Shows That Rebooted with a Difference

[RadioMan203]

There was a thread before the boards went poof so I thought I'd restart it.

The discussion was about shows that rebooted and either had a different premise, location or maybe even characters.

The one I posted about was about the show Double Trouble which starred Liz and Jean Sagal, sisters of Married with Children's Katy Sagal.

The first season had the girls in school and as twins. Their father owned a dance studio which allowed the twins to show off their dancing skills. Their mom a portrayed by a pre-Home Improvement star Patricia Richardson.

The second season had the girls living in New York City with their aunt. Both times the series floundered and was cancelled for good in 1985.

 

[cd637299]

I'm hesitant to post anything here.....I typed out *a lot* on the former thread, and out it went.

Hazel----recast (for the most part) for the final season
The Lucy Show---Season 1 she had kids and lived in a different town than the other seasons
Temperatures Rising and The New Temperatures Rising Show---nearly rebooted an entire cast; still, few cared
Angie----she was a waitress in Season 1, a hairstylist in season 2
Someone brought up McHale's Navy, changing scenery from the South Pacific to italy in the final season

Frankly I'll just let the others "reboot" their posts.....they had a lot to say.....that was a good thread, and we oughta keep it going.

cd

 

[Braves2005]

How about The Doris Day Show? All 5 seasons were different.

First season: Doris lived on a farm with her kids, her father and their housekeeper. In fact, two housekeepers were in that first season, first Fran Ryan and then Naomi Stevens.

Second season: Doris worked and commuted back and forth from San Francisco and the farm. McLean Stevenson and Rose Marie joined the cast. The housekeeper was gone.

Third season: Doris moved to San Francisco in an apartment with her kids and her landlords were played by Kaye Ballard and Bernie Kopell.

Fourth season: The biggest change: Doris' kids were gone. In fact, through the rest of the series, the kids weren't mentioned at all as if it didn't happen. McLean Stevenson, Rose Marie, Kaye Ballard and Bernie Kopell were gone and enter John Dehner and Jackie Joseph and Doris became a single woman working as an assistant. Previously she had been a secretary.

Fifth season: Same as before only that Doris had a boyfriend played by Peter Lawford. I think that Dehner's character also was trying to have a relationship with Doris as well.

 

[FredLeonard]

Re: Shows That Blew Everything Up And Started Over

Actually, the Lucy Show was blown up a couple of years earlier. Lucy moved to California. Surprise, surprise, she goes to open a new bank account when she arrives and finds Gale Gordon has re-located, too. Viv stayed in Connecticut (but came to visit occasionally). The daughter was said to have gone off to college. The boy was shipped off to military school, so as not to interfere with Lucy's new single lifestyle. Now, there was a celebrity guest-star each week. Mary Jane Croft was the new best friend.

The Lucy sold Desilu (after mostly running it into the ground after Desi left) and didn't want to work there any more, so she left and started a new show at a new studio. Now she was away from Hollywood (again) and had kids (again - this time her own, not kid actors playing her kids). But technically, this wasn't the same show.

Hmm. Is Newhart a new show or a dream sequence in a blown-up Bob Newhart Show?

Re: Shows That Blew Everything Up And Started Over

They were going to blow up Maude and have her become a member of congress. Instead CBS cancelled the show.

 

[vjm]

In 19 years, "Lassie" rebooted 4 times.

1. Jeff's Collie --> Timmy and Lassie
2. Timmy and Lassie --> Ranger years
3. Ranger years --> traveling alone
4. traveling alone --> Holden Ranch

 

[Mark Giardina]

"Burke's Law" suddendly changed to "Amos Burke Secret Agent." Gene Barry went from a millionaire police captain to a spy.

 

[Mark Giardina]

McHale's Navy never should have relocated from the Pacific Ocean to Italy. The show went downhill after that and the series was cancelled.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Actually, the Lucy Show was blown up a couple of years earlier. Lucy moved to California. Surprise, surprise, she goes to open a new bank account when she arrives and finds Gale Gordon has re-located, too. Viv stayed in Connecticut (but came to visit occasionally). The daughter was said to have gone off to college. The boy was shipped off to military school, so as not to interfere with Lucy's new single lifestyle. Now, there was a celebrity guest-star each week. Mary Jane Croft was the new best friend.

