Classic TV Series

40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which TV western raised the Cartwright family on the Ponderosa ranch from 1959?
- A. Deadwood
- B. The Lone Ranger
- C. Gunsmoke
- D. Bonanza
Show answer
Bonanza
Did you know? Bonanza was NBC's top western and ran fourteen seasons.
2.Which classic TV series policed the islands for CBS from 1968 to 1980?
- A. The Carol Burnett Show
- B. Hawaii Five-O
- C. The Wonder Years
- D. M*A*S*H
Show answer
Hawaii Five-O
Did you know? Hawaii Five-O's "Book 'em, Danno" became one of TV's famous catchphrases.
3.Which blonde genie served astronaut Tony Nelson in a 1965 NBC sitcom?
- A. Jeannie
- B. Samantha Stephens
- C. Tabitha
- D. Endora
Show answer
Jeannie
Did you know? Barbara Eden played Jeannie on NBC's I Dream of Jeannie from 1965.
4.Which 24-hour news channel launched in 1980 and changed how the world follows breaking news?
- A. MTV
- B. CNN
- C. C-SPAN
- D. Fox News
Show answer
CNN
Did you know? CNN premiered in 1980 as the first 24-hour television news channel.
5.Which game show popularized lifelines such as asking the audience worldwide from 1998?
- A. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
- B. Deal or No Deal
- C. The Weakest Link
- D. Press Your Luck
Show answer
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Did you know? Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premiered in Britain in 1998 with famous lifelines.
6.Which TV western adapted Laura Ingalls Wilder's books on NBC from 1974?
- A. Little House on the Prairie
- B. Bonanza
- C. Wagon Train
- D. Maverick
Show answer
Little House on the Prairie
Did you know? Little House on the Prairie followed the Ingalls family in 1870s Minnesota.
7.Which classic TV series rebuilt a test pilot with bionic parts from 1973?
- A. Fantasy Island
- B. The Six Million Dollar Man
- C. Laverne & Shirley
- D. Wonder Woman
Show answer
The Six Million Dollar Man
Did you know? The Six Million Dollar Man's lead, Steve Austin, ran at superhuman speed.
8.Which green puppet frog hosted The Muppet Show?
- A. Gonzo
- B. Miss Piggy
- C. Fozzie Bear
- D. Kermit the Frog
Show answer
Kermit the Frog
Did you know? Kermit the Frog introduced each episode of The Muppet Show as its host.
9.Which late-1950s scandal over rigged game shows shook American television?
- A. the Max Headroom incident
- B. the payola scandal
- C. the Hollywood blacklist
- D. the quiz show scandals
Show answer
the quiz show scandals
Did you know? The 1950s quiz show scandals followed revelations that answers were staged.
10.Which American soap opera, with roots in a 1937 radio serial, holds the record as the longest-running drama in broadcast history?
- A. Guiding Light
- B. Days of Our Lives
- C. General Hospital
- D. As the World Turns
Show answer
Guiding Light
Did you know? Guiding Light ran on radio and television for seventy-two years, until 2009.
11.Which TV western depicted a lawless Dakota gold camp on HBO in 2004?
- A. Deadwood
- B. The Rifleman
- C. The Big Valley
- D. Little House on the Prairie
Show answer
Deadwood
Did you know? Deadwood drew its characters from the real Black Hills camp.
12.Which classic TV series styled pastel fashion and pop soundtracks across 1980s Miami?
- A. Wonder Woman
- B. Miami Vice
- C. The Ed Sullivan Show
- D. Charlie's Angels
Show answer
Miami Vice
Did you know? Miami Vice starred Don Johnson as Detective Sonny Crockett.
13.Which cowardly cartoon teenager is Scooby-Doo's best friend?
- A. Fred Jones
- B. Velma Dinkley
- C. Shaggy Rogers
- D. Daphne Blake
Show answer
Shaggy Rogers
Did you know? Shaggy Rogers shares Scooby-Doo's famous appetite.
14.Which sitcom won five consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in the 1990s?
