The 4400 changed alot since it was a mini-series.

It went from stand alone "New ability of the week" episodes to a large scale serial drama in it's last 2 seasons.

Actually it was a TV version of the movie MOONRUNNERS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrunners

MOONRUNNERS was narrated by Waylon Jennings and about 2 cousins who ran moonshine for their Uncle Jesse. Oh, and the evil county boss is assisted by Sheriff Roscoe Coltrane.

"The Office"

At first, it was about the awkward, hilarious, and sometimes painful, relationships and situations that arise when you're crammed into an office with a bunch of co-workers. But now it's a cartoon about anything but an office.

Are you being serious? He's talking about Chuck Cunningham, Ritchie's older brother who was seen walking up the stairs in the first episode and never seen again.

Of course, if you were just trying to be funny... then ignore this post.

Exactly.

Until the writers have confirmation that the network will stick with the series, they can't make long, sweeping, multi-season arcs.

I wouldn't say Buffy and Angel changed their premise so much as they were able to become more of what Joss intended.

I could've sworn I read interviews with Joss where he said Angel was originally intended to be more like its first season instead of so heavily serialized.

Yeah, I know. I was just making an example of what "ER" turned into. "Grey's Anatomy" isn't that popular around here so I thought it would make a good example.

I was reading these posts and waiting for someone to comment on that one! Not only the Chuck mention but also Doug which is the poster's name and he was signing his post! :lol:

Family Matters from a family to the Urkel show
Dawson's Creek went from a show about Dawson coming of age to Joey's relationships with men.
Gargoyles went from a the main characters adapting to the 20th century to the characters traveling through time.
90210 went through to many plots changes to count

Boomtown stopped telling non-linear stories, got rid of a few characters, and made the paramedic a cop.

Then it got cancelled 6 episodes later.

Way to go.

Doug did kind of change when it became Disney's Dough, though. ;)

Battlestar Galactica started out as an awesome war between people and machines.

Now it's about how humans and machines work together to find Earth...

WTF is that?!?!?!?

Don't care still love this show and pop in the dvd every few months

Has anyone watched the first season of Lost recently? 95 percent of the first season is just them on the island - then season two gets here and bam! I'm sure it was all intentionally done but it was a huge change.

The Wire, but that's not a bad thing.

I do too, but the 6 episodes I spoke of aren't even available on DVD.

I remember reading the same thing when Angel first premiered. It was originally envisioned more as a detective/film noir weekly thing with Angel filling in as the Phillip Marlowe. But they realized they needed a bigger arc.

was just thinking about this the other day, and how at first Adama made up "earth" just to give people hope.

That didn't mean it never existed, though. It just meant that he believed it to be a myth. Probably still would if it wasn't for the Tomb of Athena and the Arrow of Apollo.

Agree about Family Matters, but I liked its second half of the series much better than the first half of the series. I was fine with Urkel being a much bigger part of it. They still found plenty of time to focus on Eddie, Laura, Harriet, and Carl and their lives and the kids "growing up".

Agree that LOST changed some.. I did somewhat recently rewatch it. Much of it was exploring past experiences and learning the characters and them learning about each other and the island. Not much crazy stuff actually happened compared to what happens now.

If Family Matters changed a lot, Step By Step changed a some too. You could say it was just the progression of the show, but I think a little more than just that. They wrote off Brendan with no explanation. Like Family Matters I like that they concentrated on the older kids and them growing up and the introduction of Rich. Not sure what happened with Jean-Luc season though, that was completely out of the blue, then he was completely gone.

When were Laverne & Shirley on the East Coast?

The east coast of Milwaukee?

Bosom Buddies changed pretty drastically when they stopped dressing up as chicks.

To this day I'm still not sure what the Dukes Of Hazzard people were trying to pull off by completely changing Bo and Luke into totally different, look-alike cousins, dressed the same, driving the same car, and getting into the same trouble.

It was contract negotiations. John & Tom wanted more money and the studio thought the show was about the car and the chases, not about Bo & Luke. They gambled and they lost.

They stopped dressing up like chicks? I thought that was the entire premise of the show.

Seinfeld

Yep, Lindelof and Cuse recently joked about the changes the show has gone through from season one. They mentioned how a key element in season one was the surviviors getting water to survive, while now they have to actually move something ... rather large lol.

When did Milwaukee move to the East Coast?

Once they revealed themselves to the girls, they still lived in the hotel as women, but weren't shown in drag much. The focus changed to their new advertising business, 60 Second Street.

And yes, I knew that off the top of my head.