You Are Watching FOX Trivia Quiz

Answer: Married... with Children

Though "Married... with Children" didn't achieve ratings glory, its debut in 1987 led to it becoming a staple in FOX's early primetime schedule and, eventually, one of the longest-running sitcoms in TV history, lasting more than two hundred fifty episodes before its cancellation in 1997 at the end of its eleventh season. Starring Ed O'Neill and Katey Sagal as Al and Peggy Bundy alongside their two children, Kelly and Bud (Christina Applegate and David Faustino), the show followed their often-mundane, but quite trashy life in the Chicago suburbs. The Bundy family's dysfunction would become a template for many future TV comedies of the era.

Notably, Al Bundy's profession throughout the series was 'women's shoe salesman', a hint referenced in the image associated with the question. Peggy was unemployed, remaining home watching "Oprah" on the couch, throughout the series' run.

Answer: The Simpsons

That Christmas pilot, "Simpsons Roasting Over an Open Fire", may not have been the first-ever look at "The Simpsons", but it was the episode that cemented the animated show's place on the primetime schedule; they rolled out with a full first season in 1990 and the rest was history. The show would continue well into the twenty-first century, following not only Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, but constructing a massive fictional world in Springfield and starting a cultural phenomenon.

In the pilot episode, the family takes in Santa's Little Helper, a greyhound, who becomes the Simpsons' Christmas gift and a recurring character in the show.

Answer: Beverly Hills, 90210

While Aaron Spelling was a household name for his significant work in the TV production sphere (with hits like "Charlie's Angels", "The Love Boat", and "Dynasty" before this), he was also the man who brought "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Melrose Place" to FOX in the 1990s, making one of the must-watch teen TV blocks for the era. The show, about teens dealing with hot button issues in Los Angeles, launched the careers of Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Luke Perry, and Spelling's daughter, Tori. It also made 90210 one of the most memorable ZIP codes in the country.

Darren Star, who created the show, went on to make "Sex and the City" and "Emily in Paris" in later years.

Answer: The X-Files

Although the original TV series lasted nine seasons and more than two hundred episodes (and a movie), "The X-Files" is often seen, well after the original run, as more influential than most knew at the time. Interspersing 'monster of the week' episodes with others contributing to a complex lore about pseudoscience, the paranormal, and the unknown, the show followed FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they travelled around the United States dealing with the truth in its many forms.

The series would eventually continue not only into a later released sequel film ("The X-Files: I Want to Believe"), but a revival series lasting two more seasons starring the original cast.

Answer: King of the Hill

Although the series generally follows the Hill family (Hank, Peggy, Bobby, and Hank's niece, Luanne) as they live their quite-mundane lives in Arlen, Texas, the goings-on with them and their neighbours often get out of hand, sometimes to dangerous effect. Airing across thirteen years of episodes, the original run of the show was critically praised, especially in contrast with other programs on FOX's animation block over that time (such as "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", and "American Dad"). Creator Mike Judge was previously known for "Beavis and Butthead" and the film "Office Space".

In 2023, Hulu announced a series revival, thirteen years after its finale aired on network TV.

Answer: That '70s Show

Set between the years of 1976 and New Years Day of 1980, "That '70s Show" managed to hit the late teen and early college years of six friends living in Point Place, Wisconsin, featuring their antics, relationships, and family matters. Though the show was a hit for FOX and launched the careers of most of its leading actors, a spin-off, "That '80s Show", ended up dead in the water when it aired for one season in 2002.

Netflix commissioned another spin-off, "That '90s Show", featuring several of the original cast members (and the same setting). It lasted two seasons before it was cancelled.

Answer: 24

Considered, at the time of its release, to be one of the more critically-acclaimed action dramas of the 2000s, "24" featured Kiefer Sutherland as a get-it-done government agent whose work had him handling complex terrorist activities, especially on home soil, over the course of twenty-four hours. The show's name was a hint at its mostly-real-time portrayal of events; a beeping clock would show up onscreen periodically to indicate when in the day events were occurring. The series lasted eight seasons (and one TV movie) before a twelve episode revival titled "24: Live Another Day" released in 2014.

A spinoff, "24: Legacy", premiered after the Super Bowl in 2017, but low ratings sealed its fate quickly and plans for a full-scale revival were scrapped. Sutherland did not return to the role.

Answer: American Idol

When "American Idol" launched in 2002, no one knew the phenomenon it would grow to be in the 2000s, featuring all manner of singers under the tutelage of, originally, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell, all striving for a record deal. Kelly Clarkson would go on to win the first season, but the show turned out stars in Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert, Clay Aiken, and more. At the show's peak in Season 6, it brought in nearly forty million viewers.

"American Idol" ended its FOX run as viewership started dropping in its fifteenth season. It would take a year off before returning to TV on ABC with Ryan Seacrest back in the host position and a new judging panel of Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie.

Answer: Arrested Development

There was always money in the banana stand! Though the Bluth family started their Orange County empire with frozen bananas, they built up to become a corrupt property development firm in due time, eventually being caught out for (at least) George Bluth Sr.'s treason and sending the family into a tailspin. Airing for three years on FOX, this critically renowned comedy became a multi-camera sitcom classic known for densely-layered, intellectual jokes and its absurd, eclectic, quotable characters.

After the show's cancellation in 2006, Netflix made "Arrested Development" one of its early revival acquisitions, proceeding to make two new seasons of the program in the 2010s.

Answer: 9-1-1

Ryan Murphy, already well-established as a Hollywood showrunner, had already created "Glee" for the FOX network at this point (and ended it) as well as "American Horror Story" and its affiliated spin-offs for FX. "9-1-1", however, kept some of his mainstays working; the original, which aired from 2018 to 2023 on FOX before moving to ABC, featured Angela Bassett, Kenneth Choi, and Connie Britton in its first season, expanding to include Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brian Krause, and others.

The spin-off series, "9-1-1: Lone Star", would start airing on FOX in 2020, lasting five seasons with Liv Tyler and Rob Lowe in the leading roles (though Tyler would leave after only one year).

Both series followed the emergency workers of the police departments, fire departments, and paramedics of LA and Austin, respectively, and both featured some pretty ludicrous scenarios. In one episode, a tsunami hits Santa Monica Pier, for example. In the next episode, the crew has to save eleven dozen people from the ferris wheel there.