Television shows that changed networks…

*would change

Buffy went from the WB to the UPN which didn't seem like much of a change. The WB kept Angel though.

Was there ever a reason why r2?

Were both networks owned by the same company? Why keep one and not the other?

Taxi was canceled by ABC and NBC picked it up. I think NBC thought it could be another Cheers, but it only ran for one more season.

The Golden Palace was initially going to get a 13 episode order from NBC, until CBS offered a full 24 episodes, so the Golden Girls sequel ran on CBS while the GG spinoff Empty Nest ran on NBC.

Family Matters moved from ABC to CBS late in it's run. I think they'd recast Harriet Winslow by this point, even though the show had initially been her spin-off.

I think Disney started on ABC and ended up on NBC.

I don’t think so r5.

“The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” was one of those rare instances of a network show being canceled then picked up by cable channel. It was a case of drawing an audience that was too small for a Big Three network, but devoted enough to cross over to a fledgling cable channel where its numbers were considered huge. I believe Lifetime Network went on to produce more episodes than NBC.

Didn't Disney change stations at some point? ABC wanted Disney initially and helped fund Disneyland. But Disney stayed with ABC? I thought The Wonderful World of Color was on NBC.

The Hogan Family moved from NBC to CBS for its last season.

I think r 5 has it slightly off because Disney now owns ABC. so maybe it started on NBC

The Grammys leaving CBS got me thinking.

Project Runway and Drag Race. Both seemed to have done well with the change.

Damages went from FX to some obscure cable channel called The Audience Network for seasons 4 & 5. You can definitely feel a tone shift. John Goodman as the sleazy, murderous war profiteer and Dylan Baker as a rogue CIA creep are both more evil than the villains from the previous three seasons. These are also the seasons where we get to hear Patty Hewes say "fuck" since it's no longer basic cable.

I wonder if the series ending would have been different if the show stayed on FX. I liked that long shot of Patty's face when she's all alone in her limo.

Hazel was on NBC from 1961-65, then on CBS for it's last year 1965-66.

The original The Goldbergs that aired from 1949 to 1955.

They went from CBS to NBC to the DuMont Network in those six years.

Step by Step was another ABC TGIF show that got moved to CBS like Family Matters did.

The most recent version of Magnum PI went from CBS to NBC.

Futurama owns this thread.

Diff'rent Strokes went from NBC to ABC for it's final season. It was a last minute rescue as NBC had cancelled it and all the sets had already been taken down. Dixie Carter was cast on Designing Women in the meantime so they recast her role with Mary Ann Mobley. Because ABC picked up the show, the Three's Company spinoff Three's A Crowd was only offered a half season renewal and John Ritter got pissed and said no thanks.

Community - from NBC to Yahoo (that was a thing?!)

I think The Bionic Woman changed networks, from ABC to NBC maybe?

Southland -- if you haven't seen it, you should! -- went from a first season on NBC to the TNT network.

Great LA cop show with a gay cop played by Michael Cudlitz. Also starring Regina King.

My Three Sons - Seasons 1-5 on ABC; Seasons 6-12 on CBS

Leave to Beaver - Season 1 on CBS; Seasons 2-6 on ABC

Unsolved Mysteries was on NBC from 1987-1997. It aired on CBS from 1997-1999. Lifetime revived the series in 2001 and did a combination of new cases and cases previously featured during the NBC and CBS years. They cancelled the series in 2002 when Robert Stack's health was declining. In 2008, Spike TV did an awful repackaged type version of Unsolved Mysteries with the previous segments edited down quite a bit. Dennis Farina was the host. Spike aired the show from 2008-2010. Then ten years later Netflix reboot started to air.

This is the DL and it took 24 posts to mention The Edge of Night?

CBS to ABC

"Father Knows Best" was on all three networks, although the ABC seasons were all reruns.

Paper Chase went from CBS to PBS, although it was all reruns on PBS and later Showtime picked it up with new episodes.

r25, wasn't there another old half-hour soap that went from CBS to either ABC or NBC?

R27 I had to look it up.

Search for Tomorrow

CBS to NBC

For some more recent examples:

Scrubs 911 Brooklyn 99

In the sixties, ABC grabbed The Price is Right, Queen for a Day, and Let’s Make A Deal from NBC, with LMAD having quite a long run on its new network

I HATED “The Golden Palace”.

Southland and The Shield are the only decent cop shows I've seen

r31=Dorothy Zbornak

SouthLAnd was an awesome show!

I was going to add Edge of Night and Search For Tomorrow, but others beat me to it.

