The 1957 film adaptation:
- Award Category Fraud: Diane Varsi plays the unambiguous lead of the film, and yet she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars. Lana Turner meanwhile was nominated for Best Actress, because she was the bigger star. It's been theorized that because Deborah Kerr was expected to win Best Actress for Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, they pushed Diane into Supporting Actress, where she was expected to win (and then she lost to Miyoshi Umeki for Sayonara).
- California Doubling: Although some exteriors were filmed in Maine, which is where Peyton Place is meant to be, some were filmed at Lake Placid in New York.
- Dark Horse Casting: Diane Varsi was a complete unknown, cast after twenty more famous actresses were screen tested.
- Disowned Adaptation: Grace Metalious had no problem slating the film for how it sanitized her novel. Although hired as a story consultant, she had no real power and was only brought on for publicity's sake.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Lana Turner darkened her hair a little both to make her and Diane Varsi look more like mother and daughter, and to contrast with Hope Lange's lighter colour.
- What Could Have Been:
- Susan Strasberg was originally cast as Allison, but was fired after she raised her salary. For a while, Debbie Reynolds was set to be her replacement. But the role eventually went to the unknown Diane Varsi.
- Barbara Eden was among those who screen tested for the role of Selena.
The TV spin-off:
- Cast the Runner-Up: Christopher Connelly was only helping another actress screen test, never even auditioning for a role. They liked him so much they offered him the part of Norman.
- Completely Different Title: The TV series was known in Spanish as La caldera del diablo ("The Devil's Cauldron").
- Creative Differences: Dorothy Malone felt her role was being overshadowed by Mia Farrow's, and she was eventually dropped from the show. She later sued 20th Century Fox for breach of contract, although the case was settled out of court.
- Executive Meddling: Selena Cross was originally supposed to appear, with Gyl Rowland cast in the role. Execs didn't want a sexual abuse storyline in the series, and the character was dropped.
- Follow the Leader: ABC noted the success of Coronation Street in Britain in prime time and wanted something similar on US TV.
- Hostility on the Set: Ruth Warwick disliked working with Ryan O'Neal, calling him "so in love with himself" in an interview.
- Never Work with Children or Animals: According to Ryan O'Neal, some of the babies used on the show were sedated to stop them from crying.
- Real-Life Relative: Ruby Dee was among many African-American actors cast in the show to add some diversity, and her husband Ossie Davis was hired as a consultant.
- Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Allison initially has long hair. But Mia Farrow became insecure about the extra attention she was getting because of it (having been raised Catholic). So one day, in the middle of filming an episode, she spontaneously went to her trailer and cut it all off herself with a pair of nail scissors. The enraged producers had to hurriedly write Allison getting a haircut into the episode's plot. The incident underwent Memetic Mutation along the lines of "where were you when Mia Farrow cut her hair?", and the actress said in her autobiography."There must have been nothing going on in the world that week, as my haircut got an absurd amount of press coverage."
- Real Life Writes the Plot:
- Allison's coma storyline in 1965 came about because Mia Farrow took an unexpected vacation, and they weren't sure she'd come back.
- Allison was eventually Put on a Bus when Mia Farrow had Frank Sinatra use his clout to get her out of her contract (and she'd been trying to leave the series for years).
- Romance on the Set:
- Subverted. Christopher Connelly and Patricia Morrow supposedly dated, but they later revealed this to be a publicity stunt by the network.
- Ryan O'Neal and Barbara Parkins however did have an affair that ended in infidelity on his part.
- Saved by the Fans:
- Elliot was going to be killed off after a couple of episodes, but his popularity led to him staying on.
- Betty was supposed to die in her car accident in the eleventh episode, but they spared her after Barbara Parkins became popular.
- Sending Stuff to Save the Show: When rumours of cancellation came out in 1968, fans sent letters of protest to the studio. According to Barbara Parkins, it made no difference, as the network didn't open protest mail.
- Sleeper Hit: According to Ed Nelson, the initial cast thought very lowly of the show, and Mia Farrow in particular did not expect it to succeed at all.
- Star-Making Role: Mia Farrow became a household name thanks to the unexpected success of the show, although her marriage to Frank Sinatra and eventual role in Rosemary's Baby helped solidify it.
- Vacation, Dear Boy: Inverted. Barbara Rush did the show because the studio was only five minutes away from her home, and she wouldn't have to leave her family for too long (as she only worked two or three days a week). She accepted the role not even knowing what her character would be like.
- What Could Have Been:
- Early plans were for the show's episodes to be an hour long, but networks reduced them to thirty minutes.
- Due to the popularity of Barbara Parkins at the time, there were talks of a spin-off called 'The Girl From Peyton Place' specifically for her. It was never made.
- Barbara Parkins also announced that she would leave the show in 1967, feeling her character had run her course. But she stayed on until the show's cancellation.
- Henry Rogers was in talks to return to the show at one point, because Kasey Rogers complained that her character didn't have much to do anymore. He asked for too much money and wasn't brought back.
- Before Barbara Rush joined the cast, there were talks of Lana Turner reprising her role from the 1957 film to replace Dorothy Malone.
