Name the television series by a Thanksgiving episode title, the date the episode aired, and the network or streaming service where the episode first appeared.
“Slapsgiving” – November 9, 2007 (CBS)
“The One Where Ross Got High” – November 25, 1999 (NBC)
“Thanksgiving Orphans” – November 27, 1986 (NBC)
“The Gang Squashes Their Thanksgiving Beefs” – November 6, 2013 (FX)
“Turkeys Away” – October 30, 1978 (CBS)
“A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving” – November 26, 2002 (The WB)
“Blair Waldorf Must Pie!” – November 28, 2007 (The WB)
“Huangsgiving” – November 17, 2015 (ABC)
“The Indians in the Lobby” – November 21, 2001 (NBC)
“Punkin Chunkin” – November 23, 2011 (ABC)
“Samantha’s Thanksgiving to Remember” – November 23, 1967 (ABC)
“No Nukes Is Good Nukes” – November 24, 1982 (NBC)
“Great Expectations” – November 25, 1999 (NBC)
“He Is Risen” – April 15, 2001 (HBO)
“Pilgrim Rick” – November 22, 2016 (NBC)
“Thanks for the Memories” – November 20, 2005 (ABC)
“Parents” – November 20, 2012 (Fox)
“No Fat” – November 23, 1998 (CBS)
“Bart vs. Thanksgiving” – November 22, 1990 (Fox)
“An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” – November 18, 2012 (Fox)
“The Mom & Pop Store” – November 17, 1994 (NBC)
ANSWERS:
1. How I Met Your Mother (available to stream on Netflix)
2. Friends (available to stream on Max)
3. Cheers (available to stream on Hulu and Paramount+)
4. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (available to stream on Hulu)
5. WKRP in Cincinnati (available to rent or buy on Apple TV)
6. Gilmore Girls (available to stream on Netflix)
7. Gossip Girl (available to stream on Netflix and Max)
8. Fresh Off the Boat (available to stream on Hulu)
9. The West Wing (available to stream on Max)
10. Modern Family (available to stream on Hulu)
11. Bewitched (available to stream on Roku, Philo and Freevee)
12. Family Ties (available to stream on Paramount+)
13. ER (available to stream on Max and Hulu)
14. The Sopranos (available to stream on Max)
15. This Is Us (available to stream on Hulu and Netflix)
16. Grey’s Anatomy (available to stream on Netflix and Hulu)
17. New Girl (available to stream on Hulu)
18. Everybody Loves Raymond (available to stream on Paramount+)
Pavel – Waiter in Russian Tea Room, Shocked Bystander as Dorothy Grabs a Cab, Stage Manager #2 – TOOTSIE
Tess’s Birthday Party Friend, Jr. Executive, Oren Trask – WORKING GIRL
Connie Corleone Rizzi, Young Priest, Mafia Lord – THE GODFATHER PART III
Plaza Witness #3, Marina Oswald, FBI Agent at Autopsy – JFK
Undercover Drug Agent, Bookie in Costello’s Bar, Billy’s Aunt – THE DEPARTED
Hippie Selling Acid Cigarettes, Back Lot Crew Member, Jay Sebring’s Date – ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
J. Todd Anderson, a storyboard artist who has worked with the Coen brothers since Raising Arizona, as ‘Victim in the Field’ in 1996’s Fargo. Anderson is also credited on films like The Nice Guys, The Addams Family, and Addams Family Values.Chris Isaak as ‘SWAT Commander’ in 1991’s Best Picture-winning The Silence of the Lambs. Director Jonathan Demme also collaborated with Isaak on Married to the Mob and That Thing You Do! (Demme was a producer on the latter)
***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO TR*MP AND MENTAL HEALTH STUFF *****
Y’all, I’m TIRED. Tired of our republic hanging by a thread, tired of the hate and the vitriol, tired of war, tired of pregnant people dying because they can’t access basic health care. Tired of millions of people still supporting an obviously unfit, fascist, racist rapist and convicted felon. With election day just two days away, my election anxiety is reaching a peak. Fortunately, I have an appointment with my therapist that morning. After that, I’ll proudly cast my vote for Kamala Harris.
