Although its run was short-lived, ABC’s mid-1980s cop spoof Sledge Hammer! made a significant imprint in the minds of primetime viewers. David Rasche starred as the title character, a trigger-happy police detective who “shot first and asked questions never.” In honor of the 30th anniversary of the show’s premiere on September 23, 1986, we’ve got a few facts about the series that should hit the mark. 

1. IT WAS THOUGHT UP BY A TEENAGER.

In 1971, 10-year-old Alan Spencer snuck into a screening of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry by buying a ticket to Fiddler on the Roof and switching theaters once he was inside. Impressed by the movie and its sequels, Spencer decided to write a script lampooning the renegade cop trope. At 16, he began circulating Sledge Hammer! around the business to readers who didn’t understand the kind of satire Spencer was aiming for. One agent called it “the work of someone with serious mental problems.”

Spencer persevered: Nearly a decade later, another Dirty Harry sequel arrived in theaters and reinvigorated interest in a send-up of the genre. Reworked as a half-hour sitcom, Sledge Hammer! suddenly became a hot commodity.

2. IT ALMOST ENDED UP AT HBO.

Leonard Stern, who produced the 1960s spy spoof Get Smart, knew of Spencer’s script and connected him with HBO. The network wasn’t sure what to make of the excessive violence and dark humor and wanted Spencer to revise it to fit the persona of Rodney Dangerfield, who they wanted to have starring in the project. Spencer declined and took the idea to ABC, which was receptive to it—provided all of the profanity was deleted. The writer and network cast Second City’s David Rasche and Anne-Marie Martin as Sledge and partner Dori Doreau, respectively. (Martin went on to marry Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton.)

3. ABC WAS CONCERNED THE SHOW WOULD CAUSE HEART ATTACKS.

Composer Danny Elfman created the track for the Sledge Hammer! opening credits sequence, which was shot in romantic close-up of Sledge’s beloved .44 Magnum firearm. In a James Bond homage, Rasche was supposed to then pick up the weapon and fire it directly at the viewer, “shattering” the television screen. ABC nixed the idea, fearing the abrupt visual might prompt heart attacks in susceptible viewers. (He fired it offscreen instead.)

4. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PETER GABRIEL SONG. (BUT USED IT ANYWAY.)

Oddly, Sledge Hammer! the series and “Sledgehammer” the song had absolutely no connection with one another, but both were released within a few months of each other in 1986. With the song a hit, ABC convinced (and obviously paid) Peter Gabriel to allow them to use it in promotional spots for the series.

5. ABC REFUSED TO HAVE SLEDGE ADMIT HE WAS CRAZY.

A man who talks to and sleeps with his gun probably is in need of some kind of mental evaluation. But Spencer’s original catchphrase idea for Sledge—“I’m crazy, but I know what I’m doing”—was axed by ABC, which refused to allow any admission the character might be mentally ill. The phrase became “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” 

6. IT HAD A RIVALRY WITH MR. BELVEDERE.

Spencer was not a fan of Mr. Belvedere, the genteel 1980s sitcom about an English butler who charms his American employers. Sledge took several shots at the show—which aired on the same network—prompting Belvedere star Bob Uecker to criticize Sledge while a guest on The Tonight Show. The war of words was never resolved.

7. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CANCELED SOONER.

As an acquired taste, Sledge Hammer! didn’t resonate with viewers, who preferred it a distant third to time slot competitors Dallas and Miami Vice. Believing the first season would also be the last, the show’s producers aired a finale that featured Hammer accidentally activating a nuclear warhead that reduced his city to rubble. When ratings improved for the apocalyptic finale, ABC decided to renew it—forcing the show to frame subsequent episodes as having taken place years prior to the explosion.

8. IT WAS A MARVEL COMIC. (FOR TWO ISSUES.)

Lasting just two issues, Marvel’s Sledge Hammer! took the detective into the sequential art world, including a guest appearance by Spider-Man. The cover of the first promised a faithful adaptation of the “show that refuses to die.” (Marvel’s onetime Hulk, Bill Bixby, directed several of the show’s episodes.)

