# Two TV shows with the same premise **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011 "2007-01-29T21:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/1 "2007-01-29T21:05:20Z")
CBS is picking up a pilot for a show that’s described [like this](http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-pilotscbstwilightfoxhackett,0,3306155.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines) > [@](#): > > The pilot, set up at Warner Bros. TV, focuses on a vampire who works as a private eye and has a love jones for a mortal woman. > > Yes, we liked the show quite a bit when it was called “Angel.” What other pairs of shows sound like the same premise, especially when you write them in one sentence? For example: Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew: Independent teenage girl solves mysteries with a little help from her father. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/2 "2007-01-29T21:09:49Z")
“30 Rock” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”. Behind the scenes at a late-night live TV sketch comedy show. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/3 "2007-01-29T21:17:10Z")
Well, not only the unnamed CBS series and Angel, but Angel and Forever Knight. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/4 "2007-01-29T21:29:19Z")
The adventures of a family in suburban America: The Brady Bunch Leave It To Beaver Make Room For Daddy Ozzie and Harriet 7th Heaven ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/5 "2007-01-29T21:30:12Z")
“The somewhat loopy adventures of an ordinary guy who suddenly finds himself a Superhero.” That described **Captain Nice** and **Mr. Terrific** back in the mid-1960s, when they were simultaneously on different networks. Then it could’ve described **The Greatest American Hero** in the 1980s. Now, God help us, it might describe **Heroes** ---
**Author:** ![kurilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea5d25/32.png) [@kurilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurilla)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/6 "2007-01-29T22:11:05Z")
A couple of totally forgotten shows about a Super-Helicopter: **Airwolf** and the TV adaptation of **Blue Thunder** (which at least had Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith for comic relief) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/7 "2007-01-29T22:18:17Z")
The King of Queens and According to Jim (and lots of others): Fat Schlub married to good looking bitchy woman. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/8 "2007-01-29T22:33:46Z")
Doctors saving lives: **Ben Casey Dr. Kildare Medical Center ER Chicago Hope House, MD**. . . and Manny Moore. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/9 "2007-01-29T22:44:53Z")
Nancy Grace and Greta van Susteren\*: Chatty bimbos who take air time that could be used to report on real news to gossip about the latest sex scandal. [sub]\* Two shows which I never watch, so forgive me if I’m mischaracterizing[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/10 "2007-01-29T22:50:25Z")
What about in the mid 70s when three Animal Houses were running at the same time? There was even talk of a sorority version but the three male versions bombed terribly. OK, Ok two bombed terribly and the third sort of petered out. What about CSI? All nine or ten versions really have the same premise. I’m looking forward to CSI - Fargo though. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/11 "2007-01-29T22:52:33Z")
**Married with Children** and \*\*Unhappily Ever After \*\* always struck me as eerily similar. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/12 "2007-01-29T22:53:09Z")
> [@](#): > > The pilot, set up at Warner Bros. TV, focuses on a vampire who works as a private eye and has a love jones for a mortal woman. > > Yes, we liked the show quite a bit when it was called “Angel.” Angel, nothing, I remember when it was called Forever Knight. So he wasn’t a P.I., it was close enough. Marc ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/13 "2007-01-29T22:59:06Z")
A few years back, my husband and I were fond of a silly (but watchable) show called [Special Unit 2](http://imdb.com/title/tt0268094/). It was a rather light-hearted fantasy series in which a top secret police team battles monsters and mythological creatures. Kind of a comical take on _Night Stalker_. I tried to encourage a few friends to watch this show, and I found that most of them thought they’d already seen it. After a bit of questioning, I determined that what my friends had, in fact, seen was [The Chronicle](http://imdb.com/title/tt0242733/), whose premise was almost identical, except that the monster-fighters worked for a tabloid newspaper rather than being police officers. If these shows hadn’t appeared in the same TV season, one or both might have had a chance. As it was, they knocked each other off the air. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/14 "2007-01-29T23:10:55Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew: Independent teenage girl solves mysteries with a little help from her father. [/QUOTE] Nancy Drew was a book character for years before she became a television character. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/15 "2007-01-29T23:10:48Z")
Usually the obvious answers are all taken by the time I show up… Who could forget “The Munsters” and “The Addams Family”? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/16 "2007-01-29T23:21:59Z")
How about the TV shows **Ferris Bueller** and **Parker Lewis Can’t Lose** coming out months apart in 1990? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/17 "2007-01-30T00:20:27Z")
Mysterious young man with extraordinary mental faculties appears naked and amnesiac in the Pacific Northwest. And his show was called John Doe and then Kyle XY. The creators of Kyle XY claim that they created the show years before John Doe hit the air. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/18 "2007-01-30T00:27:24Z")
Last year Surface, Threshold and Invasion all sort of blended together. Maybe that’s why none of them finished out their freshman year. Do reality shows count? If so, Trading Spouses and Wifeswap is a pretty blatant example. And Amazing Race is a (massively) dumbed down pale imitation of the EcoChallenge. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/19 "2007-01-30T01:31:27Z")
This year’s **Kidnapped** and **Vanished** looked incredibly alike on paper. They’re both gone. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011/20 "2007-01-30T01:46:00Z")
“The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.” And hell, there’s three CSI: Crime Scene Investigation shows, and three Law & Orders. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-tv-shows-with-the-same-premise/390011.md?page=2)