SHOWS WITH UNUSUAL - ODD - UNFITTING TITLES

[imhomerjay]

Yes, because the creative world would be so better off were every title to be literal. Sometimes the absurdity rises to levels one could barely imagine.

 

[LKellerIII]

What others come to mind? Still waiting for some good initial examples. .

The excellent (but canceled) "Terriers" that premiered last year on FX.

Agreed! Great show. Poor title.

 

[landtuna]

Novel or whatever, In The Heat Of The Night would be a fitting title for a show
set in muggy Savannah where folks sit on the porch and wipe the sweat or
slap mosquitoes all night. SORRY name for a book, sorry name for a show IMO.

You almost have it right. The show was set in the fictional city of Sparta, Mississippi. Sparta would probably be hotter and muggier than Savannah (if it really existed).

Compare this title to Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and you have somewhat the same meaning.

 

[Markxxx]

Let's see since I derailed this thread I'll try to get it back on track.

"Gilligan's Island" -> How will he screw us over this episode

"Betwitched" -> Who'll be replaced with whom this week

"Blossom" -> Six and Joey have great butts (depending on what sex you are I guess )

"Family Ties" -> Michael J Fox and Friends

 

[quadraphonic]

Odd is a title that does not match the actual show.
Example: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
That show does not take place at night or involve heat.

If you do not understand the way that language is used to communicate ideas, it's always going to be a struggle to not consider everything "odd." Titles are but one of many things that throw you.

 

[imhomerjay]

Titles, business 101, et al.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Let's see since I derailed this thread I'll try to get it back on track.

"Gilligan's Island" -> How will he screw us over this episode

"Betwitched" -> Who'll be replaced with whom this week

"Blossom" -> Six and Joey have great butts (depending on what sex you are I guess )

"Family Ties" -> Michael J Fox and Friends

A couple more:

"Family Matters" - > "The Urkel Show"

"Sesame Street" - > "The Elmo Show" (starting about 1998). But even before Elmo destroyed the show, it took me a long time to realize why SS was called what it was--it wasn't until my adult years that that I realized that "Sesame" in "Sesame Street" meant "open sesame" to introduce children to the "new worlds" of imagination, letters and numbers. YouTube has a rare pilot reel featuring Kermit and Rowlf (although he only appeared in one Sesame Street skit--IIRC one of the early number films) trying to come up with a title for what became "Sesame Street."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hikyUKzqyv0

Also two more very unusual titles:

--"Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" (late 90s)
--"8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" (2002-05). Did the "8 simple rules" ever get explained by John Ritter (most likely in the pilot or early in its first season, sadly the only one before Ritter left us)? If so, what were they?

 

[cd637299]

@Tim:

"Family Matters" really was intended to start out as a show about a family. According to a book about prime time TV (I forget the title), Urkel appeared for the first time in the 9th episode or thereabouts. The crew apparently hit a goldmine. I cannot imagine how long that show would last without him. And wasn't that "family" greatly reduced during the run? (IOW some characters were deemed as "not needed"?)

In Opa-locka, Florida, there really is a Sesame Street, and it has been around long before the show began, as far as I know! (Many streets in that city have Arabian names.) Your reasoning for the naming of the show makes sense.

"Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" became "Two Guys and a Girl" not long after the show began. Obviously to me, the first title was a mouthful.

I'm curious about "8 Simple Rules" myself.

cd

 

[quadraphonic]

Wasn't' the title "8 Simple Rules..." taken from a book, too?

 

[landtuna]

--"8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" (2002-05). Did the "8 simple rules" ever get explained by John Ritter (most likely in the pilot or early in its first season, sadly the only one before Ritter left us)? If so, what were they?

"8 Simple Rules" title sprung from a speech a father tells his daughter's boyfriend - about how to treat her and what happens if he doesn't. IIRC, Ritter tells a modified form of this speech in the first episode when a guy comes calling on his oldest daughter (Kaley Cuoco). For the remainder of the series you never see or hear reference to that old sop again.

One of the variations is here: http://www.smilespedia.com/10-simple-rules-for-dating-my-daughter-2/

 

[quadraphonic]

--"8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" (2002-05). Did the "8 simple rules" ever get explained by John Ritter (most likely in the pilot or early in its first season, sadly the only one before Ritter left us)? If so, what were they?

