# An ORIGINAL Idea for a TV Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059 "2004-02-13T16:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/61 "2014-04-17T11:10:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Like the Dick Van Dyke show? No - they were writing a specific show. I mean writers trying to… oh never mind. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/62 "2014-04-17T12:14:15Z")
> [@Mislav](#): > > Yes, I was thinking about making something similar to that. I think there should be two cases for each episode but some sort of a subplot going through the season, some sort of a case that isn’t solved until the season finale, specific type of crime commited repeatedly by that one character, villain, while as a main plot, they are solving two cases per episode- a la Wire. Of course, in season finale, that subplot case should become more than a subplot in order to be solved, but until that, it is a subplot slowly developing into something more. > I was thinking about that, I think season one should have child abuse as a subplot, season two domestic violence, season three forgery, season four drug related crimes etc… And yes, it would explores character’s personal lives more and explain science better than most of CSIs do, show forensic procedures etc… I did come up with ideas for first several episodes. I doubt that cases are more original than those shown in an original CSI, but I would like to know what you guys think. **Episode 1** Case 1: Two friends are hiking together, but relaxing hiking trip turns into a nightmare after a masked gunman shots the girl and wounds the boy. Who would do such a thing and how is that linked to an accidental death of a well known criminal-that may not be accidental at all? Case 2: A young man on a date with his new girlfriend goes to use the bathroom and never returns: somebody followed him inside and stabbed him to death. But who? **Episode 2** Case 1: A teenage boy is found dead in his neighbour’s yard, next to a swimming pool, bludgeoned to death. Victim, his neighbour, claims that she was swimming in the familie’s swimming pool late at night and that he attacked her when she went to get dressed, trying to rape her, leaving her no choice but to kill him in self defense. However, some of the evidence doesn’t add up, making the self defense story very unlikely. The case turns out to be even more complicated when a rookie police officer who was originally called to a scene dies on that crime scene-apparently in a tragic accident. Case 2: A woman was raped and beaten, then simply left on an abandoned field near the highway. She has no recollection of the crime and the attacker did his best not to leave any evidence, so our team needs to do their best to catch him. **Episode 3** Case 1: Three people were apparently murdered in a local High school overnight: body of a teenage girl found stuffed in a locker belonging to a student with a bad reputation (she was shot to death); gym teacher found bludgeoned to death in a gym; and a young unidentified woman found stabbed to death in the school’s garden, gun found on the ground near her body. What happened there that night? Are the deaths connected? Case 2: In 1988, serial killer serving five consecutive life sentences in a federal prison was stabbed the death. The case was never solved. Now, almost thirty years later, our team needs to reopen the case and find a killer after a new DNA evidence is found. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/63 "2014-04-17T12:43:05Z")
Here’s a wonderful idea that I’d actually really like to see: College 101. One of the big online colleges (University of Phoenix) could sponsor it and it would just be a college accredited course worth credits that would also include graded homework and tests. I think the idea of a well-produced series based on a college course would be fascinating and entertaining. Plus, it would give good publicity to a college and really ramp up their enrollment. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/64 "2014-04-17T13:49:55Z")
> [@Harg\_Fargusen](#): > > Shades of ST: TOS “The Alternative Factor.” I think Love Rhombus was referring to an episode of “Fringe” (but I could be wrong) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/65 "2014-04-17T14:52:40Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > A show about search-and-rescue dogs and their owners/handlers. The episodes could deal with things like kidnappings, runaways, natural disasters, etc. Most of the people involved in this are volunteers, a fact that could be used for interesting plot points and conflicts. Also, the training is quite rigorous - you could have episodes depicting that as well. _Lassie’s Rescue Rangers_ ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/66 "2014-04-17T19:37:21Z")
Do it all in Dog Talk\*, tho. With closed captions for us Americans. \*ruff, bark, arf, growl, snarl, drool… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/67 "2014-04-17T19:43:53Z")
Here’s something that certainly hasn’t been done: Ace McAwesome and his team of talented do-gooders pick a business each week and protect it from shoplifters, employee theft, spurious lawsuits, and unions. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/68 "2014-04-17T19:44:31Z")
