Shows Named After the Character not the Actor

You knew this was coming after this thread.

I thought that character-named shows would be a lot less common than shows named famous actors, but a bit of research tells me that’s not true.

Dennis the Menace
Gidget
Hogan’s Heroes
The Munsters
The Monkees
Batman
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Mork and Mindy

Leave it to Beaver

Frasier
Joey

The New Adventures of Old Christine
Superman
Lois & Clark
Dharma & Greg
Bridget Loves Bernie

The Simpsons

Mannix
Hart to Hart
McGyver
Starsky & Hutch
The Jeffersons
Perry Mason
McCloud
Magnum, P.I.
The Partridge Family
Ironside
Quincy, M.E.

(I’m sure you’ll never guess when I grew up. ;))

Crossing Jordan
Judging Amy

Chuck
Benson
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Punky Brewster
Alf
The Partridge Family
The Brady Bunch
Amos and Andy
The Beverly Hillbillies
Malcolm in the Middle
The Life of Riley

House
Bones
Buffy TVS
Angel
Monk
Trapper John M.D.
Quincy
The Dukes of Hazzard
Caroline in the City
Archie Bunker’s Place
Gomer Pyle
Gilligan’s Island

Roseanne
Seinfeld
Sanford & Son
Simon & Simon
Hart to Hart
Magnum PI
The Simpsons

Hank
Arnie
George and Leo
Our Miss Brooks
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
Rango
Gilligan’s Island
Dusty’s Trail
Bronco
Sugarfoot
Cheyenne
Maverick
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Bat Masterson
The Virginian (AFAIK, he didn’t have another name)
The Guns of Will Sonnett
The Travels of Jaime McPheeters
Alias Smith and Jones

Dr. Kildare
Ben Casey

Doogie Howser, M.D.
Gray’s Anatomy
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Marcus Welby, M.D

The Rockford Files.

Columbo
Mrs. Columbo
The Patridge Family

Rhoda
Phyllis
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Delvecchio
Harry O

Hec Ramsey
Amy Prentiss
Owen Marshall
Chico and the Man
Magruder and Loud
Holmes and Yoyo
Bat Masterson
BJ and the Bear
Sheriff Lobo
Eischied
Hope and Faith

The OP mentioned Mork & Mindy, but not Laverne & Shirley?

Since The Mary Tyler Moore Show was brought up in the previous thread, we need to recognize:
Rhoda
Phyllis
Lou Grant

Others I don’t think I saw upthread:
Enos
Matt Houston
Lobo
Archie Bunker’s Place
and arguably Wild Wild West

It seems from reading the thread that spin-offs are frequently named for the characters they spin off. That makes a lot of sense, since someone browsing the TV Guide might not know that Just the 10 of Us features the Coach from Growing Pains they always laughed at, but even if you hadn’t heard anything about Rhoda or Frasier getting their own show, when you see the listing it’s obvious what’s happened.

–Cliffy

Jeeves & Wooster
Poirot
I, Claudius
And a lot of other British shows they brought over for Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery.

–Cliffy

I left that as an exercise for the reader. :slight_smile:

Looking back, I find it interesting that in the earliest days almost every show was named either for the character or the actor.

From 1949-50, the first season with long-running sitcoms I find:

The Aldrich Family
The Life of Riley
Lum and Abner
Wesley

There was also Heavens to Betsy, a title they loved so much that they gave it to another unrelated show in 1952, Heaven for Betsy, starrring Jack Lemmon. And that was his second second lead role.

Also Best of The West