"8 Simple Rules" title sprung from a speech a father tells his daughter's boyfriend - about how to treat her and what happens if he doesn't. IIRC, Ritter tells a modified form of this speech in the first episode when a guy comes calling on his oldest daughter (Kaley Cuoco). For the remainder of the series you never see or hear reference to that old sop again.

One of the variations is here: http://www.smilespedia.com/10-simple-rules-for-dating-my-daughter-2/

Also, it was a book, as I thought.
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Rules-Dating-Teenage-Daughter/dp/0761126333

 

[firepoint525]

I never watched it, but It's Like, You Know (Jennifer Grey vehicle).

 

[cd637299]

I never watched it, but It's Like, You Know (Jennifer Grey vehicle).

Oh yessss! The quintessential "non-title"!

cd

 

[bpatrick]

IIRC, "Family Matters" started off as a sort of blue-collar version
of "The Cosby Show" and was on the bubble before Urkel's first
appearance, even with "Full House" as lead-in. Once Tom Miller
and Bob Boyett had him, it was like "Happy Days" once it built Fonzie
into the real star of the show (Miller and Boyett had worked on "Happy
Days" and realized what they had). And as you know, "Family Matters"
eventually got the lead-off slot in ABC's "TGIF" block when "Full House"
moved to Tuesdays.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

IIRC, "Family Matters" started off as a sort of blue-collar version
of "The Cosby Show" and was on the bubble before Urkel's first
appearance, even with "Full House" as lead-in. Once Tom Miller
and Bob Boyett had him, it was like "Happy Days" once it built Fonzie
into the real star of the show (Miller and Boyett had worked on "Happy
Days" and realized what they had). And as you know, "Family Matters"
eventually got the lead-off slot in ABC's "TGIF" block when "Full House"
moved to Tuesdays.

Also, the first few episodes of "Family Matters" (probably less than 5 of them) used Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" as its theme song--before changing to its familiar theme.

In addition, wasn't "Family Matters" actually a "Perfect Strangers" spinoff--wasn't the mother an elevator operator at Larry's newspaper building?

 

[justpassingthough]

IIRC, "Family Matters" started off as a sort of blue-collar version
of "The Cosby Show" and was on the bubble before Urkel's first
appearance, even with "Full House" as lead-in. Once Tom Miller
and Bob Boyett had him, it was like "Happy Days" once it built Fonzie
into the real star of the show (Miller and Boyett had worked on "Happy
Days" and realized what they had). And as you know, "Family Matters"
eventually got the lead-off slot in ABC's "TGIF" block when "Full House"
moved to Tuesdays.

Also, the first few episodes of "Family Matters" (probably less than 5 of them) used Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" as its theme song--before changing to its familiar theme.

In addition, wasn't "Family Matters" actually a "Perfect Strangers" spinoff--wasn't the mother an elevator operator at Larry's newspaper building?

"Family Matters" was a spin off of "Perfect Strangers". The mother on FM- Harriet Winslow- was the elevator operator at the Chicago newspaper that they worked at on "PS". She was only a recurring character on PS, though, and they was never any crossover between the two shows or really any mention of Larry or Balkie once "Family Matters" found its own footing.

 

[bpatrick]

The only crossover I ever remember on any of those TGIF shows
was one between "Family Matters" (which was set in Chicago) and
"Step By Step" (Port Washington, WI); Urkel once used a backpack
rocket to send himself to Port Washington and a visit to the Lambert
family, to help launch (no pun intended) the new Patrick Duffy-Suzanne
Somers show.

Back on-topic: "No Soap, Radio" also gets my vote as the weirdest
title of them all. "Monty Python's Flying Circus" comes close, especially
since there is no Monty Python, and "Dr. Who" fits in there somewhere,
especially since he's usually referred to simply as "the doctor." Perhaps,
in the last two cases, the British sense of humor escapes me. Who else
could come up with a sitcom about a tailor titled "Never Mind The Quality,
Feel The Width"?

 

[KTU_Fan]

The only crossover I ever remember on any of those TGIF shows
was one between "Family Matters" (which was set in Chicago) and
"Step By Step" (Port Washington, WI); Urkel once used a backpack
rocket to send himself to Port Washington and a visit to the Lambert
family, to help launch (no pun intended) the new Patrick Duffy-Suzanne
Somers show.

Not competently true. Didnt Urkle the jetback pack to win a contest or something?. But I think Step By Step did crossover with Boy Meets World once when all the shows went to Disney or something?