Trivia / Beakman's World

• Acting for Two: Zaloom and the late Mark Ritts did this rather frequrently.
  • Zaloom played Beakman, almost every Famous Dead Guy, Professor Boring, Jim Shorts, and, when explaining what the doctor looks for during a check-up, Beakman's more timid brother.
  • Ritts played Lester, one of the Montgolfer brothers, Harry Pitts, and, during the aforementioned check-up segment, the check-up doctor. He also operated Herb's puppet, though the voice itself was provided by Alan Barzman.
• Actor Allusion:
  • One of Beakman's occasional exclamations was "Zaloom!"
  • A last-season segment on sound frequency had a Blues Brothers motif. Senta Moses (aka Phoebe) got her start in movies as a dancing extra in The Blues Brothers.
• The Cast Showoff: All the girls could sing, so the show gave 'em a chance. Senta Moses could break boards, so the show gave her a chance to do that, too.
  • Mark Ritts' other job was as a puppeteer. He operates one of the penguins in the South Pole cutaways. They allow him a hand puppet (literally) in "Scratchy the Chicken".
• The Danza: Sort of. Eliza Schneider was Liza on seasons 2 & 3.
• Dawson Casting: Averted with Josie (Alanna Ubach was 16) and Liza (Eliza Schneider was 17), and played straight with Phoebe (Senta Moses was 23).
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show had a strong following in Spanish speaking countries.
• He Also Did: Jay Dubin directed one early episode after having directed a number of music videos, most frequently for Billy Joel and Daryl Hall & John Oates. Additionally, Dubin started out directing a number of commercials for the now-defunct Crazy Eddie electronics chain.
• Hey, It's That Sound!:
  • Apparently, the crew were avid Scrabble fans. (Producer Marijane Miller was a contestant on Scrabble.) Kinda weird though, since this show was produced by what's currently Sony Pictures Television, who at that point had acquired the rights to the Merv Griffin, Barry & Enright, Bob Stewart, and Chuck Barris libraries; Scrabble was produced by Reg Grundy Productions (and is currently owned by Fremantle Media).
  • You might note the similarities some of the background music has to that of Rugrats. Denis Hannigan, Rusty Andrews and Mark Mothersbaugh composed background music for both shows.
• I Am Not Spock: Paul Zaloom's other main job is as a political puppeteer who covers very adult topics. During Beakman's original run, he got very annoyed at parents who'd bring their kids to his live shows thinking they'd be family friendly.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Zigzagged. Sony has only ever released a best-of set of the show on VHS and DVD. However, unlike most examples, it's been played enough times that there are plenty of tapes to be circulated; Netflix also offered the (almost) entire series at one point.
• Missing Episode:
  • Downplayed with a missing segment. In the Beakmania segment in the "Camels / Density" episode, depending on the version, you either get a "Doctor & Meekman" segment on strep throat, or a "Wide Beak-World of Sports" segment explaining how Michael Jordan can look like he's defying gravity. Syndicated reruns give the former; the Netflix version had the latter.
  • Five episodes weren't uploaded on Netflix for whatever reason. They included two Josie episodes (Refraction-Magnets and Bees-Earthquakes), two Liza episodes (Bats-Energy and Snakes-Seasons), and one Phoebe episode (Sweat-Weighing a Car).
• No Budget: Three actors (and rarely some extras) and a bunch of simple props. Of course, that means the do-at-home experiments fit right in.
• Science Marches On: While the science in the show is still completely accurate, some facts have been revised (for example, Pluto's not a planet anymore). The last episode of the first season is also Hilarious in Hindsight for this reason: in it, Beakman establishes an empirical process for the kids to answer any science question they have. The steps involved are:
  • 1) Formulate a Precise Question,
  • 2) Home Resources (dictionaries and encyclopedias in print),
  • 3) Phone Tips (calling a related expert on the topic) and
  • 4) Field Research (going to a library or other institution of learning).
    Step 1 pretty much stays the same, but it's mindblowing how the Internet has rendered the three other steps, if not obsolete, at least inconvenient.
  • In their second segment on optical illusions (focusing on 3-D pictures), they repeatedly make mention of recording the show so you can have more time to see the picture...via VCR. Now, you can just pause your Netflix playback or DVR recording.
  • In general, the only science-y things that are obsolete since the show first aired (1992-1996) are a few of the world records (tallest building, tallest rollercoaster, shortest adult). Oh, and of course Pluto being a planet. Otherwise, the science is still very sound.
• Throw It In!: It appears the general rule of the director is "If what's shot is funnier than what's scripted, go with it." It seems this was largely a one-take show (and some of the screw-up first takes were thrown in as well, like Liza's cockroach freak-out).
  • One notable example is the "Measurement" segment when Beakman compares Phoebe and Lester's foot sizes to explain the need for standardized measurements. At the end of the segment he playfully tickles Phoebe's foot and she kicks him in the face.
• Un-Canceled: CBS shut the lights out after 65 eps, but fan outcry got it back; this was the reason for the second Suspiciously Similar Substitute above. And then they canceled it, fellow Sony series Wheel 2000 and The Weird Al Show because nobody was watching them and replaced them all with Nelvana cartoons.
• What Could Have Been: The original pilot originally had no Lovely Assistant, and Lester was a rat puppet instead of a guy in a rat suit.