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Missy Peregrym Swears Being a Mother ‘Is Much Harder’ Than Her Work As a Special Agent on FBI
Tuesday, April 18th, 2023
When she’s not catching criminals as Special Agent Maggie Bell on FBI, actress Missy Peregrym is busy being a mother and a wife. Keep reading to learn about Missy Peregrym’s children and her family with her husband Tom Oakley.
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FBI is CBS’ fictional crime drama, produced by Dick Wolf, that follows the special agents at the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The elite team investigates the most dangerous criminal cases, including terrorism, organized crime and counterintelligence. The series premiered in 2018 and is currently in its fifth season. CBS ordered two FBI spin-offs, FBI: Most Wanted in 2020 and FBI: International in 2021 (and the three shows often do crossover episodes).
Peregrym stars as Maggie Bell, a special agent in the New York Field Office of the FBI. She’s been a mainstay since the pilot episode debuted in 2018. In an interview with GonzoOkanagan in September 2018, Peregrym talked about auditioning with producer Dick Wolf and how she got the part of Maggie. “I flew in Saturday after work, went to a cast dinner totally jet lagged, had the read through the next day and that’s when he [Dick Wolf] sat me down and told me why he fought for me,” she explained. “He fought for me because I guess they auditioned a lot of other women. There’s a lot of women who could do this, really. There’s a lot of talent out there. Again, it’s just one of those things where I’m like thank you. I’m a firm believer in whatever job you’re doing, do your best work.”
In Peregrym’s personal life, she’s been married twice. She tied the knot with her first husband, actor Zachary Levi (Shazam!, Tangled, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) in 2014 in Hawaii, before divorcing nine months later in 2015. Los Angeles Superior Court documents cited the reason for their split as “irreconcilable differences,” and Peregrym legally changed her name back to her maiden name. Missy then started dating Australian actor Tom Oakley, who’s appeared in projects like Out of the Blue, All Saints and American Horror Story. They got married on December 30, 2018, in Los Angeles, according to People. “It was an intimate and fun evening shared with family and close friends,” sources told the publication, adding that “of course” Peregrym’s goldendoodle Charly took part in the celebration.
Who are Missy Peregrym’s children?
Who are Missy Peregrym’s children with Tom Oakley? Scroll on to learn more about their tight-knit family.
Otis Paradise Oakley
Birthday: March 21, 2020
Missy and Tom welcomed their first son, Otis Paradise Oakley, on March 21, 2020, at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York. Shortly after Otis was born, the Canadian actress shared an Instagram post thanking the hospital staff. “Otis Paradis Oakley Born March 21st… These afternoon naps are the *greatest* feeling in the world… A huge thank you to Dr. Brennan & his wonderful wife, Jais, as well as the staff at Lennox Hill for helping us bring our son into this (crazy) world. Thank you for continuing to be there for new families during this time. #blessed,” she wrote in the caption.
She has openly talked about juggling being a mom while working full-time on FBI. In January 2021, she posted a photo with Otis and revealed one of the biggest challenges she has faced. “Otis is almost 10 months old… working full time while breastfeeding is the most challenging task I’ve ever taken on…,” she wrote in the post. “I’m still sorting out all the changes in my life. But the joy of him poking my eye is totally worth it.” As of April 2023, Otis is currently three years old.
Mela Joséphine Oakley
Birthday: June 6, 2022
The couple had their youngest child, Mela Joséphine Oakley, on June 6, 2022, more than two years after they welcomed Otis. Peregrym decided to have a water birth at home and spoke about the positive experience on Instagram on July 8, 2022.
“It’s usually all about the baby, but this time, I was also cared for in every way, before, during and after the birth. I was scared and supported, excited and cheered on, fully seen and heard. Lots of tears, questions and just as much laughter. I am so grateful I had the room to choose every step of the way, rewarded with the most calm, gentle entrance into the world for Mela. (I wouldn’t describe MY part of the birth gentle),” she said in the post. Peregrym also praised her husband, Tom, for all of his help. “In no way has our journey been easy, but it has been full and I’m incredibly blessed that he’s my partner.”
