Unbelievable Secrets From Your Favorite 90s Shows

Arguably, the 90s were filled with the best television shows ever put on the air. From teenage witches to brooding and angsty, flannel-wearing teenagers, vampires to dysfunctional families, the 90s had it all…in addition to the secrets that keep them interesting. Let’s jump into it, shall we?

Vivian Banks was the OG mom on the show that launched Will Smith to fame. However, actress Janet Hubert played Vivian initially before she was recast by Daphne Maxwell Reid in Season 4. Banks thought that the show would be more centered on her character and her husband – aka Uncle Philip – which ultimately led to her replacement in the middle of filming a season. That’s showbiz, baby!  

While most viewers think of Perry as just another handsome face, his acting ability was something people would come to admire. In fact, the show’s creator, Aaron Spelling, believed in Perry’s talent so much that he ended up personally paying Perry’s paycheck for the first couple of episodes. It wouldn’t be long before Perry became a household name and an international celebrity, and, not to mention, a beloved poster on the bedroom walls of millions of teenage girls. 

Starring Tim Allen as the patriarch of the Taylor household, the show primarily revolves around the antics of the family and dealing with the hard side of parenting. However, you know who the real star of the show is? His name is Wilson, the mysterious next door neighbor who was actually based on Allen’s neighbor in real life! Part of what made this neighbor so interesting was that when Allen was a young boy, he had never seen the neighbor’s face because he was too short to look over the fence. Art imitates life, indeed.

Unfortunately, for the actress playing Fran, this elemental facet of her role led to some health issues. Even her personal doctor stepped in to voice their concerns about how much food she was consuming on a daily basis. Furthermore, there was a petition that went around requesting that she does not eat in every scene! 

Topanga is already a unique and uncommon name, so where did it actually come from? The story behind her name is that it came from the historical Topanga Canyon in the beautiful and sunny beach town of Malibu, California! 

Lisa Kudrow, the actress known for playing Phoebe, was close to being cast as Roz. Imagine if Phoebe from Friends ended up moving to Washington from the Big Apple? While it obviously never happened, it’s a fun idea to entertain. 

Bob Saget, the stand-up comedian and actor who plays Danny Tanner, may have been a loveable all-American family dad on screen, but he wasn’t quite the same behind the camera. Saget had a darker side that was revealed on set, a side that was seemingly not too pleasant to be around for the rest of the cast and crew of the show. Hey, we’re sure he didn’t mean it!

Allegedly, how they were in front of the camera with each other was just for the sake of the show! Betty White, who was a literal angel, didn’t even spend time with her co-stars that much. Regardless of any unfriendliness between the actresses, thank you for being a friend…to us. 

Zack, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, is notably recognizable, in large part, to his signature blonde locks. Spoiler alert: Gosselaar is actually a brunette. Yep – for pretty much every episode he had to have an almost completely full dye job done. That would have given us an identity crisis for sure, so props to you Mr. Gosselaar!

People lie about their ages all the time, right? When Gillian Anderson auditioned for FBI agent Dana Scully, she told the casting agents that she was 27. In reality, Anderson was only 24, which would in reality make her a super young, impressive agent for the FBI. It doesn’t even matter though because we are Scully superfans for life…and, plus, a little fib here and there never hurt anybody. 

Roberts made Midge sincere, no matter how out of it she was most of the time! Due to an unfortunate circumstance with her husband, Roberts had to be written out of the series for good. 

Diverging from the typical horror trope fashion where the blonde cheerleader always gets killed early on, Whedon wanted Buffy’s character to survive, thus becoming a pivotal role in the show. Clearly, the influential status of the show would not have been the same if Buffy was not the heroine of her story. 

Raymond would often call his wife, Deborah, affectionate nicknames to try and gain her approval and appease how insufferable he can be most of the time. Yeah, the cute nicknames usually didn’t work, even when he did his best to succeed in the charm department. A little known fact is that the actor who plays Raymond came up with every creative nickname on the spot! 

It turns out that the actress Katey Segal who plays Peggy was so devoted to her character that she even brought some outfits from her own closet to the set. The iconic red wig and other clothing items were straight from Segal’s wardrobe. Hey, if it worked for Al, it does for us, too! 

A super fun and creative aspect of the show was the Book of Shadows, which was an essential part of the magic that the Halliwell sisters needed to perform their spells and channel their unique abilities. Even cooler than the mystical stuff is that all the content in the book was hand-painted! It also weighed nearly ten pounds. 

