Your Show Is Slipping Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. If Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp showed up in your South Dakota town you might think it would be safe, but no, even they couldn't keep a certain TV western from being cancelled; which one?

Answer: Deadwood

Set in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1870s, the show was fictional but occasionally used the names of real people of the times as characters. Shown on the HBO Network, it was produced by David Milch, who did most of the writing during its three seasons from 2004 to 2007. Even after winning eight Emmy Awards HBO didn't "cancel" the show, it just decided it wouldn't pay the actors for a fourth season.

There were false hopes raised over the next few years but in 2012 everyone finally admitted the series was dead.

2. A TV western show in space? Yippie-ki-yi-yay pardner! But a western in the sense that the characters were outcasts on the fringes of a newly-settled star system. Which show was it, named after the class of ship the crew flew in?

Answer: Firefly

"Firefly" was on the Fox Network in 2002 and only lasted for 11 of its planned 14 episodes. Director and writer Joss Whedon used the premise that 500 years in the future technology will have advanced but we will still have the same social problems we do now. It ranked in the top 100 in the Nielsen ratings but Fox pulled the plug. Despite that, its DVD sales were strong when released and in 2013 "TV Guide" named it number five on its list of 60 "Cancelled Too Soon" shows.

3. A TV show about a modern-day Nancy Drew who learned to be a private investigator from her detective father, this show lasted for three seasons on two networks. Which of these shows was it?

Answer: Veronica Mars

"Veronica Mars" began on the UPN Network in 2004. In 2006 UPN ceased programming and The CW network took over some of its programs, this one included. Veronica Mars, played by Kristen Bell, finished high school and then went to college while solving a crime every week and working on another case that would last all season, finally being solved in that year's finale.

After a year on The CW, the network simply decided to end it.

4. If a show isn't popular at first, you could always try again. A show that started as a miniseries became a weekly show for one year, got cancelled and then tried again 25 years later and lasted two years before being cancelled. Which show about alien visitors was it?

Answer: V

"V" started as a 1983 miniseries about alien visitors to Earth who supposedly needed just a few minerals to help their world and in exchange would share their technology. In reality they were carnivorous reptiles wearing skins to look like humans. It became a TV show in 1984.

It was not well received, and at a cost of a million dollars per episode, the NBC network decided they couldn't afford it. Revived in 2009 on the ABC network, it lasted two seasons before lukewarm reviews overwhelmed it.

5. He may have been Chicago's only professional wizard but he couldn't keep his show from being cancelled after only one season. Which program was it?

Answer: The Dresden Files

Based on the successful book series by Jim Butcher, "The Dresden Files" lasted only for the 2007 season on the Sci Fi (now Syfy) Channel. Harry Dresden helped the Chicago police department solve crimes of supernatural origin while trying to avoid run-ins with the wizards' High Council.

6. Even Richie Cunningham's mom in a new role couldn't keep this series about an average family going for more than two years. Which show, that was set in the 1950s, was it?

Answer: Brooklyn Bridge

Marion Ross found a home after "Happy Days" as Sophie Berger on "Brooklyn Bridge", a program about an average Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York in the 1950s. Creator Gary Goldberg modeled much of it after memories of his own childhood. Though well-liked and nominated for several industry awards, it lasted just from 1991 to 1993.

7. A science fiction TV show, a "Wagon Train to the Stars" if you will, changed our perceptions of sci-fi in the 1960s, but succumbed after three seasons. Yet what an afterlife it has had!

Answer: Star Trek

Gene Roddenberry envisioned "Star Trek" as a bit of "Wagon Train", "Gulliver's Travels" and Horatio Hornblower all together. It's ratings were good in its first year, 1966, then started to slide. The NBC network announced it might cancel the show but a letter-writing campaign by fans got it reinstated for a third season.

But again, ratings were marginal and in 1969 it got its official cancellation. Then it went into reruns and became so wildly popular that it spun-off five more series, a dozen movies and billions of dollars worth of collectibles, books, video games and much more.

8. How could the average person who cannot afford expensive legal representation go up against a corrupt corporation or government agency? By getting a team of con artists on their side, of course. That was the plot for a TNT Network series which lasted five years. Which of these shows provided the clout?

Answer: Leverage

Starring Timothy Hutton as former insurance investigator turned con man Nathan Ford, "Leverage" was reminiscent of "Mission: Impossible" and "The Rockford Files", shows Executive Producer Dean Devlin enjoyed as a child and wanted to reimagine. The show was written with the idea that "Leverage" might be cancelled at the end of each year, but it lasted five, with the finale being broadcast on Christmas Day, 2012.

9. A homecoming queen gets murdered, the FBI is called in, a sawmill gets burned down, and then things get really weird! Which 1990s TV show fits that description?

Answer: Twin Peaks

"Twin Peaks" first looked like an investigation into a possible serial killing but took a turn to show a small-town citizenry leading lives not as simple as they originally seemed. Some potentially supernatural beings made an appearance, too. The show ran for only two seasons but attracted a large cult following.

10. Drawing on science fiction, Arthurian legend and Egyptian mythology, which TV series lasted for ten years before finally being shut down?

Answer: Stargate SG-1

Starting life as the movie "Stargate" in 1994, "Stargate SG-1" lasted as a TV series from 1997 to 2007. An alien device discovered on Earth and named a Stargate was found to be a portal to similar devices throughout the galaxy. Humans came into contact with aliens both friendly and belligerent.

It began on the Showtime network, then moved to the Sci Fi Channel in 2002. Though watched by millions, it was often on shaky ground with network executives and finally received its cancellation notice in 2007.

Source: Author CmdrK

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ladymacb29 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Some TV shows get cancelled because of poor ratings, others go away just when we want more. Do you recognize these American TV shows that didn't make the grade?

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>