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
It topped the Nielsen ratings for five straight years, 1971 to 1976, the first series ever to do so.
Q 02In which New York City borough do Archie and Edith Bunker live?
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
'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
It ran four more seasons, until 1983.
Q 05M*A*S*H's 4077th is stationed near which South Korean town?
Uijeongbu
The show ran 11 years, roughly four times longer than the Korean War it depicted.
Q 06Who developed M*A*S*H for television from the 1970 film?
Larry Gelbart
It was made after an attempt to film the book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, fell through.
Q 07Which actor replaced Henry Blake as commander of the 4077th, playing Colonel Sherman Potter?
Harry Morgan
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 1983 finale was the most-watched US broadcast of anything until the 2010 Super Bowl.
Q 09Happy Days is set in which Midwestern city?
Milwaukee
Season one is pegged to about 1955 by its songs and references.
Q 10Happy Days began as an unsold pilot shown as a segment of which ABC anthology series?
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
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
The show hit number one in 1976-77 after Garry Marshall retooled it around the leather-jacketed dropout.
Q 13Laverne and Shirley work as bottle-cappers at which fictional brewery?
Shotz
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
The show never got a proper finale; co-star Franklin Cover heard the news on Entertainment Tonight.
Q 22Good Times broke ground as television's first sitcom centred on what?
A two-parent Black family
It ran six seasons on CBS and tackled gang warfare, evictions and drug addiction along the way.
Q 23Taxi's cabbies work the night shift at which fictional New York garage?
Sunshine Cab Company
Q 14Michael McKean and David Lander played which duo of Laverne & Shirley's oddball neighbours?
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
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
Mrs Roper figures out the truth quickly but keeps the secret.
Q 17In which California city is the Three's Company apartment building?
Santa Monica
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
It was seen as NBC's answer to CBS's All in the Family and made the Nielsen top ten five times.
Q 19What is the first name of Fred Sanford's long-suffering son?
Lamont
Grady, Rollo and Bubba were Fred's friends; Aunt Esther was his Bible-thumping nemesis.
Q 20George Jefferson made his money with a chain of what?
Dry cleaners
Jefferson Cleaners paid for the 'deluxe apartment in the sky' in Manhattan.
Its creators had all just come off The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which ended in 1977.
Q 24Which future Back to the Future star played burnt-out hippie 'Reverend' Jim Ignatowski on Taxi?
Christopher Lloyd
The show won 18 of its 34 Emmy nominations, including three straight for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Q 25Andy Kaufman's Latka Gravas held what job at the garage on Taxi?
Mechanic
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
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
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
Its detectives spawned the short-lived spin-off Fish, about Abe Vigoda's Philip K. Fish.
Q 29Mary Richards works at which fictional Minneapolis TV station?
WJM
She applied for a secretary's job and was offered associate producer of the six o'clock news instead.
Q 30How many Primetime Emmys did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win?
29
It won Outstanding Comedy Series three years running and spun off Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant.