Characters that remind you of other characters/ shows that remind you of other shows

[um]

I will begin by saying that that Larry Storch (of F-Troop) has always reminded me of Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees. Both seemed to have the same facial expressions and gestures especially around the mouth.
Anyone think so?

Also Danny Partridge (Danny Bonaduce during the earliest episodes of The Partridge Family) reminded me of Jody (Johnny Whittaker) of Family Affair. Of course it is because of the orange hair.

Tracy Partridge (Susanne Crough) reminded me of Prudence (Kim Richards of Nanny and The Professor).

The Professor of Nanny and The Professor, reminded me of The Professor on Gilligan's Island .
Though they were not exactly alike they had a certain way of talking that was a bit similar and one reminded you of the other.

Archie Bunker reminded me of Ralph Kramden and Fred Flintstone.

Gracie Allen reminded me of Edith Bunker.

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Some child actors/characters who reminded me of each other (I might have already mentioned a few):

Pre-teen male actors: Bud Ricks (Tommy Norden)in "Flipper," and Will Robinson (Bill Mummy) in "Lost in Space," and Opie Taylor (Ron Howard) in "The Andy Griffith Show," and Danny Partridge (Danny Bonaduce) in "The Partridge Family," and Jody Davis (Johnny Whittaker) in "Family Affair."

Other young male actors:
Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin) in "Flipper", and Hal Everett (David Doremus) in "Nanny and The Professor"

Older male characters"
Fred Sanford (Red Foxx) in "Sanford and Son," and Geroge Jefferson (Sherman Helmsley) of "The Jeffersons."


Female actors/ characters:
Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) of "One Day At A Time," and Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) of "The Brady Bunch."


Male actors /characters:
Eb Dawson (Thomas Lester) of "Green Acres" and Gilligan (Bob Denver) of "Gilligan's Island," and also Gomer Pyle (Jim Neighbors) of "Gomer Pyle USMC."



Will post if I think of more.

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The chemistry between the characters of The Skipper and Gilligan is very much like that of Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton.

And of course, those are like Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and Laurel and Hardy.

[um]

Also the chemistry between Wally and Beaver in Leave It To Beaver is similar to the chemistry between Keith Partridge and Danny Partridge in the Partridge Family, also that of Greg Brady and Bobby Brady in The Brady Bunch (at least in one specific episode "Greg and Bobby's Big Bet").

Somehow comedy TV shows featuring siblings tend to get a lot of mileage from the stereotypical older brother vs younger brother scenario.

Hal and Butch of Nanny and The Professor had less conflict with each other than other older-brother and younger-brother characters, also the boys in Please Don't Eat The Dasies, but then again it seems there was less of an age difference between Hal and Butch and between all of the Nash brothers than there was between Wally and Beaver, and Greg and Bobby, and Keith and Danny.
Beaver was about 9 when Wally was about 15. Danny was about 10 when Keith was about 16. Bobby was about 9 when Greg was about 15.

[um]

I know that these two TV shows were not sitcoms, but "Flipper" and the lesser-known "Skippy" (the bush kangaroo) had a very similar set-up, a father raising his sons . In both shows, there was an older brother and a younger brother, and both series had an animal as the best friend of the youngest boy.
In both the father had a job in which he was some kind of wildlife official. In Flipper, "Porter" is a Chief Warden and Park Ranger.
In Skippy "Matt Hammond" is the Head Ranger in a National Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByob-5pPEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6PqrTZsho0

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Also speaking of TV shows featuring a father raising a son , there was The Rifleman ( not a sitcom) and there was The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
Family Affair was similar in that "Uncle Bill" was raising his his his niece and nephew.
In these TV shows the dad or uncle was presented as a very gentle loving man who was not macho or tough with his kid(s) and showed affection by kissing his child(ren) and it was significant in that a man was depicted this way.
But also it seems that widowers with children were depicted this way.

[um]

When it came to TV shows featuring an animal and "his/her human" there was "Lassie," "Gentle Ben," and I already mentioned "Flipper" and "Skippy"
None were sitcoms.
But all those have a young boy as the "friend" or owner of the animal.
There haven't been such shows featuring a young girl as friend of the animal star of the show,
not that I know of. Those animal TV series were mostly made during times when it was thought that only boys can have adventures.
The closest I can think of here was " Black Beauty" (a short lived TV series) which depicted the famous horse with a teen boy and girl as the horse's friend. In this show the teen boy and girl was being raised by their dad and a female housekeeper in the English countryside sometime during the 1800s.
And as I mentioned in the post directly before this one, there have been TV shows depicting dads raising their kids, "Black Beauty" was one though hardly remembered now.

