Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that Jim Carrey will be starring in a new live-action film adaptation of The Jetsons. Longtime fans of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon will no doubt recall that this isn’t the first time Hollywood has attempted to bring the characters to the big screen.

Paramount tried to get something going as far back as 1985, but nothing ever came of it:

Made-for-TV movies like The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones followed in the late ‘80s, but the only theatrically released film the franchise has gotten to date was 1990’s Jetsons: The Movie. However, the long-awaited adaptation wasn’t well-received, and poor ticket sales prevented it from making a profit at the time. That’s in addition to the two dark clouds hanging over the film’s production. And just in case viewers hadn’t heard, the end credits made sure to hit them with this somber reminder that we lost the two lead voice actors before the movie was completed:

Before Jim Carrey’s ‘Jetsons’ Movie, the Franchise Had a Tragic Big-Screen Debut

For the uninitiated, we’re not talking about two nobodies who happened to land these parts. George O’Hanlon and Mel Blanc had been voicing George Jetson and his boss, Cosmo Spacely, respectively, since The Jetsons debuted in 1962. They also came back to reprise the roles for the 1985 revival series and the aforementioned TV films. Jetsons: The Movie would be the last project either of them worked on.

O’Hanlon suffered a stroke in the studio and passed away just after he finished recording his lines. He was 76 years old. Blanc was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center a few months later, where he died from heart disease and emphysema at the age of 81. Jeff Bergman, who eventually replaced Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was brought in to complete the dialogue for Blanc and O’Hanlon’s characters following their deaths.

The post The First ‘Jetsons’ Movie Has a Surprisingly Dark Production History appeared first on VICE.

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On March 27, 1985, comedian and future Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belzer welcomed Mr. T and Hulk Hogan—who were promoting WrestleMania I—onto his short-lived talk show Hot Properties. Belzer interviewed Mr. T first that night, and things turned combative pretty early on in their conversation. When Belzer asked if the violence on Mr. T’s popular action series The A-Team was antithetical to his image, Mr. T dismissed the question because of Belzer’s use of a big word. “I’m a street brother,” Mr. T started to say, before Belzer interjected, telling him, “I’m from the street, too. I learned that word myself, not in college.”

Hogan evidently wasn’t happy with the way Belzer was talking to Mr. T, and made his feelings clear by the time his segment came around. Throughout the course of Hogan’s interview, he referred to Belzer as “cocky,” a “little dude,” and a “coward.” Finally, Belzer asked the pair to demonstrate some wrestling moves for him, to which Mr. T replied, “We ain’t showing you nothin’!” Belzer then stood up and pointed to Hogan, saying, “I’m talking to him, man, OK?”

Richard Belzer Sued Hulk Hogan After a Wrestling Move Went Horribly Wrong

After consulting with Mr. T, Hogan decided to oblige Belzer, and the two walked over to the side of the stage. From there, Hogan explained that the floor was hard and he didn’t want Belzer to get hurt, so he was going to use a simple front chin lock on him. “You just tell me, brother, when you want him to quit squealing,” Hogan joked to Mr. T, who was sitting off-screen. Within seconds of Hogan applying the hold on Belzer, the comedian’s body went limp, and Hogan let go, causing Belzer to drop to the ground and hit his head.

The impact cut the back of Belzer’s head open, requiring him to get nine stitches. “[Hogan] came very close to killing me,” Belzer said years later. “I was told by a sports medicine expert that if I had fallen a few inches either way I could be crippled for life, I could have been dead.” Belzer sued Hogan, Mr. T, Vince McMahon, and the WWF over the incident and received $400,000 in a 1990 settlement. 

You can watch the entire 1985 episode of Hot Properties with Hogan and Mr. T below.

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On December 5, 1992, Saturday Night Live opened up with a Wayne’s World sketch in which Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) count down the top ten things they love about Bill Clinton. Among the items on their list are universal healthcare, investment in infrastructure, and the president-elect’s huge head. But modern-day viewers will no doubt notice a glaring omission by the time Wayne and Garth get to the number one entry: number two was completely skipped over. All you can tell from the edited version on SNL’s official YouTube channel is that the item in question had something to do with Chelsea Clinton:

During the original broadcast, Wayne had the following to say about Chelsea, who was 12 years old at the time: “While it is true that adolescence thus far has been unkind, we think she’s a future fox.” Myers reflected on the deleted gag in 1999, saying that he’d had horrible acne as a kid and was sensitive to what Chelsea was going through.

“She had the adolescent face, the kind of please-don’t-look-at-me face, and that was my adolescence,” Myers explained. For that reason, he worried that the joke would be misinterpreted and asked to have it taken out.

The Wayne’s World Sketch That Made ‘SNL’ Issue a Rare Apology

However, the producers told Myers that if it got a laugh in the dress rehearsal, it would stay in, and that’s precisely what happened. Come Monday morning, the gag had predictably sparked outrage, which Myers said was mortifying because it wasn’t done with ill intent. As a result, Myers made the unusual decision to write Hillary Clinton a letter apologizing for the joke.

Though it was never officially acknowledged by the Clintons, word eventually got back to Myers that it was appreciated and understood.

SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels even issued a rare apology of his own in response to the backlash. “We felt, upon reflection, that if it was in any way hurtful, it wasn’t worth it,” Michaels said of the offending joke, which hasn’t been seen since it originally aired. “She’s a kid, a kid who didn’t choose to be in public life.”

Bill Clinton shared similar sentiments, telling People, “I think you gotta be pretty insensitive to make fun of an adolescent child. I think there is something pretty off-center with people who do that.”

The post 34 Years Ago, ‘SNL’ Apologized for This Wayne’s World Joke About Chelsea Clinton appeared first on VICE.

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