# Really, really hard TV trivia question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508 "2014-05-02T15:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/21 "2014-05-02T19:20:13Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Any idea whether it was color or black-and-white, and whether it was first run or syndicated? > > It sounds like something that Alan Brady (or possibly Buddy) might have said on The Dick Van Dyke Show…but your timeframe is too late for a first run broadcast, and I’m not sure when syndication started. In my childhood, EVERYTHING was B&W. We didn’t get a color TV until the 80s. (The whole thing of The Wizard of Oz turning color was lost on me.) But, I did watch DvD in syndication. Could be. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/22 "2014-05-02T20:54:25Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > It sounds like something that Alan Brady (or possibly Buddy) might have said on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Or Mel. Could have been Mel and Buddy. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/23 "2014-05-02T20:59:48Z")
There are a lot of possibilities, any of the shows mentioned already are good candidates. I don’t see any reason it would be a ‘dirty’ word based on the OP, there’s enough of a joke there without any specific word. It does sound a lot like Ed Asner on the MTM show. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/24 "2014-05-02T21:09:04Z")
Thanks all. I think it’s going to be one of those things I’ll just have to stumble across someday, flipping channels. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/25 "2014-05-02T21:24:24Z")
I’m sure this isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but a similar exchange happens in _Gangs of New York_. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQONUxMpWfw) a clip. I know, its not an old sitcom. But maybe your memory is making a mighty leap of conflation? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/26 "2014-05-02T21:52:05Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I’m sure this isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but a similar exchange happens in _Gangs of New York_. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQONUxMpWfw) a clip. I know, its not an old sitcom. But maybe your memory is making a mighty leap of conflation? I haven’t watched GoNY yet. That’s a futuristic conflation!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/27 "2014-05-02T22:43:35Z")
Rio by Duran Duran? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/28 "2014-05-02T23:05:00Z")
Sounds quite subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/29 "2014-05-03T00:54:52Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > It sounds like something that Alan Brady (or possibly Buddy) might have said on The Dick Van Dyke Show…but your timeframe is too late for a first run broadcast, and I’m not sure when syndication started. If it’s DvD it sounds like an exchange between Alan Brady yelling about a script with either Rob or Mel. [TV.com](http://TV.com) says the show ran during the daytime on CBS from 1965-1969 and syndication from 1969 on, so it could be possible. Of course, out of all the possibilities mentioned, only[Herchell Bernardi](http://l.yimg.com/ck/image/A1228/1228222/300_1228222.jpg) and [Herb Edelman](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsE/tve5126-19711211-231.jpg) really had anything more than a passing resemblence to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Oogly\_Woogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee7513/32.png) [@Oogly\_Woogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oogly_Woogly)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/30 "2014-05-03T02:53:45Z")
I am delurking to say that this reminds me of a Mary Tyler Moore scene but with Murray Slaughter and Ted Baxter. Ted is going over the news copy that Murray wrote. Of course being Ted, he can’t read it and then just pretends he never saw it written out before. I am mostly likely wrong however, and I will go back to lurking now. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/31 "2014-05-03T05:04:43Z")
> [@Oogly\_Woogly](#): > > I am delurking to say that this reminds me of a Mary Tyler Moore scene but with Murray Slaughter and Ted Baxter. Ted is going over the news copy that Murray wrote. Of course being Ted, he can’t read it and then just pretends he never saw it written out before. > > I am mostly likely wrong however, and I will go back to lurking now. Hmmm…maybe more than one show used the joke. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/32 "2014-05-03T06:26:44Z")
If they were characters on \*Marry Tyler Moore, \*the questioner would have to be Ted Baxter. Based on the show’s character dynamics, the other person would probably be Murray, with a lesser probability of Lou Grant. The only other possibility would be Radar and Col. Blake on MASH. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/33 "2014-05-03T07:33:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Could it have been Lou Grant on _ **MTM** _? 😕 > [@Oogly\_Woogly](#): > > I am delurking to say that this reminds me of a Mary Tyler Moore scene but with Murray Slaughter and Ted Baxter. Ted is going over the news copy that Murray wrote. Of course being Ted, he can’t read it and then just pretends he never saw it written out before. > > I am mostly likely wrong however, and I will go back to lurking now. I’ve got the first four seasons of MTM on DVD, and there are several scenes sort of like this between Ted and Murray. I don’t remember one like that verbatim, but I do remember one where the implication was that Ted thought something was a dirty word until he heard Murray say it. The laugh was slightly delayed while it dawned on the audience what word Ted thought it was (MTM was filmed live). I can’t remember what the word was though. I think MTM is on Hulu now-- you could watch them. Ted was always mispronouncing words on air-- it was sort of a running gag. Once, when Murray carefully went over all the difficult words in a broadcast (eg, “Phnom Penh”), Ted goes on to stumble over his own name when it comes up on the teleprompter. Come to think of it, Les Nessman used to mispronounce words a lot, but he wrote his own copy, and it’s a little late for the time frame. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/34 "2014-05-03T08:45:20Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The only other possibility would be Radar and Col. Blake on MASH. Or maybe Frank Burns and Radar? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/35 "2014-05-03T09:45:33Z")
Could the word have been _Fornicator_? Someone unfamiliar with the word might think it pronounced For-nik-at-or. There was a British comedy a while back (set in a stately home with Paul Shane as the butler IIRC) which had this as a gag. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/36 "2014-05-03T09:50:31Z")
The work could have been “awry.” I know a lot of people who knew the word to use in conversation, and still didn’t recognize it the first time they saw it written. Ditto “segue,” but “awry” is funnier. People think it looks like “AW-ree.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/37 "2014-05-03T10:03:51Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The work could have been “awry.” I know a lot of people who knew the word to use in conversation, and still didn’t recognize it the first time they saw it written. Ditto “segue,” but “awry” is funnier. People think it looks like “AW-ree.” This was a joke on _ **That Girl** _. Ann’s father Lew was pissed off when Donald caught him out mispronouncing the word around the breakfast table (Don thought Lew was just trying to be funny). It wasn’t until he checked in the dictionary that he believed Don was right. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/38 "2014-05-03T13:01:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This was a joke on _ **That Girl** _. Ann’s father Lew was pissed off when Donald caught him out mispronouncing the word around the breakfast table (Don thought Lew was just trying to be funny). It wasn’t until he checked in the dictionary that he believed Don was right. I’ve never seen that episode, but I can personally name three people (one is my husband), who, as children, could use “awry” correctly in a spoken sentence, and understand it when they saw it written, but not realize it was the same word. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/39 "2014-05-03T13:13:49Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The work could have been “awry.” I know a lot of people who knew the word to use in conversation, and still didn’t recognize it the first time they saw it written. Ditto “segue,” but “awry” is funnier. People think it looks like “AW-ree.” Yup, awry, he was pronouncing it aw-ree. I think they were at her parents house in Brewster in that episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508/40 "2014-05-03T13:34:49Z")
FWIW, it took me a while to link “AW-ree” to “a-WRY,” even though I had seen the word in print many times (and I was reading at university level by the time I was in sixth grade). The same with “misled.” For years, I thought it was pronounced “MY-zeld” and failed to make the connection with “mis-LED.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-really-hard-tv-trivia-question/687508.md?page=3)