Nannies and Butlers and Maids, Oh My! Quiz

Answer: My Three Sons

For the first seasons of 'My Three Sons', which started airing in 1961, Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray) and his sons were looked after by "Bub" O'Casey (William Frawley), father of his deceased wife. In 1965, following the retirement of William Frawley due to illness, William Demarest arrived, playing Bub's brother Charley, who the family referred to as Uncle Charley. And that was not the only identity change - the three sons started off as Mike (Tim Considine), Robbie (Don Grady) and Chip (Stanley Livingstone).

When Mike got married and moved out, Steve adopted a new son, Ernie (Barry Livingstone). So there were really four sons, three at a time.

Answer: Hazel

'Hazel', starring Shirley Booth as the eponymous live-in maid with the Baxter family, originally aired between 1961 and 1966. Hazel, who worked for Dorothy Baxter's family before her marriage to George Baxter, calls her Missy, and addresses her employer as Mr. B.

She runs the household efficiently, and much of the humor is premised on the fact that she knows better than her employers regarding the best course of action in relation to household affairs. She is not above putting Mr B on strictly-rationed servings of her delicious food in order to get him to agree with her. (In the show's final season, the Baxters moved overseas for work-related reasons, and Hazel kept house for George's younger brother.

These shows are not the classics that get regular repeats.)

Answer: The Addams Family

Based on the cartoons of Charles Addams, this show (which ran for two seasons from 1964 until 1966) features an assortment of macabre characters, each intentionally outrageous. The head of the family is Gomez (John Astin), who loses all control when his wife Morticia (Carolyn Jones) speaks French.

Their daughter Wednesday (Lisa Loring) collects spiders and beheads her dolls; their son Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax) has a pet octopus names Aristotle; Morticia's Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) and Grandmama Addams complete the family whose butler Lurch (Ted Cassidy) resembles Frankenstein's monster. Lurch is summoned by means of a bell-pull fashioned like a hangman's noose; when he appears, he almost always opens with, "You rang?" in a deep gravelly voice. Most of the rest of the time he just groans.

Answer: The Brady Bunch

The opening segment for this show, which originally aired from 1969 to 1974, features nine heads arranged in a three by three square. The three main adults are in the center column: Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) on top, Mike Brady (Robert Reed) on the bottom, and Alice (Ann B. Davis) in the centre, acting as the linchpin that holds the group together. Carols three girls are on the left, and Mike's three boys on the right. Alice was the housekeeper for Mike and his first wife before she died, and has stayed on to assist the new family.

The potential power struggle between Alice and Carol to be head female is never explored; this show is all about the joys of a blended family, and how we are all stronger because of what we share. And, after all, it is a sitcom, not a drama.

Answer: Maude

The character of Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur) first appeared as Edith Bunker's cousin in some episodes of 'All in the Family', where her witty sparring with Archie made her popular enough to earn her own series. In 'Maude', which originally aired between 1972 and 1978, she is married to her fourth husband (one deceased, two divorced) Walter (Bill Macy), and living in Westchester County. In the first episode the Findlays hire Florida (Esther Rolle) as their maid, although Maude's political views lead her to regularly make a point of the fact that she considers them to be equals.

Florida proved to be such a popular character that she got her own spin-off, 'Good Times', starting in 1974. The transition to the new show was based on the premise that her husband had received a promotion, and she was able to become a full-time housewife. In the new show, however, the characters' situation was quite different - and they were a struggling family living in a Chicago high-rise project building. (Apparently the producers had a partly-developed show using this premise on which they grafted to popular character without worrying about consistency.)

Answer: The Jeffersons

In January of 1975, 'All in the Family' ran an episode in which the Bunkers' neighbours, George and Louise Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford), left their Queens neighborhood and moved on up to the East Side of Manhattan, a move they could afford because of the success of George's dry-cleaning business.

As a part of the move, they employ a maid, played by Maria Gibbs, who becomes almost like one of the family, despite being lazy and insolent, and apparently not a very good cook.

A spinoff series in which Florence was the central character ('Checking In') only lasted for four episodes, following which she returned to her former job with the Jeffersons.

Answer: Frasier

After leaving 'Cheers', Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammar) moves home to Seattle, and takes up residence with his father Martin (John Mahoney), who has a live-in physiotherapist /caregiver looking after him after his forced retirement from the police force due to injury. Daphne (Jane Leeves) is initially one of the more down-to-earth characters of the ensemble, which includes David Hyde Pierce as Frasier's brother Niles, whose love for Daphne provides one of the running themes for the award-winning show, which originally aired between 1992 and 2004.

The fraternal squabbling between Frasier and Niles is wonderfully echoed in the episodes of 'The Simpsons' in which the actors provide the voices for Sideshow Bob and his brother.

Answer: The Nanny

As viewers are reminded at the start of each episode, Fran (Fran Drescher) accidentally lands the job of acting as nanny to the three children of Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). As well as playing their different cultural backgrounds for laughs, the show provides Fran with an antagonist in the form of Maxwell's partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane), who is competing with her for the affections of her employer. Fran is assisted by the family butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), whose acid interchanges with C.C. are often the highlight of the show.

Answer: Downton Abbey

For the first three seasons of this period drama (set in the years 1912-1926) which first aired in 2010, Sarah O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) was the personal maid to the Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern). O'Brien generally does not get on well with the other servants, but she does form a sort of partnership with Thomas Barrow (Robert-James Collier), and works with him trying to get John Bates (Brendan Coyle), who had replaced Barrow as personal valet to Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), fired.

At the end of the third season, O'Brien takes a new position with Lady Flintshire in India.

Answer: Devious Maids

The eponymous maids of this series that originally ran from 2013 to 2016 are Marisol Suarez (Ana Ortiz), Rosie Falta (Dania Ramirez), Carmen Luna (Roselyn Sanchez) and Zoila Diaz (Judy Reyes). Not only do we get an insider's view of the goings-on in the houses of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills who employ them, we also follow the dramas in their own lives. Marisol actually takes on her job as a maid on order to investigate the death of another maid, and prove her son's innocence.

She gets involved in a different mystery/crime each season.

As well as the mystery, there is plenty of romance (and some plain old-fashioned sex).