What's My Line? Trivia Quiz

Answer: homicide detective

Jim Brass was the homicide detective who worked with the team from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" from 2000 to 2014. Brass was played by Paul Guilfoyle. Although he left before the final season, he still worked with the team and its changing leaders, i.e., Gil Grissom, Raymond Langston and D.B. Russell.

Answer: maid

Moving back to early TV, we meet George Baxter, a successful corporate lawyer who comes home to his family and his maid/housekeeper, Hazel Burke. "Hazel" was a comedy which ran from 1961 to 1966. She was the one who actually ran the household and always knew what was needed. Hazel was played by Academy Award winner Shirley Booth.

Answer: physics professor

Dick Solomon was actually an alien who, with his team, came to Earth to study our ways. On "3rd Rock from the Sun" (1996-2001), Dick became a physics professor at Pendleton State University in the fictional town of Rutherford, Ohio. The part of Dick Solomon was played by the wonderful and versatile actor, John Lithgow.

Answer: receptionist

The sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" was about a radio station in...Cincinnati. The show ran from 1978 to 1982, and had some of the zaniest characters on TV. The premise was a new manager coming in to help fix a failing radio station by changing its format. One of the sanest characters on the show was Jennifer Marlowe, the receptionist, who was played by Loni Anderson.

Answer: realtor

Emmy Award winning actor, Ty Burrell, plays the role of successful realtor Phil Dunphy. Phil is the husband of Claire and loving father of Haley, Alex and Luke on "Modern Family". The show first aired in 2009, and is the story of the extended Pritchett family.

Answer: waitress

Ellen Burstyn first played Alice Hyatt in the 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". Two years later Linda Lavin made the role her own when she took a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner on "Alice". The sitcom ran from 1976 to 1985, with Alice as a single mother and an aspiring singer who wound up waiting tables and cracking jokes at a Phoenix 'greasy spoon'.

Answer: bartender

"The Love Boat" brought together some b-list celebrities to play passengers looking for love on the Pacific Princess. During its ten year run (1977-1987), the passengers were serviced by a crew led by Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod). The love seekers often sought solace at the ship's bar, tended by Isaac Washington, played by Ted Lange.

Answer: TV reporter

Corky Sherwood was one of the reporters on the fictional TV news program "FYI". Corky, played by Faith Ford, did the fluff pieces. "Murphy Brown" was created by Diane English who often gave the sitcom some serious topics with political overtones. Candice Bergen played the title role. The show aired from 1988 to 1993.

Answer: airplane pilot

Seth MacFarlane's animated show, "Family Guy", first aired in 1999. The comedy revolves around the dysfunctional Griffin family, headed by Peter Griffin. In addition to his family, Peter hangs around the Drunken Clam with his friends, i.e., a disabled cop, a former deli owner and a sex-crazed pilot named Glenn Quagmire ("giggity"). Quagmire is voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

Answer: psychologist

The wonderful comedian Bob Newhart has had his share of TV shows. The first of these was the appropriately named "The Bob Newhart Show". Bob played Bob Hartley, a Chicago psychologist with some wacky patients and some equally wacky neighbors. The 'voice of reason' was Bob's wife, Emily (Susanne Pleshette). The sitcom ran from 1972 to 1978.

Answer: window dresser

Rhoda Morgenstern was Mary Richards' best friend on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", before she was spun off into her own show, "Rhoda" (1974-1978). Rhoda was originally from the Bronx, NY, but moved to Minneapolis where she thought the cold weather would help her 'keep' better.

She was employed as a window dresser for a department store. Valerie Harper played the role with humor and cynicism.

Answer: chemistry teacher

If you missed the wonderful drama "Breaking Bad", you missed out on one of the best shows TV had to offer. Walter White was a chemistry teacher who was diagnosed with cancer. He wound up manufacturing and selling meth as a way to provide for his family after he was gone.

The show aired from 2008 to 2013, and Walter was brilliantly played by Bryan Cranston (formerly dentist Tim Whatley on "Seinfeld").

Answer: chef

Who could only eat Tic Tacs in even numbers? The answer is Monica Geller, the neat freak, and one of the six "Friends" who lived together in New York City. Monica was a chef, although I can't remember ever seeing her at work. She was played by Courteney Cox (later of "Cougar Town"). The show ran from 1994 to 2004.

Answer: judge

James Avery played the well-to-do "Uncle" Philip Banks on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". Aside from the old "Darren Stevens" switcheroo, i.e., two different people playing his wife, he was just your ordinary patriarchal lawyer who became a judge. The comedy aired between 1990 and 1996.
Note: James Avery was the voice of Shredder on "TMNT".

Answer: nurse

Last we have Carla Espinosa, a nurse who worked at California's Sacred Heart Hospital on the sitcom "Scrubs" (2001-2010). Carla was from the Dominican Republic, but was raised in Chicago. Originally she moved in with a female 'scrub', but wound up marrying Dr. Christopher Turk. Carla was played by Judy Reyes.