Who Said it? '60s Television Shows Quiz

Answer: "Sorry about that, chief"

At least once during every episode of the sitcom "Get Smart", Don Adams, playing agent 86, would apologize in this fashion to his boss, played by Edward Platt. The chief, pained by the sheer stupidity of the blunder, would close his eyes, rub his brow and slowly shake his head as if with a terrific headache. "Get Smart" aired from 1965-1970 on ABC, and co-starred Barbara Feldon as the alluring "agent 99," Max's partner.

Answer: Fred Flintstone

The classic signature yell from Fred Flintstone first appeared as his caveman club's group cheer, then became a constant part of Fred's repertoire and a part of the opening sequence at the beginning of each episode. The phrase had so much staying power and cache that it was used as the title for a 1993 animated film, "I (heart) Yabba Dabba Do!"

Answer: "Not fascinating, Doctor, merely... interesting"

The original "Star Trek" series, created by Gene Roddenberry and set aboard a star ship in the 23rd century, aired from 1966-1969 on NBC. If you don't know Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, this question probably doesn't make much sense. Known for his Vulcan dispassion and never showing emotions, his repartee with ship chief medical officer "Bones" McCoy made for some of the great moments of 1960s television.

The quote addressed to Sulu would have come from Captain Kirk; the one to Jim (Kirk) would have come from the aforementioned Dr. McCoy; and the the one about giving all of the ship's engine power would have been from chief engineer Scott also addressed to Captain Kirk. Hard core fans of the show were outraged by its cancellation, but it went into syndication and gained a much wider following as well as spawning several other series and a hugely successful movie franchise.

Answer: Jeannie

The show was "I Dream Of Jeannie", with the sexy but not too risqué Barbara Eden as a genie clad in harem pants who came out of a bottle to create havoc and romance in the life of her master, an astronaut played by Larry Hagman. Hagman went on to be a big TV star largely because of his role as J.R. Ewing on the nighttime soap opera "Dallas".

He died in 2012. Barbara Eden was something of a fall back choice for this role, her best known, because the producers were afraid a blond actress would be too much like the heroine on rival network ABC's show "Bewitched".

The choice turned out well, however, as the show ran from 1965-1970 and was one of NBC's more popular sitcoms of the decade.

Answer: 77 Sunset Strip

Gerald "Kookie" Kookson was the Byrnes character on the show about a stylish detective agency on the Hollywood strip. He was a youthful parking lot attendant who worked at the club next door to the agency and provided comic relief, often in the form of beat generation lingo which baffled the adults he dealt with.

Interestingly, in the pilot episode, he was a serial killer who got busted, but his appeal factor was so high, the producers quickly rewrote the script to make him a regular. In the song, Stevens repeatedly coos the title line, trying to get the comb away from him so he'll forget about his perfect hair and pay attention to her.

Answer: The Outer Limits

The show, which took the "Twilight Zone" general idea farther out into space and science fiction, did indeed push 1960s television to the "outer limits." Weird aliens, bizarre unresolved plots, and bad things happening to good people all added to the shock value obviously sought by the creators and writers.

It appeared on ABC in 1963 and was gone by 1965, but its 49 episodes could be at once mesmerizing and unsettling, and it definitely influenced much of the science fiction television which followed.

Answer: "It's Burke's Law"

Gene Barry played Amos Burke, the dapper chief detective who enlightened his proteges with pithy and insightful pearls of wisdom on crime fighting, always punctuated at the end with his eponymous saying. Even at a young age, I secretly wished just once someone would punch him in the head and say "Never hit someone in the fist with your face...Burke's Law." Perhaps the smugness was why the series, despite some snappy dialogue and decent women, only lasted two and a half years.

Answer: The Avengers

"The Avengers" featured Mrs. (Emma) Peel and Mr. (John) Steed as two agents who began their weekly adventures as the voice-over introduction intoned, "Extraordinary crimes against the people and the state have to be avenged by extraordinary agents." Mr. Steed wore a bowler hat and carried an umbrella with a knife concealed inside it, and Mrs. Peel wore a skin tight black leather jumpsuit. Very cool.

Other than this classy show, which was clearly ahead of its time, male/female crime fighting partnerships or in fact any female crime fighters were pretty much unheard of on US television in the 1960s. "Moonlighting" and "Cagney and Lacey" both aired in the 1980s and the latter starred two women. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is a 2005 movie with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Answer: Bullwinkle J. Moose in a boat with Rocky, preparing you for a commercial message

Well, Lloyd Bridges never joked around on "Sea Hunt". He was earnest and honest to a fault and he always did the right thing, and he knew handling a speargun was serious business. Spongebob is a 21st century guy, way too modern for this quiz, and Bugs Bunny was pretty clever but pretty much land based. On "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show", the two main characters, a moose and a squirrel, are in a rowboat:

Rocky: "Look, Bullwinkle. A message in a bottle"
Bullwinkle (holding fishing rod): "Fanmail from some flounder?"
Rocky (shoving paper into the camera): "No, this is what I really call a message!"

Since we had no remotes in the days, this was the cue to go get something to eat or else be subjected to a jive commercial message "from our sponsors."

Answer: Mission: Impossible

Do you remember "As always, Jim, should you or any member of your IMF force be caught or killed, the secretary will disallow any knowledge of your actions"? Of course the mission is never impossible, and the good guys don't get killed, or else they couldn't be on next week's show.

However, the plots were coherent, clever and suspenseful, and the effects were quite good for the time. Peter Graves was Mr. Phelps, the team head who organized the clandestine mission, usually to some obscure banana republic.

The show also featured Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Greg Morris, following in the footsteps of Bill Cosby ("I Spy") in one of the first decent, serious roles for an African American on this type of show.