Random Facts About Your Favorite TV Shows

Screencap from M*A*S*H of Gary Burghoff playing Radar O'Reilly

Every television show out there has a story on how it got made, who stars in it, and/or other behind the scenes stories that only some of the most loyal fans to these particular shows would know. The fun thing is that these facts are some good conversational fodder while talking to your coworkers around the water cooler or with your buddies while scarfing down wings and beer.

So here it is, some facts about your favorite TV shows and actors that starred in them.

1. Scotty has no middle finger: Star Trek favorite James Doohan, known for playing Scotty, was in the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II. On the night of D-Day, Doohan was shot six times, including in the chest where a bullet hit a silver cigarette case and in the right hand which led to his middle finger having to be amputated. So next time you see Scotty do a shot or throw a punch, take a look at his right hand if you can.

2. Radar always hid his left hand with a clipboard: "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H was always seen holding a clipboard with his left hand. When he wasn't holding a clipboard, usually his left hand was out of the frame of the picture. This was because actor Gary Burghoff was born with a congenital deformity of three of his fingers. Occasionally, you can see this if you pause a scene at the right moment. There have been scenes with Burghoff weight-lifting and holding a football that it is most noticeable. Despite this deformity, Burghoff was a drummer for a band called the Relatives in 1968. The lead singer of this band...Wonder Woman's Lynda Carter.

3. The J. Peterman catalog in Seinfeld is real: In real life, there is a J. Peterman catalog that the writer's of Seinfeld incorporated into the show when a catalog came across their desk. The real life company is based out of Kentucky and the owner is named John Peterman, unlike his TV show counterpart, Jacopo Peterman. Want to go a little more meta? Actor John O'Hurley, the man who played J. Peterman, now works and is a part-owner of the real life J. Peterman catalog.

4. Sophia Petrillo was younger than her daughter: Actress Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo in the 1980's hit, The Golden Girls. Her character was famous for being short, old, and the mother of Dorothy Zbornak who was played by Bea Arthur. Make-up and acting went a long way as Getty was actually a year younger than Arthur was in real life.

5. Cobie Smulders was not originally asked to play Robin: A hit show that aired for nine seasons and 208 episodes, How I Met Your Mother's Robyn was not originally supposed to be played by Cobie Smulders. A little known actress at the time, show creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, cast Smulders only after their original choice for the role had turned it down. In wasn't until 2014 when the show came to an end when they stated during an interview who their first choice to play Robyn was...Jennifer Love Hewitt. Afterwards, Bays and Thomas said it was best that Smulders was an unknown actress because it was like America was meeting her for the first time at the same time Ted Mosby did.

6. Portlandia's Fred Armisen was originally a drummer: Some people have realized that Fred Armisen is musically talented since he became the band leader for Late Night with Seth Myers. What some people don't know is that Armisen used to be a backup drummer for the famous Blue Man Group. Armisen was also for a punk rock band called Trenchmouth during the late 1980's and into the early 1990's.

7. Comet is Air Bud: The dog known as Comet on the ABC hit show, Full House, was played by a golden retriever named Buddy. Later, after finishing his role as Comet, Buddy went on to the big screen to star in kid-friendly movie, Air Bud.

8. Kevin Arnold dated sisters: A hit series in the late 1980's to the early 1990's, The Wonder Years centered around the life of a teenaged Kevin Arnold while his adult self narrated the series. Arnold's love for friend-turned girlfriend, Winnie Cooper, is a main theme for the show as he tries to figure out how women work. As many people know, Arnold wasn't always part of a couple with Cooper the entire series. Arnold dated Becky Slater, sometimes as a way to make Cooper jealous in hopes that she would come back to him. What many people don't know is that the actress that played Slater is Crystal McKellar, the real life sister to Danica McKellar who played Cooper.

