193 Fun Facts About Sitcom

In Friends, which character has an estranged identical twin sister named Ursula?

Phoebe's twin Ursula began as a waitress on the sitcom Mad About You, also played by Lisa Kudrow; Friends then turned the two roles into sisters.

Which wartime BBC sitcom gave us the catchphrase 'Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once'?

'Allo 'Allo! gave the line to Resistance agent Michelle; David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd devised the whole sitcom as a spoof of the BBC's earnest wartime drama Secret Army.

What did sound engineer Charles Douglass introduce to American sitcoms in the 1950s?

Laugh track: Douglass added it with his 'Laff Box', a one-of-a-kind machine he kept padlocked and operated out of sight to keep his technique secret.

In the I Love Lucy episode 'Job Switching', what can't Lucy and Ethel wrap fast enough on a conveyor belt?

Chocolates race past so quickly at the candy factory that Lucy and Ethel start stuffing them into their mouths and clothes to hide the backlog from the forewoman.

Which studio behind I Love Lucy later launched Star Trek?

Desilu was run by Lucille Ball alone after she bought out her ex-husband in 1962, and it was Ball who approved Star Trek for development.

Little Ricky's birth on I Love Lucy was timed to coincide with the real birth of whom?

Desi Arnaz Jr. was born by caesarean on 19 January 1953, hours before Little Ricky arrived on air; the episode drew 44 million viewers, more than Eisenhower's inauguration the next day.

In The Honeymooners, Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden drives what for a living?

A New York City bus is Ralph's daily grind for the fictional Gotham Bus Company; the real drivers' union made him an honorary member, and in 1988 a Brooklyn bus depot was renamed for Jackie Gleason.

Who played sewer worker Ed Norton opposite Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners?

Art Carney played Norton in Gleason's sketches as well as the 39 filmed episodes, then beat Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson to the Best Actor Oscar for 1974's Harry and Tonto.

Rob Petrie, played by Dick Van Dyke, is head writer for which fictional variety programme?

The Alan Brady Show's vain star was played by series creator Carl Reiner, who drew the sitcom from his own years writing and performing on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows.

Which sitcom was launched by a 1960 episode of The Danny Thomas Show?

The Andy Griffith Show grew out of 'Danny Meets Andy Griffith', in which Sheriff Andy Taylor arrests Danny for running a stop sign; the series followed that October.

Which 1964 spin-off followed Mayberry's naive gas-station attendant into military service?

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. began with a pilot aired as a May 1964 season finale, in which Jim Nabors's Gomer joins the Marines and exasperates Sergeant Carter; it ran five seasons.

Who replaced an ailing York as Darrin on Bewitched for its final three seasons?

Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Darrin Stephens from the sixth season in 1969 until Bewitched ended in 1972; York left with a chronic back injury.

Which sitcom did novelist Sidney Sheldon create?

I Dream of Jeannie was still on air when Sheldon, by then in his fifties, turned to fiction; he dictated his novels to a secretary rather than typing them.

Which charter boat sets out on a 'three-hour tour' at the start of Gilligan's Island?

The SS Minnow is said to be the creator's sly dig at FCC chairman Newton Minow, who in 1961 had called television a 'vast wasteland'.

Which two CBS shows did Beverly Hillbillies creator Paul Henning go on to produce?

Petticoat Junction and Green Acres: Henning created the first in 1963 and was executive producer of the second, Jay Sommers's sitcom that sent city folk to the country.

Which sitcom did ABC rescue after CBS dropped it?

Leave It to Beaver had already tested CBS's censors, who held back its intended first episode because the boys hide a pet alligator in a toilet tank.

Which two comedy writers created Get Smart?

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry wrote the pilot for ABC, which paid for it but turned the series down; NBC took Get Smart because it had Don Adams under contract and wanted a show for him.

Which fictional POW camp is the setting of Hogan's Heroes?

Stalag 13's vain commandant, Colonel Klink, boasts that no prisoner has ever escaped; Hogan's men protect that record so they can keep running sabotage from inside the camp.

Who played Herman Munster?

Fred Gwynne, a 6ft 5in Harvard graduate, came to resent how firmly Herman typecast him; away from acting he wrote and illustrated children's books.

Vic Mizzy's finger-snapping harpsichord theme opened which 1964 sitcom?

The Addams Family theme was Mizzy's work from start to finish: he played the harpsichord and sang it himself, overdubbing his voice three times to sound like a group of singers.

Why did CBS axe The Beverly Hillbillies and Hee Haw in 1971?

To win younger urban viewers for its advertisers, CBS dropped its country-flavoured hits in what became known as the 'rural purge'; Hee Haw simply moved to syndication and ran for two more decades.

Which 1960 prime-time cartoon was closely modelled on The Honeymooners?

The Flintstones borrowed so openly from The Honeymooners that Jackie Gleason considered suing, then let it pass; he reportedly didn't want to be the man who took Fred Flintstone off the air.

In The Jetsons, which short-tempered boss keeps threatening to fire George?

Mr. Spacely owns Spacely Space Sprockets, where George's job is to push a button; the show itself lasted just 24 episodes in its first run, yet repeats kept it popular enough for new ones two decades later.

Why did The Brady Bunch never reveal what happened to Carol's first husband?

Sherwood Schwartz wrote Carol as divorced, but ABC wanted her widowed, not divorced; the compromise was never to mention her first husband's fate at all.

