Television: Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover Quiz

Answer: I Love Lucy

'I Love Lucy', which originally aired between 1951 and 1957, was the first of these series starring Lucille Ball, and the one in which she was performing at the time of the birth of her second child. Lucy's pregnancy and motherhood did not diminish the character's desperate desire to perform professionally, nor her ability to land herself in hilarious situations through her madcap plans.

Many of these were based on enacting stereotypical 1950s "female" characteristics: pretending to be younger than she was, concealing her true hair color, having no sense of handling money wisely, and indulgence in new clothing and accessories on any pretext. Needless to say, she was also a devoted wife and mother, although Ricky often had to save her from herself.

Answer: Jane Wyatt

Jane Wyatt played the calm and reasonable mother of Betty ("Princess"), James Jr ("Bud") and Kathy ("Kitten"); together with her husband, they managed to solve all the problems encountered by their growing children, and showed us all how wonderful life can be when the family is full of love and acceptance. It didn't hurt that Jim's job managing an insurance company provided an income that made them able to live a financially comfortable life in the lovely Midwestern town of Springfield.

The role of Margaret Anderson may well be the one for which Jane Wyatt is best remembered by many. She received three Emmy Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series; Robert Young (who played Jim Anderson) won two (one of which classified the show as a Dramatic Series). Their children were portrayed by Elinor Donahue, Lauren Chapin and Billy Gray (who also played the young boy who befriends Klaatu in the 1951 SciFi classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'). Robert Young was the only cast member who had played the same role on the radio series (1949-1954) that was the precursor for the TV show.

Answer: Theodore

'Leave it to Beaver' was primarily centered on the boyhood experiences of the Beaver (played by Jerry Mathers), but occasionally his older brother Wally (played by Tony Dow) had a central role. Typically, one of the boys would get into some kind of innocent scrape, and the parents (played by Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont) would debate how best to handle the situation. Everything would eventually be satisfactorily resolved (although some of us longed to see that two-faced weasel Eddie Haskell get a proper comeuppance), and the ideal family lifestyle could proceed. The different world-views of young children and adults were dealt with on a regular basis, with Wally often providing a communication link between his parents and his younger brother.

In the very last show, the source of Theodore's nickname was revealed. Wally, aged about five, could not pronounce Theodore properly, and his attempt came out sounding like Beaver. Such a cute and rhyming nickname just had to stick!

Answer: Porter

The car was not an actual 1928 Porter, because such a car did not exist (unlike the real, but non-American incorrect options). There had been Porters, but much earlier and not at all like the car used in this show. It was created from parts of other cars of the appropriate era, purpose-built for the show. One anachronistic aspect of the car was the radio through which the mother spoke (while lights flashed) when she was alone with her son - car radios were not developed until the 1930s.

'My Mother the Car' makes a regular appearance on lists of the worst TV shows of all time, but it did have humorous moments. The premise of Crabtree (played by Jerry van Dyke) trying to keep his mother out of the clutches of a scheming car collector (played with magnificent villainy by Avery Schreiber) certainly could not have been sustained for much more than the 30 episodes produced. While this may seem obvious in hindsight, a similar prediction might have been made about a series with a talking horse ('Mr Ed' ran 1961-1966), a Martian being hidden under cover as a reporter's uncle ('My Favorite Martian' aired 1963-1966), a family composed of monsters from various movies ('The Munsters' ran 1964-1966), or an astronaut concealing the fact that a genie lived inside a bottle in his house ('I Dream of Jeannie' aired 1965-1970).

Answer: Julia

'Julia' ran for three seasons (1968-1971), and is now considered to have been groundbreaking for a number of reasons. At the time, however, there were a number of critics who felt it was an unrealistic portrayal of the lives of most African-Americans - as if most sitcom characters are in fact typical of whatever group they represent. Julia's professional status, as opposed to being a servant of some sort, was a television first for a female lead character; Diahann Carroll became the first African-American to be nominated to an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series; contemporary issues such as racism, the Vietnam War, and the debate over the suitability of single mothers as parents were included in the show, albeit usually in a low-key manner.

Answer: The Brady Bunch

In its first season, 'The Brady Bunch' did actually deal with some of the issues faced as the two independent families got used to their new relationships. After that, however, the plots focused on the usual teenage and pre-teen angst that is fodder for so many family sitcoms. Carol Ann Martin (Florence Henderson) married Mike Brady (Robert Reed), and she and her girls Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb), and Cindy (Susan Olsen) become Bradys, moving into the house already occupied by Mike with his sons Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), as well as Alice (Ann B. Davis), the resident housekeeper, and a dog named Tiger.

The children were all nicely paired to be of similar ages, allowing their social interactions outside the family to involve each other when the story called for it.

Answer: Chris

Chris, the youngest boy in the family, was played by Jeremy Gelbwaks in the first season of 'The Partridge Family', and then by Brian Forster. David Cassidy was Keith for the entire series; Susan Dey played Laurie, Danny Bonaduce played Danny, and Suzanne Crough played the youngest child, Tracy.

The series was inspired by the real-life Cowsills, and it was at one point planned to use the children of that family in the show. However, they were a bit too old for the characters that were eventually developed, so professional actors were used. Only David Cassidy actually sang on the show - he was allowed to join the studio group that provided the music.

The family traveled from their comfortable suburban home (with a spacious garage in which we frequently saw them rehearsing if the show didn't include a performance in the script) to their gigs in an old school bus which was painted in a brightly-colored rectangular pattern, and had their name emblazoned on its side. Stories included showbiz-based problems in addition to the normal teenage relationship issues to be expected in a show centered on five children!

Answer: Roseanne

'Roseanne' actually provided some more meaningful lessons: not all housewives are slender and gorgeous; families with two working parents are the norm in many places; gay characters need not be complete stereotypes; family relationships are not always the sweetness and light often portrayed in the shows of my childhood; a group of women can run a successful business; and many more topical issues. Of course, the final show told us that much of what we had been watching was based on Roseanne Connors's fictionalisation of her actual (television) life, so it is hard to be sure what messages were real and what was there to distract viewers.

Answer: Mother and Son

Widowed Maggie Beare lived with divorced son Arthur (Gary McDonald), a loving son driven to distraction by his mother's demands. He was never sure whether her stunts were the result of actual senility or of a cunning pretense used to ensure she got her way. Often it was a mixture of both, which created sympathy for both characters.

Her other son, Robert, a dentist played by Henri Szeps, made no bones about his intent to manipulate others to achieve his own desires, and his wife Liz (played by Judy Morris) was no better. Arthur and Maggie, however, did have a deep affection for each other, despite their frequent clashes.

Answer: Marge Simpson

Marge has to put up with many flaws in her family on 'The Simpsons', possibly most of all from her husband Homer, whose character has varied during the series between that of a well-intentioned but blundering fool and that of a self-absorbed and self-indulgent boor. Marge is no angel, despite being the one who tries to make the family aware of social and moral responsibilities - she has a gambling addiction, and her tolerance of her family's flaws is probably based as much on her need to be needed as on actual acceptance. Still, she is the glue that has kept things together since the family first appeared on 'The Tracey Ullman Show' in 1987.