Sweet! CSI: Fantasy Island!

Smallville.

Started out (first season) as a villian of the week with some minor serial connecting threads.

Now is a serial with minor short term villians.

The producers realize that it is the subtle growth of Clark Kent and his relationship with the people around him that is the strength of the show. Not the episodic villians that would pop up and quickly fade away.

The West Wing: Started out as the Rob Lowe show and turned into an ensemble show starring Martin Sheen.

i just hate how they changed the simpsons it was fantastic then they ruined it for mainstream appeal.

I'd argue against this. Early on, the show was focused heavily around Bart and his friends. As Bart's mainstream popularity began to fade with kids, the focus switched to Homer and the broader cast of characters found within Springfield.

"La Femme Nikita" had some changes of direction during its run and did anybody yet mention "Alias"?

Like Boomtown I'd argue Alias changed because of network execs, not the audience. The takedown of SD-6 was Abram's thing.

Early on (1st season) the show was about the family. Then it focused on Bart then on Homer.

Quote:

As Bart's mainstream popularity began to fade with kids, the focus switched to Homer and the broader cast of characters found within Springfield.

Then there is the show today.

Where the focus is almost always Homer and his cartoonish "adventures" while every other character makes their obligatory comment/action and is reduced to nothing more than a caricature.

Not to go off on too much of a tangent, but what about shows that did away with characters entirely like:

Happy Days - Richie's older brother Chuck disappeared after a couple of seasons.

Cosby show - Lisa Bonet's character ceased to exist toward the end of the show's run.

King of Queens - originally it had Carrie's recently-divorced, formerly well-off, now broke single mom SISTER moving in with them. It (thankfully) changed to Jerry Stiller as Carrie's dad.

I'm not sure if I understand the distinction. The network execs stepped in because of what they felt was negative audience reaction.

From what I understand it wasn't negative audience reaction that caused the network to step in (even with the changes the ratings for Alias haven't changed all that much). They thought getting rid of the weekly dangling storylines would allow more people to come into the show midstream. If you read the posts around the internet, the people already watching the show were just fine. I guess to me changing a show because of audience reaction is different from changing a show to bring in a larger audience.

I think I'd disagree with that. I sort of feel like the show was always meant to be an ensemble show. I would agree that Rob Lowe's problem with the hooker was the most interesting thing in the pilot, but I always thought the main focus was on how things get done behind the scenes in the White House.

Enterprise.

It was always going to be an ensemble, but with Rob Lowe at the center, not Martin Sheen. The President was supposed to be a minor, mostly offscreen character.

The Jack and Karen Show (w/ weekly guest celebrity) Thursday nights on NBC.

Huh? The Brady Bunch always remained a semi-serious show.

That's only fair, since the older sister didn't exist in the early episodes.

In the first episode, one of the parents mentions that they have "four kids". This magically changes to 5 later on.

Johnny Bravo? Hair tonic? I don't think so...

But there was always a serious lesson to be learned. Johnny Bravo was actually a fairly serious episode dealing with the price of fame, the meaning of family, etc. Maybe they edit out all of the serious stuff in your market?

In early episodes of That 70's Show Donna had a little sister - soon to be forgotten.

Originally Gilligan's Island was only supposed to be a three hour tour.














Sorry...

John Larroquette Show, The
SeaQuest DSV
Sliders

i have watched all the shows in the title when i was younger. I feel like an old man now lol