172 Fun Facts About Early 2000s Pop Culture

Britney Spears's video for 'Oops!… I Did It Again' is set on which planet?

Mars is where a visiting astronaut hands her the Heart of the Ocean, the necklace from Titanic, during the song's spoken interlude; Spears herself came up with the red-catsuit concept.

Who played Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)?

Elijah Wood won the part of Frodo over about 150 other actors after sending in an audition tape of himself in costume, reading lines from the book.

Which singing competition debuted in 2002 and launched Kelly Clarkson's career?

American Idol began with two hosts: comedian Brian Dunkleman shared the stage with Ryan Seacrest, then left after the first season, the one that made Kelly Clarkson a star.

On OutKast's 2003 double album, which half was André 3000's solo disc?

The Love Below was André 3000's half, trading hip-hop for pop, funk and jazz; its 'Hey Ya!' was replaced at number one in February 2004 by Big Boi's 'The Way You Move'.

Which fashion brand became synonymous with velour tracksuits in the early 2000s?

Juicy Couture, founded in 1997 by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, introduced its velour tracksuit in 2001 with one custom-made for Madonna, who turned it into a trend.

What was Sofia Coppola's acclaimed 1999 film about five sisters in suburban Michigan?

The Virgin Suicides was Sofia Coppola's first feature: she wrote her script from Jeffrey Eugenides's novel before she had the rights, then won over the producers who held them.

Which sitcom's finale drew about 52.5 million US viewers in May 2004?

Friends bowed out on May 6, 2004, and Jay Leno taped that night's Tonight Show on its Central Perk set, with the cast as his guests.

Which artist had a massive hit in 2002 with the song 'Dilemma', featuring Kelly Rowland?

Nelly's 'Dilemma' topped the Hot 100 in 2002, and its video became a meme years later: Kelly Rowland texts him from a spreadsheet, and she later admitted she had no idea what Excel was.

Apple's first iPod, unveiled in October 2001, promised to put how many songs in your pocket?

1,000 songs in your pocket was Steve Jobs's pitch for the first iPod, which at launch worked only with Macs; Windows users had to wait for the second model.

Who voices Dory, the forgetful blue tang, in Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003)?

Ellen DeGeneres got the part after director Andrew Stanton, stuck on the character, caught her sitcom on TV and noticed how she kept changing the subject mid-sentence.

Which NSYNC single launched the album No Strings Attached in 2000?

'Bye Bye Bye' cast the five as puppets, a jab at manager Lou Pearlman, whom they had just fought in court; the album then sold a record 2.4 million US copies in a week.

In Avril Lavigne's 'Sk8er Boi', the girl who rejects the skater does what?

Ballet is her world, and she comes to regret snubbing him once he is a rock star; in 2003 Paramount optioned the song's story to turn it into a feature film.

Which social networking site, launched in 2003, was one of the first widespread platforms for sharing music?

MySpace launched in August 2003 and became the place bands lived online: My Chemical Romance, Lily Allen and Lady Gaga all found early audiences there.

Which 2002 film had the first $100 million opening weekend?

Spider-Man took $114.8 million in three days; months earlier Sony had recalled its teaser, which showed a helicopter caught in a web strung between the Twin Towers.

Beyoncé was lead singer of which hugely successful R&B girl group before going solo?

Destiny's Child began as Girl's Tyme, which was beaten on the talent show Star Search in 1993; renamed and signed to Columbia, the group went on to sell more than 60 million records.

Which Disney Channel series (2001–2004) voiced its teenage heroine's private thoughts through a cartoon alter ego?

Lizzie McGuire's animated double said what she couldn't; Disney+ announced a revival in 2019 with its original star, then scrapped it in 2020 after the showrunner left.

Which 2001 Nintendo handheld was succeeded by the Nintendo DS?

The Game Boy Advance turned the Game Boy on its side, but its unlit screen was so hard to see in poor light that Nintendo added a front light with the folding SP model in 2003.

Which film won Best Picture at the 2004 Oscars, sweeping all 11 of its nominations?

The Return of the King went 11 for 11, tying Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscars, yet not one of its actors was even nominated.

Which Canadian rock band had early-2000s hits with 'How You Remind Me' and 'Photograph'?

Nickelback took its name from bassist Mike Kroeger's shifts at Starbucks, where he kept handing customers their change with the words 'Here's your nickel back'.

The Osbournes, the 2002 reality hit, grew out of the family's appearance on which earlier show?

MTV Cribs toured the Osbournes' home in 2000, and the response led to the full series; eldest daughter Aimee refused to take part and publicly criticised it.

Which social network launched in February 2004 as a site open only to students at one university?

Facebook began as TheFacebook and dropped the 'The' in 2005, after paying $200,000 for the facebook.com domain; by 2006 anyone aged 13 or over could join.

