From retrans showdowns over streaming to all that Sharknado jawing on Twitter to the continuing march of consolidation, the TV business spent much of last year chomping up the last bits of the old ways of doing things. As everybody prepares to reinvent in 2014, see what you remember about 2013 with our annual quiz. You can #humblebrag about your score later.
1. When their Emergency Alert Systems were hacked in February, TV stations in Great Falls, Mont., and Marquette, Mich., warned viewers that their communities were being attacked by what?
A) Vampires
B) Land sharks
C) Zombies
D) Tea Party militias
2. What show drew the largest 18-49 live-plus-same-day rating (an 8.2) and overall audience (16.1 million total viewers) for a non-sports program in 2013 (through Dec. 17)?
A) CBS’ Under the Dome series premiere
B) The premiere of History’s The Bible
C) The cycle 4 finale of NBC’s The Voice
D) The season 4 premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead
3.Who gained new responsibilities in an executive restructuring at NBCUniversal in 2013?
A) Bonnie Hammer
B) Kevin MacLellan
C) Ed Swindler
D) All of the above
4. A U.C. Irvine study found that viewers who watched six or more hours per day of Boston Marathon bombing coverage in the week after the April 15 incident experienced acute stress comparable to what?
A) Sitting in traffic
B) Experiencing an emergency landing of an aircraft
C) Being at or near the bombing
D) Taking the SAT
5. “He’s being replaced by a younger late-night talk show host—what could possibly go wrong?” Who said this about Jay Leno after NBC announced in April that Jimmy Fallon would take over The Tonight Show?
A) David Letterman
B) Conan O’Brien
C) Jon Stewart
D) Jimmy Kimmel
6. Katie Couric and Disney/ABC Television agreed in December to stay in production on Couric’s talk show, Katie, through when?
A) June 2014, concluding production on the second season. They agreed not to do a third season.
B) Through the 2014-15 TV season; the show has been renewed for a third season while Couric works as Yahoo!’s global anchor.
C) Indefinitely until ABC’s stations find a replacement.
D) None of the above. She quit the talk show immediately when she signed on as global anchor for Yahoo!
7. Which station lost its affiliation when Fox acquired another station in the market and scooped up Fox?
A) KTVU San Francisco
B) WCCB Charlotte
C) KCPQ Seattle
D) WVUE New Orleans
8.Which technology titan continued slowly acquiring low- power stations last year, presumably to stockpile spectrum?
A) Jeffrey Bezos
B) Michael Dell
C) Sergey Brin
D) Larry Ellison
9. Which group was not acquired by Sinclair in 2013?
A) Barrington
B) Fisher
C) Allbritton
D) Communications Corp. of America
10. Esquire Network, which took the place of Style Network in the fall, was originally planned to replace which network?
A) NBC
B) Bravo
C) G4
D) Syfy
11. Which of these shows did not end its run in 2013?
A) 30 Rock
B) Fringe
C) Dexter
D) Mad Men
12. Which late-night host was tapped to host an upcoming syndicated first-run game show?
A) Chelsea Handler
B) Craig Ferguson
C) Jimmy Fallon
D) Seth Meyers
13. What former Today show star finalized a deal in 2013 to headline a new syndicated talk show in 2014?
A) Jane Pauley
B) Katie Couric
C) Ann Curry
D) Meredith Vieira
14. Which social media company partnered with Nielsen to create its own measurement of TV ratings?
A) Facebook
B) Pinterest
C) Twitter
D) Instagram
15. What was the first fall show to be canceled?
A) Lucky 7
B) Ironside
C) We Are Men
D) Welcome to the Family
16. In a retransmission dispute last summer, CBS programming was blacked out on Time Warner Cable for a month. As a result, how many subscribers did TWC say it lost during the third quarter?
A) 306
B) 3,006
C) 306,000
D) 3,000,006
17. In June, John Tupper, owner of station brokerage firm Kepper, Tupper & Co., said we were at “the end of the beginning.” However, Robin Flynn, senior analyst at SNL Kagan, said we’re in the “early to middle stage” instead. Finally, Mark Fratrik, VP and chief economist at BIA/Kelsey says we’re really in the “middle to end point.” What bit of timing were the three referring to?
A) Global armageddon.
