107 Fun Facts About Classic TV

Which 1950s sitcom's three-camera setup became the standard for live-audience comedies?

I Love Lucy, shot on film with three cameras by cinematographer Karl Freund from 1951, turned the multi-camera setup into the standard for studio-audience sitcoms.

Which production company did Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz jointly own?

Desilu Productions, formed by Ball and Arnaz in 1950, made I Love Lucy and later Star Trek and Mission: Impossible; Ball bought out Arnaz's share in 1962 after their divorce.

Which January 1953 I Love Lucy episode drew a then-record 71.7 Nielsen rating?

'Lucy Goes to the Hospital' aired on 19 January 1953 to a 71.7 rating, about 44 million viewers, more than watched Eisenhower's inauguration the next day; CBS had banned the word 'pregnant'.

Which pair played the landlords and best friends of the Ricardos?

Vivian Vance and William Frawley played landlords Ethel and Fred Mertz, who lived downstairs from the Ricardos; the two actors famously disliked each other off camera for the whole run.

What is the title of the 1983 M*A*S*H finale, one of the most watched US broadcasts ever?

'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' aired on CBS on 28 February 1983, ran two and a half hours, and was directed by series star Alan Alda.

Roughly how many viewers watched the 1983 M*A*S*H finale?

About 106 million Americans watched the M*A*S*H finale on 28 February 1983, then the largest audience for any US television broadcast; the 2010 Super Bowl finally passed it.

Which unit is the setting of M*A*S*H?

The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, set near Uijeongbu in South Korea, is the fictional unit; real MASH units operated a few miles behind the front during the Korean War.

How many episodes of M*A*S*H were made across its 11 seasons?

M*A*S*H made 256 episodes over 11 seasons, from 1972 to 1983, running eleven years to depict a war that lasted 1,128 days.

Who created and presented The Twilight Zone?

Rod Serling created, hosted and wrote most of The Twilight Zone from 1959, appearing on camera from its second season; he had already won three Emmys for live dramas such as Requiem for a Heavyweight.

How many of The Twilight Zone's 156 original episodes did Rod Serling write or co-write?

Rod Serling wrote or co-wrote 92 of the original Twilight Zone's 156 episodes, well over half, often dictating scripts aloud into a tape recorder.

How did the fourth season of The Twilight Zone differ from the rest?

In its fourth season (1963) CBS stretched The Twilight Zone to an hour, so episodes ran about 51 minutes; the writers disliked padding stories and the show went back to half-hours for its final year.

What is the registry number of the starship in Star Trek's original series?

NCC-1701 is the USS Enterprise's registry; designer Matt Jefferies chose digits that are hard to misread on screen, and later Enterprises added letters such as NCC-1701-A.

Roughly how many letters did NBC receive in the campaign that won Star Trek a third season?

NBC reported about 116,000 letters between December 1967 and March 1968 from the campaign organised by Bjo Trimble; the network announced the renewal on air in March 1968 and cancelled the show a year later.

How many episodes of the original Star Trek were made across its three seasons?

The original Star Trek made 79 episodes across three seasons, from 1966 to 1969; syndicated reruns, not first broadcast, turned that short run into a phenomenon.

How did the Cheers producers find the Boston pub that inspired the bar?

They picked it out of a phone book: creators Glen and Les Charles chose Boston's Bull & Finch Pub from the Yellow Pages while scouting, and its Beacon Street doorway became one of the city's most photographed.

What was Sam Malone's career before he bought the bar?

Sam Malone was a relief pitcher for the Red Sox, nicknamed 'Mayday' on the mound; alcoholism ended his career, which is why the bar's owner never drinks.

Where did the Cheers premiere rank in the weekly ratings, nearly getting it cancelled?

The Cheers premiere ranked seventy-fourth out of 77 shows in its week's Nielsen ratings in 1982; NBC kept the low-rated first season alive on critical praise, and it won the 1983 comedy series Emmy.

Who turned out to have shot J.R. Ewing?

