# Can other TV series be turned into franchises like Star Trek? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290 "2007-01-24T19:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/1 "2007-01-24T19:25:45Z")
For down to earth series, there’s no need to wait for the Next Generation - just pick up the thread. Movies, of course often reprise roles, sometimes with much of the same dialog as the original. They do this switching a British series like The Office to a new cast. I think they even kept much of the scripts. So why not combine those two tricks and pick up an American TV winner and give it a new cast. Cheers, with simply new faces. Bartender still named Sam, postman named Cliff, bar regular named Norm. Maybe new scripts, but not necessarily. Friends with new twenty somethings in their first jobs, ignoring the baggage of the later years’ story lines. Or, à la CSI, Friends-Miami and Friends-Las Vegas Of course, I think Lucile Ball did this a couple of times, where she sort of picked up her old role, with just enough changes to cut out any former writers/partners. “I Love Lucy” …as Lucy Ricardo" “The Lucy Show” …as Lucy Carmichael" “Here’s Lucy” …as Lucille Carter" With Vivian Vance playing differently named sidekick characters. Any other scenarios you could suggest for redoing a past TV series? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/2 "2007-01-24T19:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] Cheers, with simply new faces. Bartender still named Sam, postman named Cliff, bar regular named Norm. Maybe new scripts, but not necessarily. [/QUOTE] Didn’t Sam permanently close the bar in the series finale? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/3 "2007-01-24T19:33:23Z")
They’ve tried this sort of thing – they had a “Bonanza – the Next Generation” and **Mrs. Columbo** , neither of which was a big success. They’ve had more luck with sitcom spinoffs, often in very long threads: **Danny Thomas \> The Andy Griffith Show \> Gomer Pyle USMC and Mayberry RFD** **All in the Family \> Maude and The Jeffersons** and a bunch others. And the whole “Happy Days” chain, and the "Mary Tyler Moore chain. Then there was the Prime Time Soaps spinoff series – **Dallas** and **Falconcrest** and that stuff. The only genre-crossing examples I can think of are **Mary Tyler Moore \> Lou Grant** and **M_A_S\*H \> Trapper John, M.D.** ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/4 "2007-01-24T19:43:08Z")
What you state in the subject heading and the content of the post don’t mesh. Star Trek doesn’t remake the series (the OS revamps airing don’t count) they make series that take place in the same universe. [QUOTE=According to Pliny] They do this switching a British series like The Office to a new cast. I think they even kept much of the scripts. [/QUOTE] For the first few episodes of the first season they did use a lot of the original scripts. Now the reason why you don’t see series straight remakes is because thanks to ssyndication and now DVD, the originals are readily available. ---
**Author:** ![Asgardking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Asgardking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asgardking)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/5 "2007-01-24T22:09:06Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] Didn’t Sam permanently close the bar in the series finale? [/QUOTE] Nope, Sam was still running the bar at the series end. Most of the other characters had moved on, but not Sam. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/6 "2007-01-24T22:16:42Z")
Seems like the show “ER” (major cast changes, but locale still the same) comes close. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/7 "2007-01-24T22:55:39Z")
No one has mentioned **Man from U.N.C.L.E.** which begat **Girl from U.N.C.L.E** and **NCIS** (well when someone was asked to discribe Ducky - They said he looked like an older Illya Kuryakin - and you know, he does) It also spun off a movie and God only knows how many toys and even a cologne if I remember correctly. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/8 "2007-01-24T23:11:49Z")
In a weird sort of way, I suppose you could argue that the Warner Westerns of the late '50s and early '60s would qualify. **Maverick, Sugerfoot, Chyenne** , and two or three others had an Old West that basically functioned as their own universe with characters that traveled within the family of shows. My favorite was Adam West who would be Doc Holiday on each of the different shows in the span of a couple of months or so. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/9 "2007-01-25T00:40:03Z")
I agree with \*\*Push You Down \*\* that the thread title and OP contents don’t mesh. That said, in my view _Cheers_ and _Frasier_ qualify to have been a franchise, albeit limited to two, but pretty much exactly like the original Star Trek, Next Generation, et al franchise. The characters inhabited the same universe, and many of the characters from _Cheers_ appeared on _Frasier_ at least once. This included: Woody Harrelson, Ted Danson, Shelley Long, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman, and of course Bebe Neuwirth several times. Explanations were given about some of the Cheers “barflies” when other characters appeared in Seattle. And if you want to go with “interlocking” series where characters are appearing on other parallel shows, the Law and Order franchise is most definitely a franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-other-tv-series-be-turned-into-franchises-like-star-trek/389290/10 "2007-01-25T04:05:52Z")
_Petticoat Junction_ and _Green Acres_ were a franchise, although GA wound up being more of a Bizzaro World viewpoint. By the end of its run _My Three Sons_ was something of a franchise with Steve, Robbie, Chip and Ernie involved in their own stories, and relatively little whole-family hijinks. And there have been a plethora of series with “The New” in their titles. Sadly, as fans from shows as varied as \*The Monkees, WKRP \* and _The Odd Couple_ discovered, lightning seldom strikes twice in the same setting.