FBI temporarily wrote her character Maggie off the show so that Peregrym could go on maternity leave. At the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5, her character was hospitalized after surviving a gas attack. She expressed her thanks to FBI for giving her the time she needs with her newborn. “@fbicbs is starting up again in a couple weeks, but I will be returning to work in September. I’m relieved and grateful that I am afforded the space to bond with my family, to rest and heal and be a mother (which is harder than work!). I understand this is a luxury, and I wish every mother/parent/caretaker had this too.”
After five months after giving birth, she was seen again in the CBS procedural in October 2022. Ahead of her return episode, the mother of two spoke with Entertainment Tonight about what it’s like being back at work after maternity leave. “I was immersed in family life for six months, really taking my space to focus on the kids and connecting with Tom. I was nervous and sad to split my time again. But the second I went back to work and was surrounded by the team, I felt like I could do both things,” she explained. “I am grateful for the support at work; Mela has been great with the adjustment, and I feel blessed to have her on set with me.”
FBI airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
For more on primetime shows, check out our photo gallery on the best nighttime soaps ranked.
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Image: CW Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> A whiff of intrigue never failed to surround <em>General Hospital</em> star Genie Francis’ 1983 NBC series based on her 1982 CBS miniseries about a young widow making “scents” among a fragrance dynasty’s stinkers. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The reveal that mousy Muffin Marshall was the most ruthless conniver of them all. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 1988, Francis married castmate Jonathan Frakes, who played shifty Marcus Marshall (and with whom she’d appeared in ABC’s <em>North and South</em>).</p>
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10/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> To be honest, because we really, really wanted to go back to the small screen’s most complicated apartment complex. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The way Laura Leighton’s Sydney Andrews, killed off on the mothership way back when, was resurrected, only to be rubbed out yet again. Rude! <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Eh, maybe not fun. But even adding Heather Locklear to the mix as Amanda Woodward didn’t save the reboot from cancellation after a single season.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC poured buckets of money into its doomed 1985-87 <em>Dynasty</em> spinoff to hire movie stars and fill closets with designer clothes, but all it really needed to hold our attention was Stephanie Beacham as slinky Sable Colby. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 cliffhanger that found Fallon Carrington being abducted by aliens. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Legend has it that Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn turned down the roles that went to Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on a Joan Crawford movie that was based on a Robert Wilder novel, the 1980-82 serial was as steamy as a summer night in Truro, the deceptively sleepy Florida town where the scandals ran as deep as the wealthy Weldon family’s pockets. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Morgan Fairchild vamping it up as supervixen Constance Weldon, No. 16 on E!’s 2016 list of primetime’s wickedest women. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> A daytime version of the show was planned for 1982 but never came to pass.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> <em>The O.C.</em> vet Rachel Bilson played the fish-out-of-water story of would-be cardiologist Zoe Hart’s relocation from New York to Podunk, Ala., altogether enchantingly in The CW’s 2011-15 romantic dramedy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> How torn we wound up being between the doc’s destiny, Wade Kinsella, and his antithesis, George Tucker. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nancy Travis would’ve kept playing secretary Mrs. H beyond her first two episodes, had she not been contracted to star in the Fox sitcom <em>Last Man Standing.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> If there’s one thing Tyler Perry’s primetime soaps know how to do, it’s shock and scandalize. Wait, that’s two things. But both were true when it came to this show, a more-diverse, less-comedic <em>Desperate Housewives</em>. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The stunning finale in which bad guys Randall Holmes and Eddie Willis each were murdered by their former wives. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The show’s 2014 premiere was the highest-rated in OWN’s history, beating previous record holder <em>The Haves and the Have Nots</em>, another of Perry’s productions.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Mindy Kaling’s Netflix dramedy gives us the kind of intense feels that we haven’t experienced since… well… since we were as young as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s Devi Vishwakumar and her friends. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Our realization in Season 1 that we were rooting equally for both of Devi’s love interests, high-school hottie Paxton Hall-Yoshida and academic rival Ben Gross. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Yes, that’s really testy tennis great John McEnroe narrating most episodes.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 52 episodes, the Masterpiece Classic exponentially classed up the screen with its saga of early-20th-century aristocrats and their servants. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 1 shocker that found viperish Miss O’Brien weaponizing a bar of soap to ensure that Lady Grantham would miscarry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2013, <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> called Julian Fellowes’ period piece “the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.”