Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
60 free Mary Tyler Moore Show trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
She turned the world on with her smile, and she also produced the Six O'Clock News. This Mary Tyler Moore Show trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers about the CBS sitcom that ran from 1970 to 1977: Mary Richards and her WJM-TV newsroom, Lou Grant, Murray, Ted Baxter, Rhoda, Phyllis, Sue Ann Nivens and Georgette, plus the hat toss, the Kenwood Parkway house, Chuckles the Clown and the group hug that ended it all. The early rounds are gentle enough for anyone who has caught a rerun: who played whom, where the show was set, which spin-offs it launched. Later questions dig into production history, Emmy records, the actors' other careers and the odd details that superfans love, from Mimsie the cat to Ted's on-air Tipperary sendoff. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the series, its episodes, spin-offs and cast, and each question links to the page and sentence that supports it.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was The Mary Tyler Moore Show set?
Minneapolis
Co-creator Allan Burns said Minnesota came up because one of the writers began talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the Vikings.
Q 02What were the call letters of the TV station where Mary Richards worked?
WJM
She had applied for a secretarial job there, found it filled, and was offered a job on the six o'clock news instead.
Q 03On which network did the show air from 1970 to 1977?
CBS
CBS was nervous about the original premise for Mary's backstory, partly fearing viewers would think she had divorced Rob Petrie.
Q 04Who played gruff news producer Lou Grant?
Ed Asner
He won five Emmys for the role across two shows and remains the male performer with the most Primetime Emmys for acting, seven.
Q 05What was the name of the vain, dim-witted anchorman played by Ted Knight?
Ted Baxter
He was constantly criticized by Murray and Lou but never fired. Kent Brockman on The Simpsons is an homage to the character.
Q 06Which actor played head newswriter Murray Slaughter?
Gavin MacLeod
He later captained the Pacific Princess for nine seasons as Captain Stubing on The Love Boat and became Princess Cruises' global ambassador.
Q 07Mary's upstairs neighbor and best friend Rhoda Morgenstern was played by whom?
Valerie Harper
She won three supporting-actress Emmys for the part before taking it to New York in her own series, where she won a fourth as lead.
Q 08What was Phyllis Lindstrom's relationship to Mary, apart from being her friend?
Her landlady
Mary rented a third-floor studio in the 19th-century house. Phyllis's husband Lars, a dermatologist, was never seen on screen.
Q 09Betty White's Sue Ann Nivens hosted which show at WJM?
The Happy Homemaker
Her syrupy on-air persona was the exact opposite of her man-hungry, acid-tongued self, and she was relentlessly attracted to Lou.
Q 10Georgia Engel's soft-voiced Georgette Franklin eventually married which character?
Ted Baxter
The wedding took place in Mary's apartment, as did the birth of their daughter; they also adopted a boy named David.
Q 11How many Primetime Emmy Awards did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win in total?
29
The tally included Outstanding Comedy Series three years running, from 1975 to 1977, and three lead-actress wins for Moore.
Q 12Which sitcom finally broke the show's Emmy record in 2002?
Frasier
Moore herself won three of the show's Emmys, for lead actress in a comedy.
Q 13Which of these was NOT one of the show's three spin-offs?
Ted
All three real spin-offs aired on CBS. Two were sitcoms; the third was an hour-long newspaper drama that ran until 1982.
Q 14What was Mary Richards's job title when she was first hired at WJM?
Q 21Where was the show actually filmed, apart from location shots?
CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles
Only the title sequence and establishing shots came from Minnesota; the show was shot in Studio City.
Q 22The character of Mary was originally going to be what, before CBS objected?
A divorcee
The network worried viewers would think she had divorced Rob Petrie, so she became a woman recovering from a broken engagement.
Q 23How did Chuckles the Clown die in the episode 'Chuckles Bites the Dust'?
Associate producer
She was later promoted to producer, though the show noted her duties stayed exactly the same.
Q 15What did Mary do at the end of every opening title sequence?
Tossed her hat into the air
The moment, filmed in front of Donaldson's department store on Nicollet Mall, was ranked the second-greatest moment in 1970s television by Entertainment Weekly.
Q 16Which cable network unveiled a statue of Mary's hat toss on Nicollet Mall in 2002?
TV Land
Moore attended the dedication on May 8, 2002. The department store behind the original toss burned down in a 1982 Thanksgiving Day fire.
Q 17Who wrote and sang the theme song, 'Love Is All Around'?
Sonny Curtis
He was a member of Buddy Holly's Crickets. The song is often misattributed to Paul Williams; the show's incidental music was by Pat Williams.
Q 18Which Twin Cities band covered the theme song and recreated the opening titles on location for its video?
Hüsker Dü
Joan Jett and Sammy Davis Jr. also recorded versions; the 2000 TV movie Mary and Rhoda used the Joan Jett cover.
Q 19The exterior of Mary's apartment house was a real 1892 home on which street?
Kenwood Parkway
The fictional address was 119 North Weatherly. The real owners eventually put a political sign in the window to discourage film crews.
Q 20What sign did the owners of the real house put in Mary's window to stop crews from filming more footage?
Impeach Nixon
Tour buses were still stopping outside more than a decade after the show ended, and the house was listed for $1.7 million in 2017.
An elephant tried to shell him while he was dressed as a peanut
Ted had wanted the grand marshal job Chuckles took. Everyone laughs at the death except Mary, who then breaks up uncontrollably at the funeral.
Q 24Who wrote 'Chuckles Bites the Dust', winning an Emmy for it?
David Lloyd
TV Guide ranked the episode No. 1 on its 1997 list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time.
Q 25According to the eulogy, what was Chuckles's motto?
A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants
The minister tells the mortified, giggling Mary that laughter is exactly what Chuckles would have wanted, and she bursts into sobs.
Q 26In the series finale, who is the only newsroom staffer NOT fired by the new station manager?
Ted
The person widely blamed for the low ratings keeps his job. Ted signs off by quoting 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' because it was all he could think of.
Q 27In the finale's famous group hug, why does the whole huddle shuffle across the newsroom together?
To reach a box of tissues on Mary's desk
Nobody wants to let go. Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman later called the episode the gold standard for a sitcom finale.
Q 28Which two departed friends fly back to town to comfort Mary in the finale?
Rhoda and Phyllis
It is the only episode in which all eight regular characters appear, and the curtain call was the only time all eight actors were seen together.
Q 29Who played the new WJM station manager, Mr. Coleman, in the finale?
Vincent Gardenia
Ted threatens to resign if the rest of the staff are fired, prompting Murray's line about not blaming a flying donkey for not staying up long.
Q 30Which 1977 program passed Rhoda's 1974 wedding as the highest-rated TV episode of the 1970s?
Roots
More than 52 million Americans watched Rhoda marry Joe Gerard. Howard Cosell joked on Monday Night Football that he had not been invited.