Name TV shows that were direct or cheap rip offs of another show.

Webster was clearly a rip-off of Diff'rent Strokes.

mullaney is a complete ripoff of seinfeld

I Dream Of Jeannie and Bewitched were pretty similar shows.
The Wonder Years and Boy Meets World are also pretty similar.
Hangin' With Mr. Cooper started out as a Three's Company ripoff and then took a turn to be more like Full House.

2 GUYS, A GIRL & A PIZZA PLACE or whatever it was called was a rip-off of SIENFELD.

BEWITCHED was a rip-off of I DREAM OF JEANNIE. Ironically the 2 shows were filmed down the hall from each other. Also, I think I read somewhere that Elizabeth Montgomery didn't like IDOJ since it was a copy.
MY FAVORITE MATIAN was somewhat a copy of it too.

I guess the Adams Family and the Munsters could be rip offs of each other? Not sure which one came first? They were on around the same time ! I preferred the Munsters over the Adams family!

I think THE MUNSTERS came first

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I think THE MUNSTERS came first

The Addams Family premiered on September 18, 1964 and The Munsters premiered on September 24, 1964

I guess the Adams Family and the Munsters could be rip offs of each other? Not sure which one came first? They were on around the same time ! I preferred the Munsters over the Adams family!

Bonnie, your Flintstones photo reminded me of another great example. The Flintstones was intended to be a rip-off of The Honeymooners. Jackie Gleason even wanted to sue Hanna-Barbera because of how similar both shows were. He later reconsidered and decided against it.

yea, his lawyer said "Do you really want to be known as someone who tried to destroy a show that's loved by lots of kids and adults?"

"Unhappily Ever After" basically takes up the key ingredients of "Married... With Children". Liked both shows anyway.
"How I Met Your Mother" has "Friends" written all over it.

These are the only 'classic' sitcoms I can come up with.
Also, in the last years there were so many rip-offs that is even difficult to name them all (alle the 'Lost' rip-offs, all the 'House' rip-offs... and so on).

yea, his lawyer said "Do you really want to be known as someone who tried to destroy a show that's loved by lots of kids and adults?"


LOL!! Glad he reconsidered. I wonder what Jackie thought about Fred? Probably something like this! "So that is a caveman version of myself?" :eek: :mad: :D

If Samantha amd Jennie got into a fight, whose superpowers would prevail?

I was more thinking about when a genre of a TV show takes off, everyone wants to cash in. For example, when "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" became a hit, NBC and CBS tried their own shows, 21 and Winning Lines, which both failed.

Police and Detective shows have been around since the advent of television, so how many scripts get recycled? Is every Law and Order series episode something totally original, then Wolf (love the name Dick Wolf by the way, I couldn't go through life with that moniker) makes episodes from recent events.

No one has brought up The Twillight Zone vs. The Outer Limits. Don't know e story about that. I wish Rod Serling would have lived longer, those cigarettes killed the man dead.

I have recently watched both The Munsters and Addams Famly and liked both as a child, but not like so much now. Tastes change over time.

If Samantha amd Jennie got into a fight, whose superpowers would prevail?
That would be tough. It could be a tie.

I was more thinking about when a genre of a TV show takes off, everyone wants to cash in. For example, when "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" became a hit, NBC and CBS tried their own shows, 21 and Winning Lines, which both failed.

Police and Detective shows have been around since the advent of television, so how many scripts get recycled? Is every Law and Order series episode something totally original, then Wolf (love the name Dick Wolf by the way, I couldn't go through life with that moniker) makes episodes from recent events.

No one has brought up The Twillight Zone vs. The Outer Limits. Don't know e story about that. I wish Rod Serling would have lived longer, those cigarettes killed the man dead.

I have recently watched both The Munsters and Addams Famly and liked both as a child, but not like so much now. Tastes change over time.

LOL. I have to admit, I chuckle when I hear the name Dick Wolf! :lol:

I always thought that growing pains was rip off family ties.

I guess the Adams Family and the Munsters could be rip offs of each other? Not sure which one came first? They were on around the same time ! I preferred the Munsters over the Adams family!

I wouldn't say these were rip-offs. "The Addams Family" was based on the 1938 New Yorker comics and "The Munsters" was inspired by the Universal monster movies.

I believe they were being developed for TV around the same time.

Some tried to launch "the new Sex and the City" by featuring professional women getting together and talking about "female problems" like failed romances.

Two that come to mind are "Hot Properties" (2005) and "Cashmere Mafia" (2008).



The success of "Lost" also had others trying to launch the next heavily-based mythology-science fiction hit.

Some of those are "Invasion" (2005), "Surface" (2005-06), "Threshold" (2005-06) and "The Nine" (2006).

The success of Star Trek: The Next Generation spawned shows like Space Precinct, Earth 2, SeaQuest 2032, E.A.R.T.H. Force ...

Hercules and Xena inspired shortlived versions of Conan, The Adventures of Sinbad, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, BeastMaster ...

I always thought the WB sitcom The Parent Hood was a Cosby Show ripoff wannabe.

One of the more notorious cases of ripping of a TV Series occurred in the first season of Charlies Angels. An episode called To Kill an Angel was a remake of an episode from The Mod Squad called Cricket. People called and complained to the TV Station and/or the network, which actually DENIED any connection between these two series (Even though BOTH series had the same producers). :confused:

BEWITCHED was a rip-off of I DREAM OF JEANNIE. Ironically the 2 shows were filmed down the hall from each other. Also, I think I read somewhere that Elizabeth Montgomery didn't like IDOJ since it was a copy.
MY FAVORITE MATIAN was somewhat a copy of it too.

How could Bewitched be a ripoff of I Dream of Jeannie when Bewitched came first? :crazy:

Law Order is a copy of Arrest and Trial

Night Court is a copy of Sirota's Court

Charlie & Company is a copy of The Cosby Show

To Rome With Love is My Three Sons with girls instead of boys.

Dusty's Trail is Gilligan's Island in the old west.

There are dozens more if I took time to think about it.

Lots of series ripped-off The Fugitive (which itself partly ripped-off Les Miserables), in one way or another. Some, off the top of my head, would include:

Branded
Run for Your Life
Run, Buddy, Run
The Invaders
The Immortal
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
Logan's Run
Lucan
The Incredible Hulk

The western Lawman is a knockoff of Gunsmoke,still a good show if you like westerns.In the mid 1980s or so they had a Candid Camera knockoff,I forget what it was called though.It was pretty good but not as good as the 1950s-70s versions of Candid Camera.

The western Lawman is a knockoff of Gunsmoke,still a good show if you like westerns.In the mid 1980s or so they had a Candid Camera knockoff,I forget what it was called though.It was pretty good but not as good as the 1950s-70s versions of Candid Camera.
ther was another show that was a knock-off of CANDID CAMERA about 9 or 10 years ago, I forget what it was called but it was on WB (before they became CW)

Some tried to launch "the new Sex and the City" by featuring professional women getting together and talking about "female problems" like failed romances.

Two that come to mind are "Hot Properties" (2005) and "Cashmere Mafia" (2008).



The success of "Lost" also had others trying to launch the next heavily-based mythology-science fiction hit.

Some of those are "Invasion" (2005), "Surface" (2005-06), "Threshold" (2005-06) and "The Nine" (2006).

I'd say that "Fast Forward" and "The Event" were more direct rip offs of "Lost", honestly. But yeah, definitely "The Nine", too. Probably "Revolution", too.

"Wait Til Your Father Gets Home" (animated) was a complete rip off of "All in the Family" (it wasn't bad, though)

It could be argued that "Lotsa Luck" and "The Paul Lynde Show" were also AITF rip offs.

The New Odd Couple was a rip off of the original ODD Couple they even used old scripts from the original.

The New Odd Couple was a rip off of the original ODD Couple they even used old scripts from the original.

They were actually forced to do that because of a writers' strike at the time.

If Samantha amd Jennie got into a fight, whose superpowers would prevail?
Well, if Samantha struck first and zapped Jeannie into a corked bottle, she would not be able to do anything until released... :p

They were actually forced to do that because of a writers' strike at the time.
yea, I remember reading that somewhere at the time.

Hercules and Xena inspired shortlived versions of Conan, The Adventures of Sinbad, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, BeastMaster ...

To be fair, a few of the inspirations did all right. Beast master lasted three seasons, so did a favorite of mine...Sir Arthur Conan Doyles's The Lost World.


There was also Roar with Heath Ledger. One season.

Relic Hunter....a Tomb Raider ripoff. :)

"Wait Til Your Father Gets Home" (animated) was a complete rip off of "All in the Family" (it wasn't bad, though)

It could be argued that "Lotsa Luck" and "The Paul Lynde Show" were also AITF rip offs.

I knew PAUL LYNDE......

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608014318420953829&pid=15.1&P=0

and believe me...... he was no ARCHIE BUNKER!

To be fair, a few of the inspirations did all right. Beast master lasted three seasons, so did a favorite of mine...Sir Arthur Conan Doyles's The Lost World.


There was also Roar with Heath Ledger. One season.

Relic Hunter....a Tomb Raider ripoff. :)

Wasn't knocking them. I watched all of them when they were on.

NBC launched their own UFO show, "Dark Skies", after "The X-Files'" success on Fox. It only lasted a season.

Sullivan and Sons was so much like Cheers .....

2 GUYS, A GIRL & A PIZZA PLACE or whatever it was called was a rip-off of SIENFELD.


how so? It had totally different tones, concepts and Seinfeld was far more sarcastic/snarky than 2 guys was.

I knew PAUL LYNDE......

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608014318420953829&pid=15.1&P=0

and believe me...... he was no ARCHIE BUNKER!
You got that right.

how so? It had totally different tones, concepts and Seinfeld was far more sarcastic/snarky than 2 guys was.
I don't know, I never watched it but I remember reading somewhere once that it was.

wasn't there some Saturday morning cartoon show in the 70s that was based on ALL IN THE FAMILY except it was about a family of dogs?

NBC had a short-lived show in the 90s called SEAQUEST D.S.V. that was a rip-off of STAR TREK and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

"The War at Home" was a blatant rip-off of "Married With Children."

i also thought growing pains was ripping off family ties .

others:
Sanford and son - Chico and the man
i dream of Jennie-bewitched
the munsters - Adams family
family ties -growing pains
brandy bunch - step by step
- Denison the menace -leave it to beaver