Late To The Party: Obvious Things About Shows You Realized Embarrasingly Late

[KWalkerInc]

One thing that went over my head was when NewsRadio titled an episode "4:20."  I knew that it was the 20th episode of season 4, but I thought that they just couldn't think of a title for the episode and I didn't have any idea what else it could possibly mean.

[danderson400]

Something that isn't TV related, but is to a certain degree- during game 6 of the 1986 NLCS, color commentator Tim McCarver left the booth during the bottom of the 16th, in order to cover the expected celebration in the New York Mets' clubhouse. As a result, play-by-play man Keith Jackson was on the air by himself for a short time. I remember my dad sitting in the living room wondering why no one else was talking besides Keith Jackson at that point in the booth.( i remember this game, because it preempted the local news, then preempted World News Tonight, then preempted Wheel of Fortune.

Edited September 5, 2019 by danderson400

[Blergh]

On 9/4/2019 at 4:27 AM, KWalkerInc said:

One thing that went over my head was when NewsRadio titled an episode "4:20."  I knew that it was the 20th episode of season 4, but I thought that they just couldn't think of a title for the episode and I didn't have any idea what else it could possibly mean.

I had had no idea of what that number meant until Hailey on Modern Family virtually spelt it out. That's all I'm saying.

[Anduin]

On 9/4/2019 at 5:27 PM, KWalkerInc said:

One thing that went over my head was when NewsRadio titled an episode "4:20."  I knew that it was the 20th episode of season 4, but I thought that they just couldn't think of a title for the episode and I didn't have any idea what else it could possibly mean.

I know it's a pot reference, but to me 4.20 pm is when the weather report refreshes, and I see the next forecast.

[MissAlmond]

Mission Impossible.  I used to wonder what the deal was with that secretary who adamantly stated she would refuse to acknowledge knowing Mr. Phelps if the mission failed.  Every secretary I knew as a kid was a she who worked in an office.  Never crossed my mind "The Secretary" was probably referencing The Secretary of State. 

I also didn't know the Mr. Briggs episodes existed until TVLand came about.

[Haleth]

21 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

Mission Impossible.  I used to wonder what the deal was with that secretary who adamantly stated she would refuse to acknowledge knowing Mr. Phelps if the mission failed.  Every secretary I knew as a kid was a she who worked in an office.  Never crossed my mind "The Secretary" was probably referencing The Secretary of State. 

Yup.  I used to picture a lady in a plaid pencil skirt sitting at a typewriter saying, "I don't know who you are talking about."

[chenoa333]

On 9/4/2019 at 2:27 AM, KWalkerInc said:

One thing that went over my head was when NewsRadio titled an episode "4:20."  I knew that it was the 20th episode of season 4, but I thought that they just couldn't think of a title for the episode and I didn't have any idea what else it could possibly mean.

I didn't know the popular meaning of 4:20 until about 4 years ago. Or maybe it was 4 years and 20 days ago😀

[Crs97]

I didn’t know 4:20 until I looked it up just now. 😃

[SmithW6079]

I didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

[ratgirlagogo]

29 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

  It's true that the characters were assholes and you had to accept that and enjoy it for what it was, or bail.. But DUDE - Susan's death was in SEASON SEVEN.  I understand that this is the Late In the Day thread but how were you able to get through the previous seasons?  I know I would have bailed if I hadn't figured out the characters were assholes back in season one.

Edited September 25, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[Chaos Theory]

I am not sure if this counts but when Cally Tyrol left Battlestar Galactica I didn’t know until really really after that it was because the Actress was in a sex cult.

Yes THAT sex cult.

Oh and married to Allison Mack.

Yes THAT Allison Mack.

[Anduin]

18 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I am not sure if this counts but when Cally Tyrol left Battlestar Galactica I didn’t know until really really after that it was because the Actress was in a sex cult.

Yes THAT sex cult.

Oh and married to Allison Mack.

Yes THAT Allison Mack.

I knew about the cult. The rest is news. Wikipedia says that sadly, the marriage is believed to be a sham to get one of them American citizenship.

[Chaos Theory]

5 hours ago, Anduin said:

I knew about the cult. The rest is news. Wikipedia says that sadly, the marriage is believed to be a sham to get one of them American citizenship.

Yeah the marriage is a sham.   Nikki Clyne  couldn’t keep up the requirements for her workers visa after she suddenly quit acting.   

Which I probably should have realized all this on one hand because I was down right pissed when Cally got written off the show.  This is one of the times I wish o had looked into actors lives more.   It is so fascinating And very sad why.   Nikki Clyne is a true believer and according to rumor still in the cult.  