- A. Cheers
- B. Seinfeld
- C. Friends
- D. Frasier
Show answer
Frasier
Did you know? Frasier won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy every year from 1994 to 1998.
15.Which classic TV series raced the orange General Lee through Hazzard County from 1979?
- A. The Partridge Family
- B. CHiPs
- C. The Dukes of Hazzard
- D. Northern Exposure
Show answer
The Dukes of Hazzard
Did you know? The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee jumped through seven seasons of stunts.
16.Which leather-jacketed Happy Days character became a 1970s pop-culture phenomenon?
- A. Chachi Arcola
- B. Potsie Weber
- C. Richie Cunningham
- D. Arthur Fonzarelli
Show answer
Arthur Fonzarelli
Did you know? Henry Winkler's Fonzie made leather jackets and "Ayyy" a 1970s signature.
17.Which classic TV series featured a witch married to a mortal advertising man from 1964?
- A. Bewitched
- B. Kung Fu
- C. Fantasy Island
- D. Laverne & Shirley
Show answer
Bewitched
Did you know? Bewitched ran eight seasons with Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha.
18.Which nuclear-plant employee heads television's most famous cartoon family?
- A. Peter Griffin
- B. Fred Flintstone
- C. Homer Simpson
- D. George Jetson
Show answer
Homer Simpson
Did you know? Homer Simpson works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
19.Which classic TV series anthology of strange tales created by Rod Serling in 1959?
- A. The Andy Griffith Show
- B. Wonder Woman
- C. Quantum Leap
- D. The Twilight Zone
Show answer
The Twilight Zone
Did you know? Rod Serling wrote many of The Twilight Zone's scripts himself and narrated the series.
20.Which witch of the Morning Glory Circle married advertising man Darrin in a 1960s sitcom?
- A. Lily Munster
- B. Samantha Stephens
- C. Morticia Addams
- D. Endora
Show answer
Samantha Stephens
Did you know? Elizabeth Montgomery played Samantha Stephens, television's most famous housewife witch.
21.Which classic TV series nostalgized 1950s Milwaukee around the Cunningham family from 1974?
- A. The A-Team
- B. Charlie's Angels
- C. Happy Days
- D. Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Show answer
Happy Days
Did you know? Happy Days ran eleven seasons on ABC.
22.Which classic TV series put a single career woman in a Minneapolis newsroom from 1970?
- A. Murphy Brown
- B. L.A. Law
- C. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- D. Hawaii Five-O
Show answer
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Did you know? The Mary Tyler Moore Show won a record 29 Emmys during its run.
23.Which classic TV series patrolled Los Angeles beaches from 1989 into syndication?
- A. Hawaii Five-O
- B. Northern Exposure
- C. Baywatch
- D. WKRP in Cincinnati
Show answer
Baywatch
Did you know? Baywatch became the most-watched TV series in the world in the 1990s.
24.Which classic TV series ran on CBS from 1948 to 1971 as a Sunday variety institution?
- A. Happy Days
- B. The Twilight Zone
- C. Miami Vice
- D. The Ed Sullivan Show
Show answer
The Ed Sullivan Show
Did you know? The Ed Sullivan Show brought Elvis Presley and The Beatles to national audiences.
25.Which classic TV series paired David Hasselhoff with the talking car KITT in 1982?
- A. The Six Million Dollar Man
- B. The Partridge Family
- C. Knight Rider
- D. The Ed Sullivan Show
Show answer
Knight Rider
Did you know? Knight Rider's KITT was a modified Pontiac Trans Am.
26.Which classic TV series leapt Scott Bakula into other lives each week from 1989?
- A. Quantum Leap
- B. Fantasy Island
- C. M*A*S*H
- D. WKRP in Cincinnati
Show answer
Quantum Leap
Did you know? Quantum Leap's Dr. Sam Beckett leapt within his own lifetime.
27.Which classic TV series followed three private eyes working for an unseen boss from 1976?
- A. Charlie's Angels
- B. I Love Lucy
- C. Get Smart
- D. Happy Days
Show answer
Charlie's Angels
Did you know? Charlie's Angels made Farrah Fawcett a pop-culture icon in one season.