B) The record spate of station merger & acquisition deals that included the Media General-Young Broadcasting deal, Gannett’s pact to acquire Belo and the Tribune-Local TV deal.
C) The bitter congressional infighting that, later in the year, would lead to a shutdown of the U.S. government.
D) Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s marriage.
18. In January, who tweeted the following: “Crying?!?! There’s no CRYING in fake girlfriend death hoax bs extravaganza!!! #Manti”
A) rupert Murdoch
B) Tom Hanks
C) Michelle Beadle
D) Keith Olbermann
19. How long was the blackout during Super Bowl XLVII?
A) 67 minutes
B) 8 minutes
C) 34 minutes
D) 55 minutes
20. Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show moved up to the 11:35 p.m. time slot in January, told B&C that when he was trying to type the name of Bob Iger’s wife, Bloomberg Television correspondent Willow Bay, in a message, it was auto-corrected as what?
A) Wiley Babble
B) Whoa! Keanu Reeves
C) Work Bench
C) Whiffle Ball
21. Which original series became the first fully streamed TV show to win an Emmy in September?
A) Hulu’s The Wrong Mans
B) Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black
C) Amazon’s Alpha House
D) Netflix’s House of Cards
22. As reported in a B&C cover story on Univision, the Hispanic population, which continues to surge in the U.S., in 2013 represented what figure in spending power?
A) $48 billion
B) $385 billion
C) $800 billion
D) $1.2 trillion
23.What incident in March finally made the White House press corps exasperated enough to issue a statement expressing “extreme frustration” about being constantly denied access to Obama administration events?
A) When the press were not allowed at the swearing-in of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
B) The white House barring certain press members from the president’s Google Hangouts.
C) When the press was barred from covering the president playing golf with Tiger Woods.
D) When the press was asked to just leave that nice Ted Cruz alone already.
24. “I sometimes feel ____ is the good boyfriend who’s always there for you but doesn’t get the appreciation,” an industry executive who asked to remain anonymous told B&C in a story that ran in April. Who or what was the exec talking about?
A) Reality TV
B) Local TV
C) Syndication
D) Jay Leno
25. Richard Belzer finally hung up the gun belt on his character John Munch, who he played in 454 episodes over 19 years—on how many different TVshows?
A) 1
B) 8
C) 5
D) 2
26. Which of these new networks launched first in 2013?
A) Revolt
B) Pivot
C) Al Jazeera America
D) Fox Sports 1
27.Turner Broadcasting CEO Phil Kent announced in July that he planned to step down at the end of the year. Who did Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes choose to head the company and run cable channels including TNT, CNN and Cartoon Network?
A) David Levy, Turner president for ad sales, distribution and sports
B) Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks
C) Jeff Zucker, president of CNN worldwide
D) John Martin, CFO of Time Warner
28. In what might be one of the least desirable product placements—paid or unpaid—in TV history, which artificial sweetener played a killer role in the finale of Breaking Bad?
A) Stevia
B) Sweet’N Low
C) Equal
D) Splenda
29.Why did Sen.Ted Cruz say he blocked a vote on new FCC chairman Tom Wheeler?
A) As a venture capitalist, Wheeler had once refused to invest in Cruz’ proposed “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” theme park.
B) Cruz had had a really, really bad day.
C) Wheeler provided insufficient clarity on the FCC’s authority over political ad disclosures.
D) Wheeler indicated in his confirmation hearing that he planned to recodify the Fairness Doctrine.
30. On June 26, NBC’s Today claimed what has become a rare ratings victory over ABC’s Good Morning America, which in 2013 won its first May sweeps in 18 years and in November claimed its first back-to-back November sweeps title in 21 years in the 25-54 news demo. Matt Lauer’s exclusive interview of whom aired on Today June 26?
A) President Obama
B) Prince William
C) Miley Cyrus
D) Paula Deen
31.There were several high-profile TV news blunders due to major facts being misreported in 2013. Coverage of which of these stories didn’t produce some well-deserved eye-rolls?
A) The Navy Yard shootings
B) The shooting at Los Angeles International Airport
C) The Vatican’s naming of the new pope
D) The Boston Marathon bombings
32. In September, which city was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics, which will be the last under NBCUniversal’s current rights agreement?