Edited October 2, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[tribeca]

I didn’t realize Captain Kirk was such a horn dog.  

[Blergh]

15 hours ago, tribeca said:

I didn’t realize Captain Kirk was such a horn dog.  

I didn't realize how whacked his priorities sometimes were until the episode in which the giant flying brain cells attacked and killed his brother and sister-in-law and left his nephew in a coma but he barely acknowledged their deaths or coma but went ape for a good part of the episode over SPOCK having gotten injured by them. Yeah,  it seemed to him that his first officer was SO much more important than his actual family!  Oh, BTW, as per the show, the nephew never emerged from the coma so for all the viewers know, he could have spent the rest of the show's run stuck in an unseen part of sickbay never visited or acknowledged by his Uncle Jim! 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

I don't think I ever realized (or at least gave it much notice) that the Swedish Chef from the Muppets has visible human hands - i.e. the performer's bare hands.

Additional trivia: Apparently the performer once forgot to take his wedding ring off. They decided Chef must have gotten married and so now he always wears it.

[methodwriter85]

I just realized that Marcus on Superstore is played by Ike Barinholtz's brother, Jon. I feel like such a bonehead for not realizing that's his brother because it's really obvious.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

On 9/21/2018 at 12:48 AM, Sandman87 said:

I used to watch House occasionally, and just recently started watching watching it again in syndication. It just dawned on me a few days ago that the character House is at least partially based on Sherlock Holmes: An abrasive person who's a genius at deductive reasoning and addicted to drugs, who's more interested in figuring out the problem than in fixing it, and who lives in an apartment with a street number of 221B. The last name is a bit of a giveaway too.

It was the street number that made me figure it out.

Wait... He's named House because it's a synonym for "home", which sounds like Holmes? I feel like a snail watching a tortoise zoom ahead of it. I figured out Wilson = Watson on my own though... that's something...

On 9/19/2018 at 10:09 AM, meep.meep said:

It took me around 40 years to finally realize why everyone on The Prisoner wore striped clothes.   Apparently, I'm slow .......

Of course! They were all mimes who were held prisoner in invisible boxes!

Sorry for the bad joke. Needed to cheer myself up after feeling so dumb.

[Sandman87]

1 hour ago, Brandi Maxxxx said:

Of course! They were all mimes who were held prisoner in invisible boxes!

"I am not a number; I am walking against the wind!"

[Cobb Salad]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:00 AM, Blergh said:

I didn't realize how whacked his priorities sometimes were until the episode in which the giant flying brain cells attacked and killed his brother and sister-in-law and left his nephew in a coma but he barely acknowledged their deaths or coma but went ape for a good part of the episode over SPOCK having gotten injured by them. Yeah,  it seemed to him that his first officer was SO much more important than his actual family!  Oh, BTW, as per the show, the nephew never emerged from the coma so for all the viewers know, he could have spent the rest of the show's run stuck in an unseen part of sickbay never visited or acknowledged by his Uncle Jim! 

Kirk didn’t seem that concerned about the planet’s inhabitants either.  As for his nephew, the aired episode just let him fade out of the picture.  There was a cut scene where Kirk was telling his nephew he was going to live with his father’s lab partner:

http://www.orionpressfanzines.com/articles/operationannihilate.htm

So it was poor editing/storytelling. 

[kassygreene]

I will be good god dammed.  A cut scene with Peter Kirk, and a pretty good one too, from the dialogue.  And here I've spent 50+ years thinking I knew this show.

[MissAlmond]

Watching Jim West in The Wild Wild West reruns as a young girl:

"Oooo, I hope him and Artemus escape!"

Watching Jim West in The Wild Wild West reruns as an adult woman:

🎶 "How you'd get your pants so tight?"🎶

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

runs as an adult woman:

🎶 "How you'd get your pants so tight?"🎶

I can't say I understood how the Monkees were able to move- much less bend down without splitting said pants on their show. 

[Sandman87]

On 10/13/2019 at 11:35 AM, Blergh said:

I can't say I understood how the Monkees were able to move- much less bend down without splitting said pants on their show. 

I guess those pants could take a lot of Tork.

Thank you, I'll be here all week!

[KWalkerInc]

I just watched the finale of the original run of Will & Grace, and I just noticed that at the end when Will, Grace, Jack and Karen are having shots at a bar and comment on how they haven't changed at all, Will, Grace and Jack are no longer wearing the make-up that made them look older for the "future" scenes (Karen never had any because they had her not age, presumably because of surgeries and/or a deal with the devil).  I haven't seen this episode that many times, but certainly enough that I should have noticed this.

