History SuspiciouslySimilarSong / LiveActionTV

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For children's shows, see SuspiciouslySimilarSong/ChildrensShow.

* ''Series/TheAmandaShow'': In the first Melody and Thad sketch, the song they sing about the nasty restaurant sounds similar to "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

* A particularly uninspired workover of Sir Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1" is used in two graduation-themed episodes of Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody, which was completely unnecessary, as the march is in the [[PublicDomainSoundtrack Public Domain]].

* The theme from Series/TheSuiteLifeofZackandCody sounds like a blatant rip-off of "Ballroom Blitz," by Sweet.

* The first theme song written for ''Series/SigmundAndTheSeaMonsters'' sounded very similar in some respects to ''I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing'' (AKA: the famous Coca-Cola "hilltop song"), so much so, that Creator/SidAndMartyKroft were allegedly sued, leading to the creation of the show's second theme song.

* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' lives on this trope. OnceAnEpisode there is a song that is usually a parody of a song with a style that fits the characters, or occasionally a loose pastiche of someone's musical style:
** Cleopatra's song is a takeoff of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, as a melodramatic fashion-loving queen, and the video uses a HomageShot to the music video for "Telephone" when we're looking at the people she murdered to get the crown.
** The Luddites sing a song very like "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols.
** The four bad Roman Emperors sing a thinly-veiled version of "Bad" by Michael Jackson.
** "[[Music/{{Eminem}} My name is, my name is]], my name is Charles the Second..."
** The Norman family tree is a pastiche of "Knowing Me Knowing You" by ABBA.
** The Borgia Family? The theme to ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''.
** The Georgian Navy's song is very like football novelty single "Vindaloo".
** Patchacouti's song is a lot like "Agadoo" by Black Lace, only with [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids lyrics about dismemberment and torture]].
** Mary Seacole's song is a lot like "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé, and she does some of the dance moves in the video.
** Owain Glendyr sings a song much like "Delilah" by (famous Welsh Singer) Tom Jones, which morphs into "Kiss" by Prince (covered by Tom Jones) when he mentions becoming Prince of Wales.
** Marcus Crassus has a BoastfulRap about how rich he is which sounds an awful lot like Dizzee Rascal's "Bonkers".
** The song about Australia's founding is a lot like Kylie Minogue's "I Should Be So Lucky".
** Charles Dickens' song about his life is an almost note-for-note take of "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths.
** Dick Turpin's song is based on "Stand and Deliver" by Adam and the Ants.
** Joan of Arc sings about her story to a tune very similar to "Price Tag" by Music/JessieJ.
** The song about heiroglyphics? "ABC" by Jackson 5.
** Boudicca's song is a lot like "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings, though the middle eight is a reference to "Pop Muzik" by M.
** The monks, when partying, sing like "Play That Funky Music, White Boy" by Black Cherry.
** The Pilgrim Fathers' song is very close to "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z.
** The song with the transportation pioneers singing about their inventions is a pretty obvious take-off of "Greased Lightning" from ''Film/{{Grease}}''.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'''s parodies almost always have original melodies, as PBS shows do not have the budget to license song rights.
** "Cereal Girl" was a pastiche of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Material Girl", using the same beat and chord progression with a different melody.
** "It's Hip to Be a Square" is one of the few exceptions, directly borrowing the melody of Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews' "Hip to be Square", with Lewis being credited as co-writer.
** Billy Idle's "Rebel L" is a sound alike of Music/BillyIdol's "Rebel Yell."
** Bruce Stringbean's "Born to Add" and "Barn in the USA" spoof Music/BruceSpringsteen's "Music/BornToRun" and "Born in the USA," respectively.
** ''Sesame Street'''s composers being the creative people they were, sometimes these deviated pretty far from their sources. "Kids Just Love to Brush" was clearly based on "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", but really doesn't sound much like it at all. And word has it that Cookie Monster's famous rap "Healthy Food" was based on... "Walk This Way"!
** The "Monsterpiece Theater" theme is slightly different from the "Masterpiece Theater" theme it is meant to parody, which was unnecessary since the "Masterpiece Theater" theme is public domain.
** Sesame Workshop (then Children's Television Workshop) almost got sued by ATV Music over "Letter B," their parody of Music/TheBeatles' "Music/LetItBe". Then Music/MichaelJackson bought the [=Lennon/McCartney=] catalog, so CTW only paid $50 (which came from composer Chris Cerf's pocket).
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG1nCrnUim4 "I in the Sky"]][[note]]which predates Music/TheAlanParsonsProject's "Eye in the Sky" by a decade[[/note]] is a more subtle pastiche of "Music/YellowSubmarine".
** The song Elmo pounds on the piano at the end of ''Elmo's World'' sketches is eight notes (in the end) away from "Jingle Bells," with a different word repeated 28 times.
** In one jogging montage, they played music suspiciously similar to, but legally different from, ''Vangelis''' main theme to ''Film/ChariotsOfFire.''
** Possibly unintentional, but the song at the end of the "Journey to Ernie" segments is, especially in the final bars, quite similar to the ending theme from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast''.
** "Monster In The Mirror" sounds like a slower version of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee.
** The second part of [[https://youtu.be/4JWwOzEDGss "The Geometry of Circles"]], composed by Music/PhilipGlass of all people, resembles [[https://youtu.be/Ovt7iGFkBiY "The Dignity of Labour, Part 3"]] by Music/TheHumanLeague (MK 1).
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh3QY9HpZV8 "Above It All"]] is suspiciously similar to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=355Fk8drgZE "Gloria"]] by Umberto Tozzi/Laura Branigan.
** [[https://youtu.be/ZwnB6PO5SsM "New Ball in Town"]], oddly, is similar to [[https://youtu.be/Ccapt6Xjwjc "Up on the House Top"]], which is a public domain Christmas song.
** "Listen to the Bells" is a close sound alike of Music/TheBeachBoys' "Barbara Ann".
* ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'' featured parodies of pop songs with scientific lyrics for its music videos, in addition to Suspiciously Similar Songs to several tunes, e.g. La Bamba, the 007 theme, Wipe Out (the surfing song), etc. Some of the parodies, much like ''Series/SesameStreet'', deviated rather far from their source material, such as "The Moon Cycle" (Music/{{Queen}}'s "Bicycle Race"), "My Favorite Star" (Music/DeepPurple's "Highway Star"), and "G.R.A.V.I.T.Y." (either 2 Unlimited's "Twilight Zone" or [[Film/MortalKombat The Immortals' "Techno Syndrome"]]).

