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36 Classic Bits of TV Nostalgia to Freshen Up Those Reruns

Let’s pair those reruns with a side of insider info

36 Classic Bits of TV Nostalgia to Freshen Up Those Reruns

August 23, 2024

While on our little trip through TV past, we wondered if bringing these tidbits back to the present would somehow mess with the timeline. We’ve seen Back to the Future and The Butterfly Effect, so we know where this could lead.

Scary stuff. But these facts were totally worth the risk.

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36

The Muppet Show CRACKED COM Before there were Muppets, there were just freaky-ass puppets. Kermit looks positively traumatized by his first castmates on Jim Henson's Sam and Friends, a local Washington DC kids' show. — Source

35

Xena: Warrior Princess

Xena: Warrior Princess CRACKED.COM Xena was supposed to be killed off after a three-episode arc on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but was so popular she got a six-season starring role instead. — Source

34

The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show CRACKED.COM The world was introduced to Andy Griffith in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. Thomas takes time off from being a good comedian and terrible father to get arrested in the small town of Mayberry. — Source

33

The Simpsons

The Simpsons CRACKED COM America's favorite jaundiced family first appeared as a short on The Tracey Ullman Show. — Source

32

Family Matters CRACKED.COM Long before Urkel stole the show, the spotlight was supposed to be on Harriette Winslow. She was a breakout success on Perfect Strangers, where she played a sassy elevator operator whose cop husband used to drop by from time to time. In this scene, she delivers the line: excuse me baby, this is a family matter, and you're in the line of fire. — Source

31

Beavis And Butt-Head CRACKED.COM The boys got their first taste of televised idiocy with a series of shorts on MTV's Liquid Television, a collection of animations from indie producers. Their first short is about them brutally murdering increasingly larger defenseless animals. — Source

30

Adult Jokes in Children's Entertainment The Flintstones Barney's New Head While looking for a costume, Fred makes a joke about Barney getting a costume with a second head. Barney jokes back, Why do I need three of 'em? CRACKED.COM — Source

29

The Golden Girls

CRACKED.COM THE GOLDEN GIRLS was inspired by MIAMI VICE. In 1984, NBC shot a humorous skit titled Miami Nice, starring two older actresses, for a special advertising their new shows (like Miami Vice). Execs liked it, and the idea was developed into a full series about old ladies living in Miami. — Source

28

CRACKED.COM THE OFFICE was heavily influenced by THE SOPRANOS. The Sopranos was actually the biggest influence on The Office, actor and producer В. J. Novak has said. The way Michael Scott will say something very serious but mispronounce a word | feel is a direct descendant of the Tony Soprano sense of humor. — Source

27

DuckTales

The DUCKTALES reboot was influenced by X-MEN. Showrunners Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones have said they took cues from Chris Claremont's X-Men comics, with their self- contained stories that feed an ongoing narrative. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

SETH MACFARLANE QUAGMIRE GRACKED.COM My father used to buy me old radio dramas, and commercials from the '40s and '50s had this high-pitched voice. So Quagmire's a 50's radio jockey on coke combined with a sex-crazed pervert. Giggity. — Source

25

Lost

Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment, got the idea for the show Lost after he watched the movie Cast Away. 0 ST CAST AWAY CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Mad Men was partly inspired by a particular old-school French movie. The movie is Les Bonnes Femmes, and it was shot in Paris, in the era in which Mad Men takes place - and it influenced the show's production design. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Breaking Bad took many, many style cues straight from The Godfather. In particular, Breaking Bad's use of color filters and different lighting schemes for different scenes, to give each one its own look and feel, is based on The Godfather. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

21

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

CRACKED.COM NORTH ULF Tyra Banks' first speaking role was on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Before she screamed her belief in us, Banks had a recurring role as Jackie, Will's friend/ex-girlfriend from West Philadelphia who got to University of California on a basketball scholarship. — Source

