70s Sitcoms Trivia
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60 free 70s Sitcoms trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The 1970s were the decade the American sitcom grew up: Norman Lear's Bunkers, Jeffersons and Findlays argued about race and politics, M*A*S*H mixed surgery with slapstick, MTM built the workplace comedy, and Garry Marshall's Milwaukee gave the world Fonzie, Laverne, Shirley and a spaceman from Ork. This 70s sitcom trivia quiz covers all of them, plus Three's Company, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Taxi, WKRP, Barney Miller, The Bob Newhart Show, Welcome Back Kotter, Soap, Alice, The Odd Couple, The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch: the settings, the catchphrases, the spin-offs, the British originals many were based on, the ratings and the Emmys. The 60 questions and answers range from easy ones for anyone who grew up with the reruns to hard ones about creators, casting near-misses and network decisions, so it works for a family game night, a retro pub quiz or a senior centre. Every answer has been checked against documented broadcast records rather than copied from another trivia list.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01All in the Family was based on which British sitcom?
Till Death Us Do Part
All in the Family was adapted from Till Death Us Do Part, the BBC sitcom whose bigot Alf Garnett became Archie Bunker; the US version topped the Nielsen ratings five straight seasons, 1971 to 1976.
Q 02In which New York City borough do Archie and Edith Bunker live?
Queens
The Bunkers live in Astoria, Queens; their neighbours the Jeffersons eventually 'move on up' from there to a Manhattan high-rise.
Q 03What disparaging nickname does Archie Bunker use for his wife Edith?
Dingbat
Archie calls Edith 'Dingbat' and tells her to 'stifle'; 'Meathead' was reserved for his son-in-law Mike, played by Rob Reiner.
Q 04Which continuation series picked up where All in the Family left off in 1979?
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place continued the story at Archie's bar and ran four seasons, from 1979 to 1983.
Q 05M*A*S*H's 4077th is stationed near which South Korean town?
Uijeongbu
The 4077th MASH is set near Uijeongbu, north of Seoul; the show ran 11 seasons, 1972 to 1983, far longer than the three-year Korean War.
Q 06Who developed M*A*S*H for television from the 1970 film?
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart wrote the pilot and developed the series with producer Gene Reynolds; Gelbart left the show in 1976.
Q 07Which actor replaced Henry Blake as commander of the 4077th, playing Colonel Sherman Potter?
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan joined as Colonel Sherman Potter in 1975; Mike Farrell and David Ogden Stiers were the other big replacements, for Trapper John and Frank Burns.
Q 08What is the title of the M*A*S*H theme, heard as an instrumental over the opening credits?
Suicide Is Painless
The theme is 'Suicide Is Painless', written for the 1970 film by Johnny Mandel with lyrics by director Robert Altman's 14-year-old son Mike; the series used it as an instrumental.
Q 09Happy Days is set in which Midwestern city?
Milwaukee
Happy Days is set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the mid-1950s; Richie Cunningham and his friends hang out at Arnold's drive-in there.
Q 10Happy Days began as an unsold pilot shown as a segment of which ABC anthology series?
Love, American Style
The pilot aired in 1972 as a segment of Love, American Style; George Lucas saw it and cast Ron Howard in American Graffiti, which revived ABC's interest.
Q 11What business does Richie Cunningham's father Howard own on Happy Days?
A hardware store
A hardware store is Howard Cunningham's business, Cunningham Hardware; Richie's older brother Chuck simply vanished from the show after season two.
Q 12Which Happy Days character became the show's breakout star and one of the decade's most merchandised figures?
Fonzie
Fonzie, Henry Winkler's leather-jacketed Arthur Fonzarelli, became the breakout star; the show hit number one in 1976-77 after Garry Marshall retooled it around him.
Q 13Laverne and Shirley work as bottle-cappers at which fictional brewery?
Shotz
Laverne and Shirley cap bottles at the fictional Shotz Brewery; from season six the show relocated them to mid-1960s Burbank, California.
Q 21How did Sherman Hemsley say he learned The Jeffersons had been cancelled in 1985?
