Anybody Know Why They Renamed 'Make Room For Daddy' to 'The Danny Thomas Show?'

[Brian Damage]

Anybody know why the title change?

[tv star collector]

According to Danny's autobiography, Make Room for Danny (1991):
" ... we were given a new name: The Danny Thomas Show. This came
by edict of the head honcho of CBS, William Paley. He didn't like the title
Make Room for Daddy. In fact, Paley didn't like our show altogether.
He was in Florida when Uncle Abe closed the deal with General Foods, and
Paley tried to move the show out of the schedule. But sponsors were mightier
than network presidents in those days ..."

[treky]

what I heard was they changed it because people had started to call it "THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW".

That's also why they decided to name "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" that name right off the bat-because no matter what name they gave it people would probaly call it "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" anyway.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...in the fall of 1956, while it was still on ABC. It became "THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW" primarily because of one big change in the cast- the departure of Jean Hagen. Danny was so disappointed (and angry) she had left, he literally killed off her character: "Margaret Williams" 'died' off-camera as the fourth season began, and "Danny Williams" was suddenly a widower. This led to the introduction of "Kathy" {Marjorie Lord} by mid-season, who accepted Danny's marriage proposal as the season ended. When the show moved to CBS in September 1957, Danny and Kathy were back from their honeymoon, with her daughter "Linda" {Angela Cartwright, the great scene-stealer} in tow. Perhaps Danny wanted to restore the original title after the move to CBS, but Bill Paley vetoed the idea.

It was fortunate the title remained 'THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW"- when daytime repeats of the first three CBS seasons began on NBC in the fall of 1960, the title had to be altered, so as not to confuse viewers who saw first-run episodes on Monday nights. So Danny pulled out the original "MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY" title, slapped a new title sequence on the repeats, and they appeared on NBC through 1965 (several of the original 1953-'56 ABC episodes were added to the mix towards the end), and then syndicated. The "MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY" title remains on the 1957-'61 episodes reissued to this day...

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

when daytime repeats of the first three CBS seasons began on NBC in the fall of 1960, the title had to be altered, so as not to confuse viewers who saw first-run episodes on Monday nights.

I always hated when they altered titles like that, same goes for Andy of Mayberry, Happy Days Again, etc... I find it hard to believe that the networks thought the viewers were so dense that they wouldn't be able to distinguish a first-run episode from a syndicated one.

[biffbronson]

I like to think of the series title as "Make Room for Danny." LOL. I've stolen that from others, but it seems to work...!

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

I always hated when they altered titles like that, same goes for Andy of Mayberry, Happy Days Again, etc... I find it hard to believe that the networks thought the viewers were so dense that they wouldn't be able to distinguish a first-run episode from a syndicated one.

It was done with "The Hogan Family" as well when the show went into syndication.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by ThomasE

It was done with "The Hogan Family" as well when the show went into syndication.

Many sitcom openings were altered for syndication. The early Screen Gems shows like Father Knows Best and Donna Reed were made nearly identical, for consistency, I guess, and sometimes due to sponsor entanglement. They changed the FKB syndication opener after the third season, to a newer one, since the kids were much older by then (but kept the audio from the season 1 opener...go figure). But the original third season opening was 'lost', and was not even used on the DVD issue. Burns and Allen...the syndication prints use (wit a few exceptions) one opening. I Love Lucy and the Lucy Show were altered to be the same opening...

[Jude The Obscure]

A few prints have "The Danny Thomas Show" opening rather than the standard made for syndication "Make Room..." opening. It'll be interesting to see when it does pop up in the rerun cycle.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Jude The Obscure

A few prints have "The Danny Thomas Show" opening rather than the standard made for syndication "Make Room..." opening. It'll be interesting to see when it does pop up in the rerun cycle.

It will also be interesting to see if the later seasons (the 'lost' episodes, which have to my knowledge never been syndicated) make it onto MeTV. My guess is no. I thought I read somewhere that the rights to these episodes are owned by Marjorie Lord.

[Jude The Obscure]

Originally Posted by stevea

It will also be interesting to see if the later seasons (the 'lost' episodes, which have to my knowledge never been syndicated) make it onto MeTV. My guess is no. I thought I read somewhere that the rights to these episodes are owned by Marjorie Lord.

Supposedly Nick at Nite reran the entire Majorie Lord era. When Goodlife TV reran the current SFM Entertainment package, it apparently does not include most of the final season (which are the ones Majorie are supposed to own--this makes no sense at all though). The Jean Hagen era was seen last in the NBC Daytime reruns but have never been offered to local stations in syndication. Me-TV has the SFM package.

[missy's pop pop]

Originally Posted by ThomasE

It was done with "The Hogan Family" as well when the show went into syndication.

The "Danny Thomas Show" CBS open had animated caricatures of the cast members (Danny, Majorie Lord, Sherry Jackson, Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright) dancing around the screen before the opening billboard for Post Cereals or Sanka Coffee.

I have seen the opening to at least one "Make Room for Daddy" from the 1954 season, where Danny, Jean Hagen, Sherry and Rusty get into a Dodge Royal convertible (Rusty even plays behind the steering wheel briefly before he has to "make room for Daddy" so Daddy can drive). Dodge, along with Pall Mall cigarettes, co-sponsored the early years of "MRFD."

In the case of the "Hogan Family," the change occurred during first-run production of what was originally called "Valerie." When Valerie Harper quit the show, the producers killed Valerie off in a traffic accident and replaced her with Sandy Duncan. For the second season, the show was called "Valerie's Family: The Hogans," and by the third season, "The Hogan Family" was the series' title for the rest of first-run airings, and into syndication.

[Hazel Anyday]

Rockford Files became "Jim Rockford, P.I." in syndication while the show was still on the air. After new episodes ceased the syndication name changed back to Rockford Files.

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by missy's pop pop

The "Danny Thomas Show" CBS open had animated caricatures of the cast members (Danny, Majorie Lord, Sherry Jackson, Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright) dancing around the screen before the opening billboard for Post Cereals or Sanka Coffee.

I have seen the opening to at least one "Make Room for Daddy" from the 1954 season, where Danny, Jean Hagen, Sherry and Rusty get into a Dodge Royal convertible (Rusty even plays behind the steering wheel briefly before he has to "make room for Daddy" so Daddy can drive). Dodge, along with Pall Mall cigarettes, co-sponsored the early years of "MRFD."

In the case of the "Hogan Family," the change occurred during first-run production of what was originally called "Valerie." When Valerie Harper quit the show, the producers killed Valerie off in a traffic accident and replaced her with Sandy Duncan. For the second season, the show was called "Valerie's Family: The Hogans," and by the third season, "The Hogan Family" was the series' title for the rest of first-run airings, and into syndication.

This is true. Now, I believe that there is one episode in syndication that is still titled "Valerie" from season two of the show. That is what I heard anyway.