mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
The talented Matthew Smith has drawn up a quiz about the creative ways TV characters have been killed off their shows. It’s equal parts fun, nostalgic, challenging and morbid. Honor the memories of television’s fallen legends by testing yourself on their causes of death.
Take the Character Assassination quiz, then let us know how you did.
Comments (39)
Comment
Sadly (or proudly), I didn’t know a single answer.
Although I’ve seen most of the shows in the list…apparently, I didn’t see enough of them to become intimate with the story lines.
posted by Bre on 9-27-2007 at 8:46 am
100%
My favorite is Maude getting hit by the t-shirt cannon.
The saddest on this list Col. Blake. The saddest not on this list would have to be Edgar on 24.
posted by Dusty on 9-27-2007 at 9:31 am
Proudly (or sadly :-) I got 86%. I had to guess on the last two so I got Maude Flanders and Garth Gimble flipped. Just not enough of a Simpsons fan, I guess.
However, where is Rosalind Shays’ death by elevator shaft? Or was that too memorable/easy?
posted by Tim on 9-27-2007 at 10:01 am
Great quiz. Totally made me want to scissor my ass off.
posted by Les Bos on 9-27-2007 at 11:36 am
flipped Mr. Hooper and Dan Connor.
Tim - good point about Rosalind Shay. That was Creepy/funny
posted by JaneM on 9-27-2007 at 11:48 am
12-for-12. Knew 5, but guessed on the others. Yeah…Rosalind Shay on LA Law was classic. Remember James, the father on Good Times? Killed in a car wreck in Mississippi. Florida’s grieving - “Damn, daaamn, daaaaaaamn”…
posted by Ron on 9-27-2007 at 11:54 am
I got 83% - had to guess on two of them and had them flipped.
posted by bionic4ever on 9-27-2007 at 1:33 pm
I missed Garth, Laura, and Jock. I didn’t watch these shows. I guessed at some and deduced others. Some I knew outright, I watch too much T.V., at least before I found Mental Floss.
posted by gus on 9-27-2007 at 2:30 pm
58 % Guess I have to bone up on my deaths
posted by Mike on 9-27-2007 at 5:37 pm
Not sure whether I should be proud or dismayed, but I got all 12 answers correct.
posted by rica on 9-27-2007 at 6:07 pm
Score: 75%
I couldn’t remember a couple. ;)
posted by Kelly on 9-27-2007 at 6:18 pm
75% (9 out of 12)…what can i say? t.v. raised me.
posted by jdb on 9-28-2007 at 6:29 am
terrible. apparently i don’t watch enough television. 42%.
matt smith is my hero.
posted by Patrick on 9-28-2007 at 8:23 am
100% Woo-hoo!
I had to use reason on a few, because I never watched them.
posted by Emily Jane on 9-28-2007 at 7:24 pm
Only 50% - but did this bring back memories (although apparently faulty ones!). Where’s Edith Bunker? Could anyone forget Archie’s final scene of the episode where we learn she has died, when he finds her solitary bedroom slipper under their bed — the only possession left after her relatives divided her belongings among themselves?
posted by susan on 10-1-2007 at 11:14 am
100%. Now if I could only remember the names of most of my co-workers.
posted by tom* on 10-1-2007 at 11:29 am
I got 100%…I watch too much TV.
posted by Cyndi on 10-1-2007 at 11:47 am
I got 9 out of 12 correct (75%). Not bad considering I only actually watched one of those shows and Googled the answer on one other :-)
posted by New Mommy, Esq. on 10-1-2007 at 12:35 pm
Rosalind Shays’ death always comes to mind… it was just such a shocker. Did not see it coming. I can still remember it. My jaw was on the floor.
