JAQR - Old TV Shows (Special Edition)
Ernest Borgnine, female cop duos, Westerns, medical shows, theme songs, and more...
Thank you for reading another issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”] for short. This special edition recap focuses on old TV shows (1949-1993). The first half of the recap will include clues from previously Jeopardy! episodes so you can quiz yourself if you want. The second half will give you some (hopefully) interesting information about the clues and/or some related info.
By the way, just a friendly reminder that the next two issues of JAQR will also be “special editions.”
March 19 = Ten Jeopardy clues and recaps concerning potent potables
March 26 = 88 questions based on JAQR recaps from 2022
Regular issues should resume April 2nd.
'60s SITCOMS
The 1962 TV drama "Seven Against the Sea" with Ernest Borgnine became this sitcom a few years later
BEST DRAMA SERIES EMMY AWARDS
Best Drama 1985 & 1986: This series about a female cop duo
LONG-RUNNING TV SHOWS
Lasting from 1955 to 1975, this TV western slung 635 episodes
ONE-NAME TV TITLES
Just one more thing--name this trench-coated detective whose show originally ran from 1971 to 1978
ROLE
James Brolin won an Emmy in 1970 for playing Dr. Kiley on this Robert Young medical series
SITCOMS
Daniel Stern, as the adult Kevin Arnold, narrated this series set in the 1960s
TV CAST CHANGES
Clayton Moore, who was replaced by John Hart as this hero, got his job back after the ratings went down
TV CATCHPHRASES (name the show given the catchphrase)
"God'll get you for that, Walter"
TV MEDICAL SHOWS BY HOSPITAL
In the 1980s: San Francisco Memorial Hospital
TV SHOWS IN 2 WORDS
Sweathogs, school
'60s SITCOMS
The 1962 TV drama "Seven Against the Sea" with Ernest Borgnine became this sitcom a few years later
***MCHALE’S NAVY***
McHale's Navy was an ABC comedy that aired for four seasons from 1962-1966. The show was primarily set during World War II on the fictional Pacific island base of Taratupa. The show centered on the slovenly crew of the patrol torpedo boat PT-73, led by Lieutenant Commander McHale, played by Ernest Borgnine. The show co-starred Tim Conway as the bumbling Ensign Parker, who is assigned to restore order within the ranks, and Joe Flynn as Captain Binghamton, who often tries to find reasons for the crew to be transferred to another command. Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, wrote scripts for the show under the name Max Orange. The show spawned a 1964 movie of the same name, a 1965 sequel titled McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force, and a 1997 Razzie-nominated remake starring future Razzie winner Tom Arnold.
McHale’s Navy starred Ernest Borgnine, pictured below, who was known for his "portly physique." He had previously won the Oscar for Best Actor for playing the title role in the 1955 movie Marty, in which he played a lonesome butcher who is a bachelor in the Bronx. Borgnine co-starred in the movies The Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). He played a train conductor with a vendetta against hobos in the interesting sounding 1973 movie Emperor of the North Pole. Borgnine was briefly married to Broadway legend Ethel Merman in 1964. He married Norwegian-born QVC star and cosmetics maven Tove Traesnaes in 1973 and they were married until his death in 2012.
BEST DRAMA SERIES EMMY AWARDS
Best Drama 1985 & 1986: This series about a female cop duo
***CAGNEY & LACEY***
Cagney & Lacey (1982-1988) was a CBS buddy cop drama. It starred Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly as the title NYPD detectives, Christine Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey. In the pilot, Cagney was played by Loretta Swit, who had to decline the series role because she couldn’t get out of her M*A*S*H contract (she played Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on that show). In the short six-episode first season, Cagney was played by Meg Foster, but was criticized for being “too tough, too hard, and not feminine.” The show was cancelled after the first season, but was soon relaunched with Sharon Gless instead. She had recently also replaced Lynn Redgrave on the sitcom House Calls (1979-1982) after Redgrave was fired for wanting to bring her baby to work in order to breastfeed.