Unfortunately, all this anxiety has made it difficult to write coherent blog posts. But what I discovered is that I can focus long enough to write a pop quiz, which mostly involves IMDb searches and copy/pasting. So, for the time being, my blog will be all pop quizzes, all the time.
Bonus material – fun facts, YouTube clips, etc. – to follow (I’m struggling right now, y’all).
“We’re gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.” – DIE HARD
“By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.” – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
“That’s some bad hat, Harry.” – JAWS
“Bye, Buddy. Hope you find your dad!” – ELF
“English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?” – PULP FICTION
“You met me at a very strange time in my life.” – FIGHT CLUB
“Hold on to your butts.” – JURASSIC PARK
“If I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it.” – LAKE PLACID
“Did you know, Mr. Torrance, that your son is attempting to bring an outside party into this situation?” – THE SHINING
“Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise.” – TWISTER
“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about.” – THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
“Never tell me the odds.” – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
“So you’re my Uncle Joey. Better get used to these bars, kid.” – BACK TO THE FUTURE
“She might have fooled me, but she didn’t fool my mother.” – PSYCHO
“Well, Jones, at least you haven’t forgotten how to show a lady a good time.” – RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
“That’s funny, that plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.” – NORTH BY NORTHWEST
“Isn’t that something? Middle of a drought and the water commissioner drowns. Only in L.A.” – CHINATOWN
“It seems that envy is my sin.” – SE7EN
“I’ll explain, and I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you warthog-faced buffoon.” – THE PRINCESS BRIDE
“I wanna be thirty. Thirty and flirty and thriving.” – 13 GOING ON 30
“My whole life is a dark room. One big dark room.” – BEETLEJUICE
“I’ll believe in you all my life, every day. [Title character]… I love you.” – E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
“Oh, shit, Tweety! Couldn’t you have waited for a school day?” – POLTERGEIST
“What a relief. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to use the liar-liar-pants-on-fire defense.” – A FEW GOOD MEN
“Ten ought to do it, don’t you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. Alright, we’ll get one more.” – OCEAN’S ELEVEN
“You four-eyed pile of shit!” “A pile of shit has a thousand eyes.” – STAND BY ME
“So what’s wrong? What is it? Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?” – THE BREAKFAST CLUB
“I’m Marta, and I’m going to be seven on Tuesday, and I’d like a pink parasol.” – THE SOUND OF MUSIC
“Is that crazy enough for ya’? Want me to take a shit on the floor?” – ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
“Ohh, for God’s sake! He’s got an arm off!” – SHAUN OF THE DEAD
“Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.” – GLADIATOR
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” – THE DARK KNIGHT
“Get in loser, we’re going shopping.” – MEAN GIRLS
“I’ll never quote you. I wouldn’t quote you even as an anonymous source. You’d be on deep background. You can trust me. You know that.” – ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
“Your anagrams are showing, Doctor. Louis Friend? Iron sulfide, also known as fool’s gold.” – THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
This one’s simple: I’ll provide a movie quote (along with the year of release), and you have to guess the film’s title. Later in the week, I’ll publish the answers—along with clips and fun facts!
