Documentary | Fantasy | Game Shows | Horror | Period Dramas | Police Procedural | Wrestling | Reality Shows | Sci-Fi | Sitcoms | Other Soaps | Superheroes | Variety Shows
- Initiators / Followers
- Capsule Pitch Description: Description
- Implementation: Implementation
- General Hospital (1963, ABC) / The Doctors (1963, NBC)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Daytime drama centering on the staff of a hospital in Everytown, America.
- Implementation: General Hospital started out focusing more on the personal lives of its characters, with Medical Drama as a sidelight. The Doctors was more focused on the medical angle, and began as Genre Anthology rather than a serial, though that only lasted a few months. By the end of The '70s, GH moved toward crowd-pleasing romance, crime and adventure storylines with the hospital as a loose thread connecting the characters, while The Doctors gradually put Medical Drama on the backburner and turned into a traditional soap.
- The Love Boat (1977, ABC) / Flying High (1978, CBS) & Supertrain (1979, NBC)
- Capsule Pitch Description: A guest-star filled mobile City of Adventure
- Implementation: Love Boat took place on a real-life luxury liner. Its' competitors came up with fantasy counterparts for the air (Flying High's super jumbo jet) and land (the titular Supertrain). The focus of the series was slightly different as well: Love Boat followed Fantasy Island's formula of focusing on the guest stars, Flying High focused on the crew's wacky hijinksnote , the train itself was Supertrain's main attraction.
- Dallas (1978) / Dynasty (1981)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Primetime Soap about an Big, Screwed-Up Family of oil tycoons
- Implementation: Both shows ended up defined by larger than life villains (JR Ewing and Alexis Colby respectively) but Dallas kept itself at least a little grounded while Dynasty (1981) enthusiastically embraced its Soap Opera nature. The former had technically superior writing and acting, the later was arguably more fun. The shows even had dueling spinoffs: Knots Landing (Dallas) and The Colbys (Dynasty)
- Bull (2000) / The $treet (2000)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wall Street drama.
- Implementation: Pretty much the same. In Bull a group of investment bankers break away from an established firm and start their own company. Having to struggle with the challenges of being the newcomers in a highly competitive market. In The $treet, viewers got to see the inner workings of a small brokerage firm. In a field dominated by larger firms.
- The O.C. (2003) / One Tree Hill (2003)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Teen Drama about a teenager being thrust into a different social circle, and falling for one of the popular girls.
- Implementation: Both debuted at the start of in the 2003/2004 season. The major difference was that One Tree Hill was focused on a pair of half-brothers who grew up hating each other but shared a common love of basketball, whilst The O.C. focused on a kid from the wrong side of the tracks being taken in by a wealthy family, emo music & comic books were involved.
- Skins (2007) / The Inbetweeners (2008)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Series about the lives of British teenagers.
- Implementation: Both air on E4. The former is a drama and the latter is a comedy. Skins focuses more on the Wild Teen Party aspect of life, resulting in suggestions that "Skins is what teens wish their lives were like, The Inbetweeners is what they actually are."
- Cashmere Mafia (2008) / Lipstick Jungle (2008)
- Capsule Pitch Description: A group of female friends who are all successful businesswomen.
- Implementation: One of them had four women; one had only three. Both were written by former Sex and the City writers.
- The Lying Game (2011) / Ringer (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: A girl steps into a twin's sister's life and identity. Discovery of dirty secrets and drama ensue.
- Implementation: Both mixed elements of mystery with Country Mouse vs. City Mouse. Ringer has a Darker and Edgier storyline than The Lying Game, which focuses more on social secrets a la Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl.
- Billions (2016) / Succession (2018)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Shows about the lives of the ultra-rich power players of New York and their petty in-fighting.
- Implementation: Both air on cable (Billions is on Showtime, Succession is on HBO). The former is a soapy drama and the latter is a black comedy-drama.
- The Kings Of Napa (2022) / Promised Land (2022)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Soapy dramas about a wealthy POC vineyard-owning family in Northern California.
- Implementation: The former, as the name suggests, revolves around a Black family in Napa Valley, while the latter revolves around a Latinx family in Sonoma Valley.
