223 Fun Facts About 90s TV Shows

Which novelist created the NBC medical drama ER, which premiered in 1994?

Michael Crichton wrote the script in 1974 from his own days as a medical student, but nobody would make it; two decades later the pilot was shot from his draft almost unchanged.

What was unusual about the 1997 ER episode 'Ambush'?

It was broadcast live, twice: stars George Clooney and Anthony Edwards suggested going live, so the cast performed the whole episode for the East Coast and then again for the West.

The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed in which city before production moved to Los Angeles?

Vancouver, British Columbia, hosted the first five seasons; its damp Pacific Northwest weather gave the show its gloomy look, which faded after production moved to Los Angeles in 1998.

The 1998 X-Files feature film carried which subtitle?

Fight the Future was shot in the break between seasons four and five, and the film so squeezed the stars' schedules that some season-five episodes feature only Mulder or only Scully.

David Lynch co-created Twin Peaks with which writer?

Mark Frost, a Hill Street Blues writer, built the mystery with Lynch; when ABC pushed them to unmask the killer midway through season two, the audience drifted away and the show was cancelled.

Whose murder drives the plot of Twin Peaks?

Laura Palmer was meant to be little more than a body: Lynch hired Seattle stage actress Sheryl Lee to play the corpse, then was so impressed that he wrote her a second role as cousin Maddy.

On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which job did Rupert Giles hold at Sunnydale High?

Librarian: Giles's school library sat right above the Hellmouth and served as the gang's base, until they packed it with explosives and he blew it up on graduation day.

Why did at least 30 ABC affiliates initially refuse to air NYPD Blue in 1993?

Partial nudity and raw language were the objection: Bochco and Milch pushed broadcast standards deliberately to compete with cable, and Dennis Franz went on to win four Emmys as Andy Sipowicz.

Which star quit NYPD Blue early in season two to chase a film career?

David Caruso left four episodes into season two after failing to get the raise he wanted; his thrillers Kiss of Death and Jade did poorly at the box office, and he ended up back on television.

Which series, dropped by NBC after one season, was revived in syndication and became the world's most-watched show?

Baywatch was cancelled by NBC in 1990, so star David Hasselhoff and its creators relaunched it in syndication, where Guinness World Records later credited it with over 1.1 billion weekly viewers.

On Beverly Hills, 90210, twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh moved to California from which city?

Minneapolis made the Walsh twins outsiders in Beverly Hills; the show itself struggled until Fox ran new episodes in summer 1991 while rivals were in reruns, and its audience soared.

Which soap set in a Los Angeles apartment complex spun off from Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1992?

Melrose Place found its villain when Heather Locklear guested in season one as ruthless boss Amanda; her arrival is credited with lifting the ratings, and she stayed to the end, always billed as a guest star.

Which crime drama cuts between scenes with a two-note sound that composer Mike Post calls 'The Clang'?

Law & Order's scene-change tone is no single sound: Mike Post blended six or seven, reportedly including hundreds of men walking on a wooden floor, to land like a judge's gavel.

Which game does Captain Picard finally join his officers in during the last scene of Star Trek: The Next Generation?

Poker: after seven years of staying away from the senior staff's regular game, Picard sits down, says he should have done this long ago, and deals with 'the sky's the limit'.

Which Star Trek enemy, first met in the 1989 episode 'Q Who', later turned Captain Picard into Locutus?

The Borg arrive when Q, irritated by Picard's confidence, hurls the Enterprise thousands of light-years into their path; a year later they capture the captain in 'The Best of Both Worlds'.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's station sits next to a wormhole leading to which quadrant?

The Bajoran wormhole leads to the Gamma Quadrant, home of the Dominion, whose war with the Federation dominated the show's final seasons.

Which Star Trek: Voyager character, played by Jeri Ryan, joined the crew at the start of season four?

Seven of Nine replaced Kes in the cast when season four opened; the producers wanted a foil for the captain, as Spock had been for Kirk, and Jeri Ryan stayed to the final episode.

Stranded 70,000 light-years from home, which captain led the USS Voyager on its long journey back to Earth?

Kathryn Janeway was first given to film star Geneviève Bujold, who quit after barely two days of shooting the pilot; Kate Mulgrew took over and commanded Voyager for seven seasons.

Which studio, which also animated the first Simpsons shorts, produced Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys for Nickelodeon?

Klasky Csupo, founded by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, animated The Simpsons from the Tracey Ullman shorts through season three, until the producers moved the work to a rival studio in 1992.

Which Rugrats character first appeared in The Rugrats Movie in 1998?

Dil Pickles, Tommy's newborn brother, causes so much trouble that the babies set off in the Reptar Wagon to take him back to the hospital and get lost; Kimi only arrived in the sequel two years later.

On Are You Afraid of the Dark?, what was the name of the storytelling club that met around a campfire?

The Midnight Society opened each tale with 'Submitted for the approval of…' and a handful of 'midnight dust' on the flames; the dust was really non-dairy creamer, which flares up and smokes.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? was made with the Quebec studio Cinar and filmed mainly in which city?

Montreal came with the deal: Nickelodeon teamed up with the local studio Cinar to make the series, so nearly all of it was shot in and around the city, with a little filmed in British Columbia.

Which actor played teacher and neighbour Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World?

William Daniels got to act opposite his real wife: Bonnie Bartlett, married to him since 1951, played the college dean who hires Mr. Feeny and later marries him.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers built its fight scenes from stock footage of which Japanese franchise?

Super Sentai footage, specifically 1992's Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, supplied the first season's fights, which is why the original Rangers' Zords are prehistoric beasts.

In which fictional California town did the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fight Rita Repulsa?

Angel Grove's troubles start on the Moon, where two astronauts open a 'space dumpster' and free Rita after 10,000 years, so Zordon recruits five local teenagers to fight her.

The 1995 Goosebumps TV series, based on R. L. Stine's books, was filmed largely in which country?

Canada stood in for small-town America: the show used real Ontario houses instead of sets because they could pass for anywhere in the US, and a teenage Ryan Gosling guest-starred in one episode.

After a 1993 incident in Ohio, MTV removed all references to what from Beavis and Butt-Head?

Fire was scrubbed from the show after an Ohio mother blamed it when her five-year-old set a blaze that killed his sister in October 1993; the family was later reported not to have had cable at all.

