TV Dads Trivia
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60 free TV Dads trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Which TV dad sold shoes, which one sold propane, and which one was an archaeologist who plays keepy-uppy with his daughters? This TV dads trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers about the fathers of television, from Ward Cleaver and Ben Cartwright through Archie Bunker, Howard Cunningham and Cliff Huxtable to Homer Simpson, Uncle Phil, Red Forman, Phil Dunphy, Jack Pearson and Bandit Heeler. The questions cover jobs, hometowns, catchphrases, the actors behind the roles and the production stories that made these characters, so it works as a Father's Day round, a sitcom night warm-up or a test of how much television you have absorbed across six decades. Some are gimmes for anyone who has watched a rerun; some will make lifelong fans reach for the remote. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the characters and their shows, and each question links to the page and sentence that supports it.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Homer Simpson's job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant?
Safety inspector
Safety inspector. Homer got the job in season one by rallying the town against the plant's dangers, until Mr. Burns ended the fuss by putting him in charge of safety.
Q 02Dan Castellaneta originally voiced Homer Simpson as a loose impression of which actor?
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau. Castellaneta let the impression go after the early seasons: he couldn't keep it up through marathon recording sessions or get Homer's full range of emotion out of it.
Q 03Who played Ward Cleaver, father of Wally and the Beaver?
Hugh Beaumont
Hugh Beaumont. He wasn't the first Ward: another actor played the father in the pilot, and Beaumont, a Methodist minister off screen, won the part when the series was recast.
Q 04Which classic TV dad made his living as an architect?
Mike Brady
Mike Brady. The Brady Bunch's creator wanted to audition Gene Hackman for the father, but the studio refused because he was too little known; Hackman soon won an Oscar for The French Connection.
Q 05Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show practised which branch of medicine?
Obstetrics
Obstetrics. ABC passed on the show before NBC ordered it at the last minute, and Dr. Huxtable's family then carried the also-ran network to the top of the ratings.
Q 06Where does Al Bundy of Married... with Children work?
A women's shoe store
A women's shoe store. In 1989 a Michigan mother urged sponsors to drop the show over its raunchy jokes, and the publicity sent curious viewers to Fox and gave the Bundys their best ratings yet.
Q 07Which actor played both Al Bundy and Modern Family's Jay Pritchett?
Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill. A Fox casting agent spotted him on stage in Of Mice and Men and asked him to read for Al; more than twenty years later he became Modern Family's patriarch.
Q 08On Full House, what was widower Danny Tanner's job before he became co-host of Wake Up, San Francisco?
Sports anchor
Sports anchor. Bob Saget was the producers' first choice for Danny but was tied to a CBS morning show, so another actor played him in the unaired pilot until Saget came free.
Q 09Modern Family's self-styled 'cool dad' Phil Dunphy makes his living how?
As a real estate agent
As a real estate agent. In the pilot Phil has to punish Luke for a BB-gun shot by shooting him back, and ends up accidentally hitting Haley's boyfriend Dylan.
Q 10Red Forman of That '70s Show served in which two wars?
World War II and the Korean War
World War II and the Korean War. The gruff veteran rules his house by threat, yet when Hyde's mother runs off with a trucker, Red lets his son's abandoned friend move in.
Q 11What was Uncle Phil's profession on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
A judge
A judge. Phil started the series as a lawyer and lost a landslide election for the bench to his old mentor, who dropped dead seconds after Will told him to; the governor then gave Phil the seat.
Q 12Widowed sheriff Andy Taylor first appeared on The Danny Thomas Show as the lawman of which small town?
Mayberry
Mayberry. Andy Griffith began his own series playing Andy as a comic hayseed, then realised he was really the straight man to Don Knotts and the other kooks, and remade him as the town's calm centre.
Q 13Which Norman Lear sitcom took its bigoted dad from Alf Garnett of Britain's Till Death Us Do Part?
All in the Family
Q 21Carl Winslow of Family Matters, a Chicago police officer, was first introduced on which other sitcom?
Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers. Harriette Winslow ran the elevator at the cousins' newspaper, and the spin-off was built around her family until a neighbour written for a single episode, Steve Urkel, became its breakout star.
