In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the big trend in TV was giving sitcoms to popular stand-up comedians, based on their acts. Some of those shows became big hits—Tim Allen’s Home Improvement, Jerry Seinfeld’s Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr’s Roseanne. But not every one of them could bring down the house. The George Carlin Show Carlin […]
Let’s talk about everybody’s favorite part of Groundhog Day: Groundhog Day, the 1993 Bill Murray movie that takes place on Groundhog Day…a lot of them. Filmmakers originally wanted Tom Hanks for the lead role of Phil, the Pennsylvania weatherman stuck in a time loop until he becomes a decent person. Director Harold Ramis ultimately rejected […]
Super Bowl ads are big business—the network airing the big game can charge a fortune for a 30-second spot because more than 100 million people are watching the broadcast. Companies clamor to get those commercial slots, but the NFL (and the network) can still say no. GNC Just four days before the 2017 Super Bowl, […]
Where are books loved more than anywhere else on Earth? It just might be the tiny Scandinavian nation of Iceland. In the U.S., the biggest gifts tend to change each Christmas. There’s often a “hot ticket” item that adults want, or a fad toy that every kid asks for; for example, this year millions of […]
Movie sequels succeed. Book sequels succeed. TV reboots do just fine. What’s the one thing in pop culture where a continuation of the story has almost never worked: stage musicals. Bring Back Birdie Bye Bye Birdie was a smash on the stage and the screen in the 1960s. A very thinly veiled adaptation of the […]
It’s that time of year again—when the Girl Scouts show up at your front door determined to ruin your New Year’s Resolution to eat less sweets. Here’s a little about the wonderful world of Girl Scout Cookies. The Beginning: 1922 Girl Scout Cookies began in earnest in 1922. The director of the Girl Scouts of […]
Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and other online “crowdsourcing” sites have been used to fund everything from inventions to charities to movies. It must be something about the unique way that creators take their pitch directly to “the people” that’s so enticing. But it doesn’t work as a fundraising tool for everybody — sometimes not even famous people […]
Dogs’ noses are wondrous things. Their acute sense of smell enables them to be trained to detect bombs and drugs, and find earthquake survivors. But it also makes them fine-tuned to human emotions, strengthening the bond between dog and owner and helping them serve as therapeutic companions to those in distress. (This article was first […]
Neil Diamond is one of the most popular and successful musicians of all time. Here are some surprisingly awesome facts about the man, who recently announced that he was retiring from touring after 50 years in the music business. Diamond attended New York University on a fencing scholarship. He was part of the squad that […]
Sometimes the only person who can truly tell the story of a person on screen…is that person. Here are some movies based on a true story in which people played themselves. The Big Sick The Big Sick was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2017. Married screenwriters Kumail Nanjiani (a standup comedian) and […]
The clown prince of rock n’ roll is known primarily for his gentle, silly parodies of popular songs, most of them about food. But the man behind “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon” can also get a little nasty. “It’s Still Billy Joel to Me” The hottest thing in rock music in 1980 was New […]
In 2016, a vacation rental company transformed a first-floor conference room in the Eiffel Tower into a luxury two-bedroom apartment, and four lucky contest winners got to call the tower home for a night. But there once was a man who could live there as he pleased. (This article was first published in Who Knew?) […]
Or at least what’s supposedly going on beneath the surface of popular TV series aimed at children…if these bizarre “fan theories” spread around the internet are to be believed. Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne’s “Hundred Acre Wood” characters of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and all the rest are probably more famous for multiple movie […]
Most major companies first find success when one big product breaks through with customers. Then they try to expand their horizons (and profits) with “brand extensions.” Successful examples: Coca-Cola’s Diet Coke, or the Disney movie studio launching Disneyland. Unsuccessful examples: keep reading. Colgate The name “Colgate” probably makes most consumers think of toothpaste, which is […]
For better or for worse, money is an important part of life. Everybody talks about it a lot, which means there are a lot of slang terms for it. Here’s where some of them come from. Bucks The $100 bill is sometimes called a “C-note,” because C is the Roman numeral for 100. Roman numerals […]
The beloved actress turns 96 today. Here are some things you might not have known about everybody’s favorite Golden Girl. “Betty” was a very popular name for girls and women in the mid-20th century, and it’s usually a nickname for “Elizabeth.” Not in the case of Betty White. Her real name is Betty White—her parents […]
Some TV shows are successful because audiences rely on it being the same thing week after week. Other shows keep going back to the drawing board, and revamp until they hit on something that works. Last Call with Carson Daly After the late-night TV shakeups of the last few years, a lot of hosts switched […]
There are only so many notes in the music, which means that every now and then one popular song winds up sounding a lot like another popular song. Here’s a look at a case of copyright infringement that’s currently burning up the charts. One of the bestselling albums of 2017 was Lust for Life, the […]
