In a dual Video Games and Live Action TV Name's the Same, Doctor Who mentions a... thing from the Time War named The Nightmare Child. Meanwhile, the multimedia promotion of the KISS reunion album "Psycho Circus" featured the Colon Cancer suffering but surprisingly good First-Person Shooter Kiss: Psych Circus: The Nightmare Child for the Sega Dreamcast and PC, with the main villain being the titular Nightmare Child (who lived up to his name, as did the arena you fought him in, which was covered in eyes that shot shuriken).
Speaking of Doctor Who, the character River Song was eventually revealed to be originally Melody Pond. A recurring character on Law & Order was called Miranda Pond; both characters are played by Alex Kingston.
There's also Same Name, with celebrities trading places with the civilians with the same name.
Before "Bankrupt", "Buy A Vowel", and "I'd like to solve the puzzle", Wheel of Fortune was the name of a CBS game which aired from 1952-53. In that version, a wheel determined prizes awarded to people who did good deeds.
Wheel also provides an in-work example, as the show had two different categories called Fill In the Blank. After about a year in which both were used, one of them was renamed Next Line Please. Both are now retired.
The Price Is Right is produced by one Adam Sandler, who is not the same as the actor.
Once again with the in-work examples, they've had two different pricing games called Bullseye and Balance Game.
Before the 90s courtroom drama The Practice, there was an early 70s one season sitcom starring Danny Thomas as a Doctor who refuses to give up his practice in a low income neighborhood despite the protests of his Private Practice son.
In between the two there was a British TV series called The Practice as well (a soap set in the world of medicine). Luckily the gaps in between all three shows were so wide that no one was confused and no retitling was done (both US shows of that name have aired in Britain).
Both ER and Friends have a character named Rachel Greene, with different ages but somewhat-similar personalities and sometimes-similar spellings (Friends never decided whether their Rachel officially had the extra E on the end of her surname or not).
Both ER and E/R were set in a hospital and starred an unknown young actor named George Clooney.
Eric Foreman is the black neurologist from House; Eric Forman (no "e") is the slacker from That '70s Show. Try not to get them confused.
Interestingly, this happens within Star Trek. Though the spelling varies (since the spelling's never shown onscreen, it's irrelevant to the fan on the street), the name "Terellian" gets used a lot for species that can't be related. We've gotta assume the Delta Quadrant ones ("Drive") aren't any of the Alpha Quadrant ones, and among the Alpha Quadrant ones, the four-armed ones mentioned once ("Liaisons") can't be the two-armed ones with the disease ("Haven") or the two-armed boxer ("The Fight")... and the "Haven" and "Fight" Terellians look nothing like each other. That makes at least four species with the same name. The Enterprise in TNG supposedly has some, but the Human Alien version's diseased and no members of the other three are ever seen on the ship, so... that's five. And that's only if we're charitable and assume all mentions of off-screen Terellians, or of things said to be Terellian ("Terellian spices," "Terellian laser art," etc.) are by one of those five. There could possibly be more. If all spelling variants are intentional, the minimum goes up to six.
Hardly surprising that Picard gets confused in "Suddenly Human", and refers to the Talarians as Terellians.
While it doesn't justify the lack of distinguishing between them, it should be noticed that many planets have several different species, which would account for a few of these Terellians.
Plus, between movie number six and Deep Space Nine, there are two Dax of two different species, with very different tastes in shoes.
This troper cannot be the only one to think of the Cardassian race whenever the Kardashian sisters are mentioned.
Word Of God is that the Tamarians and the Temerians fought a war over who got which name.
The Best of Groucho was used as a name for Summer repeats of You Bet Your Life airing on NBC in the 50s, as well as the re-edited version of the show airing in Syndication in the mid 70s.
When Power Rangers fans think of the "Turbo Rangers", they think of the team featured in Power Rangers Turbo, an adaptation of Gekisou Sentai Carranger. However, there was an earlier Super Sentai series titled Kousoku Sentai Turboranger. Even the Gokaigers got both teams mixed-up when they accidentally transformed into the Turborangers when they wanted to transform into the Carrangers. There's also a vehicle called Turboranger in Hikari Sentai Maskman, but the pronunciation is different (it's actually pronounced "Turborunger").
