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50's TV Trivia Questions and Answers

Sitcoms, Westerns, game shows and spy series of the 1950s and 1960s, with a reason for every answer.

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Lucy Ricardo's best friends and landlords, in a CBS sitcom of 1951 to 1957, are Ethel and Fred who?

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All 72 questions with answers

1950s comedy and variety 12

  • A CBS sitcom shown on Sunday evenings from October 4, 1959, about a boy named Dennis Mitchell, was based on what? Answer: A comic strip. Source: Wikipedia: Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series)
  • A comedy-variety show telecast from 1948 to 1956 gave which comedian the nickname Mr. Television? Answer: Milton Berle. Source: Wikipedia: Texaco Star Theater
  • A sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1964 starred Danny Thomas as a night club entertainer. What was it titled for its first three seasons? Answer: Make Room for Daddy. Source: Wikipedia: The Danny Thomas Show
  • Eve Arden starred as a sardonic high-school teacher in a sitcom that began on radio and came to television from 1952 to 1956. Which subject does she teach? Answer: English. Source: Wikipedia: Our Miss Brooks
  • In a sitcom first broadcast on October 4, 1957, a suburban boy is known as Beaver. What is his real first name? Answer: Theodore. Source: Wikipedia: Leave It to Beaver
  • Jack Benny always played the same character, a vain and stingy man sure of his own talent on which instrument, which he played badly? Answer: The violin. Source: Wikipedia: The Jack Benny Program
  • Lucy Ricardo's best friends and landlords, in a CBS sitcom of 1951 to 1957, are Ethel and Fred who? Answer: Mertz. Source: Wikipedia: I Love Lucy
  • Phil Silvers played Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in a CBS sitcom of 1955 to 1959. In which service is Bilko a sergeant? Answer: The Army. Source: Wikipedia: The Phil Silvers Show
  • Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca were featured in a live variety show broadcast weekly on NBC from 1950 to 1954. How long was each show? Answer: 90 minutes. Source: Wikipedia: Your Show of Shows
  • Which pair, headliners in vaudeville in the 1920s and radio stars in the 1930s and 1940s, starred in a CBS sitcom from 1950 to 1958? Answer: George Burns and Gracie Allen. Source: Wikipedia: The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
  • Which real-life family were the stars of a sitcom that aired on ABC all the way from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966? Answer: The Nelsons. Source: Wikipedia: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
  • Which sitcom, which began on radio in 1949, follows the Andersons, a middle-class family, and starred Robert Young? Answer: Father Knows Best. Source: Wikipedia: Father Knows Best

1950s Westerns, crime and drama 12

  • A CBS anthology drama series that aired from 1956 to 1960 took the number in its title from what? Answer: The length of each play in minutes. Source: Wikipedia: Playhouse 90
  • A Western of 1950 to 1956, with Duncan Renaldo in the title role and Leo Carrillo as Pancho, was the first television series to be filmed in what? Answer: Color. Source: Wikipedia: The Cisco Kid (TV series)
  • A Western on ABC from 1958 to 1963, with Chuck Connors as the rancher Lucas McCain, was one of the first prime-time series to show what? Answer: A single parent raising a child. Source: Wikipedia: The Rifleman
  • The anthology series that Alfred Hitchcock hosted from 1955 opened to theme music by which composer? Answer: Charles Gounod. Source: Wikipedia: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  • Clayton Moore starred in a Western series on ABC from 1949 to 1957 as a ranger who disguises himself with a black mask. Who is his companion? Answer: Tonto. Source: Wikipedia: The Lone Ranger (TV series)
  • Fess Parker played which real-life frontiersman in a five-part serial shown on ABC in 1954 and 1955? Answer: Davy Crockett. Source: Wikipedia: Davy Crockett (miniseries)
  • Jack Webb created a police series that began as a radio drama on NBC in 1949. In which city does his detective, Joe Friday, work? Answer: Los Angeles. Source: Wikipedia: Dragnet (franchise)
  • James Garner starred in an ABC Western of 1957 to 1962 as a traveler on riverboats and in saloons. At which game does he make his living? Answer: Poker. Source: Wikipedia: Maverick (TV series)
  • Richard Boone played a gentleman investigator who also works as a gunfighter for hire in a CBS Western of 1957 to 1963. What is the character called? Answer: Paladin. Source: Wikipedia: Have Gun – Will Travel
  • Walt Disney Productions made a series, first shown on October 10, 1957, about a hero created by Johnston McCulley in 1919. Who is the hero? Answer: Zorro. Source: Wikipedia: Zorro (1957 TV series)
  • Which comic book hero, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938, first reached television in a series that began filming in 1951? Answer: Superman. Source: Wikipedia: Adventures of Superman (TV series)
  • Which series, broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1962, was the first hour-long Western on television? Answer: Cheyenne. Source: Wikipedia: Cheyenne (TV series)

