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Salter's TV Wisdom
(More Useless Information)

An Ask Morty Page

Monday, March 18, 2024
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Welcome to Salter's TV Wisdom, a collection of useless information from Salter-Path's Daily Dish column. Of course if you're ever on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," and they ask you something you learned here, it's not really useless. 

Tom Hanks used to be one of the guys in the early 80's smash TV comedy, "Bosom Buddies," where they (Tom Hanks and Peter Scholari) dress up as women in order to live in a cheap all-women's apartment.

Brad Pitt guest starred on an episode of the short-lived TV series based on the classic horror film series "A Nightmare on Elm Street" called "Freddy's Nightmares".

Allan Melvin, the actor who played Sam the Butcher on "The Brady Bunch," was the voice of cartoon characters, including:  Bluto in "Popeye," "Magilla Gorilla," Bristle Hound in "The Cattanooga Cats" and about a dozen others, all while dating Alice and being Archie's buddy, Barney Hefner on "All in the Family."

Russell Johnson,  who played the Professor on "Gilligan's Island" was not a bright student and was in fact held back a grade. Johnson did redeem himself later on in his school career and made the National Honor Society in high school. He joined the Army Air Corps in World War II, and earned the Purple Heart when his B-24 Liberator was shot down in the Philippines during a bombing run in March, 1945. After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to enroll in acting school to ply his new trade. Johnson currently lives in the state of Washington, on an island,

George Barris, creator of the Batmobile and dozens of other famous TV cars, transformed a used Lincoln convertible into the famous Batmobile in only three weeks and on a budget of $15,000.

The famous map of the Ponderosa Ranch featured in opening sequence of "Bonanza" is actually wrong. The artists placed Carson City to the north of Ponderosa rather than east. To fix this problem, producer David Dortort came up with the ingenious idea of turning the compass so that north faced to the corner rather than straight up.

The famous vista where Mr. Roarke used to greet his guests on "Fantasy Island" was none other than the Queen Anne’s cottage located deep in the Los Angeles Arboretum. It was built in the 1880’s and has appeared in over 200 movies and TV shows.

A total of 369 Dodge Chargers were used to play the General Lee car throughout the course of the "Dukes of Hazzard" series because the car took so much wear and tear.

Ben Jones “Cooter”  on "The Dukes of Hazzard," was actually a U.S. Congressman in the 1980’s but eventually lost his re-election bid to Newt Gingrich.

Kenny Kramer, the inspiration for the wacky character “Cosmo Kramer” made famous by Michael Richards in "Seinfeld," once lived across the hall from Seinfeld’s creator Larry David. He reportedly sold the rights to his character for $1,000 before "Seinfeld" hit Nielsen gold.

The creators of "The Cosby Show" actually changed the Huxatbles' professions so that they could realistically afford a Brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. On the original show proposal, the mother was supposed to be a plumber and the father was supposed to be a limo driver but the house was too expensive, so they made them into a lawyer and a doctor.

At the end of each "Waltons" show, the signature goodnight sequence was based on the real life experience of series creator Earl Hamner (who narrated each episode). It took about ten minutes for Earl’s seven brothers and sisters to bid each other goodnight until Earl’s father finally said, “That’s enough.”

During the first three seasons of "Good Times" that John Amos was with the show, the closing credits showed a portrait of the Evans family painted by J.J. After Amos was killed off, a mural that J.J. painted for the local bank was shown.[/

Webster used the dumbwaiter in the kitchen to get from the upper level of the house to the lower level.

On "Knight Rider," K.I.T.T.'s name stood for "Knight Industries Two Thousand".

A Dish of Will & Grace:  In the "Will and Grace" episode "The Young and the Tactless", Will and Jack go to the opening of "The Adam Bar". 'Adam Barr' is a writer and producer of the show.  Due to Debra Messing's pregnancy during the sixth season, Grace did not appear in five episodes: 6.6 "Heart Like a Wheelchair", 6.21 "I Never Cheered for my Father", 6.22 "Speechless", 6.23/6.24 "I Do. Oh, No, You Didn't".   The Grace Adler Designs office is located in the Puck Building at 295 Lafayette St., South of Houston St.   Will's  apartment building is at 155 Riverside Drive, Upper West Side Manhattan.  Nicollette Sheridan lost the part of Grace Adler to Debra Messing at the final auditions. 

 Jack's full name is John Phillip McFarland. His drag name is Glen 125th (first pet's name + first street you lived on). His dog's name is Klaus Von Puppy (the one he got in "The Truth About Will And Dogs" S01E09). He's also got a bird named Guapo.  During the episode in which Will and Grace compete for the Tenants Association Presidency, one tenant complains that her missing umbrella closely resembles the one belonging to "Tim Kaiser in apartment 12-B." Tim Kaiser was a producer of the episode.

A Helping of "The Jeffersons:"  The picture on "The Jeffersons" desk by the telephone changes in every episode. It alternates between shots of Louise, George, Lionel, and Mother Jefferson.   George Jefferson was a Navy veteran.  Though it is rarely mentioned on the show, the name of the building The Jeffersons live in is called "Colby East". CBS never gave "The Jeffersons" a proper series finale. The cast, bitter that they never got a chance to say goodbye, reunited years later for a stage play based on the sitcom. Sherman Hemsley said he found out the show was canceled by reading it in the paper.

Serving Up Some "Fresh Prince:" Will Smith's character name in the show is actually different than in real life. In the show, he is "William" Smith, in real life he's "Willard" Smith. This is referred to when one of Will's girlfriend's father calls him Williard as a joke.  The term "Fresh Prince" in the title of Fresh Prince of Bel Air is a reference to the stage name used by Will Smith as a rap artist in the 1980s.

The running gag of the "Carlton Dance" throughout the show was actually a parody of the dance Courteney Cox did on the Bruce Springsteen music video "Dancing in the Dark" in 1984.

Extra Helpings of "Roseanne:" Early during the first season, Roseanne frequently butted heads with the show's creator Matt Williams. Williams worked as the executive producer for the show's first thirteen episodes, but quit when Roseanne vehemently refused to say to her on-screen husband, "Well, you're my equal in bed, but that's it." Roseanne felt it was a line her character would never say.  

All three of Roseanne's husbands (Bill Pentland, Tom Arnold, and Ben Thomas) made at least one guest appearance on the show.

Shelley Winters plays Estelle Parsons' mother in the show, but she is only seven years older in real life.

Sometimes, posters for the comic book "The Sandman" can be seen in Darlene's bedroom.  These were suggested by then-writer Joss Whedon.

In the first episode featuring David Healy, he is introduced as Kevin Healy. However, in the episode "Everyone Comes to Jackie's", Roseanne says (speaking of Darlene's control over David), "David isn't even his real name - she just made that up!" On another episode, Darlene and David are filling out their college applications in the car, and Darlene points out that David left the space for his middle name blank. He admits that his middle name is Maurice.


 
 

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