Q 22What is the name of Tim Taylor's Binford-sponsored show-within-a-show on Home Improvement?
Tool Time
Tool Time. It was conceived as a parody of PBS's This Old House, with Tim and Al as send-ups of host Bob Vila and carpenter Norm Abram, and Vila himself guest-starred several times.
Q 23Ray Barone of Everybody Loves Raymond writes about sports for which real newspaper?
Newsday
All in the Family. Lear bought the American rights to the BBC hit and wanted Mickey Rooney as Archie; Carroll O'Connor got the part instead, and ABC still turned the series down before CBS took it.
Q 14What nickname does Archie Bunker use for his son-in-law Mike Stivic?
Meathead
Meathead. Norman Lear took the insult from his own father, who used to call him that, and Archie's order to Edith to 'stifle' herself came from the same man.
Q 15Frank Costanza's holiday Festivus was inspired by a real celebration invented by whose father?
Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe's
Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe's father, a Reader's Digest editor, was marking the anniversary of his first date with his wife by 1966, and Dan was reluctant to put the family ritual on TV until his bosses heard about it.
Q 16Frank Costanza says he invented Festivus after fighting another shopper over what Christmas gift?
Doll
A doll. Frank says he reached for the last one just as another man did, and 'as I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way'; the doll was destroyed and a new holiday was born.
Q 17What does Hank Hill sell in Arlen, Texas?
Propane and propane accessories
Propane and propane accessories. Hank spent the original run as assistant manager of Strickland Propane, and the 2025 revival brings him home to Arlen after years working in Saudi Arabia.
Q 18On Stranger Things, which character does police chief Jim Hopper adopt as his daughter?
Eleven
Eleven. Hopper finds her in the woods and hides her in his grandfather's old hunting cabin, on condition that she never leaves it, before she becomes Jane Hopper on paper.
Q 19Peter Griffin's first job on Family Guy, before the brewery, was at which workplace?
The Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory
The Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory. Peter lost the job in season three when his boss, Mr. Weed, choked to death on a dinner roll at the Griffins' table and the factory was torn down.
Q 20What is Bandit Heeler's job on Bluey?
Archaeologist
Archaeologist. Creator Joe Brumm borrowed the job from his own older brother Adam, and the name Bandit from a blue heeler that belonged to his father's best mate.
Newsday. The Barones live on Long Island, and the family was drawn from life: Ray Romano's own older brother was a New York police sergeant, and on screen Ray's jealous brother Robert is a New York cop too.
Q 24How does Jack Pearson die on This Is Us?
A heart attack after a house fire
A heart attack after a house fire. Jack gets everyone out, goes back for the dog and dies in hospital, where he was taken for smoke inhalation; the slow cooker that started the blaze left Crock-Pot reassuring its real customers.
Q 25Frasier Crane's father Martin retired from which job before moving in with his son?
Seattle police detective
Seattle police detective. A bullet in the hip from a convenience-store robber ended Martin's career and landed him in his son's apartment; back on Cheers, Frasier had claimed his father was a dead research scientist.
Q 26What is Fred Flintstone's job at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company?
Bronto crane operator
Bronto crane operator. Fred was patterned on Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners, closely enough that Gleason later said he had thought about suing and let it pass.
Q 27On Bonanza, widower Ben Cartwright and his three sons ran which ranch?
The Ponderosa
The Ponderosa. Ben was a three-time widower with one son by each wife, and the clashes between brothers who shared only a father drove the plots of the early seasons.
Q 28What kind of business did Howard Cunningham own on Happy Days?
A hardware store
A hardware store. Harold Gould played Howard in the pilot, but when the series was delayed he went abroad to act in a play and chose to honour that commitment, so the part went to Tom Bosley.
Q 29Fred Sanford of Sanford and Son runs what kind of business out of his home?
A junk and antique dealership
A junk and antique dealership. The show moved Britain's Steptoe and Son to Watts, and Redd Foxx won the lead after his turn in the film Cotton Comes to Harlem caught the producers' eye.
Q 30George Jefferson made his fortune in what line of business?
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning. George was only talked about at first: Sherman Hemsley was on Broadway in Purlie when Norman Lear cast him, so a brother, Henry, played the neighbour until Hemsley was free.