What Was the Parent Show? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Burke's Law

Honey West was created by husband and wife writing duo 'Skip' and Gloria Fickling, who wrote eleven novels featuring the character in the 1950s. In April 1965, the character appeared in "Who Killed the Jackpot?", the thirtieth episode of season two of the ABC series "Burke's Law", featuring Anne Francis as Honey West, a character intended to be reminiscent of Cathy Gale or Emma Peel from the British series "The Avengers", alongside Gene Barry as LAPD Captain Amos Burke.

This served as the backdoor pilot episode for "Honey West", which made its debut on ABC in September 1965.

Although the series was well received, with Anne Francis receiving both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance, the network cancelled the series after a single season, deciding that it would be cheaper simply to import episodes of "The Avengers" for the timeslot.

Answer: Z-Cars

"Z-Cars" began in January 1962, and ran for a total of five series and 170 episodes when it finished in December 1965. The following January, the characters of Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Barlow and Detective Inspector John Watt, played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor respectively, who had been leading characters in "Z-Cars" throughout its run, appeared in a new series called "Softly, Softly", which focused on the work of a regional crime squad, rather than uniformed patrol officers. "Softly, Softly" ran for five series until November 1969, and was the first of a succession of series to feature the characters of Barlow and Watt. "Z-Cars" itself was revived in 1967, running on the BBC until 1978.

Answer: Cheers

"The Tortellis" was created by James Burrows and Glen & Les Charles, the creators of "Cheers", to feature the extended family of Carla Tortelli, the waitress at the eponymous Boston bar. The new show starred Dan Hedaya and Jean Kasem as Nick and Loretta Tortelli, Carla's ex-husband and his new bubble-headed trophy wife, both of whom had appeared as the characters in several episodes of "Cheers". Timothy Williams and Mandy Ingber also appeared as Anthony and Annie Tortelli, Carla and Nick's teenaged son and daughter-in-law, who also appeared several times in the parent show.

The premise of "The Tortellis" saw Loretta leave Nick and go to live with her sensible sister, Charlotte, in Las Vegas, with Nick following her to try and reconcile. All of the Tortellis eventually ended up living in Charlotte's house. Rhea Pearlman, who played Carla, made a guest appearance in the pilot episode, while George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, who played Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin in the parent show, also appeared in an episode. "The Tortellis" was eventually cancelled after just a single season of 13 episodes, with the four Tortellis going on to make further appearances in "Cheers".

Answer: Jake and the Fatman

"Jake and the Fatman" featured William Conrad as prosecutor J.L. McCabe, and Joe Penny as special investigator Jake Styles, and was itself a spin-off of "Matlock". In the season four episode "It Never Entered My Mind", Dick van Dyke appeared as Dr Mark Sloan, McCabe's doctor, who was accused of murder, and set out to investigate the crime himself, with the help of his students.

The episode led to the commissioning of a series of three TV movies featuring Sloan, broadcast by CBS between January 1992 and February 1993.

A weekly television series under the title "Diagnosis: Murder" then followed in October 1993, running for a total of eight seasons. Following the end of the weekly series, two further TV movies were commissioned for broadcast in early 2002, serving as a finale to the series as a whole.

Answer: Babylon 5

Following the success of TNT's transmission of "Babylon 5", together with a series of TV movies it had produced, the network commissioned creator J. Michael Straczynski to produce a spin-off series set in the same universe. The seed for "Crusade" was laid in the "Babylon 5" TV movie "A Call to Arms", which introduced the major plot, setting and a number of the characters who would go on to appear in the new series.

However, despite the apparent commitment, conflicts between the show's producers and TNT began - production was halted after five episodes to bring in a revamp to the show's appearance.

The conflict eventually led to the network pulling the plug on production after just thirteen episodes of the planned five-year commitment.

