Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. For two seasons, the cast of a seminal 1960s science-fiction show battled Klingons and Romulans, endured perilous away missions, and generally boldly went where no man had gone before. Then NBC threatened to cancel the program, and horrified fans launched a bold letter-writing campaign. What show was thus saved for a third season?
2. High school is famously hard on many -- most? -- of its students, but it's also a surprisingly tough environment for television shows. One such smartly written, unsentimental show won a devoted following that wasn't quite large enough, even though the series featured future stars Claire Danes and Jared Leto. Name this show, which was canceled after its first season.
3. Here's a mystery show that followed a high-school student whose world fell apart after the murder of her best friend; she spent the first season privately solving one mystery after another, all the while chasing her friend's elusive killer. Later seasons brought new mysteries, but cancellation came after season three. Which show was this?
4. The title character of this spy comedy went on a mission every week, using the computer in his brain - along with his own wit and charm - to save the world with his CIA and NSA handlers in tow. And when the show was in danger of cancellation, fans went on a mission too: they bought large quantities of food from one of the show's main sponsors, the sandwich chain Subway. Which of these shows did fans save in 2009, ensuring three more seasons of fun at the Buy More?
5. If the end of a favorite TV show can seem like the end of the world, then the end of a show ABOUT the end of the world must be even worse. This show began with the detonation of nuclear bombs in 23 US cities, following life in a small Kansas town with a closer connection to the catastrophe than one might expect. Fans persuaded CBS to give it a second season, but what show then got the axe?
6. Many high-school shows are successful; the setting is a wonderful vehicle for low-stakes but high-drama conflicts. This particular high-school comedy-drama was not successful, however. The problem can't have been the acting, since series regulars like Seth Rogen, James Franco and Linda Cardellini went on to great careers, but for whatever reason this NBC show was canceled in 2000, partway through its first season. What was this show, set in the 1980s?
7. On a ship called Serenity (and a network called Fox), a motley mix of smugglers, fugitives, and more respectable hangers-on traveled the edges of the galactic Alliance. Although their voyages lasted just half a season, fans refused to let go. What show do "Browncoats" lovingly remember?
8. This 1990s show, set in a small town in Washington state, centered around the terrible murder of Laura Palmer - but its ratings went sour after the murderer was revealed. Which show limped through the end of its second season, thanks to its fans' efforts, but never saw a season three?
9. Fans of this show should have expected the loss: after all, the whole sitcom centered on what happened to the Bluth family after their patriarch George Senior went to prison and the family lost their incredible wealth. Which show took absurdist dysfunction to new levels for three seasons on Fox?
10. Many sitcoms have bizarre premises, but this one may take the cake. On New Year's 2000, a New York pizza deliveryman accidentally cryogenically froze himself, and woke up a thousand years later to the wholly changed city of New New York. He befriended a robot, got a job with an interplanetary delivery company owned by his great-great-etc-nephew, and fell in unrequited love with a cyclopean coworker. Which of these animated shows suffered a nearly five-year hiatus after its fourth season?
Source: Author
CellarDoor
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
guitargoddess before going online.
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