Using Identical plot-lines

[c***@gmail.com]

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)

Greg

[anim8rfsk]

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.

That's HAWKE'S RUN right?

Post by c***@gmail.com

Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny
thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away.
I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I
hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over
to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What
is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to
try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)
Greg

Airwolf also recycled a Magnum P.I. script as well as others.

[Ian J. Ball]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.

That's HAWKE'S RUN right?

Post by c***@gmail.com

Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny
thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away.
I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I
hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over
to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What
is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to
try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)
Greg

Airwolf also recycled a Magnum P.I. script as well as others.

Wow! - "Necro'ing" a thread from 1991 (before *any of us* even got here!) is quite something. ;p


Ian (I haven't thought about David Tamkin in a long, *long* time!!)

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Ian J. Ball

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.

That's HAWKE'S RUN right?

Post by c***@gmail.com

Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny
thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away.
I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys.
I
hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over
to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me.
What
is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to
try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)
Greg

Airwolf also recycled a Magnum P.I. script as well as others.

Wow! - "Necro'ing" a thread from 1991 (before *any of us* even got here!) is
quite something. ;p
Ian (I haven't thought about David Tamkin in a long, *long* time!!)

I hadn't noticed. That .. yikes?

[Invid Fan]

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny
thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away.
I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I
hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over
to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What
is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to
try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)

Writers would send a script to as many shows as it could be adapted to,
figuring ONE might buy it (it should tell you something about the shows
that scripts could work like that). I remember one of the Star Trek
Next Gen writers was infamous because two shows used one of his scripts
the same night, perhaps even back to back.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Invid Fan

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny
thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away.
I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I
hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over
to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What
is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to
try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)

Writers would send a script to as many shows as it could be adapted to,
figuring ONE might buy it (it should tell you something about the shows
that scripts could work like that). I remember one of the Star Trek
Next Gen writers was infamous because two shows used one of his scripts
the same night, perhaps even back to back.

The Airwolf and Magnum and such shared scripts were all for shows under
the same production company umbrella. I've always found that a bit
suspicious. :)

[David Johnston]

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have been quite sure whether it was the same script or not.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by David Johnston

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have been quite sure whether it was the same script or not.

One thing I've noticed when I saw the same script on different shows was
that they were NOT the same credited writer.

THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is another one that did this. They had an
early episode where Keller tries to help a prostitute (Janice Rule) that
also appeared as a pilot for a western, word for word.

I wonder if I can find that ...

hah! Came right up. Both Quinn Martin productions.

1976s LAW OF THE LAND
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074780/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_15
which for Christ's sake has Darleen Carr in it, and I think Barbara
Parkins in the Janice Rule role, written by Sam Rolfe and John Wilder
and a 1972 episode of STREETS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793265/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
written by Robert W. Lenski

I don't know how they get away with this; the writer's guild should
frown on it.

[David Johnston]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by David Johnston

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have never been quite sure whether it was literally the same script or not.

One thing I've noticed when I saw the same script on different shows was
that they were NOT the same credited writer.
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is another one that did this. They had an
early episode where Keller tries to help a prostitute (Janice Rule) that
also appeared as a pilot for a western, word for word.
I wonder if I can find that ...
hah! Came right up. Both Quinn Martin productions.
1976s LAW OF THE LAND
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074780/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_15
which for Christ's sake has Darleen Carr in it, and I think Barbara
Parkins in the Janice Rule role, written by Sam Rolfe and John Wilder
and a 1972 episode of STREETS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793265/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
written by Robert W. Lenski
I don't know how they get away with this; the writer's guild should
frown on it.

Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...

By the way there's a trope for it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

[Alan Smithee]

Post by David Johnston
Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman shared a script, or
part of one. Someone cut their brakes and they stopped the car by
opening the door and using their foot.

The "Mission: Impossible" remake recycled a script from the old show
about a fake assassination attempt to get someone to talk.

There are tons of ripoffs, Hollywood is not about taking chances.
:-D

[David Johnston]

Post by Alan Smithee

Post by David Johnston
Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman shared a script, or
part of one. Someone cut their brakes and they stopped the car by
opening the door and using their foot.
The "Mission: Impossible" remake recycled a script from the old show
about a fake assassination attempt to get someone to talk.

Actually the Mission: Impossible remake consisted of nothing but
minimally rewritten old scripts from the original series. But that was
during the first big writers strike.

[Michael Black]

Post by Alan Smithee

Post by David Johnston
Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman shared a script, or
part of one. Someone cut their brakes and they stopped the car by
opening the door and using their foot.
The "Mission: Impossible" remake recycled a script from the old show
about a fake assassination attempt to get someone to talk.

This is the remake in the eighties? There was a writer's strike, so they
used scripts from the original. Somewhat different from randomly reusing
the same script between two shows.

Michael

Post by Alan Smithee
There are tons of ripoffs, Hollywood is not about taking chances.
:-D

[Bill Steele]

Post by Alan Smithee

Post by David Johnston
Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman shared a script, or
part of one. Someone cut their brakes and they stopped the car by
opening the door and using their foot.
The "Mission: Impossible" remake recycled a script from the old show
about a fake assassination attempt to get someone to talk.
There are tons of ripoffs, Hollywood is not about taking chances.
:-D

As the commercial says, It's what you do.

I saw Robert Culp on a talk show saying that some scripts for I Spy were
based old Big Little Books. As a kid, I once noticed that a storyline on
the Jack Armstrong radio show matched a comic book I was reading.

The audience changes with time. That's why Disney reissues its stuff
every seven years. Modern TV,l though, seems to assume a much shorter
attention span. Or perhaps we've used up all the possible plots there are.

Shakespeare, of course, recycled history.

[David Johnston]

Post by Bill Steele

Post by Alan Smithee

Post by David Johnston
Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman shared a script, or
part of one. Someone cut their brakes and they stopped the car by
opening the door and using their foot.
The "Mission: Impossible" remake recycled a script from the old show
about a fake assassination attempt to get someone to talk.
There are tons of ripoffs, Hollywood is not about taking chances.
:-D

As the commercial says, It's what you do.
I saw Robert Culp on a talk show saying that some scripts for I Spy were
based old Big Little Books. As a kid, I once noticed that a storyline on
the Jack Armstrong radio show matched a comic book I was reading.
The audience changes with time. That's why Disney reissues its stuff
every seven years. Modern TV,l though, seems to assume a much shorter
attention span. Or perhaps we've used up all the possible plots there are.
Shakespeare, of course, recycled history.

And Italian short stories and poetry.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by David Johnston

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by David Johnston

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have never been quite sure whether it was literally the same
script or not.

One thing I've noticed when I saw the same script on different shows was
that they were NOT the same credited writer.
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is another one that did this. They had an
early episode where Keller tries to help a prostitute (Janice Rule) that
also appeared as a pilot for a western, word for word.
I wonder if I can find that ...
hah! Came right up. Both Quinn Martin productions.
1976s LAW OF THE LAND
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074780/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_15
which for Christ's sake has Darleen Carr in it, and I think Barbara
Parkins in the Janice Rule role, written by Sam Rolfe and John Wilder
and a 1972 episode of STREETS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793265/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
written by Robert W. Lenski
I don't know how they get away with this; the writer's guild should
frown on it.

Well in the seventies it's not like the writers had a lot of leverage.
They had to go on strike a couple of times. Which led to a lot of
script recycling...
By the way there's a trope for it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RecycledScript

cool

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by David Johnston

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have been quite sure whether it was the same script or not.

One thing I've noticed when I saw the same script on different shows was
that they were NOT the same credited writer.
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is another one that did this. They had an
early episode where Keller tries to help a prostitute (Janice Rule) that
also appeared as a pilot for a western, word for word.
I wonder if I can find that ...
hah! Came right up. Both Quinn Martin productions.
1976s LAW OF THE LAND
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074780/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_15
which for Christ's sake has Darleen Carr in it, and I think Barbara
Parkins in the Janice Rule role, written by Sam Rolfe and John Wilder
and a 1972 episode of STREETS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793265/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
written by Robert W. Lenski
I don't know how they get away with this; the writer's guild should
frown on it.

