Did You Know: TV and Movie Trivia

In January I posted the first of what I hope to be an ongoing, new series of articles that will consists of random bits and piece of information – trivia, if you will – about the entertainment world that I have loved and have been following since I was a teenager.

In fact, before the inception of IMDb (the Internet Movie Database, which was launched back in October of 1990), I was considered the walking encyclopedia of the entertainment industry, at least in my little hometown in northeastern Pennsylvania. Granted, I lived in a REALLY small town, but I was, at one point in time, the “go-to” person for trivia.

It is my hope to apply those many, many years of collecting trivia to this new series of articles.

Now let’s take a look at just some of the “Did You Know” items listed below:

TV TIDBITS

Back in early 90’s, CBS aired a handful of Canadian TV show imports in the now famous late night talk show time period. Those late-night shows were known as Crimetime After Primetime; airing during 1991 and 1992, some running through late summer of 1993. This block of programming was eventually dropped when CBS began airing Late Show with David Letterman.

The shows that were part of Crimetime After Primetime included:

• Sweating Bullets, starring Rob Stewart (Incorporated and Killjoys) and Ian Tracey (Incorporated and Continuum);
• Urban Angel that starred Louis Ferreira (Motive and Stargate Universe);
• Forever Knight, starring Geraint Wyn Davies and Nigel Bennett, which went into syndication airing episodes through May of 1996;
• The Exile, which starred Jeffrey Meek (As the World Turns);
• Dangerous Curves, starring actress Michael Michele (ER and Kevin Hill);
• Fly by Night, which starred Jeffrey B. Sams (Veronica Mars);
• Silk Stalkings that first starred Mitzi Kapture and Rob Estes before continuing on the USA Network through April 1999 with cast members Chris Potter and Janet Gunn; and,
• Dark Justice, which starred Ramy Zada as the lead character for the first season and then was replaced by Bruce Abbott for the remainder of the series.

Ryan Phillippe has had quite a film and TV career, starring in the current USA Network TV series Shooter and films like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, Crash and Flags of Our Fathers. But one of his earliest on-screen roles was in the 1993 NBC 3-part movie called The Secrets of Lake Success, that was part of the failed NBC Great Escapes movie series, that was very much in the tradition of Dynasty and Dallas. It followed the wealthy Atkins family owners of Decker-Atkins Pharmaceuticals. The patriarch died, leaving the family business to his estranged daughter, whose younger brother was played by a young Phillippe. The NBC Great Escapes only consisted of two movies and were never continued beyond 1993.

COMMERCIAL APPEAL

Actor Nick Jandl has appeared in TV commercials for VSP Direct (as a Clark Kent-type character), DirecTV (as a football fan) and Volkswagen (as part of a typical nuclear family), but he most recently appeared in an episode of the long-running CBS series NCIS entitled “Nonstop” and was Scarlett’s short-term doctor boyfriend on Nashville.

Here are the three commercials featuring Nick Jandl.

Actress Paula Newsome has appeared in two different Clorox as well as a Toyota commercial, but she played the wife of Leon Vance in NCIS; and has appeared in a lot of TV shows including Pretty Little Liars, Parenthood, Suburgatory, No Tomorrow and the short-lived series Women’s Murder Club (among many others).

Here are the three commercials featuring Paula Newsome.

MOVIE TRIVIA

Did You Know…

that Wentworth Miller (of Prison Break and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) had a small role in the original Underworld movie, starring alongside Scott Speedman? He was a hospital intern alongside Speedman’s character Michael Corvin.

that Tobias Menzies (Outlander, Game of Thrones and The Night Manager) had the role of “Theater Patron 5” in the Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet-led box office film Finding Neverland. You see him briefly as a group of orphans are taking their seats before the first presentation of Peter Pan on stage.

that Sasha Roiz (Captain Sean Renard on Grimm) had a small role in the box office film The Day After Tomorrow. He was one of the astronauts on the space station. Also, in that film was Suits star Rick Hoffman, who played one of the rich New Yorkers getting on the ill-fated bus that was swept away by that horrible wave of water.

that Abigail Breslin (Scream Queens and Little Miss Sunshine) played a small orphan girl named Carolina in the box office film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. You see her talking to Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway) and then walking in the parade with the princess and the rest of the orphans.

that actor-turned-singer Robert Schwartzman, who played Michael Moscovitz in The Princess Diaries, is the lead singer of the rock band Rooney. In fact, if you listen to the music being played by Michael’s band in the movie, when Princess Mia is at the local garage where her car is being repaired, you will hear pieces of Rooney’s first hit single (released two years after the release of this movie) “Blueside” being played. It should also be noted that Robert is part of the Coppola family: His mom is actress Talia Shire, his uncle is director Francis Ford Coppola and his cousins include director Sofia Coppola and actor Nicolas Cage.

Did you know about any of the above trivia?

You can check out the previous “Did You Know…” article here.

Please be on the look-out for more “Did You Know” articles in the near future.