''George and the Dragon' (1966-1968) and 'Odd Man Out' (1977)

I recently watched the 1977 sitcom "Odd Man Out", and am now watching the 1966-1968 sitcom "George and the Dragon".

I was surprised to see that an episode of Odd Man Out titled "Shall We Dance?" had originally been done 10 years earlier on George and the Dragon as "Friendship Bureau"!

The plots were very similar (both surrounding a dating service), the jokes largely the same, the dialogue identical at times! I quickly found out that both series featured Vince Powell as a writer, which explains a lot.

It was interesting to compare the differences: in "Friendship Bureau", there is a gag where George mistakes a man with long hair as being a woman. 10 years later, the joke was *not* used on "Shall We Dance", likely since it was out-dated by then. In the 1977 episode, the the dating service that provides the plot is run using a computer, but 10 years earlier it was run manually by a man who makes all the choices as to who dates who. In the 1967 episode, a lady wrestler is briefly mentioned...she serves a much bigger role and is seen on-screen in the 1977 episode. There were also some other interesting differences.

It was also interesting to see which remained the same, such as the use of melody "Some Enchanted Evening" as a gag, a gag about the number "007", among many other gags being copied without change.





I haven't been playing dead! You know that, right, Kankuro?