Which series' 1983 finale drew about 106 million US viewers, a record for any broadcast until 2010?

M*A*S*H signed off with the two-and-a-half-hour 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen'; the series had run eleven seasons, more than three times as long as the Korean War it depicted.

Which actress played Diane Chambers on Cheers before leaving the show in 1987?

Shelley Long's Diane sparred with Sam from a 1982 premiere that finished near the bottom of the week's ratings; NBC stuck with the show and it ran eleven seasons.

Sam Malone of Cheers was a former relief pitcher for which team?

The Boston Red Sox employed Sam 'Mayday' Malone as a relief pitcher until drinking wrecked his career; the recovering alcoholic now owns and tends a bar.

Which Cheers regular does the bar greet by shouting his name?

Norm is one of only three characters in all 275 episodes, yet George Wendt was first sent to audition for a customer with a single word to say: 'Beer!'

The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World followed which Huxtable daughter to Hillman College?

Denise, played by Lisa Bonet, led only the first season; after Bonet left, the show was rebuilt around Whitley and Dwayne and ran for five more years.

The Golden Girls share a house in which city?

Miami is home to all four, including Sophia, Dorothy's elderly mother; Estelle Getty, who played her, was in fact a year younger than Bea Arthur, her on-screen daughter.

What was Seinfeld's pilot episode called when it first aired in 1989?

The Seinfeld Chronicles aired on NBC on 5 July 1989; the title was then shortened to Seinfeld because ABC had a similarly named sitcom, The Marshall Chronicles.

In Seinfeld, what is Kramer's first name, revealed in the 1995 episode 'The Switch'?

Kramer's first name is Cosmo, which his mother Babs lets slip in 'The Switch' in January 1995; for five seasons he had been known only as Kramer.

Which of these was a working title for Friends before its 1994 premiere?

Six of One replaced Friends Like Us on the first script; the creators had pitched the show to NBC as Insomnia Cafe, in a treatment just seven pages long.

Frasier's 37 Emmys broke a record long held by which sitcom?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show's 29 Emmys were the record until Frasier won its 30th in 2002; the spin-off thereby also outdid its own parent show, Cheers, which had won 28.

Frasier Crane hosts a call-in psychiatry show on which Seattle station?

KACL is the fictional Seattle talk station where Roz produces Frasier's show; Lisa Kudrow was first cast as Roz, but Peri Gilpin replaced her before filming began.

Where does the 2023 Frasier revival relocate Frasier Crane?

Boston is where the revival sends Frasier, who takes a Harvard lectureship to be near his son Freddy, a firefighter who dropped out of that same university.

The Simpsons began as shorts on which programme in 1987?

The Tracey Ullman Show first aired the shorts in April 1987; Matt Groening had sketched the family in an office lobby just before his pitch, naming them after his own parents and sisters.

In 2004, The Simpsons passed which 1950s family show as the longest-running US sitcom?

Ozzie and Harriet, in full The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, ran 14 seasons from 1952 with the real Nelson family playing themselves, and made a pop star of son Ricky.

Which CBS sitcom won 15 Emmys?

Everybody Loves Raymond won its 15 Emmys from 69 nominations; Ray Romano landed the show after a stand-up set on David Letterman's Late Show, and Letterman's company produced it.

Who adapted the British Office for NBC?

Greg Daniels built the pilot as a close adaptation of the British first episode, partly rewritten to Americanise it, while Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant stayed on as executive producers.

The British Office is set at the Slough branch of which fictional paper company?

Wernham Hogg, where 'life is stationery', lasted only two six-episode series and a two-part Christmas special, yet it spawned an American remake that ran for 201 episodes.

Who narrated Arrested Development and served as an executive producer?

Ron Howard voiced the narrator for the pilot only at first, but it suited the show so well that he stayed for the whole run, without an on-screen credit.

Who created and starred in 30 Rock, the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy winner of 2007, 2008 and 2009?

Tina Fey built 30 Rock on her own years as head writer of Saturday Night Live; it was nominated for the top comedy Emmy in every one of its seven seasons.

Which ABC sitcom won five straight Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys?

Modern Family equalled the five straight wins Frasier managed in the 1990s; midway through the run, its adult stars sued to void their contracts and came away with big raises.

Which CBS sitcom ran 279 episodes?

The Big Bang Theory's 279 episodes edged past the 275 of Cheers; its finale sends the gang to Sweden, where two of them collect the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Leslie Knope works in the parks department of which fictional Indiana town?

Pawnee is in Indiana on screen but Southern California in reality: the exterior of its government building is Pasadena City Hall.

Community's sixth and final season aired on which platform?

Yahoo Screen streamed Community's sixth season in 2015 after NBC cancelled it; within a year Yahoo took a $42 million write-down on its original shows and closed the service.

Who narrates How I Met Your Mother as the older Ted?

Bob Saget narrated the show throughout; the children's scene for the finale was filmed years ahead on a closed set, before the young actors could outgrow their parts.

Who replaced Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men from season nine, playing billionaire Walden Schmidt?

Ashton Kutcher's Walden Schmidt is a billionaire who buys Charlie's house after Charlie's death.

Which HBO comedy is improvised from a story outline?

Curb Your Enthusiasm works from outlines by Larry David; footage shot for one episode at Dodger Stadium later gave a man accused of murder his alibi and got the case dismissed.

Which actor joined It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in season two as Frank Reynolds?