Cagney & Lacey was cancelled again after the second season, but Emmy nominations, a letter-writing campaign, and an increase in ratings during the summer after a time slot change resulted in a mid-season return. The show ran for seven seasons total, and for the final six seasons, both Gless and Tyne were nominated for Best Actress each year. Gless won the award two times (1986 and 1987), and Tyne won four times (1983-1985 and 1988). After the show ended, Cagney and Lacey appeared in four TV movies in the mid 1990s that were collectively dubbed “The Menopause Years.” Mary Beth Lacey was played by the nepo baby Tyne Daly, whose father James Daly starred on the CBS drama Medical Center (1969-1976). Tyne Daly later won a Supporting Actress Emmy for her role on Judging Amy. She played Maxine Gray, the mother of the title judge, who was played by Amy Brenneman. On the more recent TV comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Terry Crews played a detective whose twin daughters were named Cagney and Lacey in their honor.
LONG-RUNNING TV SHOWS
Lasting from 1955 to 1975, this TV western slung 635 episodes
***GUNSMOKE***
Gunsmoke ran on CBS for 20 seasons and is the longest-running prime-time TV western in history. It was the highest Nielsen-rated show for four consecutive seasons (1957-58 - 1960-61). Gunsmoke won the Emmy for Best Drama in 1958. The show was set in the frontier town of Dodge City, Kansas during the 1870s. The show starred James Arness as the U.S. marshal Matt Dillon. The show co-starred Amanda Blake as Miss Kitty Russell, who owns the Long Branch Saloon (also a brothel), Dennis Weaver as deputy marshal Chester Goode, and Milburn Stone as the doctor Doc Adams. Dennis Weaver (1958) and Milburn Stone (1968) each won one Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. Dennis Weaver left the show in 1964 and was replaced by Ken Curtis, who played Festus Haggen. Dennis Weaver later played the title character on the NBC police drama McCloud (1970-1977).
The first episode of the show was introduced by John Wayne, who was initially considered to be the lead, but recommended Arness instead. The show originally had half-hour episodes, but after six seasons, switched to hour-long episodes. Before he directed the 1969 movie The Wild Bunch, Sam Peckinpah wrote scripts for the show. Gunsmoke’s one short-lived spin-off was titled Dirty Sally.
ONE-NAME TV TITLES
Just one more thing--name this trench-coated detective whose show originally ran from 1971 to 1978
***COLUMBO***
The bumbling but dogged Lieutenant Columbo was played by Peter Falk. He first played Columbo in a 1968 pilot titled Prescription: Murder. The first regular episode of Columbo aired in 1971 and was titled "Murder by the Book." It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Bochco, who would go on to co-create Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue. Episodes initially aired as part of The NBC Mystery Movie anthology series, which was devoted to a rotating series of shows such as McCloud and McMillan & Wife. Unlike most shows, Columbo showed the murder first, and then showed how the murder was solved. The current TV show Poker Face, created by Rian Johnson, starring Natasha Lyonne, and streaming on Peacock, has the same "howcatchem" format.
Columbo often wore a rumpled raincoat and almost always had a cigar in his mouth. He drove a Peugeot [pyoo-ZHOH] and had a basset hound creatively named Dog. The character Columbo was partly inspired by the police detective Porfiry Petrovich from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Trivial Pursuit was unsuccessfully sued for $300 million by Fred L. Worth after he caught them copying questions from his trivia encyclopedia, including one about Columbo's first name, which he fictitiously listed as Philip. The singer/actor Bing Crosby turned down the role of Columbo in order to play more golf. A short-lived spinoff of Columbo about his wife was titled Mrs. Columbo and starred Kate Mulgrew (who later starred as Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager and played prison kitchen boss Red on Orange Is the New Black) as the title mystery-solving news reporter.
The actor Peter Falk had a prosthetic glass right eye due to having a tumor (and the eye) removed when he was three years old. He worked as a management analyst in Connecticut before moving to New York City to pursue acting. He was the first actor to be nominated for an Emmy and Oscar in the same year (1961). He played the grandfather in the frame story of The Princess Bride (1987). Falk’s memoir Just One More Thing was titled for a line often said by Columbo right after he spotted a vital clue.
