Epunymous Title: Difference between revisions

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'''Sally Sparrow:''' ''I dunno. It's [[Take That|a bit]] [[ITV]].''|''[[Doctor Who]]'', "[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S3/E10 Blink|Blink]]"}}

TV networks have an unsettling habit of giving their shows titles which rely on puns on the lead character's ~~name -- particularly~~ if the character's name reflects the premise and/or theme of the show. For example, in a TV series named ''Swift Justice'' you can pretty much bet that our hero will be named something like "Jane Justice" or "John Swift" (or, Heaven help us, Federal District Court Judge "Justice Alice Swift").

TV networks have an unsettling habit of giving their shows titles which rely on puns on the lead character's name—particularly if the character's name reflects the premise and/or theme of the show. For example, in a TV series named ''Swift Justice'' you can pretty much bet that our hero will be named something like "Jane Justice" or "John Swift" (or, Heaven help us, Federal District Court Judge "Justice Alice Swift").

This is most common in the United Kingdom, but still happens elsewhere.

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== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Goode Behavior]]'', a Sherman Helmsley vehicle from the first seasons of the [[UPN]] network. The title character was a con man named Willie B. Goode, who moves in with his estranged ~~son -- a~~ college professor and successful, honest ~~man -- after~~ making parole.

* ''[[Goode Behavior]]'', a Sherman Helmsley vehicle from the first seasons of the [[UPN]] network. The title character was a con man named Willie B. Goode, who moves in with his estranged son—a college professor and successful, honest man—after making parole.

* ''[[State Of Grace]]'', a Fox Family show about the friendship of 12-year-olds Hannah (who is Christian) and Grace (who is Jewish).

* ''[[Grace Under Fire]]'', sitcom about a woman named Grace Kelly, surviving "under fire" from the hassles of being a single mother, a recovering alcoholic and blue collar in modern America.

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* There's also Tyler Perry's ''House of Payne''.

* [[Friends|Joey]] starred in the abortive [[Robots And Detectives|buddy cop/robot show]] ''Mac & [[Fun with Acronyms|C.H.E.E.S.E.]]''. There was some [[Lampshade Hanging]] about the [[Contrived Coincidence]] of the robot's full title abbreviating so well...

* ''[[Castle]]'' has an [[In-Universe]] example. Several of Rick Castle's books in the Derek Storm series were in this pattern -- ''Gathering Storm, Storm Season, Storm Rising, Storm Warning, Storm's Break, Storm Fall'' ~~-- and~~ he plans on doing the same for his new character, Nikki Heat -- ''Heat Wave, Summer Heat, In Heat'', etc.

* ''[[Castle]]'' has an [[In-Universe]] example. Several of Rick Castle's books in the Derek Storm series were in this pattern -- ''Gathering Storm, Storm Season, Storm Rising, Storm Warning, Storm's Break, Storm Fall''—and he plans on doing the same for his new character, Nikki Heat -- ''Heat Wave, Summer Heat, In Heat'', etc.

* ''[[Hart to Hart]]'', about Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a CEO and freelance photographer, respectively. [[They Fight Crime|They solve crimes!]]

* ''[[Crossing Jordan]]''

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== Comedy ==

* Parodied by comedy duo Lee & Herring, who came up with a list of potential sitcom titles consisting of just strained puns such as ''A. Bird in the Hand'' (Anthony Bird is manager of the Hand pub), ''Anne R. in The Month'' (Anne R. is manager of The Month Pub) and by the end of the list coming up with ''There Are More Things In Heaven and Earth Than Are Ever Dreamt of in Your Philosophy'' (About how Ian Thing is joined by his relatives at the Heaven and Earth Than Are Ever Dreamt of in Your Philosophy Pub).

* In [[The Eighties]], there were two [[Double Act~~|Double Acts~~]] with "Sparrow & Nightingale" type names; [[The BBC]] had Little & Large, and [[ITV]] had Cannon & Ball.

* In [[The Eighties]], there were two [[Double Act]]s with "Sparrow & Nightingale" type names; [[The BBC]] had Little & Large, and [[ITV]] had Cannon & Ball.

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** The important word here is "Ken", which translates to "Fist".

* Arguably ''[[Darker than Black]]'', given that the name of the [[Anti-Hero]], Hei, is Chinese for "black".

* The Japanese for ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', ''Hayate No Gotoku,'' literally means ''Just Like the Hurricane!''~~--but~~, well, the hero's name is Hayate Ayasaki, and the first name [[Meaningful Name|just means that]].

* The Japanese for ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', ''Hayate No Gotoku,'' literally means ''Just Like the Hurricane!''—but, well, the hero's name is Hayate Ayasaki, and the first name [[Meaningful Name|just means that]].

* ''[[Maria Holic]]''. In this case, "Maria" refers to the Virgin Mary and therefore its Catholic girls' school setting, but sounds ''very'' similar to Mariya, the name of one of the show's central characters and [[Villainous Crossdresser]], on whom the heroine has a crush.

* The title of ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' comes from a Japanese idiom equivalent to the saying "This Way Up". When interpreted literally, it means "No Need for Tenchi" or "No Need for Heaven and Earth".