Title search can be tough

LOS ANGELES — Settling on a title isn't always as easy at it might seem. Just look at the show ABC is going to premiere on Sunday nights at 9 this fall — how did "The Practice: Fleet Street" become "Fleet Street" become "Boston Legal"?

"Well, the title change was just an attempt to get more people to watch it," said executive producer Scott Kaufer. Which could be said for any title on any show, of course.

Obviously, the "Practice" in the original title came from the long-running series from which the new show was spun off. And then the decision was made to try to separate the spinoff more from the parent show and shorten the title to "Fleet Street."

But that was not initially a favorite of the producers because "it conjured up British journalism," Kaufer said. "And then we started to like it because it had kind of zest to it."

But ABC research indicated more people would tune in to a show called "Boston Legal" than one called "Fleet Street."

"It was a name we could live with, and we signed on the dotted line about that," he said.

Personally, I don't like it. Just because I know that at some point I'm going to inadvertently substitute the title of another David E. Kelley show, "Boston Public," in place of "Boston Legal."

SO SAVAGE: ABC's sitcom about a single father and his five boys, "Savages," is now "Complete Savages," which wasn't something the show's producers or the network wanted to do but had to do.

"Another show had the rights to the title, apparently, and we weren't aware of it," said executive producer Mike Scully. "We had to change the name to something else, so it's 'Complete Savages.'

"But you guys can just call it 'Savages.' "

That should make the folks with the rights to that title real happy.

DESPERATE: The fall's best new series also has perhaps the best title — "Desperate Housewives." Which came about because series creator Marc Cherry was looking for something "slightly different."

"Years ago, my friend Kim did a musical called 'Angry Housewives' . . . and I was just thinking housewives, housewives, housewives," said Cherry of his show, which features Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan as five very different women/neighbors in this comedy/mystery/serial drama.