28.Which classic TV series dramatized a Korean War field hospital from 1972 to 1983?
- A. The Wonder Years
- B. Baywatch
- C. M*A*S*H
- D. Charlie's Angels
Show answer
M*A*S*H
Did you know? M*A*S*H's 1983 finale drew one of the largest audiences in TV history.
29.Which classic TV series created by Carl Reiner and set among TV comedy writers from 1961?
- A. The Twilight Zone
- B. Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- C. Kung Fu
- D. The Dick Van Dyke Show
Show answer
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Did you know? Carl Reiner based The Dick Van Dyke Show on his years writing for Sid Caesar.
30.Which classic TV series grew up in 1960s suburbia with narration from adult Kevin Arnold?
- A. Miami Vice
- B. The Six Million Dollar Man
- C. Murphy Brown
- D. The Wonder Years
Show answer
The Wonder Years
Did you know? The Wonder Years won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy in 1988.
31.Which classic TV series escaped danger with improvised gadgets and a Swiss Army knife from 1985?
- A. Twin Peaks
- B. MacGyver
- C. Get Smart
- D. The Partridge Family
Show answer
MacGyver
Did you know? MacGyver's resourceful fixes made "MacGyverism" an English coinage.
32.Which classic TV series premiered on CBS in 1951 starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz?
- A. The Dick Van Dyke Show
- B. I Love Lucy
- C. WKRP in Cincinnati
- D. MacGyver
Show answer
I Love Lucy
Did you know? I Love Lucy pioneered filming with three cameras before a live studio audience.
33.Which classic TV series followed a widowed sheriff in fictional Mayberry from 1960 to 1968?
- A. The Andy Griffith Show
- B. CHiPs
- C. Get Smart
- D. Bewitched
Show answer
The Andy Griffith Show
Did you know? Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show rarely carried a gun.
34.Which classic TV series assembled fugitive mercenaries for hire in 1983?
- A. The A-Team
- B. MacGyver
- C. Hogan's Heroes
- D. Happy Days
Show answer
The A-Team
Did you know? The A-Team's Mr. T was billed with the catchphrase "I pity the fool!".
35.Which classic TV series brought David Lynch's surreal FBI visit to a logging town in 1990?
- A. Twin Peaks
- B. The Dick Van Dyke Show
- C. The Twilight Zone
- D. Fantasy Island
Show answer
Twin Peaks
Did you know? Twin Peaks' question "Who killed Laura Palmer?" drove its 1990 phenomenon.
36.Which classic TV series starred Lynda Carter as the Amazon heroine from 1975 to 1979?
- A. The Andy Griffith Show
- B. Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- C. Wonder Woman
- D. The Dick Van Dyke Show
Show answer
Wonder Woman
Did you know? Wonder Woman's first season was set in the 1940s before the series moved to the 1970s.
37.Which TV western drove cattle across the West and launched Clint Eastwood in 1959?
- A. The Lone Ranger
- B. Deadwood
- C. Little House on the Prairie
- D. Rawhide
Show answer
Rawhide
Did you know? Clint Eastwood played ramrod Rowdy Yates on Rawhide for seven seasons.
38.Which classic TV series spun off a bionic tennis pro into her own series in 1976?
- A. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
- B. The Ed Sullivan Show
- C. The Bionic Woman
- D. The Twilight Zone
Show answer
The Bionic Woman
Did you know? The Bionic Woman starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers.
39.Which associate producer at WJM-TV headlined a 1970s sitcom about a single career woman?
- A. Murray Slaughter
- B. Sue Ann Nivens
- C. Mary Richards
- D. Rhoda Morgenstern
Show answer
Mary Richards
Did you know? Mary Richards led The Mary Tyler Moore Show's WJM-TV newsroom.
40.Which 1962 satellite carried the first live transatlantic television broadcasts?
- A. Sputnik 1
- B. Echo 1
- C. Telstar
- D. Explorer 1
Show answer
Telstar
Did you know? Telstar relayed the first live transatlantic television pictures in 1962.

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