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

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.”

Food: Skip’s Scramble

Show: Arrested Development (2005)

Origin: On one episode, characters eat Sunday brunch at a bistro called Skip’s Church (the joke being that people “skip church” to go there). A brief shot of the menu shows standard brunch fare, along with an omelet called Skips Scramble. Its description: “Too many choices? Menu too big to swallow? Let Skip serve you up a scram that has something from every dish on the menu. It will knock you into next week!” Price: $47.95. The dish includes eggs, ten slices of bacon, ham, peppers, onion, sausage, and a chocolate glazed doughnut. (The menu also features the disclaimer that Skip’s Church is “not responsible for medical bills of deformities resulting from the digestion of its menu items.”)

(YouTube link)

Drink: Killer Shrew

Show: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1992)

Origin: On an episode of the movie send-up show revolving around the 1959 movie called Killer Shrews, Joel (Joel Hodgson) and his robot companions devise the “Killer Shrew,” a cocktail that’s non-alcoholic but not very healthy. The recipe: combine chocolate chip ice cream, Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries, Peanut M&Ms, pancake syrup, Circus Peanuts, Mr. Pibb, Marshmallow Peeps, Sweet Tarts candies, vanilla cake frosting, and Good & Plenty in a blender. Then, “pour into a plastic tulip vase” and throw in a wind-up toy shrew. Joel took a sip… and fell into a diabetic coma from all the sugar. (Note: If you throw in wax lips, it’s no longer a Killer Shrew; it’s a “Vulcan Mind Probe.”)

(Image source: iCarly)

Food: Spaghetti Tacos

Show: iCarly (2009)

Origin: One on episode of the popular nickelodeon comedy, Spencer (Jerry Trainor) had no idea what to make for dinner. So he invented spaghetti tacos, hard taco shells filled with noodles and marinara sauce. Since that episode aired in 2009, the food became a cultural phenomenon both on the show and in real life. In one episode, characters oversee a spaghetti-taco-making contest on a cable show, and in the real world, spaghetti tacos were the most-requested food item at American school cafeterias in 2010. “Spaghetti tacos made it possible to eat spaghetti in your car,” said Syracuse University pop-culture professor Robert Thompson in The New York Times. “It’s an important technological development.”

(YouTube link)

Drink: Bloody Awful

Show: Top Gear (2008)

Origin: This British show about cars and other manly stuff is co-hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, who came up with this recipe for what he calls “a man’s V8 smoothie.” And that’s not V8, as in the vegetable drink- that’s V8, as in the high-powered car engine, which he used to power a blender. Into that blender were placed a few pounds of raw beef with the bones, a dozen hot chilies, a half gallon of Bovril (a meat flavoring agent and tenderizer), two cups of Tabasco sauce…and a brick.

Food: Shepherd’s Pie Trifle

Show: Friends (1999)

Origin: In a Thanksgiving episode, chef Monica (Courtney Cox) makes a holiday feast, while Rachel (Jennifer Anniston) volunteers to make a trifle for dessert. The British dish is traditionally made up of cake, custard, and fruit, but when the pages of Rachel’s cookbook get stuck together, she inadvertently mixes in the ingredients of shepherd’s pie with the trifle, making for a disgusting crossbreed of the two. Joey (Matt LeBlanc), who has a huge appetite, doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the dish, and eats the whole thing himself. “What’s not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good.” Ross disagrees, saying that it “tastes like feet.”

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The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Tunes Into TV.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!

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

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.

Link

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.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ahammel.

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.