Mental Floss

TV

RuPaul hosts RuPaul's Drag Race.

From its humble beginnings on Logo TV to its current status as an awards show darling (19 Emmys and counting), 'RuPaul's Drag Race' has been on our TV screens for over a decade now.

Meg Fozzard


(L to R) Law & Order stars Jerry Orbach, Angie Harmon, Sam Waterston, and Jesse L. Martin pictured in 1999.

Though NBC called it quits on 'Law & Order' in 2010, after 20 seasons and more than 450 episodes, the series lives on in reruns and spinoffs. In fact, it's probably playing somewhere on TV right now.

Randee Dawn




Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox go head-to-head in HBO's Succession.

Audiences and critics have been captivated by the deeply dysfunctional—and bleakly hilarious—antics of the Roy family on HBO's hit series 'Succession.'

Sarah McGrath


(L to R) ROBERT SHEEHAN, JUSTIN H. MIN, ELLIOT PAGE, TOM HOPPER, DAVID CASTAÑEDA, and EMMY RAVER-LAMPMAN STAR IN NETFLIX'S THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, WHICH LANDED IN THE NO. 10 SPOT.

One committed number-cruncher spent the last year monitoring Netflix’s top 10 list every day to see which shows reigned supreme.

Ellen Gutoskey






Rami Malek once handed out his headshot as part of takeout orders.

Actor Rami Malek has earned acclaim for his roles in 'Mr. Robot' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' But his first credited work was something he had to pay a fee to get.

Jake Rossen


Brandon Kyle Goodman, Olivia Cooke, and Andrew Scott in Modern Love.

"Modern Love," The New York Times's long-running column detailing real-life love stories, is also a podcast and a critically acclaimed, star-filled TV series that is awaiting its second season.

Escher Walcott






The McDonald's Quarter Pounder is turning the big 5-0 in 2021.

If you're celebrating a 50th birthday or anniversary this year, you're in excellent company. From the first e-mail to McDonald's Quarter Pounder, 1971 was a year full of change.

Scott Beggs, mentalfloss .com


The exterior of Los Angeles's Cecil Hotel, as seen in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021).

The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles is one of those iconic landmarks that is as famous for what goes on behind closed doors as it is for its once-regal architecture and Art Deco interior.

Scarlett Harris
Stanley Tucci feels right at home being photographed at Rome's Hotel Eden.

Stanley Tucci is truly a renaissance man. He’s an actor, a writer, a director, a producer, a cookbook author, a viral cocktail connoisseur, and now, the host of his very own food show—'Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.'

Olivia Truffaut-Wong
Zak Bagans and his Ghost Adventures team.

For more than a decade, 'Ghost Adventures' has been spooking up the airwaves of the Travel Channel, "capturing groundbreaking proof of the paranormal" on camera in hundreds of haunted destinations around the globe. Now he's sharing some of the show's behi

Sean Hutchinson