</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> There’s nothing subtle about Netflix’s wildly over-the-top Spanish drama. The antics of the gorgeous, oversexed teens of Las Encinas would make the wildest West Beverly Hills High student blush. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 1’s jaw-dropping reveal of who really killed Marina Osuna. Fun Fact: Original cast member Danna Paola (Lucrecia) nearly missed out on the chance to audition when the e-mailed info went to her spam folder! </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Much like the great daytime soaps of yore, the Louisiana-set, Oprah Winfrey-backed drama dealt with issues others dared not, including racial profiling and transgender rights. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The series-capping twist which allowed the Bordelons to reign victorious over Sam Landry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Bianca Lawson, who played Darla, is the stepsister of Beyoncé thanks to her dad’s marriage to the singer’s mom. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved it:</strong> What started as a simple misconception story in which our heroine accidentally became artificially inseminated (hey, it happens!) soon blossomed into a comedic telenovela willing to go anywhere and do anything to keep us entertained. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 3 death of Jane Villanueva’s true love, good guy Michael Cordero. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In the final episode, it was revealed that the omniscient narrator was, in fact, Jane and babydaddy Rafael Solano’s son, Mateo. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Decades before NBC gave us <em>This Is Us</em>’ Big Three, it introduced the four Reeds siblings. Well, five if you count the eventual introduction of Sheila Kelley’s Charlotte. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> A shotgun-toting Frankie bursting in to try and stop her ex-husband from marrying her sis, Frankie. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> During the first two seasons, each episode began with the women chatting in a sauna. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Alice Oseman’s Netflix dramedy about English schoolkids figuring their, and one another’s, sexuality is sweet, swoon-worthy and a heaping helping of lovely in a world that too often is anything but. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Future boyfriends Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring’s first kiss in Season 1. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series marks the first-ever television role, never mind the first-ever television <em>lead</em> role, for Charlie’s portrayer, newcomer Joe Locke, who was 17 during Season 1’s filming. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> By Season 3, the <em>Grey’s Anatomy</em> offshoot had, ahem, caught fire and begun serving up twists and turns that were as hot as those on the mothership. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 5 episode that killed off Dean Miller as well as his unrequited crush on fellow first-responder Vic Hughes. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> To date, two <em>Grey’s Anatomy</em> actors — Jason George (aka Ben Warren) and Stefania Spampinato (aka Carina DeLuca) — have been made <em>Station 19</em> series regulars.</p>
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27/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Upon its launch in 2004, this Showtime drama turned the lesbian and bisexual women around whom it revolved into living, breathing characters, whereas they’d previously been portrayed by most shows as ratings-grabbing curiosities. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> We’re still not over, let alone willing to forgive the writers for, Dana Fairbanks’ death. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Sandra Bernhard’s guest stint as writing teacher Charlotte Birch was loosely based on Susan Sontag. </p>
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28/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> TNT’s 2012-14 revival not only got J.R. and Bobby Ewing 100-percent right, it nailed the casting of J.R.’s son John Ross (with Josh Henderson) and Cliff Barnes’ daughter Pamela (with Julie Gonzalo). <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Judith Light’s deliciously wicked Judith Ryland sampling a line of coke in Season 3 and exclaiming, “Hot damn! Mama like.” <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Following Larry Hagman’s 2012 passing, J.R.’s “master plan” to frame Cliff for his murder was brought to fruition.</p>
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29/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> From illicit affairs to demonic possessions, the ABC sitcom lovingly mocked our favorite genre while creating such an uproar that its 1977 launch was protested by religious organizations, sight unseen. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The hilarious introduction of Robert Urich’s Peter to his extended family… several members of which he’d already seduced! <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> ABC wanted the writers to change the last name of Burt Campbell to avoid any negative association with potential sponsor Campbell’s Soup.</p>
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30/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> When Showtime’s take on the British original hit in 2005, it was the first time many American LGBTQ+ viewers saw their lives — warts and all — presented in a big, dramatic, serialized way. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The final image of BFFs Brian Kinney and Michael Novotny dancing in the bombed-out remains of the club in which much of the action took place. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Although set in Pittsburgh, the show was largely filmed in Toronto. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Yeah, yeah, the vampires and fairies, werewolves and witches were cool and all. But what made Alan Ball’s 2008-14 supernatural serial hot was the sex. So. Much. Sex. (And so many <em>kinds</em>, too. Damn!) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 4 episode in which the Bill/Sookie/Eric triangle was “resolved” by throwing them together in a lusty threesome. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Series leads Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who played Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, wed in 2010.</p>