* ''Series/MythBusters'' has a number of songs that fit this trope, most blatantly an off-key version of Music/{{Queen}}'s "Keep Yourself Alive."

* One episode of ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'' had the "Macalana," which was nearly identical to the Macarena.

* In one episode of ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'', Raven knocked over a lamp while compulsively dancing to "HER JAM!", which sounded suspiciously like the understandably danceable song "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce.

* The theme from the ''Creator/{{Sprout}}'' series ''Noodle and Doodle'' sounds like the minor enemy encounter (i.e. Hammer Bros.) theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''.

* The theme tune to the Creator/CBeebies show ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTc2TqyzN94 Topsy and Tim]]'' sounds exceptionally like Music/CarlyRaeJepsen's "Call Me Maybe", right down to the instruments.

* The theme song of ''Series/BetweenTheLions'' sounds an awful lot like "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 The Lion King]]''. Since both are about lions and the former began airing six years after the release of the former, the similarity is probably not accidental.

* The title song from the ''Series/WimziesHouse'' episode "Achoo!" sounds quite a bit like the "Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" song from ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}} Madeline's Christmas]]''. Especially since both songs feature Sonja Ball, who voices Wimzie here and Nicole in the ''Madeline'' special. They were also both produced by Cinar.
* ''Series/{{LazyTown}}'':
** "Bing Bang" sounds like a mashup of the Music/SpiceGirls' "Wannabe" and Music/TheHumanLeague's "Don't You Want Me".
** "No One's Lazy in [=LazyTown=]" sounds like an awful lot like Music/RickyMartin's "Livin' La Vida Loca".
** The main riff to "Cooking By The Book" sounds similar to the opening riff for Music/{{TLC}}'s "No Scrubs".
** "I Am A Prince", while mostly a pastiche of the late-90s Cheiron Studios style, has similarities to "Larger Than Life" by the Music/BackstreetBoys.