1950s game shows, news and children's TV 12

  • A CBS children's show of 1953 to 1957 has been praised as the first interactive TV show. What did children at home use to join in? Answer: A plastic sheet stuck on the screen. Source: Wikipedia: Winky Dink and You
  • A children's program billed as the nursery school of the air is the earliest known series of which kind produced in the United States? Answer: A preschool series. Source: Wikipedia: Ding Dong School
  • An early puppet show, broadcast from Chicago between 1947 and 1957 and soon watched by more adults than children, was unusual in which way? Answer: It had no script. Source: Wikipedia: Kukla, Fran and Ollie
  • Don Herbert created and hosted a children's series that had prompted more than five thousand clubs by 1956. What did he demonstrate? Answer: The science behind ordinary things. Source: Wikipedia: Watch Mr. Wizard
  • From which city was the teenage dance program that Dick Clark hosted broadcast, from its debut in 1952 until 1964? Answer: Philadelphia. Source: Wikipedia: American Bandstand
  • On a CBS game show of 1955 to 1958, the prize money doubled as the questions became more difficult. What was the top prize? Answer: $64,000. Source: Wikipedia: The $64,000 Question
  • On a CBS panel show that first aired from 1956 to 1968 with Bud Collyer as host, how many contestants all claim to be the same person? Answer: Three. Source: Wikipedia: To Tell the Truth
  • On a game show that moved to CBS television on March 23, 1950, what did contestants have to do to win prizes? Answer: Finish stunts within a time limit. Source: Wikipedia: Beat the Clock
  • On an NBC game show that began in 1958, matching the prizes hidden on the board uncovered parts of which kind of puzzle? Answer: A rebus. Source: Wikipedia: Concentration (game show)
  • Which broadcaster hosted the CBS documentary series of 1951 to 1958 that was based on an earlier radio show of his? Answer: Edward R. Murrow. Source: Wikipedia: See It Now
  • Which comedian hosted the comedy quiz that came to NBC television on October 4, 1950, with George Fenneman as his announcer? Answer: Groucho Marx. Source: Wikipedia: You Bet Your Life
  • Which NBC game show of 1956 to 1958, played by two contestants in separate isolation booths, became notorious when it was found to be rigged? Answer: Twenty-One. Source: Wikipedia: Twenty-One (game show)

