Fake American: Most of the supporting cast is Canadian.
Playing Against Type: Herbert Lom, best known for playing over-the-top characters and villains (most famously as Dreyfus in the The Pink Panther movies), playing the restrained, and kindly, Dr. Weizak.
Write What You Know: Before his accident, Johnny Smith is an English teacher. Stephen King was also an English teacher before becoming a full-time writer.
The series
Author Existence Failure: The original showrunner, Michael Piller, became ill from cancer during Season 2. While still credited as Executive Producer, new writers took over his duties (Karl Schaefer for the last six episodes of Season 2 and then Season 3, Tommy Thompson in Seasons 4 - 5). It was Piller's approach to rewrite every script and without him, many distinctive aspects of the series and almost all ongoing arcs were lost. Piller would occasionally consult on individual episodes as health allowed during Seasons 3 - 5 (most notably "Symmetry" in Season 5), and he died shortly after Season 5 had been filmed (but before it aired).
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Prop Recycling: Johnny Smith's cane also appeared in the 1994 TV miniseries, The Stand. It also was used in the 1999 TV miniseries, Storm of the Century. The head of the cane was changed, however.
What Could Have Been: Anthony Michael Hall noted that, when it was revealed that the show wouldn't be renewed for a seventh season, the writing team planned on resolving the loose ends with a Made-for-TV Movie. Needless to say, that fell through.
