I have to take some exception with the poster who thinks things are pretty dire when the main character and star of a sitcom have the same first name. Although Bing's show didn't make it past its first season, what about Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards), Bob Newhart (Bob Hartley), Bob Cummings (Bob Collins), Roseanne (Roseanne Conner), Andy Griffith (Andy Taylor), Danny Thomas (Danny Williams), or Joey Bishop (Joey Barnes)? Yes, there have been a few forget-its (Phyllis Diller as Phyllis Pruitt comes to mind), but there have been a number of classics and near-classics where star and main character shared the same first name.