Though the names are not quite spelled the same, there is also Joe Gibken, Gokai Blue, and Jō Ōhara from Choujuu Sentai Liveman. It's mentioned in universe and used to highlight their similar problems with friends turned enemies.
Venjix is the name of two separate Power Ranger villains - the general who led The Remnant of the Machine Empire in the 10-yearMilestone Celebration, and the Big Bad of Power Rangers RPM. While both villains are robotic / AI in nature, there's nothing to suggest any connection beyond that. The Machine Empire Venjix is pretty conclusively blown up at the end of his one appearance, while we see the creation of RPM Venjix via flashback.
In an episode of The Cosby Show, Theo winds up in possession of a joint owed by a male classmate named Tony Braxton. Not to be confused with female Toni Braxton, the singer.
Before there was Jack Shephard on Lost, there was the serial killer Jack Shepard in the movie Frequency. As a bonus, both starred Elizabeth Mitchell, and the actor who played Shepard in the movie (Shawn Doyle) guest-starred on LOST in season 4.
They share a name but not a spelling with actors Jack Shepherd of Wycliffe and Jack P. Shepherd of Coronation Street.
Toei used the name Jiraiya for two different tokusatsu heroes. The first was the title character of Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya, whose civilian identity was Toha Yamaji. The other was Ninja Black from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, whose civilian identity happened to be "Jiraiya".
This was referenced in the episode "Hitting the High Seas". The ship's captain learns that one of the boys is named Davy Jones and assumes he is the descendant of the famous character from folklore - Micky quickly plays into it: "...and when he's 25, he'll inherit the Locker!".
If Captain Jack Pirates of the Caribbean meets Captain Jack Doctor Who/Torchwood what would happen answer Jack(DW/TW) being anything that moves would flirt with Jack and pirate Jack being himself wouldn't care.
A tale of two Davids: Actor Vincent Irizarry as David Chow from The Young and the Restless, or the notorious Dr. David Hayward from All My Children.
Richard Hatch: Heroic original-era Battlestar Galactica lead actor, or villainous Survivor winner/tax evader.
The "Blancmanges from outer space" sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus opens on one Harold Potter. He is explicitly stated to be too boring and normal to bother with, and the camera pans right past him.
During 2009, on Sci-Fi TV, Stargate SG-1 (starring Colonel Samantha Carter) was broadcast just before Eureka (starring Sheriff Jack Carter). When the Voice Over announced the next episode, that Carter faced some Sci Fi adventure, you couldn't tell which program was being announced.
McKinley is a high school plagued by Death in the third Final Destination movie (the fourth reveals that it's the name of the town the school is in) and the high school Glee takes place in. So, if you see someone dying in a freak accident while singing a pop song, you'll know who to blame for that.
The Greatest American Hero's name was originally Ralph Hinkley. But less than 2 weeks after the pilot aired, John Hinkley shot President Reagan so the show changed his name to Ralph Hanley for the rest of the season. For episodes that had already been taped, they dubbed over his name to either block it out entirely (like with a plane flying loudly overhead), or to make his students say "Mr. H." By the second season, I guess ABC felt that enough time had passed, so his name was back to Ralph Hickley for the rest of the show.
The Late Show hosted by David Letterman or the movie The Late Show. Don't confuse the latter with The Late Shift, a movie about how Letterman eventually got the former.
There's also a late show in Australia, a BBC arts program that aired in the early-90s, and a Canadian CBC radio documentary that provides listeners with extended obituaries.
Also on Clarissa Explains It All, Janet's high school sweetheart's name was Joey Russo. Not to be confused with Blossom Russo's brother Joey.
An unusual example, in that they have different names, but identical initials, by which they are almost always referred to rather than by their proper names. There's a "J.D." (John Dorian) on Scrubs, a medical doctor with a propensity for Imagine Spots, and a very different "J.D." (Jason Dean) in the movie Heathers, a homocidal teenager. Funny enough, the actor of that last character (Christian Slater) later played yet another "J.D." in the movie Film.Mindhunters.
Jason Dean shares his name with a Charmed season five/six character.
The second generation of Skins (UK) featured a James Cook and a Naomi Campbell. The latter is briefly given a little Lampshade Hanging when she becomes angry on her first appearance on the show. Averted in Real Life in that the twin who played Katie was Megan Prescott, rather than her sister, Kathryn, who played Emily.
