Trivia / Blossom

• Actor-Inspired Element: Mayim Bialik claims to have pushed for Ted Wass to be cast as her father, as she had enjoyed auditioning alongside him. She was also responsible for bringing Michael Stoyanov on board as Tony; feeling they looked enough alike to play siblings.
• Baby Name Trend Starter: The whole joke behind Six's name was that her name was really a number. Ha-ha, what real parent would ever do that? According to the Social Security registry in the years during and after the show, quite a few. (This trend is actually Older Than They Think, since it used to be quite popular to name children after auspicious numbers or by birth order—Octavia (eight) is a holdover from this time—and several cultures still have a version of this tradition.)
• The Cast Showoff:
  • The opening credits had Mayim Bialik showing off her dance training.
  • Mayim, Ted Wass, Joey Lawrence and Jenna von Oÿ were all given several opportunities to show off their singing talents.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Mayim Bialik often refers to the show as "One big embarrassment". On the other hand, she's not above making goofy references to it 15 years later.
  • Michael Stoyanov regrets leaving the series in the fifth season. Despite the work he got as a writer for Conan O'Brien, he wished he had waited until Blossom finished its run.
• The Danza: Joey Lawrence's character shares his first name (although in the pilot he was called Danny).
• Dawson Casting: Mayim Bialik is one year older than Joey Lawrence, who plays her older brother, and she is also two years older than Jenna von Oy, while their characters are supposed to be the same age.
• Directed by Cast Member: Ted Wass directed 18 episodes, getting that assignment more frequently as the show went on (particularly as Bill Bixby's health worsened). He in fact only joined the show when he was promised the chance to direct several episodes.
• Dueling Shows: Both this show and Clarissa Explains It All have often been compared. Both shows began in 1991, and both shows had a young teenage actress in the lead role.
• Dueling Works: During its first season, it was this with the short-lived Molloy, another Mayim Bialik vehicle, in which she played a young teen who had to move in with her father, stepmother, and stepsiblings—one of them played by then-unknown Jennifer Aniston—after the death of her mother. Blossom was more popular with the viewers and Molloy was canceled after only a few episodes.^note in an interesting footnote regarding Aniston, Blossom ended up replacing a short-lived sitcom version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off titled simply Ferris Bueller which also had Aniston as a regular
• Executive Meddling: Studio execs initially thought the set-up of a Wise Beyond Her Years girl and a divorced-yet-chic father was too radical to be allowed to air, so they ordered the Russos to have more conservative, nuclear parents. The original unaired pilot had both parents married, and conventionally employed (as well as played by different actors). After the series was picked up, Don Reo successfully convinced NBC to allow his original vision of Blossom's father to be a divorced chic musician.
• Fake Brit: Kennedy is the daughter of Englishwoman Carol, but her actress Courtney Chase was American.
• In Memoriam: The Season 4 episode "Meat" ended with a dedication to Bill Bixby. While he was directing it on the same day the "Let's Talk About Sex" episode was airing on November 15, 1993, he collapsed, and died six days later from prostate cancer. Selig Frank finished directing "Meat" for him.
• The Other Darrin: Blossom's parents were played by Richard Masur and Barrie Youngfellow in the pilot (and were called Terry and Barbara).
• Real-Life Relative: Joey Lawrence's real life brothers Matthew and Andrew appeared in flashbacks as younger versions of Joey.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The concept as originally pitched had a boy as the lead, titled 'Richie', with him as an Expy of Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye (and Blossom herself would be the Phoebe analog). The execs however thought focusing on the sister would be more unique. This gets a nod in the finale, where Blossom compares herself to "a teenage Holden Caulfield".
  • Per a 2011 Entertainment Weekly article; Melissa Joan Hart had been considered for the role of Six LeMure before turning it down in favor of the lead role on Clarissa Explains It All. In her autobiography, she claims she did three call backs for the role before she was offered Clarissa.
• You Look Familiar: Chris Demetral plays nerdy "Pinhead Fred" Fogerty in season one and then Blossom's friend Dennis in season two.

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