ringadingding
03-13-2013, 04:37 PM
1. Doogie Howser -- Though not exactly based on a true story, this hit 1980s Hospital Drama WAS, however, based on a REAL-LIFE Person, the youngest to EVER earn his Medical Doctor degree, at age 15. Unlike the title character as played by Neil Patrick Harris, the real-life Doogie Howser (as I will refer to him) DID NOT use his Medical Degree to practice Medicine, but rather for Cancer Research (and lets face it, even if the real-life Doogie Howser DID practice Medicine at age 15, he would be, in real life, legally uninsurable at that age in the event of a Malpractice suit). Despite this fact, Doogie Howser was unique as a Hospital Drama in many ways, including being told from a teen perspective.
2. Growing Pains -- This hit 1980s sitcom was conceived in Winter 1984 and created by Neal Marlens, who based the series on a true story (his own) as a teenager 10 years earlier growing up in Long Island, New York, where his mother was a Psychiatrist and his father was Manager of the local newspaper, New York Newsday. Neal rechristened his real-life family the Seaver family, after his boyhood baseball idol Tom Seaver, and switched familial gender roles for the show, with the patriarch moving his Psychiatric practice in the home while the matriarch returned to work for the local fictional Long Island General newspaper after a 15-year absence.
3. One Day at a Time -- As we all know, earlier this month, we lost Bonnie Franklin, aged 69, after a 5-month battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Her hit 70s sitcom One Day at a Time was created by Norman Lear, who based it on the real-life story of actress Whitney Blake, whom over 2 decades earlier was a real-life single parent raising a teenage daughter of her own, Meredith (as in actress Meredith Baxter, the future star of TVs Family Ties). Norman Lear eventually hired Whitney, still alive at the time, and her then-husband Allan Mannings to write a pilot script based on the conception, with Whitney Blake rechristened Ann Romano (as played by Bonnie Franklin), who, in the series debut, files for divorce from her husband of 17 years and moves with her 2 teenage daughters, Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) and Julie (Mackenzie Phillips), though its unclear which daughter was based on Meredith Baxter. Also included in the cast during the shows 9-year run included Pat Harrington, Jr. as Building super Dwayne Schneider. In the series finale, which aired on May 28, 1984, after Bonnie Franklin decided, along with Valerie Bertinelli, to leave the show, thus ending the series 9-year run, Schneider, the only regular character to appear in the finale, receives a phone call from his Indianapolis home that his estranged brother suddenly died, and in the process, became the legal guardian of his newly-orphaned niece and nephew (the nephew of whom was played by Corey Feldman) after moving to Florida to help care for them. The finale episode served as the pilot for a proposed spin-off called Another Mans Shoes, which sadly was not picked up to a regular series.
4. The Waltons -- Earl Hamner, Jr. conceived and created the idea for this hit 1970s family drama based on his own true story of growing up as a young teenager. He rechristened the Hamner family The Waltons, and Earl-Boy, his childhood nickname, became John-Boy, as played by actor Richard Thomas.
Those 4 shows, unfortunately, are all I can think of for the moment of TV Shows Based on True Stories. Anymore shows you folks can think of based on real life, you readers please post a response to this. Thanks very much.
2. Growing Pains -- This hit 1980s sitcom was conceived in Winter 1984 and created by Neal Marlens, who based the series on a true story (his own) as a teenager 10 years earlier growing up in Long Island, New York, where his mother was a Psychiatrist and his father was Manager of the local newspaper, New York Newsday. Neal rechristened his real-life family the Seaver family, after his boyhood baseball idol Tom Seaver, and switched familial gender roles for the show, with the patriarch moving his Psychiatric practice in the home while the matriarch returned to work for the local fictional Long Island General newspaper after a 15-year absence.
3. One Day at a Time -- As we all know, earlier this month, we lost Bonnie Franklin, aged 69, after a 5-month battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Her hit 70s sitcom One Day at a Time was created by Norman Lear, who based it on the real-life story of actress Whitney Blake, whom over 2 decades earlier was a real-life single parent raising a teenage daughter of her own, Meredith (as in actress Meredith Baxter, the future star of TVs Family Ties). Norman Lear eventually hired Whitney, still alive at the time, and her then-husband Allan Mannings to write a pilot script based on the conception, with Whitney Blake rechristened Ann Romano (as played by Bonnie Franklin), who, in the series debut, files for divorce from her husband of 17 years and moves with her 2 teenage daughters, Barbara (Valerie Bertinelli) and Julie (Mackenzie Phillips), though its unclear which daughter was based on Meredith Baxter. Also included in the cast during the shows 9-year run included Pat Harrington, Jr. as Building super Dwayne Schneider. In the series finale, which aired on May 28, 1984, after Bonnie Franklin decided, along with Valerie Bertinelli, to leave the show, thus ending the series 9-year run, Schneider, the only regular character to appear in the finale, receives a phone call from his Indianapolis home that his estranged brother suddenly died, and in the process, became the legal guardian of his newly-orphaned niece and nephew (the nephew of whom was played by Corey Feldman) after moving to Florida to help care for them. The finale episode served as the pilot for a proposed spin-off called Another Mans Shoes, which sadly was not picked up to a regular series.
4. The Waltons -- Earl Hamner, Jr. conceived and created the idea for this hit 1970s family drama based on his own true story of growing up as a young teenager. He rechristened the Hamner family The Waltons, and Earl-Boy, his childhood nickname, became John-Boy, as played by actor Richard Thomas.
Those 4 shows, unfortunately, are all I can think of for the moment of TV Shows Based on True Stories. Anymore shows you folks can think of based on real life, you readers please post a response to this. Thanks very much.