16 Curious Facts About Your Favorite TV Shows

If you thought you spotted Arrested Development’s iconic Bluth family stair car in the background of the airport battle during Captain America: Civil War (2016), you’ve got quite the hawk eye. The inclusion wasn’t an accident: Brothers Joe and Anthony Russo directed both that film and more than a dozen episodes of the Jason Bateman-starring sitcom. In other words, Arrested Development is technically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The past two decades of television are bursting with blink-and-you'll-miss-them Easter eggs, behind-the-scenes facts, and fascinating revelations from cast members and creators. So many, in fact, that we compiled them into a book, The Curious Viewer: A Miscellany of Bingeable Streaming TV Shows From the Past Twenty Years.

On this episode of The List Show, Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy is giving you a special sneak peek of its contents. You’ll learn what inspired the lyrics for Drive Shaft’s fictional hit “You All Everybody” in Lost, the real reason Dawson’s Creek introduced the character Will Krudski in season 3, and how a fake podcast on Insecure spawned a real one.

Hear those stories and more below, and subscribe to the Mental Floss YouTube channel for future videos.