What was the title of the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, in April 2005?

'Me at the zoo' is 19 seconds of co-founder Jawed Karim admiring elephants' trunks; a year and a half later Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Which company made the 3310, the famously tough phone launched in 2000 with Snake II?

Nokia sold about 126 million of the 3310, and jokes about its indestructibility made it such a cult object that the model was revived in 2017.

Which 2005 PlayStation 2 game came bundled with a plastic three-quarter-scale Gibson SG controller?

Guitar Hero was built for about $1 million by Harmonix for RedOctane, a controller maker that wanted a Western answer to Konami's Japanese arcade hit GuitarFreaks.

Which Will Wright game, released in February 2000, went on to become the best-selling PC game to that point?

The Sims grew out of Will Wright losing his home in the 1991 Oakland firestorm and rebuilding his life; in 2002 it passed Myst as the best-selling PC game.

Which file-sharing service, launched by Shawn Fanning in 1999, was sued by Metallica and shut down in 2001?

Napster's weak point was the central index it kept of every shared song: once courts ordered it to block copyrighted music, it could not comply and closed in July 2001.

Which Canadian company made the BlackBerry?

Research In Motion launched the first BlackBerry in 1999 and in 2013 renamed itself after the phone, saying the move put the BlackBerry brand at the centre of the company.

Which 2001 fashion-doll line, with Cloe, Jade, Sasha and Yasmin, grabbed about 40 percent of the market from Barbie?

Bratz cost Mattel dearly: it sued, claiming the designer dreamed them up on its payroll, and after years in court MGA kept the dolls and Mattel had to pay its rival's $137 million legal bill.

The yellow charity wristband that became a 2004 craze, made with Nike, came from which athlete's cancer foundation?

Lance Armstrong's foundation launched the yellow band in May 2004 and raised hundreds of millions; in November 2012, after his doping ban, it dropped his name to become Livestrong.

Which shoe brand, founded in 2002, sold out its first 200 pairs at a Florida boat show?

Crocs unveiled its first clog, the Beach, at the Fort Lauderdale boat show in 2002; its three founders had acquired the foam design from a company in Quebec.

Heelys, a 2000s playground craze, concealed what in each shoe's heel?

Heelys hid a removable wheel in each heel; inventor Roger Adams launched them in 2000, and many schools banned them over injury fears.

Which website for raising virtual creatures, launched in 1999, did Viacom buy in 2005 for $160 million?

Neopets was dreamed up by Nottingham student Adam Powell, who built it with Donna Williams to keep university students entertained; it became one of the stickiest children's sites instead.

Webkinz, launched in 2005 by the Canadian company Ganz, were plush toys that came with what?

The secret code was the whole business model, and the site was still running, in a 2D and a 3D version, twenty years later.

Which browser-based online role-playing game did brothers Andrew and Paul Gower launch in January 2001?

RuneScape began as a family affair: Andrew Gower wrote it with his brother Paul and first ran it from the family home in Nottingham, before it grew into a game with hundreds of millions of accounts.

Which toy craze from Japan had early-2000s players shout 'Let it rip!' as they launched it into battle?

Beyblade updated beigoma, a traditional Japanese game of battling spinning tops; in Britain it was the most sought-after toy of Christmas 2003.

Whose 'wardrobe malfunction' during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show brought a $550,000 fine for the broadcaster?

Janet Jackson's brief exposure drew a $550,000 FCC fine that the courts later threw out; Jawed Karim said the hunt for the clip online helped inspire YouTube.

What did The Simple Life send Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to do?

Manual jobs on an Arkansas farm, in tiny Altus, were the premise; 13 million watched the debut, but Fox dropped the show after the pair fell out and E! aired the last two seasons.

'Bennifer', the tabloid nickname of 2002 and 2003, paired Jennifer Lopez with which actor?

Ben Affleck and Lopez postponed their September 2003 wedding with four days' notice, blaming excessive media attention, and called off the engagement in January 2004.

In May 2005 Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch to declare his love for which actress?

Katie Holmes had known Tom Cruise for only a few weeks when he leapt onto Oprah's couch; they were engaged by June 2005, about seven weeks after they met.

At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna kissed Britney Spears and which other singer?

Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears opened the show singing Madonna's own 'Like a Virgin'; Madonna then joined them for 'Hollywood' and kissed them both.

Which ABC series that premiered in September 2004 followed the survivors of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815?

Lost had the costliest pilot yet made, at $10 to $14 million, and Disney fired ABC chief Lloyd Braun, who had approved it, before the show even aired.

On The O.C., what does Seth Cohen call his 'eight days of presents, followed by one day of many presents'?

Chrismukkah blends his Jewish father's Hanukkah with his Protestant mother's Christmas; the writers nearly called it 'Hanimas', and real Chrismukkah greeting cards soon went on sale.