In "Lassie " and "Gentle Ben" the boy who owns, or is best friends with his animal, is an only child but he has both parents. In "Gentle Ben" the father is a game warden in Florida's Everglades, similar to the setup in "Flipper" and "Skippy"

This post was edited from the original

[Edward216]

I think J.T. from Step By Step and Mike Seaver from Growing Pains are very similar characters. And Dana from Step By Step and Carol Seaver from Growing Pains are very similar characters.

[gidgetgrape]

Mallory Keaton from Familiy Ties and Hilary Banks from The Fresh Prince

[KurtfromPitts]

Prudence on "N&TF" was played by Kim Richards.

[um]

Originally Posted by KurtfromPitts

Prudence on "N&TF" was played by Kim Richards.

You are right. I corrected the error.

[um]

Peggy Lipton of the Mod Squad (not a sitcom), is very much like Susan Dey (The Partridge Family), in the way they look, and even some of their personal real-life backgrounds.

Though Lipton had first done some roles in TV shows such as "Bewitched," The Virginian," "The Invaders," "The Road West," and "The F.B.I." (actually similar to how David Cassidy acted in TV shows, notably Westerns, and police/crime shows before he landed his biggest role), and Susan Dey only began acting when she first played "Lori Partridge" both Peggy Lipton and Susan Dey started out as models.
Peggy Lipton reportedly tried to court Paul McCartney but he was not interested, or not enough. Susan Dey tried to court David Cassidy, but he was not interested enough.
But as far as their TV characters, both were rather "hippie-type" or "flower children" type of young women of the time ( the 60s and 70s) , but also their characters were waif like.

Peggy Lipton is now in her early 70s.

Hard to believe.

I have not heard of any acting, or movie or TV projects in which she is involved.

[um]

Also speaking of this topic, sitcoms tended to be about typical families. To name some , Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Hazel, Lucy and Desi, The Brady Bunch, Please Don't Eat The Dasies and pearhaps a few others.
These were the ones in which there was the mother, the father and children.

However there were a few TV shows that featured a single parent, and often it was a single parent caring for a one child, and it has been a certain genre to have a father caring for a young son. In such TV shows the father was presented as very caring, and a role model for his son and the son looks up to the father and the father is gentle. The Rifleman (not a sitcom) presented such a father-son relationship. So did The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Andy Griffith was a single father raising a son. Flipper and Skippy (a dolphin and a kangaroo respectively) were shows that each had a father caring for two sons.
In a bit of a different twist, Nanny and The Professor had a single father raising two boys and a girl, Family Affair had an uncle raising his niece and nephew, Diff'rent Strokes had a single man raising his daughter and adopted sons. Archie's Place had an uncle raising his niece ( actually it was his cousin since Stephanie was the daughter of Edith's cousin, not the daughter of Edith's brother, but I will have to make a different thread about that).

I never watched My Two Dads, but my best guess is that it was about a father and stepfather raising a daughter/step-daughter which is a real twist on the "single- parent-raising-a-child" scenario. I doubt it was about two gay men raising a daughter even though it was a sitcom that came about in the late 80s.
I also never watched Two And A Half Men, but I guess it was similar to My Two Dads with two men raising a young boy.
Oh, and of course, Joe And Sons. Also, Popi a short-lived sitcom after the move Popi.

The single male parent seemed to be a particular vehicle for presenting an incomplete but strong family bond. Somehow it seems that Hollywood thought that a single father best displays a person who has to take on a task (child care and raising) that is best done by a mother.

There were some TV shows that presented single mothers raising a child or children.
Julia is considered to be ground-breaking because it featured a single black woman raising a son. One Day At A Time had a single mom raising two teen daughters.
The Lucy Show had a single mom raising a boy (that I best recall).

It seems that a single mom raising daughters is the most rare parent-child scenario.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by um

I never watched My Two Dads, but my best guess is that it was about a father and stepfather raising a daughter/step-daughter which is a real twist on the "single- parent-raising-a-child" scenario. I doubt it was about two gay men raising a daughter even though it was a sitcom that came about in the late 80s.

There was a question of which one of the two dads was Nicole's biological father. Both men had been romantically involved with Nicole's mother and they were awarded joint custody after Nicole's mother died.

[um]

... Also, Bill Bixby's character in "The Coutship of Eddie's Father" reminded me very much of Robert Reed's character in "The Brady Bunch."
Not sure I mentioned this already.