# TV shows that changed the most between their first & last episodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004 "2009-09-21T21:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/61 "2009-09-25T23:58:03Z")
Laverne & Shirley. The whole cast somehow moved from Milwaukee to LA together. By the end, Shirley had even disappeared and it was just Laverne. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/62 "2009-09-26T01:29:29Z")
**Beverly Hillbillies** B/W episodes, Hillbillies adapting to 20th century technology. first color episodes, Hillbillies taking on 1960’s “softball” social issues. (women’s lib, hippies) last episodes, Hillbillies inheriting castle in England, buying Central Park in NYC. I love the B/W episodes, the color episodes, myeh. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/63 "2009-09-26T02:04:09Z")
Family Feud: When Richard Dawkins groped all the females a little too much. Bewitched: Big Forehead Darrin (Dick Sergeant) vs Beetlebrow Darrin (Dick York) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/64 "2009-09-26T02:49:06Z")
_Barney Miller_ was supposed to be mostly about Barneys home life with his wife. She was the co-star. The great comedic ensemble took over instead, and her part got smaller and smaller. She was pretty much gone by seaon 3, with a guest app in S 5. I also want to point out that despite the comedy, the show was more like a real Police office than most other “dramas” portayed. \*Lost in Space \*started out as an adventure show, and it ended as Doc Smith, and the Boy & his Robot. Smith was only supposed to be around for a couple of epis., and he gets less and less Evil as time goes on. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/65 "2009-09-26T03:11:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Smith was only supposed to be around for a couple of epis., and he gets less and less Evil as time goes on. I watched that when I was a kid, and I thought he was an Evil Bastard throughout. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/258eb7/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/66 "2009-09-26T13:36:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Dark Shadows, which started out as a soap opera featuring a spooky mansion but no supernatural elements, became a story almost entirely about a vampire (Barnabas) [Dark Shadows - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows). The series ended indeed on an entirely different note than it began. The last storyline took place in a parallel universe set in 1841 with totally different characters and no vampire. That plot was a mélange of Shirley Jackson’s _The Lottery_, _Wuthering Heights_, with a ghost or two tossed in for supernatural chills. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/67 "2009-09-26T21:00:13Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Laverne & Shirley. The whole cast somehow moved from Milwaukee to LA together. By the end, Shirley had even disappeared and it was just Laverne. Actually it was Squiggy, Laverne, Carmine and her Father stayed on. It would’ve been better to have Big Rosie, come in from Milwaukee to live with Laverne after Shirely left. I would call “Archie Bunker’s Place,” a continuation series such as “Mayberry RFD” or “Three’s Company,” which continued on as “Three’s A Crowd” Others include: _The Lucy Show_, from being set in NY to CA and by the time it hit California, the continuity from one show to the other was so often ignored, each episode of the California show was almost unique unto itself. Many characters changed. For instance, on _Andy Griffith_, in the beginning Andy Taylor while always basically honest, was not above doing a bit of a “sneak turn,” if it suited his purpose. By the time it went color, Sheriff Taylor was 100% by the book never do anything wrong ever. Show such as _Happy Days_ changed when one character broke out. In this case Fonzie. Another example is _Too Close For Comfort_, which started out as a show about a man, his wife and two kids. Then JM J Bullock came in as a one shot and the show then basically revolved around the Monroe characher and Ted Knights character. This show produced a “continuation show,” called “The Ted Kinght Show.” _Family Ties_ was a rare example of a show that could’ve easily been turned into the “Michael J Fox” show, and to a degree it was, but the Alex character was stopped from totally taking over the show as happend with “the Fonz” on _Happy Days_. _Rhoda_ was a long lasting show that was simply all over the map. Oddly enough I found that _Rhoda_ by the time it settled down was much better in its last two years. Of course there was _the Doris Day Show_ famous for having four completely different formats in five years ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/68 "2009-09-26T21:04:35Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Show such as _Happy Days_ changed when one character broke out. In this case Fonzie. That’s the show that first came to mind. The show used to be centered around Richie, his family, and his friends. It ended being the Fonzie Show. Even Fonzie changed; he was a low-key background character at first. M_A_S\*H changed in a way that’s hard to describe. Sure, it was a great comedy, but it just became too preachy, among other things. Turning into the Hawkeye Show, cast changes … ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/69 "2009-09-26T21:22:42Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Family Feud: When Richard Dawkins groped all the females a little too much. Was this before or after he wrote those books about evolution? \<\_\< ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/70 "2009-09-27T00:16:45Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Only if we pretend that Season 7 never happened… Or that _The Wire_ never existed. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/71 "2009-09-27T02:04:20Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Only if we pretend that Season 7 never happened… I don’t know what you’re talking about. Buffy ended at the end of Season FIVE. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/72 "2009-09-27T02:16:44Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I’m guessing in the case of the “The Doris Day Show”, the constant retooling of the show’s premise had to do with ratings and the network’s stubborn refusal to admit defeat and give up on a program with a then high-profile star like Day. If the show had starred anybody else, it would’ve been gone after the first season. I think it was because Miss Day was under contract and they had to pay her for five seasons, so they kept trying to see if they could make enough money repolishing the turd to pay for her. