One *Spin City * Michael J. Fox as Mike Flaherty was replaced by Charlie Sheen as Charlie Crawford
ETA: On the soap Days of Our Lives, Austin Peck played Austin Reed for years.
I don’t think Night Court or Home Improvement or Welcome Back, Kotter or many others should count. The actor’s name isn’t the show’s name, but those shows were clearly created for those comedians, and the roles were created for the actor, rather than an actor happening to land a role with the same first name.
Likewise, Mad About You shouldn’t count for Paul Reiser.
Shirley Jones as Shirley Partridge and Danny Bonaduce as Danny Partridge on The Partridge Family. It can be argued that the show was a vehicle for Ms. Jones, so she might not count, but Danny certainly does.
Bud Abbott and lou Costello usually played characters with names different from their own, but they played Bud and Lou on their TV series. Bud also played characters named “Bud” in three movies: Bud Jones in A and C in the Foreign Legion, Bud Alexander in A and C meet the Invisible Man, and Bud Flick in their last film, Dance with me Harry. (He was “Buzz” Johnson in Africa Screams and “Buzz” Curtis in A and C in Hollywood) He was Abbott in “One Night in the Tropics”, their first.
In the same movies, Lou Costello was Lou Hotchkiss (A and C in the Foreign Legion), Lou Francis (A and C meet the Invisible Man), and Lou Henry (Dance with me Harry). His names didn’t resemble “Lou” in the ones where Bud was “Buzz”. He was Costello in “One Night in the Tropics”, their first film together.
You’re incorrect about Night Court. The character of Harry Stone was created before Harry Anderson auditioned for the role. It was even a coincidence that both Harrys are Mel Torme fans.
Why is any of this relevant? The OP didn’t stipulate that the actor just happened to have the same name as the character. I think the point in most of these cases is that the characters and actors share names precisely because of who’s playing the role.
The TV Tropes link that The Other Waldo Pepper provides lists perhaps a thousand examples. Virtually every one listed here is already there, making this thread an exercise in redundancy.
I’ll throw this out there, it may deviate just a bit from your OP but it’s worth mentioning.
I’m another one of those guys that reads intently as the credits roll at the end of a movie. In doing so I’m struck by the number of time animals participating in a feature are portrayed using their real name. I think the reason is pretty obvious, that’s how they’ll best respond to instruction, pay attention, etc. Still, you’ll often times see that Duke, Buddy and Muffin are in fact Duke, Buddy and Muffin.
It is relevant because I’m overly emotionally invested in this for no good reason, and I thought that was pretty obvious, SIR.
Besides, Bricker acknowledged that* I Love Lucy* and other shows that literally have the actor’s name in the title shouldn’t count. I think the difference between that and a show like All-American Girl (you remember Margaret Cho’s sitcom, where she played Margaret Kim!) is arbitrary and uninteresting. I could also point out that some sitcoms did have the actor’s name but the lead role had a different name (on *Newhart *Bob Newhart played Dick).
They often do it the other way – precisely so the dog won’t respond to instructions. Think of, say, a scene where the kid fails to show off while the dog just sprawls out on the floor and keeps doing nothing: “Sit up, Rufus! Shake hands, Rufus! Roll over, Rufus! Um. Play dead, Rufus!”
You don’t cast a disobedient dog named Rufus; you cast an obedient one named Shep. (“No, Rufus! Stop humping that man’s leg, Rufus!”)
And Dick Van Dyke played Robert Petrie. Circle of life.
Some Dick Van Dyke trivia: The character Rob is named after Rob Reiner, whose father, Carl Reiner, created and produced the series (and played Alan Brady). Of course, Rob went on to greater fame playing Mike Stivic on All In the Family and later became a prolific film director.
I know Night Court has been covered, but has anyone mentioned Harry Anderson’s role on Cheers, Harry the Hat?
No, it doesn’t. The point of these threads if for people to try to come up with them on their own. That’s the fun of it. While a TVTropes link is nice information, to use it in the thread is cheating.
In no way do I think The Other Waldo Pepper was posting to tell us to shut up, as that would be pretty close to threadshitting.
Post #18
I wouldn’t go that far, I was hoping to mention those so the SDMB would switch to examples missed by a site dedicated to this exact thing; that’s why I went on to mention Magnum PI, and nodded appreciatively at Monstera’s mention of The Partridge Family, and at bup’s quick discussion of Mad About You and All-American Girl, and so on. So I wasn’t trying to tell folks to shut up – rather the opposite – but all apologies if it was too close to threadshitting.
I meant it wasn’t exactly the same because she wasn’t a comedian, but the character was closely based on her, so it still fit in that list.