I am a product of the ’90s . Meaning that I, unlike you, wasn’t raised by millennial parents with a forward-thinking mind. I was raised by television .
As a result, my mind is proverbial Fort Knox of random TV facts and trivia.
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Have a look and check out these 10+ random behind the scenes secrets from famous ’90s TV shows!
French Stewart came up with Harry’s iconic squint in *3rd Rock From The Sun*.
French described his signature stare to the Chicago Tribune :
“It’s sort of the equivalent of your mother telling you not to make faces because they might stick that way forever.”
*South Park* reunited Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin!
Before Cheech and Chong reunited for the episode, it had been more than 20 years since they’d last performed together.
For South Park ‘s 20-year milestone, Tommy Chong took to Twitter to send his congratulations to Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Chris Carter, creator of *The X-Files*, was inspired by Hannibal Lecter.
In a manner of speaking, that is: ” Silence of the Lambs was an inspiration. It’s not a mistake that Dana Scully has red hair like Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs .” Carter said to Smithsonian Magazine .
Jody Foster even makes a cameo appearance in the series!
The Monica Lewinsky scandal delayed *The West Wing* for over a year!
Writer Aaron Sorkin said to Empire Online that,
“It was hard, at least for Americans , to look at the White House and think of anything but a punch line. Plus a show about politics, a show that took place in Washington, had just never worked before in American television.”
Ryan Reynolds turned down the role of Xander in *Buffy The Vampire Slayer*.
“I love that show and I loved Joss Whedon , the creator of the show, but my biggest concern was that I didn’t want to play a guy in high school.” he said to The Star .
Ryan had a very hard high school experience with bullies.
Colin Hanks was killed off of *Roswell* so that he could star on another show.
That show was Orange County . Orange County is an incredibly underrated comedy starring Colin Hanks and Jack Black. At the time, Colin had a choice to make: continue on with the show or quit and make a movie.
If you haven’t seen it, Orange County is a classic.
The Soup man from *Seinfeld* actually exists.
The real-life soup chef is a man by the name of Al Yeganeh and much like his character is portrayed on the show — he’s not a fan of Jerry’s.
Al calls Jerry a clown and claims that the only reason Seinfeld became famous in the first place was because of him.
The first openly gay-kiss between two men took place during an episode of *Dawson’s Creek*.
“I did know how historic it was and he did too. I’ll never forget the day that we were filming that. I was quite nervous, as was he,” Kerr Smith stated to Los Angeles Times .
Michael J. Fox left his role on *Spin City* to dedicate his time to finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.
Fox has been living with the disease since 1991. His departure came as a huge shock and surprise, not only for fans but for his colleagues as well.
Mike’s goodbye episode is one of the saddest TV moments you’ll ever see.
*Twin Peaks* was originally going to be called *North Dakota*.
During an interview broadcast with Twin Cities Public Television , co-creator Mark Frost said:
“Long before we moved into the Pacific Northwest , we were playing around with this idea of the plains and a place far away from the world.”
“But what we really lacked was that sense of mystery in the forest and the darkness that moving a little further west had.”
Well, they definitely made the right decision in the end as far as I’m concerned.
It’s crazy to think how different the show might have been.
There was ever-mounting tension on the set of *Beverly Hills, 90210*.
“The environment there was like: ‘Are you kidding me ?’ There was a lot of tension and unnecessary drama on the set, a certain amount of competition, and a certain, probably anger about different salaries as the years progressed,” Jennie Garth admitted to The Times .
Kate Hudson’s first acting role was during a brief appearance on *Party Of Five*.
She played the part of Corey , a co-worker of Justin’s down at the TV station.
During the episode, she begins a back and forth flirtation exchange with Justin, while his relationship hangs in the balance.
Jane Leeves was pregnant during the 8th season of *Frasier*.
Jane played the hilarious Daphne Moon.
Instead of incorporating her pregnancy into the show, the writers decided to devise a storyline wherein Daphne gained weight due to stress.
George Clooney begged for a part in *ER*.
George had a knack for befriending the assistants of casting directors and producers.
He even tried flirting with people to get the role!
