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U.S. TV networks take shows from other countries and rework them to show to American audiences. In the same way, other countries do their own versions of American TV shows -but they often end up being quite different. Check out this list of 10 Foreign Remakes of American TV Shows Very Different Than the Original, with clips showing what some of your favorite sitcoms, cartoons, and dramas look like in other parts of the world. Pictured here are the Russian versions of How I Met Your Mother, The Nanny, and Everybody Loves Raymond. Link -Thanks, Katina!
Technically Festivus was yesterday, but in case you couldn’t get the day off work and will be celebrating today, the link has more information on America’s favorite television-inspired Christmas alternative.
Link Via Geekosystem
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The following article is from the book Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Tunes Into TV.
When TV characters cook, the results are often disgusting.
Drink: Flaming Homer
Show: The Simpsons (1991)
Origin: Homer is bored at home one night -forced to watch his in-law’s vacation slides- and he doesn’t have any beer, so he makes a cocktail from whatever he can find. He pours the leftover bits from several liquor bottles into a blender, along with the accidental addition of “Krusty’s Non-Narkotic Kough Syrup.” Homer thinks it tastes okay… but it’s even better after it’s lit afire by a stray cigarette ash. “I don’t know the scientific explanation, but fire made it good,” Homer says when he recreates the “Flaming Homer” at Moe’s Tavern. Moe then steals the idea and starts serving the drink (for $6.95) and renames it “The Flaming Moe.”
Food: Chocolate Salty Balls
Show: South Park (1998)
Origin: When the Sundance Film Festival comes to town, the soul-singing school cafeteria cook Chef (voice of Isaac Hayes) opens a stand to sell cookies to tourists. His most popular item: His “Chocolate Salty Balls.” It’s a blatant double entendre, and Chef even sings a song about them: “Hey, everybody, have you seen my balls? They’re big and salty and brown!” The song (which reached #1 in England) gives the recipe: cinnamon, egg whites, melted butter, flour, unsweetened chocolate, brandy, vanilla, and sugar. (Curiously, it doesn’t call for salt.)
(Image credit: Garnished Adventures)
Drink: Thankstini
Show: How I Met Your Mother (2005)
Origins: This cocktail, a martini, invented by booze-swilling playboy Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), combines Thanksgiving food with booze. It’s made from two ounces of potato vodka, four ounces of cranberry juice …and a bouillon cube for that poultry flavor. Barney remarks that it “tastes just like a turkey dinner.”
Dan Meth, the same artist who told us what prescriptions our favorite Pooh characters needed, has recently put together this graph of the relative intelligence of all the characters on Cheers. I personally agree with his assessment, what do you guys think?
Link Via Laughing Squid
If you are a fan of classic TV, you’ll enjoy today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss! How well do you know the secondary characters on your favorite TV series? Almost every sitcom had characters that didn’t appear in every episode. In this quiz, you’ll be given three choices for each show, and you decide which character appeared in the most episodes. I scored 60%, which isn’t bad, as I was correct on all the series I actually watched. Link
Some of the greatest television shows in history lasted only a few seasons (Arrested Development – 3 seasons). A few barely made it past a dozen episodes (Firefly – 14 episodes). Yet a long list of run-of-the-mill sitcoms somehow manage to stay on the air for years. Funny or Die looks at nine such shows that lasted far, far longer than you might have realized.
If a friend asked you if you’ve ever heard of the show Wings, you’d likely respond with “Oh sure, short-lived NBC sitcom from the 90s. Probably on a few seasons.” And when you’d be told it was actually on eight seasons, your friend would have to get a mop because your mind just exploded all over the floor.
We often forget about how iconic the "hangout" is to the TV sitcoms. In a lot of ways, the hangout becomes a character. Anyway, this list of 10 most celebrated TV show hangouts includes the Bluth’s Banana Stand. How awesome is that!? "The big yellow joint…"
We tend to get drawn into our favorite TV shows; we know what the characters do for a living and are privy to their groups of friends. But in order to really love a sitcom or dramatic series, it must be set to perfection—in other words, it’s all about the hangout spots. From the Three’s Company bar, Regal Beagle, to Beverly Hills, 90210’s diner, the Peach Pit, these renowned places—where our favorite small-screen characters gathered—ignite big memories for those of us who loyally tuned in. Reminisce with us as you check out these 10 famous spots where love, laughs and drama all unfolded—and where everyone definitely knew one another’s names.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by ahammel.
You guys are going to think all I do is watch T.V., between this post and my Lost post and my As Seen on T.V. post. I swear I do other things. I totally understand if you don’t believe me, though.
Anyway. Here goes: I kind of wish I worked at Dunder Mifflin. I love The Office. Although I’m pretty sure if I tried to put one of my co-worker’s staplers in Jell-O, I’d get written up for harassment and destruction of company property. And I so wish I worked with Creed.
My Office obsession has led me to look up random trivia about it, because that’s what I do when I get totally infatuated with something (don’t even get me started on Lost). I thought I’d share a few of those tidbits with you guys. We’ll start with my favorite:
-Tricked Dwight into going into the girls bathroom and “Saw Meredith on the can”.
-Dwight hit himself in the head with his phone (Jim put nickles in the handset to make it
heavier and then took them out when Dwight got used to the weight).
-Jim paid five dollars to everyone so they would call Dwight “Dwayne”
-Every time Dwight typed his name it came out as “diaper”
-Placed a bloody glove in Dwight’s desk, tried to convince him he committed murder
-By the end of the day Dwight’s desk was moved 2 feet closer to the water cooler
-Replaced all of Dwight’s pens and pencils with crayons
Of course, there is tons of Office trivia. But these are the tidbits I found the most interesting. So, for now, I’ll leave you with this:
www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts. Check it out.