Answer: Coronation Street

"Coronation Street" was first broadcast in December 1960, with one of the original characters being Leonard Swindley, the owner of 'Swindley's Emporium'. The character did not appear until episode three, by which time actor Arthur Lowe had been cast in the role. Lowe was an established character actor at the time, but his role as the pompous Swindley turned him into a household name.

The character became exceptionally popular during Lowe's five years in "Coronation Street", to the extent that, when he elected to leave in 1965, ITV offered him the opportunity to continue playing the role in a new sitcom, "Pardon the Expression".

The sitcom debuted on ITV two months after Leonard Swindley's departure from "Coronation Street", and ran for two series and a total of 36 episodes between 1965 and 1966.

The character returned in another sitcom, "Turn Out The Lights", which ran for six episodes in early 1967.

Answer: The Rockford Files

The character of Richie Brockelman was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Steven Bochco and first appeared in a 1976 pilot called "Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours". The pilot was broadcast by NBC in October 1976, but not picked up as a series. This led to Cannell reworking the character into "The House on Willis Avenue", the double length fourth season finale of "The Rockford Files", in which Richie teamed up with Jim Rockford to solve the murder of their mutual mentor. Following the broadcast of this episode in February 1978, "Richie Brockelman, Private Eye" was broadcast as a limited, five episode series between March and April 1978.

However, despite reasonable ratings, NBC decided that the show wasn't strong enough to warrant commissioning a new season for 1978-79.

The character eventually returned in "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job", a two part episode in season five of "The Rockford Files".

Answer: Dallas

The concept of "Knots Landing" was originally pitched by writer David Jacobs to CBS in 1977, with the network rejecting the idea as they were seeking a prime-time drama that was more 'saga-like'. In response, Jacobs went on to create "Dallas", which premiered in 1978.

The success of "Dallas" led to Jacobs returning to the network with "Knots Landing", which he adapted as a spin-off featuring a number of characters from the parent show. The main characters in "Knots Landing" were Gary Ewing, the middle of three sons of Jock and Ellie Ewing, played by Ted Shackleford, and his wife Valene, played by Joan van Ark.

A number of actors from the parent show appeared in "Knots Landing" as their characters from "Dallas" during its run, including Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Charlene Tilton, with both Shackleford and van Ark making frequent appearances in "Dallas". "Knots Landing" eventually ran for fourteen seasons and 344 episodes between 1979 and 1993.

Answer: Family Ties

"Day by Day" was created by Andy Borowitz and Gary David Goldberg for NBC, debuting in February 1988. The show featured Douglas Sheehan and Linda Kelsey as Brian and Kate Harper, a successful career couple who gave up their jobs after the birth of their second child and instead opened a home-based daycare centre. "Day by Day" was scheduled by NBC for Sunday nights, following the hit sitcom "Family Ties", which had also been created by Goldberg.

In the third episode of season 2, the characters of Steven Keaton (played by Michael Gross) and his son Andy (played by Brian Bonsall) from "Family Ties" appeared, in which it was revealed that Brian Harper and Steven Keaton were old college roommates. "Day by "Day" ran for a total of two seasons and 33 episodes.

Answer: Only Fools and Horses

In 1997, John Sullivan, the creator of "Only Fools and Horses", came up with the idea of a prequel series featuring the character of Del Boy and his contemporaries as teenagers in the 1960s. However, in 2003, following the end of the parent show, the prequel idea was shelved, and instead Sullivan developed a new show, "The Green Green Grass", based around the popular characters of Boycie and Marlene.

The premise saw Boycie, played by John Challis, and his family having to leave Peckham after giving evidence against the notorious Driscoll brothers, ending up in the small country town of Oakham in Shropshire, and having to adapt to their new circumstances. "The Green Green Grass" was moderately successful, running for a total of four series and 33 episodes between 2005 and 2009.

In 2009, the prequel idea was revisited, eventually commissioned as "Rock & Chips", which was broadcast in 2010. Two further special episodes were broadcast in 2010 and 2011 before the death of creator John Sullivan.