# TV characters whose personalities drastically changed during series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473 "2008-12-03T06:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/101 "2008-12-06T00:49:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > This is so common on soaps that it’s hardly worth a mention. Luke Spencer rapes Laura Baldwin and they end up being a soap super couple. Yeah, and they moved in next to the Left-Handed Man. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/102 "2008-12-06T04:30:41Z")
How about Kerry Weaver on **e.r.**? At first she was a raging bitch. Then she was a raging bitch some more. And then she was _still_ a bitch. Then, suddenly human, though gruff. Then human with the occasional gruff or bitchy moment. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/103 "2008-12-06T04:46:18Z")
Didn’t she become a vagitarian somewhere in there, too? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/104 "2008-12-06T05:12:42Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Didn’t she become a vagitarian somewhere in there, too? While discussing the trendy “secret lesbian” (or newly bisexual) plotline that runs through so many series lately, my mom claims that Kerry dated men first too, so maybe she did _become_ a lesbian. I don’t recall her seeming to prefer men, though, so I’ll leave the debate about if that was a tranformation to people with better memories. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/105 "2008-12-06T12:16:02Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > While discussing the trendy “secret lesbian” (or newly bisexual) plotline that runs through so many series lately, my mom claims that Kerry dated men first too, so maybe she did _become_ a lesbian. I don’t recall her seeming to prefer men, though, so I’ll leave the debate about if that was a tranformation to people with better memories. The was a quick scene in one of her early episodes where an African man showed up and it seemed that had been or still were lovers. Probably her first scene where she wasn’t a raging bitch. I don’t think that guy showed up again. The writers were probably still trying to figure out which characters should have an interracial romance. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/106 "2008-12-06T13:11:44Z")
In the first episode of ‘Green Acres’, Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor) was a sneering, sharp-tongued bitch, who made no secret of how much she hated being shanghai-ed from Manhattan luxury to the sticks. But she soon softened up into sweet, goofy eye candy - it almost seemed like Hooterville had instantly, mystically dumbed her down. The first one I thought of when I saw the thread title was Ryan on ‘The Office’. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/107 "2008-12-07T02:20:53Z")
Sheriff Andy Taylor of "“The Andy Griffith Show” went from a fun loving, guitar playing, wise cracking character with a knack for storytelling to a serious, short tempered man who was constantly riled by Goober’s latest stupid blunder. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/108 "2008-12-07T03:29:53Z")
Didn’t Kerry date Clancy Brown’s character on a multi-story arc? He was an administrator or something… And the Luke & Laura thing on _General Hospital_ is what I came in to post. I thought it was creepy in junior high school that she fell in love with the guy who raped her on the floor of the disco, and they became the standard for Soap Opera Super Couple. They did revisit it, though, decades later, as Lucky and whoever his half-brother was got into a fistfight over whats-his-name telling Lucky that his dad was a rapist. ---
**Author:** ![Thalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@Thalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thalion)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/109 "2008-12-07T03:56:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hogg, otoh, was a much darker character in the early episodes: he was into all sorts of vice from bootleg recordings to shake-downs and blackmail- . Even worse was Sheriff Lobo (from _BJ and the Bear_). He was introduced in a two-hour movie (I think there were a couple of them before _BJ_ became a series) as a Sheriff who arrested women and forced them into white slavery. BJ was hired to get the women out of the county in his truck, and Lobo did everything he could to kill him. BJ won, of course, because he had a chimp on his side. When they spun Lobo off into his own series, he was suddenly a heroic, fish-out-water Lawman (sort of like a comic version of _McCloud_). Now, anyone who actually knows what I’m talking about has an idea how freaking old I am! ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/110 "2008-12-07T06:33:40Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Is he content merely to be Alison Hannigan’s boy toy?) Just checking in to say that I would be absolutely 100% hunky-dory OK with that as my fate. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/111 "2008-12-07T07:18:48Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Sheriff Andy Taylor of "“The Andy Griffith Show” went from a fun loving, guitar playing, wise cracking character with a knack for storytelling to a serious, short tempered man who was constantly riled by Goober’s latest stupid blunder. But he recovered in time to become a wise old defense attorney with a lot of white suits! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/112 "2008-12-07T18:24:21Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > How about Kerry Weaver on **e.r.**? At first she was a raging bitch. Then she was a raging bitch some more. And then she was _still_ a bitch. Then, suddenly human, though gruff. Then human with the occasional gruff or bitchy moment. They [lampshaded](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging) that when Susan Lewis came back to the series after several seasons away. Practically the entire staff had turned over since Susan had left, but she does a double-take when she sees Kerry. Paraphrase from memory: Susan: “_She’s_ still here?” Jerry: “Worse. She’s in charge.” > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Didn’t she become a vagitarian somewhere in there, too? When I read that, I laughed so loud I scared my cats. 🙂 Never heard that term before. 