Bionic Woman did change networks. Did Wonder Woman?

TJ Hooker switched networks for its last season, I believe.

I misread the title. I thought you were talking about shows like MASH and All In The Family that changer THEIR networks.

WTF, I was going to say that Married With Children MADE Fox.

Scooby-Doo was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1976, when it moved to ABC. ABC aired various versions of Scooby-Doo until canceling it in 1986, and presented a spin-off featuring the characters as children called A Pup Named Scooby-Doo from 1988 until 1991.

The Ghost and Mrs Muir's first season aired on NBC (1968-69), second season aired on ABC (1969-70).

The 911 franchise. ABC to Fox.

Forsythe at his hottest. Batchelor Father aired on CBS, NBC, and ABC. Now it's on Antenna TV.

Sister Sister went from ABC to the WB

[quote]Bionic Woman did change networks. Did Wonder Woman?

Yes, WW went from ABC to CBS. Any episodes you see set in the 1940s (like the comics), those are the ABC episodes. The ones set in the present (well, 1977-78 at the time) were on CBS.

[quote] Sister Sister went from ABC to the WB—AlienOnMars

Fuck off, junkie.

“American Dad” moved from Fox to TBS. You can differentiate the TBS episodes by the cold opening and the uncensored use of “shit”.

Get Smart went to CBS for it's last season, as did Step By Step.

My Three Sons went from ABC to CBS when Tim Considine and Fred Mertz bailed.

Are you including shows that started on a major network, then got picked up for first-run syndication, like Mama's Family or Charles in Charge?

Not as interesting r46. Since most all eventually syndicate elsewhere

The Game went from CW to BET

[quote]Are you including shows that started on a major network, then got picked up for first-run syndication, like Mama's Family or Charles in Charge?

Might as well include them here, r46. I don't think there's enough to warrant their own thread. Aside from the two you mention I can think of It's A Living, Webster, Silver Spoons and 9 to 5.

And then there were the spinoff/reboots like What's Happening Now and The New WKRP In Cincinnati which feel different enough that they're not straight-up continuations but maybe I'm splitting hairs

Just to comment on a few posts:

[quote]Buffy went from the WB to the UPN which didn't seem like much of a change. The WB kept Angel though.

The show didn't change, but the reason it flipped over to UPN was because the network was in full-blown panic mode over its slate of failed shows. After an extremely splashy debut featuring the premiere of an all-new Star Trek series ("Voyager"), nearly all of its other shows totally flopped. Already seeing the writing on the wall, they hugely overbid for both "Buffy" and "Roswell," despite both being past their prime. ("Roswell" only lasted a single season after the move.)

[quote]Yes, WW went from ABC to CBS. Any episodes you see set in the 1940s (like the comics), those are the ABC episodes. The ones set in the present (well, 1977-78 at the time) were on CBS.

True, and either way this is one of the more curious network swaps. WW was a top-10 show in its first season. ABC likely would've renewed it, but they hedged for too long and CBS snapped it up, with the proviso of its admittedly "WTF?" transition to a present-day setting. (I put "WTF" only because they explicitly made it a continuation of the original, never mind the absurdity of circa-1976 Lyle Waggoner – then 41 years old – plausibly being 27-28.)

To comment on a few more recent ones:

"You" – I know it seems hard to believe, given how much of a thriller it's become, but "You" got its start on Lifetime (!!) before being acquired by Netflix in advance of its second season. It's still one of their biggest, if not THE biggest, "finds" to date. ("Finds" meaning shows originally aired on other channels or streamers. "Cobra Kai" is the other big one, but it moved from YouTube, not a channel.)

"Designated Survivor" – There may be some cable shows to this effect, but "Designated Survivor" is one of the very few that had two full seasons on ABC, before moving to Netflix for a 10-episode final season. (Yes, it's more than a bit jarring to suddenly see network-styled characters cussing like sailors and showing off full-frontal nudity, and unfortunately it didn't work.)

Btw this is just my two cents, but considering the absurd number of reboots launched with zero consideration to their original network, I'm not sure there's much point mentioning it. (Is it at all relevant, for instance, that Peacock attempted a "Queer as Folk" reboot – from a show originally on ITV in the UK, and then Showtime here – that was largely unrelated to the original, set in New Orleans, and derived in large part from a hate crime at a major club (obviously predicated on what happened at Pulse).

Also, I'm not even sure *how* to define a few shows. "South Park" premiered in 1997 on Comedy Central, and that's where it still airs today – but with two curious caveats. First, despite it being owned by Viacom/Paramount, WarnerMedia acquired the show's full streaming rights, seemingly without complaint. Second, the lack of complaint might be explained by a third element: Paramount *did* retain the rights to a series of "South Park" full-length movies to be aired on Paramount+.

