Thank our lucky stars, fall prime-time TV is finally back.
And in homage to the past and present shows that have shaped our
lives over the years (yes, we're TV addicts, we admit it), we
decided to put together a little page on all things television.
When we were done, we realized we might actually need to give up
the tube. Or at the very least, cut back. Drastically. - John
Gonzalez
The Guessing Game
1. Notoriously, the first toilet flush on prime-time TV was heard
on this show.
2. The main character from this show tells a polygraph examiner
that his address is 129 West 81st Street.
3. Walter Bradley was the real name of Cockroach on what show?
4. This show won an
Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in each of
its first four seasons.
5. At the 2000
Emmys, what show won a record nine awards - the most
for any season of a TV series?
6. On Cheers, the role of Sam was originally slated to be played by
whom?
7. Which famous longtime TV character said, "Alcohol - the cause
of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
Television ... permits millions of people to
listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain
lonesome.
- T.S. Eliot
Now You Know
-Television was first introduced to the American public at the 1939
World's Fair in New York City.
-A total of 369 Dodge Chargers were used as the General Lee car
throughout the course of The Dukes of Hazzard (because the
car took so much wear and tear).
-Ben Jones (Cooter) on Hazzard was actually a U.S.
congressman in the late '80s but lost his reelection bid to Newt
Gingrich.
-MASH, set during the Korean War, lasted 11 seasons. The
actual Korean War lasted three years.
-In the Italian version of The A-Team, B.A. is known as
P.E., or Pessimo Elemento ("terrible element").
-Barney Fife kept one bullet in his shirt pocket and his citation
booklet in his cap.
-On Magnum P.I., producers wanted Orson Welles to be
revealed as Robin Masters, but Welles died before the series ended
its run.
-Jorge Garcia (Hurley) missed his sister's wedding to shoot an
episode of Lost.
-Wisteria Lane includes houses used that have appeared on-screen
numerous times in the past. Their names include the "Hardy Boys
House," the "Leave It to Beaver House," the "Providence House," and
the "Animal House."
-On 24, each episode is supposed to take one hour of real
time, but in actuality, three minutes are gradually added to the
timer during the commercial breaks. The last three minutes of air
time are used for commercials, station identification, and scenes
from the next episode.
-On CSI, under the glass top of Grissom's desk, there is a
photo of the series's executive producer, Jerry Bruckheimer.
-On The Office, Dwight has a "Froggy 101" bumper sticker
on the filing cabinet next to his desk. Froggy 101 is the top-rated
country-western station in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the setting for
the show.
-On 24, cast members are required to have their hair
trimmed every five days.
-Scrubs was originally planned to air on ABC, but then ABC
turned it down and NBC picked up the show.
-The first TV broadcasts with a modern level of definition
(240-plus lines) were made in England in 1936.
Sources: IMDB.com, Wikipedia.com, ClassicTV.about.com