# TV Shows that changed their names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 25, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944 "2016-11-25T02:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/21 "2016-11-25T15:45:40Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > _Yes Minister_ got changed after the title character’s promotion. Conversely when the same thing happened on \*\*Veep \*\* the title remained the same. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/22 "2016-11-25T15:53:18Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > **Saved by the Bell** was **Good Morning, Miss Bliss** These were actually two separate shows. The earlier _Good Morning, Miss Bliss_ was set in Indiana and was cancelled after 13 episodes. NBC rebooted the show, using the same actors and characters (minus Miss Bliss), re-located it to SoCal, and named it _Save by the Bell_. Only after the latter became a hit did they re-incorporate the earlier series into the _SbtB_ broadcast rotation, with an awkward tacked-on intro by Mark-Paul Gosselaar to hand-wave away any of the significant continuity issues between the two series. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/23 "2016-11-25T16:10:40Z")
After three seasons as **Make Room for Daddy** , Danny Thomas’s show was retitled **The Danny Thomas Show**. In its fourth and final season, **The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis** was billed as **Max Shulman’s Dobie Gillis**. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/24 "2016-11-25T16:25:55Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Should _Archie Bunker’s Place_ be considered a spin-off of _All In the Family_ or is it a continuation of the same show with a name change? Were it allowed I’d count it undr a distinct “sequel” alternative, but I think in TV direct sequels are still classed as spin-offs. A next chapter in the core character’s life (heck, Edith lived through the first season!) but with significant change in many of the premises, situations and character developments. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/25 "2016-11-25T16:30:27Z")
The British sit com ‘happy ever after’ ran for 5 years before the main writer decided it had run its course. The BBC didn’t want it to end, so they changed the character surnames and relaunched essentially the same show, now called ‘terry and June’. It ran for a further 8 years and really proved the writer was right! ---
**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:** [November 25, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/26 "2016-11-25T17:13:51Z")
_ **NCIS** _ was originally titled (somewhat redundantly) _ **NAVY NCIS** _ at the network’s insistence, apparently because they were afraid people would confuse it with _ **CSI** _. The \*\*\*NAVY \*\*\*prefix was terminated after, IIRC, the first year, once the show had established itself. The prefix was, however, so subtly done in the titles I suspect few people paid much attention to it. (I never did.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/27 "2016-11-25T17:22:00Z")
Some of the Lucille Ball shows were basically the same show done over. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/28 "2016-11-25T18:34:47Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > 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. Similarly Happy Days was called Happy Days Again and Laverne and Shirley was Laverne and Shirley and Company. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/29 "2016-11-26T02:39:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Some of the Lucille Ball shows were basically the same show done over. \*\*ALL \*\*of the Lucille Ball shows were basically the same show done over. The only thing missing from the post-_ **I Love Lucy** _ versions was her husband! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/30 "2016-11-26T02:40:27Z")
Still the Beaver was a successful reunion movie of Leave it to Beaver. Successful enough that the Disney Channel picked it up for a few seasons, also titled Still the Beaver. When Disney dropped the series and TBS picked it up for a few more seasons, it was retitled the New Leave it to Beaver, and that’s also the title it aired as in syndicated reruns. Spooks was a British spy show. In America it was renamed MI6, supposedly due to spook being a racial slur, albeit one no one’s used in decades outside of Back to the Future. Apparently in some markets, reruns of the Andy Griffith Show were renamed Andy of Mayberry, but not in any place I’ve seen it personally. I don’t know if this was more of a Happy Days Again same time thing or something else. Live with Regis and Kathie Lee has had something like a half dozen name changes to become Live with Kelly. Apparently it’s original title (as a national show, it had regional predecessors) was actually The Morning Show ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/31 "2016-11-26T02:42:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*\*ALL \*\*of the Lucille Ball shows were basically the same show done over. The only thing missing from the post-_ **I Love Lucy** _ versions was her husband! He was still in the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour, which was essentially a continuation of I Love Lucy with a new name and tweaked format. In syndication it’s sometimes run under the name We Love Lucy. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/32 "2016-11-26T03:03:54Z")
Sitcom These Friends of Mine became Ellen after season 1, I think. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/33 "2016-11-26T03:20:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Sitcom These Friends of Mine became Ellen after season 1, I think. Post #4. > [@epbrown01](#): > > **Ellen** was originally **These Friends of Mine** , and was changed because of **Friends**. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/34 "2016-11-26T03:52:57Z")
There was a sit-com in Australia based around High School students from 1974 called…Class of 74. When the second season began, it was 1975, so they called it…guess. Even recorded new words for the theme tune. (Well, two new words). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/35 "2016-11-26T04:00:55Z")
The series [James at 15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_at_15) became _James at 16_ in the middle of its only season when the title character had a birthday. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/36 "2016-11-26T04:27:19Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > These were actually two separate shows. The earlier _Good Morning, Miss Bliss_ was set in Indiana and was cancelled after 13 episodes. NBC rebooted the show, using the same actors and characters (minus Miss Bliss), re-located it to SoCal, and named it _Save by the Bell_. > > Only after the latter became a hit did they re-incorporate the earlier series into the _SbtB_ broadcast rotation, with an awkward tacked-on intro by Mark-Paul Gosselaar to hand-wave away any of the significant continuity issues between the two series. Tomato, tomato. Since they treat it as the same continuity, I say it counts. No one even thinks of the show as “Good Morning Miss Bliss” anymore–it’s just the first season of Saved By the Bell. And what continuity errors? Can’t a principal and three of his students all move to California, with all of them pretending not to be new? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/37 "2016-11-26T06:14:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*\*ALL \*\*of the Lucille Ball shows were basically the same show done over. The only thing missing from the post-_ **I Love Lucy** _ versions was her husband! I lump together all the ones after the pilot. Sure Vivian Vance was in the others too, but it wasn’t until the appearance of Gale Gordon that they all seemed the same. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/38 "2016-11-26T07:21:54Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I lump together all the ones after the pilot. Sure Vivian Vance was in the others too, but it wasn’t until the appearance of Gale Gordon that they all seemed the same. Gale Gordon appeared in every iteration of _ **Lucy** _ prior to becoming her boss/uncle/whatever. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2016, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/39 "2016-11-26T07:23:59Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > There was a sit-com in Australia based around High School students from 1974 called…Class of 74. > > When the second season began, it was 1975, so they called it…guess. > > Even recorded new words for the theme tune. (Well, two new words). Just like _ **Match Game** _ became _ **Match Game '73** _ when it was revived, and got an upgrade every year thereafter it was on the network. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/40 "2016-11-26T07:26:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Gale Gordon appeared in every iteration of _ **Lucy** _ prior to becoming her boss/uncle/whatever. I still don’t think Lucy attained Sameness until he became Mr. Mooney. There’s still quite a difference between the original show and the later ones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944.md?page=3)