20

140 141 IC AL The same high school set was used on Saved By The Bell, iCarly, and That's So Raven. This means that same set of lockers first aired in 1989 during Saved By The Bell's heyday, and stayed on the air until iCarly's final season in 2012. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

It's a wonder we didn't have an Avengers TV show in the '80s. The Incredible Hulk was the most successful, but Captain America, Thor, and Doctor Strange all had their own abortive TV attempts. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

CRACKED.COM Blanche from The Golden Girls wasn't going to have that accent. Rue McClanahan decided she needed it, though. — Source

17

Looney Tunes

CRACKED.COM Looney Tunes It's wild how violent these cartoons are in comparision to the popular kids shows of today. And I'm not mad about the change ...we don't need American school kids glamorizing guns and violence more. But, it really goes to show that maybe video games and cartoons aren't the problem... — Source

16

Rocko’s Modern Life

CRACKED.COM ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE This show surprisingly feels like an Adult Swim show from the 2010s instead of '90s kids show. In the 2019 movie, the gang supports a character who comes out as trans in what feels like a natural progression of the original series tackling mature, even somewhat mundane adult issues in a very uplifting way. — Source

15

X-Men

CRACKED.COM x-men: THe ANIMATED SeRIeS The level of detail and continuity in the story is easy to take for granted in today's animation, but it was unheard of in 90s cartoons. Also what other kids show has that sick of a riff? Da na na na na NA NA! — Source

14

CRACKED.COM AS TOLD BY GINGER Growing up, I adored the Nick show because it showed preteens dating. But as an adult, the show is surprisingly deep, dealing with the true awkwardness of being a tween. Little Seal Girl hurts my heart. — Source

13

Recess

CRACKED.COM Recess L Recess is just as good as I remember, but it surprised me how many complex, well-developed characters it contains who all navigate various social networks. The episode where Ms. Finster babysits Spinelli, and Spinelli is forced to see an adult as a dimensional is very funny to see on the other side of childhood. — Source

12

CRACKED.COM ANIMANIACS Watching this as an adult, it really seems like an educational version of Spongebob. Extremely annoying and catchy, but dangit if I don't still know The President Song. They knew how to trick me into learning while throwing in so many innuendos that completely went over my head. — Source

11

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

in SEASON 1 OF BUFFY, A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER TURNS OUT TO В e A PREDATORY insect. AND NOBODY Does ANYTHING ABOUT THE eGGS she LEAVES BEHIND. It was early in the season, and Xander caught the eye of a sexy substitute teacher. Turns out she's a gigantic she-mantis who mates with virginal men and kills them post-coitus. Buffy saves the day, but as the episode ends, we see a cache of eggs hidden in the teacher's classroom. And one of them is hatching. CRACKED.COM http://www.buffyworld. com/buffy/transcripts/004_tran.html — Source

10

Family Matters

JUDY WAS THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER on FAMILY MATTERS. AND in THE FOURTH SEASON, SHe VANISHED. Her last appearance was in an episode called Mama's Wedding, and after that, the family pretended she never existed. That was the time when the show began to focus on Steve Urkel, so the answer to the question, Did I do that? is yes. Yes, you did. CRACKED.COM http://familymatters. wikia .com/wiki/Judy_Winslow — Source

9

on HAPPY DAYS, RICHIE HAD An OLDER BROTHER nameD CHUCK. OR не DID, unTIL THE seconD SEASON. Chuck was away at college for much of the first season, and his defining characteristic was that he always carried a basketball. Не didn't just disappear without explanation- he completely ceased to exist. In later seasons Howard Cunningham would claim that he had just two children. CRACKED.COM http://onmiwaukee.com/ent/articles/gavanoherlihy.html — Source

