13 Iconic Sitcoms That Almost Had Much More Bizarre Names

Man, we’re glad they went with these names. Some alternates were brutal!
13 Iconic Sitcoms That Almost Had Much More Bizarre Names

Screenwriters across the board will tell you… Coming up with the title is the hardest part. Sometimes a good title hits you right away, and you don’t have to spend hours, days, or even weeks painstakingly writing out every possibility, and hoping one jumps out at you. Then, even when you land on one, some producer will hate it, and you’ll have to go back to the drawing board. Or worse, you’ll have to take their suggestions. Gross. 

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The idea for the show itself started becoming easy to pitch, but the label… That’s how you help hawk it to the masses. What does it say about the show’s overall tone? Will this great title help draw a crowd? These are the questions mulled over in eye-rollingly boring meetings until it’s time to start filming. Actually, in the case of one very popular show, the name was changed after the first season. Here’s that and 12 other stories behind the names of your favorite sitcoms. 

Schitt’s Creek brilliantly pulled that title off. This show… Not so much.

CRACKED $#*! MY DAD SAYS Inspired by the Twitter page @ShitMyDadSays, CBS realized that marketing that word is near-impossible on network TV. The title had to be changed to $#*! My Dad Says, but everyone had to say Bleep My Dad Says.

WSJ / IMDB 

TV wasn’t ready for this title.

CRACKED APARTMENT 23 The ABC show was originally called The B**ch in Apartment 23, but that clearly didn't last long. They tried Don't Trust the В in Apartment 23, but fully retreated to Apartment 23.

EW / IMDB 

Insomnia Cafe? They weren’t in Central Park all night long!

CRACKED FRIENDS In the early 1990s, David Crane and Marta Kauffman's seven-page pitch was titled Insomnia Café. After NBC bought the pilot, they toyed with Friends Like Us, Across the Hall, and Six of One before landing on Friends.

Mental Floss

In other words… Act right!

CRACKED CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM Larry said the term curb your enthusiasm referred to his expectations of finding work post-Seinfeld, and it reminded people to keep enthusiasm curbed in their everyday lives. About enthusiasm, he said, Always keep it. To not is unattractive. It's unseemly.

Collider

It seems so right, but 30 Rock was not the first choice.

CRACKED 30 ROCK It was originally going to be called Rock Center, and Tina Fey preferred the title The Peacock, but NBC didn't want them to mock the company logo.

NBC / Vanity Fair 

We wonder if real-life Parks Department employees took offense.

CRACKED PARKS AND RECREATION Initially meant to be a spinoff of The Office, they originally called it Public Service. NBC thought it might be offensive to public service workers as a whole, but thought making fun of the Parks Department specifically was more fun and less offensive.

Cheat Sheet / NPR 

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