The Light's On, But Nobody's Home Quiz

Answer: Jethro Bodine

Max Baer Jr. portrayed Jethro Bodine on the long running CBS comedy "The Beverly Hillbillies", which ran for nine seasons, airing a total of 274 episodes. In the show, Jed Clampett becomes an instant millionaire following the discovery of oil on his land, so he and his kinfolk up and move to California.

The series centers around the lives of the unsophisticated hillbillies, and their attempts to adapt to life in the big city. One running gag in the show features Jethro and his never ending search for a career that would suit a man with his education, such as brain surgeon, shot-order cook, street car conductor and double-naught spy.

He also likes to show off his math skills, such as cypherin' and "goes-in-tas", as in "five goesinta five one time, five goesinta ten two times" and so forth. Jethro Bodine was truly a classic character from a classic television show.

Answer: Woody

During the first three seasons of the series, the bar was tended by Ernie "Coach" Pantusso, who was played by Nicholas Colasanto. Coach and Woody Boyd, who was portrayed by Woody Harrelson, had become pen pals, but instead of writing letters to each other, they actually exchanged pens through the mail.

In episode one of season four, Woody travels to Boston from the Midwest to meet his pen pal, but learns of Coach's death upon his arrival (in real life Colasanto had passed away from heart disease in February of 1985). Woody ends up staying in Boston and is hired to replace Coach as the bartender at Cheers. Woody, as Coach was before him, is a little bit slow, which leads to some of the funniest moments on the show, as in this exchange between Woody and Dr. Frasier Crane. Frasier enters Cheers and says: "Everybody, I'd like you to meet my date, Dr. Lilith Sternin, M.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., A.P.A." To which Woody responds: "Boy, it sure isn't spelled like it sounds." Well you have to admit, he's right.

Answer: Les Nessman

Richard Sanders portrayed the incompetent newscaster Les Nessman on the series, which ran from September 1978 until April 1982, airing a total of 90 episodes. One of the funniest gags in the show was his constant mispronunciations while reading the news, such as referring to professional golfer Chi Chi Rodriquez as "Shy Shy Rodrigweeze" and pronouncing chihuahuas as "chee-hooah-hooahs". Nessman takes his job way to seriously, which in turn irritates his co-workers and makes Les the perfect mark for their endless ribbing. My particular favorite is when station disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever tells his listening audience that WKRP is "the station with more music and Les Nessman".

Answer: Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin is the lead character in the very funny animated sitcom "Family Guy". Created by Seth MacFarlane, the show features the 'challenged' Peter, whose impulsive actions and harebrained ideas are responsible for the shows funniest moments. Peter and the giant chicken, whose name is Ernie, have a long and violent history, which begins in season two, when they first go to battle over an expired coupon. Since then they have fought more than a dozen times, over a variety of reasons, destroying property and even killing innocent bystanders, if they happen to get in the way.

Although Peter is always victorious in these brawls, the chicken more than holds his own and will be ready and waiting for their next battle to begin.

Answer: Gomer Pyle

The character of Gomer Pyle, played by actor Jim Nabors, first appeared on "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1962, halfway through the show's third season. Gomer is a kind-hearted man, but extremely naive and somewhat dense, which leads to some very funny moments, especially in dealing with strictly by-the-book Sheriff's deputy Barney Fife.

In September of 1964, the character was spun off into its own series, "Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.", in which Gomer attempts to cope with life in the Marine Corps, while constantly being harassed by his hard-nosed drill instructor Sgt. Vince Carter.

After that series ended in 1969, Nabors, who was also blessed with a beautiful singing voice, continued to work in television, as well as appearing in nightclubs and performing in concert.

Answer: Clarence

Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford's first appearance on the show was in January of 1958, and he remained a recurring character until the show was cancelled in 1963. Lumpy, who is a friend and classmate of Wally Cleaver, excels in athletics, but not so much in the classroom, which probably explains why he and Wally are in the same grade, despite Clarence being three years older.

Although it's never actually explained in the series how Clarence got the nickname Lumpy, it's most likely due to the fact that he's a tad more portly than his friends. Frank Bank portrayed the character on the original series and also reprised the role on "The New Leave it to Beaver", which ran on the Disney Channel from 1984 to 1985 and then on TBS from 1986 to 1989.

Answer: Ted Baxter

Ted Knight played the slightly out of touch news anchor Ted Baxter, on the very popular 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Ted is the complete opposite of his idol Walter Cronkite, constantly mispronouncing the easiest of words and completely butchering any news story he attempts to read.

He is widely seen as the reason for the news program's slumping ratings, but in a strange twist of fate, Ted is the only member of the news team to survive the station wide firings that occur in the final episode of the series. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" won a total of 29 Emmy Awards, which was a record at the time, with Ted Knight winning the award twice for the role of Ted Baxter.

Answer: Rose Nylund

The seemingly ageless Betty White portrayed Rose Nylund for seven seasons on "The Golden Girls", appearing in 180 episodes. The show revolves around the lives of Rose, Dorothy, Blanche and Sophia, four elderly women who share a home in Miami, Florida, and the conflicts that arise due to their varying personalities. Rose is extremely sweet, but also a little bit scattered, constantly asking dumb questions and rambling on about her childhood in St. Olaf, Minnesota.

Although Rose is the butt of many of the jokes in the show, she sometimes shows her feistier side.

For example, in one episode the house has sprung several leaks during a terrible rainstorm and Rose comes out of her room with two buckets full of water, Dorothy asks her if there is a leak in her room, to which Rose replies: "No, Dorothy, I just finished milking the cow I keep in my closet!" The show ended its run in 1992, but the characters of Rose, Blanche and Sophia were spun-off into the unsuccessful series "The Golden Palace", which lasted only one season.

Answer: Max Smart

The very clever spy spoof "Get Smart", starred Don Adams as the bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart. According to series creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Smart was a combination of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau, both of whom were very popular with moviegoers at the time.

Despite his obvious shortcomings, Smart is very handy with his fists and also is an excellent shot, but in most cases his successes can be contributed to just plain dumb luck. Maxwell Smart was not the sharpest character in TV history, but he was one of the most popular, ranking number 19 on "TV Guide's" list of the 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time.

Answer: Three's Company

Suzanne Somers played the effervescent Snow, who went by the nickname Chrissy. The character of Chrissy was portrayed as your typical "dumb blonde", confounding her roommates with her naivety and constant confusion over the simplest things. She also loved to laugh at her own jokes, although it was more of a snort as opposed to a laugh. Chrissy was fast becoming the breakout character on the show, so before the start of the fifth season, Somers demanded a salary increase plus ten percent of the shows profits.

The shows producers refused and shortly after that it was goodbye Chrissy and hello Cindy, as Somers was fired and Jenilee Harrison was brought in to play Chrissy's cousin Cindy Snow.