8

JERRY AnD ELAIne GOT TOGeTHeR in THE 2ND SEASON OF SEINFELD. BUT THeY'Re пот A COUPLE ANY moRe, AT THE START OF THE 3RD. Behind the scenes, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld hated the idea of a trite will they-won't they relationship between the two characters. So much so, that when the third season began they didn't even bother to explain why the couple broke up. Not even a single yaddah. CRACKED.COM http://seinfeld. wikia. com/wiki/The_Deal — Source

7

SOAPWAS A 70s PRIME-TIME SOAP OPERA SPOOF. AND IT enDeD WITH JESSICA ABOUT TO ве SHOT BY A FIRING SQUAD. Soap was a mostly lighthearted comedy that focused on shenanigans and convoluted plotlines. So it was wildly out of character for the show to finish its fourth season with main character Jessica Tate facing a South American firing squad. The final episode of the final season concluded with her bracing for the incoming bullets. CRACKED COM https://youtu. be/HoMLspq6H9s — Source

6

VALERY WAS An UNKILLABLE RUSSIAN, on THE SOPRANOS. YeT не JUST DISAPPEARED FROM THE SHOW. So the question is, how? Christopher and Paulie smash his windpipe, yet Valery manages to bounce back and beat Paulie's ass with a shovel. Paulie puts a bullet in the Russian's head, which doesn't stop him from scampering off into the woods and stealing Christopher's car. Clearly he's vengeful and not dead. So, where did he go? CRACKED.COM http://sopranos. wikia.com/wiki/Valery — Source

5

MANDY HAMPTON WAS WHITE HOUSE meDIA hall a CONSULTANT university Elec on THE WEST WING. AND THen, SUDDENLY, she WASN'T. SHe DISAPPEARED. Mandy, played by Moira Kelly, was a pivotal character during the first season. She was a savvy political strategist and no-nonsense negotiator, said to have been based on real-life political media adviser Mandy Grunwald. Her disappearance from the show without explanation led fans to coin the phrase Mandyville for the destination of characters who were dropped from the series. CRACKED.COM http://westwing wikia .com/wikiMandy_Hampton — Source

4

in QUANTUM LEAP, SAM BeCKeTT SPenT HIS DAYS TIME-HOPPING INTO OTHER People's BODIES. 1012 Dr. Sam Becket 65 never returned home. AND не neveR FOUND HIS WAY Home. Each episode of the series opened with a brief narration explaining the premise, concluding that Sam hopes his next leap will take him home. In the last episode, Sam somehow leapt into his own body in some kind of odd purgatory-like dimension that looked like a bar. It concluded with a title card (with his name misspelled) stating that he never got home. CRACKED COM http:/www.nbc.com/classic-tv/quantum-leap/video/mirror-image-august-8-1953/2927336 — Source

3

MORK & &MINDY WOUND DOWN WITH A THRee-PART STORY. YeT THE PAIR STILL WOUND UP STRANDED FOR eTeRNITY. What's regarded as the series finale of Mork & Mindy found the title characters running from an evil, gun-wielding alien. Pretty dark stuff for a fish-out-of water romp. Anyway, Mork decided to use time-travel shoes to escape, sending himself and Mindy back in time. The shoes malfunctioned, first dropping them in a prehistoric cave, then throwing them into a time vortex. Roll credits. CRACKED.COM http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1vvrzl_mark-and-mindy-gotta-run-part-3_fun — Source

2

on BOY MeeTS WORLD, MR. TURneR WAS CORY'S FAVORITE TEACHER. YeT не DISAPPEARED FROM THE SHOW. In the season five finale, Mr. Turner gets in a motorcycle accident and winds up in critical condition. Не never returned to the show after that, and we never find out what happened to him. CRACKED COM http ://boymeetsworld wikia .com/wiki/Graduation — Source

1

Friends

MATT. LEBLANC dislocated his shoulder doing a dive for a chair while filming the episode The one where no one's ready. Instead of trying to hide it, the FRIENDS writers added a storyline where Joey hurt his arm jumping on a bed. CRACKED.COM — Source

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