Kristin Shepard, Sue Ellen's sister and J.R.'s mistress, was revealed as the shooter on 21 November 1980, eight months after the March cliffhanger.

In which American city is Happy Days set?

Happy Days is set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the 1950s and early 1960s; the city unveiled the Bronze Fonz statue of Arthur Fonzarelli on its RiverWalk in 2008.

Which song opened the first season of Happy Days?

Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock', recorded in 1954, opened Happy Days for its first two seasons; the 'Happy Days' theme with the show's name in the lyrics took over the opening in 1975.

In which fictional town is The Andy Griffith Show set?

Mayberry was modelled on the star's real home town of Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Who whistled the theme in The Andy Griffith Show's opening credits?

Earle Hagen, who composed it, also whistled 'The Fishin' Hole' theme himself; it became one of the most recognised pieces of television music.

Where did The Andy Griffith Show finish in the Nielsen ratings for its final season?

The Andy Griffith Show finished at the top of the chart, number one in Nielsen's 1967–68 season, and never ranked below seventh in its eight-year run; only I Love Lucy and Seinfeld have matched that exit.

What is the name of the boat that runs aground in Gilligan's Island?

The SS Minnow was named as a dig at FCC chairman Newton Minow, who had called television 'a vast wasteland' in 1961; creator Sherwood Schwartz disliked his views on the medium.

How long was the boat trip in Gilligan's Island supposed to last?

The lyrics promise 'a three hour tour', so the trip was meant to last three hours; the castaways instead spent three seasons (1964–67) stranded, with an improbable amount of luggage.

Which phrase stood in for the Professor and Mary Ann in Gilligan's Island's first-season theme?

'And the rest' was all they got until season two, when the characters grew popular enough to have their names written into the lyrics.

What was Ralph Kramden's job in The Honeymooners?

Ralph Kramden was a bus driver for the Gotham Bus Company, working a Madison Avenue route in New York while dreaming up get-rich-quick schemes.

Art Carney's character Ed Norton did which job for New York City?

Ed Norton was a municipal sewer worker, proudly employed underground by the City of New York; he lived in the flat above the Kramdens, and the role won Art Carney several Emmys.

At what Brooklyn address did the Kramdens and Nortons live?

328 Chauncey Street was Jackie Gleason's real boyhood address in Brooklyn; the Kramdens' famously bare apartment set there had little more than a table, a sink and an icebox.

All in the Family was adapted from which British sitcom?

Till Death Us Do Part, Johnny Speight's BBC sitcom about bigoted Alf Garnett, gave Norman Lear the format after he read about it in Variety; Archie Bunker is Alf's American counterpart.

Who played Archie Bunker?

Carroll O'Connor played Archie Bunker from 1971 to 1979 and on into Archie Bunker's Place, winning four Emmys for the role; a liberal off screen, he called Archie a warning rather than a hero.

Which spin-off outlasted its parent show, running 11 seasons and 253 episodes?

The Jeffersons ran from 1975 to 1985, 11 seasons and 253 episodes, two seasons longer than All in the Family; George and Louise had lived next door to the Bunkers before moving to a Manhattan high-rise.

Where did Mary Richards work in The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

Mary Richards worked in a newsroom in Minneapolis as associate producer of the Six O'Clock News at fictional station WJM-TV, a role often cited as TV's first never-married career-woman lead.

How many Emmy Awards did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win, a record that stood until 2002?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show won 29 Emmys between 1971 and 1977, a record for a series that stood for 25 years until Frasier took its thirtieth in 2002.

Which drama was spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, following its gruff newsroom boss to a Los Angeles newspaper?

Lou Grant is one of the very few dramas ever spun out of a half-hour comedy; the show's two other spin-offs, Rhoda and Phyllis, followed her friends.

Near which Nevada settlement is the Cartwright family's ranch in Bonanza?

The Cartwrights' ranch lies near Virginia City, Nevada, beside Lake Tahoe, during the 1860s Comstock Lode silver boom; the family rides into town in most episodes.

