Caroline Madden

Years before Sarah Jessica Parker signed on to expand the "Sex & The City" universe by starring in " And Just Like That...," she expressed mixed feelings about a different "SATC" spin-off. A prequel that aired on The CW from 2013 to 2014, "The Carrie Diaries" follows a teenage Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) balancing her fledgling career in The Big Apple with high school romance.

For her performance in "American Horror Story: Freak Show" as bearded woman Ethel Darling, Kathy Bates decided to add a unique quirk to the character beyond striking facial hair: a very thick Baltimore accent. Though it gave Ethel some extra nuance, the choice came with unexpected complications. In a mid-production interview with BuzzFeed, Bates revealed, "I talk in my Baltimore accent even when I'm off set because it's such a tough accent that I feel like if I don't, I won't get it back."

Before she became one of the most acclaimed TV stars of her generation, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' career had some false starts.

The ups and downs of the Fisher family captivated audiences for five seasons in the 2000s, and Lauren Ambrose does not think a Season 6 is necessary.

Though it's a prestige TV classic these days, "Mad Men" took a roundabout journey to finding a network.

Amy Sherman-Palladino's pitch for "Gilmore Girls" to Warner Bros. executives was whipped up on the spot, with little thought into the idea except, "It's [a] mother and daughter and they're more like friends than mother and daughter." This is according to a 2015 interview with Sherman-Palladino on The Today Show, as reported in Vulture.

"True Detective" is one of the best detective television shows of all time, but the HBO anthology series has had an erratic journey. Created by Nic Pizzolatto, known for his gritty crime novels, the neo-noir series interrogates whether justice is even possible in a morally bankrupt world. As the title — lifted from the famous pulp magazines — suggests, a "True Detective" questions what it means to seek the truth when the very concept of "truth" can be subjective and elusive.

Before Jennifer Lawrence became one of the youngest Oscar nominees for "Winter's Bone," her first jobs involved modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch (with photos that were never released, she confessed on "The Graham Norton Show" ), tormenting Tony Shalhoub on "Monk," and getting her big break on the forgotten TBS sitcom "The Bill Engvall Show."

The 1990s was a golden age for the television sitcom, and a host of crossover episodes revealed that several the era's top shows existed in one big universe, with characters popping up across multiple series.

Before he became the ultimate American Everyman and an Academy Award-winning prestige star, Tom Hanks guest appeared in the NBC sitcom "Family Ties." "Family Ties" centers on liberal, former hippie parents Steven and Elyse Keaton (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter) — one of the all-time best sitcom couples — raising their conservative, Reagan-era son, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox), alongside their children Mallory and Jennifer (Justine Bateman and Tina Yothers). It's a funny, heartwarming sitcom about political disagreement that could never be made today.