“Home Movies” - not clips, like Funniest Home Videos. I mean start-to-finish home movies of birthday parties or vacations or little league games or dance recitals or gym meets or weddings or class plays. People take hours and hours of videos and no one ever watches them. Now the whole world can watch! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/69 "2014-04-17T19:53:04Z")
A Very Special After School ABC Special: Adam and Steve Meet Godzilla A May/December gay romance highlighting an awareness of endangered super lizards. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/70 "2014-04-17T20:44:19Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I had an idea shortly after I took a job that required a lot of travel. A workplace drama set at a big international airport, say JFK. There is ample room for drama: conflict between the grizzled Port Authority police chief and the inept TSA bureaucrats; a ground controller who’s been hitting the sauce, all the social interaction between the various merchants in the terminal, labor issues, and all the weirdness of eleventy-billion people passing through every day. Ooh! I like this! But do it as a comedy like Barney Miller or Night Court because there’s going to be tons of people and funny bits of stories going through an airport. Intersperse with some real drama or sober concerns, particularly if it’s an international airport. (stay off the romance of Love Boat or Hotel; while there’s a lot of romantic reunions occurring at airports, most of the drama of such relationships is off-site (or we’re dealing with porn in the restrooms, and that’s not TV-oriented). –G! ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/71 "2014-04-17T21:02:42Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Slightly derivative, but I think it would feel like a pretty different beast, but I’ve been thinking that I’d like a heist TV show that actually took the time that such an operation would take in real life. Like, if you consider The Wire compared to CSI, they show the whole process of staking someone out over the course of a full season, rather than introducing everything and resolving it in the span of a single episode, every episode. > > With the protracted heist, you would see people casing the joint, building contraptions, using scientific testing to figure out how to defeat security measures, brainstorming problems that could come up dependent on different issues that could come up while the heist is underway, committing smaller heists in preparation, to gather materials and knowledge, etc. The final episode would then have the whole thing play out and you’d get to see how everything and all their plans finally come together (or fail). They’ve made it. It was cancelled: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist\_(TV\_series)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist_(TV_series)) ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/72 "2014-04-17T21:08:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Probably not the most original, but at least a somewhat clever use of standard cliches: > > A black comedy/action/adventure type thing involving an ex spy on the run from both his former colleagues and the opposition, both of whom he screwed over majorly during his exit from the business. Although this final transaction(not to mention a few small larcenies throughout his career) has made him extremely wealthy, but he is too busy watching his back to do much with the cash. Every week he is called forth for “one last mission” by various forces and for whatever reason(blackmail, paying off old debts, favor to a friend, a situation he can’t ignore, etc.) he must accept. All the while fighting off any persuers who cross his path. > > Throughout this you also get his views on things like why Q type gadgets are more trouble than they’re worth(with humorous examples), why you just can’t kill everyone that gets too close(“dead men may tell no tales, but they do have a habit of attracting unwanted attention”), and other tried and true spy cliches. When I read this, I thought to myself, “Haha, he’s pitching Burn Notice as if it had never aired.” Then I checked the date on his post. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/73 "2014-04-17T21:10:18Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > A really evil criminal has the cops stumped. To beat him, the government has to bring in the one person who can beat him: his twin from another reality! > [@Harg\_Fargusen](#): > > Shades of ST: TOS “The Alternative Factor.” Hmm…Jet Li’s The ONE (Not very good, even for Jet Li fans) —G. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/74 "2014-04-17T21:57:13Z")
A prequel to _Barney Miller_. We could call it _How I Met Yamana_. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/75 "2014-04-17T23:08:50Z")
