20th Century Brief TV Trivia Quiz

Answer: Free Country

This might've made an interesting movie, but it's lost forever because it was shown as half hour episodes of a weekly series. Rob Reiner created the show and appeared as a very old man telling the story of what life was like when he first arrived in the United States from another country.

The rest of each episode was a flashback to when he was young. The series was shown on ABC in June and July of 1978.

Answer: Young Dan'l Boone

Four one-hour episodes were shown on CBS September and October 1977. It featured actor Rick Moses as a younger version of Daniel Boone when he was still single in the earlier days of America. This was one of a crop of "young" shows which included "Young Maverick", "Young Lawyers", and "Young Rebels".

Answer: Checking In

Florence (Marla Gibbs), the maid from "The Jeffersons", got a job working at a hotel in the half hour series "Checking In" on CBS April 1981. When the series was cancelled after four episodes, she went back to working for the Jeffersons on "The Jeffersons".

Answer: Turn-On

ABC broadcast a half hour comedy variety show from the makers of "Laugh-In". It was even more fast paced and sleazy than "Laugh-In", and people complained to the local stations which stopped showing it immediately, never to be seen again.

Answer: Co-Ed Fever

"Animal House" was a hit comedy movie about college students clowning around. However, it featured jokes which weren't even allowed on network television when the movie was shown on a network. All three major networks thought it would be easy to have shows about college if that's what people wanted. CBS tried the half hour sitcom "Co-Ed Fever" starring Hamilton Camp, who also appeared in "Turn-On" ten years earlier.

This series also only lasted one episode. "Brothers and Sisters" (NBC) and "Delta House" (ABC) didn't last much longer.

Answer: Tag the Gag

On NBC in August 1951, a panel of celebrities tried to guess the punchline of each joke performed in front of them. The joke was on host/creator Hal Block, because the weekly series only lasted two half hour episodes.

Answer: Take Five

In April 1987, two half hour episodes were shown of "Take Five" about a man who performed in a jazz group with his friends.

Answer: Roxie

This was paired with "Take Five" for two weeks on CBS April 1987. It concerned a woman who ran a local TV station. Both half hour shows got such low ratings that they were both discontinued. (This had nothing to do with the movie "Roxie", or the character named Roxie in "Chicago".)

Answer: Beyond Westworld

The series had more in common with "The Six Million Dollar Man", but this claimed to be inspired by "Westworld", the movie about an amusement park with androids which went out of control and killed customers. This hour series had people investigating the actions of an inventor and his androids as he plotted to take over the world for three episodes in March 1980 on CBS. (Comedian Alan King said "Beyond Westworld" was beyond hope.) (This had nothing to do with the HBO series called "Westworld".)

Answer: Once A Hero

This might've made a good movie, but it was shown as three hourly episodes (The first episode was two hours.) of a weekly series on ABC September and October 1987. A superhero from Pleasantville, which had nothing to do with the fantasy movie "Pleasantville", who lost his powers tried to fight crime anyway.

Another character was a villain, but he wanted to be a good guy. Gumshoe (Robert Forster), a detective, continued getting beat up while investigating crimes, showing that a TV detective was just like a comic book detective.