Why did NBC keep Bonanza on air despite a shaky start?

It was one of the first series shot in colour, and NBC's parent RCA was selling colour sets; Bonanza's Lake Tahoe scenery sold the technology better than any advertisement, so the network kept it on.

How many episodes of Bonanza were made across its 14 seasons?

Bonanza made 431 episodes over 14 seasons, from 1959 to 1973, the second-longest run of any American television western; only Gunsmoke ran longer.

Which actor led the Cartwright household as the family patriarch?

Lorne Greene played patriarch Ben Cartwright on Bonanza from 1959 to 1973; the other three options played his sons, each by a different mother, and Michael Landon went on to make Little House on the Prairie.

On I Love Lucy, Ricky Ricardo is the bandleader at which New York nightclub?

Ricky later buys the club and renames it Club Babalu, but for most of the run it is the Tropicana.

Ralph and Norton bowl and scheme as members of which fraternal order?

Ralph and Norton belong to the Raccoons, formally the International Order of Friendly Sons of the Raccoons, complete with coonskin-cap uniforms; the lodge idea was later borrowed almost wholesale by The Flintstones.

Which actor played gas-station attendant Gomer Pyle before his Marines spin-off?

Jim Nabors had a booming baritone singing voice so at odds with Gomer's drawl that it made him a hit on variety shows and at the Indianapolis 500.

About how many Americans watched the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964?

About 73 million Americans watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, then a record US television audience, often credited with kick-starting the British Invasion.

Before it took his name, Ed Sullivan's Sunday variety show was called what?

Toast of the Town was the title from the June 1948 debut until 1955, when it became The Ed Sullivan Show; the programme stayed on CBS until 1971, one of the longest runs in TV history.

Topo Gigio, the tiny Italian puppet who charmed Ed Sullivan, was what kind of animal?

Topo Gigio is a mouse, a ten-inch foam-rubber puppet from Italian television who appeared with Ed Sullivan dozens of times in the 1960s, ending each spot by asking, 'Eddie, kiss me goodnight'.

What is the name of the Cartwright family ranch on Bonanza?

The Ponderosa, said to cover a thousand square miles beside Lake Tahoe, is the Cartwright ranch; a replica theme park at Incline Village, Nevada, drew tourists from 1967 until 2004.

Marshal Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke keeps order in which Kansas town?

Matt Dillon is US Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, when the real town was a rowdy railhead for Texas cattle drives.

Miss Kitty Russell on Gunsmoke runs which saloon?

Kitty Russell runs the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, eventually as its owner; her exact profession was kept vague on television, though the radio version left less to the imagination.

Gunsmoke ran on CBS television for how many seasons?

Gunsmoke ran for 20 seasons on CBS, from 1955 to 1975, the longest-running prime-time live-action US drama until Law & Order: SVU began its 21st season in 2019.

Which movie star introduced the first episode of Gunsmoke on camera in 1955?

John Wayne appeared on camera to introduce the first Gunsmoke episode on 10 September 1955; he reportedly declined the role of Matt Dillon himself and recommended his friend James Arness.

In the Twilight Zone's 'Time Enough at Last', what happens just as Henry Bemis finally has time to read?

His glasses shatter: Bemis, a henpecked bank teller, survives a nuclear blast in a vault, then drops his thick spectacles on the library steps and is left unable to read a word.

How does Samantha Stephens usually cast a spell on Bewitched?

Samantha casts spells by twitching her nose; Elizabeth Montgomery could not wiggle her nose on cue, so she twitched her upper lip quickly and the editors added a sound effect.

Which actor took over as Darrin Stephens on Bewitched for the final three seasons from 1969?

Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Darrin from the 1969–70 season; York's chronic back injury from a 1959 film accident forced him out, and the swap went unexplained on air, becoming a byword for recasting.

Who played Endora, Samantha's disapproving witch mother, on Bewitched?