9. The number 47 is everywhere: In the spy series Alias, the number 47 appears all the time. Sydney needs to access information on Server 47 to take down SD-6. There are 47 parts to Rambaldi's magnum opus. Marshall wants to improve a camera design so it has 47 exposures. The key code to access the computer room that houses information on SD-6 is 4747. The number 47 is seen in large print on the door Sydney's abductors take Sydney through while she's retrieving her lost memories.

10. Mitt Romney's sister-in-law almost caused a TV show to be cancelled: Terry Rakolta, Mitt Romney's former sister-in-law, started a letter writing campaign that cost the show Married...with Children many of their advertisers. Rakolta was angry and determined that the show be ripped off the air after she witnessed an episode that featured Al Bundy and Steve Rhoades buying a bra for Peggy. Rakolta would go on to be a guest of many talk shows while the show would garner its highest ratings ever less than a year later.

11. Van Wilder wasn't almost a cast member of Buffy: While many people know that Katie Holmes was originally asked to play the role of Buffy in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not as many people know that Ryan Reynolds was asked to play the role of Xander. Coming out of high school in real life at the same time, Reynolds didn't want to play a high school kid and instead was searching for more adult roles. Holmes, of course, would go on to play Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek.

12. People would frequently go missing in Philadelphia...and no one cared: In the ABC's TGIF hit, Boy Meets World, it wasn't uncommon for characters to just disappear without a word. Mr. Turner never appeared again after his motorcycle accident. Stuart Minkus disappeared after the first season, only to be seen one more time when they all graduated high school. Corey's little sister disappeared and was replaced by an older pre-teen version. Shawn's sister Stacey was mentioned in one episode when Shawn called her on the phone, only to have Stacey never heard from or about again. Topanga's parents kept changing appearances. Peter Tork and Michael McKeon both played her father at some point. Marcia Cross and Annette O'Toole both played her mother. Finally, two years of the kid's lives go missing. They never were seen attending the 9th and 10th grades.

13. Jennifer Love Hewitt sure passes on a lot of roles: As earlier, when revealed that Jennifer Love Hewitt was originally asked to play Robyn in How I Met Your Mother, she also passed on the role of Piper in Charmed. Instead, Rose McGowan would go on to be cast in this role that would replace Shannen Doherty's character leaving the show.

14. Twitter is not just for Trump: Wil Wheaton was asked to be a reoccurring member of Big Bang Theory after he tweeted that he enjoyed the show. Producers saw the tweet and asked Wheaton to play an "evil" version of himself to be Sheldon Cooper's archrival.

Which Comic Book Character Should Have a TV Show or Movie

With a seemingly flood of comic book properties being made into movies and TV shows, it's easy for the non-comic book fan to think that everything has been made already. Not even close.

Back twenty years ago most of your comic book related media on television or on the big screen consisted of Superman and Batman along with some cartoons. Now cartoons helped convert many kids into comic book fans so they shouldn't be "poo-poo'ed", but live action grabs the attention of everyone.

With that said there could be a valid argument on which characters should get to be the next live action hero/villain. I present a list to you that would be my choices, but as every comic book fan knows, no two comic book fans will every agree one hundred percent to a list like this.


1. Zatanna: One of the most powerful sorceresses in the DC world, she has the ability to cast spells by saying what she wants backwards. There have been a few occasions where she didn't need to speak at all to cast a spell. A key member of Justice League Dark, she has gained even more popularity since the DC New 52 reboot.

From a storyline standpoint, a movie or television show writer can take her character in many directions. Exploring her storyline via her father John Zatara who was a world class magician, exploring the shared childhood her and Bruce Wayne shared, exploring the Justice League Dark angle along with the character John Constantine who gained a cult following with his recent television show, and even her rivalry with Catwoman over Bruce Wayne's affection.

Now in fairness, Zatanna has appeared as a live action hero already. She has appeared in three episodes of Smallville, but did not leave a real mark in the live action world. There are rumors of a Dark Universe movie being made around Justice League Dark as part of the DC movie extended universe, but Zatanna has not been confirmed yet to be in this movie. Her story is strong enough, thanks to the writings of Paul Dini, Peter Milligan, and Jeff Lemire, to become the star of her own stand-alone movie or television series.


