Jeopardy 

The answer is: The perfect quiz show, produced by NBC and hosted by Art Fleming. The question: What is Jeopardy?

The game board supplied the answers, contestants raced to provide the appropriate questions, and Fleming kept up a rollicking pace in the rarest of beasts - a game show where you actually had to have some brains to participate.

TV's toughest game show was originally telecast at noon Eastern time (and probably the best excuse a kid ever had for wanting to stay home sick from school) and drew the brightest players and became a big hit with college students.

Bad time slots temporarily killed the network version in 1975, but Jeopardy went into syndication, rising from the ashes like a mythical bird (what is a Phoenix?).