Moorehead had been part of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and appeared in Citizen Kane long before Endora.

Who played the Skipper on Gilligan's Island?

Alan Hale Jr. played the Skipper, Jonas Grumby; his father, Alan Hale Sr., was a Hollywood character actor best known as Little John opposite Errol Flynn in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Carol Burnett's closing ear tug on every show was a signal to whom?

The grandmother who raised her was told it meant 'I'm thinking of you'; Burnett kept it up long after she died.

Carol Burnett's famous curtain-rod dress sketch parodied which film?

Gone with the Wind became 'Went with the Wind' in a 1976 sketch; Bob Mackie's curtain-rod dress set up the punchline 'I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist it'.

Archie and Edith Bunker's living-room chairs were donated to which institution in 1978?

The chairs went to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 1978; the show had replicas built for the seasons still to come.

What is the title of the song Archie and Edith sing at the piano to open All in the Family?

'Those Were the Days', written by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, was sung at the piano each week by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton, Edith's shrill high note included.

Why does Corporal Klinger wear women's clothing on M*A*S*H?

Klinger dresses in women's clothing to earn a Section 8 discharge as mentally unfit; the gag was written for a single first-season episode, but Jamie Farr stayed for the whole run and dropped the dresses on becoming company clerk.

Which alien did Robin Williams play in a 1978 episode of Happy Days?

The character got his own spin-off, Mork & Mindy, that same year; Happy Days also launched Laverne & Shirley.

What is Rose Nylund's tiny Minnesota hometown in The Golden Girls called?

St. Olaf is Rose's hometown, though Betty White was originally cast as sharp-tongued Blanche; she and Rue McClanahan swapped roles before filming.

The four Golden Girls share a house in which city?

The Golden Girls share Blanche's house in Miami, Florida; all four leads won an Emmy for the show, and their kitchen-table cheesecake talks became its signature scene.

Lawrence Welk described his easy-listening big-band sound as what kind of music?

Welk called it champagne music, a light, bubbly big-band sound; his show floated bubbles across the screen to sell the idea, and his German-accented 'a-one and a-two' became a national catchphrase.

What is the Beaver's real first name on Leave It to Beaver?

His brother Wally is Wallace and his pal Lumpy is Clarence; the show's producers reportedly picked 'Beaver' from a Navy buddy's nickname.

Which actor played the two-faced Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver?

Osmond later joined the Los Angeles Police Department and was shot in the line of duty, surviving thanks to his belt buckle and body armor.

Which district attorney lost to Perry Mason nearly every week for nine seasons?

William Talman's Hamilton Burger lost to Mason nearly every week from 1957 to 1966; Mason technically lost only three cases, including 'The Case of the Deadly Verdict'.

Who plays Alan Brady, the vain star Rob Petrie writes for on The Dick Van Dyke Show?

Reiner created the series about his own life as a writer for Sid Caesar and had planned to star; the network preferred Van Dyke.

Which bluegrass duo performed 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett,' the theme to The Beverly Hillbillies?

Flatt and Scruggs, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, recorded 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett', which topped the country chart in 1963, and they appeared in Beverly Hills as themselves in several episodes.

Who played Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies?

Ryan appeared in all 274 episodes; Granny was Jed's mother-in-law, not his mother, a distinction the show mostly ignored.

What is Mike Brady's profession on The Brady Bunch?

Mike Brady is an architect; the show never made the Nielsen top 30 during its 1969–74 run, then became a syndication juggernaut with kids who watched it after school.

What is the trade of Sam, the housekeeper Alice's boyfriend on The Brady Bunch?

Sam Franklin, Alice's boyfriend, is a butcher who runs the neighbourhood meat market and supplies the Brady kitchen; Ann B. Davis played Alice in every episode.

Who led the Tonight Show band for Johnny Carson from 1967 until Carson's retirement?