🙂 > [@elfkin477](#): > > so maybe she did _become_ a lesbian. I don’t recall her seeming to prefer men, though, so I’ll leave the debate about if that was a tranformation to people with better memories. She was supposedly in the closet and in denial up until Kim Legaspi seduced her in S7. > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > (And haven’t the fictioneers speculated on what else Ripper & Young Ethan might have gotten up to in the old days.) Best fanfic covering the Ripper/Ethan relationship I’ve ever read: [_House of Women_](http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=nwhepcat&keyword=House+of+Women&filter=all) by nwhepcat. Post-Chosen, the earlier stories in that series went AU sometime during Angel 5th season (Wesley comes back as a Watcher rather than continuing to work for Angel at W&H). \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/113 "2008-12-07T19:18:06Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Sheriff Andy Taylor of "“The Andy Griffith Show” went from a fun loving, guitar playing, wise cracking character with a knack for storytelling to a serious, short tempered man who was constantly riled by Goober’s latest stupid blunder. True dat… he went from Sheriff Friendly Cornpone in the first few episodes to eventually the usually pissed off town daddy trying to keep his idiot deputy and the idiot townsfolk out of trouble. By the time the series ended he was a pretty hardcore guy when crossed. You had no trouble imagining he’d take a belt to Opey if he felt the situation called for it or kill a bad guy. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/114 "2008-12-07T20:54:18Z")
> [@astro](#): > > True dat… he went from Sheriff Friendly Cornpone in the first few episodes to eventually the usually pissed off town daddy trying to keep his idiot deputy and the idiot townsfolk out of trouble. By the time the series ended he was a pretty hardcore guy when crossed. You had no trouble imagining he’d take a belt to Opey if he felt the situation called for it or kill a bad guy. It was that damn Warren Ferguson! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/115 "2008-12-07T22:06:10Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Elaine underwent a similar radical transformation, but I thought the writers’ explanation for the change was interesting. In her first season (she wasn’t even in the pilot), she was cute, sweet, charming, fun…everything that all of Jerry’s other friends _weren’t_. It didn’t make sense that a woman with so much going for her would hang out with such a bunch of losers. The writers hit on the idea that she only hung around them because she had basically alienated everyone else around her by being a total bitch. This was addressed on the show, although I think it was hinted that she _became_ a more unpleasant person because she spent so much time with Jerry, George, and Kramer. In earlier seasons Elaine was depicted as having a number of female friends. She has a baby shower for one, she is the “best man” at a lesbian wedding, and is having some sort of get-together at her apartment when Jerry gives her the cigar store Indian. As time goes by she seems to become increasingly outspoken and judgmental, although at least initially this is based on her political/moral beliefs (like being pro-choice). By season seven she says she has no female friends left and tries to befriend Susan. She does have some female friends the next season, but they don’t seem to be close and she manages to alienate them through her hatred of _The English Patient_. Also in season eight she begins dating the “Bizarro Jerry” and tries to join his kind, considerate, and intellectual bunch of friends, but things don’t work out because she’s too aggressive and has rude mannerisms (like eating from the fridge without asking) that she’s picked up from spending too much time around Jerry & Co. In the end, Jerry, George, and Kramer seem to be the only close friends she has left. Oh, I confirmed my memory of these episodes using a website I just discovered, [Seinfeld Scripts](http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/). It has both summaries and complete scripts for _Seinfeld_ episodes. Fun stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/116 "2008-12-07T22:56:52Z")
The most extreme and sudden example of character change has to be Homer Simpson in _Police Cops_. The producers changed him overnight from a can-do action guy to a boneheaded klutz. I seem to recall there was some guy with the same name who had to change it because his buddies ribbed him so mercilessly. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/117 "2008-12-07T22:59:30Z")
I thought Ross in Friends deteriorated badly as the show went on. He started out as a professor of anthropology, witty if a bit on the nebbish side. He ended up being a whiny neurotic loser. Whether that was a natural evolution of his three divorces or lazy writing, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/118 "2008-12-08T10:27:41Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I thought Ross in Friends deteriorated badly as the show went on. He started out as a professor of anthropology, witty if a bit on the nebbish side. He ended up being a whiny neurotic loser. Whether that was a natural evolution of his three divorces or lazy writing, I don’t know. The final straw for me with hiim was when he and Rachel got married in Vegas under the influence and the next day Rachel said “It’s fine, we can just get an annulment”. Ross pulls this goofy grin and says “But, I can’t be a man who’s been divorced three times”. I mean seriously, what the fuck? ---
**Author:** ![Liche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Liche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liche)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/119 "2008-12-08T22:14:38Z")
Agreed re: Ross. You can date a random Friends episode simply by watching Ross for five seconds. If he is a plausible human being, it’s season 5 or before. This corresponds pretty closely with the entire show becoming but a pale shadow of its former glory. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473/120 "2008-12-08T22:37:48Z")
IIRC, Kerry Weaver ( **e.r.** )did have a brief (consummated) heterosexual affair with someone who was doing business with the hospital (selling medical supplies or something). I \*think \*it ended because he expected preferential treatment in their professional relationship. Anyway, she’s a good example of a big personality change. The best one mentioned so far, I think, is Mark from \*\*Roseanne \*\*-- not because he got dumber (he did, but it wasn’t a qualitative change), but because he started out as an evil biker scumbag and turned into a dim but devoted husband and a hard worker. **Homer Simpson** didn’t just get dumber, he became completely psychotic. I miss the Homer Simpson who lived on planet Earth. Ooh, good one: Bubbles on **The Wire**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-whose-personalities-drastically-changed-during-series/475473.md?page=7)