“We’re gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.” (1988)
“By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.” (2006)
“That’s some bad hat, Harry.” (1975)
“Bye, Buddy. Hope you find your dad!” (2003)
“English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?” (1994)
“You met me at a very strange time in my life.” (1999)
“Hold on to your butts.” (1993)
“If I had a dick, this is where I’d tell you to suck it.” (1999)
“Did you know, Mr. Torrance, that your son is attempting to bring an outside party into this situation?” (1980)
“Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise.” (1996)
” I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about.” (1994)
“Never tell me the odds.” (1980)
“So you’re my Uncle Joey. Better get used to these bars, kid.” (1985)
“She might have fooled me, but she didn’t fool my mother.” (1960)
“Well, Jones, at least you haven’t forgotten how to show a lady a good time.” (1981)
“That’s funny, that plane’s dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops.” (1959)
“Isn’t that something? Middle of a drought and the water commissioner drowns. Only in L.A.” (1974)
“It seems that envy is my sin.” (1995)
“I’ll explain, and I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you warthog-faced buffoon.” (1987)
“I wanna be thirty. Thirty and flirty and thriving.” (2004)
“My whole life is a dark room. One big dark room.” (1988)
“I’ll believe in you all my life, every day. [Title character]… I love you.” (1982)
“Oh, shit, Tweety! Couldn’t you have waited for a school day?” (1982)
“What a relief. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to use the liar-liar-pants-on-fire defense.” (1992)
“Ten ought to do it, don’t you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. Alright, we’ll get one more.” (2001)
“You four-eyed pile of shit!” “A pile of shit has a thousand eyes.” (1986)
“So what’s wrong? What is it? Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?” (1985)
“I’m Marta, and I’m going to be seven on Tuesday, and I’d like a pink parasol.” (1965)
“Is that crazy enough for ya’? Want me to take a shit on the floor?” (1975)
“Ohh, for God’s sake! He’s got an arm off!” (2004)
“Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.” (2000)
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” (2008)
“Get in loser, we’re going shopping.” (2004)
“I’ll never quote you. I wouldn’t quote you even as an anonymous source. You’d be on deep background. You can trust me. You know that.” (1976)
“Your anagrams are showing, Doctor. Louis Friend? Iron sulfide, also known as fool’s gold.” (1991)
“Misirlou”, “You Never Can Tell”, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” – PULP FICTION
As always, here is a playlist with the answers. Tell me how you did in the comments!
And finally, videos with bonus fun facts!
Grease
FUN FACT: “You’re the One That I Want” was one of two songs written for Grease by Olivia Newton John’s longtime collaborator John Farrar. His other contribution, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards; it lost to “Last Dance” from Thank God It’s Friday.
The Sound of Music
FUN FACT: Charmain Carr, who portrayed eldest child Liesl in the Best Picture Oscar-winning musical, was 21 and just thirteen years younger than her on-screen dad, Christopher Plummer. Carr developed a massive crush on Plummer, and really, who could blame her? Anyway, The Sound of Music soundtrack was a massive success, selling a worldwide total of 20 million copies and reaching the top of the album chart in Australia, Norway, the US, and the UK, where it was the best-selling album of 1965, 1966, AND 1968. In 1967, it had to settle for second place. The #1 album that year? Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.
Sigh…
Chicago
FUN FACT: It had been thirty-four years since the last musical (1968’s Oliver!) won the Best Picture Oscar when Chicago took home the top prize for 2002. The film won five more awards, including Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones). I absolutely adore this movie, and “We Both Reached for the Gun” is one of my all-time favorite scenes. Just absolute perfection.
Top Gun
FUN FACT: The Top Gun soundtrack, featuring Kenny Loggins’ #2 hit “Danger Zone” and Berlin’s Best Original Song Oscar winner “Take My Breath Away,” made the Top 10 in fourteen countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. Fans of the film likely remember the infamous “volleyball scene”, for which “Playing with the Boys” provides the soundtrack.
Footloose
FUN FACT: “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” and “Footloose” were both nominated for Best Original Song at the 57th Academy Awards; they lost – along with “Ghostbusters” and “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” – to Stevie Wonder’s atrocious “I Just Called to Say I Love You” from The Woman in Red. The “Willard learns how to dance” sequence was added to Footloose when Chris Penn revealed his own lack of dance experience (RIP, Chris, you were a treasure, and you left us way too soon).
By the way, I can’t think about “I Just Called to Say I Love You” without thinking of this hilarious scene from High Fidelity.
