LOS ANGELES β John Larroquette gets a nostalgic twinge every now and then when heβs on the set of the new βNight Court.β
An exact reproduction of the original (even the cafeteria chairs are the same), it conjures moments when he, Harry Anderson, Markie Post and others created the original magic. When he walked on the set of the reboot, Larroquette said he felt a sense of sadness.
John Larroquette stars as Dan Fielding in "Night Court."
βI am literally the only one left on the door, like Leo in βTitanic,β and I wondered, βWill I make it?β It was a bit of a ghost town.β
When executive producer and star Melissa Rauch pitched the idea of a return, he told her, βYou donβt need me...it stands on its own.β
After they talked, however, the now 76-year-old Larroquette realized it might be interesting to revisit a character he played more than three decades earlier. βWhereβs the funny in him considering he canβt be who he was in the β80s? It began to appeal to me.β
John Larroquette and Melissa Rauch co-star on "Night Court."Β
Now, as the comedy nears its third season, the four-time Emmy winner says it isΒ possible to go home again.
Dan Fielding, the character he played in both versions, hasnβt changed in some ways. βHis ego is still larger than the room,β Larroquette says. βHeβs still a narcissist. Heβs still a bit of a misanthrope. Heβs still egotistical, heβs still a man-child in many ways. But we found way to make him funny without the baggage of that character from 35 years ago. Nobody wants to see that. So we try to find other ways for him to be funny and I think weβve succeeded.β
John Larroquette as Dan Fielding.Β
Larroquette credits the showβs writers with making him funny but Rauch says heβs the secret weapon. βItβs that Buster Keaton quote that comedians do funny things but good comedians do things funny,β she says. βYou can watch him pick up a pencil or just have a reaction and thereβs brilliance inΒ every move and every look. Itβs a true master class getting to watch him work.β
On the original series, several actors were over 6-feet tall. Now, because Rauch is under 5 feet, the disparity between her and Larroquette is noticeable.
βPeople would look at me in real life during the original and go, βOh my god, youβre so much taller than I thought you were.ββ Now, itβs much different.
As much as viewers remember the core actors on the original βNight Court,β βthere was almost a revolving door,β the first years of the series, Larroquette says. Producer Reinhold Weege was looking for the right mix. βThe court clerks changed and certainly the defense attorney changed a lot, so it was finding its way.β
Now, the new βNight Courtβ has passed its shakedown period and, thanks to additions the second season, has what Larroquette calls a βsolid foundation.β
After the sixth season of the original, executives talked about spinning his Dan Fielding into his own series.
βI declined to do that because, I thought, itβs a very indelible character and once this is over, (I want to) go on and hopefully do something else.β
Marsha Warfield, a co-star on the original "Night Court," appears with John Larroquette in an episode of the reboot.
The talk subsided. Larroquette didΒ his own show, won a Tony on Broadway for βHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Tryingβ and appeared in films and other television series.
Then Rauch came calling.
Once Larroquette said yes and got involved, he realized the decision was a right one. Rauch and her husband, Executive Producer Winston Rauch, βreally had the heart of the show in their hands. I became sort of pleased with coming back. So much of my career was sort of buoyed by this show, so itβs very important to me in many ways. Iβd like to continue doing it for a while, if I can.β
"Night Court" airs on NBC and Peacock.
Classic TV quotes that are now part of everyday vocabulary
βHeeeereβs Johnny!β
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With these words, sidekick Ed McMahon opened each episode of βThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,β starting in 1962. The line took on new meaning after its improvised use in the 1980 horror movie βThe Shiningβ by Jack Nicholsonβs increasingly deranged character as he broke down a door with an axe.
βA three-hour tour.β
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Typically used to refer to something that has taken a disastrously long time, the line comes from the theme song of βGilliganβs Island.β The shipβs passengers and crew had set off for βa three-hour tourβ from Honolulu before being shipwrecked in a storm.
βYou rang?β
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Best delivered in a deep slow voice, this was the catchphrase of Lurch, the laconic butler on βThe Addams Familyβ series. It was accompanied by the sound of a gong as Lurch ran the household for Morticia and Gomez Addams, Uncle Fester and the rest of the creepy, kooky family. Despite its outsized influence, the original television show ran for just two seasons from 1964 to 1966 on ABC.