Hmm, I wonder if one of those 'writers' is the same person using a
different name to submit the same script? If not then I would think
there would be a possible legal issue with reusing the same scrip but
giving the writing credit to someone else.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by David Johnston

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

I recall a certain plotline involving a group of bank robbers who end
up trapped with hostages, including a young and naive one barely of age
and one who was on the edge and had to be constantly restrained from
going on a killing spree. I saw it in three different series when I was
a kid, and have been quite sure whether it was the same script or not.

One thing I've noticed when I saw the same script on different shows was
that they were NOT the same credited writer.
THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is another one that did this. They had an
early episode where Keller tries to help a prostitute (Janice Rule) that
also appeared as a pilot for a western, word for word.
I wonder if I can find that ...
hah! Came right up. Both Quinn Martin productions.
1976s LAW OF THE LAND
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074780/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_15
which for Christ's sake has Darleen Carr in it, and I think Barbara
Parkins in the Janice Rule role, written by Sam Rolfe and John Wilder
and a 1972 episode of STREETS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793265/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
written by Robert W. Lenski
I don't know how they get away with this; the writer's guild should
frown on it.

Hmm, I wonder if one of those 'writers' is the same person using a
different name to submit the same script? If not then I would think
there would be a possible legal issue with reusing the same scrip but
giving the writing credit to someone else.

I thought of that, but IMDb doesn't know it if they are (and they have
different bios) and I know who Sam Rolfe and John Wilder are. You'd
think no matter how much they rewrote it, if I can recognize word for
word dialog instantly, the original guy would at least get a 'story by'
credit or something.

[Horace LaBadie]

Post by anim8rfsk
I thought of that, but IMDb doesn't know it if they are (and they have
different bios) and I know who Sam Rolfe and John Wilder are. You'd
think no matter how much they rewrote it, if I can recognize word for
word dialog instantly, the original guy would at least get a 'story by'
credit or something.

Howard Browne's Thin Air was adapted for The Rockford Files, and later
for the Simon & Simon. Only the S&S used the Thin Air title.

But the re-use of scripts goes way back. Rod Serling had an episode of
The Twilight Zone, The Bard, devoted to it. Jack Weston played a
screenwriter who took the same script and sold it as a western, a cop
show, a sci-fi show, etc. Then he ended up conjuring Shakespeare to do
versions of the plays.

[Rhino]

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW. Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back. Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

[Rhino]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.

Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Rhino

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.
Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

[Michael Black]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.
Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

The Heinlein example above, some authors were very prolific back then, and
they were made to use pseudonyms so it looked like different authors.

Others started out by using pseudonyms, thinking it was a good reason, and
then changed their mind. I thought the early Stephen King stuff was like
that.

Some authors used pseudonyms because they had some "serious" daytime job
and didn't want to be discovered, or many women SF authors used a name
that sounded male. Those often didn't last too long, well the pseudonyms
did, but everyone knew about the real authors.

Even as a kid, I thought in terms of "Andrea Norton" writing the time
trader books, so I must have picked something up very early.

Michael

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.
Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

Post by Michael Black
The Heinlein example above, some authors were very prolific back then, and
they were made to use pseudonyms so it looked like different authors.
Others started out by using pseudonyms, thinking it was a good reason, and
then changed their mind. I thought the early Stephen King stuff was like
that.
Some authors used pseudonyms because they had some "serious" daytime job
and didn't want to be discovered, or many women SF authors used a name
that sounded male. Those often didn't last too long, well the pseudonyms
did, but everyone knew about the real authors.

Stan Lee is a pen name he used so he could put his real name on that
'great American novel' he never got around to. All in all I think he
did all right for himself.

Post by Michael Black
Even as a kid, I thought in terms of "Andrea Norton" writing the time
trader books, so I must have picked something up very early.
Michael

[Invid Fan]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

heh

[Michael Black]

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

Then you get the reverse, the mad science fiction magazine readers
insisting that some new kid on the block has to be so and so, and then
they detail why.

Michael

[Jim G.]

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

The Bachman books not selling as well doesn't have to mean that they
weren't as good. It could just mean that readers have only so many hours
available in the day for reading and won't wander too far from the
established (and reasonably dependable) names on the bestseller list.

