Television in the 1980s ... Remember? Quiz

Answer: police officers

Malcolm MacGruder (John Getz) and Jenny Loud (Kathryn Harrold) were married uniformed police patrol officers in a large Los Angeles Police Department-type agency, where a strict anti fraternization between officers was enforced. MacGruder and Loud worked hard to keep their marriage secret from police department officials, especially their immediate supervisor, Sgt. Hanson, played by Lee De Brock.

The ABC Network aggressively advertised and hyped the new series from Aaron Spelling Productions, and scheduled the series to premier immediately follow ABC's broadcast of the 1982 Super Bowl game.
The initial ratings, as anticipated by ABC executives were high. What was not anticipated was the steady drop in audience and ratings for the series over the next few months.
After only three weeks and poor ratings, the series was canceled after airing only 14 episodes.
ABC's intent in hastily producing the series was to attract some of the considerable audience of another buddy police series airing on the CBS Network, "Cagney and Lacey" (1982).

The series represented one of the few failures of television series produced by Aaron Spelling Productions.

Answer: to honor Clute, who died during production of the series

Sidney Clute passed away on October 2, 1985, while the series was in production. It was the decision on the shows producers to continue to include his name and picture in the opening credits, as a tribute to the late actor.

Sharon Gless was the third actress to play opposite Tyne Daly, in the role of Christine Cagney. For the first six episodes in 1982, the role was played by Meg Foster.
In the television movie which lead to the weekly series, Christine Cagney was played by Loretta Swit, who had gained fame in the role of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the series, "M*A*S*H" (1972).

For each of the six full seasons that Daly and Gless were features in the starring roles, one of them won the Emmy Award for "Best Actress in a Drama Series". Daly won four awards (1983, 1984,1985, and 1988), while Gless won two awards (1986 and 1987).

Answer: Cheers

"Cheers" (1982) won the Emmy Award three times (1984, 1985, and 1989).

"Taxi" (1978) won the Emmy Award twice, in 1980 and in 1981.

"The Golden Girls" (1985) won the Emmy Award twice, in 1986, and then again in 1987.

"The Cosby Show" (1984) won the Emmy Award in 1985.

Answer: The A-Team

"The A-Team" (1983) was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo.
The series aired for five seasons, and produced 96 episodes. The series starred George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, and Mr. T., as former special forces army commandos, wrongly convicted of a crime by the government, and working as "soldiers of fortune" in the name of justice.

Donald P. Bellisario was the creator or co-creator of several popular television series including;

"Magnum, P.I." (1980), starring Tom Selleck, which ran for eight seasons on the CBS Network with 162 episodes,

"Quantum Leap" (1989), starring Scott Bakula, which aired for five seasons on the NBC Network with 96 episodes,

"Airwolf" (1984), starring Jan-Michael Vincent, which aired on the CBS Network for three seasons and on the USA Network for one season, with 79 episodes,

"JAG" (1995), starring David James Elliott, which aired for nine seasons, starting on NBC for one season and later on CBS for eight seasons, a total of 227 episodes,

"Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982) starring Stephen Collins, which aired 21 episodes on the ABC Network in its only season,

"First Monday" (2002), starring Joe Montegna, which aired 13 episodes on CBS during its short run (one season), and

"NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Services" (2003), starring Mark Harmon. Through the 2008 television season, the CBS series has aired 122 episodes.

Answer: Night Court

"Night Court" (1984) was a hit comedy series that chronicled the always irreverent activities of the night shift of a Manhattan Court room.

The presiding justice in the court was the offbeat, Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone, played by Harry Anderson. Harry saw to it that justice was served, but did it with a unique flair as he heard the cases of the strange assortment of characters to appear before him.

The staff in Harry's courtroom also provided comedic relief throughout the series.
Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond) was the cigarette smoking, sarcastic bailiff in the courtroom during the first two seasons of the series.
She was assisted by a tall, bald, dimwitted, but good natured bailiff, Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon (Richard Moll).
Diamond passed away during the production of the series, and was replaced for season three by bailiff Florence Kleiner (Florence Halop).
Halop too passed away, and was replaced in season four by bailiff Roz Russell (Marsha Warfield) who remained in the role for the duration of the series. Christine Sullivan (Markie Post) took over the position of Public Defender in season three, and remained for the run of the series.

The Prosecutor in the court was Reinhold Fielding Elmore, who used the name "Dan Fielding" in court. Fielding was a sex-crazed, girl chasing maniac, whose interest in attractive females in the court went beyond the search for justice.
Dan Fielding was brilliantly played by John Larroquette.
Larroquette's performance in the role was recognized for five consecutive year, as he won the Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series" in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988.

"Night Court" aired for nine season, producing 193 laugh filled episodes.

Answer: Hawaii Five-O

"Hawaii Five-O" (1968) starred Jack Lord and James MacArthur, and ran for 12 seasons. The series ended on April 5, 1980, with the broadcast of the 278th episode, "Woe To Wo Fat".

"Gunsmoke" (1955), starring James Arness and Milburn Stone ended its 20 season run on March 17, 1975, with the airing of the 635th episode, "Manolo".

"Dallas" (1978) featured Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy in the lead roles, and ran for 14 seasons. The final episode, "Conundrum" aired on May 3, 1991, and was the 357th episode of the series.