βTh-Th-Th-Thatβs all folks.β
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Porky Pig signed off many a Looney Tunes cartoon from 1937 to 1946 with βTh-Th-Th-Thatβs all folks.β The running gag of the porcine characterβs stutter, which originated with a real-life stutter by the characterβs first voice actor Joe Doughterty, prompted the National Stuttering Project of San Francisco to picket Warner Bros. in a 1991 protest. The studio responded with a $12,000 grant to the group and a series of public service announcements against bullying people who stutter.
βIs that your final answer?β
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Regis Philbin, the host of βWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?β would ask this question of contestants on the television quiz show. Players went through rounds of increasingly difficult multiple-choice questions, with options to use their three lifelinesβa 50/50 option to eliminate two of the four answers, asking the audience for its collective opinion, and phoning a friend.
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βThe tribe has spoken.β
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From the very first show of the long-running hit series βSurvivor,β these were the decisive words spoken to the losing contestants being sent home. Host and executive producer Jeff Probst has said that after the popularity of Regis Philbin asking βIs that your final answer?β on βWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?β he knew the survival competition needed a phrase that would catch on with the public.
βCome on down!β
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Contestants on βThe Price is Rightβ are chosen from the studio audience by the game showβs host with this invitation. On the show, which debuted in 1972, players guess the price of various items, without exceeding the amount, from appliances to vacation cruise packages and luxury cars.
βSame Bat-time, same Bat-channel.β
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This was the narratorβs reminder to viewers of the original βBatmanβ television series in the late 1960s to tune in for the next installment. The showβs storylines were broken up into two episodes, and the first one would end with the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin stuck in a seemingly hopeless cliffhanger predicament.
βWhatβs up, Doc?β
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Cartoonβs ultimate wise guy, Bugs Bunny, delivers this line in the Looney Tunes series, often munching on a carrot and staring down the barrel of hunter Elmer Fuddβs shotgun. The cartoon rabbitβs mannerism was inspired in part by a scene in βIt Happened One Night,β in which Clark Gable was leaning on a fence, snacking on carrots.
βWinter is coming.β
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The ominous prediction came from the very first episode of what would become the hugely popular eight-season βGame of Thrones.β The warning was a call for vigilance, a need to prepare for harsh times, and a caution about the threat of lurking violence.
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βI tawt I taw a puddy tat.β
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βI tawt I taw a puddy tatβ is the frequent utterance of Warner Bros.β Looney Tunes sweet and naive Tweety Pie, typically clueless about how perilously close his nemesis Sylvester the cat may have just been. Tweety Pie made his cartoon debut in 1941, Sylvester in 1947, and the pair, with Sylvester ceaselessly trying to capture the babylike canary, appeared together until 1964.
βWe have a really big show tonight.β
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Television host Ed Sullivan opened most of his entertainment variety shows, which aired on Sunday nights from 1948 to 1971 from a New York City theater, with these promising words. Indeed, βThe Ed Sullivan Showβ did have some really big shows, including Elvis Presley in 1956 and 1957; the Beatles in 1964; the Doors in 1967; and the Rolling Stones several times, starting in 1964.
βI want to go to there.β
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Tina Fey delivered this line on β30 Rock,β which she said originated with her young daughter Alice. Fey was the star, creator, writer, and executive producer of the hit comedy that ran seven seasons on NBC. The quote caught on, and it appeared on coffee cups, t-shirts, and other NBC merchandise.
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βHow you doinβ?β
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Matt LeBlancβs βFriendsβ character Joey Tribbiani made this his trademark pickup line. Itβs used not only by the well-meaning, and not so bright, character, but became a running gag on the enormously popular 10-season sitcom.
βBeep, beep.β
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This was the signature, and only, phrase of the Road Runner character in the Looney Tunes as he outsmarted his adversary Wile E. Coyote. Hoping to catch the speedy bird, Wile E. Coyote employs an endless array of catapults, explosives, and traps in his quest. Each ends in a spectacular fail, with the Road Runner issuing his taunting βBeep, beepβ as he eludes capture yet again.
βWonβt you be my neighbor?β
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Fred Rogers sang these words in the theme song to the childrenβs show βMister Rogersβ Neighborhood.β The show, which ran for more than three decades on public television, was beloved for its gentle messages of kindness, acceptance, and courage.