1960s sitcoms 12

  • A Gothic sitcom that aired on ABC from 1964 to 1966 took its characters from single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams. In which magazine had they appeared? Answer: The New Yorker. Source: Wikipedia: The Addams Family (1964 TV series)
  • A musical sitcom that ran on NBC from September 12, 1966, to March 25, 1968, follows four young men who are trying to make a name as what? Answer: A rock and roll band. Source: Wikipedia: The Monkees (TV series)
  • Fred MacMurray starred in a sitcom of 1960 to 1972 as Steven Douglas, a widower raising three sons. What is his profession? Answer: Aeronautical engineer. Source: Wikipedia: My Three Sons
  • In a CBS sitcom of 1964 to 1966 about the home life of a family of benign monsters, what kind of creature is the family pet, Spot? Answer: A fire-breathing dragon. Source: Wikipedia: The Munsters
  • In a CBS sitcom of 1965 to 1971, Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor play a couple who give up city life and move where? Answer: To a country farm. Source: Wikipedia: Green Acres
  • In a comedy series that began on NBC on September 18, 1965, Don Adams plays the secret agent Maxwell Smart. What is his agent number? Answer: 86. Source: Wikipedia: Get Smart
  • In a sitcom of 1961 to 1966, Wilbur Post, an architect, is the only person his pet will talk to. What kind of animal is the pet? Answer: A horse. Source: Wikipedia: Mister Ed
  • In an ABC sitcom of 1963 to 1966, its teenage star played two look-alikes, Patty and Cathy Lane. How are the two related? Answer: They are cousins. Source: Wikipedia: The Patty Duke Show
  • In an NBC sitcom that aired from September 1961 to April 1963, the police officers Toody and Muldoon patrol a fictional precinct in which borough of New York City? Answer: The Bronx. Source: Wikipedia: Car 54, Where Are You?
  • Kate Bradley runs a hotel with her three daughters and her uncle Joe in a CBS sitcom that aired from September 1963 to April 1970. What is the hotel called? Answer: The Shady Rest. Source: Wikipedia: Petticoat Junction
  • Ray Walston starred in a CBS sitcom of 1963 to 1966 as a visitor who passes as a young man's uncle. Which planet is he from? Answer: Mars. Source: Wikipedia: My Favorite Martian
  • Which actress and singer starred in an NBC sitcom from September 17, 1968, to March 23, 1971, as a widowed mother who works as a nurse? Answer: Diahann Carroll. Source: Wikipedia: Julia (1968 TV series)

1960s spies, drama and adventure 12

  • A CBS series of 1965 to 1969 mixed the Western with the spy story. Its two Secret Service agents serve during the administration of which president? Answer: Ulysses S. Grant. Source: Wikipedia: The Wild Wild West
  • A Gothic soap opera shown on weekdays on ABC from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971, follows the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport. In which state is the town? Answer: Maine. Source: Wikipedia: Dark Shadows
  • In a British espionage series that aired from 7 January 1961 to 21 April 1969, which character, played by Patrick Macnee, is partnered with a succession of assistants? Answer: John Steed. Source: Wikipedia: The Avengers (TV series)
  • In a British series first shown in 1967, a nameless intelligence agent is held in a mysterious coastal village after he resigns. By which number is he known? Answer: Number Six. Source: Wikipedia: The Prisoner
  • In a CBS series that ran from October 7, 1960, to March 20, 1964, two young men cross the United States in which kind of car? Answer: A Chevrolet Corvette. Source: Wikipedia: Route 66 (TV series)
  • Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are secret agents in an NBC series that premiered on September 22, 1964. The initials of their agency spell which word? Answer: Uncle. Source: Wikipedia: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
  • The pet of a park warden and his two sons, in an NBC program of 1964 to 1967 that has been dubbed an aquatic Lassie, is what kind of animal? Answer: A bottlenose dolphin. Source: Wikipedia: Flipper (1964 TV series)
  • Roger Moore played Simon Templar, a character created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s, in a British series shown on ITV between 1962 and 1969. What is its title? Answer: The Saint. Source: Wikipedia: The Saint (TV series)
  • The title of a CBS family drama that aired between 1966 and 1969, about a veterinarian in East Africa, is the Swahili word for what? Answer: Doctor. Source: Wikipedia: Daktari
  • What is the futuristic nuclear submarine called in a science fiction series that Irwin Allen based on his own movie of 1961? Answer: Seaview. Source: Wikipedia: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
  • Which martial artist played Kato in an ABC action series of the 1966-1967 television season? Answer: Bruce Lee. Source: Wikipedia: The Green Hornet (TV series)
  • Who composed the main theme of the espionage series, on CBS from September 17, 1966, about a team called the Impossible Missions Force? Answer: Lalo Schifrin. Source: Wikipedia: Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)

