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Pop culture quiz

Sure, everyone knows Brangelina had a baby and The West Wing went away. But do you know the nitty-gritty or just the itty-bitty of this year's entertainment happenings?

By JENNIFER DECAMP
Published December 28, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT Quiz answers See how well you did

1. Which relationship inspired Law & Order's season-opening "ripped from the headlines" episode?

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

Paris Hilton, Brandon Davis and Lindsay Lohan

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline

2. Madonna courted controversy on her world tour by doing what on stage while singing her '80s hit Live to Tell?

Bonus: What album did this song originally appear on?

3. What television networks merged to form the CW?

4. Whose bestselling addiction and recovery memoir A Million Little Pieces - hailed by Oprah as being "like nothing you've ever read before" - was not exactly nonfiction?

5. TV Land released The 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases. Which TV shows did these quotes come from?

"Sock it to me"

"That's hot"

"Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!"

"You rang?"

"Good grief"

6. On Project Runway either you're in or you're out. Match each designer with one of their runway looks.

Jeffrey

Michael

Keith

Uli

Laura

7. Television viewers said goodbye to Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing in May and hello to his new series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in September. Name four actors who have prominent roles in both series.

8. This actor pocketed $20.3-million when she auctioned off most of the jewelry - including her wedding ring - she received from her billionaire ex-husband.

9. It took seven nominations, but this Florida rock band finally was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Name the band, and what city they're from.

10. What holiday movie classic is being exploited by Cingular in its TV commercials?

11. Sylvester Stallone wrote the script for the original Rocky after watching a fight between this unknown boxing star and Muhammad Ali.

12. With 68 books in print, including October's H.R.H., Danielle Steel's most interesting release this year - a perfume - landed her in the company of Paris Hilton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Britney Spears and J.Lo. Match these Steel bestsellers with their synopsis.

Zoya

No Greater Love

Star

Loving

An orphaned young woman vows to use her singing talent to secure fame and a new life and . . . finds love.

An orphaned young woman escapes the Russian Revolution to build a new life for herself and . . . finds love.

An orphaned young woman loses her fiance and parents on the Titanic, vows to build a new life for herself and . . . finds love.

A young woman left penniless when her father dies uses her writing talent to build a new life and . . . finds love.

13. The character of Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada is believed to be loosely based on what real-life magazine editor?

14. Two of fall television's hottest stars - Eric "McSteamy" Dane (Grey's Anatomy) and Mario "Sore Loser" Lopez (Dancing With the Stars) - crossed paths in the '90s on this popular California-based sitcom.

15. Lukas Rossi won viewers' hearts (and their votes) when he was named the winner of ABC's reality competition Rock Star Supernova. What three rockers are now his band members, and where did they get famous?

16. "Save the cheerleader. Save the world" became the catchphrase of the TV season, thanks to NBC's Heroes. Match these "everyday" characters with their super-human powers.

Isaac Mendez

Nathan Petrelli

Claire Bennet

Matt Parkman

Hiro Nakamura

Time travel

Indestructibility

See the future

Flight

Telepathy

17. Isaac Hayes - a.k.a. Chef on South Park - quit the long-running satire after its 10th season- opener made fun of what?

18. The film version of The Da Vinci Code hit and flopped in theaters in May. But first, the creator of which hit TV show once considered adapting Dan Brown's novel for a season-long story arc?

Bonus: Match these Da Vinci Code numbers with the correct statement:

The golden ratio, or divine proportion.

Domestic box office gross in the movie's opening weekend.

Number of pages in Dan Brown's bestselling book.

Number of panes of glass in I.M. Pei's pyramid at the Louvre, which is seven more panes than Brown claimed the pyramid had in the book.

Approximate number of copies of the book sold worldwide from March 2003 to May 2006.

66-million

1.618033988

77-million

454

673

19. What singer pays tribute to The Sound of Music on a new CD? What's the song?

20. The '80s-inspired, fictional Robin Sparkles video on CBS's How I Met Your Mother encouraged listeners to go where?

Movies: Before & After

21. Create a new movie title using the descriptions from one 2006 release and one older flick.

Example: A Jennifer Aniston dramedy that features her in a maid's uniform (Friends With Money); and an action-adventure that features a transit cop who steals a subway car (Money Train). Answer: Friends with Money Train

An animated film about an inquisitive monkey; and a movie about a man raised by apes.

A dysfunctional family's cross-country road trip to make one special girl's pageant dreams come true; and John Sayles' moody family drama set in Northeast Florida.

Al Gore tries a more mainstream approach in his global-warming campaign; and Janeane Garofalo stars in a comedy about a talk show host who has a beautiful friend impersonate her when a handsome man comes calling.

A couple (half of which is Zach Braff) doubts their perfect relationship; and a thief-on-the-run (Robert Downey Jr.) ends up job-shadowing a L.A. private eye (Val Kilmer).

A human family adopts a mouse in this G-rated take on a popular children's book; and a single mother struggles to keep her genius son from being exploited by others.

