OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
TV Show Name Generator
Sitcom, Series and Fake TV Show Titles Like Harbour Street
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How the TV Show Name Generator works
This TV show name generator makes TV show names in the shapes real series use: Harbour Street and Marlow as a place title, The Good Neighbours and The Marlows as a The plus plural, Line of Fire and Cold Case Unit as a two-word procedural, Marlow and Sons as a family name, Detective Hale and Being Wren as a title character, Britain's Best Bakers and The Great Australian Bake Off as a reality format, and Life at Nine and County General as a workplace title. Pick a genre, choose a shape and generate up to a hundred.
How the TV show name generator works
A series title is read in a listings grid and a streaming tile, and spoken every week for years, so it is short, memorable and has settled into shapes by genre, which is why the Genre select changes the words and the Shape select changes the grammar. The place form, Harbour Street, Marlow, Northfield Road, Cold Harbour, is the soap and the long-running drama, a series named for the street or the town its people live on, and it is the oldest television shape because a soap is about a place before it is about anyone in it. The The-plus-plural form, The Good Neighbours, The Marlows, The Inheritors, The Survivors of Redwater, is the ensemble drama and the family sitcom, a definite article and a plural that says the show is about a group, and the adjective sets the genre: Good says sitcom, Silent says drama, Missing says crime. The two-word procedural, Line of Fire, Cold Evidence, Blood and Honour, Homicide Unit, is the crime and medical drama, two abstract nouns or an adjective and a noun that promise a case a week. The family form, Marlow and Sons, The Vance Family, Hale and Daughters, Mercer and Co., is the family business drama and the sitcom about a shop, a surname and an and that reads as a sign over a door. The title-character form, Detective Hale, Wren, Harriet Vance, Dr. Corrigan, Being Theo, is the show carried by one performer, and the rank in front of the surname is the genre: Detective and Inspector say crime, Doctor and Nurse say medical, Coach and Reverend say comedy. The reality form, Britain's Best Bakers, America's Next Top Florist, The Great Australian Bake Off, Tailor Wars, Pottery Masters, is the competition format, a country, a superlative and a trade, and the pattern is so fixed that the generator produces the whole format from three lists. And the workplace form, Life at Nine, County General, The Newsroom, Ward 7, Station 4 at Night, is the show named for where it is set, which is how a medical, police or newsroom drama tells you its setting in two words.
The words are ordinary English in the shapes series use, the people and places are invented, and a result is a new combination rather than a real series by design, though series titles are not copyrighted, the reality formats are close to real ones on purpose, and a one-word or place title is shared by many shows, so a coincidence is normal and harmless. A series title is also set on a streaming tile at thumbnail size, so the shapes here are one to four words.
For the film it was adapted from, the Movie title page; for the book, the Book title page; for the theme tune, the Song title page; for the cast, the Stage name page in the People section; for the network, the Business section; and for the town it is set in, the Fantasy and Fiction section.
FAQ
What makes a good TV show name?
One that fits a streaming tile, is easy to say every week and tells you the genre. A place title reads as soap or long-running drama; The plus a plural reads as ensemble; two abstract nouns read as procedural; a rank and a surname read as a star vehicle. The reality format is the only shape where the title should describe the whole show.
Why are so many series named after a place or a street?
Because a soap or a long-running drama outlives its characters, so it is named for the one thing that does not leave: the street. A place title also promises the show is about ordinary people somewhere specific, which is the soap's whole pitch. The place form here uses invented towns and street names so the result reads as a real address without being one.
How do reality show titles work?
A country, a superlative and a trade: Britain's Best Bakers, America's Next Top Florist, The Great Australian Sewing Bee. The format is so fixed that the trade is the only variable, which is why real formats are sold country by country with the same title and a different nation in front. The Reality shape produces the whole format from those three parts.
Can two shows have the same name?
Yes; titles are not copyrighted, and place and one-word titles are shared by many series. Networks avoid clashes with current shows to prevent confusion, and a distinctive title is easier to search for, but a generated title coinciding with an old series is normal and harmless for anything but a real pilot, where you would search first.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. The words are ordinary English in the shapes series use, the people and places are invented, and titles are not owned, so the names belong to no one; coincidence with a real show is expected and harmless. For a show within a story, a streaming app's demo catalogue, a fictional TV listing, a character's acting credits or a sample schedule, use them freely.
See also: all Places & Things tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Culture & Language, Online & Social, Business & Brand.
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