This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.12 Very, Very, Very Fascinating Facts I Just Learned That Sound Totally Fake But Are 20000% True

Brian GalindoSun, May 3, 2026 at 1:16 PM UTC

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1. I think we can all agree that Mean Girls is the defining teen comedy of the '00s. However, it didn't start out as the PG-13 movie we know today. Early cuts of the film were closer to an R rating, with more explicit language and sharper, more adult-oriented jokes. Writer and star Tina Fey and director Mark Waters have both said the original version leaned more heavily into the kind of humor Fey was known for from her work on SNL.

Paramount / courtesy Everett CollectionHowever, the studio wanted the movie to reach a broader teen audience, which meant aiming for a PG-13 rating instead of R. To make that happen, several lines were rewritten or cut, especially jokes that were considered too ****** or explicit, for example, the line was originally, "Amber D'Alessio gave a ******* to a hot dog" before it was changed to "made out with a hot dog." Some scenes were also softened to tone down the overall edge of the film. Despite those changes, the final version struck a balance between edgy and "teen movie."

©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection2. The term "Disney Vault" is actually a lot older than you might think. It was used to refer to movies that were taken out of "the vault" and re-released into theaters after their original run (this was way before home videos existed).

DisneyThe first movie to be re-released was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1944, during WWII. The studio was sort of forced to do so as they were cash-strapped at the time and were producing propaganda films for the government that weren't really made for profit. The success of the Snow White re-release sparked Disney's tradition of re-releasing its films in theaters every 7–10 years. By the '80s and '90s, the term became a marketing tool to help sell VHS releases (and later DVDs and Blu-rays in the '00s).

Disney

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3. George Atkinson opened the first video rental store in the world in LA in 1977. The idea came to him after he saw an ad for a company that was selling 20th Century Fox movies on VHS and Betamax at $50 each. At the time, owning a VCR was still rare, and tapes were expensive, so he realized people would be willing to pay to rent videos. Atkinson knew this because he was already running a business renting Super 8 movies and projectors for parties. He proceeded to buy one copy on both VHS and Betamax of all 50 titles available and began taking ads out for his new rental business.

Michael Burrell / Getty Images/iStockphotoWithin a year, he had turned his rental business into a franchise called Video Station, and in the process, essentially invented the rental model that would soon become the norm. However, at first, film studios threatened to sue him, but Atkinson realized he hadn't broken any copyright laws by renting out films he owned. As demand grew, his business proved that people were eager to watch movies at home without buying them outright. This success helped push studios to embrace the rental market, which quickly became a major revenue stream in the '80s and '90s.

David Friedman / Getty Images4. The VHS release of Top Gun in 1987 marked an important shift in how Hollywood approached the home video market. Before this period, most VHS tapes were priced very high (usually around a $100) and aimed mainly at video rental stores rather than individual buyers. Paramount chose to release Top Gun at a much lower price point of about $26.95, which was unusual for a new blockbuster at the time. This pricing strategy was made possible through a promotional partnership with Pepsi, which helped offset distribution costs. A Diet Pepsi commercial was even included on the VHS itself, which was a first for a major studio release.

Kelly's Willow Tree/ Paramount / Via ebay.comThe new strategy proved highly successful, with strong advance orders and rapid sales that helped make the tape one of the bestselling VHS releases of the '80s. The success showed studios that there was a large consumer market for owning films at home, not just renting them. It also helped push the industry toward lower-priced "sell-through" VHS releases aimed at everyday buyers instead of just rental outlets. By the '90s, selling directly to consumers became the standard, which also made the studios more money.

Paramount/ Everett Collection5. Siri was an app that was available on Apple's own App Store until the company decided to buy it in 2010. The company, which was also called Siri, was a small startup that had developed a voice assistant app for the iPhone. Like today, it could answer questions or perform tasks using natural language.

NurPhoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Apple saw the potential to integrate this technology directly into its ecosystem, making the iPhone more personal and hands-free. The acquisition reportedly cost around $200 million. When Siri was introduced as a built-in feature with the iPhone 4S in 2011, it became one of the phone's main selling points. This was the beginning of a new era where talking to your devices became normal.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images6. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was almost cut from The Wizard of Oz. I know it's hard to believe that anyone would think of cutting one of the most iconic movie songs of all time, but MGM executives considered removing the scene because they thought it dragged down the film's momentum. They worried that the quiet moment would slow the story just as the plot was picking up speed.

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.comSome also felt the setting — a simple barnyard — didn't match the movie's big, colorful spectacle. On top of that, the song itself struck them as sad, and they feared audiences wouldn't respond well to something so melancholy, and that they wanted excitement and sparkle. Luckily, for all of us, the executives made the right choice in the end.