22. In November it was announced that this '70s group would have its own museum.

ABBA

Bee Gees

KISS

Supertramp

23. What three stars were multiple Golden Globe nominees ths year?

24. Which famous rocker skyrocketed to the top of Forbes' Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list in October when his/her spouse sold all his/her songs for $50-million?

25. Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue created controversy with its racy cover featuring an Annie Leibovitz photograph of Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley posing nude with a fully clothed Tom Ford. Which actress showed good taste by bowing out of the shoot?

26. Which TV comedy broke new ground by creating "webisodes" that aired during the summer on the Internet only?

The New Adventures of Old Christine

The Office

The Simpsons

Two and a Half Men

27. Which TV reality show stalwart did not appear on QVC this year to hawk a product with his or her name attached to it?

Jay Manuel, America's Next Top Model

Heidi Klum, Project Runway

Jeff Probst,

Survivor

Paula Abdul, American Idol

28. Inspirational comedian Judson Laippley took youtube.com watchers by storm when a posting of his "Evolution of Dance" scored more than a million viewings. Which of these dance moves was not a part of his 6-minute routine?

the lawnmower

the running man

the swim

the twist

29. Charles Frazier, winner of the National Book Award for Cold Mountain, received an $8-million advance for this September book release.

30. Dreamgirls made te move from stage to screen this month. Which real singing group is the show loosley based on?

Bonus: What year did Dreamgirls open on Broadway?

31. What country is the fictional Borat from?

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

32. The bump watch was all the rage in celebrity news. Match the baby with his/her famous parents.

Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes

Brooke Shields & Chris Henchy

Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin

Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt

Matt Lauer & Annette Roque

Moses

Grier

Suri

Thijs

Shiloh

33. Which of the infants listed above is the first child to have a likeness in Madame Tussauds?

34. At the beginning of The Wire, the cops find the low murder rate in Baltimore's gang-infested Western district suspicious. What did the teens buy from a home improvement store to help them hide the bodies?

Blow torch

Hammer

Nail gun

Saw

35. What TV show filmed and aired its series finale in May, only to be surprised when the series was picked up for another season?

36. We Go Together is to Grease as ________ is to High School Musical.

37. Who made a surprise appearance at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest?

38. Robert Altman received an honorary Oscar just months before his death. Arrange these by release date, from oldest to most recent: Gosford Park, M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player and Shortcuts.

39. Which former American Idol winner initially refused to allow his/her songs to be licensed for use on the show?

40. Could anything be more horrific than Katharine McPhee and Meatloaf's beauty-and-the-beast duet in the AI finale? Pair these other contestants with the chart-toppers they performed with.

Chris Daughtry

Bo Bice

Elliott Yamin

Carrie Underwood

Rascal Flatts

Mary J. Blige

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Live

41. This chart-topping pop singer considers herself to be "t-t-t-t-t-tasty, tasty."

42. From selling the video of her daughter's birth to her son's tragic death, Anna Nicole Smith has been in the news again, and again and again. What two men claim to be the father to her new daughter Dannielynn?

43. Christopher Nolan revived the Batman movie franchise in 2005 with his moody take on the Black Knight backstory. Which actors from Batman Begins also starred in 2006's The Prestige, his turn-of-the-century tale of dueling magicians? 

44. What talk show loudmouth and real estate mogul engaged in a sparring match on television before the holidays?

45. Even without the recent split of Britney and K-Fed, she has been splashed all over the tabloids this year. Which statement is not true:

Britney was seen driving with her 4-month-old son on her lap.

A half-eaten egg salad sandwich left on Britney's plate at a New York restaurant was sold on eBay for $500.

Britney changed her son on the floor at a Victoria's Secret, and then asked a clerk to toss the dirty diaper.

While complaining about paparazzi pressure, Britney says she understands how Princess Diana must have felt.

46. It's hard to imagine a James Bond movie without the hero's comely co-stars. Match the correct vixen to her Bond.

Ursula Andress

Catherine Schell

Eva Green

Jane Seymour

Teri Hatcher

Carey Lowell

Pierce Brosnan

Daniel Craig

Sean Connery

Timothy Dalton

George Lazenby

Roger Moore

47. On the post-Super Bowl episode of Grey's Anatomy, what caused Seattle Grace to issue a Code Black alert?

48. What auto-themed 2006 movie had this tagline: "One family. Eight wheels. No brakes."

49. Which of these long-touring bands brought in $437-million as the top-grossing concert tour of the year?

50. Reese Witherspoon became a fashion victim in vintage Chanel when she appeared at the Golden Globes in a gown previously worn on the red carpet by this star?

Hilary Duff

Kirsten Dunst

Lindsay Lohan

Kate Winslet

Bonus: What movie did Witherspoon win the Golden Globe for?

How to score: Give yourself one point for each correct answer. For questions that require multiple answers, like questions No. 6 and and No. 12, give yourself one point for each correct answer. A perfect score is 100. Answers, 4E

[Last modified December 28, 2006, 14:36:10]