2. Invincible: Not a DC or Marvel Comics character, Invincible is an Image Comics property who was created by legendary writer, Robert Kirkman. He's sort of a mix of a young Spider-Man personality and age wise, and Superman because of his strength, ability to fly, and alien origins.

What would be fun for a writer is that there is no hint of Invincible in a live action role. The direction a writer could take on this character is limitless because they wouldn't be handcuffed by past appearances of the character in other previous releases.

Mark Grayson, Invincible's name, is the young character that many hoped Spider-Man would be in the movies and tried to attempt with Toby Maguire. Hints of a team movie could also be made with Invincible because of the link he has with the Guardians of the Globe (a Justice League type of team). Invincible has declined membership, but a possible movie that contains the Guardians in a supporting role would only strengthen the character.


3. Voodoo: Originally a Wildstorm character, she was moved over into the DC Universe with the reboot. A human/Deamonite hybrid, she has the ability to shape shift and has the power of telepathy. Known as Priscilla Kitaen, she works as an exotic dancer as her human cover, so making a Voodoo movie or television show would probably have to be rated R or at the very least, released on Netflix.

She excels in hand-to-hand combat and espionage and with her ties to the Daemonites, she could be an intriguing character to write for considering that Superman has some interaction with the Daemonites post-reboot. Depending on how her character is written, she can also have the ability called "Sight" which allows her to spot the Daemonites posing as humans. This would open her character up to a WildC.A.T.s storyline before DC Comics retconned this. She has a large amount of play room to write with .



 4. Prowler: Originally a criminal with a high level of intelligence, Hobbie Brown changed sides after a confrontation with Spider-Man. He has no mutant abilities, but because of his ability to invent things, he's able to hold his own when confronted by those who do. In his regular life, he's a married man who doesn't live up to his potential. Even with his potential, he sticks to low-paying, blue collar work. He's taken up to freelancing for Silver Sable and has worked with the Outlaws.


5. Nightwing: Now this is sort of an odd one. Dick Grayson, Nightwing's secret alias has been in movies. He's appeared as Robin in the Batman '66 movie and in the Joel Schumacher directed Batman movies of the 1990's, but Grayson has never appeared in a live action movie as Nightwing. Batman's original protégé, Grayson grew up to become his own A-level superhero.

When the original 52 series occurred in 2006, Grayson stepped up in the DC Universe. When Bruce Wayne was thought to be dead, Grayson took the mantle of the bat and proved to be a great replacement and counter-balance to Damian Wayne's Robin. Out of any DC character, Grayson is the one that we all feel like we watched grow up and developed into a legitimate star.

If Bruce Wayne ever steps down from Batman, I feel that Grayson would be a great replacement, but in some ways I hope he remains Nightwing because he has developed so well as a character now.

6. Resurrection Man: Mitch Shelley has an interesting ability. He can die seemingly an infinite amount of times and because of nanites called "tektites" that flow through his body, he not only comes back to life, but he gains a new and different super power every time. This gives him the potential to be the strongest superhero in the DC Universe, but also gives him the potential to have a mundane power that isn't very helpful depending on the situations he finds himself in. He could be a good character to have in the Legends of Tomorrow television series since he has found himself at odds with Vandal Savage before, but it could be better to have him in a series run by Netflix. The ability to have a new superpower every episode could provide the good basis for each new episode.

What Happened to...Sitcom Idols

Television has engrained itself into the fabric of America. People grew up watching iconic characters for year after year, almost feeling like they personally know the characters from the TV shows they watched. When you break down each decade in America for the past 70 years, one of the first things you think of when you look at each decade from a cultural aspect is the TV shows that aired during these decades. The problem is a show would run for a limited amount of time and even though each hit series had a finale, it would leave you with the question...what happened to (insert character name here) after the show ended.

