"Eight is Enough" - "Much Ado About Garbage" Quiz

Answer: Garbage pick-up

Tom was apparently having a dispute with his garbage men, so he wrote a column about how some streets were reduced to having trash pickup once a week while other neighborhoods, like that of a city councilman, still had it picked up twice a week.

Apparently a particular city councilman was under indictment for fixing the trash service, so Tom was subpoenaed so the Grand Jury could find out what he knew.

Answer: He had grown tall enough

Nicholas called David to come over to the house first thing one morning. David had apparently made a mark on the wall and told Nicholas that when he got as tall as the mark, Nicholas would be given David's old BB gun. Nicholas showed David he was now taller than the mark. David asked why Nicholas hadn't shown him he was tall enough sooner, as Nicholas must have passed the mark at least a week ago. Nicholas told David that he didn't want to look too eager.

David said he'd come back after work and he'd clean and inspect the BB gun before giving it to Nicholas. Nicholas already knew it was in the basement near the furnace underneath Susan's old sleeping bag. Before giving the gun to Nicholas, David made Nicholas promise never to point the gun at anyone - even when it was unloaded, because quite often the gun was actually loaded - and not to shoot animals with it, because the animals didn't have BB guns to shoot back at Nicholas with.

Answer: 40 pounds

Tom made Tommy get up at 5AM to catch the garbage men and find out why the garbage wasn't being picked up. The garbage men claimed they had been trained to be able to weigh the garbage without a scale. One of the Bradfords' garbage cans weighed 46 pounds, according to the men.

The garbage men wouldn't even let Tom and Tommy put the garbage into the truck themselves as that was against the rules.

Answer: refused to give up his source

Tom was called down to the mayor's office to meet with the District Attorney, who wanted to know Tom's source for the garbage article.

While at lunch with Dr. Maxwell, we find out Tom had also advocated recycling children who didn't obey. Dr. Maxwell was concerned some people might take Tom literally, so he cautioned Tom to be careful of using too much satire. He also cautioned Tom about the size of the Caesar salad at the restaurant they were at - and that Tm should avoid anchovies.

Answer: she was getting her PhD

After Tom is suspended without pay, he talked with Abby about how worried he was about the family's financial state. Although Abby was working part-time, Tom didn't think it would be enough money to pay the mortgage, insurance, gas, food, clothes, and medical bills for the entire family.

Some of the children overheard this and chipped in money so Tom wouldn't have to cave in and reveal his source. Nancy even waited tables at a pizza place.

Answer: Abby

Abby caught Nicholas practicing shooting a glass bottle with the BB gun and took it away from him, saying she didn't like guns and didn't want him playing with one.

Answer: suspended without pay

Although Elliott Randolph, who owned the paper, claimed to be backing Tom 1000%, he said he still had to answer to the shareholders and advertisers were threatening to drop their ads, so he had no choice but to suspend Tom.

Answer: she was the step-mother

Nicholas called David to tell him that Abby had taken away the BB gun. David went over to the Bradford house to confront Abby, saying that she had no right to take away the gun that David had given him. Abby then pulled rank on David by saying she was the step-mother, she had every right to do so and would not allow guns of any kind, even water guns, in the house.

Answer: 3AM

The family was woken up at 3AM by a police officer who had the subpoena for Tom to testify to the grand jury. Most of the family was all for Tom sticking to his principles, even if he had to go to jail. When Nicholas asked if Tom really might go to jail, Abby said it wouldn't come to that, but Tom responded that he may very well go to jail.

Answer: 8-10 weeks

Tom went to the newspaper confident in his decision not to appear at the Grand Jury. The lawyer was sitting at his office desk when he arrived, however, and delivered the news that Tom may have to be in jail for 8-10 weeks as this was a gray area of the law and the state's Supreme Court was still trying to decide.

Answer: She thought she may have made a bad decision

After Abby had her confrontation with David, she was worried that maybe she had been wrong to take away Nicholas's BB gun. She explained to Tom that she didn't want guns around her as her first husband had died from a bullet wound and maybe if the world didn't have guns, people wouldn't die like that.

She didn't want to make the wrong choice just because of something in her past. Tom consoled her by saying that all parents made decisions for their children based upon their past, so she shouldn't feel so bad.

Answer: 11

Abby explained to Nicholas that her father had wanted a by, so he taught her things a person wouldn't normally would teach a girl. She had previously told Tom (while explaining why she took away the BB gun) that her father taught her how to shoot when she was 11 and she got her first jack rabbit when she was 12. She and Frank, her first husband, had even gone hunting together. But when Frank was killed, something inside her just snapped and she didn't want guns anymore.

Abby decided to give Nicholas the gun back and took him to the backyard where she'd set up some cans as targets (complete with some wood behind the cans to catch stray BBs). She had the BB gun and shot half of the cans, without missing, before stopping and explaining that she was giving him the gun back.

Answer: No one

Tom confided to Dr. Maxwell that he never thought the issue of his column would have gotten so big and that there never was a source. Dr. Maxwell then warned Tom that if there wasn't a source, Tom was opening himself up to a libel suit.

Answer: call a press conference

Tom called the city desk reporter, Gus, and told him that Tom was calling a press conference for 10AM the following morning and that Gus should tell all the newspeople about it. In exchange for Gus's help, Tom promised him an exclusive interview after the press conference. (After all, Tom didn't want to give Gus a scoop because Tom wasn't officially working for the paper at the time.) When Tom arrived the next morning, he was told that the city councilman had confessed to rigging some waste disposal contracts and the DA had a star witness, so he wouldn't need Tom's testimony or his source.

Tom ended up giving his press conference to an empty room. Well, it would have been empty had the custodian not been washing the floor at the time.

Answer: Too many items

Throughout the episode, the Bradfords' garbage was piling up at the front of the house. After the last run-in with the garbage men, Tom sorted all of the bags so none was over 35 pounds. However, this made more bags than before and the garbage men were only allowed 10 items at a time.

After all the problems with the city councilman, the garbage men claimed they were being watched closer than ever and they couldn't break the rules.