History Trivia / TheWiz

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: On top of being a product of a time when Blaxploitation films were popular in the U.S., the film has an unmistakable 1970s feel throughout, from its tone, to the fashions, to the disco and funk-heavy soundtrack, among other things. One might wonder if the NBC version also has some elements that could date badly in the future, such as Dorothy's outfit, the slang, and Addapearle's [=iPad=].[[note]]''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' mocked the awkwardness of seeing an [=iPad=] in Oz only two days after the premiere of ''The Wiz Live!'', when their crossover between it and ''The Wizard of Oz'' had the Wiz also carry an [=iPad=], prompting Dorothy (Sasheer Zamata) to exclaim, "Wow, how modern!"[[/note]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: On top of being a product of a time when Blaxploitation films were popular in the U.S., the film has an unmistakable 1970s feel throughout, from its tone, to the fashions, to the disco and funk-heavy soundtrack, among other things. One might wonder if the NBC version also has some elements that could date badly in the future, such as Dorothy's outfit, the slang, and Addapearle's [=iPad=].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: On top of being a product of a time when Blaxploitation films were popular in the U.S., the film has an unmistakable 1970s feel throughout, from its tone, to the fashions, to the disco and funk-heavy soundtrack, among other things.

* StarMakingRole: Stephanie Mills struggled to sell any of her music prior to becoming Dorothy.

* TheCastShowoff: Two of the lead males of the TV version, Elijah Kelley and Ne-Yo, helped write a new song, "We Got It". In it, Dorothy and her friends proclaim that ThePowerOfFriendship can help them defeat Evilene and get their desires granted.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Stephanie Mills who played Dorothy in the original Broadway production would've reprised the role for the movie had Diana Ross not appealed directly to the head of Universal to get the part.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Stephanie Mills who played Dorothy in the original stage show would've reprised the role for the movie had Diana Ross not appealed directly to the head of Universal to get the part.

* ProductionPosse: Eight years before the NBC production, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron collaborated with both Queen Latifah and Elijah Kelley for the movie version of the ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' musical.

* ActingForTwo: Following the lead of MGM's ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', the TV version of ''The Wiz'' has the actors of the Scarecrow (Elijah Kelley), the Tin Man (Music/NeYo), and the Cowardly Lion (David Alan Grier) also portray Aunt Em's farmhands.

* AllStarCast: The movie and TV versions feature a lot of their respective decades' most-renowned African-American entertainers, although the latter also has a then-newcomer, Shanice Williams, as Dorothy.

* CutSong: Several songs and dance numbers were dropped for the film, some due to plot changes. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Win_(song) "You Can't Win"]] was dropped from the stage version, but appeared in the movie as a replacement for "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday". Among the new songs written for the movie, "Is This What Feeling Gets?" was dropped (it's on the soundtrack album), though it's the underscore's big instrumental motif.

* ActingForTwo: Following the lead of MGM's ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', the TV version of ''The Wiz'' has the actors of the Scarecrow (Elijah Kelley), the Tin Man (Music/NeYo), and the Cowardly Lion ( David Alan Grier) also portray Aunt Em's farmhands.

* ActingForTwo: Following the lead of MGM's ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', the TV version of ''The Wiz'' has Elijah Kelley, Music/NeYo, and David Alan Grier portray Aunt Em's farmhands, and the new friends Dorothy makes in Oz.

* AllStarCast: The movie version.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: On top of being a product of a time when Blaxploitation films were popular in the U.S., the film has an unmistakable 1970s feel throughout, from its tone, to the fashions, to the disco and funk-heavy soundtrack, among other things.

* StarDerailingRole: Diana Ross; She landed the starring role despite several early refusals from the film's crew due to her age at the time of production, forcing several changes to the script to accommodate Ross' older version of Dorothy. All of this, combined with the negative critical reaction of her overall performance ultimately prompted Ross to stick to singing instead of acting.

* RemakeCameo: NBC's version cast Broadway's original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, as Aunt Em.

* StarDerailingRole: Diana Ross; She landed the starring role despite several early refusals from the film's crew due to her age at the time of production, forcing several changes to the script to accommodate Ross' older version of Dorothy. All of this, combined with the negative critical reaction of her overall performance ultimately prompted Ross to stick to singing instead of acting.

* GenreKiller: According to the Medved Brothers' ''Hollywood Hall of Shame'' book, the movie's box-office performance directly led to the cancellation of several major-studio projects that would have had predominantly black casts. Well into the 1980s, Creator/RichardPryor and Creator/EddieMurphy would be the only black leads that were reliable box-office performers, and that was largely via UncleTomfoolery and SaltAndPepper pairings.

* GenreKiller: According to the Medved Brothers' ''Hollywood Hall of Shame'' book, the movie's box-office performance directly led to the cancellation of several major-studio projects that would have had predominantly black casts. Well into the 1980s, RichardPryor and EddieMurphy would be the only black leads that were reliable box-office performers, and that was largely via UncleTomfoolery and SaltAndPepper pairings.