The 1994 medical drama smash sensation actually cost millions of dollars per episode: nearly $15 million, in fact. That’s insane! An independent movie these days is made for $15 million, so that’s the scope of what an ER episode was like in its heyday. We can’t help but wonder what the actors were making per episode. 

One of the best characters on the show is Mr. Grandy, Arlen’s favorite public school music teacher. John Ritter, a national icon and comedic actor, actually voices him! Who would have thought that Three’s Company Jack Tripper himself had an awesome side gig? 

David Lynch’s bizarrely brilliant cult show Twin Peaks is an abnormal case study in the world of incomparable television successes. The enthralling murder mystery of a teenage girl named Laura Palmer in the small Washington town of Twin Peaks, is the central plot that kept viewers hooked throughout its fruitful run. However, the actual murderer was the important element that, while a lot of people didn’t know, certain broadcasting companies did. This insider advantage was used by some companies as leverage to spite others that were snagging viewers from each other. Talk about some unfriendly competition! 

Tyler was a barista in real life, despite the fact that he never made actual coffee on the show. Also, the day before Tyler’s first time on set, his friend wanted to test out their hairdressing skills on him, so Tyler ended up arriving the next morning with bleached blonde hair. Little did he know, that would be his hair color on the show for the next 10 years! Ah, life is comical. 

The original idea for the series was that it would follow Jerry Seinfeld’s life as a stand-up comedian and how he creates his comedic material. Ultimately, the show deviated from focusing on that primary concept, but Seinfeld’s stand-up acts were still integrated into the opening of the show. Apparently, audiences didn’t catch on to the bigger picture. 

It’s shocking then that his character was close to being ripped from the show after only one episode! The producers of Family Matters initially planned for Urkel to be a character that would disappear after his first on-screen appearance. An ax was thrown into their plans because they ended up seeing the audience’s positive response to him and decided to keep him as a series regular. Truthfully, the show wouldn’t be the same without nerdy Steve Urkel. 

Alicia “Lecy” Goranson felt that her character should have short hair, but the producers fought back. Goranson went to Roseanne and explained the situation to her. So, what did Roseanne do? She cut Goranson’s hair short herself…on the spot! This blunt action obviously put the producers in a super awkward position and they had to accept that Becky will have short hair. 

While driving, Mullally made an illegal u-turn and was immediately pulled aside by a cop. Most likely in a state of daze and euphoria after receiving such amazing news, Mullally didn’t take the situation to heart. After all, she was extremely happy about getting the role that nothing – not even being pulled over – could break her stride!

The quirky sitcom was all about a teenager named Blossom living with her single dad and two brothers. Remember her best friend, Six? Well, the story behind her name varies. One of the stories is that she was the sixth child in her family, but the rest of her siblings are never even seen on the show. 

With Dick being a university professor in a small Ohio town, the comical energy between him and his students never failed to put a big smile on our faces. Interestingly enough, one of his students, Leon, was actually John Lithgow’s son in real life. Ian Lithgow played Leon. Imagine what it was like working with your OG dad who was also playing your college teacher?! 

James Van Der Beek plays teenager Dawson Leery, who is the main character of the drama series. A primary struggle Dawson faces is his parent’s divorce, a life changing event that significantly impacts him. In reality, Van Der Beek is extremely close to his family and the necklace that Dawson always wears belonged to Van Der Beek’s mother. The necklace became a wardrobe accessory that was essential to Dawson’s character. 

Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall, was a favored character out of all the ladies. She always possessed a keen sense of style, self-confidence, and sociable personality. Cattrall embodied Samantha in every way possible, including wearing heels even when she wasn’t required to during scenes. Now that’s dedication!

Angela’s gay best friend, Ricky Vasquez, dealt with sensitive topics such as bullying and homelessness, among others, in the show. Wilson Cruz played a pivotal role in his instrumental representation as the first gay teen on network TV, which hit very close to home for Cruz himself. Like Ricky, Cruz had similarly experienced a stint of homelessness after coming out to his father. 

The story of how Hart landed the role is not that surprising considering it happens a lot in the industry. It turned out that Hart’s mom was a producer of the show and even held the rights to the Archie Comics adaptations. Was Hart just lucky or did she really prove she can play Sabrina? Honestly, we couldn’t imagine anybody else as the blonde spell-casting witch. 

Having experienced abuse from her previous male owner, Happy was scared to be around any men during filming. Off-set, the males of the cast spent quality time with her so that she was happy and comfortable.