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/73 "2009-09-27T02:21:46Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The Facts of Life started out with Mrs. Garrett and a male headmaster dealing with the problems of about 10 girls (including Molly Ringwald) - after the first season, most of the kids left (and so did the headmaster). A new kid (Jo) arrived, and the stories thereafter were about the four kids and their interactions with Mrs. Garrett. And it ended with Cloris Leachman and George Clooney and some kid in a bakery or something, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/74 "2009-09-27T05:37:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I don’t know what you’re talking about. Buffy ended at the end of Season FIVE. I really hate this meme, that such and such never happened, because someone didn’t care for it. It _might_ have been funny back when Og the Caveman first used it. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/75 "2009-09-27T20:36:11Z")
Wanna see something weird? Watch the first batch of Simpsons “Tracy Ullmann” shorts, compare them to the first “The Simpsons” season, then compare that to a 5th season show, then compare _that_ to a current episode! That’s quite a shift, if I may say so… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/76 "2009-09-27T21:17:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I really hate this meme, that such and such never happened, because someone didn’t care for it. It _might_ have been funny back when Og the Caveman first used it. Og never used it. In fact, no one ever used it. I don’t know what you’re even talking about.😃 > [@Markxxx](#): > > Actually it was Squiggy, Laverne, Carmine and her Father stayed on. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply she was the only cast member left at the end:smack:, just that she was the only TITLE character left at the end. > [@](#): > > Many characters changed. For instance, on Andy Griffith, in the beginning Andy Taylor while always basically honest, was not above doing a bit of a “sneak turn,” if it suited his purpose. By the time it went color, Sheriff Taylor was 100% by the book never do anything wrong ever. Yeah, like when they made a big deal about him never using a gun, to the point that some big film producers flew him out to Hollywood to film his life story or something like that. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he did use guns in some of the earlier eps. I don’t know if he ever fired them, but he had them. > [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > And it ended with Cloris Leachman and George Clooney and some kid in a bakery or something, didn’t it? The bakery was post-school cafeteria era, but still not even close to the end. They also had some novelty store in there (following a house burning down very special episode) and by the end had given up on that. Cloris was Mrs. Garrett’s sister, Beverly Anne, and she came in near the end when the other actress left. Andy (Mackenzie Astin) was some kid that lived across the street from the store, but at some point he became an orphan (I think this was a retcon, as I seem to recall him being a latch key kid at first), and wound up being adopted by Beverly Anne and moving into the house (part of the reason they closed the store was to build him a room in that space). Clooney was in there somewhere in the middle, I think in the era when they were building the novelty store. He was LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG gone by the time the show ended. The last year or so, they also added a young girl who was a foreign exchange student from Australia. Pippa. Interesting tidbit - Near the end there was a “backdoor pilot” for a spinoff/continuation that would’ve had Blair as headmistress (or something to that effect) back at Eastland, and involved letting boys attend the school. Two of the kids in this episode were Juliette Lewis and Seth Green. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/77 "2009-09-28T12:14:46Z")
Did I miss a mention of _Married With Children_ somewhere in this thread? That seems to me an obvious example. The first season was a pretty standard family sitcom, before it became the outlandishly sarcastic, over-exaggerated play between superficially-defined characters. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/78 "2009-09-28T15:15:50Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I really hate this meme, that such and such never happened, because someone didn’t care for it. It _might_ have been funny back when Og the Caveman first used it. Similarly, I hate the overuse of the term _meme_. Generally I deal with it by pretending not to see it. Amazing how easy that is. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/79 "2009-09-28T17:38:48Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > I’ve thought there was a world of difference between the first season of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW and the last, (not even counting MAYBERRY RFD). Early Andy the emphasis was on comedy, and funny situations, later Andy was more character driven and less going for funny. And very early Andy had Andy himself taking an active role in the comedy but he soon eased into a reactive role as the ensemble filled out. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004/80 "2009-09-28T21:48:08Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] _Similarly, I hate the overuse of the term meme. Generally I deal with it by pretending not to see it. Amazing how easy that is_. [/QUOTE] Well, you could, every time someone uses the word, try and tell them there is no such word.😉 (I don’t really like that word either, for the record) > [@moe](#): > > Did I miss a mention of Married With Children somewhere in this thread? That seems to me an obvious example. The first season was a pretty standard family sitcom, before it became the outlandishly sarcastic, over-exaggerated play between superficially-defined characters. Yeah, probably helped that they got a lot of press when they started doing outrageous things, so they just started going over the top with everything. And it worked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-changed-the-most-between-their-first-last-episodes/511004.md?page=5)