Living in New York (Encore) Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Odd Couple

This show, based on Neil Simon's play and the movie that it inspired, is centred on Felix Unger (Tony Randall) and Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman), both of whom are separated from their wives. The comic premise is that Felix is almost neurotically neat, while Felix, whose apartment they share, is a messy slob. Needless to say, they drive each other (and a lot of their friends) nuts. While Oscar and Blanche (Brett Somers) seemed content to accept that they were going their separate ways, Felix always wanted to get back together with Gloria (Janis Hansen), and did so in the final episode, leaving Oscar to enjoy his apartment on his own.

The show ran from 1970 until 1975 in its original run, which was followed by extensive syndication. The first season used canned laughter, which both of the stars hated; starting with the second season it was filmed in front of an audience.

Answer: Barney Miller

Including the eponymous Captain Miller (played by Hal Linden) might have been a bit of a giveaway as to the identity of the comedy, set in a Greenwich Village police station, which originally aired between 1975 and 1982. Barney Miller was in charge of the station, where a number of eccentric and ethnically varied characters (both police and civilians) interacted. Sergeant Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda) only appeared in the first three seasons because the chronic sufferer of ill-health and a problematic marriage was spun off into his own series. Detective Stanley Thaddeus "Wojo" Wojciehowicz (Max Gail), with a Roman Catholic Polish-American background, evolved from a gung-ho ex-Marine into a more flexible character; Detective Ron Nathan Harris (Ron Glass), an African-American who aspired to be a writer; the Japanese-American Sergeant Nick Yemana (Jack Soo) made up in wisecracks for the deficiency of his paperwork.

His badly-made coffee was a running joke.

Answer: The Cosby Show

'The Cosby Show' (which originally aired between 1984 and 1992) was one of the shows starring Bill Cosby as a family man, the others including 'The Bill Cosby Show' (1969-1971) and 'Cosby' (1996-2000). Bill Cosby was Cliff Huxtable, an obstetrician living in Brooklyn with his lawyer wife Clair (Phylicia Rashad) and their children Sondra (Sabrina le Beauf), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), the baby of the family. Episodes tended to focus on having Cliff and Clair helping their children deal with issues of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.

Their parenting skills were prodigious, and things always got sorted out, after we all had a chance to laugh at Cliff's jokes. 'The Cosby Show' was the Number 1 show in the annual Nielsen rankings for five of the eight years during which it aired.

Answer: Night Court

Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson) presided over a Manhattan courtroom's overnight sessions, a premise that allowed some weird and wonderful cases, as well as some distinctly eccentric members of the judicial process. There were a number of public defenders over the years (1984-1992) in which the show first aired, the longest-tenured one being Christine Sullivan (Markie Post), whose Princess Diana memorabilia were frequently referenced. Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) was the main prosecutor, a greedy, sex-obsessed man whose full name is eventually revealed to be Reinhold Daniel Fielding Elmore.

He used Daniel when he first started school to escape the scoffing that Reinhold provoked, and as a college student decided that Fielding sounded more appropriate for a lawyer than Ellimore. Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon was one of the bailiffs, a giant of a man who was a real softie at heart.

Answer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leo, Mike, Donnie and Raph first appeared in a 1984 comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, which was intended to parody then-current superhero comics. The animated series, which ran from 1998 until 1996, emphasized the humorous aspects of the concept of the adventures of four anthropomorphic adolescent turtles, named after famous Italian Renaissance artists, who had been trained by the rat Splinter (voiced by Peter Renaday) in the art of ninjutsu, which they used to battle everything from petty criminals to invading aliens from their base in the sewers below the streets of New York City. Leo (voiced by Cam Clarke), wearing a blue ninja eye mask, was the most responsible of the brothers; Mike (voiced by Townsend Coleman), with an orange mask, is the joker (and the most fanatically devoted to pizza); Donnie (voiced by Barry Gordon) is the purple-masked scientific nerd; Raph (voiced by Rob Paulsen) sported a red mask that was a reflection of the anger which seems to be just under control a lot of the time.

