NAME’S THE SAME

Seems like TV isn’t just running out of fresh material--it’s also running low on titles.

The just-announced list of pilots looked especially heavy with feature-film connections--until Outtakes did some checking with spokesfolks:

“Making the Grade” (NBC): Paramount’s pilot about high school students who would rather be elsewhere has no relation to a 1984 MGM/UA teen flick with Judd Nelson. It’s based instead on a failed 1982 Paramount pilot about high schoolers. An NBC spokeswoman said the net had never heard of the movie--but will find a new name anyway.

“Starting Over” (CBS): The Warner Bros. hour drama will get a new handle because of the “obvious” conflict with the 1979 Burt Reynolds/Candice Bergen/Jill Clayburgh sad-singles film, said a CBS spokesman. (The pilot stars Stefanie Powers as a “PR lady” working out of London and may be renamed “Maggie.”)

“Blood Brothers” (CBS): This half-hour comedy about the reunion of two boyhood friends (Charles Rocket and Joe Regalbuto) has just been retitled “My Blood Brother” because of WB’s 1979 “Bloodbrothers,” with Richard Gere and Tony Lo Bianco as Italian bros at odds.

“Mixed Company” (CBS): Lorimar’s half-hour comedy about men and women firefighters in NYC has nothing to do with a 1974 UA release (with Joe Bologna and Barbara Harris) about a basketball coach who adopts children of different races. But following Outtakes’ inquiries, a rep said the name will be changed or the rights sought.

Ah, but four other pilots do derive from features: “Popeye Doyle” (NBC, with Ed O’Neill in Gene Hackman’s “French Connection” role); “Starman” (ABC, Robert Hays replacing Jeff Bridges); “Gung Ho” (ABC, Gedde Watanabe segueing from the feature), and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (ABC, with Lewis Smith of “North and South” in place of David Bowie).