A recent trend in television and now Netflix is to continue these series years later. Disney Channel has Girl Meets World which continues the storyline of Cory and Topanga from Boy Meets World. Netflix has Fuller House which continues the hit show from the '80s and now surrounds DJ, Stephanie, and Kimmy's storylines who were originally the kids in Full House. Frasier sort of filled this "what happened to" scenario with Frasier Crane. Even though it was a spinoff, it took place for 11 seasons after Cheers ended.

But what about all those other characters out there that we all loved or hated that we never got an answer to the "what happened to..." question? Well I present to you a short list of hit characters and what I think may have happened to them. Not everyone of them has a peachy-keen story after their show ended.

1. Steven Urkel (Family Matters): Though socially awkward throughout the show and obsessed with the Winslow family, Urkel was a genius when it came to science. He in invented the Urkel Bot that actually displayed feelings and could be said to have reached sentience because it feel in love with Laura. He invented Boss Sauce which would work with his Transformation Chamber to change someone into someone socially different and even eventually led to the clone of Stefan Urquelle. He had entered negotiations to sell his invention of exploding veggies to the US Military and even invented a teleportation pad that zapped him to Paris.

So what happened to the genius? Well my take is that he did indeed eventually marry Laura Winslow. Happy ending right? Wrong...

Diving deeper into working on his inventions Urkel uses his previous military contacts to invent new types of weapons for them to use. He probably had something to do with that ray gun that when fired at people would give them the sudden urge to poop. I imagine since this gun is similar to the gun that makes you vomit, he probably had a hand in this too. Over time, he secretly amasses a fortune as the lead scientist for a weapons manufacturer. Being a pacifist and rarely seeing him anymore, Laura eventually divorces Urkel when he's not there for her when Carl Winslow is killed in a police standoff in Chicago. Laura takes half his fortune and Urkel dives deeper into isolation and the last we heard, he's working on a bomb that makes the nuclear bomb look like a spit-wad gun.

2. Norm Peterson (Cheers): Famously known as Norm! from the hit show Cheers, he was the most famous customer of the bar of the same name. Running tabs that ran into the thousands of dollars, Norm would often banter back and forth with Cliff Clavin and Frasier Crane. The last appearance of Norm on a television show was the spinoff of Frasier when Cliff Clavin is having a retirement party and Frasier along with his family fly to Boston for a conference, running into the outgoing postal worker.

So what happened to the lovable bar patron? Well he's dead.

How drastic you say! Yes, but take into account how much he drank, his diet, his weight, his lack of physical exercise, and his general outtake on life, he certainly drank himself to death by the time he hit his mid-60's. How did he die? Sclerosis of the liver. Not being able to give up his beer drinking habit, no doctor in their right mind would put him on the donor list unless he changed his habits. Unfortunately Norm couldn't and he passes away in St. Eligius Hospital, famously nicknamed St. Elsewhere which was another '80s show that George Wendt also guested on as Norm Peterson. In his will, he leaves a small amount of money to help pay off his bar tab with Cheers.

3. Balki Bartokomous (Perfect Strangers): The distant cousin of Larry, Balki intrudes on Larry's kindness and the pair become roommates in Chicago. The twenty-two year old is naïve and Larry is the one that takes it upon himself to help Balki adjust to the new settings of America which are far beyond that of the primitive country of Mypos. Originally the two work as clerks at the Ritz Discount Store, but by the time the series ends, Larry is a news reporter and Balki draws a weekly comic strip based on his stuffed sheep. Larry marries Jennifer and they have a kid named Tucker. Balki rushes into marriage with Mary Anne and the two have a kid named Robespierre.

So what happened to the lovable foreigner? Well he's now in charge of his own rebel group looking to overthrow the Myposian government on behalf of Islam.

