The Other Marty: Burton Richardson announced the first episode, but was dubbed over with Mark Thompson. Notably, Mark "re-created" a Throw It In! moment from Burton, who accidentally called a contestant "Michelle Smith" instead of Michael. (All of Mark's work was done in post.)
Screwed by the Network: After the series ended its first full season in the summer of 2000, it was originally set to return as a midseason entry during the 2000-01 season. However, after a shakeup in network personnel during the interim period, and despite the series pulling strong ratings in its Friday night timeslot, these plans were ultimately scrapped.
What Could Have Been: Among the names being thrown around to host before Chuck Woolery was chosen were Wink Martindale and Phil Donahue.
Trivia for the Film:
Box Office Bomb: Budget, $665,603. Box office, $274,827. The film was shot as an eight-hour movie but MGM cut it down against his will to two-and-a-half hours. This initially released version was panned by critics and audiences and was disowned by Stroheim. The original cut and the edited footage is now lost and its four-hour restoration was made with still photos to fill the gaps. This has been Vindicated by History as Stroheim's all-time masterpiece.
Executive Meddling: The theatrical cut was editted down to two hours by MGM. The original cut was nine and a half hours. Most of the cut material is deemed lost.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: While the long-lost nine-hour Director's Cut has disappeared from the face of the Earth, so has any home video release of the currently existing versions. A four-hour reconstruction was released on VHS in 1999; this is the last known release on video outside of a possibly legal Region 2 DVD from Spain.
Missing Episode: The original cut was a whopping nine hours long, and considered by those who were fortunate enough to see to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the studio ordered it chopped down without Stroheim's involvement, and the cut pieces were destroyed. Thus, most of that footage has been lost. Even Turner Classic Movies's four-hour cut of it replaces a lot of the footage with still photos just to keep the story intact.
Playing Against Type: ZaSu Pitts, primarily known for her comedic roles, as the doomed Trina.
Screwed by the Network: The film was dumped with almost no advertising by MGM on its opening day, instead leaving those duties to William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. The film was poorly received and was an instantaneous box office failure. Historians blame MGM's poor micromanagement and their falling out with Stroheim on the film's poor performance, as they had removed at least seven hours of crucial footage from the film (the original cut was nine hours long) and trimmed it to two hours, leaving the film a complete mess and numerous plot holes unresolved in the process. Since the film is held in a higher regard today than in any point in history (thanks, in no small part, to Turner Classic Movies' four hour restoration of the film that tries to be as faithful to the original cut as possible with what little surviving footage they had), this is perhaps the most tragic example of being a film being Screwed by the Studio.