Which MTV series was spun off from Beavis and Butt-Head in 1997?

Daria got her own show because MTV wanted more female viewers; Mike Judge, busy with King of the Hill, took no part, and the spin-off moved her from Highland to Lawndale.

What does Hank Hill sell, along with its accessories, at Strickland in Arlen, Texas on King of the Hill?

Propane and propane accessories are Hank's calling; when Fox said Mike Judge's 49-year-old salesman should be younger, Judge sent back the very same drawing and said he was now 34.

The Real World's opening promised to show what happens when people stop being what and start getting real?

Polite: the titles promised 'the true story of seven strangers' and what happens 'when people stop being polite'; its creators took the fly-on-the-wall idea from PBS's 1973 series An American Family.

AIDS activist Pedro Zamora starred on the 1994 season of The Real World, set in which city?

San Francisco's season made Pedro Zamora a public face of life with AIDS; he died hours after its final episode aired in November 1994, and President Clinton praised his work.

In the Seinfeld finale, the four friends are jailed for breaking which kind of law?

A Good Samaritan law in Latham, Massachusetts, obliges bystanders to help; the four watch a carjacking and make jokes instead, and a parade of old guest characters testifies against them.

Which writer returned after two seasons away to script the 1998 Seinfeld finale?

Larry David, the model for George Costanza, left after season seven but kept voicing Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, then came back to write the finale, watched by about 76 million.

Which character returned after six years away for the 1993 Cheers finale, 'One for the Road'?

Diane Chambers, played by Shelley Long, comes back as an award-winning writer; she and Sam get engaged and board a plane for California, then agree to part, and Sam returns to the bar.

Which actor won four Emmys playing Niles, the fussy younger brother on Frasier?

David Hyde Pierce owed the part to a photograph: the producers saw how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer and created Niles for him, on a show that won the top comedy Emmy five years running.

Dr. Frasier Crane's call-in psychiatry show aired on which Seattle radio station, with Roz Doyle producing?

KACL's call letters honour the show's creators, David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee; the Cheers spin-off premiered on NBC in September 1993.

Which Fresh Prince of Bel-Air role did Daphne Maxwell Reid take over in later seasons?

Aunt Vivian was first played by Janet Hubert, who left after season three amid a bitter rift with the show's star; Daphne Maxwell Reid took over, and the two feuding actors only talked it through at the 2020 reunion.

On Home Improvement, which company sponsored Tim Taylor's show-within-a-show Tool Time?

Binford Tools sponsored Tool Time, itself a spoof of PBS's This Old House, with Tim and Al as caricatures of host Bob Vila and carpenter Norm Abram; a Binford toolbox even turns up in Toy Story.

Dawson's Creek was set in Capeside, Massachusetts, but filmed in which city?

Wilmington, North Carolina, kept the show in creator Kevin Williamson's home state: he based the series on his own youth beside a Carolina creek, shooting backyard movies, and the city's studios and streets stood in for Capeside.

Xena: Warrior Princess, a Hercules spin-off starring Lucy Lawless, was filmed in which country?

New Zealand also supplied the star: British actress Vanessa Angel was cast as Xena first, but illness stopped her travelling to the shoot, and the part went to the little-known local Lucy Lawless.

Who turned out to have shot Mr. Burns in The Simpsons' 1995 two-part cliffhanger?

Maggie pulled the trigger; Fox ran a 1-800-COLLECT contest to guess the culprit, and the randomly drawn winner had not picked her, so they took a cash prize instead.

When David Letterman moved to CBS in August 1993, his Late Show was taped in which venue?

CBS bought and renovated the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway for him; NBC, having given the Tonight Show to Jay Leno, even claimed the Top Ten List as its intellectual property.

Which actor played mob boss Tony Soprano on The Sopranos?

James Gandolfini had an unlikely rival: E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt auditioned for Tony, but HBO wanted an experienced actor, so the show's creator wrote him the part of Silvio instead.

On Sabrina the Teenage Witch, why was Salem sentenced to a century as a cat?

For plotting to take over the world, Salem lost his powers and was sent to live with Hilda, who had backed his regime; the other leaders of his revolution were turned into pets as well.

Which Hollywood director was executive producer of Animaniacs?

Steven Spielberg did more than lend his name: it was his idea that every episode should get an original score, so the cartoon was recorded with a full studio orchestra.

Which Batman villain was invented for Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 and only later added to the comics?

Harley Quinn was written as a one-off henchwoman in 'Joker's Favor', modelled on writer Paul Dini's friend Arleen Sorkin, who voiced her; she proved so popular that DC adopted her into the comics.

Which actor voiced the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series?

Mark Hamill was a replacement: Tim Curry was cast first and had already recorded several episodes before the part was recast, and Hamill went on voicing the Joker for decades.

On Hey Arnold!, Arnold lives with his grandparents, who run what?

The Sunset Arms boarding house is run by Grandpa Phil and Grandma Gertie; creator Craig Bartlett first made Arnold as a clay figure in 1988, after animating for Pee-wee's Playhouse.

On Legends of the Hidden Temple, what was the giant talking stone head called?

Olmec shares his name with Mexico's ancient Olmec civilisation, known for carving colossal stone heads; Dee Bradley Baker voiced him and returned for the 2021 revival.

Which politician publicly criticised Murphy Brown in 1992 for having a baby on her own?

Dan Quayle said the sitcom mocked the importance of fathers; the show hit back with a season premiere called 'You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato', a dig at his famous spelling slip.

Who first won the top prize on the US Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, in November 1999?

John Carpenter, an IRS agent, used his phone-a-friend on the final question only to tell his father he was about to win, becoming the first top-prize winner of any version worldwide.

Who played the therapist in Ellen's 1997 coming-out story 'The Puppy Episode'?

Oprah Winfrey played the therapist Ellen comes out to; about 42 million people watched despite advertiser threats, and one Alabama station refused to air the episode at all.

Paul Feig created Freaks and Geeks, but which future comedy mogul was its executive producer?

Judd Apatow stayed loyal to his cast after the cancellation: he put Seth Rogen and Jason Segel into his next series, Undeclared, and later built hit films around them.