South Pacific
FUN FACT: The South Pacific soundtrack went to #1 in both the UK and the US, where it spent seven months atop the Billboard 200 – the fourth-longest run ever. In the UK, the album holds the all-time record for most weeks at #1 with a whopping 115, which means it spent more than two years in the top spot.
Purple Rain
FUN FACT: The Purple Rain soundtrack was an absolute juggernaut, selling more than 25 million copies worldwide since its 1984 release. The album spent 24 consecutive weeks in the top spot on the Billboard 200 and yielded two #1 hits (“When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy”). It is widely regarded as the best album not only of 1984 but of the entire decade. Purple Rain currently ranks eighth – the highest of any ’80s album – on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Click the link below to read their entire list.
FUN FACT: Many soundtracks utilize various artists but When Harry Met Sally… features only one, a 21-year-old Harry Connick Jr. The album consists of Connick’s covers of standards by the Gershwins (“But Not for Me” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”), Duke Ellington (“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”), Benny Goodman (“Stompin’ at the Savoy”), and Rodgers & Hart (“Where or When” and “I Could Write a Book”), among others. The album also earned Connick a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
FUN FACT: The midnight movie existed before 1976, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show made it a cultural craze. The viewings began at the Waverly Theater, an art-house theater in Greenwich Village, and featured costumes and audience participation. Over the next few years, the trend gradually spread, first to cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, then to the rest of the country. I definitely remember being aware of midnight showings of the movie in the early ’80s, and my friends and I attended a screening as soon as we were old enough.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
FUN FACT: “March of the Swivel Heads”, which plays over Ferris’s race home in the final minutes of the film, is not an original composition but an instrumental remix of “Rotating Heads” off The English Beat’s 1982 album Special Beat Service (a PBandJulie fave).
Saturday Night Fever
FUN FACT: Prior to the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the soundtrack to 1977’s Saturday Night Fever was the best-selling album of all time (it still ranks in the top ten). It also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The Bee Gees wrote much of the album’s material over the course of a weekend, but they weren’t involved with the production until after filming had been completed. Apparently, the rehearsal scene was originally set to Boz Scaggs’ “Lowdown”, but Columbia Records refused to allow its use in the film, and one of the Gibbs’ contributions – “More Than a Woman” – was used instead.
Barbie
FUN FACT: Inspired by Saturday Night Fever, Barbie director Greta Gerwig requested that the dance sequence feature a disco song. The result, Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night”, became the album’s lead-off single and earned a Song of the Year nomination at the 66th Grammy Awards. Two other Barbie songs – Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” – were nominated for Best Original Song at the 96th Oscars, with the latter taking home the prize.
Singin’ in the Rain
FUN FACT: Singin’ in the Rain‘s songs were largely written by producer Arthur Freed – with his songwriting partner, composer Nacio Herb Brown – earlier in his career for features like The Broadway Melody and Babes in Arms, which makes the film one of the OG jukebox musicals.
If you’re like me, you probably think of one or both of the following clips when you hear “Singin’ in the Rain”:
The wholesomeness of Tom Holland…
Or the depravity of A Clockwork Orange…
BONUS FUN FACT: After four days of filming this scene, director Stanley Kubrick wasn’t happy with the results. He asked Malcolm McDowell if he could dance, and as it turns out, he could. Kubrick turned the cameras back on, and McDowell began to dance and sing the first song that popped into his mind – “Singin’ in the Rain”. Kubrick retroactively obtained the rights to the song for $10,000 so he could keep the scene in the film.
Fame
FUN FACT: Fame was one of the first (if not THE first?) R-rated movies I saw, and though some of the adult material (SA, abortion) went over my head at the time, I adored the musical sequences. I dreamed of attending a performing arts school, where musicians and dancers could break into unrehearsed musical numbers in the cafeteria – or even on 46th Street. Much of Fame‘s music was written by the team of Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, who later composed the songs for Footloose; Gore and Pitchford won the Best Original Song Award for “Fame” at the 53rd Academy Awards.
