I gotten back into watching Lovesick on Netflix. The show’s been part of their lineup for a year or two under a different name: Scrotal Recall. I can see why they changed their name; it is a clever pun that fits in perfectly with the premise (the hero discovers he has an STI and as to contact all the women he slept with to warn them), but probably very offputting. The new title refers to the same premise and actually is more appropriate.
I’ve been trying to think of other shows that changed their name. Years ago, there was The Aquanauts, which changed their name to Malibu Run after their lead actor had to quit for health reasons. But he left before the name change, which happened several episodes later.
Seinfeld was originally The Seinfeld Chronicles. There was another sitcom called The Marshall Chronicles that debuted the same season, so they changed it. I was actually watching the latter show, but it only lasted a few weeks. I don’t think I watched Seinfeld until it limped into its 3rd season.
Ellen was originally These Friends of Mine, and was changed because of Friends.
Saved by the Bell was Good Morning, Miss Bliss Two Guys and A Girl was Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place 8 Simple Rules was changed to 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter after John Ritter’s death Parker Lewis was Parker Lewis Can’t Lose
Saturday Night Live was originally called NBC’s Saturday Night due to Howard Cosell having a variety show on ABC called Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell. After Cosell’s show was cancelled, NBC purchased the rights to the name and program became known as Saturday Night Live in 1977.
You have this one a bit mixed up. The show was originally called 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenaged Daughter. After Ritter’ s death, it was changed to 8 Simple Rules.
Black Sheep Squadron was originally called Baa Baa Black Sheep, which was also the title of Pappy Boyington’s book, but not exactly recognizable as a show about combat pilots.
“Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane” was changed to just Zoe… Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 was originally had the “Bitch” in the title but was aired as just “Apartment 23” for the pilot, sort of getting its original name back after it was picked up.
The MacNeil/Lehrer Report -> The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer -> PBS NewsHour as the anchors retired. Oddly enough, in its second incarnation at least, its backdrop still had a small icon of “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” despite the name change.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force got changed to Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 because the creators felt like it; I think the show has a different title every season now because it’s an Adult Swim cartoon so why not?
Not “later” but “at the same time”. The FCC had a rule in early TV days that the syndicated show had to have a different title than the current show if it was still airing new episodes. Hence, Bonanza was Ponderosa in syndication. But once a show was canceled, the syndicated versions would go back to the original title.
There were some shows that got new titles in syndication unrelated to this. E.g., The Bob Cummings Show became Love That Bob in syndication after the show was canceled.*
More recently: The Closer -> Major Crimes. The only big change was the star character.
The costar of this show was Ann B. Davis who was in The Brady Bunch with Florence Henderson. RIP Carol.
The show with Kate Mulgrew as the wife of a Los Angeles detective who drove a Peugeot, smoked cigars and had a dog with no name was known as “Mrs Columbo”, “Kate Columbo”, “Kate the Detective” and “Kate Loves a Mystery”.