Which legal comedy-drama featured a lawyer haunted by visions of a computer-animated dancing baby?

Ally McBeal borrowed its dancing baby from the internet: the 3D animation began as a software demo and spread online as one of the first memes before the show used it in Ally's fantasies.

Who was the green-striped-shirt host of Blue's Clues when it premiered on Nickelodeon in 1996?

Steve Burns nearly missed the job: Nickelodeon executives were wary of the long-haired 'skate rat' who thought he was auditioning for a voice-over, until preschool test audiences made him their favourite.

Which rapper performed the Kenan & Kel theme song 'Aw, Here It Goes'?

Coolio filmed the title sequence himself, rapping 'Aw, Here It Goes' on screen a year after 'Gangsta's Paradise'; the sitcom was a vehicle for two cast members of All That.

Nickelodeon terminated the contract of which Ren & Stimpy creator in September 1992?

John Kricfalusi was fired over missed deadlines and content disputes; Games Animation took over the show, which had launched alongside Doug and Rugrats as one of the original three Nicktoons in August 1991.

Northern Exposure sent New York doctor Joel Fleischman to which fictional Alaskan town?

Cicely gets its doctor through a contract: Alaska paid for Joel's medical training, so he owes the state four years, and instead of Anchorage he is sent to a remote town, filmed in Roslyn, Washington.

Who was the original host of MTV's Total Request Live, counting down videos from Times Square from 1998?

Carson Daly fronted the countdown through its peak years; it became MTV's unofficial flagship, and the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC only reached their commercial peaks once their videos were on it.

Which rock and roll pioneer performed the theme song of PBS's The Magic School Bus?

Little Richard sang 'Ride on the Magic School Bus' for a series Scholastic made to tackle worries about children's science education, with the National Science Foundation among its first backers.

Which 1990s action series had a theme song sung by its own star?

Walker, Texas Ranger opened with 'Eyes of the Ranger', sung by Chuck Norris himself; years later Conan O'Brien made the show a late-night running gag, pulling a lever to play its strangest clips out of context.

On Doug, which character is Doug Funnie's secret crush?

Patti Mayonnaise was drawn from life: the show's creator has said there was a real Patti, on whom he had a massive crush all the way from junior high through high school.

Which Fox drama about the orphaned Salinger siblings won the 1996 Golden Globe for Best Drama Series?

Party of Five was low-rated and widely tipped for cancellation until it won the Golden Globe midway through its second season; ratings then grew, and the drama ran until 2000.

Which NBC drama won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy four years running from 2000?

The West Wing took the top drama prize every year from 2000 to 2003, which kept The Sopranos waiting: HBO's mob saga lost to it three times before finally winning in 2004.

What did Al Bundy sell for a living on Married... with Children?

Women's shoes, at a mall store called Gary's; a 1989 advertiser boycott led by Michigan viewer Terry Rakolta fizzled, as nearly all the sponsors were back within a year and the ratings went up.

Which 1960s Hanna-Barbera superhero was recast as a late-night talk-show host on Cartoon Network in 1994?

Space Ghost interviewed real guests from his desk while old enemies Zorak and Moltar, kept on as unpaid prisoners, ran the band and the control room; its makers went on to start Adult Swim.

Which actress played Roz Doyle, Frasier's radio producer?

Peri Gilpin was the second choice: Lisa Kudrow was cast as Roz first and replaced before the pilot was shot, and a year later Kudrow landed Phoebe on Friends instead.

Which two people created Friends?

David Crane and Marta Kauffman drew on their own lives after college, when friends stood in for family; they took the idea to NBC with Kevin Bright, their partner from HBO's Dream On.

What was the working title of Friends when it was pitched in late 1993?

Insomnia Cafe headed the treatment pitched to NBC in December 1993; the script was renamed Friends Like Us, then Six of One because that sounded too like ABC's These Friends of Mine, before Friends stuck.

Which band's 'I'll Be There for You' was the Friends theme?

The Rembrandts had recorded only the under-a-minute theme; after a Nashville radio announcer looped it into a full-length track and listeners loved it, the duo went back and recorded a complete song.

In the Friends finale, Rachel gets off a plane bound for a new job in which city?

Paris was where a Louis Vuitton job awaited Rachel; she hears Ross's plea at the gate, boards anyway, then gets off the plane, in a finale watched by about 52.5 million Americans.

Which fashion company hires Rachel Green in season five of Friends?

Ralph Lauren took Rachel on after her stint at Bloomingdale's, and the designer himself turned up in season six, playing himself in 'The One with Ross's Teeth'.

Which Full House character's surname changed from Cochran after season one?

Jesse became a Katsopolis when John Stamos asked for a surname to match his Greek heritage; the producers made the change for season two, and it stuck for the rest of the 192 episodes.

Which twins alternated in the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House?

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen shared Michelle from babyhood, and for most of the run the credits hid the trick by listing them as one person, 'Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen'.

Saved by the Bell was a reboot of which Disney Channel series?

Good Morning, Miss Bliss starred Hayley Mills as an Indiana teacher; NBC dropped her, moved four of the characters to a California high school and relaunched the show for Saturday mornings.

Which Saved by the Bell character could freeze everyone around him by calling 'Time out'?

Zack Morris talked straight to the camera, pausing the scene to explain his latest scheme; producer Peter Engel pictured him as a kid who could lie to your face and still be loved.

Family Matters was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Harriette Winslow had been the elevator operator at the newspaper where Perfect Strangers' Larry and Balki worked; she proved so popular that the producers built a new sitcom around her family.

Steve Urkel was originally intended to appear on Family Matters how often?

Just once: Steve Urkel was written as a single guest appearance midway through season one, but he became the breakout star, and by 1991 there was an Urkel-Os cereal and a pull-string doll.

On Family Matters, what is Carl Winslow's job?

Police officer: Reginald VelJohnson came to the sitcom fresh from playing Sgt. Al Powell, the patrolman in Die Hard, and remains best known for wearing a badge on screen.

Which fictional Illinois town is Roseanne set in?

Lanford, a fictional Illinois town, is the Conners' home; the show hit number one in the Nielsen ratings in its second season, 1989-90.

Who played Jamie Buchman on Mad About You?

Helen Hunt won four straight Emmys in the role and once took Jamie across to Friends, in the episode that introduced Phoebe's twin Ursula, the inept waitress from Mad About You.

