Trivia Done Right

What do all of the following have in common?
Pittsburg Landing
Sharpsburg
Elkhorn Tavern
Chickahominy

Here at TDR, we have a general rule about trivia questions whose answer is a number. The rule: don’t use those questions.

We’re wantonly breaking that rule today (because we love you).

With all random picks, what are the chances that someone will complete a correct NCAA bracket?

In this actor’s most successful series, he was only 12 years older than the actor who played his son, yet the woman who played his wife was more than twenty years his senior. He made his television debut in 1971 and his final TV appearance in 2006 playing the same character. In fact, he played this character in FIVE different TV series, including All in the Family, E/R, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The House Of Payne.

Can you name the actor and the character?

We all made and played with these in elementary school. You can earn playground bragging rights if you can tell me:

What is the name of this thing? (There is a genuine name for them, but even if you don’t know that, post what you called them. Bonus points for interesting names!)