Danny DeVito joined as Frank Reynolds in 2006 for season two, after FX asked the creators to add a recognisable star to lift the show's ratings.

Which sitcom did NBC rescue after Fox's cancellation?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine was rescued a day after Fox dropped it, following a social-media campaign by fans, and it ran three more seasons on its new network.

What business did the family in Schitt's Creek lose to an embezzling manager?

Johnny Rose built the Rose Video chain, lost when his business manager embezzled the fortune; the family kept only the town of Schitt's Creek, bought as a joke.

Which Saturday Night Live alumnus first played Ted Lasso in promos for NBC's Premier League coverage?

Jason Sudeikis's 2013 promos made Lasso the clueless new manager of Tottenham; the Apple TV+ series reworked him as coach of the fictional AFC Richmond.

Who created Abbott Elementary and stars as teacher Janine Teagues?

Quinta Brunson named the school after Joyce Abbott, one of her own former teachers in Philadelphia, and drew the show from her mother's 40 years in the classroom.

Which character does Kristen Bell play on The Good Place?

Eleanor Shellstrop arrives in the Good Place and concludes she was sent there by mistake, so she asks her assigned soulmate Chidi, an ethics professor, to teach her to be good.

Which HBO comedy won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series three years running, from 2015 to 2017?

Veep won for its fourth, fifth and sixth seasons; the last two were made after creator Armando Iannucci stepped down as showrunner and David Mandel took over.

Fawlty Towers was inspired by a rude hotelier in which English seaside resort?

Torquay's Gleneagles Hotel put up the Monty Python team in the early 1970s; owner Donald Sinclair criticised Terry Gilliam's table manners and removed Eric Idle's bag in case it held a bomb.

Who co-wrote Fawlty Towers with John Cleese?

Connie Booth, Cleese's wife when the show began, co-wrote both series of Fawlty Towers with him and played the waitress Polly Sherman; they divorced between the two series.

Who played Manuel, the hapless waiter from Barcelona, in Fawlty Towers?

Andrew Sachs was born in Berlin and came to Britain in 1938 when his family fled the Nazis; for Spanish television, Manuel was redubbed as an Italian called Paolo.

Which Only Fools and Horses character famously falls through an open bar flap?

Del Boy takes the tumble in 1989's 'Yuppy Love', the episode in which Rodney meets his future wife Cassandra; John Sullivan wrote that script and every other episode.

Only Fools and Horses is set in which part of south-east London?

Peckham is only the setting: the tower block in the titles stood in Acton, west London, and from 1988 the Trotters' exteriors were filmed in Bristol.

Who co-wrote the first Blackadder series with Rowan Atkinson?

Richard Curtis co-wrote The Black Adder (1983) with Rowan Atkinson; Ben Elton then replaced Atkinson as Curtis's co-writer for Blackadder II, the Third and Goes Forth.

Father Ted is set on which fictional place off Ireland's west coast?

Craggy Island is where the Church has banished Ted, Dougal and Jack for past misdeeds; the island in the opening titles is really Inisheer, with its rusting Plassey shipwreck.

Which housekeeper is forever pressing cups of tea on the priests in Father Ted?

Mrs Doyle was played by Pauline McLynn, only 32 when the series began; she later revived the character and her 'Go on, go on, go on' for Inland Revenue adverts urging people to file their tax returns.

The IT Crowd is set in the offices of which fictional corporation?

Reynholm Industries keeps its two IT technicians in a dingy basement; their manager Jen runs the department while knowing nothing about computers.

Peep Show is filmed almost entirely using which technique?

Point-of-view shots let viewers see through Mark's and Jez's eyes while hearing their thoughts; some scenes were filmed with cameras strapped to the actors' heads.

Absolutely Fabulous grew out of a 1990 sketch on which comedy duo's television show?

French and Saunders's sketch 'Modern Mother and Daughter' gave the sitcom its role reversal: sensible daughter Saffron acts as mother to her spoilt, tantrum-throwing parent Edina.

Dad's Army is about which wartime organisation?

The Home Guard was co-writer Jimmy Perry's own wartime outfit: he joined in Watford in 1940 as a teenager and later based the mollycoddled Private Pike partly on himself.

Are You Being Served? follows the clothing-department staff of which fictional, old-fashioned London department store?

Grace Brothers drew on co-writer Jeremy Lloyd's own spell as a junior assistant in the menswear department of a Piccadilly store, which also supplied many of the characters.

What was Rowan Atkinson studying at Oxford when Mr. Bean was developed?

Electrical engineering was Atkinson's postgraduate subject at Oxford; the character had no name until after the first episode was made, with vegetable options such as Mr. Cauliflower considered.

Gavin & Stacey's two families come from Billericay in Essex and where in Wales?

Barry is home to Stacey's family and to Nessa, who works on Barry Island; the show has been credited with boosting tourism there as fans visit the filming locations.

Derry Girls follows five 1990s teenagers growing up during the final years of which conflict?

The Troubles frame the series: its first run ends with the family watching news of a fatal bombing, and its final episode is set around the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman play Fleabag had its first full run at which festival in 2013?

Edinburgh Festival Fringe audiences saw the first full Fleabag in a sixty-seat room in 2013; it grew from a short piece Waller-Bridge wrote for a friend's stand-up storytelling night.

Kim's Convenience follows a Korean Canadian family running a corner store in which city?