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32/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> It’s somehow appropriate that the WB series lasted only four seasons, given that it so perfectly captured the college experience. We all wanted Keri Russell’s alter ego to be our best friend… if only so we could talk some sense into her. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The haircut. Enough said. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Thanks to copyright issues, the music you’ll hear on DVDs or when watching syndicated reruns is largely different from the original tracks. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> <em>Scream</em> writer Kevin Williamson’s 1998-2003 WB drama treated teenagers not only as living, breathing and lusting but as thinking, struggling and persevering. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Soap vet Kerr Smith’s coming-out as Jack McPhee, who went on to have TV’s first gay-male kiss on screen. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> James Van Der Beek won the role of Dawson over competition that included <em>Sons of Anarchy</em>’s Charlie Hunnam and <em>Felicity</em>’s Scott Speedman.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> We fell in love with Kate Walsh’s Dr. Addison Montgomery pretty much the moment she strutted onto <em>Grey’s Anatomy</em>, so how could we not be obsessed with a spinoff built around the character? <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The time a patient tired to steal a baby out of the womb of Addison’s co-worker. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Only a few months before joining <em>Grey’s</em> as Dr. April Kepner, Sarah Drew guested on <em>Private Practice</em> as a pregnant law student looking to give her baby up for adoption.</p>
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37/56
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The younger, hipper sibling of Brit sudsers <em>EastEnders</em> and <em>Coronation Street</em> routinely tackles issues those shows — never mind American soaps — wouldn’t go near. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Bitch goddess Mercedes McQueen being shot by not one but two of her enemies while dancing in an empty nightclub. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nick Pickard has played Tony Hutchinson since the first episode back in 1995! </p>
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39/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Set in Orange County, Calif., Josh Schwartz’s teen drama made us with that, like Ben McKenzie’s Ryan Atwood, we, too, could be adopted by the Cohens, a family with even more love than money. And they had a <em>lot</em> of money. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Five words — “Welcome to the O.C., bitch.” <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Chrismukkah, the holiday invented by Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen to merge both of his parents’ religions, became so popular, it even got a mention on <em>Grey’s Anatomy.</em></p>
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40/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes that she served as viperish vintner Angela Channing kept us coming back for refills of the CBS soap from 1981-90 no matter <em>how</em> (hic) intoxicated she left us. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Who’s Who of silver-screen stars that passed through the series, among them Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Robert Foxworth, who played halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of devilish J.R. Ewing on <em>Dallas</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The foul-mouthed Roy family proves that the only way in which the rich are truly different is that their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locales. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Beaten-down hubby Tom Wamsbgans telling wife Shiv, “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Ouch. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The HBO hit’s bombastic patriarch, Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) originally was set to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In 1990, the supernova that was ABC’s short-lived David Lynch series was something altogether new, a traditional soap on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish acid trip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode that revealed that Laura Palmer had been killed by her possessed father. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2017’s Showtime revival, Lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper was always dictating messages.</p>
Image: Paramount Network
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network Western pulls no punches, and neither do any of the members of the rough-and-tumble Dutton family. Well, maybe Jamie. (But he’s adopted.) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The outta-control Season 4 finale that gunned down John, took aim at Kayce and blew up Beth. Or <em>tried</em> to, anyway. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> As of Season 5, Sheridan has written or co-written every episode of the series, which has thus far spawned two prequels, <em>1883</em> and <em>1932</em>.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy Everett of the Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> As much as we may hate actually going to see the doctor, we can’t get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, this long-running NBC series featured George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode in which Ross saved a child trapped in a storm drain left us breathless and helped propel Clooney to superstardom. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us <em>Jurassic Park. </em></p>
Image: OWN/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> There was no “there” to which Tyler Perry’s OWN soap wouldn’t go. Yet neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic Mommie Dearest in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is <strong>What We’ll Never Forget:</strong> That would be Crystal R. Fox’s fierce portrayal of long-suffering Hanna Young. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, tied the knot with co-star Nicholas James, aka off-kilter Officer Justin Lewis.</p>