Which rapper hosted MTV's Pimp My Ride from 2004 to 2007?

Xzibit hosted all six seasons, but several car owners later said that parts of their makeovers had been exaggerated or faked for the cameras.

Which 2005 Gwen Stefani single was the first song to sell one million digital downloads in the US?

'Hollaback Girl' was Gwen Stefani's reply to a put-down: she told NME that someone had once called her a cheerleader, so she decided to be one. It topped the Hot 100 for four weeks.

Stephenie Meyer's 2005 novel Twilight is set in which rainy small town in Washington state?

Forks was chosen by search engine: needing somewhere 'ridiculously rainy' for her vampires, Meyer googled the wettest place in the US and spotted the tiny town on a map.

Which 2001 chart-topper is built on the guitar riff from Stevie Nicks's 'Edge of Seventeen'?

'Bootylicious' came to Beyoncé on a flight while she was listening to 'Edge of Seventeen', and Stevie Nicks herself turns up in the video.

Which 2004 MTV reality show followed Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari through high school and spawned The Hills?

Laguna Beach turned on a love triangle around Stephen Colletti, which Kristin Cavallari later said producers had exaggerated; The Hills then followed Lauren Conrad to Los Angeles.

Which brand's trucker hats were worn by Ashton Kutcher and Paris Hilton around 2003?

Von Dutch took its name from hot-rod pinstriper Kenny 'Von Dutch' Howard, who died years before the label existed; Christian Audigier, who later built Ed Hardy, drove its early-2000s hat boom.

Which Ashton Kutcher hidden-camera MTV show convinced a pop star federal agents were seizing his house?

Punk'd, in one of its first pranks, made Justin Timberlake believe agents were seizing his home over unpaid taxes; he later came back to help set up Kelly Osbourne.

Which NBC stunt show, hosted by Joe Rogan from 2001, had contestants eat live insects?

Fear Factor was adapted from the Dutch show Now or Neverland; one viewer sued NBC for $2.5 million, saying a rat-eating stunt had made him ill, and the judge dismissed the case as frivolous.

Which MTV countdown show did Carson Daly host from a Times Square studio, with fans mobbing the street below?

Total Request Live was made in 1998 by fusing two MTV shows, the live MTV Live and the countdown Total Request; fans voted by phone or online for each day's ten videos.

Which NBC show adapted from a Ricky Gervais series is set at a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania?

Steve Carell's Michael Scott ran the Dunder Mifflin branch for seven of its nine seasons, and Rolling Stone later ranked it among the 100 greatest shows ever.

Which 2001 film won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Shrek was first voiced by Chris Farley, who died in 1997 with most of his lines recorded; Mike Myers took over and re-recorded the part in a Scottish accent.

Who voiced Lord Farquaad, the tiny tyrant of Duloc, in a 2001 animated hit?

John Lithgow's Lord Farquaad learns he must marry a princess to become a king, so he sends an ogre to fetch Princess Fiona rather than rescue her himself.

Who directed the first Harry Potter film, released in 2001?

Chris Columbus was chosen from a shortlist that included Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner; Rowling insisted the cast be British, and Columbus also directed the 2002 sequel.

Which studio paid a reported £1 million in 1999 for the screen rights to the first four Harry Potter books?

Warner Bros. paid a reported £1 million, about $1.65 million; the eight films it made from the books went on to gross $7.7 billion.

The 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was based on what?

A Disney theme park ride from 1967 inspired the film; studio chief Michael Eisner complained that Johnny Depp's slurring Jack Sparrow was ruining it, yet the role earned Depp his first Oscar nomination.

Who plays the cursed Captain Hector Barbossa in The Curse of the Black Pearl?

Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa is shot dead at the end of the film, yet the character was brought back to life for the sequels and Rush played him in all five films.

Which self-help book by Rosalind Wiseman inspired Tina Fey to write Mean Girls?

Queen Bees and Wannabes is a parenting guide with no story, so Tina Fey wrote the plot of Mean Girls from scratch, borrowing from her own high-school years.

Which actress made her feature film debut in Mean Girls (2004)?

Amanda Seyfried first auditioned to play queen bee Regina George; the producers steered her to dim Karen Smith instead, and the part became her film debut.

Which date is celebrated online as 'Mean Girls Day', after a line spoken by Cady?

October 3 is the day Aaron Samuels asks Cady what the date is; from about 2012 fans turned her throwaway answer into an annual online holiday.

In which state was Napoleon Dynamite filmed, at Preston High School?

Idaho embraced the film: in 2005 its legislature passed a resolution commending Napoleon Dynamite, noting that its tater tots promoted the state's potato products.

In Napoleon Dynamite (2004), whose name follows 'Vote for' on the T-shirt Napoleon wears for his dance?

