Hollywood knew the truth, but had he been ‘officially’ out of the closet before casting HIMYM, I don’t know if the outcome would have been the same. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/145 "2011-06-21T03:57:13Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Jorge Garcia, who very famously played Hurley, tried out for Sawyer.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwHcA_GbquQ) > > They loved him and created Hurley just for him, making him the first casting of LOST. And Yunjin Kim ‘Sun’ was originally cast as ‘Kate’. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/146 "2011-06-21T04:11:04Z")
After Coach died, the producers of **Cheers** wanted to add a character behind the bar that had the same simpleness. They created the role of Woody and, at the suggestion of his friends and manager, Woody Harrelson reluctantly went on the audition. He nailed the audition, met the producers and impressed them. Then they asked him something like, “What do you think you can bring to the show?” Harrelson answered honestly: he hadn’t heard of **Cheers** before he was told about the audition. That pretty much sealed the deal. They had written the part of an off the bus rube from Indiana named Woody; they cast an off the bus rube coming from Indiana named Woody. Another casting story: According to the creators of **Married . . . With Children** , they pretty much knew they were going to give the part of Al to Ed O’Neill before he spoke a line. The scene they chose to run through for the audition started with Al coming home from work and walking through the front door. Every actor that read for the part walked through the front door and began the scene. O’Neill walked up to the door, paused and let out a deep sigh as he hung his head in defeat. They knew right then that O’Neill understood the show. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/147 "2011-06-21T04:42:53Z")
I thought it was Mary Richards (MTM) but it was Marlo Thomas (That Girl) who was the first single ‘girl’ to live on her own without parents, wacky grandma, roommates, the loathesome Little Sister, or any other chaperone. ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/148 "2011-06-21T04:44:49Z")
First, the show that stars Mary Tyler Moore as a producer of local newscast is called “Mary Tyler Moore,” _not_ “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is a short-lived variety hour. The man holding hands with MTM during the closing credits of that sitcom is, her then husband, Grant Tinker. This scene has been edited out of the episodes in syndication. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/149 "2011-06-21T05:19:46Z")
> [@alfonzos](#): > > First, the show that stars Mary Tyler Moore as a producer of local newscast is called “Mary Tyler Moore,” _not_ “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is a short-lived variety hour. Tell that to the DVD makers: [Amazon.com: The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete First Season : Mary Tyler Moore, Edward Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Ted Knight, Michael Callan, John Amos, Sidney Clute, Richard Libertini, Slim Pickens, Richard Roat, Paul Micale, Alan Rafkin, Bruce Bilson, Herbert Kenwith, Jay Sandrich, Peter Baldwin, Allan Burns, Bob Rodgers, David Davis: Movies & TV](http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Tyler-Moore-Show-Complete/dp/B00005JLIC) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/150 "2011-06-21T06:31:14Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Walter Koenig was hired to play Chekhov on _Star Trek_ because of his slight resemblance to Davy Jones from _The Monkees_; executives were wanting a “teen idol” type for the series. And the reason his character was added to the show at all is that people had pointed out to Roddenberry that not having any Russian characters on a “United Federation” was unrealistic, given that there were (then) only 2 nations with a space program, and Russia was first at everything (except a manned moon landing). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/151 "2011-06-21T06:34:27Z")
> [@TimToyGeek](#): > > The Brady Bunch’s dog Tiger was originally played by a well trained older female dog in the earlier episodes. In later episodes the original dog was replaced (after she died) by her son, who was not as well trained but looked exactly the same. > > There were at least two or three scenes where Tiger was to be laying down in the boys’ shared room, but the dog just would not stay put, and it kept wrecking shots by getting up during the scene. > > So, losing film and options, the decision was made to nail Tiger’s collar to the floor to keep him in place for the whole scene. That seems unlikely to be true. A dog with his collar nailed to the floor would struggle quite vigorously to get away, which would be far more damaging to any film shot. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/152 "2011-06-21T06:39:35Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > On “The Adventures of Superman” Lois Lane would wear the same outfit to avoid continuity errors. As did the Cartwrights on Bonanza. They always had the same outfits, and rode the same horses. Besides avoiding continuity errors, it allowed them to re-use already filmed scenes over again in another episode. How many different episodes did we see Little Joe ride furiously into the yard, jump off, throw his reins onto the hitching post, and run into the house? Exactly the same – because it was the exact same film, re-used. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/153 "2011-06-21T06:43:31Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > On her deathbead she [apologized](http://en.allexperts.com/q/Andy-Griffith-1122/2008/7/Andy-Griffith-Frances-Bavier.htm) for the way she’d treated him Not really. She said she was sorry they hadn’t gotten along better. Which is not the same as an apology. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/154 "2011-06-21T07:04:02Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > During episodes of _The Flintstones,_ there were ads featuring the Flintstones and Rubbles smoking Winston cigarettes. “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” Beverly Hillbillies was another Winston show and one of many other shows that had cigarette ads in character. There are several on Youtube. (Miss Jane [finally gets to light up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kzp7YNe09k&feature=related) after a go with Jethro.) Though of course [most doctors smoked Camels](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI). Far more disturbing than cigarette ads was the notion of [Carol Channing going back in time](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PQiZwfEhS4) to a prison camp in Nazi Germany, not to rescue Jews or spy on Hitler but to drop off some Jell-O. ---
**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 21, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/155 "2011-06-21T11:27:24Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > Another casting story: According to the creators of **Married . . . With Children** , they pretty much knew they were going to give the part of Al to Ed O’Neill before he spoke a line. The scene they chose to run through for the audition started with Al coming home from work and walking through the front door. Every actor that read for the part walked through the front door and began the scene. O’Neill walked up to the door, paused and let out a deep sigh as he hung his head in defeat. They knew right then that O’Neill understood the show. I’ve heard the same story – but with a slight twist – about Dan Lauria getting his role on **The Wonder Years** : everyone else auditioning for the part genuinely wants to play a TV dad on a kid-centered sticom, and here’s this one guy who sounds like he doesn’t really want the job but is resigned to plugging away at it while grumbling about how he’d rather be somewhere else doing something else. (The gag, of course, is that he _ **wasn’t** _ doing it because he understood the show and wanted to sound like Jack Arnold; he wanted to be on stage doing serious dramatic acting, and was concerned that he’d miss out on _ **those** _ auditions while contractually tied down to some Fred Savage comedy. Regardless, it came across perfectly.) ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/156 "2011-06-21T13:08:04Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I get that you, like my daughter, love NPH. But how exactly was TV history made? Not being a female or young I think that Barney made TV history because the character is legen… wait for it…dary!!! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/157 "2011-06-21T13:31:38Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > The Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” came about when a college student named David Gerrold submitted an unsolicited story outlines for the show. The producers chose to film his story about a creature initially called Fuzzies but renamed Tribbles. Eventually he won both a Hugo and a Nebula award for “The Martian Child.” Between Fuzzies and Tribbles they we unofficially Triffids. Except that name was already in use. Gerrold’s girlfriend’s last name was Sherman. Hence Sherman’s Planet. Most of the tribbles were just stuffed toys. But a few moved. One that moved along a railing was a stripped down mechanical dog. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/158 "2011-06-21T13:51:37Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > And the reason his character was added to the show at all is that people had pointed out to Roddenberry that not having any Russian characters on a “United Federation” was unrealistic, given that there were (then) only 2 nations with a space program, and Russia was first at everything (except a manned moon landing). I believe quadrotryticale is a Russian inwention. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/159 "2011-06-21T14:22:02Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > After Coach died, the producers of **Cheers** wanted to add a character behind the bar that had the same simpleness. They created the role of Woody and, at the suggestion of his friends and manager, Woody Harrelson reluctantly went on the audition. He nailed the audition, met the producers and impressed them. Then they asked him something like, “What do you think you can bring to the show?” Harrelson answered honestly: he hadn’t heard of **Cheers** before he was told about the audition. That pretty much sealed the deal. They had written the part of an off the bus rube from Indiana named Woody; they cast an off the bus rube coming from Indiana named Woody. > > Another casting story: According to the creators of **Married . . . With Children** , they pretty much knew they were going to give the part of Al to Ed O’Neill before he spoke a line. The scene they chose to run through for the audition started with Al coming home from work and walking through the front door. Every actor that read for the part walked through the front door and began the scene. O’Neill walked up to the door, paused and let out a deep sigh as he hung his head in defeat. They knew right then that O’Neill understood the show. Saw Ed O’Neill talk about that - he said that everyone else started the scene like Ralph Kramden from the Honymooners but Ed played it like one of his uncles… Genious ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833/160 "2011-06-21T14:49:33Z")
When the producers were casting the role of Sue Ann Nivens on Mary Tyler Moore, everyone that auditioned ws wrong. Finally someone said “We need a Betty White type.” Moore asked “Why not audition Betty White?” The response? “No, she’s your friend. If she doesn’t get the role, you will be upset!” Moore insisted, and White got the role. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-television-facts/585833.md?page=9)