Yes, I went dark on you. During his years in America, Balki tried his hardest to become more American-like, but never quite gets it. As many people do when they age he becomes more conservative and he reverts back to the teachings of his family while he grew up on the Mediterranean island just between Turkey and Greece. A culture that often is referred to being centuries in the past (so much so that it is alluded that pterodactyls are still alive there), the country has self imposed a ban on sciences and modern day electronics. Only one phone exists on the island for example. What is never said is that the island is under the control of an Islamic group that restricts technology within the country.

After 9/11 and other terrorist events, Balki starts becoming more fanatical with the cries of the people on his island to overthrow American values that he leaves his wife and child and returns to his homeland. Through his knowledge of American culture and his early weapons training as a child on Mypos, Balki rises among the ranks of the Muslim rebel group and overthrow King Ferdinand. Balki has resented the king since season 2 because the king tasked Balki in selling land to an American corporation to turn a large chunk of the island into a toxic dump. After seizing control of the government, Balki personally condemns King Ferdinand to death and rises quickly on the American most wanted list.

 4. Vicki Lawson (A Small Wonder): A robot created by Ted Lawson, Voice Input Child Identical (V.I.C.I.) was engineered to help children with physical handicaps. Ted brings the robot home to mature within a real family and as a cover, gives her the name Vicki to blend in with the rest of the family. She is 10 years old in appearance and during the shows 4 season run, Ted provides her with upgrades to continue to pass a human girl.

So what happened to this monotone robot? She's been dismantled by her evil twin Vanessa.

As the son, Jamie Lawson grew up, he found himself becoming more interested in the prospect of having a human-looking robot always around him and willing to do whatever he said. By the time they reach their college years, Jamie moves across the country to a small one bedroom apartment and takes Vicki along with him. At first Vicki gives him trouble because she no longer wishes to live in a closet, but Jamie refuses to share his personal space with him. He suggests that they could "share" a bed if she agrees to his sexual advances, but she rejects him. Remembering that his father also created Vanessa, Vicki's evil twin that was more human-like and spoke without the monotone voice, Jamie has Vanessa reactivated and sent to his apartment.

As the evil twin who is to take Vicki's place, Vanessa blindsides Vicki and deactivates her. Vicki is disassembled and Vanessa lives out the rest of her robot life as Jamie's servant/lover under the guise of Vicki.

On a side note, Jamie is the ancestor to a robotics expert named Noonian Soong who uses the V.I.C.I. plans to be the foundation of the three androids he creates, Data, Lore, and B4.

5. Bud Bundy (Married...With Children): Son of the famous Al Bundy, Bud was supposedly college educated, but never displayed this in the real world. The one thing that motivates him is sex. Maybe this is because of the women that his older sister, Kelly, would bring home and hang out with (played by actresses such as Lisa Boyle and Jennifer Lyons). When we last see Bud, he graduated college and worked for the Illinois DMV.

So what has Bud been up to since then? He became a porn producer, but is on the downside of his career now.

Married...With Children left off in 1997 at the end of the VHS era and going into DVD's. This was the perfect time for electronically inclined Bud Bundy to have a brain storm to shoot soft core porn starring Kelly's friends. This actually would work for a while since in previous episodes they don't require a lot of money to be motivated to do things that most people think would be overstepping their sexual boundaries. Also Bud is able to put on a good act and pretend that things are nicer/better than they really are or at the very least a professional quality like when he directed the workout video starring Kelly.

During this time, it would even be possible to believe that he might win an Adult Video News (AVN) Award and come into some minor fame.

The kick-in-the-head is with the free porn available on the internet, Bud's career will eventually crumble when he has a hard time making money from video sales. He'll glide by for a little by selling his clips online, but eventually this too will lead to a decline in sales, especially when Kelly's friends get older.

6. Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch): After growing up and learning to be a witch with the help of her aunts Zelda and Hilda, Sabrina eventually graduates college and moves back into her childhood home along with her best friends Roxy and Morgan. From there she went to work for an entertainment magazine called Scorch and left her fiancé at the alter in favor of Harvey, her high school sweetheart.

So what happened to the good hearted witch? She tried to take over the world, only to be thwarted.