Pedro runs for class president against the popular Summer Wheatly and wins after Napoleon's surprise dance routine to Jamiroquai's 'Canned Heat'.

Who made his directorial debut with Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)?

Adam McKay shot so much spare material with Will Ferrell that the outtakes and dropped storylines were cut into a second film, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy.

In which city is the TV station of Anchorman's Ron Burgundy located?

San Diego gets Ron Burgundy's nightly sign-off, 'You stay classy'; when a rival doctors the teleprompter he reads out an insult to the city instead and is fired.

In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods enrolls at which law school to win back her ex?

Elle Woods follows Warner Huntington III to Harvard Law School; novelist Amanda Brown drew on her own time at Stanford Law.

In Bring It On (2000), Kirsten Dunst's Toros compete against which rival squad?

The Clovers of East Compton, led by Gabrielle Union's Isis, had their routines stolen by the Toros; at nationals the Clovers win and the Toros have to settle for second.

In the 2003 Freaky Friday, what causes Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan to swap bodies?

Chinese fortune cookies do the swapping; Jamie Lee Curtis was cast only four days before production began, after Annette Bening dropped out.

The Notebook (2004) is based on a 1996 novel by which author?

Nicholas Sparks said The Notebook was inspired by his wife's grandparents, who had been married for more than 60 years when he met them.

In Zoolander, Mugatu tricks Derek into assassinating the prime minister of which country?

Malaysia's censors called the film 'definitely unsuitable' and Singapore banned it: the plot has Derek brainwashed to kill a prime minister who threatens fashion's cheap child labour.

Which 2005 hit starred Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as divorce mediators?

Wedding Crashers took about $209 million in North America; Senator John McCain turns up in a cameo, congratulating the bride's parents at one of the receptions.

In Old School (2003), what nickname does Will Ferrell's newlywed Frank reclaim once he starts drinking again?

Frank the Tank resurfaces at the housewarming party: the drunken newlywed ends up streaking down the street, where his new wife spots him.

Who wrote and starred in the 2002 sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

Nia Vardalos adapted her one-woman stage show into My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a $5 million film that grossed more than $360 million worldwide in 2002.

Who directed the 2003 Will Ferrell Christmas comedy Elf?

Jon Favreau fought to keep computer effects to a minimum, using forced perspective, an old camera trick, to make Buddy tower over the other elves.

In School of Rock, Jack Black's Dewey Finn poses as what to pay his rent?

A substitute teacher is what Dewey pretends to be, taking a job offer meant for his roommate; writer Mike White got the idea from 1970s recordings of Canadian schoolchildren singing pop hits.

Who plays the ageing rock star chasing a Christmas number one in Love Actually (2003)?

Bill Nighy's Billy Mack sings 'Christmas Is All Around', a send-up of 'Love Is All Around', the 15-week UK number one from writer Richard Curtis's own Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Which 2000 album features Dido's voice on the hit single 'Stan'?

The Marshall Mathers LP gave English a word: 'stan', after the song's obsessive letter-writer, entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017 as a term for an overzealous fan.

'Lose Yourself' was the first hip-hop track to win which honor?

The Oscar for Best Original Song went to 'Lose Yourself' in 2003, but the rapper behind it skipped the ceremony, sure he would lose, and was asleep when it was announced.

Which producer was Usher's longtime collaborator on the 2004 album Confessions?

Jermaine Dupri later revealed that the cheating story everyone took for Usher's own confession was really about Dupri himself.

Which two rappers served as executive producers on 50 Cent's debut Get Rich or Die Tryin'?

Eminem and Dr. Dre backed a rapper Columbia had dropped after he was shot nine times in 2000; Eminem heard his mixtape Guess Who's Back? and signed him in 2002.

Green Day's 2004 concept album American Idiot follows which anti-hero character?

Jesus of Suburbia exists because of a reported theft: Green Day says the master tapes of its planned album Cigarettes and Valentines were stolen, so the band started again from scratch.

Which band was called Hybrid Theory before using that name for its 2000 debut album?

Linkin Park borrowed its new name from Santa Monica's Lincoln Park, respelling it so the band could own the web domain linkinpark.com.

Which 2001 single was Shakira's first English-language hit?

'Whenever, Wherever' began in Spanish as 'Suerte'; Gloria Estefan, who had urged Shakira to record in English, adapted the lyrics.

Which 2003 Beyoncé hit is built on a Chi-Lites horn sample?

'Crazy in Love' began with a doubt: Beyoncé first found the 1970 sample old-fashioned, then gave producer Rich Harrison two hours to write the song around it.

Which band's 'Clocks' beat OutKast's 'Hey Ya!' to the 2004 Grammy for Record of the Year?

Coldplay almost left 'Clocks' off the album: it came so late that the demo was filed for the next record, until manager Phil Harvey pressed Chris Martin to finish it.

