1. Before going into his audition for Jim Halpert, John Krasinski confided to a member of the team that he worried The Office would ruin the legacy of the British version. That person turned out to be Greg Daniels, the show's executive producer.
2. Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) auditioned for the role of Michael Scott.
3. NBC developed a spin-off of The Office called The Farm, about Dwight and, you guessed it, his family farm. They ultimately passed on it.
4. Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez on the show) didn't think The Office would be able to live up to the British version of the show and get beyond the pilot stage, so didn't quit his day job when he initially got the role.
5. Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly/Halpert) kept the engagement ring that Jim proposed to Pam with on the show (but confirmed that she doesn't wear it).
6. How I Met Your Mother star Alyson Hannigan (Lily) disliked kissing scenes with Jason Segel (Marshall) because he smoked, and he even ended up quitting cold turkey for a year.
7. Jim Parsons (aka Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory) auditioned for the role of Barney Stinson and described it as "one of the stranger experiences of my life."
8. There were discussions about Alicia Silverstone of Clueless fame playing Stella before it went to Sarah Chalke (Elliot from Scrubs).
9. Lyndsy Marie Fonseca, who plays Ted’s daughter in the show, is only four years younger than Cobie Smulders who plays Robin.
10. Jennifer Love Hewitt turned down the role of Robin Scherbatsky so she could star in The Ghost Whisperer instead.
11. The creators of Friends originally envisioned Monica and Joey getting together but changed their mind once the casting was done.
12. Bruce Willis donated all the money he received for the episodes he appeared in to various charities.
13. Lisa Kudrow had to learn to play the guitar for the role of Phoebe, but didn't like it and would've preferred that she played the bongoes.
14. The network worried that the audience wouldn't like Monica because she has sex on the first date with Paul The Wine Guy, so surveyed the studio audience about it – they didn't care.
15. The cast felt really uncomfortable about the romance storyline between Joey and Rachel, and Matt LeBlanc didn't think it would be in keeping with Joey's character to do that as Ross' friend.
16. Jay Jackson, who played newscaster Perd Hapley in Parks and Recreation, was an actual news reporter for many years.
17. Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) auditioned as a love interest of Ann Perkins (played by Rashida Jones), but was pretty much told he wasn't handsome enough.
18. Co-creator Mike Schur has acknowledged there were some problems with the way Leslie Knope was written in the first season, as she came across as more of a buffoon when the intention was for her to be talented and capable.
19. He also decided that the character of Jerry had to have a really good home life to make up for how badly he was treated at work. He thought Jerry should be married to someone like Christine Brinkley, and it turned out her daughter was a fan of the show so Christine Brinkley did end up playing his wife.
20. Amy Poehler influenced the decision to have a time jump in the final season, as she didn't want to be working with babies all day having recently had two children of her own.
21. Nolan Gould, whose character Luke on Modern Family is shown to be not all that smart, is a member of Mensa in real life and graduated from high school at just 13 years old.
22. The creators considered making Modern Family animated instead of live action at one point.
23. They also considered making it an anthology show featuring various families whose lives would barely cross paths.
24. Matt LeBlanc turned down the role of Phil Dunphy and said he could tell it was written with someone else in mind (which it was – Ty Burrell who ended up playing Phil Dunphy).
25. Julie Bowens (Claire Dunphy) was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with twins during the filming of the pilot.
26. Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton Banks) said the Carlton dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was inspired by 'The White Man Dance' in Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" video, and Courtney Cox in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video.
27. Jada Pinkett Smith auditioned to play Will Smith's girlfriend on the show years before they got married, but didn't land the role as they said she was too short.
28. There was almost a spin-off starring Don Cheadle in the role of Ice Tray, who he briefly played on the show. A pilot was even shot for it!
29. Will Smith was so keen to do well on the show that he would he learn everyone else's lines too, and has said that you can see him mouthing other people's lines in the first few episodes.
30. The shot of Jazzy Jeff being thrown out of the house was filmed multiple times, but eventually he couldn't take the bruising anymore as it could take up to 40 times to get the perfect take.
31. Lisa Kudrow was picked to play Roz in Fraiser but after the pilot was shown to test audiences, it was decided that the way she played her wouldn't necessarily lead to the conflict and tension with Fraiser that they wanted.
32. Moose, who played Eddie the dog, got the most fan mail out of all the cast, and he shared the role with his son Enzo.
33. To get Eddie to lick the cast member's faces during certain scenes, liver pâté would be dabbed behind their ears.
34. There had initially been plans to cast an actor to play Maris, but after the first few episodes where the descriptions of her were so bizarre, it would have been pretty much impossible to cast her accurately.
35. Kelsey Grammar (Frasier Crane) is only 15 years younger than John Mahoney, who played his dad.
36. The character of Gina Linetti was created for Chelsea Peretti after she didn't get the part of Megan in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a character who later became Rosa Diaz.
37. Just like their characters, Chelsea Peretti (Gina) and Andy Samberg (Jake), have been friends since they were kids.
38. Her character Amy Santiago may be a terrible dancer, but in real life Melissa Fumero was a professional dancer up until her late twenties.
39. The "NINE-NINE!" chant in the show came about because Terry Crews would say it on set to motivate everyone, and then it was written into the show.
40. Stephanie Beatriz auditioned for the role of Amy, and when she didn't get it she assumed there was no chance of being on the show as she felt it was unlikely they would cast two Latinas on the same series. The casting director suggested she read for the role that ultimately became Rosa Diaz.
41. The original title for New Girl was Chicks and Dicks, a name that meant Zooey Deschanel almost passed on reading the script.
42. The character of Schmidt was meant to be a lot sleazier, but Max Greenfield wanted to play him as someone fundamentally good with more depth to him.
43. Though his name isn't revealed in the show, the name of Nick and Jess' kid is Mitchrubisky, a nod to Nick's love of the Chicago Bears.
44. The cast helped to make season seven happen by reaching out to the network and asking for more episodes, as it was originally looking to be cancelled after season six.
45. Damon Wayans Jnr had to leave his role of Coach when the other show he appeared in, Happy Endings, was unexpectedly renewed, which is how the role of Winston (played by Lamorne Morris) came about to replace him.