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* The theme song for the Creator/CBeebies series ''TVSeries/TopsyAndTim'' sounds very similar to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

* The theme song to British geriatric cop show ''New Tricks'' is 'It's Alright' (sic) written by Mike Moran and sung by Dennis Waterman. The words and melody are ''very'' similar to 'The End of the Line', by The Traveling Wilburys. A version of this, also sung by Waterman, was used for the pilote episode.

* The theme song to British geriatric cop show ''New Tricks'' is 'It's Alright' (sic) written by Mike Moran and sung by Dennis Waterman. The words and melody are ''very'' similar to 'The Enf of the Line', by The Traveling Wilburys. A version of this, also sung by Waterman, was used for the pilote episode.

** Billy Idle's "Rebel L" is suspiciously similar to Music/BillyIdol - "Rebel Yell." ** Bruce Stringbean's "Born to Add" and "Barn in the USA" spoof Music/BruceSpringsteen's "Music/BornToRun" and "Born in the USA," respectively.

** "Cereal Girl" was a pastiche of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Material Girl", using the same beat and chord progression with a different melody. "It's Hip to Be a Square" is of course, a near-note-for-note parody of Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews' "Hip to be Square." Billy Idle - "Rebel L" is suspiciously similar to Music/BillyIdol - "Rebel Yell." Bruce Stringbean's "Born to Add" and "Barn in the USA" spoof Music/BruceSpringsteen's "Music/BornToRun" and "Born in the USA," respectively.

* ''Music/TheRutles'', a fictional band with its own telemovie back in the late 1970s and several "reunion tours" since, have plenty of Beatles sound-alike tunes in their repertoire (not surprising, since they're a Beatles parody), all composed by Neil Innes and Eric Idle. However, EMI thought they didn't sound different enough, and, one lawsuit later, several of the songs on the original soundtrack were (and still are) legally credited to Innes, Lennon, and [=McCartney=].

* The title song from the ''Series/WimziesHouse'' episode "Achoo!" sounds quite a bit like the "Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" song from ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}} Madeline's Christmas]]''. Especially since both songs feature Sonja Ball, who voices Wimzie here and Nicole in the ''Madeline'' special.

* The soundtrack in season 3 episode 7 of Series/MoneyHeist, during the chase when the Professor and the Inspector are trying to escape in the ambulance (about 33:12 on), is a beat-for-beat recreation of [[https://youtu.be/4sCXkpZsBRg Brothers In Arms]]" from Film/MadMaxFuryRoad.

* The theme song for the Creator/CBeebies series TVSeries/TopsyAndTim sounds very similar to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

* The famous bass EpicRiff that opens the ''Series/BarneyMiller'' theme was improvised in the studio by session musician Chuck Berghofer, but he later admitted that he based it around a riff he'd heard in Music/JamesTaylor's "Rock 'n' Roll is Music Now". Indeed, the Taylor riff starts off on bass toward the end of the song and is picked up by the other instruments in a BoleroEffect.

* The theme tune to ''Topsy And Tim'' sounds almost exactly like Music/CarlyRaeJepsen's "Call Me Maybe".

* ''The Edison Twins''' animated educational segments used a quite obvious Suspiciously Similar Song to the ''Creator/LaurelAndHardy'' theme music.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxIbo2aEOQ "Maybe You Won't Die Alone"]] takes its inspiration from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aobVs-HfsCI "Kiss the Girl"]] from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', albeit executed as a mariachi number rather than as a calypso.

** "Do the D'Dew" is an evil version of [[Disney/{{SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs}} "The Silly Song"]].

* The soundtrack in season 3 episode 7 of Series/MoneyHeist, during the chase when the Professor and the Inspector are trying to escape in the ambulance (about 33:12 on), is a beat-for-beat recreation of [[https://youtu.be/4sCXkpZsBRg Brothers In Arms]]" from Film/MadMaxFuryRoad,

* The theme tune to ''Series/TopsyAndTim'' sounds almost exactly like Music/CarlyRaeJepsen's "Call Me Maybe".

* Comedian Creator/FrankSidebottom once performed a sketch in which he claimed that 'after the first six notes you have to pay royalties'. He proceeded to perform a cover-version of the ''Film/StarWars'' theme tune, with a handful of notes played a semitone off at the times in the tune where they would sound the most agonizingly painful.

** And of course, among other ''Film/StarWars'' nods, the Gorma leitmotif in ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'' is a slightly-altered Imperial March.

** "[[Creator/{{Eminem}} My name is, my name is]], my name is Charles the Second..."