This 70s TV trivia quiz has 70 free questions with answers and covers the decade when television grew up and got weird at the same time. There are questions on Norman Lear's empire (All in the Family and every show that spun out of it), the MTM shows, M*A*S*H and its record-breaking finale, Happy Days and its spin-offs, and the Aaron Spelling hits: Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island. The cop and detective shows get their due too, from Kojak's lollipops and Columbo's Peugeot to Starsky, Rockford and CHiPs, along with the sci-fi (Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Battlestar Galactica), the family dramas (The Waltons, Little House), the miniseries Roots, the first night of Saturday Night Live, The Muppet Show's British backer, Soap, Taxi, Dallas and the Dukes. Easy questions suit anyone who remembers the theme tunes; the hard ones ask which brewery Laverne worked at and which precinct Barney Miller ran. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01All in the Family, which premiered on CBS in January 1971, was based on which British sitcom?
Till Death Us Do Part
Producer Norman Lear moved the bigoted patriarch from London's East End to Queens.
Q 02All in the Family became the first series to top the yearly Nielsen ratings for how many consecutive years?
Five
It held the number-one spot from 1971 to 1976, and its final season spun into Archie Bunker's Place.
Q 03What was the Bunkers' address in Astoria, Queens?
704 Hauser Street
Archie's son-in-law Michael Stivic, played by Rob Reiner, was better known as 'Meathead'.
Q 04Which 1972 NBC sitcom was based on the British show Steptoe and Son?
Sanford and Son
Redd Foxx played junk dealer Fred G. Sanford, forever faking heart attacks for his late wife Elizabeth.
Q 05The Jeffersons, who moved 'on up' to Manhattan, made their money from what business?
A chain of dry cleaners
It was the second and longest-running spin-off of All in the Family, lasting eleven seasons.
Q 06Good Times was a spin-off of which show, itself a spin-off of All in the Family?
Maude
Florida Evans had been Maude Findlay's housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York.
Q 07The Evans family in Good Times lived in a project implied to be which Chicago development?
Cabrini-Green
Jimmie Walker, who played 17-year-old J.J., was actually 26 and only seven and a half years younger than his TV father.
Q 08Bea Arthur's Maude Findlay lived in which New York suburb?
Tuckahoe
The show tackled abortion, alcoholism and domestic violence, and one episode featured Arthur alone on screen.
Q 09The final episode of M*A*S*H aired in February of which year?
1983
The 4077th's Korean War lasted eleven TV seasons, nearly four times the length of the real conflict.
Q 10How much did CBS charge for a 30-second ad during the M*A*S*H finale, more than that year's Super Bowl?
$450,000
About 106 million people watched, a record for any broadcast until 2010.
Q 11Which four M*A*S*H characters appeared in all eleven seasons?
Hawkeye, Mulcahy, Houlihan, Klinger
Trapper, Henry Blake, Frank Burns and Radar all left along the way.
Q 12The instrumental theme of M*A*S*H is a version of which song from the 1970 film?
Suicide Is Painless
Creators Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds wanted the show aired without a laugh track; CBS insisted.
Q 13Mary Richards worked as an associate producer at which fictional Minneapolis TV station?
WJM
The show won 29 Emmys and launched Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant.
Q 21Robin Williams first appeared as Mork in a 1978 episode of Happy Days that riffed on which 1960s sitcom?
My Favorite Martian
Mork tries to take Richie to Ork as a specimen and is foiled by Fonzie.
Q 22Which producer created both The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island?
Sherwood Schwartz
The show never revealed whether Carol was divorced or widowed, and it was never a ratings hit in its original run.
Q 23What was the name of the Brady boys' dog?
Tiger
A cat called Fluffy appeared in the pilot and was never seen again.
Q 14How many Primetime Emmy Awards did The Mary Tyler Moore Show win?
29
It took Outstanding Comedy Series three years running from 1975 to 1977.
Q 15Rhoda Morgenstern's rarely seen doorman Carlton was voiced by which Mary Tyler Moore Show writer?
Lorenzo Music
Julie Kavner, later the voice of Marge Simpson, played Rhoda's sister Brenda.
Q 16Bob Newhart's character in The Bob Newhart Show had what profession?
Psychologist
Suzanne Pleshette played his wife Emily; his neighbour Howard was an airline navigator.
Q 17Happy Days began life as an unsold pilot shown on which ABC anthology series in 1972?
Love, American Style
The segment was called 'Love and the Television Set' and already starred Ron Howard.
Q 18In which city was Happy Days set?
Milwaukee
The original Arnold's Drive-In was inspired by the Milky Way in suburban Glendale, Wisconsin.
Q 19Which two hit sitcoms were spun off from Happy Days?
Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy
Joanie Loves Chachi, Blansky's Beauties and Out of the Blue were the three that flopped.
Q 20Laverne and Shirley worked as bottle-cappers at which fictional brewery?
Shotz
Cindy Williams initially refused the role, and a screen test was shot with an unrelated actress called Liberty Williams.
Q 24The Partridge Family was loosely based on which real-life family band?
The Cowsills
Their tour bus was a 1957 Chevrolet school bus painted in Mondrian-style blocks.
Q 25Who provided the voice of the never-seen Charlie Townsend on Charlie's Angels?
John Forsythe
He gave his instructions over a speakerphone; David Doyle's Bosley did the legwork.
Q 26Who replaced Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels after she left at the end of season one?
Cheryl Ladd
Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts followed as Kate Jackson left; the show was dismissed by critics as 'jiggle television'.
Q 27Three'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 George and Mildred and Robin's Nest.
Q 28Which former Andy Griffith Show star joined Three's Company in 1979 as building manager Ralph Furley?
Don Knotts
He replaced the Ropers, who left for their own spin-off.
Q 29The Six Million Dollar Man was based on the 1972 novel Cyborg by which author?
Martin Caidin
Steve Austin, a former astronaut, was rebuilt with bionic implants after a NASA test-flight crash.
Q 30Before her skydiving accident, what was Jaime Sommers' profession in The Bionic Woman?
Tennis player
Lindsay Wagner's spin-off ran on ABC and then NBC from 1976 to 1978.