The Lucy sold Desilu (after mostly running it into the ground after Desi left) and didn't want to work there any more, so she left and started a new show at a new studio. Now she was away from Hollywood (again) and had kids (again - this time her own, not kid actors playing her kids). But technically, this wasn't the same show.

What I noticed about Lucy’s later shows is that she always seemed to be looking off camera and reading cue cards.
From a number of people who worked for her or with her they stated that Lucy was a no-nonsense person. She even fired her own son Desi Junior. Luci Arnaz was groomed for her own TV show which aired for just one season (or perhaps evens less).

It's a shame that Lucy's last show on ABC was cancelled after just a few episodes. It was not the best way to end a long career.

 

[KeithE4]

Laverne & Shirley relocated from Milwaukee to LA for its final three seasons, the last one without Shirley.

 

[rnigma1]

I wouldn't say Lucy's running Desilu post-divorce was a total failure. "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible" started on her watch. Neither would have existed if Lucy hadn't given them the green light. When Paramount bought Desilu, both shows (the originals, not revivals) slipped in quality - especially "Star Trek" in season 3.
Mary Jane Croft was cast in the "Lucy Show" because her husband Elliot Lewis was an executive producer, second in command behind Lucy.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Does All In the Family and Archie Bunker's Place count as a show that was rebooted?

Archie went from working on a loading dock, yelling at Edith, Meathead, and daughter Gloria, to the owner of a bar with a different supporting cast.

 

[onairb]

Yes, and it was a gradual reboot, since Archie bought the bar during season 8 of 'AITF', and had Mike and Gloria working there occasionally(such as the episodes where the bar is robbed on Super Bowl Sunday, and the infamous one where Archie and Mike are locked in the storeroom, get drunk, and Arch tells the 'Shoe-booty' story).

Mentioned in previous versions of this thread, but 'Mannix' was another Desilu show that rebooted...because Lucy herself thought the original concept of Mannix working for a compuuterized detective agency was too confusing.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Crossing my fingers after starting the Shows That Blew Everything Up thread..."Ellen"'s first season was called "These Friends of Mine", and IIRC had a lot more side characters than in later seasons.

This one I had to look up to refresh my memory a bit..."The Naked Truth". First season had Tea Leoni's character working for a tabloid run by Tim Curry. Season 2, the tab was bought by George Wendt, who tried to turn it into a mainstream newspaper. Season 3, Leoni's character left to work for another National Enquirer-type paper.

One more Doris Day Show thought...That show may have been jinxed from Day 1 (can't believe it ran 5 years, and I forgot about Peter Lawford in the final season!) The story goes that after Doris' husband and agent, Marty Melcher, died in early 1968, she and her son, Terry Melcher (the record producer) were going through Marty's papers and found out that--surprise--He had signed her up to star in a new sitcom that fall.

 

[vjm]

Crossing my fingers after starting the Shows That Blew Everything Up thread..."Ellen"'s first season was called "These Friends of Mine", and IIRC had a lot more side characters than in later seasons.

"These Friends of Mine" was supposed to be a "Seinfeld-esque" show featuring observational humor with Jerry...err...Ellen cracking wise about life's mundane moments and interacting with her wacky friends.

Of course the show took a MAJOR U-turn when Ellen came out of the closet (both fictionally and in real life).

 

[bpatrick]

It's a wonder Ellen wasn't threatened with a lawsuit from
the producers of "Friends," given the similarity of the two
titles ("These Friends Of Mine"). She wouldn't have been
able to do what NBC did about the title of a certain weekend
late-night comedy show; the Peacock Network bought the
rights to the name "Saturday Night Live" after Howard Cosell's
ABC show with the same name folded. But in Ellen's case,
"Friends" was still very much alive and well. So whether or not
she was threatened with a lawsuit, it's just as well she changed
the title.