What is Paul Buchman's profession on Mad About You?

Documentary maker Paul hands the trade on: the 1999 finale leaps two decades ahead to show his daughter Mabel, grown up as a filmmaker, telling her parents' story.

The alien Solomon family of 3rd Rock from the Sun settles in which fictional Ohio city?

Rutherford's Solomons are not what they seem: teenage Tommy is really the oldest of the crew, while their leader, Dick, poses as a physics professor at Pendelton State University.

Which 1993 film by the creators of 3rd Rock from the Sun shared its premise of aliens blending in?

Coneheads was co-written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, and its star Jane Curtin switched sides for their sitcom: once the alien mother, she now played the human professor Mary Albright.

For which newspaper does Ray Barone write sports on Everybody Loves Raymond?

Newsday is Long Island's real daily, and Ray Romano lent Ray more of his own life: the TV twins and daughter mirror his real children, and his real older brother was an NYPD sergeant.

Who played Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond?

Doris Roberts was reportedly picked from more than 100 actresses for Marie and won four Emmys in the part, while Peter Boyle, as her husband Frank, was nominated seven times and never won.

Which actor took over as the lead of Spin City after Michael J. Fox left in 2000?

Charlie Sheen joined as Charlie Crawford for the final two seasons after Fox, diagnosed with Parkinson's, left in 2000 following four seasons.

What job does Mike Flaherty hold on Spin City?

Mike Flaherty is Deputy Mayor of New York City, running City Hall for hapless Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick); Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence created the show.

Who created Will & Grace?

Max Mutchnick and David Kohan created it, drawing on Mutchnick's friendship with a straight woman; it ran from 1998 to 2006 and returned from 2017 to 2020.

What is Grace Adler's profession on Will & Grace?

Interior design is Grace's trade at Grace Adler Designs; in the pilot she leaves her fiancé Danny at the altar and ends up as Will's roommate.

In which newspaper did Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City column appear?

The New York Observer ran Bushnell's column from 1994 to 1996; she has called its heroine Carrie Bradshaw her alter ego, and Darren Star turned the book version into the HBO series.

Which of Sex and the City's four friends is a Harvard-educated lawyer?

Miranda Hobbes is the cynical lawyer of the group; Cynthia Nixon, who played her, ran for governor of New York in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary to Andrew Cuomo.

From which Queens neighbourhood does Fran Fine of The Nanny hail?

Flushing is Fran Fine's home turf; Queens-born Fran Drescher drew the character from her own family, down to naming Fran's parents Sylvia and Morty after hers.

What is the profession of Maxwell Sheffield, Fran's employer on The Nanny?

Maxwell Sheffield is a British-born Broadway producer; Fran turns up at his door selling cosmetics after being dumped by her boyfriend-boss Danny.

Which rapper starred as magazine editor Khadijah James on the sitcom Living Single?

Queen Latifah played Khadijah, who ran Flavor magazine from a Brooklyn brownstone, and she also wrote and performed the show's theme song.

On Martin, what is the name of Martin Payne's girlfriend and later wife?

Gina Waters, played by Tisha Campbell, was Martin's girlfriend and later wife; Tichina Arnold played her friend Pam, and Martin Lawrence himself played neighbour Sheneneh.

Who played Lisa Landry, Tia's adoptive mother, on Sister, Sister?

Jackée Harry played seamstress Lisa Landry opposite Tim Reid's Ray Campbell; the twins, separated at birth, reunite by chance in a Detroit shop in the 1994 pilot.

Which singer starred as the title character of Moesha?

Brandy played Leimert Park teenager Moesha Mitchell for six seasons; the network that ordered the pilot passed on it, and a newly launched rival picked the show up instead.

Which Moesha spin-off followed Countess Vaughn's character Kim to college?

The Parkers sent Kim to Santa Monica College, where her mother Nikki, played by Mo'Nique, enrolled alongside her.

Which All That sketch, starring Kel Mitchell as Ed, became a 1997 feature film?

Good Burger put Kel Mitchell's Ed on the big screen beside Kenan Thompson in 1997, and the pair returned for a sequel in 2023.

Who played Clarissa on Clarissa Explains It All?

Melissa Joan Hart led all 65 episodes from 1991 to 1994, then swapped Nickelodeon for network TV as Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 1996.

On Clarissa Explains It All, what is the name of Clarissa's younger brother?

Ferguson Darling is the brother Clarissa is forever feuding with; her best friend Sam, by contrast, always arrives by ladder through her bedroom window.

What kind of animal is Rocko in Joe Murray's Nickelodeon cartoon set in O-Town?

A wallaby it is: Joe Murray dreamed up Rocko after watching one at a Bay Area zoo that seemed oblivious to the chaos around it.

What is the name of Rocko's turtle friend?

Filburt is the neurotic turtle; Heffer is a steer whose adoptive wolf family first planned to eat him, and Spunky is Rocko's dog.

Who created Dexter's Laboratory?

Genndy Tartakovsky pitched Dexter's Laboratory to Fred Seibert's What a Cartoon! showcase at Hanna-Barbera; the 1995 short became a series in 1996.

On Dexter's Laboratory, which rival boy genius falls in love with Dexter's sister Dee Dee?

Mandark arrives as a new classmate who proves smarter than Dexter and orders his lab shut down, until Dexter enlists Dee Dee to get his revenge.

What was the original title of Craig McCracken's Powerpuff Girls short film?

Whoopass Stew! was McCracken's CalArts student short about the Whoopass Girls; Cartoon Network would not sell a kids' show with that word, so they became Powerpuff and their 'can of Whoopass' became Chemical X.

Which Powerpuff Girls villain was once Professor Utonium's lab assistant?

Mojo Jojo began as Jojo, a destructive lab chimp: he shoved the Professor, who broke a flask of Chemical X into the mix, creating the girls and mutating Jojo's brain.

On which two celebrities is Johnny Bravo loosely based?

Elvis Presley and James Dean both went into him: Van Partible's college thesis film starred an Elvis impersonator, whom he then redrew as a 1950s James Dean type who talked like Elvis.

On Pinky and the Brain, Maurice LaMarche based the Brain's voice mainly on which film legend?

