I've never understood this phenomenon. There's Fran Fine/Drescher, Andy Taylor/Griffith, Steve Harvey/Hightower, Reba Mc
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Nanny
number9-4 — 9 years ago(June 14, 2016 02:05 PM)
I've never understood this phenomenon. There's Fran Fine/Drescher, Andy Taylor/Griffith, Steve Harvey/Hightower, Reba McIntire/whatever her character's last name was on "Reba" (and I think even on the canceled "Malibu Country," her character also was named Reba), Ellen Degeneres/Morgan, and probably a bunch more I'm forgetting.
Why do actors (or producers whoever comes up with the idea) do this? If the character is supposed to be an extension of their real-life personality, why is it so important they still have the same first name (but not same last name)? It's just odd and kind of confusing, to me.
Has anyone ever heard someone affiliated with any of these shows explain why they do that? -
furienna — 9 years ago(June 15, 2016 12:59 AM)
Will Smith even kept his last name too on "Fresh Prince". They changed his full first name though, from Willard to William.
Tia and Tamera Mowry were Tia Landy and Tamera Campbell on "Sister, Sister".
Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell were Kenan Rockmore and Kel Kimble on "Kenan & Kel".
Ray Romano was Raymond Barone on "Everybody loves Raymond".
Michael J Fox was Mike Flaherty on "Spin City".
Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen were Ashley and Mary-Kate Burke on "Two of a kind".
Raven Symon was Raven Baxter on "That's so Raven".
And I believe that Charlie Sheen has been Charlie Something on at least three different sitcoms.
Intelligence and purity. -
kristen1165 — 9 years ago(June 21, 2016 09:52 PM)
Also:
Roseanne Barr- Roseanne Conner
Lucille Ball- Lucy Ricardo
Mary Tyler Moore- Mary Richards
Ted Knight- Ted Baxter
Tony Danza- Tony in multiple shows
Woody Harrelson- Woody Boyd
Andy Griffith- Andy Taylor
Tim Allan- Tim Taylor
Cybil Shepherd- Cybli Sheritan
Tracy Morgan- Tracy Jordan -
number9-4 — 9 years ago(July 08, 2016 10:16 AM)
To me, it's to differentiate the character from the real life person but still retain the idea that they are similar to the actor.
That's what I figured, but I still think it's kind of strange. What's funny is that some people get accused of bad acting because they supposedly just act like themselves and don't change their demeanor at all for the character. So I guess you could get away with that if you just called the character your same name! -
roberts_4427 — 9 years ago(July 30, 2016 05:55 AM)
I know Vivian Vance said that she wished her character had been named Vivian on I Love Lucy because it was very annoying to be called Ethel for the rest of her life. Fans have a tendency to not be able to separate the character from the actor.
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Manna-Fest — 9 years ago(August 18, 2016 08:22 AM)
Yep, and that's why when she returned for "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" both of her characters ended up being named "Vivian". But this wouldn't help since she would ALWAYS be remembered as Ethel. "I Love Lucy" was just too huge of a show for her to think going by her real name on the other Lucy shows (where her role and fame wasn't even that big compared to ILL anyway) will change how people label her.
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number9-4 — 9 years ago(August 19, 2016 09:31 AM)
I know Vivian Vance said that she wished her character had been named Vivian on I Love Lucy because it was very annoying to be called Ethel for the rest of her life.
That's an interesting point. Though in Fran's case, she probably still gets called, "The Nanny" instead of "Fran" a lot of the time. -
Manna-Fest — 9 years ago(August 18, 2016 08:19 AM)
I guess because the actors feel comfortable still being referred to by their first names as opposed to a different one even when acting. I know if I was starring in a show, I'd want to use my real name. It's just simpler and then you don't have to deal with some one making a mistake addressing you by a different name. The user above me who makes the point about Vivian Vance is pretty much the idea here.