Here are some interesting details that we've discovered about the popular shows from your childhood:
1. Cookie Monster’s real name is Sid
He revealed in his song, ‘The First Time Me Eat Cookie', “Me was just a mild-mannered kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid”.
In 2010, Sesame Street’s official Twitter account also recounted this fact.
Cookie Monster: Me wasn’t born with name “Cookie Monster”. It just nickname dat stuck. Me don’t remember me real name… maybe it was Sidney?
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) August 10, 2010
2. Sesame Street has won more Daytime Emmys than any other television show in history
Image: The Mary Sue
Since 1969, it has won over 100 Daytime Emmys, plus 15 Primetime Emmy nominations.
3. Rugrats babies were all voiced by women
Image: Verizon
Although three out of the four main characters were boys, all of them were little enough to have high-pitched voices. Chuckie was voiced by the late Christine Cavanaugh, who also voiced Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory. The voice behind Tommy Pickles, Elizabeth Daily, once recorded the show while she was in labour!
4. Barney was not intended to be a purple dinosaur
Image: TV Series Finale
Creator Cheryl Leach originally wanted it to be a bear. “My idea was that generally preschoolers go to sleep with a snuggly like a teddy bear, and I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if the thing I loved so much could come to life and interact with me?’,” she said.
5. The Powerpuff Girls was originally called Whoopass Stew
The three girls were based on Fauna, Flora, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty.
6. In the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, they were all wearing red bandanas
But of course, they had to assign different colours in order to tell them apart. Who is your favourite ninja turtle?
7. Smurfs are generally born male
Image: Warner Bros
Smurfs don’t actually reproduce physically. They are delivered to the Smurf Village via a stork. The handful of Smurfettes in the Smurf Village are most likely magical creations.
8. Scooby-Doo was originally meant to be called Too Much
Image: Shauntmax
Inspired by Frank Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the Night’, creator Fred Silverman liked the sound "scoobie-doobie-do" in the song so much he later changed the hound’s name from Too Much to Scooby-Doo.
9. Bob the Builder sang a cover of ‘Mambo No.5’ which topped the Billboard UK charts
The lyrics include “A little bit of tiling on the roof, a little bit of making waterproof, a little bit of concrete mixed with sand, a little bit of Bob, the builder man”.
10. Homer Simpson has a functional email address
Image: FOX
It is [email protected]. He revealed it in one of the Simpsons episodes. It's actually registered and messages from fans would get a response from time to time! Who wants to try sending him an email?
