1. Bill O' Reilly and Desperate Housewives had something in common this year: tawdry talk. The following quotes were attributed to the O'Reilly Factor host in a sexual-harassment suit filed by associate producer Andrea Mackris—except one, from Desperate Housewives. Which statement is it?
A. “What? You've got a vibrator, don't you? Every girl does.”
B. “In these days of your celibacy and your hibernation, this is good for you to have a little fantasy outlet.”
C. “They're staring because they think you're hot.”
D. “You know they drink during the day, they lay there ... they have dinner and fool around.”
2. The first Bush-Kerry presidential debate cost the Big Four broadcasters how much in estimated Thursday-night ad revenue?
A. $42 million
B. $61 million
C. $77 million
D. $101 million
3. How much did Sirius' stock price rise the day Howard Stern announced he would jump to the satellite radio company from Viacom's Infinity Radio, in a deal worth $500 million?
A. 5%
B. 15%
C. 50%
D. 100%
4. Turner network TBS, rebranding itself as a home for comedy, cleaned up Sex and the City before it showed the HBO hit in syndication on basic cable with a TV-14 rating. In one episode, Miranda and Steve (Cynthia Nixon and Steve Eigenberg) originally used the word “shitty” repeatedly in the course of a conversation. On the TBS version, what word is substituted?
A. crappy
B. lousy
C. yucky
D. namby-pamby
5. “I know the images will be around forever. I'm personally comfortable having it out there.” Who said it?
A. Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan, after her Monday Night Football naked romp
B. Janet Jackson, after her Super Bowl halftime performance but before “wardrobe malfunction” became the year's most over-used phrase
C. WOIO Cleveland news anchor Sharon Reed, after her naked sweeps-month stunt in the name of art
D. Extreme Makeover subject “Jeanene,” whose “before” punk look included 30 body piercings. Her “after” look was achieved with rhinoplasty, ear-lobe reconstruction, lip augmentation, breast augmentation, liposuction, laser hair removal, retinoic peel, mole removals, Invisalign and Zoom whitening.
6. Comcast stormed the Magic Kingdom with a hostile-takeover bid for Disney initially worth $66 billion in stock and assumed debt. Comcast investors hated the deal and beat the cable operator's price down. How much was the offer worth when Comcast abandoned it on April 28?
A. $60 billion
B. $56 billion
C. $46 billion
D. $40 billion
7. When Oprah Winfrey gave away 276 Pontiac G6s to surprised members of her studio audience in September, the stunt cost General Motors about $7.7 million, given that the cars retail for about $28,000. How many 30-second commercials on the show would that have bought?
A. 72
B. 82
C. 92
D. 102
8. After several tough years, the TV advertising market is staging a comeback. According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, in the first nine months of 2004, broadcast television—local, network and syndication—raked in $34.2 billion in advertising revenue. That's up how much over the same period in 2003?
A. 11.8%
B. 8.2%
C. 19%
D. 9%
9. The New York Times' just-before-the-election scoop about missing explosives in Iraq turned out to be a bit of a dud. But this Midwestern ABC station got some bang for its travel bucks when it found archived footage from Iraq that appeared to show the missing materiel.
A. KSTP Minneapolis
B. WLS Chicago
C. WXYZ Detroit
D. WISN Milwaukee
10. In his ill-fated report on President Bush's National Guard service, Dan Rather relied on documents provided by Bill Burkett, a long-standing Bush critic. Burkett says he obtained them from a mysterious man who handed an envelope to him:
A. At a Dallas Cowboys game in Texas Stadium.
B. In the Neiman Marcus men's department in Dallas.
C. Outside the Alamo's front gate.
D. At the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
11. Which Golden Globe-nominated drama series showed a character having sex with an anatomically correct latex doll?
A. Deadwood (HBO)
B. 24 (Fox)
C. Nip/Tuck (FX)
D. The Sopranos (HBO)
E. Lost (ABC)
12. The 2004 finale of American Idol drew 31 million viewers. How many watched Ruben Stoddard beat Clay Aiken in 2003?
A. 25 million
B. 29 million
C. 32 million
D. 38 million
13. KUSA Denver became the first local-news broadcaster in the country to:
A. Land an exclusive interview with Kobe Bryant's chauffeur.
B. Broadcast live HD images from a helicopter.
C. Expand its weather segment, the most popular part of most newscasts, to 15 minutes.
D. Fire a reporter who, during a sweeps-month hidden- camera investigation into escort services, consummated the act he had paid for.