[Blergh]

From  1972-1974, there was a syndicated animated 'adult' sitcom called Wait Til Your Father Gets Home produced by Hanna Barbera- about a frustrated  conventional workaholic with a more patient wife having to deal with their counterculture older children and more conventional preteen son.  Oh, and thrown into the mix was a  kook neighbor named Ralph who had his own militia complete with tank in his swimming pool.  Ironically, the title character often usually would see reason after complaining about his older kids to Ralph by not wanting to go off the deep end as much as Ralph has.  The title character was voiced to kvetching perfection by Tom Bosley.

OK, I somewhat liked it as a kid because it wasn't drastically  different from my own family growing up. However; I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until long after adulthood that I got that the title character's name  (Harry Boyle) not only denoted the bald patriarch's  usual temperament but also a condition that no one wants to have! 

[topanga]

I was a young child when Good Times was on the air. I knew JJ had girlfriends and was always popular with the ladies, but I never realized till I was a teenager that he was sexually active. I knew what sex was (my mother let me watch R-rated movies far too early), but we never saw him in bed with any of his girlfriends, and he slept with Michael on the couch at night. So I thought all he did was make out with women on their dates. 

BTW, JJ must have been some kind of lover. Women were always head over heels in love with him. 

[Raja]

13 minutes ago, topanga said:

I was a young child when Good Times was on the air. I knew JJ had girlfriends and was always popular with the ladies, but I never realized till I was a teenager that he was sexually active. I knew what sex was (my mother let me watch R-rated movies far too early), but we never saw him in bed with any of his girlfriends, and he slept with Michael on the couch at night. So I thought all he did was make out with women on their dates. 

BTW, JJ must have been some kind of lover. Women were always head over heels in love with him. 

You might have been shielded from the episode where a girlfriend had gonorrhea 

[DoctorAtomic]

It's been said by some of his girlfriends that in the sack he was...adjusts tie...dy-no-myyttte.

Happy halloween folks! 

[topanga]

2 minutes ago, Raja said:

You might have been shielded from the episode where a girlfriend had gonorrhea 

I remember that one, but I didn't know what gonorrhea was. I thought it was spread by kissing. 

Quote

It's been said by some of his girlfriends that in the sack he was...adjusts tie...dy-no-myyttte.

Happy halloween folks! 

Ha! I knew what sex was, but I didn't know what "in the sack" meant. Or even "sleeping together." I guess I was a selectively precocious child. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by topanga

[AimingforYoko]

I'm a little embarrassed it took me five seasons to figure out the significance of the Dunphy girls' first names on Modern Family.

(Hint, go in alphabetical order.)

[Blergh]

40 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I'm a little embarrassed it took me five seasons to figure out the significance of the Dunphy girls' first names on Modern Family.

(Hint, go in alphabetical order.)

I'd have gotten it but for the fact that the ascending alphabetical names happen  to be  the opposite of the birth order so had their firstborn remained an only child  would the Dunphys had then tried to get others to link her to the Roots author solely via her given name being his surname? Of course, this does give one pause to think that had this been the parents' intention, then it makes it more likely the reason they gave their 2nd born daughter a traditional male name rather than any feminine variant (and it possibly also means that they would have named their 2nd born that name had it been a son). 

[Hanahope]

On 9/3/2019 at 7:58 AM, tribeca said:

For the longest time when I was a kid I didn’t know that Elizabeth Montgomery was playing Sabrina.  

I hope you realized that they did the same thing on I Dream of Jeannie.

[Bort]

It didn't help that the Bewitched credits said that Serena was played by Pandora Spocks. How's a kid supposed to figure that out?

[tribeca]

7 hours ago, Hanahope said:

I hope you realized that they did the same thing on I Dream of Jeannie.

I honestly don’t remember watching that show as a kid.  DM thought cartoons had too much violence so she had has go outside to play or watch old  TV shows. 

Dobie Gillis was my favorite.  

Edited November 5, 2019 by tribeca

[KWalkerInc]

On one of the last episodes of Living Single, Max decides to go to a New Age retreat and Khadijah and Synclaire come along.  I've likely seen it dozens of times, but tonight I just noticed that everyone at the retreat, including the three main characters, is wearing the same outfit (maroon shirt and black pants).  I don't know why the guru found this necessary and it isn't explained on the show, but it's pretty bad that I couldn't recognize until now a dozen or more people in one room in the same colors/outfit.  (But it's kind of funny that they put Idalis DeLeon's character Roni, who isn't involved in that storyline and is back at the brownstone where the characters live, in similar colors.)

[danderson400]

Something that i noticed while watching Sale of The Century, was that as the closing credits scroll by, Don Morrow says that "$ale of the Century stars Jim Perry, This is Don Morrow speaking." It just seems to be an odd pronouncement from out of the blue.  I wonder why that was done?

