History Trivia / TheWiz

** The smoke and sparks that were supposed to cause Addapearle to disappear didn't shoot up in time. She stood there awkwardly for a second, before the camera switched to show the Munchkins and Dorothy. The DVD hides Addaperle by covering the screen in smoke until this switch occurs.

** When Dorothy says goodbye to the Good Witches, a magical whirling sound emits, implying they disappear magically. However, a viewer of the original broadcast ''or'' the DVD might notice Amber Riley walking normally off the set.

** The original broadcast had some instances where someone delivered a line from offscreen, which the DVD re-edited to actually show that person talking.

** David Alan Grier apparently botched a line about wanting to see a movie in the Emerald City, instead asking his friends if they want to "catch a ''({{beat}}))'' split before [they] split". This also made the Cowardly Lion's next lines ("I hope they don't put butter on their popcorn. I'm watchin' my cholesterol.") sound like a NonSequitur. The DVD didn't correct this, but the digital captions try to cover up Grier's botching by saying that he asks his friends if they want to "catch a flick".

** The smoke and sparks that were supposed to cause Addapearle to disappear didn't shoot up in time. She stood there awkwardly for a second, before the camera switched to show the Munchkins and Dorothy. The DVD clouds the screen in more smoke before this switch occurs.

* {{Blooper}}: A live televised performance seems bound to include a few slip-ups, although the DVD reportedly corrects some of them.
** At one point during the number "The Feeling We Once Had", the camera accidentally shows another camera pointing itself at Dorothy.
** The smoke and sparks that were supposed to cause Addapearle to disappear didn't shoot up in time. After about an awkward second of standing there, the camera switches to show the munchkins and Dorothy.
** David Alan Grier apparently botched a line about wanting to see a movie in the Emerald City, inadvertently making the Cowardly Lion's next lines ("I hope they don't put butter on their popcorn. I'm watchin' my cholesterol.") sound like a NonSequitur.
** After Dorothy finished singing "Home", the camera didn't cut to the Silver Shoes until after Shanice Williams already started clicking her heels, resulting in the viewers seeing her click them two times instead of three.

** The smoke and sparks that were supposed to cause Addapearle to disappear didn't shoot up in time, so after about an awkward second of standing there, the camera switches to show the munchkins and Dorothy.

** The smoke and sparks that were supposed to cause Addapearle to disappear didn't shoot up in time, so after about an awkward second of standing there, the camera switches to show the munchkins and Dorothy.
** When Glinda and Addapearle leave during the final scene, a magical whirling sound emits, implying they disappear magically offscreen. However the camera is standing at too close of an angle to Dorothy, so the audience ends up seeing Glinda and her sister just walk off stage.

* CutSong: Five songs and four dance numbers were either dropped or replaced for the film, some due to plot changes: "Tornado Ballet", "I Was Born On The Day Before Yesterday", "Kalidah Battle", "Lion's Dream", "Emerald City Ballet (Psst)", "So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard", "Who Do You Think You Are?", "Y'all Got It!", and "A Rested Body Is a Rested Mind". 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.

* ShoutOut: Evillene's minions are very similar like the "fireys" from ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' (lots of jumping around and flame-colored fur).
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Addaperle uses an [=iPad=] instead of a chalkboard for her Magic Slate, since it seems likely that not as many children use chalkboard slates now as in 1900.

** Broadway's original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, played Dorothy again in a 1984 Broadway revival and a 1993 tour. The latter also brought back Andre [=DeShields=] as The Wiz.

* {{Blooper}}: At one point during the number "The Feeling We Once Had", the camera accidentally shows another camera pointing itself at Dorothy. The DVD reportedly corrects this.

* WrittenByCastMember: Two of the lead males of the TV version, Elijah Kelley and Ne-Yo, helped write a new song, "We Got It".

* {{Blooper}}: At one point during the number "The Feeling We Once Had", the camera accidentally shows another camera pointing itself at Dorothy.

** Broadway's original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, played Dorothy again in a 1984 Broadway revival.

** Promo pictures and videos show that Glinda originally had blonde curly hair. When the special actually aired, she sported brunette braids instead. [[http://thegrio.com/2015/12/18/shanice-williams-dorothy-natural-hair/ According]] to Shanice Williams, the crew decided that having Uzo Aduba show off her natural hair color would provide a stronger expression of African-American beauty.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: NBC offered Music/{{Beyonce}} the chance to play Glinda, but she turned it down.

* DevelopmentHell: Storyline Entertainment planned a TV version of ''The Wiz'' as far back as [[http://deadline.com/2015/11/craig-zadan-neil-meron-the-wiz-live-nbc-1201646727/ 1998]], after producing a remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Film/{{Cinderella}}'' for ''[[Series/WaltDisneyPresents The Wonderful World of Disney]]''. However, rights issues with Universal prevented Storyline from progressing very far with the project.

* RoleReprisal: Ted Ross & Mabel King [[note]] Perhaps best known as Raj's mom on Series/WhatsHappening [[/note]] reprised their roles from the original run of the musical as the Lion & Evilene respectively.