I’m a ‘frustrated’ fiction writer -and I remember one of my supposed editors saying that there are actually no unique storylines in the world anymore -they have all been told through one form or another. What makes a writer unique, and what will make a story her own -is the way that the characters are presented and how the story is told.
I guess the same thing holds true for TV shows. How many original concepts can you actually develop for a series to become a hit? “Friends”, “The Sopranos”, “Seinfeld” and “Sex and the City” may be groundbreaking in their own right, but the same story would have been told before -the only difference is that they were not a hit to the general viewing public.
Take a look at this list of “10 TV Shows that were Ripped Off by Other Shows”, as compiled by CampusSqueeze.com:
1. Flip That House (Discovery Home) vs. Flip This House (A&E)
2. The Honeymooners (CBS) vs. The Flintstones (ABC)
3. Wife Swap (Fox) vs. Trading Spouses (ABC)
4. The Simpsons (Fox) vs. Family TV Shows/Family Guy (Fox)
5. Sex and the City (HBO) vs. Lipstick Jungle (NBC) and Cashmere Mafia (ABC)
6. People’s Court vs. Every Court Show Forever
7. The X-Files (Fox) vs. Millennium (Fox)
8. CSI (CBS) vs. Every Other Crime Scene Drama
9. Dawson’s Creek (The WB) vs. One Tree Hill (The WB and now CW), The OC (Fox), Gilmore Girls (The WB and The CW)
10. ER (NBC) vs. Chicago Hope (CBS)
I can’t believe that the show Gilmore Girls was even compared to Dawson’s Creek -and “The OC”?!? That’s pure and utter nonsense!
FYI (to the author of this post), Gilmore Girls is not dealing with teen angst! The show is, in fact, a groundbreaking look into the touching relationship of Lorelai and Rory, a mother-and-daughter team played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bedel. It even extends to the relationship of Lorelai and her upper-class mother, played by veteran actress Kelly Bishop.
The focus of the story is how three different generations of women deal with the love and life issues that they have.
From one fellow blogger to another, maybe we better check on our facts first when compiling a list like this and dig a little deeper through research, eh?