βSock it to me!β
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βRowan & Martinβs Laugh-Inβ revolutionized television comedy in the 1960s with its quick sketches, silly gags, and a psychedelic decorated wall where comics would pop out to deliver one liners. Those who said the showβs trademark βSock it to me!β line would suffer consequences like getting doused with water or falling through a trapdoor. The show jump-started careers of such stars as Lily Tomlin, Flip Wilson, and Goldie Hawn.
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βLook! Up in the sky! Itβs a bird! Itβs a plane! Itβs Superman!β
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This was part of the opening title sequence to βAdventures of Superman,β which made its television debut in 1952. A narrator chimes in with the description: βFaster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!β
βGood night, John-Boy.β
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On βThe Waltons,β a sentimental drama, the Depression-era family living in the Virginia foothills closed each episode bidding one another good night. The order of their βgood nightβ wishes among the Walton parents, grandparents, and seven children varied throughout the showβs 200-plus episodes. John-Boy, the familyβs eldest son, was played by actor Richard Thomas.
βGood night, and good luck.β
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CBS radio correspondent Edward R. Murrow reported from Europe during World War II, where he was posted in London during the Blitz. He adopted his signoff phrase from a saying common at the time among Londoners who would say goodbye, with a reference to the dangers that could lie ahead. Murrow reported on the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp and later, back in the United States, was instrumental in reporting that helped turn public sentiment against the fervent anti-Communist scaremonger Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
βThatβs the way it is.β
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Legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite signed off his nightly appearance on βCBS Evening Newsβ with the decisive words: βThatβs the way it is.β Network executives have said Cronkite originally signed off with a line encouraging viewers to read their local newspapers for details, and they were not happy with his suggestion to look beyond television news. Cronkite eventually agreed to change his trademark signature to the one now in the annals of history.
βYouβve got spunk.β
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On the 1970 pilot episode of βThe Mary Tyler Moore,β the gruff television news director Lou Grant, played by Ed Asner, interviews the Minneapolis newcomer for a job at the local station, telling her, βYouβve got spunk.β As she thanks him, beaming, he adds, βI hate spunk.β The pilot is considered one of televisionβs best, in no small part due to the impeccably timed delivery of Asnerβs lines and Mary Tyler Mooreβs response.
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βSmarter than your average bear.β
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These were the words of TV cartoonβs Yogi Bear, a denizen of Jellystone Park.
Yogi, with his friend Boo-Boo, was particularly adept at swiping picnic baskets from unsuspecting tourists. The Yogi Bear Show originally aired just two seasons.
βOh, my God! They killed Kenny!β
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Kenny McCormick had the dubious distinction of being killed off in nearly every episode in the first several seasons of βSouth Park.β One of the cartoonβs main characters, the boy in the orange parka with the muffled voice is based on a childhood friend of show co-creator Trey Parker. The real-life character, like the cartoon version, was the neighborhoodβs poorest child who would skip school, prompting jokes that he had died, and then reappear after a few days, Parker has said.
βPeople at the time said I could go Gerber.β
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Cameron Tucker, played by Eric Stonestreet, delivered this line on βModern Family,β the sitcom in which his character and partner Mitchell Pritchett, adopt daughter Lily and son Rexford. The full quote was: βI won cutest baby at the 1974 Jasper County Fair. People at the time said I could go Gerber.β
βMeathead.β
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βMeatheadβ was the name that Archie Bunker used for his son-in-law Mike Stivic on the groundbreaking sitcom βAll in the Family.β Clashes between the ornery, bigoted Queens, New York, working man, played by Carroll OβConnor, and the younger, long-haired atheist liberal, played by Rob Reiner, featured insults and tortured malapropisms.
βI need more cowbell.β
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Actor Christopher Walken was the guest host on βSaturday Night Liveβ in 2000, which featured a skit recreating rock band Blue Oyster Cult recording its hit β(Donβt Fear) the Reaper.β As Will Ferrell, playing a band member, banged a cowbell, Walken, playing a music producer, gave his words of advice that hit the public funnybone.
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βThatβs what she said.β
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Actor Steve Carell on βThe Officeβ gave this phrase a life of its own. His character Michael Scott with his corny sense of humor played up the lineβs innuendo that was particularly inappropriate in the workplace setting.
