Television show - Quiz
Television show
  • 1. What is the first step in the development of a new television show?
A) Hiring a marketing team
B) Developing elements like concept, characters, crew, and cast
C) Filming the first season
D) Broadcasting the first episode
  • 2. What is a pilot in the context of television production?
A) A show that is cancelled mid-season
B) A script written by a network executive
C) The final episode of a season
D) A prototype for the first episode of a series
  • 3. According to Eric Coleman, what is a common misconception about pitching shows?
A) That pilots are too expensive to make
B) That writers need an agent to pitch
C) That it is very difficult to get in and pitch
D) That networks do not want new ideas
  • 4. What happens if an audience responds well to a television pilot?
A) The entire cast is replaced
B) The network picks up the show for the next season
C) The show is immediately cancelled
D) The show is sold to a film studio
  • 5. What might a network do if they do not want to air a show immediately?
A) Increase the episode count to 50
B) Release it exclusively online
C) Save it for mid-season
D) Delete all recorded footage
  • 6. What must a creator do if a network passes on their show entirely?
A) Self-publish the show online
B) Shop it around to other networks
C) Change the genre to a documentary
D) Retire from the industry
  • 7. What is the typical maximum number of episodes for British dramas using team writing?
A) Around 13 episodes
B) 50 episodes
C) 5 episodes
D) 100 episodes
  • 8. Which television show is mentioned as a wholly BBC production?
A) The Office
B) Fawlty Towers
C) EastEnders
D) Life on Mars
  • 9. How many writers usually build sitcoms in the United Kingdom?
A) Twenty writers
B) Ten to twelve writers
C) One or two writers
D) A massive team of fifty writers
  • 10. How many episodes are usually produced for British sitcoms once approved?
A) Six or seven
B) Fifteen
C) Twenty or thirty
D) One or two
  • 11. Who is in charge of running a show in most nations?
A) The distribution manager
B) The executive producer
C) The network CEO
D) The lead actor
  • 12. What are the three parts of producing an individual episode?
A) Development, pitching, and cancelling
B) Writing, casting, and marketing
C) Planning, rehearsing, and airing
D) Pre-production, principal photography, and post-production
  • 13. Can an executive producer cast themselves in their own show?
A) Very occasionally
B) Never
C) Always
D) Only if the network mandates it
  • 14. Which show was developed by Kudos in association with the BBC?
A) EastEnders
B) Blackadder
C) Monty Python's Flying Circus
D) Life on Mars
  • 15. What is the British English term for a TV program?
A) Feature
B) Serial
C) Broadcast
D) Programme
  • 16. Which of the following is excluded from the general definition of a television show?
A) Miniseries
B) Breaking news
C) Streaming content
D) Episodic series
  • 17. What are annual sets of episodes called in North America?
A) Segments
B) Seasons
C) Miniseries
D) Series
  • 18. What is a feature film produced for broadcast by a network called?
A) Episodic series
B) Telefilm
C) Television special
D) Miniseries
  • 19. What has made traditional television schedules less relevant?
A) Electronic guides
B) Microwave relay
C) Streaming television
D) Transcontinental cable
  • 20. When did the first national live television broadcast occur in the US?
A) September 4, 1951
B) January 1, 1954
C) January 1, 1965
D) September 4, 1948
  • 21. Who was nicknamed 'Mr. Television'?
A) Harry Truman
B) David Sarnoff
C) Milton Berle
D) King George VI
  • 22. What term is used for a one-off television show?
A) Miniseries
B) Variety show
C) Television special
D) Episode
  • 23. What does OTT stand for in the context of streaming?
A) On-time-transmission
B) Original-television-transfer
C) Over-the-air-technology
D) Over-the-top
  • 24. In what year did the last holdout of daytime network shows convert to color?
A) 1965
B) 1966
C) 1972
D) 1954
  • 25. What caused a halt to television development during the 1930s and 1940s?
A) Lack of advertising
B) Lack of broadcast towers
C) The Great Depression
D) World War II
  • 26. Which type of television program features actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting?
A) Game show
B) Drama
C) Documentary
D) News
  • 27. What happened to character changes in episodes before the 1980s?
A) They became permanent
B) They were usually undone by the end
C) They defined the rest of the series
D) They evolved over five seasons
  • 28. Which television series is mentioned as having a predetermined story running over a five-season run?
A) Hill Street Blues
B) Babylon 5
C) The News Hour
D) St. Elsewhere
  • 29. Who commented on the ambiguity and complexity of television narratives in 2012?
A) The Academy of Television
B) Steven Soderbergh
C) An unnamed documentary producer
D) A local newscaster
  • 30. Which of these is considered a fictional genre according to the text?
A) Documentary
B) News
C) Reality television
D) Animation
  • 31. What is a characteristic of pre-1980s television shows?
A) They were filmed in non-linear order
B) They always featured progressive plot changes
C) They relied on complex, multi-season narratives
D) They remained static without story arcs
  • 32. Who is chosen to plan an episode's final look?
A) The producer
B) The scriptwriter
C) A director
D) The camera operator
  • 33. Which of the following is a task during pre-production?