Edited April 26, 2020 by danderson400

[DrSpaceman73]

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 2:38 AM, SmithW6079 said:

I didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

If you think about it and go back and count them up, its amazing how many side characters die in the course of that show and they never take any of it seriously.  even before Susan.  They go to several funerals and are never upset about them.  In retrospect, she wasn't a "side" character, but it really should not have been that surprising. 

They even did the episodes early on where they do the LA trip and there is a serial killer on the lose, they think its Kramer.  Those are some of my least favorite episodes. 

The thing was at the time it was the complete opposite of how any other TV show had handled such situations to date. 

[ratgirlagogo]

5 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

The thing was at the time it was the complete opposite of how any other TV show had handled such situations to date. 

Eureka! You have found it.  All of the four main characters on Seinfeld were assholes.  The audience was expected to grasp that.  It does become much funnier when you realize you don't have to root for them and that they richly deserve any shitty thing that happens to them.

[chenoa333]

On 9/24/2019 at 11:38 PM, SmithW6079 said:

I didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

I can't watch any TV series that has a "laugh track". Never watched more than a minute of Friends, Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men. I'd rather hear nails on a chalkboard. 

 

 

[DoctorAtomic]

Funny enough, Larry David and Jerry hated it. The network despised the show and insisted on a laugh track because it wasn't written as a sitcom; i.e., opener, set up, punch line. 

[Trini]

So a relative had to tell me that Kelsey Grammer sings the closing credits theme song of Frasier. Like, how was I supposed to know that?? At the time I had no idea he was any type of singer; I only knew him from Cheers. And he's not credited as singing it on the show, right? I had no idea what his singing voice sounds like, and there was no reason to think he would be singing his own theme song.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Trini
spelling!

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, Trini said:

And he's not credited as singing it on the show, right? .

I think they do list him as singing in the end credits. 

[Trini]

17 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

I think they do list him as singing in the end credits. 

Not helping! 😭 😭 😆

[DrSpaceman73]

I didn't realize it was him for a long time. 

There are a few episodes of the show though where his singing ability plays a role in the plot.  One is his new acquaintance has many of his interests and is better than him at all of them, except singing. I guess you could say that is Frasier and Not Kelsey grammar, but then is it Frasier or Kelsey Grammar singing the theme?.....  ANyway, yes, its him and he can sing. 

[Blergh]

On 9/25/2019 at 1:38 AM, SmithW6079 said:

I didn't realize until several seasons in -- with their nonchalant reaction to Susan's death -- that the main characters in "Seinfeld" were assholes. After that, I hated the characters and stopped watching the show. 

True but compared to their Friends counterparts, they were virtual Mother Theresas! 

Edited July 22, 2020 by Blergh

[Crs97]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

True but compared to their Friends counterparts, they were virtual Mother Theresas! 

Really?  I thought the Friends group was a much better group of people.  I’d love to hear more of your thoughts.

My UO: I didn’t like Seinfeld at all and didn’t think it was very funny.  Ended up watching more of it than I wanted because my roommate and friends loved it.  I was very meh.

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't think it was necessarily supposed to be funny. The network execs hated the show and insisted on a laugh track. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld didn't want one. 

I guess it's a partial UO that comedy doesn't necessarily have to be funny to me to be good comedy. I never really watched Seinfeld because I was in college at the time, but I read some articles about it after it ended and what they were trying to do with the show. 

[Shannon L.]

2 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I guess it's a partial UO that comedy doesn't necessarily have to be funny to me to be good comedy.

Agreed.  I mentioned this a couple of years ago in the UO thread.  If a comedy makes me laugh out loud, then that's just the icing on the cake, but simply amusing/cute is good enough for me.

As for Seinfeld, I didn't get why it was a big deal, either.  Master of My Domain was funny, imo, as was the one where they went to the beach house, right up to the point where George put shell fish in the Jewish woman's food (or claimed he did). I didn't find that amusing at all.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Shannon L.

[Irlandesa]

5 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think it was necessarily supposed to be funny. The network execs hated the show and insisted on a laugh track. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld didn't want one.

I think Seinfeld was meant to be funny.  I personally find it funny.  I think shows that don't want laugh tracks just hate laugh tracks because laugh tracks tend to force the funny.  Even mildly amusing, not laugh out loud moments, suddenly are made laugh out loud with laugh tracks.

I don't know if it's unpopular but I actually like real live laughter (sometimes with tracks but sometimes just from the in studio audience) as I think laughter can be contagious and cathartic. 

My issue with laugh tracks these days usually involve the shows they're used for, not the laughter itself.