ROLE
James Brolin won an Emmy in 1970 for playing Dr. Kiley on this Robert Young medical series
***MARCUS WELBY, M.D.***
Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976) was a medical drama that starred Robert Young as the title kind doctor. Robert Young had previously played a kind father and insurance agent named Jim Anderson on the TV show Father Knows Best (1954-1960). Marcus Welby, M.D. was set in Santa Monica, California and also starred James Brolin (Josh Brolin’s father and Barbra Streisand’s current husband) as his younger, motorcycle-riding private practice partner Dr. Steven Kiley. The show also starred Elena Verdugo as the nurse / office manager Consuelo Lopez. In 1970, the show won the Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series, Young won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama, and Brolin won the Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Drama. The show was #1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1970-1971 season. The show had a couple of crossover episodes with another early 1970s ABC drama, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law.
SITCOMS
Daniel Stern, as the adult Kevin Arnold, narrated this series set in the 1960s
***THE WONDER YEARS***
The Wonder Years aired on ABC from 1988-1993, but was set in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The show starred child actor Fred Savage as the middle-class teenager Kevin Arnold, who dates Winnie Cooper, played by Danica McKellar. Other characters on the show include Kevin’s annoying older brother Wayne (played by Jason Hervey) and Kevin’s hippie older sister Karen (played by Olivia d'Abo). Karen’s boyfriend/husband Michael was played by David Schwimmer. The show was narrated by an adult version of Kevin played by Daniel Stern (the tall burglar from Home Alone).
The show was partly set at a high school named for President William McKinley. Other shows set a high school named for that president include Freaks and Geeks (1999-2001) and Glee (2009-2015). The show’s theme song was Joe Cocker’s version of the Beatles song "With a Little Help from My Friends." The show beat out Cheers, The Golden Girls, and others to win the Emmy for Best Comedy in 1988. The following year, Savage became the youngest person ever to be Emmy-nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy. A reboot of the show featuring a Black family premiered on ABC in 2021 and is narrated by Don Cheadle.
Fred Savage (Kevin), who played the grandson in the frame story of The Princess Bride, is the older brother of Ben Savage, who played the main character Cory Matthews on Boy Meets World. Danica McKellar (Winnie) went on to get a math degree from UCLA and promotes math education (especially for girls) with books such as Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape (and another depicted below). Olivia d'Abo (Karen) is the daughter of Mike d'Abo, the English singer who was lead vocalist of the 1960s rock band Manfred Mann. The band’s songs include “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.”
TV CAST CHANGES
Clayton Moore, who was replaced by John Hart as this hero, got his job back after the ratings went down
***THE LONE RANGER***
The Lone Ranger (1949-1957) was a Western that aired on ABC. It was a version of a radio show created by Fran Striker and George W. Trendle, who later created the Green Hornet as well. The radio show The Lone Ranger premiered in 1933 on the Detroit-area station WXYZ. The title character was a 19th century Texas Ranger who was ambushed by outlaws. He was found by a Native American named Tonto. After being nursed to health, Reid donned a black mask and became the Lone Ranger, who fought evil and helped those in need.
Earle Graser voiced the Lone Ranger on over one thousand radio episodes until he died in a 1941 car crash. He was replaced by Brace Beemer, who had previously served as the show’s narrator. Clayton Moore typically played the Lone Ranger on TV, but a contract dispute led John Hart to replace him for a few dozen episodes in 1952 and 1953. Tonto (which means "dumb" or "silly" or “foolish” in Spanish) was voiced on the radio was John Todd and was played on TV by indigenous Canadian actor Jay Silverheels. Both the radio program and TV show used the finale of the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini as their theme songs. The Lone Ranger has been the subject of two movies: 1981’s The Legend of the Lone Ranger starring Klinton Spilsbury (his one and only movie) and Michael Horse, and 2013’s The Lone Ranger starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. Both movies were commercial failures, and the latter lost nearly $200 million.
The radio episodes often asked listeners to "return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear." The Lone Ranger rode a white horse named Silver, while Tonto rode a horse named Scout. The Lone Ranger is known for using silver bullets and telling his horse "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!" (or “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!”). Tonto often referred to the Lone Ranger as "kemo sabe." The end of many episodes featured someone asking "who was that masked man?" after The Lone Ranger departed. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a 1993 short story collection by Native American author Sherman Alexie. The chorus of Jim Croce's debut single, “You Don't Mess Around with Jim” (1972), mentions the Lone Ranger:
You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim
TV CATCHPHRASES (name the show given the catchphrase)
"God'll get you for that, Walter"
***MAUDE***
Maude was a CBS sitcom that aired from 1972-1978 and starred Bea(trice) Arthur as the title character. Maude was a spin-off of the show All in the Family, whose other famous spin-offs include The Jeffersons. The show All in the Family starred Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, who was a grouchy blue-collar social conservative. The politically liberal Maude Findlay was a cousin of Archie’s wife Edith. The show Maude was created by Norman Lear, who had also created All in the Family. Lear based Archie on his father and Maude on his wife.