Answer: The Nanny

The premise of this show, which originally aired from 1993 to 1999, is that Fran Fine (played by the series creator Fran Drescher) is selling cosmetics door-to-door to earn a living, after having been dumped and fired by her boyfriend/boss, when she arrives at the home of Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), who needs someone to care for his children following the death of his wife. Once Fran has settled in, she establishes strong relationships with the three children, helping them to regain an interest in life and re-establish a close relationship with their busy father.

Inevitably, she becomes romantically involved with her employer, much to the dismay of his business partner C. C. (Lauren Lane), who harbours her own hopes in that direction.

Much of the comedic interplay of the show is based on their rivalry, and on the acerbic relationship between C. C. and Niles (Daniel Davis), the family butler.

Answer: NYPD Blue

When this show debuted in 1993, the focus was on the character of John Kelly (David Caruso), who had to offer a lot of support to his older, alcoholic partner Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). Following Caruso's departure near the end of the second season, Sipowicz became the central character, as he worked with a series of partners that included Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) for seasons two through six, Danny Sorenson (Ric Schroder) in seasons six through eight, and John Clark, Jr in seasons nine through twelve.

The show was notable for the gritty realism of its portrayal of police detection, and the impact that the demands of the job has on the police and their families.

Answer: NewsRadio

This show, set in the office of WNYX, an AM news station, originally aired from 1005 to 1999, and featured a large ensemble of charmingly eccentric characters. Dave Nelson (Dave Foley) is the news director, a young Midwesterner with a very controlled personality who has been hired by the station's flamboyant owner, Jimmy James (Stephen Root), who spends a surprising amount of time at the station for someone with his widespread corporate interests.

The news staff includes the bombastic news anchorman Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman, in his last role), the genial but clumsy reporter Matthew Brock (Andy Dick) who is often the butt of Bill's jokes, Dave's secretary Beth (Vicki Lewis), and Joe Garrelli (Joe Rogan), the station's electrician/handyman.

Answer: Sex and the City

While some of the surnames changed during the show's run (1998-2004), the close friendship of these four women didn't. Despite the title's implications, the show was not about wanton sex, but about the search for meaningful relationships faced by women in their thirties and early forties in a big city. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) wrote a column which formed the framework for each episode, and finally managed to get together with Mr. Big (Chris Noth) after several failed relationships along the way. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) married Trey MacDougal (Kyle MacLachlan), but the marriage broke down; she later converted to Judaism to marry her divorce lawyer, Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler). Samantha (Kim Cattrall) was the oldest of the friends, and the only one who seemed committed to a lifestyle of casual sexual relationships. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) was initially distrustful of men, but eventually ended up with Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) after some toing and froing on both parts.

Answer: Futurama

When pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry is accidentally sent into the 31st century, he arrives in New New York to find himself assigned a job making interstellar deliveries for his own many-generations distant nephew, the brilliant scientist Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, who set up Planet Express Inc. to fund his research. He is joined there by Leela, the one-eyed captain of the delivery ship who is persistently wooed by the incompetent and vain Zapp Brannigan; Bender, an egocentric robot originally programmed to bend girders, later designated as a cook; Hermes Conrad, the company's accountant; Dr Zoidberg, a lobster-like alien who is the company physician; and Amy Wong, a ditzy young socialite from a wealthy Martian family who is the love interest of Kif Kroker, Zapp Branigan's long-suffering assistant. Got it?

This animated show had a complex history on air, with the first episodes airing in the United States starting in 1999 on the Fox network. It had runs on a number of other networks over the years, ultimately managing a total of seven seasons (140 episodes), finishing in 2013. Most of the voice actors were responsible for multiple roles, the main roles being: Billy West as Fry, Professor Farnswwworth, Dr Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan (a role designed for Phil Hartman, whose death made it necessary to reassign the part); Katey Sagal as Leela; John DiMaggio as Bender; Phil Lamarr as Hermes; Lauren Tom as Amy; and Maurice LaMarche as Kif. Tress MacNeille (who was also working with producer Matt Groening on 'The Simpsons' as the voice of a number of characters, including Agnes Skinner, Mona Simpson and the Crazy Cat Lady) appeared as Mom, whose company had manufactured Bender, and who was a bitter rival of the Professor, her former husband.