A couple of years after the television show ends, Sabrina will catch Harvey in bed with Roxy, who was about the only friend of Sabrina's he didn't date during the television show run. Furious, Sabrina's hair darkens instantly from blond to brunette and she cast a spell on them. The spell placed on Roxy places her on a stake and she is burned alive like a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. Harvey on the other hand instantly finds himself thrown into a dark room and is now transformed into the pet dragon underneath the staircase of a family called the Munsters.

With her fragile psyche now snapped, Sabrina decides to rule the world, appearing before a UN meeting and declaring that if they don't all pledge allegiance to her she will launch all the nukes in the world, thus killing off every living thing.

Displeased that she revealed that she was a witch to the mortal world, Drell (Penn Jillette) appears in front of the UN and throws Sabrina into the Other Realm. Once there the two of them battle, but it is apparent that being such a young witch, her powers are nothing like Drell's. He tosses her into a dungeon, where she is locked in a pillory for the rest of her eternal life for her indiscretions. Hilda and Zelda are thrown into the same cell with her, chained to the wall and voiceless since they are still considered responsible for Sabrina's tutelage.

7. Ross and Rachel Gellar (Friends): After years of pining for Rachel, Ross finally dates her on and off for the entirety of the 10 seasons of the show. At one point they even marry each other, although by drunken accident in Las Vegas. Toward the end they have Emma and Rachel must choose between being with Ross, the man who is willing to do anything to be with her, or her dream career in the fashion capital of the world, Paris. She chooses Ross and it is alleged that they will spend the rest of their lives together in New York while Monica and Chandler have moved out of the city, and Joey has moved to California to advance his Hollywood career. Sadly no one seems to care about Phoebe.

So what happened to Ross and Rachel after the show ended? Nothing.

After a couple of years raising Emma and Ross' son from his first marriage, Ben, Rachel snaps after Ross brings home another dinosaur bone and starts talking about the history of the particular dinosaur it belongs to. She hated dinosaurs, let alone science and has had enough of his geekiness. What makes matters worse is that she just rented the movie Captured at her local Red Box which starred Joey Tribbiani. This is when she comes to the realization that she played it safe--too safe--and settled for Ross. On a whim, she has Phoebe come over to her apartment to watch the kids and in the same fashion as when she flew out to London to stop Ross' second wedding, Rachel flies across country to declare her love for one time boyfriend Joey.

Finding him at his beach front apartment, she realizes that he is in a serious relationship with his neighbor Alex Garrett. Rachel pleads with Joey to leave Alex for her. Realizing that the two of them could be a power couple, the famous actor and his fashion mogul girlfriend, and also thinking back to how serious his feelings were for Rachel when he lived in New York, Joey accepts her plea and the two move into together...and live happily ever after.

*All photos are publicity photos or screencaps used in this post are from each character's respective TV show

Reboots Coming to a Television Near You

With the resurgence of movie reboots in the past decade, it shouldn't be a shock that television wouldn't be far behind. Television had been drifting into an endless void of reality shows and the world of the television writer was shrinking rapidly. Now, the writing industry will be making a comeback, but unfortunately not on original terms.

Popular shows such as Full House, Married With Children, and Coach will all pick up where their original runs left off. Another 90s favorite, Boys Meets World, has already picked up where it left off, but in the form of Girl Meets World with Cory and Topanga as the parents. Even The Odd Couple was remade with Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon playing Felix and Oscar. Rumors of other hit shows such as Three's Company, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Green Acres have been rumored to also be in discussions for a reboot.

Has the industry really run out of good ideas? No, they still exist, but studio executives are unwillingly to give many new intellectual properties a chance. They prefer to error on the side of caution by greenlighting shows that contain characters that America has already built a love for. These reboots may answer questions such as, "Whatever happened to Coach Fox after the show ended?", but there is no reason to expand these answers beyond something more than a reunion episode or movie.