[shawn]

On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:27:01 -0500, "Jim G."

Post by Jim G.

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

The Bachman books not selling as well doesn't have to mean that they
weren't as good. It could just mean that readers have only so many hours
available in the day for reading and won't wander too far from the
established (and reasonably dependable) names on the bestseller list.

Agreed. If I'm going to buy a book why wouldn't I buy one from an
author whose work I know enjoy versus some new guy? If he had kept
writing under the Bachman name and people hadn't figured out who
Bachman really was King might have found Bachman becoming as popular
as King.

[Invid Fan]

Post by shawn
On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:27:01 -0500, "Jim G."

Post by Jim G.

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

The Bachman books not selling as well doesn't have to mean that they
weren't as good. It could just mean that readers have only so many hours
available in the day for reading and won't wander too far from the
established (and reasonably dependable) names on the bestseller list.

Agreed. If I'm going to buy a book why wouldn't I buy one from an
author whose work I know enjoy versus some new guy? If he had kept
writing under the Bachman name and people hadn't figured out who
Bachman really was King might have found Bachman becoming as popular
as King.

King's first book was a best seller. Was that luck? He wrote another
"first" book, and it wasn't a hit. Thus, yes it was luck, a combination
of subject and timing.

[Jim G.]

Post by shawn
On Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:27:01 -0500, "Jim G."

Post by Jim G.

Post by Invid Fan

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

He's also said he wanted to test if his current books were selling
because of his name, or because they were good. The Bachman books sold,
but weren't hits, settling that.

The Bachman books not selling as well doesn't have to mean that they
weren't as good. It could just mean that readers have only so many hours
available in the day for reading and won't wander too far from the
established (and reasonably dependable) names on the bestseller list.

Agreed. If I'm going to buy a book why wouldn't I buy one from an
author whose work I know enjoy versus some new guy? If he had kept
writing under the Bachman name and people hadn't figured out who
Bachman really was King might have found Bachman becoming as popular
as King.

Yep. No one can possibly read every book that gets published, so of
course readers are gonna be more conservative about it when it comes to
trying out an unknown author.

[Michael Black]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.
Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

Post by Michael Black
The Heinlein example above, some authors were very prolific back then, and
they were made to use pseudonyms so it looked like different authors.
Others started out by using pseudonyms, thinking it was a good reason, and
then changed their mind. I thought the early Stephen King stuff was like
that.
Some authors used pseudonyms because they had some "serious" daytime job
and didn't want to be discovered, or many women SF authors used a name
that sounded male. Those often didn't last too long, well the pseudonyms
did, but everyone knew about the real authors.

Stan Lee is a pen name he used so he could put his real name on that
'great American novel' he never got around to. All in all I think he
did all right for himself.

I'm not sure I knew that, but that's a good example. Like Tiptree and
Andre Norton, their pseudonyms are the names we remember, even though we
know they had a real name.

Michael

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this.
WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

I can't cite a specific case in the world of TV scripts but there have
certainly been cases where that happened with book writers. For
instance, there was nearly an entire issue of one of the early SF
magazines- Amazing Stories (?) around 1940 - where Robert A. Heinlein
wrote nearly every story in it under a variety of pseudonyms. And then
there were series like The Hardy Boys where the various books were
written by a variety of writers but all identified as Franklin W. Dixon.
There are also cases like Robert Ludlum, where he wrote a number of
books under his own name, plus two books under one pseudonym and one
book under another. Since his death, a number of books have been written
by other people under HIS name.
Basically, the name credited may or may not be the actual name of the
writer; the name given may not even be a real person.

And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

Post by Michael Black
The Heinlein example above, some authors were very prolific back then, and
they were made to use pseudonyms so it looked like different authors.
Others started out by using pseudonyms, thinking it was a good reason, and
then changed their mind. I thought the early Stephen King stuff was like
that.
Some authors used pseudonyms because they had some "serious" daytime job
and didn't want to be discovered, or many women SF authors used a name
that sounded male. Those often didn't last too long, well the pseudonyms
did, but everyone knew about the real authors.