Britney Spears's 'Toxic' samples the strings of a 1981 film song from which country?

India's Bollywood supplied the hook: the strings come from 'Tere Mere Beech Mein', a song in the 1981 film Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Kylie Minogue had already turned 'Toxic' down.

Which Kelly Clarkson hit had Pink and Hilary Duff both passed on before she recorded it?

'Since U Been Gone' was written with Pink in mind, and Duff could not reach its high notes; Clive Davis then persuaded its writers to give it to Clarkson.

The second music video for The Killers' 'Mr. Brightside' was based on which 2001 film?

Moulin Rouge! inspired the cabaret love triangle of the second video; the song itself is a true story, written after Brandon Flowers found his girlfriend with another man in a Las Vegas bar.

Which 2003 single was the Black Eyed Peas' breakthrough hit and their first with new singer Fergie?

'Where Is the Love?' grew out of the anxiety the group felt after the September 11 attacks, and its famous guest on the chorus went uncredited on the single.

Which 2002 Missy Elliott single has a chorus that plays its hook backwards?

'Work It' follows its hook with the same line played backwards; it spent ten weeks at number two, stuck behind 'Lose Yourself' for every one of them.

Which production duo produced the 2002 number one 'Hot in Herre'?

The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, built 'Hot in Herre' on Chuck Brown's go-go hit 'Bustin' Loose', which is why Brown shares the writing credit.

'Cry Me a River' (2002), produced by Timbaland, was the second single from which Justin Timberlake debut solo album?

Justified was written and recorded in six weeks; the singer later said 'Cry Me a River' came straight out of an angry phone call he took just before a studio session.

Which production team wrote Avril Lavigne's 'Complicated' and 'Sk8er Boi' with her?

The Matrix, the trio of Lauren Christy, Scott Spock and Graham Edwards, also recorded an album of their own in 2004 with a then-unknown Katy Perry singing; it was shelved until 2009.

Which artist had a 2001 number one with 'It Wasn't Me', advice to a friend caught cheating?

Shaggy's label never meant it to be a single; a Hawaii radio DJ began playing the album track, requests poured in, and it became his first US number one.

'Fallin'' was the debut single from which 2001 Alicia Keys album?

Songs in A Minor nearly stalled at Columbia, which rejected her recordings; Clive Davis bought out her contract and the album came out on his new label, J Records.

Which 2002 debut album won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2003?

Come Away with Me by Norah Jones came out on the jazz label Blue Note, whose bosses signed her after hearing a three-song demo; it earned her five Grammys in one night.

On which network did the American Survivor premiere on May 31, 2000, hosted by Jeff Probst?

CBS scheduled Survivor as a summer replacement show, yet its first-season finale drew 51.7 million viewers, far beyond anything the network had expected.

Which first-season Survivor winner was convicted in 2006 of failing to report his winnings?

Richard Hatch won the million-dollar prize on Survivor: Borneo in 2000, left it off his tax return, and in 2006 was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

Who hosted the original network version of the American Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Regis Philbin first fronted it as a two-week special in August 1999 for ABC, then lingering in third place; it was soon drawing up to 30 million viewers a night.

Which HBO drama became the first cable series to win the Drama Series Emmy, in 2004?

The Sopranos had been beaten four times, three of them by The West Wing, before its 2004 win ended that show's four-year streak and made it the first cable winner.

In the Sex and the City finale, who follows Carrie to Paris to win her back?

Mr. Big turns up in Paris, where Carrie has moved with Russian artist Aleksandr Petrovsky, played by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov; the finale closed the show's 94-episode run.

Who created The O.C., which ran on Fox from 2003 to 2007?

Josh Schwartz drew on his own time at USC, where he was a Jewish kid from the East Coast among wealthy Orange County students who really did say they were from 'The O.C.'

One Tree Hill is set in a fictional town in which US state?

North Carolina is home to fictional Tree Hill and to Wilmington, where it was shot; creator Mark Schwahn first planned the story as a feature film called Ravens.

Gilmore Girls is set in which fictional Connecticut town?

Stars Hollow came to Amy Sherman-Palladino after a stay at the Mayflower Inn in Washington, Connecticut, whose small-town feel she wanted viewers to share.

Who played teenage Clark Kent on Smallville, which premiered in 2001?

Tom Welling turned the role down twice before reading the script; the show's 'no tights, no flights' rule then kept him out of the Superman suit.

Which storytelling device did the Fox thriller 24 use throughout every season?

Real-time narration meant each episode covered one hour of a single day, with an on-screen clock that kept counting through the commercial breaks.

On which street in the fictional town of Fairview is Desperate Housewives set?

Wisteria Lane is really Colonial Street on the Universal Studios backlot, a set whose houses had already appeared in The Munsters and The 'Burbs.

