TV Trivia Thursday #15
Hello and welcome to this week's late-night edition of TV Trivia Thursday. I'll try to keep these coming weekly for the most part, at least until I exhaust the good nuggets from my new book.
1) What classic TV series' writers included such luminaries as Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Woody Allen?
2) And speaking of Mr. Allen, name the 1994 made-for-TV movie which represents his only television appearance to date - and for extra credit, why he chose this particular movie for his debut.
3) What famous radio and newspaper commentator narrated the 60s crime series "The Untouchables"?
4) Over a decade before Sinead O'Connor's controvertial Saturday Night Live performance, this SNL player also got on the Pope's bad side when he was arrested at the Vatican for impersonating a priest. Name the actor and character involved in this rather bizarre misunderstanding.
5) He developed classic game shows such as "The Newlywed Game" and "The Dating Game" in the mid 60s, but didn't choose to star in one of his own creations until a decade later. Name this producer and his first on-screen vehicle, and for extra credit, at least two celebrities who shared that show with him.
6) What famous movie actress voiced the first - and so far only - word to be uttered by baby Maggie on the Simpsons TV show?
7) In what way are all three of the following women connected with Bob Newhart?
a) Mary Frann
b) Suzanne Pleshette
c) Virginia Quinn
8) Way before the days of Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire, what female title character was actually played by a succession of nine different males during the two-decade span of this television series, beginnning in 1954?
posted by Elie @ 8/14/2008 10:04:00 PM -
12 Comments:
1. Your show of shows
4. Don Novello, Father Guido Sarducci
5. Chuck Barris, the Gong show. Charles Nelson Reilly, J.P. Morgan
7. first two played his t.v. wives, Virginia is his real life wife.
Not 100% sure about either of these, but I'm going to guess anyway.
3 - Walter Winchell
6 - Elizabeth Taylor
-- Clayton
8 - Lassie
-- Clayton
I concur with the given answers for 1 and 8 as those were the answers I would have given if no one had previously answered them.
And here's one:
The sister of Don Novello was a political appointee to what position?
And here I actually hoped that question 8 was a bit tricky - though I was careful to say "male" and "female" rather than "actor" and "actress"!
Hmm, I think Clayton is correct about Elizabeth Taylor; that sounds familiar.
I recognized Mary Frann and Suzanne Pleshette as having played Bob Newhart's character's wives, Frann on the more recent Newhart and Pleshette on The Bob Newhart Show -- as well as in the famous ending of Newhart! -- and deduced that the third name must be that of his real-life wife of many years. Cruisin Mom confirms my guess.
Ooh, clever one, question eight! I would not have gotten that.
Er, "characters'," rather.
wow, Clayton, I'm impressed you got Lassie. Kept racking my brain for that one...(good one Elie!)
Great job all! Nearly all the questions were correctly answered this week. Some brief acknowledgements and comments:
1) Correct, Cruisin Mom and Soccer Dad
2) Only one y'all missed: The answer is "Don't Drink the Water", which tells the story of an American family accused of spying. The movie is based on a 1966 play authored by Allen, which is why he made an exception in this case to his longstanding aversion to "doing TV".
3) Clayton is correct. Winchell's immense popularity on the radio didn't transition well into TV; in fact he was so blatantly lacking a television presence that the shift in media fundamentally ended his career. But as a voice-over for The Untouchables, he was able to utilize his talents off-screen, and was paid $25,000 per episode during the show's five-year run.
4, 5, 7) CM is correct on these
6) And Clayton got this one. Maggie's *second* word was uttered at the end of the credits of the Simpson's Movie - "Sequel!" Not sure who voiced that one.
8) And CM/SD got this one. The reason: Female collies periodically shed most of their fur, making them unfit to film much of the year. Males also tend to be larger and more imposing-looking.
And credit also to TRN for #6-7
Aw, thanks Elie. Mostly undeserved credit, but I do appreciate your acknowledgement of my participation!
Dr. Antonia Novello was appointed Surgeon General of the U.S. by Pres. George Bush in 1990.
I'm surprised they don't have shedding problem with middle age male actors.
:-)
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