Orson Welles is the main model for the Brain's voice; one cartoon even restaged Welles's notorious frozen-peas commercial outtake with the mouse in his place.

Which Tiny Toons character joined the two lab mice for their 1998 sequel series?

Elmyra gets the mice by accident: with Acme Labs destroyed, they hide inside a pet-shop turtle that she buys and takes home, in 1998's Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.

From which country were the Gargoyles transported before waking in modern New York?

The clan stood at Castle Wyvern in tenth-century Scotland before a spell froze them in stone for a thousand years; season three was subtitled The Goliath Chronicles.

In X-Men: The Animated Series, which teenage mutant do Sentinels ambush at a mall in the pilot?

Jubilee is the newcomer the X-Men rescue in 'Night of the Sentinels'; the raid that follows costs the team Morph, seemingly killed in the same two-parter.

Which Pokémon gave its name to the 1997 anime episode whose flashing lights sent hundreds of Japanese viewers to hospital?

Porygon gave the episode its name, though it was Pikachu's attack that set off the flashing explosion; 685 viewers went to hospital, and the episode was never broadcast again.

On Recess, which fourth-grader leads the main gang of six?

T.J. Detweiler leads the six against a playground with its own government, ruled by a sixth-grader called King Bob whose enforcers carry out his decrees.

At which restaurant does SpongeBob SquarePants work as a fry cook?

The Krusty Krab is Mr. Krabs's fast-food joint, its building modelled on a lobster trap; across the street, Plankton's Chum Bucket keeps failing to steal the Krabby Patty formula.

On which earlier Nickelodeon show did Stephen Hillenburg work before creating SpongeBob?

Rocko's Modern Life hired Hillenburg as a director and writer, and he rose to creative director; a teaching comic he had drawn earlier, The Intertidal Zone, seeded many SpongeBob ideas.

In Futurama's pilot, pizza delivery boy Fry is accidentally frozen on which holiday night?

New Year's Eve 1999 finds Fry delivering a prank pizza order to a cryogenics lab; as the countdown ends he tumbles into a freezer tube and thaws out on December 31, 2999.

Which Simpsons writer helped Matt Groening develop Futurama?

David X. Cohen left The Simpsons' writing staff to develop Futurama with Groening and ran it; cancelled in 2003, the show returned on Comedy Central in 2008 and on Hulu in 2023.

Which title did Trey Parker and Matt Stone give both short films that led to South Park?

The Spirit of Christmas was the title of both shorts, now told apart as Jesus vs. Frosty (1992) and Jesus vs. Santa (1995); bootleg copies of the second went viral and won the pair a series.

How was the South Park pilot animated?

With cutout animation: short on money, Parker and Stone shot construction-paper cutouts in stop motion for the pilot, and every episode since has used computers to mimic the look.

Family Guy's very first episode aired straight after which big event?

Super Bowl XXXIII handed the pilot 22 million viewers; the network still cancelled the show in 2002, then revived it after strong DVD sales and rerun ratings.

What were Peter and Brian Griffin called in Seth MacFarlane's earlier short films?

Larry and Steve, a man and his intellectual dog, starred in MacFarlane's college thesis film and its Cartoon Network sequel; network executives saw both shorts and ordered a series.

Who narrated The Wonder Years as the adult Kevin Arnold?

Daniel Stern voiced the adult Kevin for the whole run, but he was not the first: Arye Gross narrated the pilot's original broadcast, and Stern re-recorded it afterwards.

Which Charmed star left after three seasons?

Shannen Doherty played eldest sister Prue until 2001; the show killed Prue off and introduced Paige, a half-sister the others never knew about, to restore the Power of Three.

Which two people created Felicity?

J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves created Felicity in 1998; Keri Russell's Felicity follows a crush from Palo Alto to the fictional University of New York.

Which actor played white-supremacist inmate Vern Schillinger on HBO's Oz?

J. K. Simmons played the Aryan Brotherhood inmate while also appearing as police psychiatrist Emil Skoda on Law & Order; years later he won an Oscar for Whiplash.

What is the experimental prison wing on Oz called?

Emerald City is unit manager Tim McManus's experiment in rehabilitation over punishment; the prison's nickname, Oz, comes from its full name, Oswald State Correctional Facility.

Homicide: Life on the Street was adapted from which reporter's book?

David Simon spent 1988 shadowing Baltimore's homicide detectives for the book; Paul Attanasio created the series from it, and Simon joined the show's writers, leaving the Baltimore Sun in 1995.

In which Wisconsin town is Picket Fences set?

Rome, Wisconsin, is the setting; David E. Kelley's drama won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy in 1993 and 1994 despite its Friday-night death slot.

Which David E. Kelley hospital drama premiered in September 1994, a day before its rival ER?

Chicago Hope beat ER to air by a day, but lost their Thursday 10 p.m. head-to-head and was moved to Mondays in 1995.

Who plays the angel Monica on Touched by an Angel?

Roma Downey played Monica for all nine seasons; off screen she called Della Reese, her supervisor Tess on the show, a second mother, and made her godmother to her daughter.

Which actress played frontier doctor Michaela Quinn on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?

Jane Seymour played Michaela Quinn for six seasons; the character heads west to Colorado Springs after her physician father's death and has to fight to be accepted as the town's doctor.

Which actor played Navy lawyer Harmon 'Harm' Rabb on JAG?

David James Elliott played Harmon Rabb Jr. for all ten seasons, 1995 to 2005; a 2003 JAG two-parter served as the backdoor pilot for NCIS, starring Mark Harmon.

Who created Babylon 5?

J. Michael Straczynski wrote 92 of the 110 episodes himself, plotting Babylon 5 in advance as a five-year 'novel for television'.

Which actor played Colonel Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1?

Richard Dean Anderson, TV's MacGyver, played Jack O'Neill as the lead for eight seasons from 1997, taking over a role Kurt Russell had played in the 1994 film.

Who played Superman on Lois & Clark?

Dean Cain had signed with the Buffalo Bills before an injury pushed him into acting; the series ran from 1993 to 1997 and ended on a cliffhanger with a baby delivered to the couple.

Which NewsRadio star's death in 1998 led to Jon Lovitz joining the cast?

