Here’s a fun, but not-so-well-known fact: O.J. Simpson was seriously considered for the lead in the 1984 smash hit movie, The Terminator. While Arnold Schwarzenegger was ultimately cast, former football great, TV pitchman extraordinaire, and sometime actor Simpson was nearly cast in the role that cemented Schwarzenegger’s status as a movie star. Simpson’s problem was his nice-guy image. Studio suits didn’t think viewers would buy into the idea of the charming and effervescent Simpson playing a ruthless killer.
Though the television show Seinfeld is today worth billions, and generally viewed as the most successful sitcom ever, it didn’t initially make NBC’s cut. Studio head Brandon Tartikoff wasn’t sure about what was then titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. Tartikoff asked “Who will want to see Jews wandering around New York acting neurotic?” The eventual ratings juggernaut was initially passed over in pilot stage in favor of “memorable” shows including Cloris Leachman’s The Nutt House, David Hasselhoff’s Baywatch, and a comedy about an adventurous nun put in charge of some unruly orphans: Sister Kate.
Read Full Article »