Wednesday, January 18, 2006

There's Method To Their Episodic Madness

If you haven't already heard, TV Squad relayed reports about one of "Emily's Reasons Why Not." Emily's Reasons Why Not To Turn This Novel into a TV Series Starring Heather Graham Anymore.

Some shows, like "Boston Public" and "Murder One," simply number their episodes. Most shows have episode names with no common theme at all. But writers for "Emily's Reasons Why Not" entitled all five of the non-pilot eps using the same form: Why Not to _____. If ABC ever shows any of these five remaining eps, you could watch:
  • Why Not to Date Your Gynecologist
  • Why Not to Cheat on Your Best Friend
  • Why Not to Hire a Cute Assistant
  • Why Not to Loook at Bridal Magazines
  • Why Not to Date a Twin
"Emily" is not the only series to use a rigid structure for ep titles. Can you name some other series and their schticks? Don't include series that base ep names on song titles ("The Beat"), movie titles ("Grosse Pointe"), other TV series ("Love, Inc."), book titles, famous quotes, exotic locales, clever use of a single word ("Family Business") or character name ("Remington Steele"), etc. Those are all topics for another day. Just think about those series that have a structured format for their ep titles.

Here's a sample of scripted skeins (that have a majority of ep titles following a structured scheme):
  • Code Name: _________ ("Acapulco H.E.A.T.")
  • The _________ of Dr. Fu Manchu ("The Adventures of Fu Manchu")
  • Again with the _________ ("Alright Already")
  • The Tale of the _________ ("Are You Afraid of the Dark?")
  • The Guide to _________ ("The Bad Girl's Guide")
  • _________ Bob ("Bob Patterson")
  • Who Killed _________? ("Burke's Law")
  • Caroline and the _________ ("Caroline in the City")
  • The Case of the _________ ("Charlie Wild, Private Detective")
  • Operation: _________ ("Codename: Kids Next Door")
  • Valerie _________ ("The Comeback")
  • First _________ ("Commander in Chief"): 1st seven eps
  • The _________ Episode ("Committed")
  • In the Matter of: _________ ("Common Law")
  • _________ Blues ("The Corner")
  • ...and then _________ ("Cursed" a.k.a. "The Weber Show")
  • The Case of the _________ ("Cyber C.O.P.S.")
  • The People vs. _________ ("The D.A.")
  • The [food] Dana Carvey Show ("The Dana Carvey Show")
  • The _________ Story ("Dangerous Assignment")
  • Day [number] ("The Days")
  • Here's _________ ("The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd")
  • The _________ Project ("The Delphi Bureau")
  • The Big _________ ("Dragnet" 1952 version)
  • The _________ Brief ("Dundee and Culhane")
  • The _________ Show ("Dweebs")
  • The Adventure of _________ ("Ellery Queen" 1975 version)
  • Operation _________ ("Ensign O'Toole")
  • Everybody Hates _________ ("Everybody Hates Chris")
  • Re: _________ ("Executive Suite")
  • Mr. Magoo's [tale/story] ("The Fabulous Adventures of Mr. Magoo")
  • The _________ Mystery ("Father Dowling Mysteries")
  • Subject: _________ ("Freakylinks")
  • The One With/Where/After/In _________ ("Friends")
  • The _________ Affair ("The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.")
  • Day [#]: _________ ("Good Company")
  • Goode _________ ("Goode Behavior")
  • The [1st name] and [1st name] Story ("Grapevine" 1992 version)
  • [person's 1st name] ("Grapevine" 2002 version)
  • The Big _________ Episode ("Half and Half")
  • Harris Against _________ ("Harris Against the World")
  • _________ Guy ("Head Over Heels")
  • Hercules and the _________ ("Hercules" 1998 anim version)
  • Hondo and the _________ ("Hondo")
  • Honey, _________ ("Honey, I Shrunk the Kids")
  • A Girl's Gotta _________ ("Jenny")
  • Joey and the _________ ("Joey")
  • L_________ ("The L Word")
  • The [city] Story ("Lawbreaker")
  • Life…and _________ ("Life...and Stuff")
  • _________ with Fran ("Living with Fran" season 2)
  • The [location] Beat ("Madigan")
  • The Illusion of _________ ("The Magician" eps 11-21)
  • The _________ Affair ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E.")
  • The Case of the _________ ("Mark Saber")
  • [person's 1st name] ("Matt Lincoln")
  • The _________ Episode ("Maybe It's Me")
  • The _________ Syndrome ("Men in Black")
  • Millionaire [name]; The [name] Story; The Story of [name] ("The Millionaire")
  • The _________ Episode ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith")
  • Mr. Smith [verb] _________ ("Mr. Smith")
  • Mr. Monk _________ ("Monk")
  • The Word Is: _________ ("The New Land")
  • Nick Takes Over _________ ("The Nick Cannon Show")
  • [person's full name] ("Nip/Tuck")
  • Operation _________ ("O.S.S.")
  • Operation: _________ ("O'Hara, U.S. Treasury")
  • The [noun] Episode ("Opposite Sex")
  • The Case of the [adjective] [noun] ("Perry Mason")
  • The _________ Story ("Pete Kelly's Blues")
  • The [location] Story ("Police Story" 1952 version)
  • The _________ Episode ("The Preston Episodes")
  • The [color] Cover ("Public Morals")
  • The _________ Raid ("Rat Patrol")
  • My _________ ("Scrubs")
  • _________ and Them ("The Show")
  • Simon _________ ("Simon")
  • The Story of _________ ("64 Zoo Lane")
  • Question: _________ ("Slattery's People")
  • Something About _________ ("Something So Right")
  • Still _________ ("Still Standing")
  • Tarzan and _________ ("Tarzan" animated series)
  • The Case of the _________ ("The Telltale Clue")
  • Then Came _________ ("Then Came You")
  • The Time She/They _________ ("Time of Your Life")
  • Totally _________! ("Totally Circus")
  • The Day of the _________ ("The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters")
  • The Case of the _________ ("Treasury Men in Action")
  • Two Guys, a Girl and a _________ ("Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place")
  • Veronica's _________ ("Veronica's Closet")
  • The [person's name] Story ("Wagon Train")
  • The Night of the _________ ("Wild Wild West")
  • [noun/adjective] [animal] ("Wonderfalls")

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