# What TV shows do you know by another name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923 "2011-01-17T08:13:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/41 "2011-01-18T02:42:32Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > If I ever wanted to mention the show “Will & Grace” in a conversation, I would refer to it as “Jack & Karen” - and a surprising amount of people knew exactly what I meant. Exactly what it should have been called all along. It’s beyond me why they named the show after its most forgettable characters. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/42 "2011-01-18T03:59:12Z")
There used to be an exercise show called _Bodies in Motion_ on ESPN every morning. The instructor frequently used the word “buttocks,” one of my favorite words, so I started referring to it as “The Buttocks Show.” Just thought of another one that should have been obvious from my username: I sometimes call _CHiPs_ “Ponch and Jon.” ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/43 "2011-01-18T04:04:57Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > There used to be an exercise show called _Bodies in Motion_ on ESPN every morning. The instructor frequently used the word “buttocks,” one of my favorite words, so I started referring to it as “The Buttocks Show.” “Buttocks” by Gilad! I can’t believe someone else called it that! This has made my night. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/44 "2011-01-18T04:12:29Z")
I used to refer to _Full House_ as “The Talking Monkey Show”, because when the Olsen twins were little I thought they looked like baby orangutans. While my wife and step-daughter were watching the show I’d say “Hey, how’d they get that monkey to talk?” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/45 "2011-01-18T09:21:48Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > My family (and many others I’d bet) called “Home Improvement” “Tool Time”. > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I do remember as a kid I used to watch a furniture restoration show called “Furniture To Go” with my dad, except I always called it “The Funny Furniture Guys.” Both of these reminded me of “This Old House” being called the “Bob Vila Show” or “Bob Vila” for the bulk of it’s early run. ---
**Author:** ![BACI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@BACI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BACI)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/46 "2011-01-18T09:40:12Z")
We came to refer to “So You Think You Can Dance” as “So You Think You’re a Poof”, which means now all those reality shows have to include “poof” in the title ie Masterpoof, Poof Brother, etc. We are not very smart, nor do we have interesting lives… ---
**Author:** ![BACI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@BACI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BACI)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/47 "2011-01-18T10:00:11Z")
…oh, and we do it in the manner of [Guido Hatzis](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGzmGTHalM8&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/48 "2011-01-18T12:11:27Z")
The Late Late show is Craig, Big Love is Big Cheese, and Law & Order is “dunt dunt” (after that indescibable gavel-y noise). ---
**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:** [January 18, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/49 "2011-01-18T15:23:50Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I used to refer to _Full House_ as “The Talking Monkey Show”, because when the Olsen twins were little I thought they looked like baby orangutans. While my wife and step-daughter were watching the show I’d say “Hey, how’d they get that monkey to talk?” I always thought they looked like troll dolls. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/50 "2011-01-18T15:38:26Z")
I tend to use Mad Magazine-style parody titles for shows. Medium is “Tedium” for example. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/51 "2011-01-18T15:42:10Z")
I’ll second “Archie Bunker”. I don’t think my parents ever called it anything but. It was always “Archie Bunker”. But then _all_ the shows they watched were names: Maude, Rhoda, Mary Tyler Moore, The Jeffersons… “Archie Bunker” was a much more natural title. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/52 "2011-01-19T00:04:56Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > “House M.D.” was pretty much never called by it’s correct name and was shortened to just “House” almost immediately even by the network, The real name of the show is “House”. The M.D. is just part of the stylized logo. It’s like how the brackets in “Scrubs” doesn’t make the shows real name"[Scrubs]". It’s people calling it “House M.D.” that are doin it wrong. Yes, even IMDB. Anyway, any Peanuts show or special was always just “Snoopy” in our house when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/53 "2011-01-19T00:40:58Z")
Disney’s _Wonderful World of Color_ was always “Disneyland” at our house. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/54 "2011-01-19T01:00:01Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I used to refer to _Full House_ as “The Talking Monkey Show”, because when the Olsen twins were little I thought they looked like baby orangutans. [Yep.](http://www.strangezoo.com/content/item/2854.html) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/55 "2011-01-19T01:39:45Z")
A friend of mine who didn’t watch TV very often used to refer to “Friends” as “The Funny People Show”. She didn’t watch any other sitcoms, so I knew what she meant. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/56 "2011-01-19T01:57:28Z")
My family calls the Vincent D’Onofrio incarnation of L&O: Criminal Intent “the Twitchy Show”, or just “Twitchy”, after its main character, Detective Twitchy. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/57 "2011-01-19T21:56:03Z")
OK, it’s like this: In “House”, the title character once told a patient a story about his mean Dutch grandmother. The story turned out to be bogus, of course, but the Dutch part rung true (because why would he make that up?). Which got us thinking that “House” was probably a Dutch name, in which case it was probably originally pronounced something like “Heouss”. Bottom line, ever since that episode, we always refer to the show as “Heouss”, fake Dutch accent and all. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/58 "2011-01-19T22:44:03Z")
When we were kids, we always referred to “The Greatest American Hero” as “Ralph,” the name of the main character. ---
**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 19, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/59 "2011-01-19T22:46:16Z")
My husband and I loved the Bruce Campbell series “Jack of All Trades,” and we bought the DVD set so that we could love it all over again. But I always think of the show as “You Don’t Know Jack,” which was the refrain of its most excellent [theme song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VNsjjYRgjc). ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923/60 "2011-01-19T22:56:43Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > The real name of the show is “House”. The M.D. is just part of the stylized logo. It’s like how the brackets in “Scrubs” doesn’t make the shows real name"[Scrubs]". It’s people calling it “House M.D.” that are doin it wrong. Yes, even IMDB. It’s “House” now. In Season 1 it was House M.D. IMDB’s listing reflects the original title of the show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-do-you-know-by-another-name/567923.md?page=4)