Internet streaming services have benefited from the lack of original writing on standard and cable television. The most watched Netflix shows, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black were both turned down by primetime networks.

If any good can be said to have come from the revival of old shows, it's the fact that children's favorites such as Reading Rainbow and The Muppets will be making their comebacks as well.

Television needs to drift back towards original programming. Reality shows have gone as about as far as they can go with shows such as Hollywood Cycle, Ax Men, and Big Brother scraping the bottom of the "topics" barrel. With talented writers everywhere to be found, there are hit ideas out there that are waiting to be discovered. Will there be flops? Yes, of course, but successful shows will more than make up for the flops.

*Photo Credit: Married With Children promotional photo

3 TV Characters That Deserved Their Own Spinoff

Throughout television history, there have been characters that captured the TV viewers attention. Most of the time this is the starring character, but occasionally a supporting character steals the show. Sometimes these characters develop into the starring character, such as Jaleel White's Urkel on Family Matters. Sometimes these characters get a spinoff of their own, such as Frasier from Cheers.

During shows with longer runs, many of the supporting characters are so well written and gain such a following of their own, they deserve their own show.

Here is a list of five characters that deserve their own show...

1. Willow Rosenberg: The quirky sidekick to Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow developed into a major player in the final seasons. She learned witchcraft and within several seasons, became one of the most powerful people on the planet--especially when she was angry. Any doubt to how powerful she could be, was erased after her girlfriend, Tara, was murdered. She even brought Buffy back to life after she died during the final battle against Glory.

Willow also appeared in several episodes of the Buffy spinoff, Angel. And why not? She was powerful enough to restore Angel's soul into his body, making him the only vampire with a soul--for a while. She was a likeable character, but also showed hints of kicking ass and even hints of having a dark side. When she met her alternate universe self, her evil alternate who happened to be a vampire, was turned on by seeing the good version of her self.

Surviving the fall of Sunnydale, she could foreseeably have a continuing storyline. While she has one in comic book form, a television version would have made Buffy fans excited. Unfortunately with the success of How I Met Your Mother, Alyson Hannigan would probably never reprise her role as Willow.

2. Worf: The lone Klingon serving in the Federation, Worf went from the lowest ranked member on the bridge of Star Trek: The Next Generation to a lieutenant who was head of security on the Enterprise-D, to lieutenant commander on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to Federation ambassador on the Klingon home world.

Worf's story continued in the pocket books, when he eventually replaced William Riker as commander on the Enterprise-E. There was a motion to film another generation of Star Trek on television, with Worf as the captain of his own ship, but this apparently has been delayed or killed off.

A spinoff with Worf as a captain could have been captivating. It could have been the first Star Trek universe show or movie that centered around a Klingon ship. Not only would this have given Worf more of a backstory that has been developed so well through two Star Trek series, but clever writers could have added more to the backstory to the Klingon race.

3. Jack Bristow: Now you're probably flashing back to the Alias episode when Jack died. Jack had years of experience as a covert agent of the CIA and infiltrating the crime syndicate, SD-6. In his years before the Alias storyline, he had partnered with former CIA agent Arvin Sloane to run SD-6, married a Russian spy named Irina, and did this all under the cover of a airplane parts supplier, during the Cold War era.

There's a lot of possible storylines that can be featured in a prequel series. Fans of the Alias series would even get a kick out of seeing how a young Arvin Sloane turns evil, a young Irina Derevko seduce Jack, and how a young Sydney Bristow grows up.

8 Characters in Movies/TV That Never Should Have Been Created

Many times when screenwriters work on their scripts, they have an idea who the popular characters will be. Sometimes though, a pleasant surprise takes place and a character they wrote will gather a fan base.

Initially Kevin Smith never meant for Jay and Silent Bob to be as popular as they became. In cases such as this, some of these characters could be absurd in nature and utterly ridiculous. I submit to you, the top 10 characters that are popular in movies or TV, but for no real reason, should have become the pop icon that they became...