Stan Lee is a pen name he used so he could put his real name on that
'great American novel' he never got around to. All in all I think he
did all right for himself.

I'm not sure I knew that, but that's a good example. Like Tiptree and
Andre Norton, their pseudonyms are the names we remember, even though we
know they had a real name.
Michael

We only knew Stan had a real name because his brother Larry drew for
Marvel, and used the family name Leiber.

[Michael Black]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

I missed this the first time around.

I only read "The Body" and "Shawshank Redemption" about 20 years ago, I've
never read any of his outright horror books (though "The Walk" has an
element of horror in its reality). So I assumed they had come early, and
were being reprinted because of his success. But now that you mention it,
he's been writing for a long time, and those stories would have come after
his success.

Michael

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

I missed this the first time around.
I only read "The Body" and "Shawshank Redemption" about 20 years ago, I've
never read any of his outright horror books (though "The Walk" has an
element of horror in its reality). So I assumed they had come early, and
were being reprinted because of his success. But now that you mention it,
he's been writing for a long time, and those stories would have come after
his success.
Michael

Yeah, Carrie was the first biggie.

[Invid Fan]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Michael Black

Post by anim8rfsk
And Stephen King, who wrote so much crap they put it out under multiple
names to avoid flooding the market ...

Is that what happened? I thought some of his early short stories or
novellas were the most interesting.

Yeah, his publisher thought too many King books would hurt the market,
but he was building a huge backlog, so they put out his 'lesser' works
under Bachman.

I missed this the first time around.
I only read "The Body" and "Shawshank Redemption" about 20 years ago, I've
never read any of his outright horror books (though "The Walk" has an
element of horror in its reality). So I assumed they had come early, and
were being reprinted because of his success. But now that you mention it,
he's been writing for a long time, and those stories would have come after
his success.
Michael

Yeah, Carrie was the first biggie.

It was his first book. Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining. Toss in the
Carrie movie, and he was a superstar in only three years. His fourth
book was the first Bachman one.

[A Friend]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

The Writers Guild requires members to register their pseudonyms with
the Guild, so this stuff is on record somewhere.

[Rhino]

Post by A Friend

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Rhino

Post by c***@gmail.com

I can think of two cases where this has happened.
Would you believe "Hardy boys" and "Airwolf" had the exact
same script. I happened to see a Saturday rerun of the Hardy
boys episod just after the Airwolf one was shown. It was almost
word for word the same. One of the boys (Hawke) was in a car
(helicopter) accident. Woke in a hospital to find he had been
in a coma for a year. Found out his brother (friends) had been
killed at a meeting to recover a defecting scientist (Airwolf).
Through some inconsistencies figures out it's all a lie. Gets
the help of the nurse to escape and save the day.
Then there was the season where three different detective stories
were the same. Magnum is hired by a woman who says her sister is
trying to kill her. Magnum falls in love with her. Then he finds
out her sister died many years ago and the woman is really trying
to kill herself. This was on MacGyver with some twists, as well
as "three guys on a boat in So. Cal" (sorry can't remember the name).
Wendy

I thought I was the only person in the world that realized this. WOW.
Funny thing, I was waiting for Airwolf to air (non rerun), but it was an
hour away. I flipped through the channels and stopped at a rerun of the
Hardy Boys. I hadn't seen the show since it first aired. After watching
it, I turned over to watch Airwolf. It was the same script! Totally
ruined it for me. What is the chances of running the two back to back.
Crazy stuff! I'm going to try and find the names of the two episodes and
watch them again. :)
Greg

Have a look at the writer credits too. Maybe it was the same writer in
both cases. (Even if different names are shown, there have been cases of
writers using multiple pseudonyms so it COULD still be the same person
who wrote both scripts.)

I've yet to find a case where the writer was the same name or provable
as an alias.

The Writers Guild requires members to register their pseudonyms with
the Guild, so this stuff is on record somewhere.

I'm guessing that their registry is not available to the public on
privacy grounds. If I'm right, that makes it useless to us as a means of
answering questions about authorship. If I'm wrong, I hope you or others
will correct me....