A) Tokyo
B) Madrid
C) Istanbul
D) San Francisco
33. Reality show star and Robertson family patriarch Phil Robertson was reinstated on hit A&E reality show Duck Dynasty after what?
A) A suspension by the network that lasted nine days following the publication of controversial comments he made about homosexuality and race issues in a GQ interview.
B) His costars/members of his family issued a statement saying, “we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm.”
C) More than 250,000 fans signing an online petition to bring him back to the show.
D) All of the above.
34. Why did CBS News ask 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan and producer Max McClellan to take an indefinite leave of absence?
A) Logan’s delivery was starting to sound a little too much like HBO’s The Newsroom.
B) A CBS News review of their discredited Oct. 27 60 Minutesstory on Benghazi found the report was “deficient in several respects.”
C) The news division was looking to cut costs.
D) Their contracts were up.
35. What new fall show became the first to get renewed for a full-season pickup?
A) Sleepy Hollow
B) The Blacklist
C) The Millers
D) Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Bonus Round: Redeem yourself with these extra credit questions, or, if you're feeling confident, see if you can continue your winning streak.
1. Who was awarded the Golden Mike in 2013 by the Broadcasters Foundation of America?
A) David Barrett, Hearst TV chairman and CEO
B) Rebecca Campbell, president, ABC Owned Television Stations
C) Vincent Sadusky, LIN Media president, CEO
D) Paul Karpowicz, Meredith Local Media president
2. Which made-up reality show was not part of PBS station WNET New York’s “TV Gone Wrong” campaign to encourage watching quality TV?
A) Long Island Landscapers
B) Married to a Mime
C) The Car Crashians
D) Clam Kings
3. Which show got the plum post-Super Bowl slot on CBS last February?
A) Elementary
B) The Big Bang Theory
C) Person of Interest
D) 2 Broke Girls
4. Which song came on as the Breaking Bad series finale wrapped on AMC?
A) “Story of My Life” by Social Distortion
B) “Baby Blue” by Badfinger
C) “Bad” by U2
D) “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues
5. Which host of a rookie syndicated show said this of the show’s writers, “I know they aren’t here because I backed up the Brinks truck and loaded up their Volvos with cash.”
A) Queen Latifah
B) Arsenio Hall
C) Bethenny Frankel
D) Regis Philbin
6. ABC netted its second-biggest audience ever for an NBA game with June’s seventh and final game of the 2013 NBA Finals. How many viewers tuned in?
A) 22 million
B) 25.4 million
C) 26.3 million
D) 32.5 million
7. During ESPN’s upfront, which mascot did network president John Skipper “address” to kick off their presentation?
A) Mr. Met
B) Syracuse University’s “Otto the Orange”
C) Brooklyn Nets’ “Brooklyn Knight”
D) University of Alabama’s “Big Al”
8. How many viewers watched the series finale of AMC’s Breaking Bad?
A) 5 million
B) 10.6 million
C) 6.7 million
D) 12.6 million
9. Who did Fox tap to replace Mike Darnell as head of its reality/unscripted division?
A) Simon Andreae
B) David Hill
C) Mark Burnett
D) Mark Cuban
10. Which Breaking Bad character did AMC say would be getting his own spinoff?
A) Jesse Pinkman
B) Walter “Flynn” White Jr.
C) Saul Goodman
D) Huell
11. Which five women make up the panel on Warner Bros.’ talk show, The Real, which after a successful summer 2013 test will get a national roll out in 2014?
A) Tamera Mowry-Housley, Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, Adrienne Bailon, Jeannie Mai
B) Ricki Lake, Jenny McCarthy, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Bethenny Frankel
C) Aisha Tyler, Julie Chen, Sheryl Underwood, Sara Gilbert, Tempest Bledsoe
D) Carla Hall, Daphne Oz, Nigella Lawson, Rachael Ray, Alex Guarnaschelli
12. Who took over as host of Disney/ABC’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the fall?
A) Steve Harvey
B) Trisha Goddard
C) Cedric the Entertainer
D) Jeff Probst
13. In January, B&C reported that the subscription video-on-demand business would crack what figure by 2016?
A) $5 billion
B) $25 billion
C) $13.7 billion
D) $2 billion
14. As reported by B&C earlier this year, what percentage of weathercasters does not believe global warming is happening?
