Quiz: Can You Match the Opening Line to the TV Show?

“Tonight’s the night.” Those three words, spoken in voiceover by Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) in the 2006 series premiere of Dexter, were the first time audiences heard the charming serial killer’s inner dialogue, a train of thought that wound up running through all of the show’s seasons.

Plenty of shows have had equally memorable opening lines. See if you can pair the quotes to the TV show they belong to in the quiz below.

Nailing a good opening line of dialogue is part of perfecting the television pilot, a juggling act that involves setting up a show’s premise, introducing its cast, and establishing its tone. But truly memorable lines tend to happen later, once audiences (and the show’s writers) have become more familiar with characters. “They say every day’s a gift, but why does it have to be a pair of socks?” is a lamentation by Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) on The Sopranos, but one that might not have been possible until his pessimistic worldview was in better focus.

A show’s final line can also leave viewers with a lasting—hopefully positive—impression. “Sorry,” bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson) tells an unseen patron looking for one last drink on the 1993 finale of Cheers. “We’re closed.”

And sometimes, a final line isn’t a line at all. The last thing star Alan Alda and viewers of M*A*S*H see in the 1983 series finale of the Korean War comedy is a word spelled out on rocks on the beach: “Goodbye.” More than 121 million viewers tuned in.

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