Toronto, where the Kims' shop sits in the Moss Park neighbourhood; a real store on Queen Street East, Mimi Variety, plays it in exterior shots and became a stop for visiting fans.

Which two Fox shows won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy, in 1999 and 2004?

Ally McBeal and Arrested Development gave Fox its first two wins: Ally McBeal's 1999 victory ended Frasier's run of five in a row, and Arrested Development won for its debut season.

Norman Lear said Archie Bunker was partly inspired by whom?

His own dad: Herman Lear called Norman 'the laziest white kid' he had ever met and shouted 'Stifle!' at Lear's mother, an order Archie went on to bark at Edith.

Which liberal advocacy group did Norman Lear found to counter the Moral Majority?

People for the American Way grew out of Norman Lear's alarm at the religious right; he later bought an original 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence and sent it on a national tour.

Garry Marshall cast his sister Penny as a lead in which Happy Days spin-off?

Laverne & Shirley starred Penny Marshall as brewery bottle-capper Laverne DeFazio; by its third season it had overtaken its parent show to become America's most-watched programme.

Which sitcom co-creator also directed Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News?

James L. Brooks co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, developed The Simpsons for Fox, and won three Oscars directing and writing Terms of Endearment.

The Great Gildersleeve, one of broadcasting's earliest spin-offs, grew out of which radio comedy with a famously overstuffed closet?

Fibber McGee and Molly's pompous neighbour Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, voiced by Harold Peary, left for his own show in August 1941 and became a small-town water commissioner raising his orphaned niece and nephew.

Night Court creator Reinhold Weege had previously worked on which sitcom?

Reinhold Weege wrote and produced Barney Miller before creating Night Court in 1984, casting magician Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone.

Which vice president attacked Murphy Brown in a speech for having a child out of wedlock?

Vice President Dan Quayle attacked Murphy Brown in a May 1992 speech for bearing a child alone; the show answered in its September 1992 premiere 'You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato'.

Why did ABC cancel the 2018 Roseanne revival?

Its star's tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former Obama adviser, cost Roseanne Barr her hit revival in May 2018; ABC brought the family back that October as The Conners, without her.

Which sitcom opened Fox's first night of primetime programming in April 1987?

Married... with Children launched the network's primetime schedule on 5 April 1987; a Michigan viewer's 1989 advertiser boycott over its crudeness made headlines, yet the sponsors came back and its ratings rose.

Which Will & Grace actor won a 2000 Emmy as Will's friend Jack McFarland?

Sean Hayes won the 2000 supporting-actor Emmy as Jack McFarland, a part he landed straight after his breakthrough in the indie film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss.

Sex and the City was based on a newspaper column and book by whom?

Candace Bushnell wrote the column for the New York Observer from 1994, drawing on her own dates and her friends'; she has called Carrie Bradshaw her alter ego, and Darren Star adapted it for HBO.

Who created the single-camera comedy Malcolm in the Middle?

Linwood Boomer, a former Little House on the Prairie actor, created Malcolm in the Middle for Fox in 2000, drawing on his own childhood; Frankie Muniz starred.

Scrubs is set at which fictional teaching hospital?

Sacred Heart was played by a real building: the first eight seasons were shot on location in the closed North Hollywood Medical Center, which was demolished in 2011.

In New Girl, which of Jess's loft roommates works as a bartender?

Nick Miller pours drinks for most of the run, then turns novelist: by the final season he and Jess are back from a European book tour for The Pepperwood Chronicles.

Mom's recovering alcoholics Christy and Bonnie Plunkett live in which California wine-country city?

Napa is home to Christy and Bonnie Plunkett, both staying sober in the heart of wine country; Anna Faris left before the eighth season, which then became the show's last.

The employees in Superstore work at which fictional big-box chain?

Cloud 9 is the St. Louis big-box store where the staff clock in; the series ends with the branch being turned into an online fulfilment centre that has room for only a handful of them.

Young Sheldon is set in which Texas town?

Young Sheldon is set in Medford, the East Texas town where nine-year-old Sheldon starts high school in 1989; the series ends with him leaving for Caltech in California at 14.

The US version of Ghosts is set at which inherited country house?

Woodstone Mansion is the crumbling estate Sam inherits from a great-aunt and turns into a B&B with her husband Jay; after a near-fatal accident there, she alone can see and hear its ghosts.

Which 1980s sitcom's finale revealed the whole series as a dream of psychologist Bob Hartley's?

Newhart's finale has Bob Newhart wake as Hartley, his 1970s sitcom character, beside Suzanne Pleshette as wife Emily; a fake ending was scripted to throw off the press. Henry Mancini wrote the show's theme.

Family Ties was built around its ex-hippie parents until studio audiences made which character the star?

Alex P. Keaton was first offered to Matthew Broderick, who turned it down rather than move to Los Angeles; Michael J. Fox won the part at a second audition, after the show's creator had rejected him.

Which future Oscar winner joined the final season of Growing Pains as homeless teenager Luke Brower?

Leonardo DiCaprio's Luke is taken in by the Seavers; within two years of the show's end he had an Oscar nomination for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, whose director at first thought him too good-looking for the part.

Before becoming a housekeeper, Tony Micelli of Who's the Boss? was a professional in which sport?

Baseball: a shoulder injury ended Tony Micelli's Major League career, so he left Brooklyn for Connecticut to keep house for Angela Bower and give his daughter Samantha a quieter life.