9. A CONTRACT OMISSION MADE FOR A HOME VIDEO WINDFALL.

At the time Sledge Hammer! aired, studios and networks were mostly concerned with rights issues relating to videocassette releases. The network therefore didn’t bat an eye when Spencer, who loved laserdiscs, had it written into his contract that he be a profit participant in any “disc format” releases of the show. Sledge was released on DVD in 2004, a “disc format” the network could never have anticipated, and earned Spencer a significant cut of the profits.

10. NEW LINE WANTED TO MAKE A FEATURE.

In 1992, Spencer received word that New Line Cinema was interested in adapting Sledge Hammer! as a feature film. The creator passed when it became clear the studio wanted to move forward with a new cast and new characters.

11. IT EARNED ITS CREATOR AN HONORARY NRA MEMBERSHIP.

Not everyone took the satire of a gun-loving fascist as a joke. Spencer told Splitsider in 2012 that when Sledge Hammer! premiered, the National Rifle Association (NRA) bestowed him with an honorary membership for contributing to pro-gun awareness. “A lot of people took [the show] very seriously,” he said.

As the many products designed to help you fall asleep on airplanes indicate, comfort and air travel aren’t a natural fit. The problems begin on solid ground for some travelers: A delayed flight or an extended layover can leave you stranded in an airport for hours with no place to curl up and rest.

A furniture pod concept from designer Rafael Martin envisions an innovative solution. According to inhabitat, the aDream is a steel-framed and plywood structure designed to be tucked discreetly into the hallways and lounges of airport terminals. Two mattresses fold out from either side and a light, drawer, and electrical socket invite visitors to get comfortable. Someone in need of a quick rest would be able to rent a unit for a certain time window and swipe in with a key card.

The sleek pods are just a design for now, but travelers willing to splurge on even more luxurious digs might be in luck. A handful of airports have cozy “suites” that include desks and daybeds guests can rent by the hour—there are even a few in the U.S.

[h/t inhabitat]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

Humankind’s relationship with alcohol may be thousands (or even millions) of years old, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t on an ongoing quest to push things forward. Especially when it comes to the hangover.

David Nutt, a professor at Imperial College London in England, has patented 90 different synthetic alcohols, Esquire reports. The so-called “alcosynths” are an alternative to traditional booze, and Nutt claims they mimic the effects of the regular stuff, but don’t come with the dreaded headaches and nausea that often accompany overindulgence.

Nutt told The Independent that he believes alcosynth could replace alcohol as we know it by 2050. In addition to being a “healthier” option for your liver and heart, Nutt says the alcosynths have a built-in limit—the buzz hits its max point at around four or five drinks and then plateaus. The specifics of Nutt’s formula are still a secret, but he is currently in the process of testing two of the drinks.

While the idea seems to hint at the promise of a hangover-free future, the product is still in its infancy and hasn’t received any funding or support from the Department of Health. (Nutt served as a government drugs advisor until he was reportedly fired for saying ecstasy was less dangerous than horseback riding.)

Still, a Department of Health spokesperson told The Independent, “It would be great for producing better workforce efficiency if no one was hungover.”

This isn’t the first time a hangover-free booze has been introduced: Earlier this year North Korea claimed to have invented one using ginseng and glutinous rice.

[h/t Esquire]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

 
Welcome to fall! Cooler temperatures are here. Now for the bad news: We’re in the peak of hurricane season. This dreaded time of the year is also known as Cape Verde season, after the islands where the so-called “hurricane highway” originates. Here are seven facts about this awesome—and sometimes deadly—weather phenomenon.

1. WHERE THE HURRICANE HIGHWAY BEGINS

The Cape Verde Islands, located off the northwest coast of Africa, are where the hurricane highway begins. Thunderstorms destined to become hurricanes often form into a tropical depression near the islands, slowly organizing and strengthening over the following week as the system moves toward the Caribbean. These storms have a long time to get their act together, but they also have to cover a lot of distance without losing their power to reach the East Coast as a hurricane. Some storms are able to thrive with little wind shear, ample warm water, and moist air, while others starve and dissipate if they encounter cooler waters, strong winds, or ingest dry, dusty air blowing off the Sahara Desert.

2. WHY HERE?

It’s hard to imagine from North America that a couple of thunderstorms on another continent thousands of miles away can swirl up into a monstrous storm, but it happens almost every year. The extreme temperature gradient between the blistering heat of the Sahara desert and the more temperate climate of the savanna to its south creates an easterly jet stream that triggers clusters of showers and thunderstorms. These clouds then move from east to west, emerging off the western African coast near the Cape Verde Islands. Every year, the right conditions turn a handful of these localized storms into tropical storms that make their way across the Atlantic.