Courtesy Everett Collection7. Oscar the Grouch's most recognizable feature, aside from his garbage can, is his green fur, but he didn't start out that way. When Sesame Street premiered in 1969, Oscar was actually bright orange throughout its first season. That original color wasn't a creative choice so much as a practical one, since early television technology had trouble displaying certain shades like magenta, which had been considered for Oscar in early designs.

David Attie / Getty Images

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By the second season, the character was redesigned with green fur, which became his permanent look. The show even created a playful in-universe explanation, with Oscar explaining he had turned green after a vacation to Swamp Mushy Muddy. In later appearances, Oscar has joked that he's "really" still orange underneath, but that he is just covered in grime and slime.

Children's Television Workshop / Getty Images8. Believe it or not, wheeled suitcases are a relatively new invention. If you traveled before the 1970s, you would have to carry your suitcase by the handle. That began to change in 1970, when Bernard D. Sadow patented a suitcase with four small wheels and a strap for pulling it through airports. His idea came after struggling with heavy luggage during a family trip.

GraphicaArtis / Getty ImagesAlthough Sadow's design was smart and innovative, it didn't immediately take off with travelers, partly because it was bulky and unfamiliar. The real breakthrough came in 1987, when Robert Plath, a Northwest Airlines pilot, introduced the "Rollaboard," a two-wheeled upright suitcase with a retractable handle (which is what we have, more or less, today). Flight crews quickly adopted it, and passengers soon followed after seeing how practical it was. By the '90s, wheeled luggage had become standard, transforming travel and making it much easier overall.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images9. Madonna, in her own words, was essentially "begging" ABBA for permission to use their music in "Hung Up." The 2005 song famously samples ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)," but the group almost never allows their work to be sampled; in fact, they almost always refuse sampling requests, which made the request a long shot.

WMG / Via youtube.comTo try to win them over, Madonna wrote a personal, handwritten letter to ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus explaining how much she admired their music and describing the track as a tribute. She even sent someone to Stockholm to deliver the letter and a demo in person. That personal approach ultimately worked. Andersson and Ulvaeus granted permission, something they had done only a handful of times, partly because they respected Madonna and liked how the song used their music.

WMG / Via youtube.com10. Red Lobster's famous Cheddar Bay Biscuits didn't exist when the restaurant first opened. They were introduced in 1992 as a simple snack to serve hungry guests while they waited for a table. Also, originally, they weren't even called Cheddar Bay Biscuits; they were simply referred to as "freshly baked, hot cheese garlic bread." The recipe was created by Kurtis Hankins, then-head of Red Lobster's culinary development team, who wanted to develop something to replace the restaurant's standard offering of hush puppies (which were not very popular).

Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Inspired by Texas toast and French bread, he decided to create a biscuit that substituted sugar with garlic and cheese to make them savory. The biscuits quickly became a hit, winning over customers so completely that they were moved from the waiting area to the dining room. However, it wasn't until 1996 that the company gave them their now-iconic name, "Cheddar Bay Biscuits." The made-up "Cheddar Bay" was invented to sound like a cozy seaside location and to better fit Red Lobster's nautical theme and seafood offerings.

The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images11. Gunther, the Central Perk manager on Friends, became instantly recognizable for his signature bright, bleached blond hair, but...that look wasn't planned at all. James Michael Tyler, who was a real-life barista when he got the part, originally joined the show as a background extra, meant to make the coffee shop feel more realistic. The night before his first day of filming, he let a friend who was training to be a hairstylist practice bleaching his hair. The result turned his hair almost white, and he showed up to set that way without expecting it to matter since he was just going to be in the background.

NBC / NBCUniversal via Getty ImagesProducers ended up liking the look and decided to keep it as part of the character. They also decided to make Gunther a recurring character, which meant that Tyler then had to maintain the look by bleaching his hair weekly throughout the show's 10-season run. According to him, the first thing he did the day after taping the last episode was dye his hair dark.

NBC / NBCUniversal via Getty Images12. And lastly, the opening credits of *** and the City became instantly classic for showing Carrie Bradshaw walking through New York in a pink top and white tutu before getting splashed by a passing bus. That outfit helped set the tone for the show and who Carrie was. But during production, the team wasn't fully settled on that look, so they filmed an alternate version of the sequence with a completely different wardrobe.

HBOIn that unused version, Carrie wears a knee-length blue dress instead of the tutu. The scene itself also played out differently, with Carrie tripping on the street rather than being splashed by the bus featuring her column ad. Darren Star later explained that the alternate version was meant as a nod to The **** Van Dyke Show. However, both the show's costume designer, Patricia Field, and Sarah Jessica Parker pushed for the tutu version. Starr has since said, "It was such a brilliant choice because, in a way, Carrie's dancing through her life in New York."

HBO / Via youtube.comMore on this -

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