Grey's Anatomy's title mixes its protagonist's surname with the name of what?

A famous medical textbook, Henry Gray's Anatomy of 1858, supplied the pun; the spelling changed from Gray to Grey to match surgical intern Meredith Grey.

What was the prize on NBC's The Apprentice, billed as 'The Ultimate Job Interview'?

A one-year $250,000 contract went to first winner Bill Rancic, who had three minutes to pick his job and chose a Chicago tower project over a Los Angeles golf resort.

On which network did the first six cycles of America's Next Top Model air?

UPN aired the first six cycles; when the network was folded into The CW in 2006, the new channel formally launched with the premiere of cycle seven.

On Newlyweds, Jessica Simpson famously puzzled over a can of tuna from which brand?

Jessica Simpson asked whether Chicken of the Sea tuna was chicken or fish in a 2003 episode of Newlyweds, the MTV show following her marriage to Nick Lachey.

On which network did Chappelle's Show premiere on January 22, 2003?

Comedy Central aired Chappelle's Show from January 2003; in 2005 Dave Chappelle walked away during production of season three, leaving a $50 million contract behind.

On That's So Raven, what often happens when Raven intervenes to stop a vision?

She causes it to come true: Raven usually misreads what she has seen, so her scramble to prevent the vision is the very thing that sets it off.

Which future movie star played Louis Stevens on Disney Channel's Even Stevens?

Shia LaBeouf got his start by finding an agent in the Yellow Pages and pretending to be his own manager; playing Louis won him a Daytime Emmy in 2003.

On Kim Possible, what kind of animal is Ron Stoppable's pet Rufus?

A naked mole rat was the only kind of pet Ron could have: his father's allergies ruled out anything with hair, so he bought Rufus at Smarty Mart.

Who played Drake's devious younger sister Megan on Drake & Josh?

Miranda Cosgrove impressed creator Dan Schneider so much as Megan that he developed his next series, iCarly, specifically as a vehicle for her.

Zoey 101's Pacific Coast Academy was initially filmed on which California university's campus?

Pepperdine University in Malibu hosted the first two seasons; one of the show's producers called the location shoot Nickelodeon's most expensive production ever, and filming moved to studio stages from season three.

On which network did Queer Eye for the Straight Guy premiere in July 2003?

Bravo had a hit on its hands: within weeks of the premiere its Fab Five were famous enough to give Jay Leno and his Tonight Show set an on-air 'make-better'.

Which dating show premiered in March 2002 with consultant Alex Michel choosing among 25 women?

The Bachelor ended with Alex Michel sending Trista Rehn home as runner-up; she came back as the first Bachelorette and married her pick, Ryan Sutter, in 2003.

Which filmmaker co-created MTV's Jackass with Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville?

Spike Jonze planned the show with Tremaine and Knoxville, who turned down an offer to do his stunts as a Saturday Night Live segment before MTV won a bidding war.

Which technology mogul unveiled the original Xbox on stage with wrestler The Rock in January 2001?

Bill Gates shared his Las Vegas keynote with The Rock; he had backed the console because he saw the PlayStation 2 as a threat to the PC, and it went on sale that November.

When Apple's iTunes Music Store opened in April 2003, what did each song cost?

99 cents bought one song with no subscription, and buyers took to it at once: Apple sold over a million songs in the store's first week.

Which two people founded Wikipedia in 2001?

Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger meant it as a feeder for Nupedia, their expert-written encyclopedia; the side project quickly overtook its parent, which closed in 2003.

Which company made the ultra-thin Razr V3 flip phone released in 2004?

Motorola first pitched the Razr V3 as a pricey premium phone; after price cuts it became the most popular handset in the United States for three years running.

The flip-screen Danger Hiptop smartphone was sold by T-Mobile under what name?

Sidekick's maker Danger was co-founded by Andy Rubin, who left in 2003 and started Android; the phone made headlines in 2005 when Paris Hilton's was hacked.

Which game was the most popular on Xbox Live for nearly two years from 2004?

Halo 2 led Xbox Live until Gears of War arrived; when Microsoft shut the original service in April 2010, a handful of players stayed connected for almost a month.

Who is the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?

Carl Johnson, known as CJ, returns to Los Santos in 1992 after his mother's murder; the game was later re-rated Adults Only when modders unlocked its hidden 'Hot Coffee' scenes.

Which online publishing service did Google acquire from Pyra Labs in February 2003?

Blogger began as a note-taking feature in Pyra Labs' project-management software; co-founder Evan Williams sold it to Google and later co-founded Twitter.

Which company bought Skype in September 2005?

eBay paid about $2.6 billion but never managed to fit Skype into its marketplace; it sold control in 2009, and Microsoft bought the service for $8.5 billion in 2011.