Known commodity. The show may fill a perceived hole in their schedule without the cost and time of developing a new show.

Several shows were dropped by Fox, but picked up by ABC - like 9-1-1 recently. The production company matters. Additionally, the receving channel may want a relationship with the producers or stars of the show.

In the UK, "The Great British Bake Off" went from the BBC to Channel 4.

Cougar Town

ABC to TBS

I went from CNN to low rent.

“JAG” — one season on NBC (1995-96) with CBS then picking it up where it ran from 1997 to 2005. .. Must've found its old folks' demo ..lol.

Wonder Woman from ABC to CBS

The Hughleys also went from ABC to UPN. Seems like a lot of black shows went that route in the 90s.

For Your Love went from NBC to WB I believe.

The Real McCoys

ABC (1957–62)

CBS (1962–63)

In the very early days of television, there are six shows that appeared on all four networks (CBS, NBC, DuMont, and ABC) at some point during their runs:

The Ernie Kovacs Show

The Original Amateur Hour

Pantomime Quiz

Down You Go

The Arthur Murray Party

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.

The Edge of Night ran live on CBS for about twenty years then moved to ABC.

I’m over here working button holes ass backwards

R19 I had always heard Dixie Carter didn’t mesh well with Conrad Bain, and that was the reason for the actress switch. Or maybe she got sick of that little red headed nudge Sam.

r63, the bigger rumor is that Carter didn't get along with Gary Coleman. Carter did 2 seasons in the role so there was plenty of time to write her out or recast if the chemistry with Bain really was an issue. Based on 40-year old memories of the show Carter was much more memorable than Mobley. All of the key players are gone at this point so we'll likely never know the full story.

Maaaaatlock!

[quote]WW was a top-10 show in its first season. ABC likely would've renewed it, but they hedged for too long and CBS snapped it up, with the proviso of its admittedly "WTF?" transition to a present-day setting. (I put "WTF" only because they explicitly made it a continuation of the original, never mind the absurdity of circa-1976 Lyle Waggoner – then 41 years old – plausibly being 27-28.)

IIRC, wasn't Waggoner's Steve Trevor character in the 1977 present-day version supposed to be the son of the Steve Trevor in the 1940s version? That's what I seem to recall anyway.

One other thing I recall hearing at the time: when the show was canceled by CBS, had they renewed it for one more season, they were going to dump Waggoner and instead have Diana Prince lead a brand-new team of crime-fighters, but alas the network pulled the plug.

Neighbours changed from Network 7 to Network 10 in 1985 when it was only four months old, and then again after its "finale" 37 years later. It still airs on Network 10's digital channel, but only because Amazon is backing it. That's gotta be a record.

Also in Australia, there was a TV show that changed A network. The 0/10 network was young and looking like it wouldn't survive to its teens when it premiered Number 96 in 1972. That one show was so massive it saved the network.

R64, she was a better fit on Designing Women anyway. Gary Coleman was probably a prick, but he had his reasons.

[quote] They cancelled the series in 2002 when Robert Stack's health was declining. In 2008, Spike TV did an awful repackaged type version of Unsolved Mysteries with the previous segments edited down quite a bit. Dennis Farina was the host.

What a letdown to see Dennis Farina as host.

Mama’s Family from NBC to first-run syndication

and Carol Burnett was on CBS.

[quote]IIRC, wasn't Waggoner's Steve Trevor character in the 1977 present-day version supposed to be the son of the Steve Trevor in the 1940s version? That's what I seem to recall anyway.

Yes, but that's even *more* batshit! Aside from being implausibly young, he's also even more implausibly his own father's identical twin. (Down to the same hairstyle!)

[quote]One other thing I recall hearing at the time: when the show was canceled by CBS, had they renewed it for one more season, they were going to dump Waggoner and instead have Diana Prince lead a brand-new team of crime-fighters, but alas the network pulled the plug.

Correct. Waggoner was barely on the final season as it was, with Diana spending most of her time in L.A. (as opposed to Washington, in reality also L.A. and not well-camouflaged); she maybe had one or two phone-call scenes with him per show. The final episode included a setup for Diana working at the IADC's L.A. branch, with her new sidekick or love interest (a literal indestructible man), but the ratings fell too steeply that season for a renewal.

Apple's Way...the homoeroticism was off the charts.

TL;DR Why is this of interest to you, OP?