Maude was set in Tuckahoe, New York. The show co-starred Bill Macy as the title character’s fourth husband Walter (the actor William H. Macy originally went by W. H. Macy to avoid confusion with him). The actress Adrienne Barbeau (who played Rizzo in the Broadway musical Grease and co-starred in the 1982 movie Swamp Thing) played Maude’s divorced daughter Carol. The actress Esther Rolle played Florida Evans, who was Maude’s housekeeper. Rolle co-starred on a Maude spin-off titled Good Times. Bea Arthur won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1977 for playing Maude.
Donny Hathaway (who often recorded with Roberta Flack) performed the show's theme song ("And Then There's Maude)," which was mocked on an episode of Family Guy (see below). The theme song begins “Lady Godiva was a freedom rider / She didn't care if the whole world looked” and ends by calling Maude “uncompromisin', enterprisin', anything but tranquilizin.” Donny Hathaway jumped to his death from a NYC hotel at the age of 33.
Before appearing on TV, Bea Arthur was one of the Marine Corps' first female recruits of WWII. After starring on Maude, she appeared in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special as Ackmena, who runs the cantina on Mos Eisley. She later played the owner of a struggling seaside hotel in California on the sitcom Amanda's (1983), which was based on the British show Fawlty Towers, but only lasted one season. Arthur won another Emmy for playing Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls (1985-1992).
TV MEDICAL SHOWS BY HOSPITAL
In the 1980s: San Francisco Memorial Hospital
***TRAPPER JOHN, M.D.***
Trapper John, M.D. (1979-1986) was a CBS medical drama. It was technically a spin-off of the 1970 movie M*A*S*H, and not the TV show (1972-1983). Pernell Roberts played the title character, John McIntyre, who is the chief of surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. Pernell Roberts had previously played Adam Cartwright on the western Bonanza. Other characters on Trapper John, M.D. included Dr. George Alonzo Gates (nicknamed "Gonzo"), who was played by Gregory Harrison, and lived in a motorhome called "The Titanic" in the parking lot of the hospital. The show also included a young doctor named Justin "Jackpot" Jackson, who was played by Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell. “Trapper” John was previously played in the movie M*A*S*H by Elliott Gould (aka Ross and Monica’s dad on Friends), and on the TV show M*A*S*H by Wayne Rogers (co-star of the TV sitcom House Calls).
TV SHOWS IN 2 WORDS
Sweathogs, school
***WELCOME BACK, KOTTER***
Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979) was an ABC sitcom that starred Gabe Kaplan as the title high-school teacher who returns to his alma mater James Buchanan HS in Brooklyn. Gabe Kaplan played Gabe Kotter, who teaches a remedial class whose members call themselves the “Sweathogs.” John Travolta played the heartthrob Vinnie Barbarino, the “leader” of the Sweathogs. The members are known for their silly antics and for saying “whatever it is, I didn't do it.” Other members of the Sweathogs include Freddie Washington, who is nicknamed "Boom Boom," and who was played by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. A very short-lived spin-off the show titled Mr. T and Tina starred Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid) and Susan Blanchard as the title characters. Morita played a Japanese inventor who is sent by his employer to Chicago, and Blanchard played his children’s governess.
The show's theme song, titled "Welcome Back," was by John Sebastian. He was the lead singer of the band The Lovin' Spoonful, whose songs include "Do You Believe in Magic" and "Summer in the City." The theme to Welcome Back, Kotter was so popular that it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Other TV theme songs to hit number one include versions of Rhythm Heritage’s theme to S.W.A.T. (also in 1976) and Jan Hammer’s wordless theme to Miami Vice (in 1985). The song “Welcome Back” opens:
Welcome back
Your dreams were your ticket out
Welcome back
To that same old place that you laughed aboutWell, the names have all changed
Since you hung around
But those dreams have remained
And they've turned around