Which file-sharing program, created by Mark Gorton, was shut down by a federal judge in 2010?

LimeWire ran on the decentralised Gnutella network, so there was no central server to switch off; the record labels sued the company instead and won a permanent injunction.

Which social network, launched by Jonathan Abrams in 2002, is considered one of the originals?

Friendster, launched by Jonathan Abrams in 2002, turned down a $30 million buyout offer from Google in 2003; by 2011 it had been relaunched as a social gaming site.

Ugg boots, a mid-2000s worldwide fashion trend, originated in which country?

Australia's sheepskin boots were worn by shearers and later by surfers; Brian Smith took the idea to California in 1978 and founded the UGG brand that Deckers now owns.

Which brand's folding aluminium kick scooter became the playground craze of 2000?

Razor sold more than five million scooters in the six months after launch; the folding design came from a Swiss inventor who wanted quick transport for short city trips.

Which Egyptian artifact gives Yu-Gi-Oh! hero Yugi Mutou his pharaoh alter ego?

The Millennium Puzzle is something Yugi works to solve in the hope it will grant his wish for friends; completing it awakens the pharaoh's spirit that shares his body.

Which Nintendo designer came up with Nintendogs (2005) after his family got a dog?

Shigeru Miyamoto said buying and caring for a family dog was the spark; the game then launched in three versions, each built around a different set of breeds.

Who hosted the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, remembered for Madonna's onstage kisses?

Chris Rock hosted at Radio City Music Hall; the kisses came in the opening number, built around 'Like a Virgin', the song Madonna had performed at the very first VMAs in 1984.

Which 2004 book was Paris Hilton's first, a tongue-in-cheek guide to living like her?

Confessions of an Heiress confesses very little: it gives few intimate details and is mostly lists and advice on how to be an heiress like her, yet it became a New York Times bestseller.

Which 2003 Disney Channel movie starred Raven-Symoné as an aspiring New York pop singer?

The Cheetah Girls, Disney Channel's first musical movie, turned its fictional group real: three of the four stars went on recording and touring under the name without Raven-Symoné.

Which 2001 Disney Channel cartoon followed Penny Proud and her family?

The Proud Family premiered on Disney Channel in September 2001, with Kyla Pratt voicing Penny and Tommy Davidson as her father Oscar.

Which two groups clash in Dan Brown's 2003 thriller The Da Vinci Code?

The Priory of Sion and Opus Dei feud over the Grail secret in the novel; the real Priory was no ancient order but a club founded in 1956 by French hoaxer Pierre Plantard.

Which Harry Potter novel, published on June 21, 2003, is the longest of the seven?

Order of the Phoenix runs to 766 pages in its first UK edition, yet it became the second-shortest of the eight films at 138 minutes.

Which city hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics, the 'Games of the New Millennium'?

Sydney's opening ceremony ended with sprinter Cathy Freeman lighting the cauldron; ten days later she won the 400 metres in front of the home crowd.

In which city was Super Bowl XXXVIII, home of the 'Nipplegate' halftime show, played?

Houston's Reliant Stadium hosted the game on February 1, 2004; after the halftime uproar the NFL booked Paul McCartney, seen as a safe choice, for the next Super Bowl.

In 2000, Blockbuster turned down a chance to buy which young rival for $50 million?

Netflix was still a fledgling when Blockbuster passed; the chain peaked in 2004 with about 9,000 stores and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.

In the viral 'Star Wars Kid' video, what does Ghyslain Raza swing like a lightsaber?

A golf ball retriever was Ghyslain Raza's prop in a school studio in November 2002; schoolmates found the tape and one put it online, and his family later sued their families.

Whose late-night jokes about Walker, Texas Ranger helped inspire 'Chuck Norris facts'?

Conan O'Brien's 'Walker, Texas Ranger lever' played random clips; the bit began when NBC's merger with Universal let him joke that he could now air them without paying royalties.

The meme 'All your base are belong to us' came from the mistranslated intro of which game?

Zero Wing was a 1989 Toaplan arcade shooter; the garbled English appeared in its European Mega Drive port, and the cutscene's rediscovery around 1999 set the meme off.

Who voices the one-eyed Mike Wazowski in Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (2001)?

Billy Crystal had turned down Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story and came to regret it, so when Pixar offered him Mike Wazowski he took the part.

In The Incredibles (2004), which tiny fashion designer refuses to put capes on superhero suits?

Edna Mode is voiced by the film's director, Brad Bird, who took the part himself after Lily Tomlin turned it down, saying he should play her.

Which Pixar short, screened before Monsters, Inc. in 2001, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short?

For the Birds pits a flock of small birds against a gawky big one; when they peck it off the power line, the wire snaps back and the bullies end up plucked bare.

Which animation company made its feature film debut with Ice Age in 2002?

