Buzztime Entertainment, the interactive gaming network, is played and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people at home, in sports bars, and in restaurants. Now this popular game is available in book form--but unlike other trivia books, these are actually fun to play. While other books reveal the answers below the questions or group all of the answers together, the Buzztime format allows you to see only one answer at a time. That way, readers can play along. Besides being packed with challenging questions, the Buzztime Trivia Series provides fascinating facts along with the answers. These are no ordinary trivia books!

The Buzztime Trivia Series is designed to put your knowledge of movies, radio, television, sports, and music to the test, with each celebrity author putting a little of himself in each game. And with dozens of individual games--nearly a thousand intriguing questions!--each book is bound to provide hours of stimulating competition. From cover to cover, the Buzztime Trivia Series is pure entertainment.

Dick Van Patten, a name known and trusted across America and around the world, has been in show business since his first modeling assignment at the age of three. Few actors have had as rich a background as Dick Van Patten or have shown such versatility. Although perhaps best known for the popular role of Tom Bradford in the long-running hit series Eight Is Enough, his remarkable career has also included more than six hundred radio shows, twenty-seven Broadway plays, and thirty-five feature films.

A one-time child actor billed as Dickie Van Patten, Van Patten began working on Broadway at the age of seven, when he portrayed Melvyn Douglas’s son in Tapestry in Gray. He would appear in twelve more plays before reaching adulthood, and eventually, his roster of stage hits would include three Pulitzer Prize winners--On Borrowed Time; The Skin of Our Teeth, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Frederic March; and Mister Roberts, in which he played Ensign Pulver opposite Henry Fonda. Still other stage productions of note included The Tender Trap, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and Don’t Drink the Water. Along the way, Van Patten worked with many American theater greats, including Max Reinhardt, Joshua Logan, Moss Hart, George Kaufman, George Abbott, Alfred Lunt, Elia Kazan, Martin Ritt, and Elaine May.

In 1941, Dick Van Patten and his younger sister, Joyce, made a joint film debut in Reg’lar Fellers, repeating their roles from the radio show of the same name. But Van Patten’s next important foray into films did not take place until 1968, when he appeared opposite Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson and Claire Bloom in the film Charly. His movie career would eventually become quite varied. In addition to taking supporting parts in the sci-fi movie classics Soylent Green and Westworld, Van Patten worked with Walt Disney Studios, starring in family favorites such as Gus, Freaky Friday, and The Shaggy D.A. He also became a part of the talented team of actors who worked with Mel Brooks. His first Mel Brooks movie was the 1977 Hitchcock parody High Anxiety, but perhaps his most famous film role was that of King Roland in the 1987 Mel Brooks sci-fi spoof, Spaceballs.

Despite Dick Van Patten’s long list of stage and film credits, he is best known as a television actor. In 1949, at the beginning of television, Van Patten made the transition from stage to TV by appearing in the award-winning series I Remember Mama, in which he portrayed Peggy Woods’ son Nels for eight years. From there, he went on to win regular roles on such TV series as Young Dr. Malone (1961---1962), The Partners (1971), The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1973---1974), and When Things Were Rotten (1975). Van Patten also had memorable guest parts on literally dozens of television shows, including I Dream Of Jeannie, Sanford and Son, Adam-12, Emergency!, S.W.A.T., McMillan & Wife, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Streets of San Francisco, Wonder Woman, Barnaby Jones, Maude, Happy Days, What's Happening!!, One Day at a Time, The Love Boat, Too Close for Comfort, Hotel, Crazy Like a Fox, The Facts of Life, Murder, She Wrote, Growing Pains, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Boy Meets World, and Touched by an Angel.

Of course, Dick Van Patten will always be remembered for his portrayal of Tom Bradford--proud father of eight children in ABC’s TV series Eight Is Enough. Running from 1977 to 1981, the show struck a chord with viewers, and the Bradfords became one of America’s most-beloved TV families. Dick Van Patten’s fun-loving yet sensitive portrayal of Tom Bradford later earned him a ranking in TV Guide’s “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time.” Although the series ended in 1981, Van Patten reprised his role of Tom Bradford in the 1987 ABC-TV movie Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion.

Dick Van Patten’s career in the entertainment field has been so distinguished that he was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yet his interests extend far beyond show business. Since 1989, Van Patten has had his own pet food company called Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. Natural Balance makes holistic dog and cat food, as well as also having a Zoological Division that supplies food for lions and tigers at some of the most prestigious zoos in the country, such as the San Diego Zoo, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois, and the Staten Island Zoo.

When he isn’t working, Van Patten can usually be found on his tennis court or at the beach swimming. He is also a horse racing enthusiast. Dick and his wife Pat, a former June Taylor dancer, have known each other since childhood and have been married for more than fifty years. They reside in the San Fernando Valley near their three sons, Nels, James, and Vincent.

Contents

Acknowledgments    

How to Play the Games    

GAME TOPICS

 1  TV Firsts    

 2  Soap Operas    

 3  Game Shows    

 4  Reality TV    

 5  Prime-Time Soaps    

 6  American Idol    

 7  Monsters  Demons and the Supernatural    

 8  TV of the 1950s    

 9  TV of the 1960s    

10  TV of the 1970s    

11  TV of the 1980s    

12  TV of the 1990s    

13  TV of the 20s    

14  Made-for-TV Movies    

15  Best of Saturday Night Live    

16  GRAB BAG    

17  The Simpsons    

18  Star Trek the Original Series    

19  Controversies and Embarrassments    

20  Love Those Animals    

21  Friends    

22  Spinoffs    

23  Talk Shows    

24  The Tonight Show    

25  MTV    

26  Seinfeld    

27  Beverly Hills 90210    

28  Make ’em Laugh    

29  Twilight Zones    

30  Suspense and High Drama    

31  In the Courtroom     

32  GRAB BAG    

33  Teen Shows    

34  Lovable Ladies    

35  Sports Shows    

36  Get Up and Dance!    

37  I Love Lucy    

38  The Brady Bunch    

39  Emmy Winners and Losers    

40  TV Commercials    

41  Sci-Fi    

42  Relatively Speaking    

43  The Honeymooners     

44  TV Theme Songs    

45  British Imports    

46  Cop Shows    

47  Westerns    

48  GRAB BAG    

49  Family Fun    

50  Good Night and Good Luck    

51  Medical Shows    

52  Big Family TV    

53  Calling All Sleuths    

54  Happy Days    

55  Superheroes and Villains     

56  Variety Shows    

57  M*A*S*H    

58  Cheers    

59  War!    

60  At the Office    

61  Just for Kids    

62  Cameos and Crossovers     

63  Relatively Speaking II    

64  GRAB BAG    

65  In the Classroom    

66  TV Theme Songs II    

67  Animation Favorites    

68  More British TV    

69  Classic Sitcoms “Easy”   

70  Classic Sitcoms “Tougher”   

71  Classic Sitcoms “Toughest”   

72  More Westerns    

73  Cable TV    

74  Seinfeld . . . Again    

75  Kid Stuff    

76  Sci-Fi II    

77  More Family Fun    

78  Miniseries    

79  All About ME--Dick Van Patten    

80  GRAB BAG    

"Buzztime Trivia books are a fun time filler, and I would really recommend them."

"Packed with questions on classic and comtemporary sitcoms, talk shows, made-for-TV movies, prime-time soaps, spinoffs, game shows and more."