Full House and Family Matters were fixtures of which branded ABC comedy block from 1989?

TGIF was the name ABC gave its Friday comedies in September 1989, on the night Family Matters made its debut; between programmes the shows' casts introduced the line-up in character.

The Wonder Years premiered on ABC immediately after which event in January 1988?

The Wonder Years premiered on 31 January 1988 right after Super Bowl XXII, then won Outstanding Comedy Series that August on the strength of just six episodes.

Designing Women's Sugarbaker & Associates is an interior design firm in which city?

Atlanta is the firm's home on screen, but the Sugarbaker house seen in exterior shots is the Villa Marre, a historic mansion in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Olsen twins took turns playing which Full House character?

Michelle Tanner was played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in turn; for most of the run they shared a single credit because the producers did not want viewers to know there were two of them.

Steptoe and Son's rag-and-bone yard was at 26a Oil Drum Lane in which part of London?

The Steptoes' yard at 26a Oil Drum Lane was in Shepherd's Bush, west London; Galton and Simpson's 1962 creation was remade in the US as Sanford and Son.

Ronnie Barker's Fletcher serves his sentence in which prison in Porridge?

HMP Slade is an invention: the Home Office would not let the BBC film at a real jail, so the gatehouse in the opening titles is the disused prison at St Albans.

The Good Life's Tom and Barbara pursue self-sufficiency in which suburb?

Surbiton is where Tom and Barbara Good dig up their lawn, though the houses seen on screen were filmed in Northwood, on the other side of London; US viewers knew the show as Good Neighbors.

Jim Hacker of Yes Minister runs which fictional Whitehall ministry?

Department of Administrative Affairs is where Sir Humphrey Appleby runs rings round Jim Hacker; the show's fan Margaret Thatcher performed a sketch with the two actors in January 1984.

How long was Red Dwarf's Dave Lister in suspended animation?

Lister spent three million years in stasis after a radiation leak killed the Red Dwarf's crew, waking as the last human alive with only a hologram and an evolved cat for company.

Men Behaving Badly moved from ITV to which channel in 1994?

Men Behaving Badly moved to BBC One in 1994 after two series on ITV; Harry Enfield appeared only in the first series before Neil Morrissey replaced him as Gary's flatmate.

The Royle Family is set in which city?

Manchester is home to the Royles, though the actors playing Jim and Barbara, Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston, had already been husband and wife in the Liverpool soap Brookside.

The Inbetweeners follows four friends at which fictional school?

Rudge Park Comprehensive is where Will lands when his parents' divorce pulls him out of private school, and where Simon, Jay and Neil are the only friends he can find.

Which BBC series was the world's longest-running sitcom when it ended in 2010 after 37 years?

Last of the Summer Wine ran from 1973 to 2010 with Roy Clarke writing all 295 episodes, and it turned its Yorkshire filming location, Holmfirth, into a tourist destination.

Open All Hours, with Ronnie Barker's Arkwright, is set in a corner shop where in Yorkshire?

Doncaster's Balby suburb is both the setting and the filming location: Arkwright's shop front is a real building on Lister Avenue, where the exterior scenes were shot.

In Keeping Up Appearances, Hyacinth insists that her surname Bucket is pronounced like which word?

Bouquet is how Hyacinth says it, even when answering the telephone; her long-suffering husband Richard points out that it was always plain Bucket until he met her.

Who wrote One Foot in the Grave and went on to create the mystery series Jonathan Creek?

David Renwick wrote every episode for Richard Wilson's Victor Meldrew, then ended the show in 2000 by having Victor killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Bottom's Richie and Eddie share a squalid flat in which part of London?

Hammersmith is home to Richie and Eddie's squalid flat; Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson first called the show Your Bottom, so that people would say 'I saw Your Bottom on television last night'.

Who directed Spaced?

Edgar Wright directed every episode of Spaced; one of them, in which Simon Pegg's Tim hallucinates a zombie invasion, gave Wright and Pegg the idea for Shaun of the Dead.

Black Books was created by Dylan Moran and which Father Ted writer?

Dylan Moran created Black Books with Graham Linehan, who had co-written Father Ted; it ran on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2004 with Bill Bailey as Manny Bianco.

Which film spun off from The Thick of It in 2009?

In the Loop took Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker to Washington for a rush to war and earned an Oscar nomination for its script; Armando Iannucci went on to create Veep for HBO.

Which actor played the miserly landlord Rigsby in Rising Damp?

Leonard Rossiter had already played the landlord on stage, under the name Rooksby, in The Banana Box, the Eric Chappell play that Yorkshire Television turned into Rising Damp.

Hi-de-Hi! was inspired by Jimmy Perry's time as what?

A Redcoat at Butlin's was Jimmy Perry's holiday job as a young actor; Hi-de-Hi! turned the Redcoats into the Yellowcoats of fictional Maplins, with a real camp at Dovercourt in Essex standing in.

Which comedian turned her Radio 2 series about running a joke shop into a hit BBC sitcom?

Miranda Hart's Joke Shop aired on Radio 2 in 2008 and became the sitcom Miranda a year later; it began on BBC Two and was promoted to the BBC's main channel for its third series.

Which duo, creators of Drop the Dead Donkey, wrote and directed the family sitcom Outnumbered?

Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin scripted the adults' lines but gave the child actors only last-minute instructions, so much of what the children say is improvised.

