History Trivia / ProblemChild

* WriteWhatYouKnow: The screenwriters got the idea for the film from a newspaper article about a couple who sued an adoption agency for giving them a boy with a violent history without informing them beforehand.

** Creator/KirstieAlley, Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/MarySteenburgen and Creator/CatherineOHara were reportedly offered to play Flo. Alley turned it down due to her shooting ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'', Basinger was busy doing ''Film/Batman1989'', Fisher was filming ''Sibling Rivalry'', O'Hara was called to do ''Film/HomeAlone1'' and Steenburgen had commitments with ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

** Creator/KirstieAlley, Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/MarySteenburgen and Creator/CatherineOHara were reportedly offered to play Flo. Alley turned it down due to her shooting ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'', Basinger was busy doing ''Film/Batman1989'', Fisher was filming ''Sibling Rivalry'', O'Hara was called to do ''Film/HomeAlone'' and Steenburgen had commitments with ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

** In the French dub, Alexis Tomassian reprises his role as Junior from the first two movies.

* RealLifeRelative: John Ritter's real-life wife Creator/AmyYasbeck played Ben Healy's wife in the first movie and his love interest in the second movie.

* SameLanguageDub: June Foray voices the puppets in the second movie who were operated by the three kids who Trixie later ties up during the Salute to Democracy Puppet Show.

** The screenwriters tried pitching the film to several studios including Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, Creator/ColumbiaPictures and Creator/WarnerBros Fox executive Barry Diller hated the script while Columbia and Warner showed no confidence in the film. They eventually convinced Creator/UniversalPictures to greenlight.

** Creator/ChristopherLloyd was supposed to play the Bow Tie Killer but he turned down the role because of his commitments with ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

* RealLifeRelative: John Ritter's real-life wife Amy Yasbeck played Ben Healy's wife in the first movie and his love interest in the second movie.

* SameLanguageDub: June Foray voices the puppets who were operated by the three kids who Trixie later ties up during the Salute to Democracy Puppet Show.

* SameLanguageDub: June Foray voices the puppets who were operated by the three kids who Junior & Trixie later tie up during the Salute to Democracy Puppet Show.

** The Latin American Spanish dub brings back the entire dub voice cast from the films.

* FollowTheLeader: WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic states that in his review of the first film that Junior is the template for every "disobedient 90s son" that would follow afterwards like [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]].

** Creator/GilbertGottfried is the only one from the movies to be in the animated series, voicing Mr. Peabody once again.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RickMoranis, Creator/KurtRussell and Creator/JohnTravolta were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', Martin was busy with ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII'', Travolta was too busy doing ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'', and Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.
** Creator/KirstieAlley, Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/MarySteenburgen and Creator/CatherineOHara were reportedly offered to play Flo. But Alley turned it down due to her shooting ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'', Basinger was busy doing ''Film/Batman1989'', Fisher was filming ''Sibling Rivalry'', O'Hara was called to do ''Film/HomeAlone'' and Steenburgen had commitments with ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

** According to the screenwriters, ''Problem Child 2'' was originally much cruder, so much so that the initial cut received an R rating from the MPAA.
** The studio wanted Creator/JohnLandis to direct this film, but Landis declined as he wasn't interested in directing a kids/family movie. Creator/JoeDante was also approached. But despite showing interest, he turned it down due to conflicts with ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch''. Creator/RichardDonner was also considered to direct, but he declined as he was busy in post-production on ''Film/LethalWeapon2''.
** The screenwriters tried pitching the film to several studios including Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, Creator/ColumbiaPictures and Creator/WarnerBros. Fox executive Barry Diller hated the script while Columbia and Warner showed no confidence in the film. They eventually convinced Creator/UniversalPictures to greenlight.

** The screenwriters tried pitching the movie to several studios including 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox executive Barry Diller hated the script while Columbia and Warner Bros showed no confidence in the film. They eventually convinced Universal Studios to greenlight the film.
* WriteWhatYouKnow: The screenwriters got the idea for this film from a newspaper article they read, about a couple who sued an adoption agency for giving them a boy with a violent history without informing them beforehand.
* YouLookFamiliar: Ben Healy's mean wife Flo Healy in ''Problem Child'' and his sweet-natured love interest Annie Young in ''Problem Child 2'' are played by the same actress. Oddly, no-one points out the resemblance. Amy Yasbeck, the actress in question was John Ritter’s real-life wife at the time.

* TheOtherDarrin: Junior and Ben were re-cast in the final film.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted with all three films in a way. The first film was set in the fictional Cold River, and the next two films were set in the fictional Mortville. The first film was filmed in Texas, the second film was filmed in Florida (including the newly-opened Universal Studios Florida), and the third film was filmed in Los Angeles.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: As opposed to the nearly antisocial Junior, Michael Oliver actually became great friends with the other child actors off-camera, especially Ivyann Schwan (Trixie from ''Problem Child 2''), with whom he's still friends to this day.

* RealLifeRelative: John Ritter's real-life wife played Ben Healy's wife in the first movie and his love interest in the second movie.

** Creator/KirstieAlley, Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/MarySteenburgen and Creator/CatherineOHara were reportedly offered to play Flo. But Alley turned it down due to her shooting ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'', Basinger was busy with ''Film/Batman1989'', Fisher was filming ''Sibling Rivalry'', O'Hara was called to do ''Film/HomeAlone'' and Steenburgen had commitments with ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RickMoranis, Creator/KurtRussell and Creator/JohnTravolta were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', Martin was busy with ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII'', Travolta was too busy doing ''Film/LookWhosTalking Too'' Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/KurtRussell were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', Martin was busy with ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII'', Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/KurtRussell were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', Martin was busy with ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII, Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/KurtRussell were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation, Martin was busy with ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII, Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.

** Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/KurtRussell were all considered for Little Ben Healy. But Chase turned it down due to him shooting ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation, Moranis and Aykroyd were too busy doing ''Film/GhostbustersII, Dreyfuss and Russell wanted too much money and Russell was busy doing ''Film/TangoAndCash''.