This Show Came From That One? Quiz

Answer: "The Andy Griffith Show"

"Mayberry, RFD" debuted on CBS in 1968 and enjoyed a four year run of consistently placing within the top 15 most watched shows during its time on the air. The show was a direct continuation of "The Andy Griffith Show", picking up right after Andy married his longtime girlfriend on the show, Helen Crump. Griffith made several appearances during the show's first season to build up a fan base. Francis Bauvier ("Aunt Bea") was a member of the cast the first year, becoming the person from "Mayberry" who logged the most hours as their particular character.

The show was cancelled in 1971 despite its good ratings because CBS wanted to move to a more "city" image than the "country bumpkin" image they had with shows like "Green Acres", "The Beverly Hillbillies", and "Petticoat Junction".

Answer: Tom Bosley

Tom Bosley was the "star" of the animated series, "Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home", which appeared on ABC from 1972-1974. He did the voice of the father, Harry Boyle. It was the only animated skit which "Love, American Style" ever broadcast. After the cancellation of the series, Tom Bosley joined the cast of "Happy Days" and reprised his role of Howard Cunningham, in 1974, until the show ended in 1983.

Answer: "Beverly Hills Buntz"

"Beverly Hills Buntz" followed the exploits of cast member Dennis Franz (Det. Norman Buntz) out to the west coast after he was dismissed from the 12th Precinct for violent behavior on the show "Hill Street Blues". The series was a 30 minute "dramedy" (comedy/drama) which showed Franz as a tough private detective trying to fit in in laid back Los Angeles, California. Also appearing on the show with Franz was another former cast member of "Hill Street Blues", Peter Jurasik, who continued his role as Snitch, Det. Buntz's informant.

Although "Beverly Hills Buntz" was forgettable and only lasted half of the 1987 season, Franz would go on to have much better success in 1992 when he joined a show called, "N.Y.P.D. Blue".

Answer: "Too Close For Comfort"

While all of these shows featured cast members from the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" as the lead character, "Too Close For Comfort" was not a spin-off of the show. The Ted Knight vehicle was broadcast on ABC, while the rest were shown on CBS.

Answer: "Cannon"

Buddy Ebsen left his Jed Clampett character behind and started catching bad guys as Barnaby Jones on the cop show "Cannon", in 1972. Midway through the 1973 season, Ebsen got his own show as the title character and enjoyed a six and a half year run on CBS. Produced by the Quinn-Martin Company, which produced numerous shows, including "The F.B.I.", "Barnaby Jones" ended up being that company's second longest-running progam (next to "The F.B.I.") when it was cancelled after the 1979-1980 season.

Answer: False

Before becoming a superstar on his hit cable show, "Chappelle's Show", Dave Chappelle had a short-lived series called "Buddies" on ABC. Chappelle and his good friend and fellow comedian, Jim Breuer, had appeared on an episode of "Home Improvement" mid-way through its fourth season, in 1995. The guys played two amateur filmmakers whose antics kept getting them into hot water with their respective girlfriends. This episode became one of the highest-rated "Home Improvement" shows of the season and ABC jumped at the chance to capitalize on the Chappelle/Breuer popularity and in March of 1996, "Buddies" premiered.

However, before the show's pilot even aired, Breuer was replaced with another fellow comedian named Christopher Gartin because of some disputes he and ABC management had concerning the show's direction. The Chappelle/Gartin team-up proved to be disasterous due to the duo's lack of chemistry. ABC produced thirteen episodes, but the shows were so bad only four of them were ever broadcast before being cancelled.

Answer: False

In 1987, NBC aired the pilot episode of a show called "Good Morning, Ms. Bliss". The show did not catch on and NBC did not pick up the program for the 1988 season. However, the Disney Channel liked the show and felt that it suited their line-up very well, so they bought the rights to air the 13 episodes which were not shown on NBC.

"Good Morning, Ms. Bliss", which was the brainchild of executive producer Peter Engel, was supposed to be a sort of tribute to all of his teachers from his youth. Ms. Bliss, who was played by Hayley Mills of fictional Bayside High, in Indianapolis, Indiana, was the representation of all of Engel's memorable teachers rolled into one person. Although the show did ok, Disney did not renew it for their 1989 season.

Yet, in an ironic twist, NBC became re-interested in the show they had previously discarded and added it, with a few tweaks, such as changing the title from "Good Morning, Ms. Bliss" to "Saved by the Bell", to their Saturday morning fall schedule in 1989. The show become an instant hit. Although Mills did not reprise her role of Ms. Bliss when the show went back to NBC, several other cast members were retained. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Zach Morris, and who also went on to star in the shows "N.Y.P.D. Blue" and "Commander-in-Chief", was kept along with Lark Voorhies (Lisa Turtle), Dennis Haskins (Principal Richard Belding), and Dustin Diamond, who was probably the most memorable character of them all, Samuel "Skreech" Powers. These four remained on the show throughout its entire run, from 1989-1993, as well as the "Ms. Bliss" episodes. There were two other spin-offs which came from the show, as well, "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" and "Saved by the Bell: The New Class".

Answer: Barefoot

"Barefoot in the Park" was a skit on "Love, American Style", which was based on the 1967 Neil Simon play (which was also made into a movie, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda), of the same name. The show centered around newlyweds Paul Bratter (Scoey Mitchell) and Corie (Tracey Reed) and their struggles of living in Manhattan. Mitchell played a lawyer who worked for the firm of Kendricks, Keene, and Klein and he always had suspicions about the way he was treated at the company due to the firm's abbreviation, which was K.K.K. Mitchell and Reed were among the first African-Americans to appear in a series with an all black cast. The show lasted only half of the 1970-1971 season and it never broke into the Top 25. The last episode of the show was aired on December 17, 1970.