By reading it in the newspaper
By reading it in the newspaper, Hemsley said; CBS ended the show abruptly in 1985 after 11 seasons and the cast never got a proper finale.
Q 22Good Times broke ground as television's first sitcom centred on what?
A two-parent Black family
A two-parent Black family, the Evanses, made Good Times a first; it ran six seasons on CBS, 1974 to 1979, and tackled gang warfare, evictions and drug addiction.
Q 23Taxi's cabbies work the night shift at which fictional New York garage?
Q 14Michael McKean and David Lander played which duo of Laverne & Shirley's oddball neighbours?
Lenny and Squiggy
McKean was Lenny Kosnowski and Lander was Andrew 'Squiggy' Squiggman, the upstairs pair Lenny and Squiggy; McKean went on to Spinal Tap and Better Call Saul.
Q 15Three's Company was adapted from which British sitcom?
Man About the House
Three's Company was adapted from Man About the House, the 1973-76 ITV sitcom; its spin-offs The Ropers and Three's a Crowd mirrored the British show's own spin-offs.
Q 16Why does landlord Stanley Roper allow Jack Tripper to live with Janet and Chrissy?
He is told the new tenant is gay
He is told the new tenant is gay, Janet's fib to Mr Roper, who would never let a straight man room with two women; Mrs Roper knows the truth and keeps it from him.
Q 17In which California city is the Three's Company apartment building?
Santa Monica
The Ropers' apartment building is in Santa Monica, California; Jack was a culinary student who otherwise faced living at the YMCA.
Q 18Sanford and Son was adapted from which British sitcom about rag-and-bone men?
Steptoe and Son
Sanford and Son was adapted from Steptoe and Son, the BBC sitcom about a rag-and-bone father and son; it was seen as NBC's answer to CBS's All in the Family.
Q 19What is the first name of Fred Sanford's long-suffering son?
Lamont
Fred's son is Lamont, played by Demond Wilson; Grady and Bubba were Fred's friends, Rollo was Lamont's, and Aunt Esther was Fred's Bible-thumping nemesis.
Q 20George Jefferson made his money with a chain of what?
Dry cleaners
Dry cleaners made George's fortune; his chain of Jefferson Cleaners paid for the 'deluxe apartment in the sky' on Manhattan's East Side.
Sunshine Cab Company
The cabbies drive for the Sunshine Cab Company; Taxi's creators, including James L. Brooks, had all just come off The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which ended in 1977.
Q 24Who played the burnt-out hippie 'Reverend' Jim Ignatowski on Taxi?
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd played Jim Ignatowski and won two Emmys for the role; Taxi won three straight Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys, 1979 to 1981.
Q 25Andy Kaufman's Latka Gravas held what job at the garage on Taxi?
Mechanic
Mechanic: that was Latka's job, keeping the garage's cabs running; Danny DeVito's Louie De Palma was the tyrannical dispatcher.
Q 26Creator Hugh Wilson said he picked the call letters WKRP to stand for what?
C-R-A-P
C-R-A-P was Wilson's joke for the call letters; he based the station on WQXI in Atlanta, where he had observed the staff.
Q 27Which WKRP in Cincinnati character was played by Howard Hesseman?
Dr. Johnny Fever
Howard Hesseman played the burnt-out morning DJ Dr. Johnny Fever; Loni Anderson's receptionist Jennifer Marlowe was the show's other breakout.
Q 28Barney Miller is set in the squad room of which fictional NYPD precinct?
The 12th
Barney Miller's squad room is The 12th Precinct in Greenwich Village; its detectives spawned the short-lived spin-off Fish, about Abe Vigoda's Phil Fish.
Q 29Mary Richards works at which fictional Minneapolis TV station?
WJM
Mary is associate producer of the six o'clock news at WJM-TV; she applied for a secretary's job and Lou Grant offered her the producer post instead.
Q 30How many Primetime Emmys did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win?
29
Its 29 Primetime Emmys were the most for any comedy until Frasier passed it; it won Outstanding Comedy Series three years running and spun off Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant.