21 Completely Random TV And Movie Facts That Will Make You Say "Ohhh Wow, Didn't Know That"

We might have lived in a world where Jennifer Aniston never played Rachel!

1. Woody from Toy Story has a full name — it's Woody Pride.

Pixar/ Disney

Yup, I had no idea either.

2. In 1957, Leave it to Beaver became the first TV show to show part of a toilet.

Universal Television

They couldn't show the actual toilet bowl ('cause that was too edgy), but could show the tank (and even getting to show that much was a fight).

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first TV show to ever use "Google" as a verb.

Sony Television

And that happened in October 2002!

4. Winona Ryder speculates that she and Keanu Reeves might have been married for real on the set of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Columbia Pictures

The film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, was not happy with the original wedding scene he filmed for the movie, so he reshot the scene. But for the second shoot, he filmed it in a Greek Orthodox church, along with a real Greek Orthodox priest performing an entire Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony — which he filmed from start to finish.

5. Allan Carr, who produced Grease, originally proposed a different sequel to the movie that was called Summer School and it would have focused on the wedding of Kenickie and Rizzo.

Paramount

Of course, instead we got Grease 2.

6. After I Love Lucy ended, Desi Arnaz offered Vivian Vance (Ethel) and William Frawley (Fred) their own spin-off called The Mertzes, but Vivian nixed the idea.

Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images

When Vivian found out about the proposed spin-off she turned it down because she and William did NOT like each other, and she could not stomach the idea of working with him again.

7. Warren Beatty who directed and starred in 1990's Dick Tracy, used only seven colors when making the film.

Sunset Boulevard / Getty Images

The film only uses the seven colors found in the Dick Tracy comics (like red, black, yellow, green, and blue).

8. Jennifer Aniston was almost written off during the first season of Friends 'cause she was starring on another TV show at the time.

Elp Communications / ELP Communications / Courtesy: Everett Collection

In 1994, Jennifer was starring in a brand-new CBS sitcom called Muddling Through (above) when she signed on for Friends — which meant that if Muddling became a hit and got picked up for a whole season, she would’ve been contractually obligated to stay on the show and the role of Rachel would’ve either been written off or recast (they even shot Friends cast promo photos without Jennifer in them just in case). Luckily for Jennifer and us, Muddling was canceled quickly which freed her up to do Friends.

9. George Lucas absolutely HATED and went "apeshit" over Harrison Ford's "I know" ad-lib line in Empire Strikes Back.

Lucasfilm

Originally the line was written for Han to reply "I love you, too" back. But, both the film's director Irvin Kershner and Harrison thought the line was out of character for Han ⁠— so Irvin asked Harrison to come up with a natural response for Han, which resulted in the now classic line. But when George saw it he thought it was horrible. However, George agreed to have two test screenings one with "I know" in it and one with the original "I love you, too" line... and, of course, we know which one won out.

10. Raoul J. Raoul, the temperamental director in the beginning of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is played by real-life producer Joel Silver, who is known for screaming at actors on set.

Disney

The film's director Robert Zemeckis was looking for Joel Silver-type for the role and instead decided just to call him and ask him if he would do it.

11. Network executives were inspired to create The Golden Girls after they watched actors Doris Roberts and Selma Diamond (who were both older) do a skit at the NBC upfronts.

Nbc / Getty Images

Both actors were starring on NBC shows at the time (Doris was then-starring in Remington Steele, while Selma was on Night Court) and they were asked to do a skit where they mishear the name of Miami Vice as Miami Nice, with them thinking that the show was about a bunch of old retired people.

Shortly before her death, Doris even tweeted about it:

Doris Roberts @doris_roberts

Selma Diamond & I appeared in a comedy sketch on NBC called "Miami Nice." It inspired the idea for The Golden Girls.

07:03 PM - 15 Feb 2016

12. Billy Wilder, who wrote and directed Sunset Boulevard, originally wanted Mae West to play the role of Norma Desmond.

Baron / Getty Images

Mae turned him down 'cause she didn't want to play a has-been movie star.

13. Quincy Jones decided to executive produce The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on the spot after he saw Will Smith do an impromptu 10-minute audition at a party he was throwing ⁠— Will just happened to attend it.

Ron Galella, Ltd. / Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Quincy had lawyers at the party who drew up the contracts right then and there.

14. The boots Michael Keaton wears in Batman are actually Nike sneakers.

Murray Close / Getty Images

At the time, Nike had a product placement deal with Warner Bros. so they custom made the boots for the suit (the boots incorporated a pair black sneakers into them).

15. If you watched the first episode of Living Single and thought the house looked familiar it's because it's the Winslow's house from Family Matters.

Hulu, Abc / ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection

It's common for pilots to be shot on the sets of other TV shows for cost purposes.

16. Jason Weaver, who provided the singing voice of young Simba in The Lion King, was almost the speaking voice of young Simba too — except Jonathan Taylor Thomas had literally just signed the contract to do it.

Disney

Jason was brought onto the project because of Elton John (who wanted him for the part), and after he sang "I Just Can't Wait to be King" the film's directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff offered him the speaking role as well. The directors called the legal affairs department to get it all set up, except they found out on the call that JTT had just signed the contract for the role.

17. Mark Cherry, who created Desperate Housewives, originally envisioned the show as a half-hour comedy.

Bob D'amico / Walt Disney Television via Getty

It wasn't until he started writing the pilot that he realized it needed to be an hour-long series.

18. Scott Gale, who wrote the iconic theme song for Saved by the Bell, also created the music for The Golden Girls (among many other shows).

NBC

According to Scott, the producers never wanted the name of the show in the theme song, but he never got that note so he incorporated "saved by the bell" into the song. Also, Scott wrote all music used throughout the entire series.

19. The producers of The X-Files originally wanted Pamela Anderson for the role of Dana Scully.

S. Granitz / WireImage

The show's creator Chris Carter had originally written Agent Scully to be someone who was struggling to be taken seriously at the FBI because of her looks. After Gillian Anderson was cast as Scully, he tweaked the character to be more serious.

20. James Cameron did not want "My Heart Will Go On" to be in Titanic because he thought the movie was too epic and didn't need a pop song in it.

Sony Music

Also, Céline Dion never wanted to sing the song and, in fact, she actually hated it (but, her late husband René Angélil persuaded her to do it). James decided to put it in the movie after being won over by the demo that Céline recorded.

21. And finally, beautyblenders were created because of the TV show Girlfriends.

Paramount Television / ©Paramount Television / Everett

Girlfriends was the first-ever TV show to be shot in HD, which meant that they would need to change how they applied the makeup on the actors. This led Rea Ann Silva, who was then-head of the makeup department, to create a sponge that would help erase demarcation lines.