Trivia – 20 Questions on TV

Welcome to Expat Living’s weekly quiz. How about challenging a friend or family member? You can get together with them over Zoom, Houseparty or Google Hangouts. This week, it’s 20 trivia questions on TV – we think you’ll really need to dig in to your memory bank for this one!

#1 The first ever TV advertisement aired at the start of a US baseball game in 1941; was it for a watch, a car or a brand of coffee?

#2 Which of her former boyfriends does Carrie Bradshaw end up with in the final episode of Sex and the City? 

#3 Who narrated Planet Earth and Blue Planet?

#4 What’s the name of the crazy drummer from Dr Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, the fictional rock band in The Muppets?

#5 There have been local versions of MasterChef filmed in dozens of countries, from Indonesia to Paraguay, but where did it all begin?

#6 The term “wardrobe malfunction” was coined in 2014 by Justin Timberlake, as part of an apology for a live TV clothing mishap involving which singer? 

#7 Which television show from the 1970s is set in a mismanaged hotel in Torquay, England?

#8 George Clooney first came to fame in which medical-themed TV series?

#9 Who will play Queen Elizabeth II in the upcoming fourth series of The Crown?

#10 Which fictional TV character might be found using a multifunctional tool known as a “sonic screwdriver” to do everything from opening doors to tracking alien life?

#11 The great “videotape format war” of the late 1970s and early 1980s was fought between VHS and which other video device? 

#12 Name two of America’s four most popular TV soap operas.

#13 Which member of the Beatles worked as a narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine?

#14 Which renowned show had episodes featuring the catchphrases “low-talker”, “puffy shirt”, “big salad” and “shrinkage”?

#15 Winona Ryder stars in which current sci-fi/horror series?

#16 Which illicit drug is at the centre of the storyline of Breaking Bad?

#17 Name the TV shows featuring these iconic characters: Tyrion Lannister; The Fonz; Ralph Wiggum 

#18 Who was filmed on live TV trying to evade American police in a “low-speed pursuit” in a white Ford Bronco in 1994?

#19 During the 2017 Oscars presentation, La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture. Which film, starting with M, had actually won the award?

#20 Name one of the Teletubbies. 

BONUS

(If you can answer correctly on the first clue, you get 10 points, but you lose a point for each additional clue you require after that.)

What am I?

I’m a TV series that aired from 2004 to 2010. (10)
My pilot episode was directed by JJ Abrams, who recently directed two Star Wars films. (9)
I was conceived as a multicultural show featuring a large international cast. (8)
Most of my filming was done in Hawaii. (7)
I’m often ranked as one of the greatest TV series of all time. (6)
Actress Evangeline Lilly appeared in a leading role in 108 of my 121 episodes. (5)
My first series includes the discovery of a mysterious “hatch” leading underground, and an enemy known as the “Smoke Monster”. (4)
My storyline revolves around airplane passengers who end up stranded on a strange island. (3)
I have a one-word title beginning with L. (2)
I am ____. (1)

All the answers (no cheating!)

#1 Watch (a Bulova wristwatch)
#2 Mr Big
#3 Sir David Attenborough
#4 Animal
#5 The UK (it first aired there 30 years ago, in July 1990)
#6 Janet Jackson
#7 Fawlty Towers
#8 ER
#9 Olivia Coleman
#10 Dr Who
#11 Betamax (VHS won the war)
#12 The Young and the Restless; Bold and the Beautiful; Days of our Lives; General Hospital
#13 Ringo Starr
#14 Seinfeld
#15 Stranger Things
#16 Crystal meth (or “blue” as it’s referred to in the show)
#17 Game of Thrones; Happy Days; The Simpsons
#18 OJ Simpson
#19 Moonlight
#20 Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, Po

BONUS: Lost

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