Live nights, color and talk 12

  • A one-hour special broadcast on NBC on October 17, 1958, was the first major television show recorded on color videotape. Which dancer starred in it? Answer: Fred Astaire. Source: Wikipedia: An Evening with Fred Astaire
  • A work that NBC broadcast live on December 24, 1951, was the first of its kind composed for television in the United States. What kind of work was it? Answer: An opera. Source: Wikipedia: Amahl and the Night Visitors
  • How many debates did Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy hold during the presidential election of 1960? Answer: Four. Source: Wikipedia: 1960 United States presidential debates
  • The NBC news program that aired from October 29, 1956, to July 31, 1970, had two anchors. Chet Huntley was in New York City. Where was David Brinkley? Answer: Washington, D.C. Source: Wikipedia: The Huntley–Brinkley Report
  • On a CBS game show of 1961 to 1967, a celebrity and a contestant help each other to guess mystery words. How long may each clue be? Answer: A single word. Source: Wikipedia: Password (American game show)
  • On an NBC game show that became a regular series in October 1966, celebrities sit in a stack of nine open-faced cubes. Which game do the two contestants play? Answer: Tic-tac-toe. Source: Wikipedia: Hollywood Squares
  • On May 9, 1961, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission gave broadcasters a speech that is popularly known by which two words? Answer: Vast Wasteland. Source: Wikipedia: Television and the Public Interest
  • Which bird did NBC first use as a logo in 1956, to highlight its color programming? Answer: A peacock. Source: Wikipedia: NBC logo
  • Which pair of comedians hosted the sketch comedy program that ran on NBC from January 22, 1968, to July 23, 1973? Answer: Rowan and Martin. Source: Wikipedia: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Which singer returned to live performance, after seven years given mostly to films, in a television special shown on NBC on December 3, 1968? Answer: Elvis Presley. Source: Wikipedia: Elvis (1968 TV program)
  • Which songwriting team wrote a musical for television that was broadcast live in color on CBS on March 31, 1957, and seen by more than 100 million people? Answer: Rodgers and Hammerstein. Source: Wikipedia: Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical)
  • Who was the first host of NBC's late-night talk show, from September 27, 1954, to January 25, 1957? Answer: Steve Allen. Source: Wikipedia: Tonight Starring Steve Allen

How it works

Who were Lucy Ricardo's landlords, and which bird did NBC first use in 1956 to show off its color programs? These 50's TV trivia questions and answers have three 1950s rounds, two 1960s rounds and one on live nights.

Read the full guide

60's TV show trivia questions and answers

Set Start from to 1960s sitcoms for a talking horse, a family of benign monsters and a hotel called the Shady Rest. 1960s spies, drama and adventure has two agents whose agency spells a word, a submarine named Seaview and a dolphin dubbed an aquatic Lassie.

Classic TV trivia questions, multiple choice

Every question has four choices and a reason for its answer. The 1950s rounds are comedy and variety; Westerns, crime and drama; and game shows, news and children's television. Live nights, color and talk runs from an opera composed for television in 1951 to a comeback special of 1968.

  • Read the years aloud: a show's network and dates are often the best clue to its title.

Questions and answers

What are some old TV trivia questions?

Which comedian did a variety show make Mr. Television? Which Western was the first to run an hour? Who was the first host of NBC's late-night talk show? The answers are Milton Berle, Cheyenne and Steve Allen.

Are the classic TV show trivia questions and answers all from the 1950s?

No. Thirty-six of the 72 sit in the three rounds of 1950s TV trivia questions and answers. Two rounds cover the 1960s, and the last mixes both decades. Start from keeps a set inside one round.

Do the old TV show trivia questions and answers include cartoons?

No, apart from one hosted children's show that had an animated character. Animated series are left to the cartoon trivia pack. This page keeps to comedy, drama, game shows, news and children's programs of 1950 to 1969, American and British.

How were the answers checked?

Each was read on October 16, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article linked beside it, most often the program's own. Every person named has died, and a first is asked with its date, never as a record that could still fall.

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