ABC’s got a new sitcom debuting soon called** Mr. Sunshine**. But they also aired an unrelated sitcom called Mr. Sunshine back in the 80’s.
What are some other instances of shows that are pretty much unrelated other than sharing a title?
What doesn’t count: Reboots, revivals, remakes, reimaginings of old shows, such as Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, V, etc. or local adaptations of shows from other countries, such as The Office, Being Human, Life On Mars, etc.
What does count: If there’s just a change in spelling or punctuation, like the George Clooney NBC drama ER and the CBS George Clooney sitcom** E/R**
I remember E/R, with Elliot Gould. Totally forgot that a young George Clooney was in it.
There have been two U.S. tv shows called The Defenders, one in the early 1960s and one currently in its first season. (Pretty good, really.) Both shows are about lawyers, but different enough that I don’t think it’d be considered a remake rebooting.
Check It Out!, by the numbers, but reasonably entertaining, sitcom set in a grocery store, starring Don Adams. Check It Out!, absurdly bad supposed comedy, spun off from the ironically titled Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, starring John C Reilly.
There was also apparently a drama by that title in 2003, but I know nothing about it, and imdb’s got nothing substantial on it.
The two I listed above are both airing in Canada (on different channels), right now. It was annoying when I turned on the latter, expecting the former…now I know to look which channel it’s airing on before hitting select.
“Check It Out” is also the name of a recurring sketch about two dumb supermarket cashiers, which is part of the show-within-a-show “So Random!” in the Disney Channel show Sonny With a Chance.
That reminds me that when I first started hearing about Lost on ABC, I somehow thought they’d picked up the failed reality show from NBC (which I’d never watched) so I didn’t really pay much attention to it until one day I saw a commercial and said “hey that hobbit guy’s in it? it’s not reality shit*? maybe I should watch an ep or two when it starts”.
*not that there’s anything wrong with that
The Good Guys. A comedy about two boyhood friends who still hung out, starring Herb Edelman and a post-Gilligan Bob Denver The Good Guys. A comedy-drama cop show with a very clever non-linear storytelling technique, starring Colin Hanks and a post-West-Wing Bradley Whitford.