It didn’t reduce the confusion that Maurice Gosfeld played the same character on both shows.
Welcome Back Kotter/ Head of the Class
This is pretty obvious, since they were inspired by the same show from overseas:
Don’t Forget the Lyrics and The Singing Bee
SuperNanny and Nanny 911
Oh sure, they tweak each show a tad to try and make them different, but they’re still the same freakin’ show (well, the pairs of them are; not all four of them together).
At the risk of getting skewered, I think the following shows are pretty much the same fundamental concept, [covers ass] in spite of having outstanding acting, scripting, cinematography, pacing, plotting, and dialogue. The formula is:
“They’re just your average, run-of-the-mill suburban American family, with 2 cars, 2.5 kids, problems with the kids, conflict, struggles, hopes and dreams just like yours, except for “X”!”
X= something totally outrageous and / or outside the average viewer’s experience, thus making it seem exotic, such as [pick one]:
- Dad is a high level mafioso
- Mom sells marijuana
- Dad manufactures meth
- They’re Mormon, and therefore bigamist
- it takes place in a stylized, 1950’s atmosphere with a lot of unstated tensions and undercurrents which are highlighted by the period-piece political/social events and mores of the time which now seem quaint/strange/hopelessly unenlightened but yet manage to be in sharp focus in every episode.
- The family runs a funeral home
- I’m sure there’s one or two I’ve missed.
So I just watched an episode of Gilligan’s island with the Attackkids.
Jack is the Professor,
Hurley is Gilligan (but with Mr. Howell’s money), Jin and Sun Kwon are the Howells (in that they are the married dyad, and Sun had money), Kate is Ginger, the seductress, and Claire is Maryanne the wholesome one. Sayid with his combat experience and general competence is the Skipper.
Ben and Desmond and the others are the natives and visitors who come to the island and cause trouble and near rescues.
If you want movies that are the same, Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai are the exact same movie. Exact. Same. Movie.
Heh, shows follow archetypal patterns, news at 11.
I don’t think it means that they are the same show. ‘Lie to Me’, fits your criteria in the OP and I don’t think it’s the same show as House even though it’s about a curmudgeonly boss who is brilliant and solves problems.
People fall into a few basic roles and Pop Culture pulls from these ideas, just as Carl Jung or his puppy Joseph Campbell.
This one is for the old-timers: 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat, and Surfside 6 were basically the same show, created by the same people, produced by the same company, and often utilizing the same actors. For the youngsters, this was the late '50s & early '60s - these shows were in black & white, so you wouldn’t be interested.
That’s why I was annoyed when they cancelled Karen Sisco. Carla Gugino played a “tough as nails older, brunette, chick cop who doesn’t take no guff from nobody!” It was nice to have an original character for a change.
You forgot to actually list any titles. 
I love how both shows totally ditched the ethical angle that was, y’know, the whole point of the seminal movie. Kinda like how Rambo went from “veteran comes back a suicidal schyzo, war is hell” to “Boom ! Ratatatata ! America, fuck yeah !” 
Except Costner doesn’t end the movie a better Indian than the *actual *Indians. Tom Cruise, on the other hand…
OK, all you pop-culture gurus: what’s Breaking Bad a copy/rip-off of?
I KNEW IT. I’ve been saying this for years and people go, ‘oh yeah, they are similar’ and I say, “no, they’re the exact same show!” I mean, Fred hollers, “WILLLLLMAAAAA!” in the exact same Jackie Gleason growl.
“Weeds”? Man of the house dies/is dying, member of middle-class white family decides to get into the drug business, drug dealing suburbanite is too close with someone who works for the D.E.A., drug dealer might be getting in over his/her head …
TLC has a bunch of shows that are clones of British shows , 1 example is What Not To Wear.
I’ve read the thread twice over and didn’t see this one, so I hope I’m not repeating!
Starsky and Hutch and CHiPs were essentially the same. Two cops of differing physical types (so we have something for ALL the ladies!) who go all out to solve/prevent crime and who always have each other’s backs. Both shows even featured one partner who was called by a shortened version of his surname (Hutch=Hutchinson/Ponch=Poncherello). And they were always doing something unorthodox that would irritate their superiors, but would be just the thing necessary to “break the case.”
And in this vein, we have Get Smart and Inspector Gadget. Gadget was even voiced by Don “Maxwell Smart” Adams.
Never heard of it. But after checking it out at IMDB… fair 'nuf.
I almost forgot–these were made into a movie called Lethal Weapon.
The voices of Fred and Barney are intentionally meant to mimic the voices of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. (A lot of Hanna-Barbera characters- particularly those voiced by Daws Butler- are meant to sound like celebrities, but in this case the Honeymooners inspiration actually makes the fact that the characters sound like celebrities sensible.)
Keeping in mind that Fred was voiced by Alan Reed, and Barney by Mel Blanc. I don’t know if Daws Butler worked on the show at all.