More African-American TV Shows Quiz

Answer: Washington, DC

After ending a successful run on the hit tv show "The Jefferson's" as Florence the Maid, Marla Gibbs moved down South a bit to Washington, DC where she married Lester Jenkins (Hal Williams), a construction worker, had a daughter named Brenda (Regina King), and moved into "227".

The Jenkins family, along with their neighbors Rose Lee Holloway (Alaina Reed Hall), Mary's best friend, the sassy Sandra Clark (Jackee' Harry), and the nosey, but loveable Pearl Shay (Helen Martin), brought laughter into our homes each week from September 14, 1985-May 6, 1990, which was the series' finale although the show continued to air in rerun until July 28, 1990.

Answer: Mario van Peebles

Mario van Pebbles starred as street-wise Private Investigator Sonny Spoon in this 1988 mid-season replacement show. A master of disguises, Spoon would use whatever means were available to solve his cases and bring criminals to justice. Melvin van Peebles, Mario's real-life father, played Mel Spoon, a former con man turned bar owner, and Sonny's dad.

The series ran from February 12, 1988-December 16, 1988 and produced only fifteen episodes.

Answer: Mechanically Augmented Neurotransmitter Interactive System

Veteran actor, Carl Lumbly, played paralyzed doctor, Miles Hawkins, on the show "M.A.N.T.I.S". After a bullet ends takes away his life of normalcy, Dr. Hawkins invents a Mechanically Automated Neurotransmitter Interactive System, or M.A.N.T.I.S., to prevent the same thing from happening to others. With enhanced strength, speed, and agility, Dr. Hawkins was able to live a life that every young boy fantasizes of by donning the exo-skeleton and bringing criminals to justice.

The show ran from August 26, 1994-March 3, 1995 on FOX and produced 22 episodes. The acronym was later changed to Mechanically Augmented NeuroTransmitter Interactive System.

Answer: False

While David Alan Grier and Tommy Davidson were a part of the show's cast for all five seasons, Jamie Foxx was not a cast member for the show's entire run. He did not come on board until Season Three.

The only other cast members to stay for the show's entire run were T'keyah 'Crystal' Kehmah and, surprisingly, Jim Carrey, who would go on to become a major movie star after "in Living Color" ended.

Answer: a barber

Davis played barber, Clifton Curtis, on the show "That's My Mama" for two seasons on ABC. Jester Hairston, who played Deacon Rolly Forbes, also was a part of the "Mama" cast as Wildcat.

Answer: Natalie's

Natalie's was an R&B club where the detectives of "New York Undercover" hung out. Some of the acts which appeared there were George Benson, Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., and Boyz to Men. The show, which was broadcast on the FOX network, was hugely popular and critically-acclaimed during its first three seasons on the air. However, with the death of Det. Torres at the end of the third season, the show began to lose viewership and was just a shell of itself thereafter.

"New York Undercover" ran from September 8, 1994-June 25, 1998 and produced 88 episodes.

Answer: Emerson

From August 24, 1991-May 10, 1994, the Emerson family, Roc (Charles S. Dutton), the garbage collector, his wife, Eleanor (Ella Joyce), who was a nurse, his scheming brother, Joey (Rocky Carroll), and his father, Andrew (Carl Gordon), came into our homes each week and showed us a piece of their lives.

In many ways, "Roc", was a groundbreaking series that was before its time. The show dealt with a variety of topics that were not just confined to the African-American community, issues which many other shows did not even attempt to deal with such as teen pregnancy, the AIDS epidemic, and drug abuse.

"Roc" ran for 72 episodes on the FOX network and had a memorable theme song performed by the R&B gruop, En Vogue, during the second half of its run.

Answer: Jones

From September 17, 1970-October 25, 1975, "The Flip Wilson Show" was a ratings monster for NBC on Thursday nights. With musical guests such as Ray Charles, James Brown, and Gladys Knight and the Pips, Wilson had a show which had audiences eagerly tuning in.

Another reason for the show's success was the extremely funny skits Wilson put on during the series' run in which he would portray various characters like the con-artist clergyman Rev. Leroy, or Sonny, the White House janitor. But, Flip's most popular character was the sassy-talking girlfriend of Killer, Geraldine Jones. Her catchphrase "the devil made me do it", always garnered a huge laugh from the audience making her one of the most memorable characters in television history.

Answer: He was killed in the line of duty in the Vietnam War

One of the most important African-American shows ever produced, "Julia" enjoyed an 86-episode run on NBC from September 17, 1968-May 25, 1971. Diahann Carroll played a nurse trying to raise her young son alone after the death of her husband, who was killed in the line of duty in the Vietnam War.

The series marked the first time that an African-American actress was cast in a leading role in a weekly series other than in a domestic capacity.

Answer: Generations

"Generations" was a tale about two families, the Whitmores (Caucasian) and the Marshalls (African-American). Linked together as far back as three generations (hence the show's title), Vivian Potter (Lynn Hamilton) and her daughter, Ruth (Joan Pringle), lived in the Whitmore mansion as domestics for Rebecca Whitmore (Patricia Crowley & Dorothy Lyman) and her daughter, Laura (Gail Ramsey). As the years went by, the families' fortunes switched as Ruth, now married to Henry Marshall, the owner of a string of ice cream parlors, saw her family prosper while Laura witnessed the decline of the Whitmores.

The soap produced 470 episodes in its short run and saw some very recognizable African-American actors and actresses grace its set such as Kristoff St. John, Richard Roundtree, Debbi Morgan, and Vivica A. Fox.

Answer: False

Created by Tim Reid ("WKRP in Cincinnati" & "Frank's Place") and Susan Fales-Hill, "Linc's" was the story of Russell 'Linc' Lincoln (Steven Williams) and his customers in his Washington, D.C. bar and aired on the Showtime cable channel for two seasons. Brash and unapologetically politically-incorrect, the series was critically-acclaimed for its frank take on some of the hot button issues of the day. Pam Grier, Tisha Campbell, and Georg Stanford Brown were among the strong ensemble cast.

The series ran from August 1, 1998-February 13, 2000 and produced 37 episodes.

Answer: Cleveland

From January 2, 1989-May 27, 1994, "The Arsenio Hall Show" was the place to be weeknights, at 11:30pm, on the FOX network. Hall brought a hip-ness to television that was missing from the late night scene, drawing in a younger, more ethnic crowd more so than Johnny Carson or David Letterman did. With his 'Dog Pound', which was given such silly titles each night like, 'People Who Have Fallen Down And Can't Get Up', and cool guests (remember then-Governor Bill Clinton's saxophone performance?), Hall made tuning in to his show a real treat.

Another Arsenio staple was his opening monologue in which he would share with the audience some of his quirky observations on his ride in to work from Cleveland entitled, 'Things That Make You Go, Hmmmmmm....'. They were always good for a chuckle or two. In my opinion, "The Arsenio Hall Show" was a truly underrated program that wasn't appreciated until it left the air.

Answer: Magic

When "The Arsenio Hall Show" left the air after the 1994 season, there was a void of late night talk shows which appealed to African-Americans until June 8, 1998, when Earvin Johnson stepped in to fill it with "The Magic Hour". While Hall's show was funny and hip, Johnson's show was the complete opposite. Although Hall was never considered a great interviewer, per se, he always had his comic talents to fall back on when an interview fell apart; Johnson, on the other hand, did not have that option. He floundered miserably and it showed. Poorly hosted, poorly written, and poorly put together, "The Magic Hour" was mercifully cancelled a few months later on September 4, 1998, which, if you ask me, was still two months too long.

On the bright side, though, Johnson soon found his niche by becoming a philanthropist and opening several businesses in rundown African-American communities which brought much needed jobs and income into those areas.

Answer: He was caught in a time loop and thereby living the same day over and over again

Taye Diggs played Det. Brett Hopper on the short-lived series, "Day Break", in which he was caught in a time loop while trying to clear his name for the murder of Asst. DA Alberto Garza; a crime he did not commit. The series, which was originally shown on the ABC network, only produced thirteen episodes from November 15, 2006-December 13, 2006.

However, of those thirteen shows, only six of which were televised on the network before getting cancelled. The remaining seven unaired shows were broadcast on the the African-American network, TV One, from April 20, 2008-June 8, 2008.

Answer: Overton

"Living Single" followed the lives of Khadijah (Queen Latifah), Regine (Kim Fields), Synclaire (Kim Coles), Max (Erika Alexander), Kyle (T.C. Carson), and Overton (John Henton), most of who resided in a New York brownstone (Max did not live there). Every viewer that tuned in weekly had a favorite character, whether it was Khadijiah for her strength and reasonable voice, Synclaire for her sweet, but ditzy personality, or Handyman Overton Wakefield Jones, who loved Synclaire and suffered from coulraphobia, which is a fear of clowns.

The show began on August 29, 1993 and ran on the FOX network until January 1, 1998; it produced 118 episodes.