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40 Random Bits of Classic Movie and TV Trivia That Give Boomers and Gen Xers A Leg Up on Trivia Night

Better sit this one out, youngins

40 Random Bits of Classic Movie and TV Trivia That Give Boomers and Gen Xers A Leg Up on Trivia Night

February 05, 2025

We’ve always found it a bit weird that our very adult friends try to keep up with entertainment and fashion trends when those trends are usually dictated by teenagers. It’s just a little strange that “getting with the times” means following some snot-nosed punks, and frankly, we’ve had enough. Today, we’re loudly and proudly claiming our old fogey-ness.

We had a ton of great movies and TV shows back in our day, and it’s time that everyone followed us old-timers for once!

40

Idiocracy

Idiocracy was filmed in Austin, TX so that the director could stay close to his family. Mike Judge thought about never returning to film after the box office failure of Office Space. He wanted to spend more time with his kids and the set location made it possible.

39

Office Space

The cast ramped up the cussing on purpose. CRACKED COM During production, they heard the studio was angling to get a PG-13 rating. They started spouting more profanity to make that a much harder sell, and managed to keep the R rating. — Source

38

Spock

Spock was originally supposed to have red skin. But TV sets at the time were still black-and-white, so Spock would have looked black on screen. So, thankfully, Gene Roddenberry dropped the idea. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

37

The Corner Bar

The first recurring gay character 1972 CRACKED.COM Vincent Schiavelli's portrayal of set designer Peter Panama on The Corner Bar was the first gay character to get regular screen time. — Source

36

The X-Files

The X-Files was supposed to end with sort of a West Wing crossover. B In the Oval Office, POTUS would be informed that Mulder has escaped, and they wanted to film Martin Sheen as POTUS on the West Wing's set. CRACKED.COM — Source: Gizmodo

35

The First On-Screen Interracial Kiss

The first interracial kiss. 1957 CRACKED.COME Although it was highly controversial, Island in the Sun, a film about interracial romance, was also a box office success. — Source

34

Movie Writers

The first movie writer: 1900 Journalist and humorist Roy McCardell was the first person hired by a production studio for the explicit job of writing movies. He wrote over a thousand, including A Fool There Was, the first movie to make vampires cool.

33

Dodgeball

Behind-the-scenes Drama NO - - - - Gyu Rates B Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story The team was supposed to lose. Keeping with its irreverent tone, the film originally ended with the team losing. When the studio changed that, the credits included Ben Stiller's White Goodman mocking the fact that they won. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Ghosts of Mars

CRACKED.COM Ghosts of Mars almost had Snake Plissken. The studio lost interest in the Escape franchise after Escape from L.A. bombed. So John Carpenter changed Kurt Russell for Ice Cube and turned the project into a stand-alone film. — Source

31

The Hurt Locker

CRACKED.COM THE HURT LOCKER is set in 2004, but features a scene with a characer playing X-Box 360, which was released in 2005. The game is Gears of War, which didn't come out until 2006. — Source: 27 Movies And Shows That Need Help With History

30

Twin Peaks

THE UNDEFINABLE TWIN PEAKS David Lynch's '90s cult classic is a blend of a soap opera, mystery, and horror. It was inspired by (and parodies) daytime TV and police procedurals, but it's layered with the paranormal. CRACKED — ABC
Looper

29

Betty White

AT A GLANCE BETTY WHITE She was one of the first woman TV producers Life With Elizabeth fantusian In 1953, she starred in the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, which she also produced. CRACKED.COM — Source: Betty White: First Lady of Hollywood

28

Jaws

The first-ever film to hit $100 million at the box office was a little horror movie called Jaws. The famous shark film is widely considered to be the

27

The Outsiders

COPPOLA STAYED FAR FROM THE OUTSIDERS CRACKED COM When The Outsiders premiered in 1990, it scored the highest rating ever for a Fox drama. (That's Billy Bob Thornton as the owner of Sodapop's service station.) Unfortunately, ratings then plummeted faster than you can lisp S.E. Hinton. — TV Obscurities

26

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver 1957 CRACKED.COM Although not quite the first show to feature a toilet (it was edited out for being too scandalous), it was the first show to show a toilet tank and certainly one of the first to even include a bathroom.

25

The Grinch

At first, Dr. Seuss was dead set against the idea of a Grinch TV special. When his old friend Chuck Jones drove up to pitch him on the idea, Dr. Seuss had planned on stonewalling him by reminiscing about old times until Jones went home. But Jones wore him down. CRACKED.COM — Saturday Evening Post

24

Life of Brian

Life of Brian includes a strange recommendation. If you have enjoyed this film, why not go and see La Notte? La Notte is a 1961 acclaimed Italian drama, a.k.a. the complete opposite of Monty Python sensibilities. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Clueless

AS IF TV COULD IMPROVE ON CLUELESS CRACKED COM Amy Heckerling originally developed Clueless as a TV pilot before it was turned into a hit movie. Cher Horowitz comes full circle in a sitcom that was quickly cancelled. That was way harsh, Tai. — AV Club

22

Soul Man

CRACKED BLACK FACE CAN'T BE YOUR ENTIRE PLOT ANYMORE. SOUL MAN In the 1986 movie, a spoiled white kid pretends to be black to nab a Harvard scholarship exclusive to black students. It does raise awareness of prejudice and racism, but all the blackface made it wildly offensive, even for 1986 standards. — Source

