Mental Floss: The Curious Viewer , livre ebook

THE CU R I O US
VIEWER
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THE CU R I O US
VIEWER
EDITED BY JENNIFER M. W OOD
A N D T H E T E A M A T
MENT AL FLOSS
A MISCELLANY

BINGEABLE
STR EA MI NG

TV

SHOWS
FROM THE P AST

2

Y
E
A
R
S
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CEO Raoul Goff
VP PUBLISHER Roger Shaw
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Katie Killebrew
VP CREA TIVE Chrissy Kw asnik
ART DIRECTOR Allister F ein
VP MANUFA CTURING Alix Nicholaeff
PRODUCTION MANAGER Sam T aylor
PO Box 3088
San Rafael, CA 94912
www .weldonow en.com
© 2021 Sportority Inc.
ISBN 978-1-68188-786-9
Picture credits on page 303
Produced by Indelible Editions
Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2021 2022 2023 2024
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9

INTRODUCTION
10

24
14

30 Rock
The Stor y of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
18

The Americans

22

Arrested Development
5 TV Shows Sa ved by Streaming
26

Atlanta

29

Battlestar Galactica
When Georg e Lucas Sued Battlestar Galactica
33

Better Call Saul
6 Binge-W orthy TV Spin-Offs
38

The Big Bang Theory
5 Bingeable Comic Book–Based TV Shows
42

Black-ish
“Please, Bab y , Please”: T he Lost Black-ish Episode Deemed T oo Divisi ve for TV
46

Breaking Bad
5 Actors Who Asked for Their Characters to Be Killed Off
51

Broad City
5 Classic Comedy Central Shows
55

Buffy the V ampire Slayer
59

Call the Midwife

62

The Chi
7 of Showtime’ s Most Binge-W or thy Series
66

The Crown
10 Most Expensiv e TV Series
71

Curb Y our Enthusiasm
When Lar r y David Sa ved a Man from the Death P enalty
+ 5 TV Shows That W ere Improvised
76

Deadwood
6 Other Times Timothy Olyphant Pla yed a Laconic Lawman
+ 5 TV Characters Who W ere Inspired by Real P eople
82

Dexter
Death Becomes Him: Michael C . Hall T alks Six F eet Under
86
Doctor Who
When Douglas Adams’ s Abandoned Doctor W ho Episode Finally Saw the
Light of Da y—Nearly F or ty Y ears Later + 8 of the Most Bingeable Sci-Fi Series
92

Downton Abbey
10 Great Movies That Spr ung from TV Shows
+ 5 TV Homes Y ou Can Visit
97

F argo
Bad Hair Is a F ar go T radition + The 1997 F ar go Series T hat Never T ook Off
COnteNtS
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102

Fleabag
6 Binge-W orthy Amazon Original Series to Add to Y our W atchlist
106

F reaks and Geeks
5 Amazing One-Season Shows
110

F riday Night Lights
TV’ s Greatest Coaches + 5 TV Shows Sa ved by Their F ans
114

F riends
W atching F riends Could Help Ease Y our Anxiety
+ 10 Most-W atched TV Series Finales Ever
120

Game of Thrones
124

Gilmore Girls
6 Defunct Shows That W ere Brought Back from the Dead
128

Glee
7 Great TV Shows for Music Lo vers
133

Gossip Girl
20 T een Dramas to Bing e
138

Grey’ s Anatomy
4 P eople Who Regretted Leaving Hit TV Shows
143

The Handmaid’ s T ale
4 Intriguing Dystopian TV Shows
+ 8 Hulu Original Series Y ou Should Add to Y our W atchlist
147

Hannibal
10 Movies T ur ned TV Shows
151

Insecure
154

Which R eality Show Is Right F or Me?
156

It’ s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
5 of the Longest-Running TV Series
160

Law & Order
The Law & Order Universe , Explored + T he “Dun-Dun” Effect
164
The Leftovers
168

Lost
5 Unforgettable TV Cliff-hang ers
17 4
Mad Men
Mad W omen
178

Mr . Robot
4 Bizar re TV Crossov ers
183

Modern F amily
7 Mockumentary-Style Sitcoms to Bing e
187

The Office
(UK) 6 TV Shows America Nic ked from the Brits
192

The Office
(US)
196

Orange Is the New Black
5 F ascinating Facts About Net fl ix
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201