A) Editing footage
B) Storyboarding
C) Sound mixing
D) Final color grading
  • 34. What are complex scenes translated into to clarify action?
A) Blueprints
B) Audio recordings
C) Photographs
D) Animatics
  • 35. Can a director typically work on more than one episode at a time?
A) Only for short shows
B) Yes
C) Only on weekends
D) No
  • 36. Who was the preeminent provider of outside broadcast coverage in the UK for most of the 20th century?
A) Sky
B) The BBC
C) Channel 4
D) ITV
  • 37. What does a second unit crew allow a production to do?
A) Hire more lead actors
B) Film a different scene at the same time
C) Edit the film on location
D) Complete the script faster
  • 38. What are used to film conversations from different angles?
A) Stand-ins
B) Script supervisors
C) Animatics
D) Stunt doubles
  • 39. What is adjusted to meet altering requirements?
A) Scripts
B) Actors
C) Locations
D) Cameras
  • 40. Who often performs the specialized visual and digital effects for a show?
A) External specialized companies
B) The television network staff
C) The show's main producer
D) The lead actors
  • 41. What is the typical length of a US hour-long drama excluding ads?
A) 52 minutes
B) 37–42 minutes
C) 45–48 minutes
D) 57–59 minutes
  • 42. What is the typical length of a US 30-minute sitcom excluding ads?
A) 18–21 minutes
B) 22–25 minutes
C) 15–17 minutes
D) 28–30 minutes
  • 43. What length are episodes on subscription-based channels like HBO?
A) 52 minutes
B) 45–48 minutes
C) 28 minutes
D) 37–42 minutes
  • 44. What is the standard duration for television shows in France?
A) 30 minutes
B) 60 minutes
C) 45 minutes
D) 52 minutes
  • 45. What duration defines an internet-based series as a web series?
A) Exactly 30 minutes
B) Less than 10 minutes
C) Less than 25 minutes
D) More than one hour
  • 46. What is a primary factor affecting audience opinion on show length?
A) Content overload
B) The location of filming
C) The quality of the camera
D) The number of actors
  • 47. What is the primary concern of broadcasting executives regarding their programming?
A) The quality of acting
B) Audience size
C) The number of sponsors
D) Production duration
  • 48. What is the average cost to produce a broadcast network drama episode in the United States?
A) $1 million
B) $5 million
C) $10 million
D) $3 million
  • 49. Which financial system do many scripted network shows in the United States use?
A) Grant-based funding
B) Deficit financing
C) Sponsor-only financing
D) Public domain funding
  • 50. Who retains ownership of a show under the deficit financing system?
A) The studio
B) The advertisers
C) The actors
D) The network
  • 51. Which show was able to charge $419,000 per commercial during the 2007–08 season?
A) Grey's Anatomy
B) Friends
C) CSI
D) NCIS
  • 52. What is the primary factor in deciding if a show is kept alive?
A) Critical acclaim.
B) Social media trends.
C) Actor salaries.
D) Nielsen ratings.
  • 53. What is an alternative source of reprieve for a canceled series?
A) Winning a public award.
B) Positive newspaper reviews.
C) Strong home video viewership.
D) Petitioning by the cast.
  • 54. What is one way to offer a program for syndication?
A) Subscription fee model.
B) Government subsidy.
C) Barter exchange.
D) Public auction.
  • 55. Which term is described as being similar to an extended television movie?
A) Limited series
B) Event series
C) Miniseries
D) Anthology series
  • 56. Which of these is an example of a 1970s miniseries adaptation?
A) Roots
B) Fargo
C) Under the Dome
D) Luther
  • 57. Which show is cited as an example of a limited series?
A) 24: Live Another Day
B) The Million Second Quiz
C) The National Dream
D) Killer Women
  • 58. Which organization had to change its award categories to accommodate limited series?
A) The Golden Globe committee
B) The Primetime Emmys
C) The Hollywood Reporter
D) The Television Academy Awards
  • 59. Which show is given as an example of an event series?
A) True Detective
B) Roots
C) 24: Live Another Day
D) American Horror Story
  • 60. When do popular Australian night-time dramas usually go into recess?
A) Winter period
B) Summer period
C) Autumn period
D) Spring period
  • 61. During which months do popular Australian dramas typically run?
A) January through December
B) February through November
C) March through October
D) April through November
  • 62. When does the soap opera Home and Away usually begin a new season?
A) Mid-March
B) Late January
C) Late August
D) Early December
  • 63. What is the typical episode count per season for Home and Away?
A) 150
B) 230
C) 300
D) 100
  • 64. What is a hiatus during the Olympics called for the show Home and Away?
A) Olympic cliffhanger
B) Olympic recess
C) Olympic break
D) Olympic gap
  • 65. How many episodes did the first series of Doctor Who in 1963 feature?
A) Twenty-five
B) Thirteen
C) Forty-two
D) Fourteen
  • 66. Which television show had 30 episodes in series seven?
A) Waterloo Road
B) Doctor Who
C) Home and Away
D) Survivor
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