Jumping 'Baby' Sharks Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Brady Bunch

"The Brady Bunch" originally aired from 1969 through 1974 and was the first sitcom to amicably "blend" two families. Of course, besides Mike and Carol, (and Alice) there were the 6 kids: Greg, Marcia (Marcia, Marcia), Peter, Bobby and Cindy...let's see, who did I leave out.. and, of course Jan! They had the typical neat and tidy problems which would always be resolved by the show's end.

Then cousin Oliver (played by Robbie Rist) arrived in the middle of season 5, to cater to a younger demographic, but all it did was signal the beginning of the end.

This is often referred to as 'Cousin Oliver Syndrome' and inevitably leads to 'jumping the shark' and cancellation.

Answer: Elliott

Elliott (played by Michael Angarano) was Jack's son...the result of a sperm bank donation when Jack was a teenager so he could get the money to buy a leather jacket. This was the use of the "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" (see question one) at its very worst.

The hit show began fading in the ratings and, somewhere around season 5, Jack learned about both his father's death and the existence of his biological 'sperm-bank baby'. Although Elliot only made occasional guest appearances and the show lasted another 3 years (1998-2006), the bell started tolling and people stopped watching.

Answer: Adam

Adam Stephens was 'born' on the 6th season of "Bewitched" in 1969 and the 'buzz' around him was to determine if he was a mortal or a warlock; this took two seasons to resolve itself but the answer was never really clear. What was clear was the fact that Adam Stephens did not help boost the ratings as expected and, by the end, nobody really cared whether or not he had supernatural powers (or was perhaps assisted by his grandfather Maurice).

Besides, they never addressed the fact the Samantha Stevens had two children by different Darrins!

Answer: Friends

If the baby's name didn't give it away, then you may never have watched "Friends". Ross and Rachel finally had that relationship that everyone was waiting for...until nobody cared. You know how sometimes you wait so long for something to happen, that when it finally does you've moved on. We waited after Ross and Carol (with Ben) split; we watched Ross and Rachel's passionate kiss (finally); we shrugged our shoulders when they were on "a break"; our hearts broke a little when Ross married Emily, but there was his second divorce; we questioned Rachel's relationships which never seemed to work with Barry and Tad and Joey? And then we just stopped, even with Emma's birth...

Answer: Patty Petersen

Interesting that Trisha was adopted but looked just like her step-brother, Jeff Stone, played by Paul Petersen (coincidence, I think not!). It seems Shelly Fabares (Mary Stone) got too old or too popular (from singing "Johnny Angel"), so what did the writers do? They brought in a younger replacement... "Cousin Oliver" all over again. Tricia was just sugary sweet and cute as a button (required requisites) and it doesn't matter that she was Paul Petersen's real-life sister nor did it help that no one taught Patty Petersen to act; Donna Stone just had to have two kids, so along came Patty from 1963 -1966, but you just knew the light was beginning to fade.

Answer: Mabel

Was Mabel the 'baby shark' that doomed this long-running sitcom? "Mad About You" aired from 1992 through 1999 and was a wonderful sitcom about the relationship between a newly married couple (sans kids) and their friends and family. It was modern, urbane, witty and the chemistry between the leads, Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser, could not have been better.

Then, in 1997, Mabel was born to Paul and Jaimie. Mabel stood for 'Mothers Always Bring Extra Love" (really!), and how gag-inducing is that?! Well, as you know, the birth of a child changes everything and so it did; and the rest is history.

Answer: Brian Bonsall

All appeared on the show: with Michael Gross playing the father Steven Keaton; Scott Valentine as Nick Moore (Mallory's boyfriend) and Marc Price as 'Skippy' Handelman, but it was Brian Bonsall who played Andy Keaton, cute and precocious, as all these 'later-in-life' children seem to be. Brian went on to play Alexander Rozhenko, son of Worf on "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

Unfortunately, his future claim to fame was an arrest in Colorado on an assault charge. This is no longer just under "jump the shark" but, rather the 'Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan, Shia LaBeouf Syndrome'.

Answer: Diff'rent Strokes

To help sagging ratings and the fact that "What you talkin' about, Willis" was wearing very thin, the writers, in their infinite wisdom, added Dixie Carter (later Julia Sugarbaker of "Designing Women") as Maggie McKinney, a newly divorced aerobics instructor and Sam, her whiny son.

In the 7th season, Mr. Drummond wound up marrying Maggie...didn't help; in the 8th season they replaced Dixie Carter with Mary Ann Mobley. There WAS no season 9! It may have taken a couple of seasons to 'jump the shark', but they were swimming in shark-infested waters for quite a while.

Answer: Jerry Garcia Conner

To be fair, it wasn't just Jerry Garcia Conner - the show was jumping a bunch of sharks at the same time, e.g., they won the lottery; they didn't win the lottery,; Dan had a heart attack; Dan died of a heart attack; Jackie was a lesbian; it was all a book Roseanne was writing.

It was season 9 and no one was watching and the death knell was tolling too loudly to be ignored. Yes, Jerry Garcia, we hardly knew ye! R.I.P.

Answer: The Office

Ah, yes, the betrothal of Pam Beesley and Jim Halpert, the birth of baby Cecelia in season 6, the birth of little Philip in season 8 (corresponding to the birth of Jenna Fisher's son) and the end of Dunder Mifflin in season 9. While "The Office" (2005-2013) was able to keep swimming even after the wedding of Pam and Jim, and even after the birth of their first child, it was probably the departure of Michael Scott (Steve Carrell as he went on to bigger things) as much as Philip, 'the baby shark', which signaled the demise of this high-rated sitcom.