Doc Severinsen led the NBC Orchestra for Carson from 1967 to the final show in May 1992, his loud suits a nightly punchline; Ed McMahon's drawn-out 'Heeere's Johnny!' opened every show.

In 1972 Johnny Carson moved The Tonight Show from New York to which California city?

'Beautiful downtown Burbank' became a running joke; more than 50 million people watched Carson's farewell in May 1992.

How did Bob Barker close The Price Is Right from 1982 onward?

Barker signed off by urging viewers to spay and neuter their pets: 'Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.' He began it in 1982, hosted 35 years, and Drew Carey kept it from 2007.

Who came up with the idea of Jeopardy!'s answer-first, question-second format?

Griffin's wife suggested it after the 1950s quiz-show scandals: if contestants were given the answers, no one could cheat.

Who was the original host of Jeopardy! when it debuted on NBC in 1964?

Fleming hosted for the whole first run and a brief 1978 revival; Alex Trebek did not take over until the 1984 syndicated version.

What business does John Walton run to support his family on Walton's Mountain?

John Walton runs a lumber mill, a small sawmill on the family land, to feed the household through the Depression; the show grew out of Earl Hamner Jr.'s novel Spencer's Mountain and the 1971 TV movie The Homecoming.

The Ingalls family of Little House on the Prairie farms on Plum Creek near which real Minnesota town?

Walnut Grove, Minnesota, is the real town near the Ingalls' Plum Creek farm and the setting of Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek; Michael Landon starred in, produced and directed the series.

How does Little House on the Prairie's 1984 finale, 'The Last Farewell,' dispose of the town?

The residents dynamite their own buildings rather than hand them to a land baron; the sets had to come down anyway.

What make of battered car does Lieutenant Columbo drive?

Columbo drives a battered 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible, Peter Falk's own choice from the Universal lot; like the raincoat, it never got any newer across 35 years of episodes.

Which phrase does Columbo use as he turns back at the door to catch a suspect off guard?

'Just one more thing' is Columbo's exit line, delivered as he turns back at the door; the audience already knows the killer, and the fun is watching the rumpled detective needle a smug murderer into a slip.

What business does Fred Sanford run with his son Lamont on Sanford and Son?

Fred and Lamont run a junk yard, Sanford and Son Salvage, in the Watts district of Los Angeles; Redd Foxx's Fred faked a heart attack whenever cornered, calling out to his late wife Elizabeth.

Sanford and Son was adapted from which British series?

Steptoe and Son, the BBC sitcom about rag-and-bone men Albert and Harold, gave Norman Lear the format, just as a British sitcom had for All in the Family; Quincy Jones wrote the theme, 'The Streetbeater'.

What does Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes say whenever he stumbles onto the prisoners' schemes?

'I know nothing!' (often 'I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing') is Schultz's refrain; John Banner, who played him, was Jewish and had fled Austria in 1938, and Werner Klemperer, who played Klink, was Jewish too.

Which comedy pair created Get Smart?

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created Get Smart in 1965 as a spoof of James Bond; the show won seven Emmys and coined 'Missed it by that much' and 'Would you believe...'.

Maxwell Smart of CONTROL is which numbered agent?

His partner is Agent 99, whose real name is never revealed; 86 was slang for throwing someone out of a bar.

The Flintstones, which debuted on ABC in 1960, was the first animated series to do what?

The Flintstones was the first animated series to air in prime time, on ABC from 1960 to 1966; it was the longest-running prime-time cartoon until The Simpsons passed it in 1997, and Winston cigarettes sponsored its early seasons.

Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble belong to which lodge?

The Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, Lodge No. 26, with its Grand Poobah, was lifted from the lodge in The Honeymooners, the live-action sitcom the whole show was modelled on.

Which order does Steve McGarrett give his partner at the end of nearly every Hawaii Five-O case?

'Book 'em, Danno' closed nearly every case, usually with 'Murder One'; Jack Lord's show ran 12 seasons and was TV's longest-running police drama until Law & Order passed it in 2002.

