# TV shows that blatantly recycle scripts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961 "2025-03-01T06:09:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/61 "2025-03-04T18:17:23Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I’ve often wondered whether it was more unlucky to be a crewman on the Enterprise or an attractive woman on the Ponderosa. I looked it up-- according to various sources ([I didn’t get my primary sources from this Reddit article, but this thread post concisely breaks down the %s](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/65ck52/redshirts_arent_likeliest_to_die_and_other_star/)): > out of 239 redshirts in TOS, 25 died, which is 10 percent. Out of 55 goldshirts, 10 died, which is 18 percent. So more redshirts died, but goldshirts were more likely to die. I wasn’t able to find quite as hard info on what percentage of total wives, girlfriends and fiancees of all Cartwright men died, but I did find [this article on Joe Cartwright’s dead girlfriends](https://deadfictionalgirlfriendsreport.com/joe-cartwright-s-dead-girlfriends-no-wonder-michael-landon-always-cried). > Joe Cartwright managed to have relationships with 45 single white ladies. > […] > Of the 45 women, 10 of them went to the Great Soundstage in the Sky within the episode in which they appeared. This is a mortality rate of 22.22% Combine Little Joe’s over 22% girlfriend death rate with his dad’s 100% wife death rate, and clearly it’s much more lethal to have been romantically involved with a Cartwright than it was to be a crewman on the Enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/62 "2025-03-04T20:38:09Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _Bonanza_ kept killing off Ben’s wives and all the sons’ girlfriends. You sure better not make friends with Jessica on _Murder She Wrote_, or you’ll either be murdered, framed for murder, or put on trial for murder. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/63 "2025-03-05T03:22:53Z")
Speaking Bonanza makes think of Michael Landon’s other show _Little House of Prairie_ and they had multiple episodes where Charles Ingalls would lose his crop and have to take another job to pay his bills. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/64 "2025-03-05T04:19:36Z")
Mark Evanier recently had a column about how DC recycled their “Dobie Gillis” comic from the early 1960s as “Windy And Willy” in 1969, with hair and fashions crudely redrawn to reflect more modern styles. The story is that the “Windy And Willy” comic was the worst-selling comic book DC ever published. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/65 "2025-03-05T04:35:47Z")
Hmm. How many beatniks were around in 1969? Besides Snapper Carr, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/66 "2025-03-05T04:39:40Z")
Damn, beat me to it! 😠 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/67 "2025-03-05T15:12:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Hmm. How many beatniks were around in 1969? All you had to do was paint granny glasses and a tie-die t shirt on one and _Voila!_ John Sebastian…or Lennon…or…but definitely not Maynard. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/68 "2025-03-05T15:47:08Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _MASH_ did an episode in Season 1 where Hawkeye and Trapper made an overzealous officer (Leslie Nielsen, in his less-famous days) think he had appendicitis, to take him out of combat. Hawkeye pulled the same trick in Season 7, but at least BJ argued with him about ethics. I remember that very clearly. It wasn’t just that BJ argued with him. It was a completely different tone. The earlier show was played just for laughs. They thought it was great and hilarious to cut the guy open. The later show was very serious. In the end Hawkeye does the surgery but is very remorseful. I remember him coming back to the Swamp and saying “It was pink and healthy and I threw it in the garbage.” I can’t help but think they purposely recycled to fix the morality. ETA I looked it up and the first episode is “White Gold” in season 3. They operate on Colonel Flagg without remorse. The other episode is “Preventive Medicine” in season 7. They operate on Colonel Lacy played by James Wainwright. Leslie Neilson was in a different episode. He was in the season 1 episode “Ring Banger” where he was a similarly gung ho officer. In that one they make him believe he’s going crazy which isn’t any better than operating. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/69 "2025-03-06T01:25:41Z")
Alan Alda and Mike Farrell, who wasn’t around in Season 3, got into a heated argument about recycling the script. Farrell said it may have seemed funny the first time around, but he was adamantly opposed to playing surgical mutilation for laughs. It suddenly dawned on them that working their argument into the story would make a far better episode than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Flightless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Flightless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flightless)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/70 "2025-03-06T01:51:18Z")
I think recycling scripts itself has been recycled as a plot. Young aspiring writer authors his first script and sends to Hollywood which’s is rejected. Somehow the young writer finds their way into the studio chiefs office who, instead of calling security, explains that the young writers script has been done a million times. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/71 "2025-03-07T15:49:02Z")
This is sort of a variation on the OP. In the second season of sci-fi show **Lexx** they broadcast two consecutive episodes ( **The Web** and **The Net** ) and both episodes are almost identical. About 90% (from my recollection) of the episodes is the exact same footage. In **The Web** the Space Ship Lexx and crew get caught in the web of a giant Space Spider but seem to escape. The changes in **The Net** make clear they never escaped. The episodes are either 1) A creative and artistic experiment or 2) A blatant way to get the episode count up with barely any extra budget being spent. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961/72 "2025-03-07T22:14:37Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _Bonanza_ kept killing off Ben’s wives and all the sons’ girlfriends. Slight Hijack: If you haven’t seen the movie _Tin Men_, I suggest you have a look. It’s a pretty good film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-blatantly-recycle-scripts/1014961.md?page=3)