15 Way Different Early Drafts Of Beloved Sitcoms

By:
15 Way Different Early Drafts Of Beloved Sitcoms

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's deep-dive series on funny business. (Also, you can stay up to date with the ComedyNerd newsletter -- sign up here.)

Sometimes, early versions of beloved sitcoms are totally different from what ends up on the screen. Here are 15 examples of that:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

COMEDY NERD The gang from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were going to be actors. RUP gas The reason that got changed is that lots of TV shows about actors were popular at the time (Entourage, for example), so the setting changed to a bar. CRACKED.COM

Source

Futurama

COMEDY NERD Fry from Futurama was originally going to be called... ... uh ... Curtis, of all things. Plus, he'd also be from the future himself, and he wouldn't have been frozen for centuries at all. CRACKED.COM

Source

South Park

COMEDY NERD The original idea for South Park would basically make it similar to The X-Files. In that idea, aliens would be present in South Park more or less all the time, and there'd be an alien conspiracy angle. CRACKED.COM

Source

Homer Simpson

COMEDY NERD Homer Simpson was originally going to be revealed to be Krusty the Clown. The original idea behind Krusty the Clown was that he was Homer in disguise, but Homer still couldn't get any respect from his son, who worshipped Krusty, said Matt Groening. CRACKED.COM

Source

30 Rock

COMEDY NERD The first idea for 30 Rock was basically a lot like HBO's The Newsroom. Alec Baldwin would be the on-air host-but execs passed on that concept and told Tina Fey to write about SNL backstage life. CRACKED.COM

Source

The Office

COMEDY NERD The original plan for The Office had Jim and Pam split up in Season 9. But the people behind the show changed their minds after the audience didn't like the Brian the boom guy plot. CRACKED.COM

Source

Parks and Recreation

COMEDY NERD Parks and Recreation was actually just going to be a The Office spin-off. That was Greg Daniels and Mike Schur's initial idea, but they soon ditched it and made Parks and Rec its own thing. CRACKED.COM

Source

Seinfeld

COMEDY NERD Kramer from Seinfeld originally wasn't named Kramer-his name was Conrad. It was an allusion to Conrad Birdie from Bye Bye Birdie, and the name eventually turned into Cosmo. CRACKED.COM

Source

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

MUST READ

Forgot Password?