βItβs gonna be legenβwait for itβdary.β
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Neil Patrick Harrisβ suit-clad, womanizing character Barney Stinson made this his catchphrase on the nine-season sitcom βHow I Met Your Mother.β According to linguists, itβs an example of tmesis, in which a word or phrase splits another, and infixation, when syllables are added to the middle of a word.
βCowabunga!β
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The phrase was popularized on the childrenβs animated series βTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,β which ran from 1987 to 1996. The expression of excitement or glee originated on βThe Howdy Doody Showβ in the 1950s and was used in California surfing culture in the 1960s. Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz portrayed Snoopy exclaiming, βCowabunga!β as he was riding the waves on a surfboard.
βCan two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?β
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The opening monologue on βThe Odd Coupleβ was: βOn November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence; that request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his friend Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madisonβs wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?β Fans still celebrate Nov. 13 in honor of the comedy that starred mismatched duo Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.
βYabba dabba doo!β
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Fred Flintstoneβs ebullient cry summed up the cheerful cartoon βThe Flintstones,β which debuted six decades ago on American television. According to lore, the line originated as a play on the advertising jingle for BrylcreemββA little dabβll do yaββby Alan Reed, the characterβs voice.
βDβoh!β
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Homer Simpsonβs trademark remark from βThe Simpsonsβ is one of the simplest to make its way into the lexicon. It was added to the authoritative 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary in 2001, without the apostrophe. The definition? βExpressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish.β
βI am the danger.β
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With this line on βBreaking Bad,β the once mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher Walter White enlightened his wife on the person he had become. The whole statement was: βYou clearly donβt know who youβre talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!β Running for five seasons, the show earned Golden Globes and a host of Primetime Emmy awards.
βDyn-o-mite!β
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Actor Jimmie Walker starred as J.J. on βGood Times,β a sitcom in the 1970s about a family living in housing projects in Chicago. Walker has said that executive producer Norman Lear hated what became the showβs trademark line.
βWho loves ya, baby?β
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This was the catchphrase of Telly Savalasβ iconic title character on the police drama βKojakβ in the 1970s. He typically delivered the line with a Tootsie Pop in his mouth, as he was perpetually trying to quit smoking.
βWhatchu talkinβ βbout, Willis?β
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Child actor Gary Coleman, playing Arnold Jackson on βDiffβrent Strokes,β posed this question to his on-screen brother played by Todd Bridges. The pair played Black brothers adopted by a rich white man. Coleman died of a brain hemorrhage at 42 in 2014.
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βMake it work.β
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βProject Runwayβ co-host Tim Gunn could be relied upon to offer the showβs contestantsβoften frustrated, if not franticβhis suggestions and encouragement, typically with the words: βMake it work.β Gunn has said he began using the phrase when he taught fashion design and wanted students to learn to solve problems rather than abandon a troublesome project and start over.
βLetβs be careful out there.β
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Sgt. Phil Esterhaus wrapped up each roll call for officers on Steven Bochcoβs popular police drama βHill Street Bluesβ with these protective words of advice. Actor Michael Conrad, who played Esterhaus, died three years into the showβs seven-season run that earned 26 Emmys.
βClear eyes, full hearts, canβt lose.β
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The rallying cheer of the Dillon, Texas, Panthers football team on βFriday Night Lightsβ captured the imagination of the television seriesβ many fans. The line was introduced in the pilot episode of the five-season hit.
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Classic TV quotes that are now part of everyday vocabulary
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βItβs a bird! Itβs a plane!β Itβs a classic TV quote! Television has provided dozens of memorable lines that have become part of everyday language. Theyβre a kind of shorthand, understood by the millions of people who grew up watching everything from Saturday morning cartoons to nightly news shows.
Stacker collected 50 classic television quotes that have become part of everyday vocabulary, consulting surveys, reviews, reference materials, dictionaries, fan websites, media reports, and celebrity interviews.
Some are utterly silly syllables like Homer Simpsonβs βdβohβ and Seinfeldβs βyada, yada, yada,β while others really do have a thoughtful meaning like βLetβs be careful out thereβ from βHill Street Blues,β and the inspirational βclear eyes, full hearts, canβt loseβ from βFriday Night Lights.β
Game shows and competitions contributed a fair share, from βIs that your final answer?β of βWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?β to the βCome on down!β invitation to contestants on βThe Price is Right.β So did superhero sagas like Superman and Batman and mere mortal talk shows with Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson. News shows gave us βGood night, and good luckβ and βThatβs the way it is.β
Peppering our language the most have been cartoons, dating back to their most rudimentary black-and-white incarnations starring Bugs Bunny and his nemesis Elmer Fudd, Tweety Pie and his nemesis Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote and his nemesis the Roadrunner, Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, Scooby-Doo, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to name just a few.
A few lines that were funny at the time are still in the lexicon, but the humor has faded as public awareness and sensitivity has changed and grown. Take a look. See how many you use, and where they originated.
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βYada, yada, yada.β
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The comedy show βSeinfeldβ gave the world βyada, yada, yada,β a phrase to denote something too lengthy or tedious for explanation. The authoritative Oxford English Dictionary added it in 2006, saying that it, βIndicated (usually dismissively) that further details are predictable or evident from what has preceded: βand so on,β βblah blah blahββ or was βtrivial, meaningless, or uninteresting talk or writing; chatter.β
βSufferinβ succotash!β
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The black and white cat with a bright red nose named Sylvester in Looney Tunes cartoons used the expression βSufferinβ succotash!β typically when vexed by his latest failed effort to catch a small yellow canary named Tweety Pie, the bane of his existence. Sylvester, who appeared for more than two decades, is said to have diedβand come back to lifeβmore often than any other Looney Tunes character.
βJane, you ignorant sl*t.β
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βSaturday Night Liveβ comics Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtin played co-anchors on the showβs spoof βWeekend Updateβ news, which would include a βPoint/Counterpointβ debate segment. Curtin would open with a reasoned view, and Akroyd would respond with this insult and some bombastic, nonsensical argument.
βThe thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.β
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Sportscaster Jim McKay uttered these famous lines in the opening sequence to ABCβs weekly βWide World of Sports.β The βagony of defeatβ words were accompanied by video of Yugoslavian skier Vinko Bogataj as he hurtled off a ski-jump ramp and crashed into a barrier fence in 1970, suffering a broken ankle and concussion. The Eastern European athlete did not realize until more than a decade later, when he was invited to New York for the sports showβs 20th anniversary in 1981, how famous the video had made him in the West.
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βI see nothing! I know nothing!β
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The bumbling German Sgt. Schultz uttered these lines throughout βHoganβs Heroes,β a late 1960s comedy about a group of prisoners of war in a Nazi prison camp. Schultz and his commanding officer, the monocled Col. Klink, were regularly duped by the prisoners, whose secret activities were helping the Allied cause. Schultz was played by Austrian actor John Banner, who was Jewish and emigrated to the United States to avoid Nazi persecution.
βNa-nu, na-nu.β
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Beloved alien Mork, played by Robin Williams, utilized the phrase as his extraterrestrial greeting on the comedy series βMork and Mindy.β The greeting was accompanied by a split-fingered hand gesture. The extraterrestrial visitor to earth was the breakout role for the actor and comedian, who died in 2014.
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βBang! Zoom! To the moon!β
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Jackie Gleasonβs Ralph Kramden would bicker with his wife Alice on βThe Honeymooners,β curl up his fist, and threaten to send her flying. The line got laughs on the series, which debuted in 1955, but with broader awareness of domestic abuse is far less funny today.
β ... to boldly go where no man has gone before.β
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You donβt have to be a die-hard Trekkie to know the line from televisionβs βStar Trekβ series, especially its split infinitive that irritated grammarians. The full opening said: βSpace: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.β
βBazinga.β
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βBazingaβ was used by nerdy physicist Sheldon Cooper, at first in an effort to signal a joke and later as a trademark catchall phrase, on βThe Big Bang Theory.β The CBS show, the longest-running multi-camera sitcom, aired for 12 seasons.
βRuh-roh!β
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Big, loveable βScooby-Dooβ uttered his version of βuh-ohβ when the goofy dog and the cartoonβs other characters found themselves in a predicament, which was often. The classic first aired in 1969 and grew into a vastly successful spin-off, film, and consumer products franchise.
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