Which actor played the landlord Ralph Furley after the Ropers left Three's Company?

Knotts joined in season four; the show, like so many of the era, was borrowed from a British sitcom, Man About the House.

George Jefferson, the Bunkers' old neighbour, got rich enough to 'move on up' to Manhattan's East Side through what business?

Dry-cleaning stores paid for the deluxe apartment in the sky; George and Louise had been introduced as the Bunkers' neighbours in Queens.

What is Cliff Huxtable's medical specialty on The Cosby Show?

Cliff Huxtable is an obstetrician, practising obstetrics and gynaecology from an office in the basement of the family brownstone; the show was TV's top-rated programme for five straight seasons.

The Love Boat was set aboard which cruise ship?

The Love Boat was set aboard the Pacific Princess, a real Princess Cruises liner used for filming; Fred Grandy, who played Gopher the purser, went on to serve four terms in Congress for Iowa.

Which object opens every edition of CBS's 60 Minutes?

A ticking stopwatch is the trademark opening of 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt's CBS newsmagazine, which debuted in September 1968 and became the longest-running prime-time programme on American network television.

American Bandstand began as a local show in which city before Dick Clark took it national?

It began in 1952 as Bandstand on Philadelphia's WFIL-TV with host Bob Horn; Dick Clark took over in 1956, ABC took it national the next year, and the show moved to Los Angeles in 1964.

'Just the facts, ma'am,' forever linked to Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet, actually came from where?

Friday never said it on the show; Freberg's 1953 'St. George and the Dragonet' put the words in America's mouth.

On The Fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble describes his wife's real killer as what?

Kimble insists a one-armed man killed his wife, and the 1967 finale finally catches him; its 72 percent share was a record until Dallas's 'Who shot J.R.?' reveal 13 years later.

What is the Munsters' street address?

The Munsters live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, a decaying mansion in fictional Mockingbird Heights; the show premiered on CBS in September 1964, days after ABC launched The Addams Family, and both lasted two seasons.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced by public station WQED in which city?

WQED in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first community-supported public TV station in the US, produced the show from 1968 to 2001; Fred Rogers' mother knitted his cardigans.

Who hosted Wheel of Fortune when it debuted on NBC daytime in 1975?

Chuck Woolery hosted from the 6 January 1975 NBC debut until December 1981, when Pat Sajak took over; Vanna White arrived in 1982 and the nightly syndicated version did not start until 1983.

ABC aired the 1977 miniseries Roots over how many consecutive nights?

ABC ran Roots on eight consecutive nights, 23 to 30 January 1977, reportedly to limit the damage if it flopped; instead about 100 million people watched the finale, then the most-watched broadcast ever.

The Addams Family TV show was based on cartoons that ran in which magazine?

Charles Addams' single-panel cartoons ran in The New Yorker from 1938; his characters had no names until the 1964 series, when Addams christened Gomez, Morticia, Lurch and the rest.

The Lone Ranger galloped onto television to which piece of classical music?

The William Tell Overture's galloping finale, by Rossini, opened the show, ABC's first real hit; Clayton Moore wore the mask for 169 episodes and Jay Silverheels rode beside him as Tonto.

Which earlier Western, also starring James Garner, did The Rockford Files' creator want to update?

Roy Huggins, who created Maverick with Garner as Bret Maverick in 1957, wanted to rework it as a modern private-eye show, which became The Rockford Files; Noah Beery Jr. played Rockford's father Rocky.

On which sitcom did Danny DeVito play the abusive dispatcher Louie De Palma?

Taxi (1978–83) gave DeVito his breakout as Louie De Palma; its creators all came from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and it won 18 Emmys, including three straight for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Creator Hugh Wilson based WKRP in Cincinnati on his time observing which real Atlanta radio station?

WQXI, Atlanta's Top 40 station nicknamed 'Quixie in Dixie', was Wilson's model; he said WKRP was chosen to spell C-R-A-P, and the show became a syndication hit after CBS kept shuffling its timeslot.