The Little Mermaid
FUN FACT: The film responsible for kicking off the Disney renaissance featured songs by the legendary team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, whose partnership was tragically cut short when Ashman died of AIDS in 1991. “Under the Sea”, the musical highlight of The LittleMermaid, earned the pair a Grammy and an Oscar. It was the first Best Original Song Oscar win for Disney since 1964’s Mary Poppins (more on that one shortly).
Pink Floyd – The Wall
FUN FACT: Fame and Pink Floyd – The Wall were both directed by Alan Parker, one of my favorite filmmakers (he also made Midnight Express, Birdy, and The Commitments, among many others). If you aren’t already a fan of Pink Floyd or a stoned college student, you’ve probably never seen this surrealist mind-fuck of a movie, but it’s definitely worth a watch. Obviously, the vast majority of the film’s music came from the band’s 1979 album of the same name, but one new song – “When the Tigers Broke Free” – was written directly for the movie.
Mary Poppins
FUN FACT: Mary Poppins’ music was written by the legendary Sherman brothers, Richard and Robert, who also scored The Parent Trap (1961), The Jungle Book (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Charlotte’s Web (1973), and many more. The Sherman brothers won two Oscars for Mary Poppins – Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee”.
Tommy
FUN FACT: The original rock opera, Tommy began life as a brilliant 1969 double album by The Who. The soundtrack to the 1975 feature film adaptation contained most of the same music but sung by the actors – including Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Elton John, and Tina Turner – instead of the band. Of course, since lead singer Roger Daltrey portrays the title character, there’s a little bit of crossover.
That Thing You Do!
This might legitimately be my favorite movie scene of all time
FUN FACT: This fucking delight of a movie – Tom Hanks’ debut as a feature film director – tells the story of the ultimate one-hit wonders, Erie PA’s own The Wonders (Tom Everett Scott, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, and Ethan Embry). The period-perfect details, from the costumes to the set decoration to, yes, the music, are exquisite. The late, great Adam Schlesinger should have won an Oscar for the exuberant title song (he was nominated but lost to – UGGGGGGGHHHHHH – Andrew fucking Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for “You Must Love Me” from Evita).
Reality Bites
FUN FACT: The Reality Bites soundtrack is a fun mix of ’70s and ’80s tunes like The Knack’s “My Sharona”, Squeeze’s “Tempted”, and U2’s “All I Want You Is You” and Gen-X artists like Juliana Hatfield, The Posies, Dinosaur Jr., and Lisa Loeb. The latter – with the help of her backup band Nine Stories – performed the album’s biggest hit, “Stay (I Missed You)”, which went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Loeb originally wrote the song to sell to Daryl Hall but eventually decided to keep it for herself. When her then-neighbor Ethan Hawke heard “Stay”, he convinced RealityBites director Ben Stiller to use it in the film.
Pulp Fiction
FUN FACT: Director Quentin Tarantino didn’t commission a musical score for his noir masterpiece, choosing instead to use existing pop, rock, and R&B songs by artists like Kool & the Gang, Al Green, Dusty Springfield, and Chuck Berry. He also used several surf rock songs by groups like The Centurians, The Tornadoes, and – most famously – Dick Dale (“Misirlou”) to score the movie; Tarantino has stated he chose surf rock because it reminded him of “rock ‘n’ roll Ennio Morricone music, rock ‘n’ roll spaghetti Western music.”
Apparently, this is an all-pop quiz blog now. Not literally, of course, but I am having a lot of fun coming up with new ideas.
This one combines my love of film and music. Each clue contains three songs from a single motion picture; your job is to name the film that includes those songs. Some of these movies are musicals; others are comedy or drama films that contain either existing pop songs OR songs written specifically for the movie.
“Summer Nights”, “You’re the One That I Want”, “We Go Together”
PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia 