Little-Known Facts About Your Favorite '90s TV Shows

You've seen the episodes countless times. The theme songs get stuck in your head on a regular basis. And you probably still use their catchphrases in everyday conversation. But here are some things you probably didn't know about your favorite '90s shows — until now.

If Frasier Crane's Seattle apartment looked expensive, that's because it was. Set designers spent nearly half a million dollars bringing the radio host's deluxe digs to life. $15,000 alone was spent on a replica of Coco Chanel's couch. While exact figures are hard to come by, it's probably safe to say that Martin's recliner did not cost quite as much.

The non-adult members of the cast didn't just play classmates on the show, they were learning together in real life. Though it wasn't the set classroom you saw on tv, there was a classroom near enough for Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle to work with teachers when the camera wasn't rolling.

The Russian adaptation of the show, 'The Voronins,' became Russia's most-watched comedy and surpassed the American original in number of episodes aired. Local versions of the show also thrived in Egypt, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.

Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor's trusty sidekick Al Borland would've been played by someone else had Richard Karn not been sent to traffic school for a moving violation. Karn, who failed to make a full stop at a stop sign after a play rehearsal, found out about the show from an agent who was also in his class.

C0-creator David Lynch enjoyed working with Sheryl Lee, who played murdered homecoming queen, Laura Palmer, so much that he wrote another part (Palmer's cousin Maddy Ferguson) to keep her around. There were even talks to have her play a third character!

While the police procedural featured some footage of real New York locations, mostly during the opening-credits sequences, the vast majority of the show was shot on a set that was built for the 1969 film Hello, Dolly! in Los Angeles.

Nickelodeon's sketch show for children featured a ton of young talent, including Saturday Night Live's Keenan Thompson, but one future comedy star didn't make the cut. Star of Easy A, Zombieland, and Superbad, Emma Stone, auditioned when she was 12 years old and did not get cast.

When John Ritter made a guest appearance on the sitcom about the goings on within a small Nantucket airport, he played the ex-husband of Amy Yasbeck, who he would go on to marry three years later. They had a child together and remained married until Ritter's sudden death in 2003.

Paula Cole's hit "I Don't Want to Wait" was not the first choice for the theme song. They originally wanted to use Alanis Morrisette's "Hand in My Pocket," but couldn't secure the rights.

Urkel-mania was no joke. Jaleel White has claimed that once the show shifted focus more to his character, it caused some tension with the other actors on the show who suddenly had less screen time. However, Reginald Veljohnson (Carl Winslow) was the only actor on the show to appear in all 215 episodes.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen landed the role of Michelle because they got through the audition without crying. Except, John Stamos revealed in Lifetime's Unauthorized Full House Story docu-movie that they actually did cry a lot — so John got them replaced while filming the pilot. But when it didn't work out with the other child actors, the Olsens were brought back.

Katie Holmes and Selma Blair were both considered for the role of Buffy before Sarah Michelle Gellar was cast. Even Charisma Carpenter (who ended up playing Cordelia) auditioned. Bonus fact: Ryan Reynolds turned down the opportunity to play Xander.

Apparently it was quite the journey to end up with Friends as the title. In the initial pitch for the show, it was called Insomnia Café. Once NBC became involved, it was changed to Friends Like Us. Then Across the Hall. Then Six of One. The network finally settled on Friends shortly before it premiered in September 1994.

Luke Perry's character, Dylan McKay, wasn't supposed to be part of the core cast. The late actor once revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he was only set to appear in a few episodes, but creator Aaron Spelling fought the studio to keep him on. Perry also initially auditioned to play Steve Sanders (which went to Ian Ziering.)

Ally was originally intended to marry Robert Downey Jr.'s character, Larry Paul, in the finale of the show's fourth season. But Robert's issues with the law forced writers to cut short his time on the show and the wedding episode ended up being about a high schooler (Josh Groban) suing a girl who dumped him right before prom.

Carlton's (Alfonso Ribeiro) famous dance was a running gag on the sitcom and it was based on another popular '90s sitcom star's moves: Courteney Cox's (Friends) moves in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video. It was also inspired by Eddie Murphy's "the white man dance" from his Delirious comedy special.

Everyone knows this show made household names out of Scott Wolf, Matthew Fox, Neve Campbell, Lacey Chabert, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. It was also the launching pad for a then-unknown actress named Kate Hudson. The Almost Famous star got her first acting gig in 1996 playing a character named Cory in a season two episode.

The Bayside High set didn't die with the show. It has been repurposed and used as the school setting for many shows since, including That's So Raven (which was also called Bayside!) and iCarly.

Stars Tia and Tamera Mowry were discovered while attending a taping of Full House. A producer saw them on set and approached them to develop a show of their own.

There was a big push from Paul Reiser's team for the show to be known as Reiser or The Paul Reiser Show, but network execs weren't into it because the show was about a couple. It was cast member Richard Kind who came up with Mad About You in the summer before the show premiered.

The concept for the show came while Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David were having a chat about items in a grocery store. They had the realization that their banter was unlike anything they'd seen on TV or in movies and went from there.

The concept for ER was originally written by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) as a feature film that Steven Spielberg was going to direct. None of the studios were interested in the project until NBC dusted it off for TV 20 years later.

Some of the show's viewers complained that Charles Shaughnessy's British accent playing Mr. Sheffield wasn't as believable as the one Daniel Davis used to play Niles. But, in fact, Charles was actually born in London, while Daniel is from Arkansas.

The producers decided to pull the plug on the show when it became too unrealistic that the characters would still be living in the apartment complex. Some characters moved in and out of the building, but Thomas Calabro's character of Dr. Michael Mancini was the only one that lasted the entire series.

Gillian Anderson's character, Dana Scully, was inspired by Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) in Silence of the Lambs. Creator Chris Carter even made Dana's hair red to honor the character. Jodie ended up on the show, providing her voice to play a talking tattoo during the fourth season.

The original pilot for the show had Mayim Bialik's character Blossom as a kid sister side character with the main focus being on her older brother. But a female NBC exec suggested to creator Don Reo that he switch it up and focus on the sister instead.