Phil Hartman played anchor Bill McNeal; after his death in May 1998, the season-five opener had the staff mourn Bill, dead of a heart attack, before Hartman's friend Lovitz joined.

In which city is The Drew Carey Show set?

Cleveland, Carey's hometown, is the setting, with Drew working at the Winfred-Louder department store; Carey created it with Bruce Helford and it ran from 1995 to 2004.

What is the name of the Hackett brothers' airline on Wings?

Sandpiper Air is Joe Hackett's single-plane airline on Nantucket; his brother Brian, who once ran off with Joe's fiancée Carol, comes home to fly for him.

On The Larry Sanders Show, what is the name of Larry's producer played by Rip Torn?

Artie, Larry's fiercely loyal producer, was largely based on Fred de Cordova, the veteran producer of The Tonight Show; the role won Rip Torn a 1996 Emmy.

Who created In Living Color?

Keenen Ivory Wayans created and hosted the sketch show, which ran from 1990 to 1994 and launched Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx.

Who was The Daily Show's first host?

Craig Kilborn, hired from ESPN's SportsCenter, left in December 1998 to replace Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show; Jon Stewart took over the desk in January 1999.

Who created Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was its original host?

Joel Hodgson, a prop comic who built robots for other comedians, launched the show on a Twin Cities UHF station in 1988 and hosted until head writer Michael J. Nelson replaced him in 1993.

Which composer wrote the theme for HBO's Tales from the Crypt?

Danny Elfman's theme opened every episode; because HBO was premium cable, the show escaped network censors and served up gore that reruns on basic cable had to trim.

Before becoming TV's Science Guy, Bill Nye worked as an engineer for which Seattle-area company?

Boeing employed Nye, who invented a hydraulic part used on its 747s; he quit to do comedy on a local sketch show, Almost Live!, where he staged wacky science experiments.

In which fictional town does the aardvark Arthur Read live?

Elwood City is home to Arthur, whom Marc Brown first invented in a bedtime story for his son Tolon; Tolon grew up to work on the show, which ran 25 seasons on PBS.

Which Teletubby is the largest and oldest of the four?

Tinky Winky, the purple one with the triangle antenna and red bag, made headlines in 1999 when an article in Jerry Falwell's National Liberty Journal called him a gay role model.

Which vocal group was the house band on Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Rockapella sang the theme and served as house band and comedy troupe; PBS launched the game show partly in response to a National Geographic survey showing how shaky Americans were on geography.

In which fictional town is The Adventures of Pete & Pete set?

Wellsville's exact location is never specified; the show grew out of minute-long shorts and featured cameos by Iggy Pop, Michael Stipe and LL Cool J.

Which fictional Pittsburgh suburb is the setting of My So-Called Life?

Three Rivers, a fictional Pittsburgh suburb, is home to Liberty High; Claire Danes won a Golden Globe, and the show launched Jared Leto and Wilson Cruz.

Who created Sports Night?

Aaron Sorkin wanted Sports Night to run without a laugh track; the network insisted on one, and he fought it until it faded out during season one and vanished in season two.

Which shift do the characters of Third Watch work?

The 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift is the 'third watch' of the title; after the September 11 attacks, season three opened with 'In Their Own Words', interviews with real New York police and firefighters.

Which spin-off did The Practice produce in 2004?

Boston Legal followed James Spader's Alan Shore and William Shatner's Denny Crane, both introduced in The Practice's final season, where each actor won an Emmy before the spin-off began.

Which courtroom show starred a famously tough former Manhattan family court judge?

Judge Judy grew out of a 1993 Los Angeles Times profile of Judith Sheindlin's courtroom; 60 Minutes followed with a segment that made her nationally known, and the show ran 25 seasons.

Who played Iolaus, Hercules' sidekick, on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys?

Michael Hurst played Iolaus opposite Kevin Sorbo from the 1994 pilot TV movies onward, and doubled as Charon, ferryman of the dead.

Which Immortal does Adrian Paul play in the Highlander TV series?

Adrian Paul played Duncan MacLeod, a clansman of the film's Connor, whom Christopher Lambert reprised in the 1992 pilot.

Which segment attached to Cow and Chicken was spun off into its own show in 1999?

I Am Weasel, David Feiss's segment about a brilliant weasel and the envious I.R. Baboon, became its own series in 1999, with Cow and Chicken's devilish Red Guy as a regular tormentor of the pair.

What breed of dog is Ren Höek on The Ren & Stimpy Show?

Chihuahua is Ren's breed, an 'asthma-hound' in the show's words; he was inspired by an Elliott Erwitt photograph of a chihuahua in a sweater at a woman's feet, while Stimpy is a Manx cat.

Which town do Doug Funnie and his family move to at the start of Nickelodeon's Doug?

Bluffington is where the Funnies land after leaving Bloatsburg for his dad's new job; Doug writes up each misadventure in his journal, sometimes recast as superhero Quailman.

Which future Baywatch star played Lisa, the original 'Tool Time girl', on Home Improvement?

Pamela Anderson played Lisa for the first two seasons, then left for Baywatch; Debbe Dunning took over as Heidi and stayed until the show ended in 1999.

Besides Will Smith, which Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor appeared in every single episode?

James Avery played Uncle Phil in all 148 episodes alongside Smith; cartoon fans also knew his voice as the villain Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Which two actresses played Cory's sister Morgan on Boy Meets World?

Lily Nicksay played Morgan for the first two seasons and Lindsay Ridgeway took over in season three, a swap the show joked about on screen.

In which city is Kenan & Kel set?

Chicago is the setting, though the show was taped at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando and later in Hollywood; Kenan works at Rigby's grocery store.

On Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett's companion Al Calavicci appears to him only in what form?

As a hologram, Al is meant to be seen and heard by Sam alone, though animals and small children turn out to see him too; Dean Stockwell played the admiral.

After Fox cancelled Sliders, which network aired its final two seasons?

The Sci-Fi Channel revived Sliders for two more seasons after Fox cancelled it; star Jerry O'Connell quit before the last one, so a merged Quinn played by Robert Floyd replaced him.

7th Heaven's Reverend Eric Camden ministers in which fictional California town?

Glen Oak is the Camdens' town; its network billed season ten as the last, but the series was unexpectedly renewed and ran an eleventh season on the newly formed CW.

