1. What’s My Line?
Put on those tuxedos, because we’re going to start with a classic and a personal favorite, the absurdly formal Sunday night panel game, What’s My Line?, which premiered in 1950. In the spirit of Arlene Francis and friends, here are twelve movie characters who are definitely bigger than a breadbox:
Ron Woodroof
Truman Capote
Sydney Prosser
Juno MacGuff
William Whitaker
Maria Bennett
Hanna Schmitz
Daniel Plainview
George Valentin
Marilyn Monroe
Nina Sayers
Mark Zuckerberg
Just as in What’s My Line?, you’ll have to name the occupation of one of these movie characters. You can’t ask them any questions, but luckily for you, each of these roles has earned their respective actor or actress a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor (or Actress) between 2007 and 2013.
Pick one of the movie characters above and name his/her occupation at the start of his/her movie.
-Your response should be formatted like this: John Smith: Banker.
There are 12 valid answers to this question.
NESTED BONUS: Blockbusters
Who won the Academy Award for which your chosen character’s actor/actress was nominated? (-2 points)
BONUS: Name Droppers
What is the full name of the first host of What’s My Line?? (-1 point)
2. Name That Tune
Name That Tune premiered on television in 1953. Contestants listened to a live band play a song and, when they recognized it, they had to run across the stage, ring the bell, and name that tune! In this TD, you will also have to name a tune. I hope you don't Tell Me that It's All Over Now!
Name a Rolling Stones single whose title starts with the letter “S."
-Ignore all parentheticals in song titles for this question.
There are 17 valid answers to this question.
3. Tic Tac Dough
In 1956, we were introduced to the first version of Tic Tac Dough, a clever game that mixed the strategy (sort of) of Tic-Tac-Toe with more traditional trivia questions. Any kid who caught reruns of the Martindale version on GSN remembers running to their parents and asking why there wasn't any food on the show if it had "dough" in the title. That's a really good question, but unfortunately it's above my pay grade. What I can do, however, is introduce some good cooking to Tic Tac Dough.
Name an ingredient in Julia Child's "Coq au vin" recipe that a strict vegan can comfortably consume.
There are 14 valid answers to this question.
BONUS: Win, Lose, or Draw
In his original run, Thom McKee played 88 games of Tic Tac Dough. How many of these games were draws? (-2 points for bullseye, -1 point for being 1 off in either direction)
4. To Tell the Truth
1956 also marked the premiere of To Tell the Truth, a game in which three people (one person with a claim to fame and two imposters) all claimed to be the same person, and celebrity panelists had to ask cunning questions in order to determine who was lying and who was telling the truth. In my humble opinion, this was and still is the most brilliant concept ever thought up for a not-formally-trivia game show. Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov and modern fantasy maestro George R.R. Martin both populate their worlds with unreliable narrators, scoundrel protagonists, and characters who have a little bit of a problem telling the truth.
Name either:
The first and last names of a title character in a Vladimir Nabokov novel.
Or:
The first and last names of a Point of View character in George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.
-I'm not qualified to decide whether the "Laura" in "The Original of Laura" refers to Flora or Aurora, so I'm going to disqualify that unfinished novel for this question.
There are 15 correct answers to this question.
5. Match Game
The first incarnation of Match Game started airing on NBC in 1962. The game later evolved into the jocular, raucous affair we know and love, and matching one's answers to those of the celebrity panelists was far from a science. Studying for my periodic table quizzes in Chemistry class, I often wished I could match my Au to whatever Charles Nelson Reilly could come up with, instead of to stupid freaking gold. Well, like any good bitter former student, I am going to continue the cycle of abuse and make you do what I had to do.
Name a chemical element on the Periodic Table of Elements that is not a transition metal and whose elemental symbol can be written out solely with the letters in “Match Game."
-I am counting Meitnerium as a transition metal, so it is not a valid answer.
There are 15 valid answers to this question.
