TV - Nine Beginnings, One Ending Quiz

Answer: "Highway Patrol"

This early television crime drama aired for four seasons, from 1955 until 1959.
Broderick Crawford starred as graveled-voiced, no-nonsense Dan Matthews, chief of the Highway Patrol. The official sounding narration for the show was performed by announcer/actor Art Gilmore.
While mostly uncredited, much of the technical assistance for the series came from the California Highway Patrol, who also provided all of the patrol vehicles used on the show, and the uniforms worn by the actors during the first two years of the series. The official police insignias on the vehicles and the shoulder patches on the uniforms were altered, as not to specifically identify the California Highway Patrol.
The radio call sign used by Dan Matthews (21-50) was the actual call sign used by then California Highway Patrol Commissioner, Bernard Caldwell.
The patrol vehicles used in the series were 1955 Buick Century, two-door sedans. These vehicles were manufactures for use as police patrol vehicles, and were not available to sale to the general public.

Answer: "Ben Casey"

Vince Edwards starred as neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Casey, in this 1961 television series. The series aired for five seasons through 1966. Sam Jaffe co-starred as Dr. David Zorba, who was Casey's colleague, friend, and mentor.

Answer: "The Fall Guy"

Lee Majors starred as stuntman/bounty hunter Colt Seavers for five seasons on this 1981 series. That part of the lyrics in the theme song made reference to Major's recently divorced wife, Farrah Fawcett. The television series started following the highly publicized separation of Majors and Fawcett.
Farrah Fawcett made a cameo appearance in the series pilot episode, in part to show the media that despite a sometimes "nasty" divorce, the two remained on friendly terms.

Answer: "Car 54, Where Are You"

Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne starred and Officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon in this wacky 1961 comedy series, that followed to antics of two New York City patrol officers. The series ran for two seasons (1961-1963) and featured one of the best remembered television theme songs:

"There's a hold up in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out in fights"
"There's a Traffic Jam in Harlem that's backed up to Jackson Heights"
"There's a scout troop short a child, Khrushchev's due at Idlewild"
"Car 54, Where Are You"?

Answer: "Adam-12"

The day to day routine of two Los Angeles Police Department patrol officers was chronicled in this 30 minute crime-action drama. The series ran for seven seasons (1969-1975) and starred Martin Milner as the senior officer and mentor, Pete Malloy, and Kent McCord as rookie, then junior officer, Jim Reed. Unlike many of the other police series, the show often highlighted to mundane side of police work, including the performing uneventful routine traffic stops and writing reports. Jack Webb, the creator and star of the series "Dragnet" was one of the co-creators of Adam-12. Always a stickler for authenticity, Webb hired an actual LAPD dispatched, Shaaron Claridge, to provide the radio dispatcher voice for the series.

Answer: "Charlie's Angels"

The monologue in at the opening of each show was delivered by actor John Forsythe, in the character of Charles Townsend. Townsend was referring to three beautiful female police officers whom he persuades to leave their mundane police department jobs, and work for him as operatives for his detective agency. "Charlie's Angels" aired for five seasons, from 1976 to 1981.

The show usually featured the three private detectives working for the Townsend Detective Agency. The Angels were Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson) and Jill Munroe (Farrah Fawcett).

As the girls left the series, they were replaced by a new Angel. During the run of the series, there were a total of six Angels. The remaining Angels were Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), Tiffany Welles (Shelly Hack) and Julie Rogers (Tanya Roberts). Of the Angels, Kelly Garret was the only one to remain with the show during its entire run. Julie Rogers was the only Angel not to have a law enforcement background. In the storyline, she was a fashion model before joining the team.

Answer: "The Outer Limits"

"The Outer Limits" offered viewers an anthology type science fiction program with a different cast in each episode. The series first ran for two seasons (1963-1965) and was reprised in 1995 and ran for seven seasons.
Actor Vic Perrin was the voice of "The Controller" during the first series run. When the series returned in 1995, Kevin Conway provided the voice of The Controller for seven seasons. The Controller usually narrated the introduction and closing for each episode.
The original name for the series (during the first run) was to be "Please Stand By". Due to concerns about the Cuban Missile Crisis at the time, the production executives thought the title might make people fearful of an air raid, and changed the title.

Answer: "Superman"

Announcer Bill Kennedy provided the opening narration for the entire six season run if "The Adventures of Superman" starting in 1952. The series starred George Reeves in the duo roles of mild mannered Clark Kent and Superman, the man of Steel. Also features on the series were Phyllis Coates, who played Lois Lane in the first season, and Noel Neill who played Lois Lane for the remainder of the series run. Jack Larson played cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton played the gruff editor of the Daily Planet Newspaper, Perry White, and Robert Shayne as police inspector William Henderson. While Bill Kennedy's voice was heard for all 104 episodes of the series, he appeared on screen in only one episode, entitled "Crime Wave" during the first season.

Answer: "Dragnet"

"Dragnet" was considered by many to be the blueprint for police television program. Creator, producer, and series star Jack Webb was able to gain the support of the Los Angeles Police Department and was able to gain access to official police files and police personnel for ideas for episodes. Webb placed great emphasis on authenticity for the series.

The stories presented were true, but many of the names were changed to protect the innocent. Webb did use many of the actual names of police personnel within the LAPD. The series first ran for eight seasons from 1951-1959, and again from 1967-1970.

The series also made brief returns to the air in 1968 and 2003 with different characters in the starring roles. Full length movies of "Dragnet" were produced in 1954 and 1967.

Answer: "Hawaii Five-O"

At the conclusion of each weeks episode during the original run, series star Jack Lord would narrate a brief preview for the next weeks episode. The preview usually included some basic facts about the plot of the upcoming show, and the names of guest stars or the featured villains. Lord ended the segment with his familiar phrase to the viewers, "Be there, Aloha." The upcoming previews were not made part of the package when the series went into syndication, as independent stations did not always broadcast the episodes in numerical order.