Trivia: Howard Hesseman's early credits have sometimes been hard to trace, mainly because he often billed himself as "Don Sturdy." The mustachioed, prematurely balding Hesseman was a founding member of the San Francisco-based improv troupe The Committee. During his decade-long tenure with this aggregation, he was featured in such films as Petulia (1968) and A Session with the Committee (1970), and showed up on such TV series as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Dick Cavett Show. Through the auspices of his Committee cohort Peter Bonerz, Hesseman played a recurring role on TV's The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), playing the unsuccessful producer of such TV disasters as "The Nazi Hour." His screen roles in the 1970s included a showy part as a harried TV-commercial director in the opening sequence of The Sunshine Boys. In 1978, Hesseman achieved celebrity in the role of counterculture deejay Dr. Johnny Fever (aka Johnny Caravella) on the popular sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Following WKRP's cancellation in 1982, he spent two seasons playing Ann Romano's third (and presumably final) husband Sam Royer on the weekly One Day at a Time. From 1986 to 1990, he starred as urbane high school teacher Charlie Moore in TV's Head of the Class. During all this activity, Howard Hesseman continued showing up in feature films, playing such roles as smarmy promoter Terry Ladd in This is Spinal Tap (1984) and child star Patty Duke's manipulative manager/guardian John Ross in the TV biopic Call Me Anna (1989). Over the following several years, Hessman would remain active on screen, appearnig on shows like That 70's Show and Crossing Jordan, and in movies like The Rocker.

Trivia: African American model/actress Robin Givens first gained national prominence as a regular on the TV series Head of the Class. From 1986 through 1991, Robin played Darlene Merriman, a prep-school type attending a high school honors program. Though she was but one of an ensemble, Givens's participation in the series was hyped by the network on the occasion of her marriage to boxing champ Mike Tyson. The marriage ended in divorce, after only a few years, amidst accusations of brutality and infidelity. Givens has proven she is not merely an adjunct to Mike Tyson's fame with excellent performances in such TV and movie projects as The Women of Brewster Place (1989) and A Rage in Harlem (1991), and the TV series Courthouse. Givens would remain active on screen over the coming decades, starring on other series, like Sparks, and in movies like Head of State and The Family That Preys.

Trivia: Gen-X'ers will almost invariably recall actor Brian Robbins; he began his career by starring in a multi-season run as Eric Mardian, a self-styled slickster forced into the same high-school class with a group of nerdy brainiacs, in the Howard Hesseman ABC sitcom Head of the Class (1986-1991). Robbins also appeared in other projects at around the same time, including episodes of Growing Pains, the sci-fi exploitation outing C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989) and the family-friendly telemovie Camp Cucamonga (1990). Around 1993, Robbins abandoned acting by stepping behind the camera, as a director, producer, and eventually, executive-level Hollywood studio producer -- and thus achieved far greater success in that venue than he did as a young star. Among other endeavors, Robbins was responsible for such blockbuster series as Smallville, What I Like About You, and One Tree Hill, and features such as the Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit (2007).