'Jumping the shark' recalls a 1977 water-ski stunt by which sitcom character?

Fonzie jumped over a shark on water-skis in a 1977 episode of Happy Days; Jon Hein's website later made the phrase shorthand for the moment a show starts running out of ideas.

Diff'rent Strokes' two-part 'The Bicycle Man', in which a shopkeeper preys on Arnold, is a famous example of which sitcom format?

A very special episode drops the jokes for a serious issue; here the predator was played by Gordon Jump, best known as the hapless station boss Arthur Carlson in WKRP in Cincinnati.

Fran Fine of The Nanny hails from which Queens neighbourhood?

Flushing is where Fran Fine's parents Sylvia and Morty still live; Fran Drescher named them after her own mother and father.

Wings is set at Tom Nevers Field on which island?

Nantucket really did have a Tom Nevers base, a US Navy facility that closed in 1976. The show's Tom Nevers Field is invented, home to the Hackett brothers' one-plane airline Sandpiper Air.

3rd Rock from the Sun's creators, Bonnie and Terry Turner, had earlier written which film with a similar premise?

Coneheads (1993) moved Dan Aykroyd's Saturday Night Live aliens to suburbia, the Turners sharing the script with Aykroyd and Tom Davis; three years later their own aliens landed in Rutherford, Ohio.

The Drew Carey Show is set in which city?

Cleveland is Drew Carey's real birthplace, and from its third season the show opened with a cover of Ian Hunter's 'Cleveland Rocks' by The Presidents of the United States of America.

Who joined NewsRadio after Phil Hartman's death in 1998?

Jon Lovitz joined NewsRadio as Max Louis for its fifth and final season after his friend Phil Hartman was killed in May 1998; Paul Simms created the show.

Michael J. Fox's Spin City character Mike Flaherty held what job?

Deputy Mayor of New York Mike Flaherty spends his days covering for a gaffe-prone mayor; the show's star left in 2000 as his Parkinson's symptoms worsened, and Charlie Sheen took over as the lead.

Just Shoot Me! is set at a fashion magazine called what?

Blush is owned by Jack Gallo; his journalist daughter Maya joins it only after being fired for tampering with an anchorwoman's teleprompter and making her cry on air.

Which Seinfeld veteran played Arthur Spooner, the father-in-law in the basement on The King of Queens?

Jerry Stiller at first turned the part down, so a pilot was shot with comedian Jack Carter as Arthur; Stiller then changed his mind and those scenes were filmed again with him.

Ted Danson's Becker practises medicine in which New York borough?

The Bronx is where Dr. John Becker keeps a small practice, annoyed by almost everyone he meets; his patients stay loyal because, under the grumbling, he genuinely cares about them.

Which sitcom was called These Friends of Mine for its first season, then renamed to avoid confusion with NBC's Friends?

Ellen began in 1994 as These Friends of Mine; three years later its bookshop owner Ellen Morgan came out in 'The Puppy Episode', the show's most-watched, weeks after Ellen DeGeneres had done so herself.

Larry Sanders drew on Garry Shandling's experience as a frequent guest host of which late-night programme?

The Tonight Show used Garry Shandling as a regular stand-in for Johnny Carson until 1987; in 1993 he turned down the chance to take over a real network late-night show and went on playing a fictional host.

Mary Richards of The Mary Tyler Moore Show works at which fictional Minneapolis TV station?

WJM hires Mary Richards after a broken engagement; she was first written as a divorcée, until CBS feared viewers would think she had left Rob Petrie, her husband on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Happy Days began as an unsold pilot aired as a segment of which ABC anthology series in 1972?

The unsold pilot aired in February 1972 as a Love, American Style segment, 'Love and the Television Set'; after George Lucas cast its young lead in American Graffiti, ABC took a second look and ordered Happy Days.

Three's Company was based on which British sitcom?

Three's Company (1977) adapted ITV's Man About the House (1973-76); its spin-offs The Ropers and Three's a Crowd mirrored the British show's George and Mildred and Robin's Nest.

In which city's suburbs is Tim Allen's Home Improvement set?

Detroit's suburbs are home to the Taylors, and Tim shows it: his sweatshirts come from Michigan colleges and universities, which sent them in for him to wear on the show.

Which comedian broke through as the alien Mork in a 1978 episode of Happy Days?

Robin Williams is said to have won the part by sitting on his head when asked to take a seat at the audition; 'My Favorite Orkan' went over so well that ABC gave him Mork & Mindy that autumn.

Which WKRP in Cincinnati disc jockey was played by Howard Hesseman?

Johnny Fever was played by Howard Hesseman, a real disc jockey at a San Francisco rock station in the 1960s; the call letters K-R-P were a deliberate pun on C-R-A-P.

Which actor played Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

James Avery played the stern but loving Judge Philip Banks for all six seasons; a generation of children also knew his voice as the villain Shredder in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Family Matters grew out of Harriette Winslow, an elevator operator in which Chicago-set ABC sitcom?

Perfect Strangers gave elevator operator Harriette Winslow her own show in 1989; nerdy neighbour Steve Urkel was meant to appear in a single episode and ended up as its star.

Which actor played psychiatrist Frasier Crane for twenty years across Cheers and a Seattle-set spin-off?

Kelsey Grammer was hired for only a few Cheers episodes, but producers liked his performance so much that they kept expanding the part.

Which spin-off of All in the Family followed a dry-cleaning tycoon's move from Queens to Manhattan?

The Jeffersons ran for eleven seasons, longer than any other spin-off of All in the Family. The family's chain, Jefferson Cleaners, paid for the move away from the Bunkers.

Which Happy Days spin-off followed two roommates who cap bottles at Milwaukee's fictional Shotz Brewery?

Laverne & Shirley became the most-watched programme on American television by its third season. Later the pair lose their brewery jobs to automation and move to California.

Which actor, the adult Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, narrates the prequel spin-off Young Sheldon?

Jim Parsons narrates as the grown-up Sheldon looking back on his childhood, and the prequel grew out of an idea he took to the producers himself.

Which spin-off of the cancelled 2018 Roseanne revival carried on the family's story without Roseanne herself?

The Conners opened with the family mourning Roseanne, whose character had died of an opioid overdose. The rest of the adult cast all stayed on.

Which Friends character left New York for Hollywood to chase acting stardom in a two-season spin-off?

Joey Tribbiani headed west with Matt LeBlanc reprising the role, but low ratings saw the spin-off cancelled in 2006.

Which Diff'rent Strokes spin-off made housekeeper Mrs. Garrett the housemother at a girls' boarding school?

The Facts of Life ran for nine seasons as the girls of Eastland School grew up. Mrs. Garrett later left the school to open her own food shop, Edna's Edibles.

Which Family Guy character left Quahog for his Virginia hometown in an animated spin-off that ran four seasons?

Cleveland Brown went home to Stoolbend, Virginia, with a new wife and stepchildren. About a year after the spin-off was cancelled, he moved back to his old street.

Which teen sitcom set at Bayside High was retooled from the Disney Channel series Good Morning, Miss Bliss?

Saved by the Bell kept Zack Morris but moved him from an Indianapolis junior high to California, leaving Hayley Mills's Miss Bliss behind.

Which Boy Meets World couple returned as Riley's parents in the Disney Channel spin-off Girl Meets World?

Cory and Topanga Matthews have moved to New York City, where Cory is now his own daughter's history teacher. Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel both came back to play them.

Which Norman Lear spin-off followed Florida and James Evans raising three children in a public housing project?

Good Times was television's first sitcom about a two-parent African-American family. Florida was already familiar to viewers as a housekeeper on an earlier Lear show.

Which outspoken liberal cousin of Edith Bunker got her own spin-off starring Bea Arthur, set in Tuckahoe, New York?

Maude Findlay was written as the political opposite of Archie Bunker, a natural foil for him. Her own show went on to tackle abortion, alcoholism and mental health.

Which Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off drew over 52 million viewers when its title character married Joe Gerard?

Rhoda pulled in more than half of the American viewing audience for that hour-long wedding episode, only eight weeks into the spin-off's run.

Which sharp-tongued butler, played by Robert Guillaume, left the Tate household of Soap and rose to lieutenant governor?

Benson DuBois began his spin-off running a governor's household and ended it campaigning against his old boss, in an election cliffhanger that was never resolved.

Which Golden Girls spin-off followed a widowed paediatrician, Harry Weston, whose grown daughters move back home?

Empty Nest ran for seven seasons, with the Westons' large dog, Dreyfuss, treated as one of the household.

Vicki Lawrence's sitcom Mama's Family grew out of sketches called The Family on which long-running variety programme?

The Carol Burnett Show first tried to spin Mama off in its ninth season, but Lawrence refused, unwilling to play an old lady in a fat suit every week.

Which short-lived spin-off sent Colonel Potter, Klinger and Father Mulcahy to work at a Missouri veterans' hospital?

AfterMASH launched to much fanfare, but its second season was moved opposite The A-Team and cut short after only nine more episodes were made.

Which landlord couple left Three's Company for a spin-off loosely based on the British sitcom George and Mildred?

The Ropers sold their apartment building and moved to upmarket Cheviot Hills, where social-climbing Helen struggled to fit in with her new neighbours.

Which Cosby Show daughter, played by Lisa Bonet, left for Hillman College in the spin-off A Different World?

Denise Huxtable was the centre of the spin-off for only one season. After Lisa Bonet left, the stories shifted to Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne.

Which Only Fools and Horses car dealer fled to a Shropshire farm with wife Marlene in The Green Green Grass?

Boycie had to run from the Driscoll brothers after giving evidence against them. John Challis and Sue Holderness both carried their roles over from the parent show.

Which Pennsylvania city is home to Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin branch in the American version of The Office?

Scranton was visited by John Krasinski before filming began. He interviewed staff at real paper companies there and shot the footage used in the opening credits.

In which Florida city do four older single women share a house in The Golden Girls?

Miami is home to the house owned by Blanche, who took in two of her housemates after they answered an ad on a grocery-store bulletin board.

Which cable network bought the Studio City house seen in The Brady Bunch and rebuilt its interior to match the sets?

HGTV outbid seven rivals, including NSYNC's Lance Bass, then filmed the rebuild as A Very Brady Renovation.

In which California city do Sheldon and Leonard share an apartment in The Big Bang Theory?

Pasadena is where both physicists work, at the California Institute of Technology, and where Penny moves in across the hall.

Matt Groening named the Simpsons' hometown after a real Springfield he knew as a child in which US state?

Oregon has a Springfield near Groening's native Portland, and as a child he believed it was the town in the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best.

Which real Manhattan diner, on Broadway at West 112th Street, supplied the exterior of Monk's Café in Seinfeld?

