Useless Trivia #1: Old shows, new titles

In commercial television, it's long been a given that if a network series should last at least 100 episodes or three seasons, old episodes get syndicated - that is, released to local stations. The stations will either purchase the episodes outrightly (and sell all the commercial time), or acquire them on a barter basis (run the show in exchange for airing commercials provided by the syndicator, either during the show or at other times). A major ad agency and its cereal-making client set up a successful syndication firm using the barter system - no doubt made easier after the government forced the networks out of the syndication business in the early '70s.

Until around 1980 or so, the syndicators engaged in a very peculiar practice: if they distributed older episodes of a program still being produced by/for the networks, those older shows would get another title. No doubt this confused many viewers.
Here is a by no means comprehensive list of those alternate syndication titles:

-1950s-
Dragnet (1950s episodes): Badge 714
Gunsmoke (early half hour episodes): Marshall Dillon
The Millionaire: If You Had a Million
The Bob Cummings Show: Love That Bob
Treasury Men in Action: Federal Men
Wagon Train: Major Adams, Trailmaster

-1960s-
The Andy Griffith Show: Andy of Mayberry
Bonanza: Ponderosa

-1970s-
Ironside: The Raymond Burr Show
The Rockford Files: Jim Rockford, Private Investigator
Emergency!: Emergency One
Happy Days: Happy Days Again
CHiPs: CHiPs Patrol

Those are just the ones that came to my mind; there are of course many other examples. Note that later syndication titles merely add one or two words to the original title - so they wouldn't have to completely remake the title sequences.

Another bit of title-swapping by syndicators of yore is when they had two versions of the same movie: a new title was given to the older version. Thus, the 1930 version of "The Maltese Falcon" (with Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade) became "Dangerous Female" while the Bogie version kept its title. The first version of "The Dawn Patrol" was retitled "Flight Commander."
Those who tuned in to the film "Tops is the Limit" were watching the original version of "Anything Goes." The earlier film of "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" was rechristened "The Forbidden Alliance." And so on.

Pardon these spasms of oldfartism. Be warned that they will continue.