In an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart, Gary meets a man in the 1940s who happens to be called George Harrison, though, according to Gary, "The hair's wrong."
The NCIS episode "SWAK" features a character called Dr. Brad Pitt. It is pointed out that he is no relation to the actor.
NCIS does it again in the episode "Chasing Ghosts", where the victim of the week who was actually the culprit, having faked his own kidnapping and death was named Noah Daniels.
"Annie Walker" has been used as the name of a Coronation Street snoot, a CIA trainee in Covert Affairs, and the protagonist and maid of honor in the 2011 comedy movie Bridesmaids.
Angel had a regular guest-star called Kate Locksley. Robin Hood had a character called Kate of Locksley. Ironically, both were disliked by the fan-base on account of their abrasive personalities and roles as Replacement Love Interests and Replacement Scrappies to more popular female characters.
Rachel Reilly, a contestant on the 13th series of the US version of Big Brother, shares her name (though not the exact spelling) with Rachel Riley, a presenter on the UK gameshow Countdown.
Punky Brewster: both live action and cartoon share the episode title "The Perils Of Punky." Content of each version are very different.
The Defenders: The first from 1962, the second from 2010. Both unrelated to each other apart from being on CBS.
The Avengers has been used as the name of a 1960s UK spy-fi show and a team of superheroes in the Marvel universe.
A promo for ESPN features a pudgy, balding white man named "Michael Jordan" and portrays the disbelief and disappointment of people who expecting the "other" Jordan meet him.
Dr Harley Quinn in the DC universe and Harley Quin in Agatha Christie's "The Mysterious Mr Quin". Also four different DC Comics universe villainesses called Harlequin.
Lucy Lane in the DC universe is Lois Lane's younger sister. She shares her name with Detective Inspector Lucy Lane in UK 1990s detective drama Wycliffe.
Both EastEnders and The O.C. have featured characters named Julie Cooper.
Holby City has used the title "Blood Ties" for two different episodes: Series 9 Episode 18 and Series 15 Episode 12.
Happy Days, which we all know for Fonzie, Richie, etc., was also a variety series that aired on CBS in the summer of 1970. The "happy days" of the latter referred to the 30's and 40's.
Rebecca Knight who plays Anna in the BT ads is not Rebecca Knight who sings with The Opera Babes, or a singer-songwriter who does vocals with Ministry Of Sound and Hed Kandi.
Charley Webb who plays Debbie Dingle in Emmerdale is a different person from the Charley Webb who sings with her sister, Hattie, as The Webb Sisters.
Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas shares a name with a one-off character in the CSI episode "Bittersweet".
Manic Street Preachers sang about Kevin Carter the Pulitzer-prize winning photographer, another was an American National Football League player, while still another turned up as the victim in the CSI:NY episode "Dead Reckoning".
BBC Wales news presenter Sian Lloyd shares her name with ITV weather presenter Siān Lloyd. Also in the news business was journalist Shan Lloyd.
Cole Hauser, the fake name taken by Tracker character Cole/Daggon in a couple eps is the name of a real life, if slightly lesser known, actor.
Supernatural features a single-episode character who goes by the name "Amy Pond." It's an alias, but there is no evidence within the show that it was intentionally taken from Doctor Who.
Two with the name Second Chance: the 1977 precursor to Press Your Luck and a 1987 Fox sitcom with Matthew Perry.
Jamie Oliver-TV chef or keyboardist with Welsh band Lostprophets?
Katie Sutherland, Neil's sister in The Inbetweeners shares a name with Katie Pearl Sutherland, former lead singer of Scots band Pearl and the Puppets and now a solo artist.
Alex Jones, a US newsman, shares a name with the Welsh female presenter of The One Show.
The Chase was the name of a short-lived (2006-07) BBC 1 drama, before the same title was used for an ITV 1 gameshow hosted by Bradley Walsh since 2009.
Alex Reid-UK male boxer involved with model Jordan (Katie Price), or UK actress who appeared as probation officer Sally in Misfits?
Sam GRAY is a UK male singer-songwriter. Sam GREY is a UK actress who played Alice Chantrey in Casualty.
There have been at least 5 different drama series called The Doctors, not counting Doctors plus a factual medical talk show called The Doctors. None of them have anything to do with Gallifrey's most well-known inhabitant.