Tom's Restaurant had already inspired a 1987 Suzanne Vega song. Later Seinfeld episodes cropped or dimmed the first word of its neon sign.

In which Colorado city does the alien Mork move in with Mindy McConnell in the sitcom Mork & Mindy?

Boulder still has the house used for the exterior shots, on Pine Street a few blocks from the Pearl Street Mall.

The fountain in the Friends opening titles was filmed not in New York but on a studio ranch in which California city?

Burbank was unusually cold when the cast filmed the sequence at four in the morning. Friends itself was shot on Warner Bros. soundstages in the same city.

Which Beacon Hill pub supplied the exterior of the bar in Cheers and later took the sitcom's name for itself?

The Bull & Finch was founded in 1969 and modelled on English pubs, right down to fittings imported from England. It became Cheers in 2002.

The outdoor camp set of M*A*S*H stood on a 20th Century Fox ranch that is now which California state park?

Malibu Creek still displays a rusted jeep and ambulance from the show. A brush fire destroyed most of the set in 1982, and the blaze was written into the finale.

Which paper salesman in the American version of The Office lives on a beet farm with his cousin Mose?

Dwight Schrute was based on Gareth Keenan from the British original, and he also runs a bed and breakfast at Schrute Farms.

Which Happy Days character's leather jacket was requested by the Smithsonian for its American history museum in 1980?

Arthur Fonzarelli wore a windbreaker for most of the first season, because ABC thought a leather jacket suggested criminality.

Which Golden Girls housemate, played by Betty White, tells peculiar stories about growing up in St. Olaf, Minnesota?

Rose Nylund was written as a Norwegian American from a small farming town, and her rambling tales often had nothing to do with the problem at hand.

Which Parks and Recreation department head secretly performs as a jazz saxophonist under the name Duke Silver?

Ron Swanson was partly inspired by a real libertarian elected official, and Nick Offerman's own personality was folded into the character.

Which Cheers regular, an accountant played by George Wendt, is one of only three characters to appear in every episode?

Norm Peterson began as a one-line customer called George, but the writers expanded George Wendt's part before the pilot was even filmed.

Which M*A*S*H company clerk was played by Gary Burghoff on both the big screen and television?

Radar O'Reilly was the only regular played by the same actor on film and television. Burghoff himself picked the character's real first name, Walter.

Which Andy Griffith Show deputy, played by Don Knotts, is trusted with only one bullet, kept in his shirt pocket?

Barney Fife won Don Knotts five Emmys for supporting actor in a comedy. Knotts had suggested the part himself, phoning Griffith to say his sheriff might need a deputy.

Which Bewitched character, the mother of Samantha, refuses to say her mortal son-in-law's name correctly?

Endora, played by Agnes Moorehead, finds mortals dull and never reveals her own surname, telling her son-in-law he would be unable to pronounce it.

Which Taxi mechanic was built around Foreign Man, a character Andy Kaufman had been performing in his stand-up act?

Latka Gravas was added after the producers saw the act at The Comedy Store. Kaufman disliked sitcoms and agreed only when his manager said the money could fund his own work.

Which live-in housekeeper, played by Ann B. Davis, keeps the blended household running in The Brady Bunch?

Alice was already Mike Brady's live-in housekeeper when the two families merged, and she has a boyfriend of her own, Sam Franklin.

Which next-door neighbour in Home Improvement chats to Tim Taylor over the fence with the lower half of his face hidden?

Wilson is never seen full-face until the final episode. Away from the fence, a mask, a balaclava or something in the room always blocks part of his face.

Which future Oscar winner joined the cast of Growing Pains as Luke Brower, a homeless teenager taken in by the Seavers?

Leonardo DiCaprio was cast to draw teenage viewers, then written out so that he could start work on the film This Boy's Life.

Dr. Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show runs a practice from an office attached to the family home in which specialty?

Obstetrics and gynaecology keeps Cliff on call to deliver babies at a local hospital, as well as seeing patients in the office annexed to the house.

What is the real first name of Beaver Cleaver, the younger brother in Leave It to Beaver?

Theodore became Beaver, the story goes, because his older brother mispronounced the name as Tweedor when Beaver was a baby.

The Addams Family began as single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams, published from 1938 in which magazine?

The New Yorker cartoons left the family nameless for decades. Gomez and Pugsley were only named when the television series arrived in 1964.

In The Munsters, the family of friendly monsters lives in a mansion at number 1313 on which street?

Mockingbird Lane housed a family whose looks were borrowed from Universal's classic film monsters, which was allowed because the studio co-produced the show.

Which producer created both Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, and wrote theme songs for both shows?

Sherwood Schwartz wrote for radio before television, and his younger brother Elroy became a principal screenwriter for the castaway comedy.

Which actor played insurance man Jim Anderson in Father Knows Best on radio and television, then Marcus Welby, M.D.?

Robert Young won Emmys for both parts, first as the sitcom father and later as the kindly television doctor who made house calls.

Which real-life family pop group of the late 1960s was the loose model for The Partridge Family?

The Cowsills were considered for the parts themselves, but the producers dropped the idea because the children were untrained actors and too old for the script.

Which gruff Mary Tyler Moore Show news boss was spun off into his own hour-long newspaper drama?

Lou Grant made Ed Asner the first actor to win Emmys for playing the same character in both a comedy and a drama.