1. Towelie: Perhaps the most absurd character ever created on TV, Towelie was purposely created my Matt Stone and Trey Parker to be the worst character ever created. In brainstorming for "horrible" ideas, they came up with a talking towel that continually asks people, including the kids of Southpark, "don't forget to bring a towel." No real depth to the character. No real motivation other than getting high. Yet, thanks to a faux commercial in between the commercial breaks, when the episode debuted, Towelie's popularity soared.

Parker and Stone were increasingly aware of how their characters were being merchandised by Comedy Central and intended to design Towelie purposely as a two-dimensional character, both literally and figuratively, to poke fun at this.

Even Towelie was aware of his own lackluster quality. In the end of the episode he debuted, even Cartman said to Towelie, "You're the worst character ever, Towelie." Towelie then responded, "I know."

2. R2-D2: The popular droid from Star Wars is essentially a robot that rolls on three wheels and beeps, boops, and whistles. No communication skills that the audience can really understand, beyond the screaming sound in an action scene, R2-D2 provides no real depth as a character. Essentially he is a white trashcan that exists because he is possibly the only character that could deal with C-3PO.

3. Poochie: A character of a show within a show, Poochie was a skateboarding riding dog seen on The Simpsons. His character was sort of a comment on how marketing departments of television and film, create characters not for entertainment value, but for monetary value. His character was added to the Itchy & Scratchy show because the producers thought the cartoon was getting stale. Unfortunately for Homer Simpson, Poochie was killed off.

4. Aubrey Flemming-Dakota Moss: From the horribly rated movie I Know Who Killed Me, Lindsey Lohan played both twins, that have no idea that each other exists. After the "good one" (Aubrey) is abducted and tortured, the "bad one" (Dakota), ends up setting aside her stripping career (and apparently her emotions) to avenge the abduction and what might be the death of her identical twin that she had no idea existed. In the end Dakota saves Aubrey from a death of being buried alive.

5. The Great Gazoo: A little green alien from The Flintstones, that is banished from his home planet of Zetox, he is sent back into time and to Earth, but only Fred, Barney, the kids, and animals can see him. Despite being smart enough to apparently invent the first device that can destroy the universe, he seems to get Fred into trouble constantly, when he tries to help out his stone-age friend. He constantly refers to his prehistoric friends as "dum-dums". Despite his wishes to return home, he never does...because "The Flintstones" was cancelled before his story-arc was ever wrapped up.

6. Dawson Leery: Other than the obvious whiny attitude he has, the Dawson's Creek star is constantly in what I call a "Betty and Veronica" syndrome. He constantly bounces back and forth in relationships between Joey Potter, the brunette, and Jen Lindley, the blonde. Despite having two girls that would at times appear to cut off their right arm to be with him, he swims through his teenage and early adult years, stuck in what can only be the physical embodiment of a Smiths song...emo and always contemplating whether the grass is greener on the other side. Even when he's not bouncing back and forth between the two girls, he manages to snag and sleep with his best bud's older sister (Gretchen Witter), find another blonde girl who is willing to get down and dirty (Eve), and in his adult years he finds another girl who is an aspiring actress that is even willing to role play with him. Yet he is never happy. Plus we all know it really should be called "Joey's Creek" since everyone seems to end up wanting to hook up with her.

7. Seven: The newest member of the Bundy clan in Married With Children, during season seven, he was the son of Zemus and Ida Mae Wanker, Peggy's cousins. After being ditched by his parents, he is semi-adopted by the Bundy family for seven episodes, before mysteriously disappearing from the show, without any explanation. Fans of the show hated the character and some guessed that he only appeared as an answer to Peg Bundy's mysterious pregnancy that also never happened (actress Katey Sagal was pregnant in real life and it was written into the show, but she after an emergency cesarean, delivered a still-born daughter).

8. Disco Stu: The one-dimensional of The Simpsons, who serves little purpose on the show than to be annoying. The only depth to his personal storyline is that he is one of Selma Bouvier's many husbands.