Five Other Shows That Should Change Their Titles

As Andrew told you the other day, 'Cougar Town' creator Bill Lawrence and ABC are considering changing the title of the show to something, well, better. Something that reflects that it's now an ensemble show about friends and not just a show about a fortysomething hooking up with guys half her age. My question is, didn't they know it was a bad title to begin with? One that turned a lot of people off from even watching the show? It seemed cheesy, something just captializing on a trendy word.

So I'm glad they're changing it. This isn't unprecedented. 'Valerie' changed its title to 'The Hogan Family' when Valerie Harper left, 'James at 15' changed to 'James at 16' when the character got older, and the sitcom 'It's A Living' changed to 'Making A Living.' Maybe they can do this for other shows that have either changed their focus or have changed in other ways. Here are my five suggestions.

1. 'Three Men' ('Two and a Half Men'). The kid is now six feet tall, shaving and has a deeper voice than Brenda Vaccaro. The "half man" in the title doesn't really make sense anymore, so they should change the title. It can actually be a clever move for a show -- especially a long-running one -- to change its name. It can revitalize the show a bit, at least in the eyes of viewers, and can reflect the current state of the show. Of course, if Charlie Sheen leaves they might have to tweak the title even more ('Two Men'?), but it's my bet he isn't going anywhere.

Maybe they can add a baby to the show like a lot of long-running sitcoms do and change the name to 'Three Men and a Baby.'

2. 'Christine' ('The New Adventures of Old Christine'). Now that "new Christine" has been on the show for a while and we all know that "old Christine" has been getting into "adventures" (whatever that means) since the very first episode, so it's sort of a long, unnecessary title now.

ABC might be interested in the show, so maybe they can just shorten it to 'Christine.'

3. 'Extreme Makeover' ('Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'). This show got its name because there was an earlier show titled 'Extreme Makeover' that focused on body makeovers and plastic surgery, so they gave it a different name to show that it was a different series with a different angle (homes).

But now that original show is gone and viewers know that this show is about home makeovers so they can get rid of the second half of the title.

4. 'Hawthorne' ('HawthoRNe'). I think I speak for all people who write about television when I say that I wasn't happy that TNT wanted me to capitalize the RN in the title of this show whenever I wrote about it. So why not just rename the show 'Hawthorne,' without all the quirky, silly capitalization? We're adults, we can do without the reminder that it's a medical drama.

I think people should starting spelling it hAWThornE.

5. 'Balloon Linoleum Dog Crayons at Night!' ('Last Call with Carson Daly'). Honestly, does it really matter what this show is called?