# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/41 "2016-11-26T10:27:18Z")
_Hannitty Coombes_ became just _Hannitty_ when Alan Coombes left. _The Norm Show_ starring Norm McDonald became just _Norm_ _What’s Happening!_ brought back key cast members a few years later for _Whats Happening Now!!_ Not sure if this counts but every year on its title sequence, _Gotham_ adds a different sub-title, for instance season 2 IIRC was _Gotham: Rise of the Villains_, and this year its _Gotham: Mad City_ ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/42 "2016-11-27T14:53:39Z")
The late 1960s revival of “Dragnet” changed the year listed in the title with each new season. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/43 "2016-11-27T14:58:28Z")
News programs change all the time, e.g. “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” became “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt”. ---
**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 27, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/44 "2016-11-27T16:40:59Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Saturday Night Live was originally called NBC’s Saturday Night … A bit of trivia: It premiered the same day the Clintons got married, October 11, 1975. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/45 "2016-11-27T17:10:44Z")
_Spencer_ (with Chad Lowe in the title role) became _Under One Roof_ (with Lowe replaced by another actor, and the focus became less on Spencer and more on the people around him). _Tattinger’s_ became _Nick & Hillary_, but that one gets an asterisk as the first was an hour-long drama and the second a half-hour sitcom. Do shows that had character removals (so they’re more spinoff/sequel series, a la _Archie Bunker’s Place_) count? If so, there are some others: _Together We Stand_ became _Nothing is Easy_ when the “father figure” left the show _Second Chance_ (a dead man comes back as an angel figure to straighten out his own life when he was a teenager) got rid of the “angel” character and became _Boys Will Be Boys_ _Duet_ became _Open House_; IIRC, the main male character left the show in the switch ---
**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:** [November 27, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/46 "2016-11-27T18:44:38Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > _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. Didn’t they just rename it for syndication? I think during the original run it kept its original name. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/47 "2016-11-27T19:03:11Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Similarly Happy Days was called Happy Days Again and Laverne and Shirley was Laverne and Shirley and Company. Also Emergency One and CHIPS Patrol. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/48 "2016-11-28T22:54:19Z")
Quite a few British shows aired in different countries under different names. Patrick McGoohan’s 1960s Danger Man aired as Secret Agent in the USA and Destination Danger and John Drake in other English-speaking countries. But kept Danger Man in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/49 "2016-11-28T23:10:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Quite a few British shows aired in different countries under different names. Patrick McGoohan’s 1960s Danger Man aired as Secret Agent in the USA and Destination Danger and John Drake in other English-speaking countries. But kept Danger Man in Canada. _Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)_ became _My Partner, the Ghost_ in the US; _The Good Life_ became _The Good Neighbors_; and I’ve heard that the show aired in the US as _Are You Being Served?_ was originally titled _Grace and Favor_ in the UK, though I recently met a Brit who told me that isn’t so, he’s always known it as _Are You Being Served?_ (I wondered if he was pulling my leg.) The short-lived American program _Nobody’s Perfect_ was renamed from _Hart in San Francisco_ to avoid confusion with _Hart to Hart_, which debuted around the same time. Curiously, it was rerun in the UK as _Hart of the Yard_, because there was an existing sitcom called _Nobody’s Perfect_. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/50 "2016-11-28T23:17:23Z")
_Too Close For Comfort_ was renamed to _The Ted Knight Show_ when the two daughters left the show, but it was named back again when the episodes were packaged for syndication. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/51 "2016-11-28T23:24:27Z")
_She-Wolf of London,_ a syndicated horror-comedy series, became _Love And Curses_ when the principals moved to L.A. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/52 "2016-11-28T23:27:25Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > … and I’ve heard that the show aired in the US as _Are You Being Served?_ was originally titled _Grace and Favor_ in the UK, though I recently met a Brit who told me that isn’t so, he’s always known it as _Are You Being Served?_ _Grace and Favour_ was a spinoff series from _Are You Being Served?_. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/53 "2016-11-28T23:28:18Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > _Yes Minister_ got changed after the title character’s promotion. I would argue it was more of a spinoff, with most of the same characters. Since the “minister” was now PM, the plot lines had to be correspondingly different. If one allows spinoffs and sequels as name changes, then the excellent British miniseries “House of Cards” transmuted into “To Play the King” and “The Final Cut” – all fantastic television, BTW, which for some reason I prefer to the Netflix adaptation. Here’s a twist: a TV show that didn’t change its name, but changed its theme. From what I’ve seen of the early “Father Knows Best”, throughout more or less the first season the title was meant to be ironic, as father basically didn’t seem to know a damn thing and made judgments that turned out to be foolish. It was only beginning around the second season that father suddenly became a man of faultless wisdom and the title acquired a literal meaning, and the thing turned into a kind of morality play and glorification of the idealized 1950s American family. ---
**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 28, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/54 "2016-11-28T23:44:20Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Quite a few British shows aired in different countries under different names. Patrick McGoohan’s 1960s Danger Man aired as Secret Agent in the USA and Destination Danger and John Drake in other English-speaking countries. But kept Danger Man in Canada. And the theme from _Secret Agent_, “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers, became a #3 hit in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/55 "2016-11-28T23:52:50Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I’ve heard that the show aired in the US as _Are You Being Served?_ was originally titled _Grace and Favor_ in the UK, though I recently met a Brit who told me that isn’t so, he’s always known it as _Are You Being Served?_ (I wondered if he was pulling my leg.) Its sequel _was_ Grace & Favour, renamed _Are You Being Served? Again!_ for America. (I was partial to The Good Life name when I found out about it because it spoke more to the “back to the land” spirit of the show.) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/56 "2016-11-29T00:25:17Z")
The lines between “new series” and “new name” sometimes get blurred, particularly in retrospect when the DVD releases re-join the differently named shows back under the same umbrella. For instance, the _Batman: The Animated Series_ DVD set combines _Batman: The Animated Series_, _The Adventures of Batman and Robin_ (re-tooled to feature team stories rather than mostly solo Batman stories), and _The New Batman Adventures_ (art style reworked and setting time-skipped a few years forward, with Tim Drake as Robin, Dick Grayson as Nightwing, and Batgirl appearing much more frequently). ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/57 "2016-11-29T00:35:18Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Also Emergency One and CHIPS Patrol. And _What’s Happening Now!_ ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/58 "2016-12-01T02:30:13Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > And _What’s Happening Now!_ What’s Happening Now! was a[revival series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_Happening_Now!!), not renamed reruns (heh). (it was also previously mentioned in post 14) ---
**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:** [December 1, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/59 "2016-12-01T17:22:13Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > _The Good Life_ became _The Good Neighbors_. Just _ **Good Neighbors** _, without the article. I believe they had to change the name on that one because there had been another series called _ **The Good Life** _ on US TV several years earlier. It starred Larry Hagman, Donna Mills, and David Wayne, all of whom went on to work in _ **Dallas** _. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944/60 "2016-12-02T00:58:25Z")
_It’s a Living,_ primarily known for Anne Jillian, was renamed _Making A Living_ after its first season and then became _It’s A Living_ when it went into first-run syndication. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-their-names/772944.md?page=4)