14. Which show this year became the only program in TV history to be resurrected after cancellation thanks to the CPR performed by the sales of a million DVDs?
A. Futurama
B. Tarzan
C. Family Guy
D. Wonderfalls
15. E! Entertainment CEO Mindy Herman resigned this year amid allegations that included misappropriating company funds and filching these items intended for other employees:
A. Flowers from Robin Leach
B. DKNY dresses
C. Treo Smartphones
D. Grammy gift bags
16. During the race for president, Sinclair Broadcast Group created a media firestorm when CEO David Smith decreed that his stations would air:
A. Attack ads produced by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
B. The anti-President Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
C. Portions of the anti-John Kerry documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal.
D. Allegations based on phony documents asserting that President Bush failed to honor his National Guard obligations.
17. This year, MSNBC and CNN U.S. got new presidents (Rick Kaplan and Jonathan Klein, respectively). Fox News Channel is beating both MSNBC and CNN in the ratings. Fox has held the news-network lead since:
A. January 2002
B. July 1999
B. August 2001
C. April 2004
18. In 2003, NBC replayed its sister cable network Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. In 2004, what NBC Universal cable network show earned a rare replay on NBC?
A. Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown
B. USA's Monk
C. Sci Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters
D. USA's The 4400
19. Which reality series was sued in 2004 for “idea theft”?
A. CBS' Survivor
B. Fox's The Next Great Champ
C. Fox's The Swan
D. CBS' Big Brother
20. The Rigas family, proprietor of the Adelphia Communications cable company, became news fodder with the prosecution of several family members for looting company coffers. All the following statements are true except one. Which one is false?
A. John Rigas used a company jet to transport Christmas trees to decorate the home of his daughter, Ellen.
B. John Rigas and his travel agent used the jet for a safari vacation in Kenya.
C. Tim Rigas ordered 100 pair of bedroom slippers.
D. Tim Rigas used company money to buy land and build a hockey rink for his club team.
21. A full-page newspaper ad attacking the new local-people-meter system depicted a white man standing in the living room of a black family watching television. The headline read: ''Nielsen has control over what you watch. So shouldn't somebody be watching Nielsen?'' Who paid for the ad?
A. NAACP
B. BET
C. Fox
D. Univision
22. DirecTV and EchoStar embarrassed cable operators in 2003 by adding 2.3 million subscribers versus cable's 87,000. How many subscribers are the satellite companies expected to add in 2004?
A. 200,000
B. 1.2 million
C. 3.1 million
D. 7.3 million
23. Viacom Co-President Les Moonves said, “This is becoming the cable awards” after HBO won how many Emmy Awards?
A. 27
B. 43
C. 32
D. 34
24. As of Dec. 12, CBS' The Young and the Restless had been the top-viewed daytime soap opera for how many consecutive weeks?
A. 832
B. 503
C. 28
D. 5
25. On Dec. 1, NBC Nightly News' Tom Brokaw anchored his final broadcast after 23 years, with 15.4 million viewers tuning in. It was his largest audience since:
A. January 1997
B. September 2001
C. March 2003
D. November 1986
BONUS: In court papers for the sexual-harassment lawsuit he eventually settled out of court, a fantasizing Bill O'Reilly seemed to mix up the absorbent bathtub accessory known as a loofah with this ethnic food:
A. Latke
B. Falafel
C. Goulash
D. Fattoush