NESTED BONUS: The Biggest Loser
What is the relative atomic mass of your chosen element, rounded to the nearest whole number? (-2 points)
6. Jeopardy!
The original Jeopardy!, hosted by Art Fleming, premiered in 1964, forcing contestants to answer in the form of a question as its main gimmick. The name of the show is rather silly, in my opinion, and the exclamation point makes it a pain in the ass to write about. I happen to think that the name is the only flaw in this otherwise perfect game, which is still around in its current form fifty years later and is the reason we're all here. Here's a clue about countries in jeopardy. Don't forget to answer in the form of a question!
Name either:
A country (or former country) against which the United States has formally declared war.
Or:
A country (or former country) which the United States engaged militarily without formal Congressional authorization between 1900 and 2011, inclusive.
-You must answer in the form of a question, or your response will be counted as incorrect.
There are 20 valid answers to this question.
7. Gambit
1972 gave us Gambit, the blackjack-trivia mix that was revived fairly successfully by GSN in 2008. A version of Gambit even taped at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Amazingly, more than ten times as many people live in Las Vegas than in Carson City, the state capital of Nevada.
Name either:
One of the ten most populous cities (incorporated area, unincorporated town, or census-designated place (CDP)) in Nevada.
Or:
A state capital that is not one of the ten most populous cities (incorporated area, unincorporated town, or CDP) in its state.
There are 15 valid answers to this question.
BONUS: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
What was the capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia? (-1 point)
8. Wheel of Fortune
In 1975 came the original network version of TPH's wheelhouse show, the one we all love to rag on, Wheel of Fortune! Who wouldn't want to make five figures for playing half an hour of hangman and spinning a giant wheel? In this TD, there's no wheel, and there's a significantly smaller prize, but you will get to solve some word puzzles. The category for all of these puzzles is "Before & After." And here they are! Vanna?
*** I M** Y*UR M****R **R*SA
*H* *N* *H* *NL* **S* *** W*S **S**R***
*I***I** *F **L*M*I* **I*E**I*Y
***M**RIC C**C**** *F **RI**I*N*
*I***E BI**O**ED F*O*
TH* **UN* *N* TH* *U*Y W***I**
**O’S *F***D OF V****N** *OO** P*C*?
*I* *I** I* **E *AN*
*I* *Y*-**RG*** **OLU*IO*
***SFI*L* P*** *V**U*
*N**N*** *** *OR L***
**ON **N* **C*A** T*E T****
Solve one of the word puzzles above.
There are 12 valid answers to this question.
9. Family Feud
1976 was when we first got to see Richard Dawson kissing wives in front of their husbands and daughters in front of their fathers as the host of Family Feud. When you get a bunch of family members together for any length of time, there's bound to be some good-natured (or less than good-natured) bickering. In many Jewish households, the Passover seders provide a perfect opportunity for extended family to get together, tell the story of the Exodus, eat some good food, and argue about politics.
Name either:
One of the ten plagues the Lord brings upon the Egyptians in the book of Exodus.
Or:
One of the six items traditionally placed on the Seder plate, according to Chabad.
There are 16 valid answers to this question.
10. Password Plus
Password Plus, which added a word puzzle to the classic word-guessing game, started airing in 1979, and I'm still waiting for Goodson and Todman to finish the equation. Password plus what? In honor of the First Lady of Password, Betty White, who is still working her butt off in her 90s:
Name a prime number between 1 and 1,000 that has a tens digit of 9.
You are welcome to do any calculations you'd like, but use of a calculator is not permitted.
There are 15 valid answers to this question.
BONUS: Survivor
Who are the only three women to have won Survivor with a prime number of jury votes? (-1 point for each correct answer)
11. Card Sharks
Higher! Lower! What on Earth do you do with that dreaded 8? Card Sharks premiered in 1978, and its simple concept and beautiful showgirls kept the show going through nearly 2000 episodes. One of the only negatives? The producers totally missed out on making the first ever game show to take place completely underwater. I'd be willing to bet that there are some sharks that are better at picking higher or lower than some of those contestants...