Outlander
10 Bingeable Books T ur ned TV Shows
205

Ozark
40 Great Original Netflix Series
210
Parks and Recreation
213

Peaky Blinders
25 Bingeable Period Dramas
218

Pose
19 Important Moments in LGBTQ Histor y on TV
222

Schitt’ s Creek
13 Shows That Benefited from the “Netflix Bump”
226

Sex and the City
7 HBO Series Y ou Should Add to Y our W atchlist
231

Sherlock

235

The Shield
7 Ar resting Cop Dramas to W atch Next
239

The Simpsons
J ohn Swartzwelder : Springfield’ s Man of Myster y
244

Sons of Anarchy
When Stephen King Showed Up on Sons of Anar ch y
248

The Sopranos
When The Sopranos Blacked Out
253

Stranger Things
Netflix Knows Exactly When Y ou Got Hooked on Stranger Things
+ 6 Minor Characters Who Gained Cult F ollowings
258

T ransparent
261

T rue Blood
11 of TV’ s Fiercest V ampires
266

The W alking Dead
270

The W est Wing
9 Must-W atch P olitical Shows
275

The Wire
5 F antastic Pilots
281

The X -Files
5 Must-W atch Super natural Shows
+ 6 TV Spin-Offs Y ou Didn ’ t Know Existed
287

The Best TV Series Finales of All Time
289 Mental Floss R ecommends
295 Ackno wledgments
297 Index
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F or more than twenty years , Mental Floss has been the home for “all things curious. ” No
matter what the topic , there’ s nothing our entire team of writers and editors likes more than
to take a straightforw ard stor y and uncov er the little-known details you ha ve nev er even
thought to ask about. There are few places where this inclination for inquisitiveness is more evident
than in our television cov erage.
INTROD UCTIO N Jennifer
M. Wood
How else could w e explain our willingness to ask a
physicist whether Scrooge McDuck could indeed tak e
a div e into a swimming pool full of g old coins on
DuckT ales ? (He couldn ’ t—at least not without breaking
several bones , and that’ s a best-case scenario.) Or wh y
we’ d take the trouble to bother an ornithologist and
paleontologist to discuss whether Daenerys Targar yen ’ s
dragons on Game of Thrones could really fly?
T o some, our interest in entertainment could be
considered fanatical. But great television has a tendency
to do that. Especially since the medium has progressed
so far beyond its da ys as the “boob tube”—so much, in
fact, that you don ’ t even need an actual television at all
to enjoy its many di versions . That’ s just one of the ways
Mental Floss has watc hed the TV landscape change
ov er the past two decades . Sure, the physical appliance
itself has become sleeker and cheaper while the imagery
has become more lifelike . But the major shift has been
in the type of content we consume .
Though there’ s some disag reement about when and
which sho w kicked it off, there’ s no arguing that we’ re
currently in a Golden Ag e of T elevision. While some
experts point all the way back to F riends and Buf fy the
V ampir e Slayer as the opening salvo , others credit HBO’ s
earliest cable lineup of “it’ s-not-TV” series including Oz
and The Sopranos . Meanwhile, the ubiquity of streaming
ser vices such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime has
created more av enues for today’ s most inimitable
creativ e minds to share their stories with the world, as
well as a w ay for classic shows to find their wa y back
into modern-day conversation. W e still hav e a long way
to go to achieve parity for w omen, people of color,
and LGBTQ individuals both in front of and behind
the cameras , but we’ re undoubtedly moving in the
right direction. Which is why there’ s never been a better
time to be a fan of g reat television, and that’ s what
The Curious Viewer is all about.
In the pages that follow , you’ll find a trov e of
behind-the-scenes secrets and little-known stories about
the making of your fav orite shows of the last twenty
years . Y ou’ll lear n which mega-hit series first introduced
Mental Floss to viewers (hint: someone w as reading it
while sipping coffee at Central P erk) and which lov able
cur mudgeon sav ed a