Break Barriers With This Women in Television Quiz

Throughout her career, Cloris Leachman won eight Emmy awards, including for her roles as Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s and Ida Welker on “Malcolm in the Middle” in the early 2000s. In recent years, however, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has dominated the Emmys. From 2012 to 2017, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series every year for her role as Vice President Selina Meyer on “Veep.” Louis-Dreyfus also won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2006 for “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” and the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996 for “Seinfeld.”

Phyllis Diller, a legendary stand-up comic, made her first national appearance as a contestant on Groucho Marx’s game show “You Bet Your Life” in 1957. She parlayed her performance there into regular appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Diller was known for her self-deprecating humor and eccentric appearance.

It's not uncommon for a woman to voice a young boy in a cartoon. Nancy Cartwright, for one, has voiced Bart Simpson on “The Simpsons” since 1989, and also voices the characters Todd Flanders and Nelson Muntz. School-aged Bobby Hill of “King of the Hill” is voiced by Pamela Adlon, who won an Emmy for the role in 2002. And in the 2000s, Debi Derryberry voiced 11-year-old genius Jimmy Neutron in the cartoon franchise of the same name.

In 1994, Whoopi Goldberg became the first woman to host the Oscars on her own. She’s also hosted the show three other times — in 1996, 1999, and 2002 — with various co-hosts. In addition to being the woman who has hosted the awards show the most, Goldberg became the second Black actress to win Best Supporting Actress for “Ghost.”

In 1975, “Saturday Night Live” premiered on NBC with a cast dubbed the “Not Ready for Primetime Players.” That lineup included Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner. Jan Hooks joined the cast much later, in 1986, and remained on the show for five years. But even after her time as a regular cast member was over, Hooks returned to the show several times to reprise her impression of Hillary Clinton.

In 1961, after a stint as a producer and writer for CBS, Barbara Walters joined NBC as a writer and occasional on-air contributor on “Today.” Thirteen years later, Walters made history when she became the first woman to be named co-host of a national news program in the United States. In 1975, just one year into her stint as co-host, Walters won an Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service, or Variety Series. Walters made history again in 1976 when she moved over to ABC and became the first female co-anchor of “World News Tonight.”

In 1966, actress Phyllis Newman made history when she filled in for Johnny Carson and became the first woman to host “The Tonight Show.” . Also a frequent guest on the late-night show, Newman made a name for herself as a frequent game show panelist and an accomplished Broadway actress. In 1962, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “Subways Are for Sleeping.” She also was nominated in 1987 for her work in Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.”

Before it was a groundbreaking television series, “Sex and the City” was a column in the “New York Observer.” Debuting in 1994, the column was written by Candace Bushnell, a friend of Darren Star, who later adapted Bushnell’s work for TV. The show ran on HBO from 1998 to 2004, and quickly grew into something of a cultural phenomenon. In 2001, it became the first cable show to win an Emmy for Best Comedy Series.

On the sitcom “Murphy Brown,” the title character (played by Candice Bergen) chooses to raise a baby on her own. U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle caused controversy when he singled the character out in a speech, saying Murphy Brown was “mocking the importance of fathers.” “TIME” called his attack “the most widely quoted speech of the campaign,” and Brown called out Quayle in the show. “It seems that for him, the only acceptable definition of a family is a mother, father, and children,” she said. “In a country where millions of children grow up in nontraditional families, that definition seems painfully unfair.”

Betty White spent more than eight decades in television, and in 1953, she became the first woman to produce a sitcom when she produced and starred in “Life With Elizabeth.” In 1983, White made history again, this time as the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show. The actress also won an Emmy in 2010 for hosting “Saturday Night Live” when she was 88 years old — the oldest host in the history of the late-night show.

Cicely Tyson became the first Black actress to star in a television drama when she was cast in “East Side/West Side.” Tyson played the role of secretary Jane Foster in the 1963 drama. The show was set in New York and focused on some of the harsher realities of inner-city life. The gritty drama proved controversial to some advertisers, and despite critical acclaim, it only ran for one season.

Susan Lucci played the role of Erica Kane for the entire run of the daytime soap opera, “All My Children.“ The show ran from 1970 until 2011, and in that time, Lucci was nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Daytime Emmys 21 times. It became something of an ongoing joke when year after year she was nominated but failed to win. Finally, in 1999, she received an Emmy, much to the delight of her fans.

“Saturday Night Live” has always been a groundbreaking show, and the first person hired for the premiere season was comedian Gilda Radner. Tina Fey became the first female head writer in 1999 and held the post until she left to develop “30 Rock” in 2006. SNL has acted as a springboard for numerous female comic performers, including Leslie Jones, Amy Poehler, and Kristen Wiig.

In its early stage of development, the now-classic sitcom “The Golden Girls” was known as “Miami Nice.” The show launched in 1985 and was an immediate hit with audiences with its innovative focus on the friendship between four older women. The show ran for seven seasons and notched up 180 episodes.

After leaving the Today Show, Katie Couric became the first female solo anchor of a major network evening news program when she began hosting “CBS Evening News” in 2006. Couric climbed the ranks in broadcast journalism and served as a host on each of the “Big Three” American networks — ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Ellen DeGeneres was already a successful comedian when she began starring in “These Friends of Mine” in 1994. The show was a hit and its name was changed to “Ellen” for the second season. When DeGeneres came out as gay in real life in 1997, her character in the show did too, becoming the first openly gay character in a mainstream sitcom. DeGeneres later went on to launch an Emmy-winning talk show.

When Lucille Ball became pregnant for the second time in early 1952, the writers on “I Love Lucy” incorporated her pregnancy into the show upon the insistence of Ball and her costar/real-life husband Desi Arnaz.. This was the first time pregnancy had been featured in a storyline on a major television show. Despite showing Ball’s bump, the actors were banned from using the word “pregnant” for fear of upsetting their conservative audience.

In downtown Minneapolis stands a bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat in the air as in the title sequence of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The 1970s show was groundbreaking in its portrayal of a young, single career woman. It ran for seven seasons and garnered numerous awards, making Moore a feminist — and television — icon.

Julia Child’s big break came after she appeared on Boston’s WGBH to promote her book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Instead of a straight interview, Child made an omelet on air. The segment was such a success that Child was offered her own show. “The French Chef” ran from 1963 to 1973 and was one of the first cooking shows on American TV.

In 1986, Oprah Winfrey became the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated daily talk show, "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She later took ownership of the talk show — the first woman ever — and it ran for 25 seasons. Among numerous other accolades, Winfrey was named the first Black female billionaire in the United States in 2003 and she went on to launch her successful television network, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).