‘Again’ And ‘Again’ - Same Title Words Keep Popping Up
It’s bad enough that we’re often left with the gnawing feeling that most television shows are merely tinkered versions of what we’ve seen before. With notable exceptions, we wonder if Hollywood has run out of ideas.
Now we have to wonder if television has even run out of titles.
The most glaring example is two new dramas - one for CBS, the other for ABC. Both are arguably the best new offerings for the networks.
For CBS, it is “Now and Again.”
For ABC, “Once and Again.”
You might as well add MSNBC, which will continue to air “Time & Again.”
“We simply ran out of words,” ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses joked of her industry.
Nobody is budging. Both CBS and NBC said the titles would stay.
“It’s obviously unfortunate the two shows have similar titles,” Tarses said. “We are not changing our title. It bears no resemblance to the other show at all.”
It’s not even that big a deal, Tarses said: “It is shocking … about how little title recognition people have.”
Of course, it will be difficult to have title recognition when all the titles sound the same. Consider:
There is “Family Guy” (Fox) and “Family Law” (CBS), not to be confused with “Martial Law” (CBS), which is categorically different from “Law & Order” or the new “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC).
Moving on, Fox will have the one-hour “Ally McBeal,” and the new half-hour “Ally.” Fox also airs two versions of “Cops.”
There is “The Badland” (ABC) and “Wasteland” (ABC), “Third Watch” and “Third Rock” (both NBC), and “Touched by an Angel” (CBS) and “City of Angels” (CBS, midseason), which is different, of course, from “Sex and the City” (HBO) or “Spin City” (ABC).
“Odd Man Out” (ABC) is about a lone guy in a house full of women, not to be confused with “Ladies Man” (CBS), which is about … a lone guy in a house full of women.
“Ladies Man” (which is the annual entry in the grammatically incorrect show of the year - there should be an apostrophe at the end) is also entirely different from “Ladies’ Man,” the Tim Meadows feature film in production, or “Ladies’ Man,” a 1980 CBS sitcom about … a lone guy surrounded by women.