Does it have to be a good idea? Take boring, pointless people in mundane lives and put a reality show around them. Like, one guy would be a gamer, and for 6 hours of the day, he’d stare at a screen and click his mouse without talking to anyone. Have the show be about how normal people spend their lives. Another character could be a retired couple who sleep for most of the day and have no kids and no drama. Or, here’s a novel idea, have an actual reality show with NO scripted moments, no parts that producers insert for drama, and no creative editing to mislead viewers. I got tired of that crap after watching Heroes of Cosplay and that made up drama infesting that show. I just wanted to watch a show about making costumes and hard working fans having fun at conventions. And Yaya’s cleavage. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/76 "2014-04-18T01:04:49Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Does it have to be a good idea? > > Take boring, pointless people in mundane lives and put a reality show around them. Like, one guy would be a gamer, and for 6 hours of the day, he’d stare at a screen and click his mouse without talking to anyone. Have the show be about how normal people spend their lives. Another character could be a retired couple who sleep for most of the day and have no kids and no drama. > > Or, here’s a novel idea, have an actual reality show with NO scripted moments, no parts that producers insert for drama, and no creative editing to mislead viewers. I got tired of that crap after watching Heroes of Cosplay and that made up drama infesting that show. I just wanted to watch a show about making costumes and hard working fans having fun at conventions. And Yaya’s cleavage. Now that every show can be watched online in many different versions, I wonder if some reality show will ever be made in two versions… the “normal” version and the “raw boring footage” version. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/77 "2014-04-18T10:24:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Now that every show can be watched online in many different versions, I wonder if some reality show will ever be made in two versions… the “normal” version and the “raw boring footage” version. Big Brother sells the “live feed” of the whole season. There are websites dedicated to chronicling everything that happens on that live feed too. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/78 "2014-04-18T18:54:10Z")
1. “My Two Moms.” An ordinary sitcom with two mothers, co-parents in a lesbian relationship. Nothing groundbreaking about that except the two mums as central characters, which I don’t think has actually been done before. _awaits link refuting this_ Having the two parents both be female would change things a little, just enough to make it different, but it would also mostly be about normal family stuff. 2. “Home.” A show about living on a terraformed planet so far from Earth that there’s no contact with Earth beyond the DVDs they constantly watch (the adults like Friends and The Big Bang Theory and the kids are very confused by Sesame Street, thinking that Big Bird was real), and the fact that the progenitors were in stasis when they left 21st-century Earth so act like our compatriats would do, with all their morals and norms. The terraforming has not gone particularly well and people actually die now and then, but there is hope for the future. There are no emergency food drops and there never will be. For all they know, everyone on Earth is dead. Life is hard. Crops fail or thrive in unexpected ways - some good, some bad. The kids always wonder why their parents left Earth and sometimes their parents do too, but there’s no going back. Most of the people on the ship were scientists, farmers, people who’d be expected to do well in such an environment, but for a wildcard you could throw in a stowaway and his/her kid. They shouldn’t be unexpectedly and unrealistically more capable than all the people chosen for their capabilities, though; they’re just there to provide an audience surrogate. And they always they know that they’re the most expendable. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/79 "2014-04-18T21:39:18Z")
In the near future, Russia-or-China-or-India has 100 nuclear weapons stolen from a stockpile, which are sold on the international black market. A few months later one of them goes off in an American city, killing hundreds of thousands of people and causing billions of dollars of economic loss. In response, a constitutional amendment is passed allowing the Supreme Court to issue special warrants that bypass the Bill of Rights. The show revolves around an ultra-elite agent of a newly-formed task force charged with preventing nuclear terrorism (sort of like _True Lies_). This agent is one of only five people in the United States entrusted to be issued the Supreme Court’s carte-blanche warrants, and who report directly to the President of the United States. Every week we see him tracking down leads to the whereabouts of the other 99 nukes, and balancing the ethical dilemmas of being the ultimate bad-boy cop. I picture one scene from the pilot episode. Our Hero is grilling some suspicious character who keeps squealing about “you can’t do this to me” and finally our hero shows him a copy of the SCOTUS warrant and says: “You see this? This is a warrant signed by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It means you have no rights I don’t want to give you. It means that if I think that doing so will prevent the detonation of a nuclear weapon on American soil, I can strap you to a table and give you an icepick lobotomy!” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059/80 "2014-04-18T21:55:43Z")
UUURRRGH!! That’s “True Lies”, not “Total Recall” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-original-idea-for-a-tv-show/229059.md?page=5)