1960s Sitcoms That I Like Trivia Quiz

Answer: cousins

"The Andy Griffith Show" starred Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor. His cousin Barney Fife, his deputy, was played by Don Knotts. The show took place in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina. Andy was a widower with a son named Opie, played by Ron Howard (billed as Ronny Howard).

His Aunt Bea, played by Francis Bavier, moved in with them because she didn't think Andy could take care of Opie by himself. Aunt Bea was Andy's aunt and Opie's great-aunt.

Answer: "The Dick Van Dyke Show"

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" came out in 1961. It starred Dick Van Dyke as comedy writer Rob Petrie. Mary Tyler Moore played his wife Laura, and his two co-workers Buddy and Sally were played by Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie, respectively. In a season two episode called "It May Look Like a Walnut," Rob has a dream that walnuts are everywhere and everyone has no thumbs.

The ottoman is a reference to the intro where Dick Van Dyke trips over it. And Laura said "Oh, Rob" in many episodes.

Answer: "The Beverly Hillbillies"

"The Beverly Hillbillies" premiered in 1962. It was about the Clampetts. Jed (Buddy Ebsen) found oil, and now which they moved to Beverly Hills. But they were very much still hillbillies. Irene Ryan played granny. She was Jed's mother-in-law. Elly May, Jed's daughter, was played by Donna Douglas. Jethro is Jed's second cousin but refers to him as "Uncle Jed." He was played by Max Baer, Jr.

He has also played Jethrine, Jethro's twin sister.

Answer: Patty and Cathy

"The Patty Duke Show" debuted in 1963. Patty Duke played both cousins on the show. This was one of the earliest (if not the earliest) times an actor played both roles on television at the same time. Sidney Sheldon, who created the show, noticed that Patty Duke had two sides to her personality. Years later, she was diagnosed with manic depression (later renamed bipolar disorder). William Schallert was cast as Patty's father, Martin Lane. Jean Byron played her mother, Natalie, and her brother, Ross, was played by Paul O'Keefe. Eddie Applegate played Patty's boyfriend, Richard. Cathy Lane was Patty's Scottish cousin.

Answer: "Bewitched"

"Bewitched" came out in 1964 and starred the lovely Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stevens. She also played her cousin Serena. Darrin, her husband, was played by two actors. In seasons 1-5, Dick York played him - he had a severe back injury, and after getting sick while filming the fifth season episode "Daddy Does His Thing," he was allowed to quit, and in the remaining three seasons, Dick Sargent played the male lead. Samantha had an interesting family: her nosy mother, Endora, was played by Agnes Moorehead, Marion Lorne played absent-minded Aunt Clara, and the excellent Paul Lynde played her wise-cracking Uncle Arthur.

The Stevens lived next to a nosy neighbor and her husband. Mrs. Kravitz was played by Alice Pearce, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer before the show started but kept it a secret.

However, in 1966 she passed away from ovarian cancer and was replaced by Sandra Gould. George Tobias played Mr. Kravitz. Mrs. Kravitz couLd never make Mr. Kravitz believe what she saw at the Stevens' house.

Answer: "Get Smart"

"Get Smart" starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, agent 86 for CONTROL. Barbara Feldon played his partner and later wife 99. 99's real name was never given - on one episode, she said it was Susan Hilton but later in the same episode retracted it. The head of CONTROL was The Chief, played by Edward Platt.

The agent that wanted to destroy CONTROL was KAOS, led by Ludwig Von Siegfried, played by Bernie Kopell. Max's catchphrases were "Would you believe..." and "missed it by that much." I put "Inspector Gadget" as an answer, and Don Adams voiced the title character in that.

Answer: "The Monkees"

"The Monkees" debuted in 1966. The Monkees were a struggling rock band who were always getting into crazy predicaments. The cast of the show was Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. The show concept was based on the band The Beatles. The actors had musical talent, too, and have created albums and even gone on tours. My favorite, Davy Jones, sadly passed away in 2012 from a heart attack. In 2019, Peter Tork also passed away from adenoid cystic carcinoma. Mike Nesmith passed away in 2021 from heart failure.

Random fun fact: Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, invented Liquid Paper, the first white-out. She was a typist, and because it was so hard to erase on the typewriter, she created it to save time.

Answer: Carol Burnett

"The Carol Burnett Show" premiered in 1967. Carol Burnett had her first significant role in 1959 on Broadway as Princess Winnifred. She reprised the role on a television adaptation in 1964. Several years later, in 2005, in another television adaptation, she played Queen Aggravain.

The rest of the main cast included Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. This was a sketch show comedy, and one of the most well-known sketches was "Went with the Wind." It was a parody of "Gone with the Wind" and was on the eighth episode of season ten. Costumer Bob Mackie came up with the brilliant idea to have Carol Burnett wear a curtain rod in her dress. Seasons 6 through 10 was renamed "Carol Burnett and Friends." Vicki Lawerence was cast due to her likeness to Carol Burnett.

At the end of each show, while singing the closing song, Burnett always tugged her left ear as a message to her grandmother which Carol said meant, "Hi, Nanny, I love you, I'm fine." After her grandmother died, she continued the tradition.

Answer: Dan and Dick

"Laugh-In" was a sketch comedy. Its name was derived from the term "sit-ins." Dan Rowan and Dick Martin hosted the show each week. They worked with many great actors such as Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, and Goldie Hawn. The show's announcer was Gary Owens. Only Rowan, Martin, Owens, and Buzzi were in all six seasons.

There were many notable guest stars, such as Richard Nixon in 1968, who was then running for president. He said the line "sock it to me." However, unlike Judy Carne, who always had water thrown on her when she said the same line, he was not doused.

Another sketch was "Laugh-In, Looks at the News," which included the "news of the future." At least two productions came true, actor turned governor Ronald Reagan did become president, and in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. John Wayne did a poem much like Henry Gibson did each week.

His poem said, "The sky is blue, the grass is green. Get off your butt and join the marines." Lily Tomlin who joined the cast in season three played Ernestine, the telephone operator (sometimes called Miss Tomlin) who snorted and always said "one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy" and "is this the party to whom I am speaking?".

She also played Edith Ann, who was five and a half. She sat in a giant rocking chair to make her appear small and always ended with "And that's the truth," followed by a raspberry. The show ended each week with "The Joke Wall," in which the cast told jokes or had one-liners.

Answer: Carol

"The Brady Bunch" came out in 1969. It had two families blended. The females in the family were Mom, Carol Brady (Florence Henderson), oldest daughter Marcia (Maureen McCormick), middle daughter Jan (Eve Plumb), and youngest daughter in curls, Cindy (Susan Olsen).

The males were Dad, Mike Brady (Robert Reed), oldest son, Greg (Barry Williams), middle son, Peter (Christopher Knight), and youngest son, Bobby (Mike Lookinland). "And Ann B. Davis as Alice," their maid. This show became more popular in syndication than it was initially. Also, it didn't have lines that characters repeated all the time, yet still had catchphrases such as "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"