TV’s Annoying Characters
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The vain news anchor.
Who is Ted Baxter? He was played by actor Ted Knight, who went on to play the kind, curmudgeonly cartoonist Henry Rush in the series Too Close for Comfort in 1980.
Today we play solitaire on the computer, but back in the day, we played it with these.
What are cards? The game is said to have originated in the 18th century in the Baltic region of Europe, where it is called patience. Many younger players don’t know how to lay out the cards because they’ve played it only on their electronic devices.
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Avengers
What is The Avengers? The Avengers is a 1960s-era TV spy drama; the other two are rock ’n’ roll bands.
A collie is the star of this long-running TV show, which began in 1954.
What is Lassie? June Lockhart plays the mother.
Cheers: first name of bartender Sam Malone’s girlfriend. She is one of the waitresses.
Who is Diane? Diane Chambers, played by Shelly Long, is insufferably pretentious, but she isn’t alone. Dr. Fraiser Crane and his eventual wife, Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane, also add high-brow humor to the casual bar.
In the 1970s and 1980s, parents and grandparents relied on their children and grandchildren to program this device that recorded TV shows.
What is VCR? Most people never figured out how to set the VCR to record one show while watching another show. In 2014, The Atlantic reported, “58% of Americans still have a VCR
Monopoly, Pac-Man, and Clue
What is Pac-Man? It is an electronic (video) game; the other two are much older board games.
This war comedy-drama featuring characters Hawkeye, Hot Lips, Klinger, and Radar had the largest audience ever recorded for its series finale.
What is M*A*S*H? The series finale had an audience of 106 million people.
The Nanny: The name of the character with an annoying voice. Aside from the voice, everything about this character is loveable.
Who is Fran Fine? The actress Fran Drescher plays a lovely nanny, but you must acquire a taste for that voice. Fran Drescher says that her whole family has a similar voice and never noticed anything strange about her nasal accent when she was a child.
In the 1960s and 1970s, we drove without these restraining devices.
What are seatbelts? Mandatory seatbelt laws did not appear until the mid-1980s. New Hampshire still has no seat belt law for those 18 years and older.
Twitter, Facebook, eBay
What is eBay? Facebook and Twitter are social media platforms, and eBay is an auction site.
This show has a stellar ensemble cast—Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, and Andy Kaufman, among others—and chronicles the life of New York City cab drivers.
What is Taxi?
Family Matters: The neighborhood kid-genius with the pants up to his chin, a whiny, high-pitched voice, and an obnoxious laugh. His first name is Steve, but everyone refers to him by his last name.
Who is Steve Urkel? Jaleel White played Urkel, as well as Stephan Urkel, his suave and handsome alter ego that comes out when he drinks a special potion he makes in his secret laboratory
When our white tennis shoes got dirty, we used to put this on them to hide the dirt.
What is shoe polish? Some people still use it, but others use a shoe cleaner.
John Travolta, John “Cougar” Mellencamp, and John Goodman
Who is John “Cougar” Mellencamp? He’s a singer, and the other two are actors.
Lyrics to the theme song of this 1970s Saturday-night show include: Love, exciting and new Come aboard. We’re expecting you. And love, life’s sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you.
What is The Love Boat?
Downton Abbey: The strawberry-blonde sister who rarely has a good day due to her backstabbing and constant whining.
Who is Edith? Her full name is Lady Edith Crawley. By the end of the series, she has grown up quite a bit, managing to stand up for herself and even have as much of a happy ending as the British drama gave to any character.
Today with online banking, there is no need to use this paper item to keep track of checking account balances.
What is check register (or similar)? In addition to online banking, some people use a spreadsheet such as Excel to keep track of their bank accounts.
Watergate, Woodstock, and Altamont
What is Watergate? The other two places were the scenes of famous rock concerts; the Watergate Hotel was the scene of the Democratic headquarters break-in. The Altamont Speedway concert was supposed to be the Woodstock of the West, but it turned violent, and four attendees were killed. Rolling Stone magazine called it “rock and roll’s all-time worst day.”
Bea Arthur first plays this character on the 1970s show that’s named for her character.
Who is Maude? Bea Arthur went on to have even more success as part of the ensemble cast of The Golden Girls.