History InNameOnly / LiveActionTV

* Slightly averted case: In the 1980s, an American production company approached Creator/JohnCleese with the intention of remaking ''Series/FawltyTowers'' for an American audience. When he asked them about it, they told him they'd only made one slight change from the original; they'd removed the character of Basil Fawlty. They ended up making it, without the Basil Fawlty character, but changed the name right before it aired. It was called ''Amanda's'' and it starred Creator/BeaArthur.

* ''Series/Cursed2020'' and the YA book its based on are intended to be a retelling of the Myth/ArthurianLegend. Aside from certain characters having the same names and/or similar roles (Arthur, Morgana, Nimue, Merlin, Uther Pendragon etc.), having a plot involving a magic sword that OnlyTheChosenMayWield and being set in the British Isles in the Dark Ages, overall the show's plot bears little resemblance to the usual stories in the Arthurian mythos (seeing as it's set up as an origin story for the Lady of the Lake, it may have intended to hew closer to the legends as the series went on, but seeing as it was cancelled after one season we'll never know).

* Creator/TheBBC's ''Series/LarkRiseToCandleford'' and ''Series/TheParadise'' exported the setting and characters, but not the plot, from Flora Thompson's book and Emile Zola's ''Ladies' Paradise'' respectively.

* ''Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie'' very loosely adapts plots from both the Poirot and Miss Marple series, but replaces both of the original detectives with policemen (Larosière in seasons 1-3; Laurence in seasons 4-6), alters storylines considerably, and resets everything in post-WWII France.

* Netflix's ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'' has nothing in common with the [[Literature/TheHauntingOfHillHouse source material]] aside from character names and the haunted house aspect. Everything else, from relationships to the history of the titular house are tweaked in some way or another. It does adapt some plot points in a BroadStrokes manner, such as Nell's mental health issues and [[spoiler:apparent suicide]], but it's otherwise a completely different story.

* The ''Series/{{Goosebumps}}'' episodes ''The Haunted House Game'' and ''Teacher's Pet'' kept the concepts of board games and a snake person from the short stories they were based and that's about it.

* ''Series/{{Cursed}}'' and the YA book its based on are intended to be a retelling of the Myth/ArthurianLegend. Aside from certain characters having the same names and/or similar roles (Arthur, Morgana, Nimue, Merlin, Uther Pendragon etc.), having a plot involving a magic sword that OnlyTheChosenMayWield and being set in the British Isles in the Dark Ages, overall the show's plot bears little resemblance to the usual stories in the Arthurian mythos (seeing as it's set up as an origin story for the Lady of the Lake, it may have intended to hew closer to the legends as the series went on, but seeing as it was cancelled after one season we'll never know).

* In ''Series/SpiderManJapan'', the eponymous hero looks like Franchise/SpiderMan and has the same powers, but he is more a {{toku}}satsu superhero (in fact being '''the''' predecessor for ''Super Sentai'''s HumongousMecha elements) than a comic book superhero. He has a wrist-worn transformation device (although it merely stores the Spider-Man suit in this case), a Spider-Car (technically the comic had one too, but it was totally different and short-lived), his webshooters are voice-activated (he would shout ''Spider String!'') and last but not least, he has a ''HumongousMecha''. Yeah. Imagine Peter "constantly strapped for cash" Parker being able to buy, repair, refuel and run general maintenance on a robot the size of a skyscraper. This Spider - man and Leopardon later play a role in ComicBook/SpiderVerse.\\

* In 2011, NBC made a pilot for a ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' TV series. [[Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot Their version]] of Wondy had more in common with {{Franchise/Batman}} than Wonder Woman, being a rich corporate executive who moonlights as a superhero. Little is made of her Amazon upbringing. Her Lasso of Truth is used only to snag enemies, and never to reveal the truth from anyone, [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique since she does that in a more mundane manner]]. The concept of using the Wonder Woman persona as a company symbol for the public also mirrors the premise of ''Batman Incorporated''.

* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'': So far, at least, Jane Doe is an extremely far cry from her comic-book counterpart, a completely skinless woman whose M.O. is to KillAndReplace other people by removing her victims' skin and hair and wearing it over her own body while [[VoiceChangeling perfectly mimicking their voices]]. Here, she's an ordinary woman (if a bit mentally unhinged) and criminal without any special ability or doing anything like this. Also, the protagonist is Bruce Wayne's adopted son Turner Hayes, who has never appeared in any comic, rather than Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or Damien Wayne.

* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'': So far, at least, Jane Doe is an extremely far cry from her comic-book counterpart, a completely skinless woman whose M.O. is to KillAndReplace other people by removing her victims' skin and hair and wearing it over her own body while [[VoiceChangeling perfectly mimicking their voices]]. Here, she's an ordinary woman (if a bit mentally unhinged) and criminal without any special ability or doing anything like this.