 

[Brother]

It's a wonder Ellen wasn't threatened with a lawsuit from
the producers of "Friends," given the similarity of the two
titles ("These Friends Of Mine"). She wouldn't have been
able to do what NBC did about the title of a certain weekend
late-night comedy show; the Peacock Network bought the
rights to the name "Saturday Night Live" after Howard Cosell's
ABC show with the same name folded. But in Ellen's case,
"Friends" was still very much alive and well. So whether or not
she was threatened with a lawsuit, it's just as well she changed
the title.

These Friends of Mine actually debuted in March 1994, six months before the debut of Friends, so one would think Ellen had one up on the Friends producers. By the time of the Friends premiere, These Friends of Mine had been rebooted under the Ellen title, so the point is moot.

 

[FredLeonard]

Crossing my fingers after starting the Shows That Blew Everything Up thread..."Ellen"'s first season was called "These Friends of Mine", and IIRC had a lot more side characters than in later seasons.

This one I had to look up to refresh my memory a bit..."The Naked Truth". First season had Tea Leoni's character working for a tabloid run by Tim Curry. Season 2, the tab was bought by George Wendt, who tried to turn it into a mainstream newspaper. Season 3, Leoni's character left to work for another National Enquirer-type paper.

One more Doris Day Show thought...That show may have been jinxed from Day 1 (can't believe it ran 5 years, and I forgot about Peter Lawford in the final season!) The story goes that after Doris' husband and agent, Marty Melcher, died in early 1968, she and her son, Terry Melcher (the record producer) were going through Marty's papers and found out that--surprise--He had signed her up to star in a new sitcom that fall.

Doris served out the contract her husband had made for her and then stopped working. Which is a shame. She might not have had many years left to play the lead in romantic comedies but she could still have a singing career today.

First, she was a young mother, as she had been in many of her 60s films. Then she became a "working girl." But after the success of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, they decided to make her a successful career woman and magazine writer - more like that character she player earlier in her best screen comedies with Clark Gable, Rock Hudson and Cary Grant.

I recall a favorite reference to the show on All In the Family:
Louise Jefferson comes to the door to borrow a cup of sugar (or some such).
Edith goes to the kitchen to fetch. Weezie stands at the door with Archie and there's a long, very awkward silence. Audience laughter builds.
Finally Archie asks, "So, how did you like the Julia Show last night?"
Weezie dead pans, "Fine. How did you like Doris Day?"

 

[70 and 80s kid]

"Powers of Matthew Starr" originally had the titular character as an alien prince trying to be a typical high school student with Louis Gossett Jr.'s character as his guardian and a H.S. teacher. One of my childhood crushes, Amy Steel, portrayed Matthew's girlfriend. Then, they rebooted it and Matthew and his guardian were secret agents and no girlfriend. Not cool!

Sherriff Lobo moved from rural Orly County to Atlanta for his second season. Also, not an improvement.

 

[cd637299]

I learned this from both Antenna TV AND I think Wiki:

"Too Close for Comfort" changed scenario totally, writing out the daughters, and leaving Ted Knight to work for a small newspaper (abandoning his cartoonist job) in a SF suburb,, w/ Pat Carroll as the boss.

However, this is a kind of "asterisk".....During the network run, the title was changed to "The Ted Knight Show", BUT, in Antenna TV's rerun package (and maybe also syndication) it retained the "Too Close..." title (which to me is a misnomer, given the plot).

cd

 

[vjm]

I learned this from both Antenna TV AND I think Wiki:

"Too Close for Comfort" changed scenario totally, writing out the daughters, and leaving Ted Knight to work for a small newspaper (abandoning his cartoonist job) in a SF suburb,, w/ Pat Carroll as the boss.

However, this is a kind of "asterisk".....During the network run, the title was changed to "The Ted Knight Show", BUT, in Antenna TV's rerun package (and maybe also syndication) it retained the "Too Close..." title (which to me is a misnomer, given the plot).

cd

Actually, TCfC continued on in weekly syndication after it was cancelled by ABC for a couple of seasons, before it was revamped into the "Ted Knight Show".

Following Knight's death, it was decided that the TKS would be reimaged into the TCfC syndication package.

Something similar was done to "3's A Crowd" (the "3's Company" spinoff) in some packages, where it was reimaged as "3's Company Too" - complete with the classic 3's Co. theme song.