FOX’s Empire proved an unexpected juggernaut across its first season, but did you know the Lee Daniels drama bucked every trend by its climbing ratings? Or that we almost had Wesley Snipes and Mo’Nique instead of Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson? These are just some of the trivial tracks flowing through the eleventh episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?,’ which drip-drops knowledge of FOX’s Empire!

Quite a bit more than Snipes or Mo’Nique might have been different for the series, as creator Lee Daniels originally intended to film and set the show to reflect his own experiences in Philadelphia, before agreeing to shift to New York, while shooting in Chicago. Not only that, but Daniels’ musical tastes proved dated by his own admission, leaving his children to steer him toward Timbaland as Empire’s chief musical force.

‘You Think You Know TV?’ is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the worlds of your favorite TV series and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known, as with our other installments for The Simpsons, Hannibal, Star Wars Rebels, Better Call Saul, The X-Files, The Flash, Arrow, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Our companion series ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ has already tackled everything from Star Wars to Mad Max to The Avengers, but now it’s time to hustle & flow with some conquering facts from our latest video, Empire!

Watch TV and movie installments of ‘You Think You Know’ down below, in addition to our Empire entry above, and let us know what shows we should cover next!

Check Out 100 TV Facts You May Not Know!

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