21

Total Recall

Original Directors David Cronenberg's Total Recall You won't hear us diss Verhoeven's classic, but Cronenberg's version that got really close to being made in the '80s would've been fascinating. But he wanted to keep close to Philip K. Dick's story (with some heavy body horror, of course), while the studio wanted, and we quote, Raiders of the Lost Ark go to Mars. Ultimately, we just missed out. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Psycho

Scary Movies Psycho To cut costs, the film used the crew from Hitchcock's TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Slashing costs was also why he chose to film in black and white. Based on Ed Gein CRACKED.COM — Source

19

The First Movie Karate Fight

The first karate fight. 1962 CRACKED COM Frank Sinatra has the honor of inciting the first-ever karate fight in American cinema in The Manchurian Cand

18

Monty Python

BEHIND-THE-SCINESPACTS THE CAMERA BROKE ON THE VERY FIRST SHOT OF MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. CRACKED.COM First-time film directors Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones leapt feet first into the pro- duction of the movie, choosing an impos- sible location half a mile up Glen Coe in Scotland for their first days of filming. The camera jammed on the first shot, leaving them scrambling to make do. — Source

17

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The studio wanted eyeballs on Jack. Some people at Disney suggested he should have eyeballs, but Selick and Burton just ignored them. Selick says, We were never going to do that. CRACKED.COM

16

Classic Sitcoms

Mary Kay and Johnny 1947-1950 CRACKED.COM The very first U.S. sitcom featured the first time a couple slept in the same bed and the first time a woman's pregnancy was shown on TV. — Source

15

The First Movie Studio

The first movie studio. 1893 CRACKED.COM Thomas Edison's New Jersey studio, The Black Maria, was built for about $600 to produce short films for the Kinetoscope. — Source: 16 Game-Changing Movie Firsts

14

Box-Office Rivalries

Classic movies crushed at the box office Escape From New York was melted by Raiders of the Lost Ark. John Carpenter's 1981 film was released to 600 theaters and wasn't as successful as Raiders of the Lost Ark and other films of that year. Despite this, the movie developed a cult following over time. CRACKED — Source

13

Tron

Remember how digital the original Tron looked? That was achieved with practical effects. It was 1982, and the CGI it would take to render the high-tech look filmmakers wanted just didn't exist. So they used old-school methods, like shooting in black and white and then hand-painting individual film cells to get the glowing suit effect. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Captain Marvel

Shazam (previously known as Captain Marvel) actually made his first on-screen appearance in 1941. Adventures of Captain Marvel was a 12-part black and white movie serial and is considered by some to be the first comic book superhero film. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Candid Camera

Candid Camera 1948 Candia Camela CRACKED COM The show (originally a radio show called Candid Microphone) was the first televised reality show, featuring regular members of the public as its stars. — Source

10

Archie Bunker

Archie Bunker was the main character in a '70s sitcom called All in the Family. Не was bigoted, childish, spiteful, and chubby. Не was an objectively terrible person, yet is one of the most beloved TV characters in history. Oh, and Norman Lear says he was the inspiration for ERIC CARTMAN. CRACKED.COM — 4 Cartoon Characters (Surprisingly) Based On Real People

9

Albert Brooks

ALBERT BROOKS PREDICTED REALITY me TV IN 1979. FILMING THANKSGIVING His mockumentary film Real Life featured an obnoxious, intrusive camera crew trailing a family and deliberately stirring up conflict. It was meant as a sendup of a PBS documentary series, but with the twist that most of the drama was generated artificially by the producer. CRACKED.COM http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/real-life-1979 — Source: 21 Eerily Specific Pop Culture Predictions That Came True

8

The Grinch

The Grinch was made green for the TV special. But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! In the original book, he was black and white. CRACKED.COM — Vulture

7

The Box Office

Classic movies crushed at the box office Beverly Hills Cop put Ghostbusters away. Ghostbusters was a box office success, holding the top spot for eight weeks. The film grossed second highest that year, only behind Beverly Hills Сор. CRACKED — Source

6

The First Movie Scenes Ever in Color

The first scenes shown in color: 1903 CRACKED COM Ode to the New Testament The Life and the Passion of Jesus Christ is a 44-minute narrative, filmed in black and white but partially hand-stenciled in vivid Pathechrome.

5

The First Movie Flashback

The first flashback: 1901 Histoire d'un crime is a crime drama (also the first of its kind, in France) that at one point projects a burglar's fond memories of his pre-burgling days on the wall above him.

4

The Island of Dr. Moreau

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU WAS SCHEDULED TO FILM ON LOCATION FOR SIX WEEKS, BUT IT TOOK SIX MONTHS. It was a flop at the box office and among critics. — More: 6 Famous Films You Had No Idea Were Hell Behind The Scenes

3

Clerks

CLERKS ALMOST HAD A BIZARRELY DARK ENDING. 150 Unsure of how else to finish his cult classic film, Kevin Smith decided to just kill Dante in a robbery

2

Kids Inc.

DLO Kids Incorporated was a musical TV show aired during the '80s and '90s. It featured children and teenagers, many of whom would become famous after

1

The West Wing

MANDY HAMPTON WAS WHITE HouSE MeDIA CONSULTANT on THE WEST WING. AND THEN, SUDDENLY, SHE WASN'T. SHE DISAPPEARED. Mandy, played by Moira Kelly, was a

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