Dan’s death was a big one for me. The last season was terrible, but the monologue at the end brought Roseanne back to the harsh reality of lower-income family living.
posted by DavidC on 10-1-2007 at 12:55 pm
I got 12 of 12, but I like to think I knew only 3 and the remainder was guessing and elimination (and not stuck in my subconscious).
posted by Will on 10-1-2007 at 2:25 pm
Wait. I thought James from “Good Times” died when he went to work on the Alaskan pipeline. . .or am I thinking of something else? This was when they got the telegram during the going-away party. . .
posted by Michael on 10-1-2007 at 3:15 pm
Just Googled it. . .guess I was wrong. ..
posted by Michael on 10-1-2007 at 3:18 pm
I got 100% right. Part of it was though the process of elimination.
posted by Wayne on 10-1-2007 at 4:26 pm
Sad to say I got 12 out of 12. I have to find a hobby.
posted by Bill on 10-1-2007 at 6:21 pm
I thought Maude’s death was sheer brilliance, I definitely never saw that coming. I still get upset when I see Col. Blake’s last episode!
Oh- and MASH was set during the Korean War, not Nam.
posted by Kristin on 10-2-2007 at 12:31 am
NYPD Blue - the death of Dennis Franz’ son. Dennis rushing to the hospital after hearing a cop was shot only to find out upon walking into the room it was his son.
Jimmy Smit’s death. I bawled like a baby. At the end of every episode, the screen went to black with credits. In this episode, it went white. Brilliant.
posted by jack on 10-2-2007 at 3:33 pm
I aced it!! But then again, I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and I’m a hopeless TV junkie. Great quiz!!
posted by Sam B on 10-3-2007 at 1:25 pm
100% !!!!
Some I knew for sure, the others were through clever deduction!!
posted by Lisa Lu on 10-3-2007 at 10:59 pm
Didn’t do as well as I thought, got 4 wrong!! Good quiz though.
posted by Beth on 10-4-2007 at 6:04 am
Oh God! I got 100%.
I really need to get a life.
posted by Rick S on 10-4-2007 at 1:10 pm
75%
My babysitter’s name was Philco.
posted by RAchel on 10-4-2007 at 3:15 pm
3 out of 12 - the lowest score so far. I haven’t watched TV since high school (real life was so much more interesting).
posted by kechiro on 10-5-2007 at 8:47 am
12 out of 12
Kind of a double edged sword of pride and shame.
How about “chuckles the clown” from Mary Tyler Moore?
He was dressed as a peanut and was attacked by an elephant
posted by Townsend on 10-6-2007 at 2:35 pm
I didn’t do very well, 33%, but I got to comment on how sad the Henry Blake episode was. Another one I thought was real sad/shocking was when Dr. Dennis Gant played by omar epps on ER got hit by the train. It was just so sudden when the pager went off and the realization hit you.
posted by mike on 10-8-2007 at 9:06 am
100%! that makes up for the 0% on the horror movies quiz… I am now statiscally average, I guess
posted by k2 on 10-30-2007 at 2:15 pm
I scored 100%.
I don’t watch that much TV, but I
made some educated guesses on the
ones I didn’t know. For example,
the only character who could
have died in Viet Nam would have
been the kid from The Wonder
Years.
I also run a Web site called
Dead People Server where I track
this sort of thing (for
real people, not for characters).
I’m a little surprised there
was no reference to Chuckles
the Clown famous death in this
quiz, but maybe it was too
obvious.
posted by Laurie D. T. Mann on 11-7-2007 at 10:27 am
Got ‘em all.
Do all the final-episode deaths of the characters in “Six Feet Under” count?
posted by Athenawise on 12-10-2007 at 4:08 pm
Knew a couple,guessed on the others. Did Martin Mull write his own character’s death? How ’bout toilet seat girl in Dead Like Me?
posted by D.W.M. on 2-17-2008 at 11:23 am
I managed to get 100%. I started by answering the ones I knew (Simpsons, Roseanne, Seinfeld, MASH), then making educated guesses on the ones I didn’t. For the shows I’ve never seen I did use wikipedia to find out if the show was a comedy or drama. For example, I’ve never seen Mary Heartman, Mary Hartman. It was on before I was even born.
posted by Rob on 4-27-2008 at 4:56 am