According to John Wells, George even go so far as to buy the young women chocolates and flowers in the hopes of gaining the inside lane.
There were two aunt Vivs on *The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air*.
Janet Hubert was the original actress who played Vivian Banks and did so for three seasons.
After rumors began to swirl and tension mounted between the cast, Janet was replaced with Daphne Maxwell.
Two different actresses also played Carol on *Friends*.
The first time Carol appears in “The One With The Sonogram At The End,” she’s played by actresses Anita Barone .
Fearing that the part simply wasn’t big enough, Barone left the show after only one appearance.
*Seinfeld* was sued by the real-life George Costanza.
A man by the name of Michael Costanza, who claimed to be the inspiration behind George’s character, sued Jerry Seinfeld and the producers for $100 million .
Since the statute of limitations had expired, the case was thrown out.
Lisa Bonet was fired from *The Cosby Show* because she got pregnant.
At the time, The Cosby Show was one of the most wholesome family series on television.
Rather than deal with the scandal that would inevitably come from Bonet’s teen pregnancy, the show cast her aside.
Mila Kunis was only 14-years-old when filming for *That 70s Show* began.
She had to lie about her age in order to get the producers to sign off.
That means when she and now-husband Ashton Kutcher had their first kiss , she was 14 and he was 19.
*Roseanne* originally had a different title.
Show creator Matt Williams wanted to call his sitcom Life and Stuff in order to better emphasize that the show was meant to be an ensemble piece.
Star Roseanne Barr felt differently and insisted the series be renamed after her.
Kelsey Grammer never rehearsed a scene from *Frasier* more than once.
Kelsey used an approach known as ‘ requisite disrespect .’
He’d rehearse each scene once and refrain from learning his lines until the absolute last minute. By doing this, Kelsey felt it gave the scene a more authentic feel.
Megan Mullaly had her sights on a different *Will & Grace* character in the beginning.
As Megan explained during an interview with EW , she was originally brought in to read for the part of Grace .
Megan had serious doubts (at first) as to whether or not she could pull-off playing the “bougie best friend.”
Norm and Cliff weren’t supposed to be main characters on *Cheers*.
We weren’t supposed to know Norm and Cliff’s names — at least not for any lasting period of time.
But after audiences immediately fell in love with Cheers’ favorite barflies , the boys were quickly welcomed back.
All of the main characters on *The Simpsons* are named after creator Matt Groening’s family — except for one.
Bart is the only member of the Simpson clan whose name doesn’t have a real-world origin story.
His name is simply an anagram for Brat , which suits him well.
The puppetry for *Dinosaurs* wasn’t easy to film.
Dinosaurs is one of the last great odes to puppet master Jim Henson.
Because of the complexity of the puppets, and the limitations surrounding CGI, each episode took nearly 65 hours to film.
Tim Allen really didn’t want to return for another season of *Home Improvement*.
Tim walked away at the height of the show’s popularity. The network was desperate for Tim to come back and even went so far as to offer him $50 million for just one more season.
In the end, he still refused.
The theme song to *Dawson’s Creek* isn’t the love song you think it is.
It’s not about relationships at all. The track is actually about a young mother whose husband is away fighting in World War II. Don’t believe me? Listen to the lyrics:
“She had two babies, One was six months, one was three, In the war of ’44…”
Zordon’s footage in *Mighty Morphin Power Rangers* was on a constant loop.
If you’ve ever rewatched old episodes of this ’90s classic, you’ll notice that Zordon’s audio doesn’t seem to match up with the image on the screen.
That’s because, in an effort to save money, the original footage of Zordon from the pilot was used over and over again.
George Clooney practically begged for a cameo role in *South Park*.
George was a huge fan of South Park , especially in the early days. After pestering creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker for an appearance, they finally agreed.
George played Stan’s homosexual dog , Sparky.
The kids on *Boy Meets World* were actually going to school.
In between takes and when they weren’t filming, Rider Strong, Ben Savage, and Danielle Fishel all took classes together in an adjacent classroom on set.
Danielle has said that those moments were some of her most cherished memories from her younger days.