What confection are the three Eds forever scheming to buy on Ed, Edd n Eddy?

Jawbreakers are the prize behind every scam; Danny Antonucci, known for adult cartoons such as Lupo the Butcher, created the show after being dared to make a children's cartoon.

Which actor starred as Bobby Donnell, the defence lawyer heading the firm on The Practice?

Dylan McDermott led the cast for seven seasons and won a Golden Globe; then the network demanded budget cuts, and he and five other regulars were dropped before the final year.

Jerry Springer's sign-off 'take care of yourselves and each other' dated from his newscasting days in which city?

The sign-off came from Springer's years anchoring the news at Cincinnati's WLWT, in a city where he had also served as mayor in 1977-78; the syndicated talk show ran 27 seasons from 1991 to 2018.

What is the everyday name of the suburban duck who becomes Darkwing Duck?

Drake Mallard parodies Kent Allard, alter ego of The Shadow; his sidekick and pilot Launchpad McQuack came over from DuckTales.

ReBoot, first aired in 1994, is notable as one of the first TV series made how?

ReBoot was one of the first TV series animated entirely in CGI, a year before Toy Story reached cinemas; setting it inside a computer was a deliberate way to excuse the blocky look of early CGI.

Which actress played Gabrielle, Xena's companion who grows from farm girl to Amazon warrior?

Renee O'Connor played Gabrielle for all six seasons; the producers had noticed her as Deianeira in the TV movie Hercules and the Lost Kingdom and cast her in the spin-off.

The rapped theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air tells of a teenager sent west from which city?

Philadelphia is where the song's hero grows up until a scrap on the basketball court gets him packed off to rich relatives. DJ Jazzy Jeff, the star's rap partner off screen, produced the track.

Which film composer, a regular collaborator of director Tim Burton, wrote the main title theme for The Simpsons?

Danny Elfman wrote it after the cartoon's creator came to him asking for a theme, and he has called it the most popular piece of his whole career.

Which star of Frasier sang its closing theme, 'Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs', over the end credits?

Kelsey Grammer sang it himself. Lyricist Darryl Phinnesse picked the foods in the title because, like the radio psychiatrist's patients, they are mixed up.

Which crooner's 'Love and Marriage' opened every episode of Married... with Children, starring Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy?

Frank Sinatra's recording is missing from the later DVD box sets, because Sony could not get the rights to keep it in the opening sequence.

Which singer's 'I Don't Want to Wait' became the Dawson's Creek theme when an Alanis Morissette song proved unavailable?

Paula Cole has said it annoyed her at first that the song became so closely tied to Dawson and his friends, though she now feels touched by it.

Which gravel-voiced English singer's Beatles cover, 'With a Little Help from My Friends', opened The Wonder Years?

Joe Cocker's version topped the UK chart in 1968 and became an anthem of the Woodstock era, two decades before the sitcom borrowed it.

Which rock band recorded the That '70s Show theme from season two, replacing Todd Griffin's version of a Big Star song?

Cheap Trick also put another version of the theme on the band's own Authorized Greatest Hits compilation.

Which singer performed the Ally McBeal theme and appeared on screen as herself, singing in the lawyers' local bar?

Vonda Shepard was hired after David E. Kelley watched her perform and decided she should be the voice of Ally's inner thoughts.

The Charmed theme was Love Spit Love's cover of 'How Soon Is Now?', first recorded by which Manchester band?

The Smiths released it in the mid-1980s. Love Spit Love's cover was first made for the witchcraft film The Craft, then picked up for the sisters' opening credits.

Which pop-punk band, named after an insult from The Empire Strikes Back, performed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme?

Nerf Herder came back in the final season as the last band ever to play the Bronze, the nightclub where Buffy and her friends spent their evenings.

On which night of the week did NBC stack Friends, Seinfeld and ER into its dominant 1990s lineup?

Thursday was so strong for NBC that it once ran a New York power cut through the night's sitcoms as a stunt. Seinfeld was the one sitcom that sat it out.

South Park premiered in 1997 on which cable channel, after Fox balked at a talking piece of poo?

Comedy Central got the cartoon because its creators cut ties with Fox, which refused to air a talking stool called Mr. Hankey. He reached the screen in the first season.

Which 24-hour news channel kept reporting live from a Baghdad hotel as bombs fell at the start of the 1991 Gulf War?

CNN's team stayed put when American journalists were warned to leave, and for the first days of bombing no other network could report live from the city.

Cartoon Network launched in 1992 after Ted Turner's company bought the library of which animation studio?

Hanna-Barbera's old cartoons filled the early schedule, and a division of the studio went on to make some of the channel's earliest originals, from Johnny Bravo to The Powerpuff Girls.

Fox stunned the television industry in 1993 by outbidding CBS for Sunday broadcast rights to which sports league?

NFL games left CBS for the first time since 1956. Doubts about the young network ran so deep that Fox had to promise Bart Simpson would not be an announcer.

Keith Olbermann became a 1990s household name anchoring SportsCenter, the flagship highlights show of which network?

ESPN's star pairing is said to be the model for the two anchors in Sports Night, the fictional series about a nightly highlights programme.

X-Men, Spider-Man and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers all aired on which 1990s weekday and Saturday children's block?

Fox Kids gave so much airtime to the Power Rangers that Animaniacs lost its slot, and after the dispute that followed the cartoon moved to a rival network.

Pop-Up Video and Behind the Music both began in the 1990s on which sister channel of MTV?

VH1 had begun as Video Hits One, a second outlet for music videos. It won its 1990s audience with programmes about the music instead.

UPN, the 1990s network behind Moesha, was launched by Chris-Craft and the TV arm of which Hollywood studio?

Paramount supplied the P in the name and made most of the programmes. The U came from United Television, the Chris-Craft company that co-owned the venture.

Which top-hatted, singing Looney Tunes character served as The WB's on-air mascot from the network's 1995 launch?

Michigan J. Frog had starred in just one classic cartoon, One Froggy Evening, four decades before the network revived him. It dropped him in 2005.

Which future film star spent five seasons on NBC's ER as womanising paediatrician Doug Ross?

George Clooney's first major role had come a decade earlier in a different, short-lived hospital sitcom that was also called E/R.

Which Full House star was also the original host of America's Funniest Home Videos for most of the 1990s?

