13 Iconic Sitcoms That Almost Had Much More Bizarre Names
![13 Iconic Sitcoms That Almost Had Much More Bizarre Names](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/2/898142_320x180.jpg)
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.
Glenn Howerton’s A-Ha moment.
![CRACKED 2nd My 20 - IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA Glenn Howerton heard A-Ha's song 'The Sun Always Shines on T.V.' and said, I just remember thinking, that's a good title for the show... It's Always Sunny on TV or some version of that. They toyed with that and in Hollywood before landing on Philadelphia.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/2/0/897720.jpg)
Um, Um, Raymond is a pretty bad option.
![CRACKED EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND Before landing on the Love, alternative titles were That Raymond Guy, Lucky Raymond, Nice Going, Raymond, and Um, Raymond.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/9/897719.jpg)
The Seinfeld Chronicles only got one chronicle.
![CRACKED SEINFELD In the pilot, the show was called The Seinfeld Chronicles, but due to the similarity of another show, The Marshall Chronicles, they shortened it to just Seinfeld.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/5/897715.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/0/897710.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/8/897718.jpg)
Yeah, cool, Miss Bliss. But what about your students?
![CRACKED ILI A SHOW YOUR seer! 140 141 142 143 SAVED BY THE BELL The show Good Morning, Miss Bliss aired on The Disney Channel in 1987, but her students were more interesting. NBC picked it up as a spinoff, kept Mr. Belding, Zack, Screech, and Lisa, added new characters, and called it Saved by the Bell.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/7/897717.jpg)
Ellen changed its name after the first season.
![CRACKED ELLEN Ellen DeGeneres' sitcom These Friends of Mine premiered in March of 1994, and went by that name for all of season 1. Since it was more about Ellen than everyone else, they changed it to Ellen for Season 2.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/4/897714.jpg)
Quincy Jones for the win.
![CRACKED THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Co-creator Benny Medina pitched it to Quincy Jones, but set the show in Beverly Hills. Jones asked Will Smith to star, and said, I keep tellin' Benny, man, f*** Beverly Hills. Bel-Air makes Beverly Hills look like public housin'!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/2/897712.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/6/897716.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/3/897713.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/2/1/897721.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/0/9/897709.jpg)
Another spicy title that didn’t make the cut.
![CRACKED Braze NEW GIRL Zooey Deschanel almost didn't read the script because it was originally named Chicks and Dicks. Creator Liz Meriwether said, I knew it wouldn't remain, but there's so many pilots in pilot season that it's nice to have a title that catches people's attention.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/1/1/897711.jpg)