An interesting footnote to "Barefoot", however, is that ABC had positioned the show to be the much stronger lead-in for another Neil Simon play-turned-television-series which debuted at the same time, called "The Odd Couple". Premiering the same night as "Barefoot", the Odd Couple" would go on to enjoy a five year run on ABC, ending in 1975.

Answer: "Matlock"

In 1986, during a two-part episode in the first season of "Matlock", audiences got their first look at D.A. Jason Lochnivar (J.L.) "Fatman" McCabe, who was played by actor, and former "Cannon" star, William Conrad, and Jake Styles (Joe Penny). When producer Dean Hargrove left NBC to go to CBS, he decided to take the Styles and Fatman characters with him and produce a show. On September 26, 1987, "Jake and the Fatman" premiered on CBS and ran for 106 episodes.

The show was shot in Los Angeles during its first season and then it was switched to Hawaii for the majority of its run until 1991, when the show went back to being shot in L.A. "Jake and the Fatman" ended on September 12, 1992.

Answer: "The Tortellis"

"The Tortellis" was the name of the spin-off from "Cheers", which only ran from January 21, 1987 until May 12, 1987. The show took place in Las Vegas and centered around Carla's (Rhea Pearlman) shady ex-husband, Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya), his wife, Loretta, who was played by Jean Kasem, the wife of well-known deejay, Casey Kasem, and family.

The Tortellis were schemers and con artists looking to make a quick buck and many of the characters from "Cheers" frequently appeared on the show, however, it wasn't enough to keep the show going and it was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

Answer: Winslow

"Family Matters" spun out of "Perfect Strangers" and followed the ups and downs of the Winslow family. Harriet Winslow (Jo Marie Payton) was a recurring character on the show as an elevator operator for the fictional newspaper, The Chicago Chronicle. After getting fired from her job, she, her husband, Carl (Reginald Veljohson), and their three kids found misadventures with their neighbor, and America's most lovable nerd, Steve Urkle (Jaleel White), who made his first appearance on the show mid-way through the series' first season.

The show became the third longest running African-American series in television history, following "The Jeffersons" and "The Cosby Show", running from 1989-1998, and producing 215 episodes. "Family Matters" spent all but its final season on the ABC network. Its final season was run on CBS, along with "Step by Step", which also switched networks that same season. Another big change for the show was the switch of actresses who played Harriet Winslow. From 1989-1997, Jo Marie Payton played the mom, but for the last season actress Judyann Elder filled that role.

Answer: Tanna

Dan Tanna (Robert Urich) patrolled the streets of Las Vegas in the show, "Vega$", from 1978-1981. Urich appeared on "Charlie's Angels" during the show's second season, in 1977-1978, and got his show at the beginning of the '78 new fall season.

Tanna was a wise-cracking detective who drove around the Strip in a vintage red, 1957 Thunderbird and carrying a .357 Magnum, which he hated to use. Tony Curtis also apeared as a regular on the show as Phil Roth, owner of the fictional Desert Inn hotel/casino. The show produced 68 episodes, but never cracked the Top 25 in the Neilsen ratings.

Answer: False

Spinning out of the UPN network series "Moesha" in 1999, "The Parkers" was a show about the struggles of Nikki Parker (Mo'Nique) and her daughter, Kim (Countess Vaughn). Vaughn played Moesha's (r&b singing star, Brandy) best friend on the show for four years before moving on to "The Parkers" with Nikki, who had had a recurring role on the show.

Nikki and Kim were relatively close in age due to the fact that Nikki got pregnant with Kim while in high school, forcing her to drop out. It was in an episode of "Moesha" that Nikki received her high school diploma. On "The Parkers", both mother and daughter attended Santa Monica Junior College which made for many hilarious and interesting stories.

During its five year run, "The Parkers" received many nominations and awards for its cast and series including 11 NAACP Image Award nominations (which it won five times), four Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series awards for Mo'Nique (2001, 2001, 2004 & 2005), as well as an award for Outstanding Supporting Actor (Dorien Wilson a.k.a. Prof. Stanley Ogelvee), and an Oustanding Supporting Actress nomination for Yvette Wilson ("Andell Wilkerson"). The show ended on May 10, 2004 after 110 episodes.

Answer: "Fish"

"Fish", starring Abe Vigoda, was about the personal life of Det. Phil Fish, when he was off duty. Along with his wife, Bernice (Florence Stanley), Fish tried to look after five foster kids with different emotional problems. One of the children was played by Todd Bridges a year before he found success on the show, "Diff'rent Strokes". "Fish" lasted only one season, but produced 35 shows.

Answer: "S.W.A.T."

Standing for 'Special Weapons and Tactics', "S.W.A.T." burst onto the television landscape, in 1975, after their two part pilot on "The Rookies". Lt. Dan 'Hondo' Harrelson (Steve Forrest) led a group of ex-VietNam vets, including one of whom would go on to have a show himself later in the decade, Robert Urich (a.k.a. Officer Jim Street), as they took on the more brutal criminals of their day.

While the series was extremely popular, critics chastised the show for its brutality and violence. "S.W.A.T." lasted 39 shows before ABC pulled the plug, in 1976, due to the critical pressure the show received during its entire run. The catchy "S.W.A.T." theme song, which was performed by the group Rhythm Heritage, was a #1 hit in the winter of 1976.