Bob Saget fronted the clip programme while still playing the sitcom's widowed dad, and castmate Dave Coulier hosted its spin-off, America's Funniest People.

Which former Saturday Night Live cast member played Elaine Benes, the only woman among the four leads of Seinfeld?

Julia Louis-Dreyfus met Larry David in her last year on the sketch programme, his only year writing there, well before he co-created the sitcom that made her famous.

Which actor played Will's preppy, Tom Jones-loving cousin Carlton Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Alfonso Ribeiro had been a child star of the stage musical The Tap Dance Kid, years before Carlton's arm-swinging dance routine made him a household face.

Which Friends regular kept a second job as waitress Ursula on fellow NBC sitcom Mad About You during the 1990s?

Lisa Kudrow had the waitress part first, so the writers explained the resemblance by making her new character, Phoebe, Ursula's twin sister.

Which future How I Met Your Mother star played a teenage doctor in the title role of Doogie Howser, M.D.?

Neil Patrick Harris's character was a prodigy who finished high school in nine weeks and became the country's youngest licensed physician at 14.

Which future Big Bang Theory star played the title teenager in the NBC sitcom Blossom from 1991 to 1995?

Mayim Bialik left acting for a degree in neuroscience, then came back to television to play a neuroscientist, Amy Farrah Fowler.

Which actress won the part of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show at 14, though auditions were open only to adults?

Mila Kunis told the casting directors she would be 18 without saying when, because everyone auditioning was supposed to be at least that age.

Which future star of Inception and (500) Days of Summer played alien teenager Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Tommy was the joke of the crew: the oldest alien aboard, handed a teenager's body and packed off to high school.

Which star of David Lynch's Dune and Blue Velvet played coffee-loving FBI agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks?

Kyle MacLachlan won a Golden Globe as the pie-loving agent, a turnaround for an actor who had struggled to find work after Dune flopped.

Which creature does late-rising trainer Ash Ketchum receive as his first Pokémon in the anime's opening episode?

Pikachu was a last resort: Ash broke his alarm clock in his sleep and turned up in pyjamas after his rival had already collected a starter.

Barney, the purple star of PBS's Barney & Friends who sang with preschoolers, is which kind of dinosaur?

Tyrannosaurus is an unlikely species for a huggable host. Barney, created by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, is a stuffed toy who comes alive through children's imagination.

Which roaring green monster, a spoof of Godzilla, is the favourite film and toy hero of the Rugrats babies?

Reptar escaped the cartoon: the made-up movie star has since been sold as a real chocolate bar and turned into an amusement park ride.

On Animaniacs, where on the Warner Bros. studio lot were Yakko, Wakko and Dot locked away back in the 1930s?

The water tower is a real landmark on the Burbank lot, and the trio were shut inside it for being too zany before escaping decades later.

On Dexter's Laboratory, which ballet-loving big sister keeps wrecking the boy genius's inventions?

Dee Dee was meant to be the star. Early in development she was the lead and her brother the sidekick, and the roles were later switched.

Which comedian, who broke through on Laugh-In, voiced eccentric science teacher Ms. Frizzle on The Magic School Bus?

Lily Tomlin played the teacher across the original 1990s run and came back to the role two decades later for a sequel series.

On Doug, what is the name of the superhero alter ego that young Doug Funnie daydreams about becoming?

Quailman grew out of home movies the cartoon's two creators shot as children, in which they posed as superheroes.

Besides the four classical elements, which fifth power does Ma-Ti's ring command in Captain Planet and the Planeteers?

Heart is what the hero himself is made of: Captain Planet is described as Ma-Ti's ring power magnified into a blue-skinned, green-haired figure.

Which mentor, trapped in a time warp by Rita Repulsa, recruits the teenage heroes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?

Zordon was sealed away during his last battle with Rita, at the same moment that he shut her and her minions inside a container on the Moon.

The Nickelodeon sports game show GUTS originally ended each episode with a race up which fake mountain?

The Aggro Crag was also the prize: the winner went home with a gold medal and a glowing chunk of the fake rock.

Which stand-up comic began a nine-season run as parcel driver Doug Heffernan when The King of Queens premiered in 1998?

Kevin James starred opposite Leah Remini, with Seinfeld veteran Jerry Stiller as the widowed father-in-law who lives with the couple in Queens.

Which former Beverly Hills, 90210 star played eldest witch Prue Halliwell when Charmed premiered in 1998?

Shannen Doherty was hired for the second time by the television mogul behind her earlier teen soap, and stayed with the witches until 2001.

Which Apollo 13 star produced HBO's 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and appeared in every episode?

Tom Hanks introduced the first eleven episodes himself, then turned up in the last one playing the helper of a pioneering French director.

Which former Cheers star returned to sitcoms in 1998 as John Becker, a misanthropic doctor practising in the Bronx?

Ted Danson went from charming barman Sam Malone to a doctor who is constantly annoyed by his patients, his co-workers and nearly everybody else.

Which actor played aspiring director Dawson Leery when the teen drama Dawson's Creek premiered in January 1998?

James Van Der Beek's character was drawn from the creator's own youth, growing up beside a creek and dreaming of making movies.

Which basketball legend created and hosted a syndicated late-night talk show that lasted only three months in 1998?

Magic Johnson swapped sidekicks during the run, bringing in comedian Tommy Davidson, but The Magic Hour was gone by September.

Which former Mickey Mouse Club regular played the title college freshman in Felicity, which premiered in 1998?

Keri Russell won a Golden Globe for the part within months of the premiere. Her dancing had first got her cast on the children's variety programme at 15.

Which Canadian actor got his big break in 1998 playing Berg in the sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place?

Ryan Reynolds outlasted the restaurant: by the third season the pizzeria setting had been abandoned and cut from the title.

On April Fools' Day 1998, South Park ditched a promised paternity reveal for an episode about which Canadian duo?

Terrance and Phillip's surprise outing drew 2,000 e-mailed complaints within a week from fans who had waited to learn who Cartman's father was.

Which original host of The Daily Show was picked in 1998 to take over CBS's The Late Late Show from Tom Snyder?

Craig Kilborn was chosen by David Letterman's production company, and his old chair went to Jon Stewart at the start of the following year.