Blue Sky Studios was founded in 1987 by six people whose previous employer, MAGI, had worked on Tron; the studio was shut down in April 2021.

Which filmmaker created the Spy Kids franchise, which began in 2001?

Robert Rodriguez wanted an adventure with no guns after a man told him his six-year-old loved the violent Desperado; he aimed for a film that felt made by a kid.

Which Backstreet Boys album, the follow-up to Millennium, sold 1.6 million US copies in its first week in 2000?

Black & Blue was promoted with a round-the-world dash: the band visited six cities on six continents in 100 hours, spending 55 of them travelling.

Who are Timmy Turner's wish-granting fairy godparents on The Fairly OddParents?

Cosmo and Wanda are assigned to Timmy because he is neglected by his parents and tormented by his babysitter Vicky; their wishes usually backfire and leave him a mess to fix.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, what kind of animal is Appa?

A sky bison was the creators' cross between a bison and a manatee; Appa's six legs are a nod to the Catbus in Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro.

SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg worked in what field before animation?

Stephen Hillenburg taught marine science at the Orange County Marine Institute, where he drew the educational comic The Intertidal Zone that seeded SpongeBob.

In which fictional Rhode Island city is Family Guy set?

Quahog takes its name from the hard clam that is Rhode Island's official shellfish; Seth MacFarlane studied in Providence, whose skyline appears behind the Griffins' house.

Which Nickelodeon preschool series, launched in 2005, was spun off from Dora the Explorer?

Go, Diego, Go! follows Dora's eight-year-old cousin, an animal rescuer; its bilingual Latino hero earned the show four NAACP Image Award nominations.

Which quirky 2004 PlayStation 2 game has a tiny prince rolling a sticky ball that picks up everything in its path?

Katamari Damacy sends the prince to rebuild the stars his father, the King of All Cosmos, wiped out on a drunken bender.

Melee (2001), the second Super Smash Bros. game, was released for which Nintendo console?

GameCube controllers outlived the console: Nintendo re-issued them, with adapters, alongside the Super Smash Bros. games of 2014 and 2018.

Which trick did Tony Hawk first land at the 1999 X Games?

The 900, two and a half mid-air spins, came after a string of failed attempts; Neversoft added it to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater late in development, using footage of the feat.

On which network did Gilmore Girls premiere in the fall of 2000?

The WB got its pilot script with help from the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a development fund backed by some of America's biggest advertisers.

Kiefer Sutherland played which counter-terrorism agent on 24?

Jack Bauer's use of torture drew a 2006 visit from the dean of West Point, who asked the producers to stop showing it working.

Which ringtone character's sound began as a Swedish teenager imitating a two-stroke moped engine?

Crazy Frog started in 1997 when 17-year-old Daniel Malmedahl recorded himself copying his friends' mopeds; an animator later built the character, first called The Annoying Thing, around the sound.

'Axel F', revived as a chart-topping ringtone novelty in 2005, was originally the theme from which film?

Beverly Hills Cop gave Harold Faltermeyer's synth theme its name, after the film's detective hero Axel Foley; the 2005 ringtone cover topped charts across most of Europe.

What did Ashlee Simpson blame for the vocal-cord trouble behind her 2004 SNL lip-sync fiasco?

Acid reflux was her second explanation: on air that night she blamed her band for playing the wrong song, after the 'Pieces of Me' vocal restarted and she danced a jig offstage.

Which Lego line of buildable warrior figures, heroes called Toa, launched in 2001?

Bionicle borrowed Māori words for its names; after a lawyer for three Māori tribes complained in 2001, Lego met them and agreed to change some, such as Tohunga.

Which 2004 Usher single featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris spent twelve weeks at number one?

'Yeah!' was not the label's pick for first single, so Lil Jon leaked it to DJs in late 2003; by January radio had made the choice for them.

What kind of game media did Sony's PlayStation Portable use?

An optical disc format called UMD was created just for the PSP; studios sold films on it too, but no other device ever used it, and the later PSP Go dropped the disc drive.

The Fast and the Furious (2001) was inspired by a 1998 article titled 'Racer X' in which magazine?

Vibe ran Ken Li's 'Racer X' in May 1998; the director and producer showed it to Paul Walker, who had asked for a cross between Days of Thunder and Donnie Brasco.

Which 2002 Christina Aguilera album included 'Beautiful' and 'Dirrty'?

Stripped's ballad 'Beautiful' kept the first demo vocal: writer Linda Perry felt that rough take was the one, though the singer had wanted to record it again.

The Hampster Dance's looping tune is a sped-up sample from which 1973 Disney film with an all-animal cast?

Robin Hood's opening song 'Whistle-Stop', by Roger Miller, was sped up for a page Deidre LaCarte built to beat her sister and a friend at attracting web traffic.