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15 Way Different Early Drafts Of Beloved Sitcoms

Truly, the creative process is inscrutable.

15 Way Different Early Drafts Of Beloved Sitcoms

December 19, 2021

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:

13

Succession

COMEDY NERD The Succession theme was originally going to sound fairly different from what you know. One of composer Nicholas Britell's first ideas was What if we had like a weird zen bell that you just hear in the theme? but that got dropped soon. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

BoJack Horseman

COMEDY NERD Princess Carolyn from BoJack Horseman was originally going to be two characters. There was a male agent and an ex-girlfriend, and eventually they got collapsed into one person - Princess Carolyn. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

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

10

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

9

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

8

Frasier

COMEDY NERD Kelsey Grammer wasn't actually the first choice to sing the Frasier theme song. That honor was supposed to go to jazz legend Mel Tormé, but the producers demanded that Grammer sing it, and that's what ended up happening. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

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

6

Cheers

COMEDY NERD The first idea for what would become Cheers was actually to set it in a hotel. It turned out not to be realistic, though, because they'd need too many sets - but they did like the bar set, and Cheers was born from that. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

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

4

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

3

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

2

Friends

COMEDY NERD In Friends, Joey and Monica were originally supposed to be the main couple. Joey would be a total horndog who would, over time, change his ways thanks to Monica's warmth and support. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

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

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