3. THE BIGGEST HURRICANE ALWAYS STARTS FROM THE SMALLEST THUNDERSTORM.

 
Hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons—these are all actually names for the same force of nature, like the storm that hit the east coast in 1992. Cyclones like Hurricane Andrew don’t just form out of thin air. All tropical cyclones require a relatively tiny “nucleus” of thunderstorms in order to develop. When the air and water temperatures are right, these groups of thunderstorms sometimes spin up into a fierce low-pressure system capable of causing a lot of damage. We see lots of these seedling thunderstorms over the ocean every year, but only a small number of them actually become hurricanes.

4. TROPICAL CYCLONES FORM IN DIFFERENT AREAS IN DIFFERENT MONTHS.

Where a tropical storm or hurricane begins its trip across the ocean depends on what time of the year it forms. Storms that form early in the season usually get their start from thunderstorms or cold fronts that stall over the water very close to land; almost all of the storms that form in the Atlantic in June come to life within a few hundred miles of land. When we reach the peak of hurricane season, though, they start to form farther and farther out in the ocean—all the way out to the shores of Africa.

5. WE’RE IN THE PEAK OF HURRICANE SEASON.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean runs from June 1 through November 30. Storms are most common during that six-month stretch of the year, but sometimes they can form earlier or later too. That said, the period between the middle of August and the middle of October is typically the climatological peak of the season. That’s because as the ocean water gets warmer, the atmosphere becomes conducive to vigorous storms, increasing the risk for hurricanes and tropical storms.

6. CAPE VERDE STORMS CAN EASILY LAND IN THE HISTORY BOOKS …

 
Tropical waves traveling west from the coast of Africa in the middle of the summer are the culprits behind some of the worst hurricanes we’ve experienced in the United States. For example, on August 8, 2005, a small tropical wave emerged off the coast of Africa, soon becoming Tropical Depression 10. That depression would fall apart a few days later, but its remnants kept moving toward the U.S., redeveloping into a new tropical depression over the Bahamas on August 23. That new tropical depression became Hurricane Katrina, the costliest hurricane to ever strike the United States.

It’s a similar story for many—but not all—major hurricanes in recent history. Hurricanes Andrew, Dennis, Ivan, Isabel, and Ike were all Cape Verde–type storms that sprang to life thousands of miles away from where they would ultimately wreak havoc.

7. … BUT NOT ALL DEVASTATING STORMS GIVE US A WEEK TO PREPARE.

While the far eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean is a hotbed of activity this time of the year, it’s not the only place you need to watch if you live near the coast. Storms that form close to land can quickly spin themselves into catastrophe. Hurricane Sandy formed just south of Jamaica and hit New Jersey in a matter of days in 2012. A tropical depression that developed east of Florida on September 18, 2005, exploded into Hurricane Rita just three days later, with 180 mph winds—the most intense storm ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meteorologists are currently predicting 2 to 4 serious storms this hurricane season. So it may be worth preparing: NOAA suggests gathering a few key disaster supplies to have on hand, getting an insurance check-up, and locating the safest high ground.

We hate to squash your autumnal dreams, but baking a pumpkin pie might not be as easy as you think. That’s because the canned pumpkin that normally makes pie prep such a breeze isn’t made of pumpkin at all. Food & Wine reports that cans of pumpkin puree—even those that advertise “100 percent pumpkin”—are actually made of a range of different squashes.

Most pumpkin purees are a mix of winter squashes, including butternut squash, Golden Delicious, and Hubbard. Meanwhile, Libby’s, the largest pumpkin puree brand, has developed its own unique brand of squash called the Dickinson, which is more closely related to a butternut squash than a pumpkin. The FDA is vague about what counts as “pumpkin,” which allows companies to pack unspecified squashes into their purees and still list pumpkin as the sole ingredient.

While it’s a little unsettling to find out your favorite pie is not what it seems, pumpkin puree brands have a good reason for their deception. While pumpkins are a quintessential part of autumn, they don’t actually taste that great. Most pumpkins are watery and a little bit stringy, and turning them into a puree takes more work, and involves less reward, than other, sweeter winter squashes.

[h/t Food & Wine]