Viewer Discretion Is Advised Trivia Quiz

Answer: PG

Up until 1968, movies in America were not rated or considered "approved," as the Hays code was in effect or censored by parents not allowing children to watch. As movie studios kept "pushing the envelope" and the Hays code was dissolved in November 1968, the MPAA started rating movies with one of three ratings: "G" for general audiences, "M" for more mature content, similar to a "PG" or "PG-13" after 1972 and 1984, respectively, and "R" for restricted audiences.

Answer: GP

It was two years later, in 1972, that the "GP" rating was changed to "PG." It was confusing to parents who thought that the "G" and "GP" ratings were virtually the same, since they were under the impression "GP" meant "General Patronage." "M" was the former rating, and "PG-13" began on July 1, 1984.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

While Mel Brooks and Quentin Tarantino were great directors, they did not collaborate with Jack Valenti, who was the head of the MPAA in 1984. It was Steven Spielberg, who directed both "Gremlins" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in 1984. Since he was the director of both and both were rated "PG" as they were not violent enough to garner an "R" rating and parents felt "PG" was too soft a rating, he suggested something to bridge the gap between "PG" and "R." His two suggestions were "PG-13" and "PG-14." Cinema owners agreed upon "PG-13."

Answer: The Flamingo Kid

On July 1, 1984, the "PG-13" rating was officially added by the MPAA. "Red Dawn," released on August 10, 1984, just over a month later, was the first released film with the new rating, but it was "The Flamingo Kid," released in December of 1984 that was given the rating first, even though there were several that released before it. Both "Dreamscape" and "The Woman in Red" released a few days after "Red Dawn," and the two released on the same day, August 15, 1984.

Answer: TV-R

Instead of going with age 13 as in the MPAA ratings, the TV ratings have the TV-14 midpoint rating between the "TV-PG" and "TV-MA" ratings. "TV-R" was not one of the originals, as there are no "restricted" shows, as in the movies, but "mature" shows, which do carry the "TV-MA" rating.

Answer: Yes

"TV-MA," "TV-PG," and "TV-14" used "L" for coarse language, "S" for sexual situations, "V" for violence, and, for the most part, excluding "TV-MA," "D" for suggestive dialogue. They went unused on NBC shows for several years after initial release, although NBC does now use them for their shows. "TV-Y7" also has a sub-rating of "FV" for fantasy violence.

It is the only "children's" rating to have one.

Answer: NBC

NBC was the only major broadcast network that did not use the sub-ratings when the guidelines came out in 1997. USA, a cable network, did not use them for awhile either. ABC, CBS, and Fox all started when they released.

Answer: E

The original ratings from the ESRB were "EC" for young children's games, which is similar to the G rating in TV and movies, "K-A" for the general population, also known as "Kids to Adults," similar to G or PG, "T" for teenage related materials, similar to the PG-13 or TV-14 rating, and "M" for mature content, similar to an R rating or TV-MA.

The "E" rating replaced the "K-A" rating in 1998, although the rating began in 1997.

Answer: 2004

On October 1, 2004, the ESRB implemented a new video game rating to fall under the "T" rating since some games were appropriate for preteens, but not suitable enough for a six year old child either under the "E" rating, and to shorten the gap of the two. The game "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" for the Nintendo Gamecube system was the first title released with the "E10+" rating in March 2005 in North America.

It was in 1994 that the ESRB was founded, and TV ratings began in 1997.

Answer: 1998

While the content descriptors began in 1998, it wasn't until 2003 that they were easier to see and read, plus the ESRB went more in depth with the reasons as to why a game was rated as it was. From 1998 until 2003, and primarily from 2001 to 2003, very few content descriptors stayed the same. New ones were added, while extraneous ones were removed or retired.