A) 2%
B) 9%
C) 27%
D) 41%
15. What did Giada De Laurentiis teach viewers during a special live Food Network Thanksgiving Special?
A) The turducken has a long and storied place in U.S. Thanksgiving history, going back some 150 years.
B) Even famed celebrity chefs can accidentally cut themselves while slicing up a turkey roll.
C) She always uses Stovetop Stuffing instead of potatoes.
D) That Thanksgiving and Chanukah weren’t going to fall on the same day again for 1,700 years.
16. In a Saturday Night Live short film making fun of the government shutdown, Miley Cyrus twerked through a parody of her “We Can’t Stop” video (called “We Did Stop”) portraying what well-known Republican figure?
A) Michele Bachmann
B) Sarah Palin
C) Ann Coulter
D) John Boehner
17. In the third quarter, AMC’s ad revenues jumped 36%. The day it reported earnings, what happened to AMC’s stock?
A) Advanced $4.20 to $76.55
B) Unchanged at $72.35
C) Plunged $4.20 to $68.15
D) Trading halted due to irregularities
18. Several top media buyers have recently made the jump to network ad sales executive positions. Which longtime senior broadcast salesperson returned to the agency business as a chief investment officer?
A) Donna Speciale
B) Mike Rosen
C) Marianne Gambelli
D) Tim Spengler
19. Why did former House Communications Subcommittee chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) exit the House?
A) He is launching his own talk show, “Ed Said What?” on the Learning Channel.
B) He was elected to John Kerry’s senate seat.
C) He was named ambassador to Luxembourg
D) He wanted to “spend more time with [his] family and explore other options.”
20. What was the only broadcast network series to be Emmy-nominated this year in the best Drama Series category?
A) Scandal
B) The Good Wife
C) Grey’s Anatomy
D) There were no broadcast network series nominated in the category, for the second-straight year.
21. What action did the FCC take in 2013 on retransmission-consent reform proposals it made two years ago?
A) Clarified what constitutes good-faith bargaining.
B) Decided to waive the syndicated exclusivity rules during retrans impasses.
C) New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pledged to get “really mad” if there were blackouts.
D) Nothing
22. What is OET-69?
A) The champagne used to christen the launch of Al Jazeera America.
B) The bulletin announcing software the FCC will use to calculate TV station coverage areas and interference.
C) A new standard for 3D audio to accompany video.
D) All of the above
23. In May, a federal appeals court overturned the FCC’s decision that Comcast had discriminated against Tennis Channel. What did the court say of the FCC?
A) That it had no evidence to conclude Comcast’s decision not to carry Tennis on a widely viewed tier was anything more than a “straight-up financial analysis.”
B) It incorrectly concluded Comcast had violated one of the conditions of its NBCU merger.
C) It improperly defined Tennis Channel as an unaffiliated program distributor.
D) That it had “completely lost its senses, as though an occult hand had reached out to strip it of its regulatory compass.”
24. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski joined what organization when he left the commission?
A) Google as chief spectrum officer.
B) The Storm Window Installers Union as EVP, transparency and job creation.
C) The Friars Club as a jolly good fellow, a move Genachowski initially denied.
D) The Aspen Institute as a senior fellow.
25. In January 2013, what news organization acquired Current TV, relaunching the channel under a new name on Aug. 20?
A) BBC News
B) Reuters
C) Al Jazeera
D) Univision
26. Starz announced in September that it was working with which NBA superstar to develop a half-hour scripted comedy?
A) Kobe Bryant
B) LeBron James
C) Rajon Rondo
D) Tony Parker
27. The reading of whose “not guilty” verdict drew 10.59 million viewers combined to CNN, HLN, Fox News and MSNBC?
A) George Zimmerman
B) James “Whitey” Bulger
C) Jodi Arias
D) Gilberto Valle, dubbed the “Cannibal Cop”
28. Michelle Knight, Cleveland kidnapping survivor, gave an exclusive interview and huge ratings boost to which daytime talk show?
A) Katie
B) Ellen
C) Dr. Phil
D) Steve Harvey
29. Elisabeth Hasselbeck left The View in July and joined which talk show?
A) The Graham Norton Show
B) The Talk
C) The Real
D) Fox & Friends
30. Which TV series ended after eight seasons this year?
A) Dexter
B) Californication
C) Whitney
D) Breaking Bad