"Knots Landing" (1979), a spin-off series from "Dallas", aired for 14 seasons. and broadcast its 344th and final episode, "Just Like Old Times: Part 2" on May 13,1993.

Answer: Happy Days

"Happy Days" premiered in 1974, and starred Ron Howard and Henry Winkler. This 50's comedy series about a group of students and their families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aired for eleven seasons from 1974 until 1984. Also starring in the series were Marion Ross and Tom Bosley.

"Cheers", a series about a quaint neighborhood bar, lasted for eleven seasons from 1982 until 1993, and starred Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, George Wendt, and John Ratzenberger.

"Married with Children" premiered on the FOX Television Network in 1987, and enjoyed an eleven season run. The series starred Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino as members of the dysfunctional Bundy family.

"Murphy Brown", starring Candice Bergen, aired for ten seasons, from 1988 through 1998. The series about a news/magazine television program called "FYI", also starred Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, and Charles Kimbrough.

Answer: Blue Thunder

Based on the hit movie of the same name in 1983, the television series, "Blue Thunder" premiered on January 6, 1984, on the ABC Television Network.

The series starred James Farentino as police lieutenant and pilot Frank Chaney, and comedian (playing a non comedic role) Dana Carvey. as Clinton Wonderlove, Chaney's partner and observer.
The actual star of the series was Blue Thunder, a black, highly sophisticated state-of-the-art helicopter, loaned to the LAPD under a government project to combat urban crime.
The team was commanded by a tough police commander, Captain Braddock (Sandy Mc Peak), and supported by a ground unit, a large support van known as "Rolling Thunder". The support team was comprised of two former NFL professional football players turned police offices. Officer Lyman "Bubba" Kelsey was played by Bubba Smith, and his partner, Officer Richard "Ski" Butowski played by Dick Butkus. Their support vehicle carried extra fuel for Blue Thunder, tools, weapons, and just about anything else that Blue Thunder needed. Smith and Butkus usually provided the comical element of the series.
The series ran one season, broadcasting 11 episodes before being canceled.

The CBS Television Network was airing two shows at the time that helped in the demise of "Blue Thunder". Part of Blue Thunder's, thunder was taken by a the series, "Airwolf" (1984), another series about a black super sophisticated helicopter, and the fact that "Blue Thunder" aired in the same time slot as the very popular CBS series, "Dallas" (1978).

Answer: Veronica Hamel

During the seven year run of the series, Veronica Hamel was nominated for the "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Emmy Award for five years in a row (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985), but never won the coveted award.

During its first season (1981) "Hill Street Blues" earned a total of 21 Emmy Award nominations, the first series to do so.
Those nominations resulted in Emmy Award wins for Daniel J. Travanti (Capt. Frank Furillo) for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series", Barbara Bosson (Fay Furillo), for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and Michael Conrad (Sgt. Phil Esterhaus) for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series", and Barbara Babcock as Grace Gardner.

"Hill Street Blues" was the stories of the professional and private lives of personnel assigned to a small police precinct station of a never named city in middle America. The stories involved the personalities of the detectives and uniformed officers, the love affair between the precinct captain and an attractive public defender, the inter actions between the cops, the robbers, and legal system, and the police department politics.

The series was acknowledged as being one of the finest in television history, and was supported fine writing and story plots. In the seven season, 146 episodes of the series, the show earned a total of 98 Emmy Award nominations, collecting an impressive 26 Emmy Awards.

One spin-off series came from "Hill Street Blues". As the storyline went, one of the Hill Street detectives, Lt. Norman Buntz, an officer with a questionable view on police ethics, resigned from the police department, and with one of his police informants, moved to the West Coast. There he opened a detective agency. "Beverly Hills Buntz" premiered in 1987, with Dennis Franz in his roll from "Hill Street Blues" as Norman Buntz. Buntz was assisted by his informant from the cop days, Sid "The Snitch" Thurston (Peter Jurasik).
"Beverly Hills Buntz" lasted for nearly a season, airing 9 of the produced 13 episodes.

Answer: 21 Jump Street

"21 Jump Street" premiered in 1987, and served as the lead-off series in the Sunday night lineup of the newly created FOX Network. The series was targeted at a younger demographic of viewers.

The series feature a group of young looking undercover police officers, who worked their cases by infiltrating the high school environment, posing both as students and teachers. The team was lead by their captain, Adam Fuller (Steven Williams), who made sure that the unit functioned effectively.

Undercover officers on the team included Officer Harry Truman Ioki (Dustin Nguyen), Officer Judith "Judy" Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete), Officer Tom Hanson (Johnny Depp) and Officer Dennis Booker (Richard Grieco).

The show produced s spin-off series in 1989. That series, "Booker", featured Richard Grieco as Dennis Booker, a former police officer hired to investigate suspicious insurance claims for a large Japanese company. The series lasted one season, and produced 22 episodes.

After leaving the show, Johnny Depp went on to star in a number of feature motion pictures, including, "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Nick of Time" (1995), "The Astronaut's Wife" (1999), "Chocolat" (2000), and the starring role of Jack Sparrow in three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies in 2003, 2006, and 2007.

The youth oriented series, "21 Jump Street", ran 103 episodes over five seasons.