Still more TV theme fun. Here are some shows that changed their names…but not their themes.
Golden Girls became Golden Palace
All in the Family became Archie Bunkers Place
Valerie became Valerie’s Family and became The Hogans
Make Room for Daddy became The Danny Thomas Shows and became Make Room for Granddaddy
Dragnet became LA Dragnet
Enterprise changed to Star Trek: Enterprise
That’s true, but it was a very minor change…like THE NIGHT STALKER becoming KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. Not like THE GOLDEN GIRLS becoming THE GOLDEN PALACE or ALL IN THE FAMILY becoming ARCHIE BUNKERS PLACE.
I don’t even consider Archie Bunker’s Place and Golden Palace to be name changes. Those are spin-offs, which is supposed to be a different series altogether. Same with Good Morning Miss Bliss/Saved by the Bell.
A name change is Valerie to Hogan Family, and These Friends of Mine to Ellen, which actually are the same series with a name change.
Not much of a name change. I didn’t include shows like THE NIGHT STALKER which became KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER. I tried to find the main title sequence of KLONDIKE…which changed both its name and format to ACAPULCO. Now THAT was a change!
Why did some of them change names just to go into syndication? Two that come to mind are Lassie and Emergency!
That was common in the old days when long-running shows went into syndication while still airing “new” episodes on the networks. IRONSIDE became “The Raymond Burr Show,” GUNSMOKE became “Marshall Dillon,” BONANZA became “Ponderosa,” HAWAII FIVE-O became “McGarrett,” etc.