Mental Floss The Curious Viewer: A Miscellany of Bingeable Streaming TV Shows from the Past Twenty Years

Buy the Book:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Title: Mental Floss The Curious Viewer: A Miscellany of Bingeable Streaming TV Shows from the Past Twenty Years
Series:
Published by: Weldon Owen
Release Date: October 19, 2021
Contributors: Jennifer M. Wood (Editor), The Team at Mental Floss (Author)
Pages: 304
ISBN13: 978-1681887869

 From Mental Floss, the premier online destination for curious minds, comes a deep dive into the greatest television shows from the last 20 years. Filled with little-known facts and lists of must-see shows, this fascinating collection includes:

The hardest role to cast on Game of Thrones • The DEA’s involvement in Breaking Bad • The lost Black-ish episode deemed too divisive for TV • The real-life inspiration for Mad Men’s Don Draper • The identity of “Ugly Naked Guy” on Friends • When George Lucas sued Battlestar Galactica • How Curb Your Enthusiasm saved a man from the death penalty • When Doctor Who’s TARDIS went to court • The story behind Law & Order’s iconic “dun-dun” sound effect

Mental Floss: The Curious Viewer also contains many of Mental Floss’s famously fascinating lists, such as Actors Who Asked for Their Characters to Be Killed Off, The Most-Watched TV Series Finales Ever, TV Characters Who Were Inspired by Real People, Bizarre TV Crossovers, Amazing One-Season Shows, Important Moments in LGBTQ+ History on TV, and Unforgettable Television Cliff-Hangers.

From the Law & Order portion, written by Randee Dawn:

 

At 30-plus years old, the Law & Order universe seems to have always been with us. Revolutionary when the mothership show (also known as "original recipe") premiered in 1990, Law & Order began in an era when cable was still a baby and streaming wasn't even invented yet. Heck, it gave us a pre-Mr. Big (Sex and the City) Chris Noth!

 NBC called it quits in 2010, but the series still remains in endless reruns. Considered the No. 36 show of all time by Rolling Stone, it may be everywhere – but how much do you really know? Here are 20 historical bits about the series, the stars, the industry – and how it had a large hand in helping gentrify New York City.