Name someone who won a gold medal for the USA in the finals of any swimming event in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
There are 14 valid answers to this question.
NESTED BONUS: The Amazing Race
What race(s) did your chosen swimmer win in the London Games? (If your chosen swimmer won multiple events, you must name them all to get the bonus) (-2 points)
12. Legends of the Hidden Temple
A cult classic which began airing in 1993, Legends of the Hidden Temple involved preteens and young teenagers completing physical and mental tasks for Olmec the Talking Olmec Head and racing around a Mayan temple to steal artifacts protected by mysterious temple guards. Any '90s kid can name the 6 teams: Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots, and Silver Snakes. Clearly, the Orange Iguanas and the Purple Parrots were the coolest teams. So now, you, too, get to go on a worldwide treasure hunting expedition as Orange Iguanas and Purple Parrots! Today's treasures: flags.
Name a UN member state whose current national flag contains the color orange and/or the color purple.
-If you think your answer contains a debatable shade of reddish purple or reddish orange, describe the flag to me, making it clear that your issue is with subjective naming of colors, not with knowledge of the flag, and I will tell you whether or not that flag is a correct answer. You can only do this once, for one answer.
There are 12 valid answers to this question.
NESTED BONUS: The Price is Right
What is the currency of your chosen nation? (-2 points)
13. Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
1999 brought us the American premiere of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the most internationally popular television franchise of all time. Although WWTBAM-mania has cooled down in the past fifteen years, people still really want to be millionaires, shockingly. In fact, if they had the choice, I think most people would like to be billionaires. So, multiplying that goal of $1 million dollars by the all-important $32,000 marker in classic WWTBAM:
Give the first and last names of someone with a net worth of $32 billion or greater, according to forbes.com's "The World's Billionaires List."
There are 19 valid answers to this question.
14. Friend or Foe
2002 saw the premiere of the short-lived GSN classic Friend or Foe, which taught us that you never really know who's your friend and who's just waiting to stick a knife in your back. So, now it's your choice: Friend or Foe? In this TD, Friend is represented by the newly ended sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which ostensibly tells the story of how he met his kids' mother while really cleverly narrating the lives of five young and wild New Yorkers, while Foe is represented by AMC megahit Breaking Bad, in which a cunning meth dealer eludes his police and drug world enemies at every turn.
Give the first and last names of a member of the main cast of either How I Met Your Mother or Breaking Bad, and the first and last names of the character whom he/she plays.
-Your response should be formatted like this: Jennifer Aniston: Rachel Green, if we were doing Friends or, in case of exception noted in the clarifications, like this: Kaley Cuoco: Penny, if we were doing The Big Bang Theory.
-Actors who are credited after the opening sequence ("starring," not "guest starring") as opposed to at the end of the show, for any or all seasons, are part of the main cast of the show. Or, if an actor is uncredited because his/her role is voice-only, I'd consider them part of the main cast if their voice is heard in all or nearly all of the episodes of a given season. In this case, for the bonus, you would give the episode in which we first hear their voice.
There are 18 valid answers to this question.
NESTED BONUS: You Bet Your Life
What is the name of the first episode of How I Met Your Mother or Breaking Bad in which your chosen character appears? (-1 point if the answer to this question is the name of the series premiere, -3 points otherwise)
15. Show Me the Money
2006 gave us Show me the Money, possibly the worst traditional game show ever to air in prime time. Luckily, we've been able to watch plenty of other people get shown tons of money on better game shows! In August 1999, Michael Shutterly won $500,000 on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, which made him the biggest solo winner in the history of American television game shows.
Name either:
Someone who earned the title of biggest cash and prize winner in the history of American television game shows after Michael Shutterly.
Or:
Someone who, as of this post, is in the top 10 all-time for cash and prize winnings on American television game shows.
There are 12 valid answers to this question.