Image: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 2016-22 run, the creators of the NBC series proved master manipulators where our emotional well-being was concerned. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The unbreakable bond between the Big Three — the Pearson siblings. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> So upset were fans upon learning that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson’s death that the makers of the responsible appliance posted a Facebook message addressing the incident. “We love [Jack], and we love you, too. Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.” </p>
Image: Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Unlike its American brethren, the British sudser makes a big deal of the “little people.” In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a “have” amongst the “have-nots” who populate Albert Square and hang at its beloved Queen Vic pub. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton recorded an episode-long farewell monologue to former hubby Jim. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> For 28 years running, June Brown’s Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day. </p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Productions/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In a way, we grew up with the characters on Aaron Spelling’s 1990-2000 Fox hit, which originated as the fish-out-of-water story of sheltered Minnesota twins transferred to schmancy West Beverly High. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The heated debates that erupted over Season 3’s Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Since the network wasn’t initially as sold on Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP at first paid the future teen idol’s salary himself.</p>
Image: Fox Image Collection/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While we could wax poetic about the shocking plot twists which befell the Lyon family as they fought for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is, what we <em>really</em> loved was Taraji P. Henson’s trash-talking Cookie. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Sadly, the show will likely be most remembered for star Jussie Smollett staging a fake attack against himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Henson darn near got a spinoff focused on her character, but that Cookie crumbled before the proposed show could launch.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Nineteen seasons in, Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama never forgets that sometimes all it takes to get a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">patient</span> series off life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 5’s finale, which kept us waiting till the last second to learn whether Izzie Stevens or George O’Malley died. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Original cast member Ellen Pompeo was TV’s highest-paid actress — to the tune of $20M/year — when she stepped away from her role of Meredith Grey in 2022.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The suburbs-set 2004-12 series beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of Wisteria Lane’s residents… as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor! <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Early in Season 1, Gabrielle Solis mowed her lawn in a full-length evening gown to prevent her hubby from finding out their hunky young gardener had been too busy tending to her needs to do the chore himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Said gardener was played by none other than a post-<em>Passions</em>, pre-<em>Chesapeake Shores</em> Jesse Metcalfe.</p>
Image: Fox/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> After Aaron Spelling spiked his <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em> spinoff with <em>Dynasty</em> vet Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 scene in which a back-from-the-dead Kimberly Shaw ripped off her wig to reveal her scarred head. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former leading man Jack Wagner, who’d played her love/hate interest, Dr. Peter Burns.</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC’s answer to <em>Dallas</em> was heavy on the glitz and glamour and even heavier on the catfights and spectacles. (Moldavian massacre, anyone?) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Joan Collins’ Season 2 debut as Blake Carrington’s ex, Alexis, who elevated bitchcraft to an art form and moved the series out of Dullsville. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The role of the scheme queen was originally supposed to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also pursued, Collins told <em>W</em> in 2018. </p>
Image: ABC/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on Grace Metalious’ novel, ABC’s 1964-69 serial about a small town with big secrets was so addictive that at one point, three new episodes aired every week. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Lee Grant’s stunning turn as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The exit of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only killed the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Parkins’ characters, it began the series’ slide toward the primetime graveyard.</p>
Image: CBS/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Only one thing ran deeper than the oil wells on CBS’ 1978-91 smash, and that was the grudges onto which the Ewing and Barnes families held with a viselike grip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 9 finale, in which the “late” Bobby Ewing stepped out of sometime wife Pamela’s shower and erased Season 8. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The Season 4 episode that resolved the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger is the second-highest-rated primetime telecast ever. (FYI, Kristin Shepard did it.)</p>
Image: CBS/Getty Images
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