How far from the main idea/cast/plot has a show ever strayed?
 

I recently bought Sliders: The Complete Fourth Season. I recall that the show lost a big group of fans years ago after the 3rd season. I recall watching most of the series when it was first on but was fuzzy on a few things so I looked up some info on it.

Now the show over the years really progressed into a bastardized version of its former self. The small cast that it had changed a fair amount over time and by the last season, had to look this info up because I didn't recall it, only 1 original member remained. The main idea of the show was to get back to Earth Prime and over time that was somewhat altered. Also the show went from having a different "villain" each week to having one race the Sliders would often face. As much as I want to finish my collection I sure hope the final season is released on DVD at a low price because it really is a discounted version of what it started off as.

So what other shows really evolved over time into a real variation of the original formula? I think Angel, and to a lesser degree Buffy, are the two other shows that stand out as really ending far away from where they started.

I'll nominate Good Times. The later years are a parody of the rather serious original premise. Family Matters is another good one in that regard. In fact, if a show becomes mostly about an idiot with a catch phrase, it's a good bet that the show needs to be listed in this thread.

these friends of mine to ... Ellen.

Seriously though, probably Family matters which banished one daughter and morphed into the Steve Urkel show.

Forgot how much Family Matters changed. Very good call on that one. It became unwatchable once Carl forgot about spending time with his own kids and only interacted with Steve.

they banished the daughter upstairs never to be seen again and then she turned to porn :D

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2...3122226AAeOWCY

The Simpsons is obviously a completely different show now compared to 1990.
Earth Final Conflict started out as an alien/human political conspiracy show and eventually became the main characters fighting two lame klingon wannabes.

Happy Days - moved from life about the Cunninghams, Richie coming of age to how can Fonzie save the day.

Whatever happened to Chuck?

Doug

Felicity.

Life Goes On.
Started out as a family dealing w/ a son w/ Downs, turned into
the Becky and Jesse Hour dealing w/ his AIDS.

(Great storyline.. and it was done extremely well. Chad Lowe probably wishes he could do it all over again. ;) )

... life goes on...


:rimshot:

I'd say that Melrose Place when it ended was completely different than when it started.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose did a pretty abrupt change in the 4th season too.

-jason

I disagree with your last two choices. Chuck's only been on for half a season, but it's really stayed true to the "average geek gets hooked up with spies" premise. As for Doug, even when they did the movie, it was still about the same quirky 6th-grader we all know and love.

Prison Break went to a completely different format each season.

Family Ties went from the Steven and Elyse show to Alex P. Keaton show.

I think "Dark Shadows" (the original) has to be considered. When it began, it was a pretty standard soap opera - with maybe a little more of a Gothic atmosphere. Gradually, supernatural elements started to be added - a ghost here, a curse there. And when Barnabas joined the cast, the flood gates opened: vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, Frankenstein's monster, Lovecraftian monsters, time travel, alternate realities, etc.

Sometime during the sixth season, The West Wing spent less and less time IN the West Wing of the White House.

Battlestar Galactica ---> Galactica: 1980

SeaQuest Seasons 1 & 2 ---> SeaQuest Season 3

Laverne & Shirley (East Coast) ---> Laverne & Shirley (West Coast)

Family Ties was supposed to be about former-hippie parents adjusting to the 80s... but became about the kids.

Growing Pains was supposed to be a 'Mr Mom' type show (Jason worked from home)... but became about the kids.

Roseanne -- blue collar workers luck into millions. Yeah, right.

I Love Lucy (NYC) ---> I Love Lucy (farm)

Wasn't that all a fantasy in book she was writing?

I agree that it strayed, but it makes perfect sense given the context of the show. Otherwise, it would have been like one of those shows about high school students where they take ten years to graduate.

I don't think they ever aired the original version until after the Zack-centered version gained popularity, but Saved by The Bell was originally a vehicle for Hayley Mills called Good Morning Miss Bliss centered a bit more around the teachers.

edit: just looked it up, it apparently did air on the disney channel, and then was retconned into Saved By the Bell "flashback" episodes.

Not as drastic as others mentioned but Spin City went from a full ensemble show to the Michael J. Fox and Heather Locklear show format.

Perhaps -- I didn't stick around to find out. But you can now add DALLAS to the list.

"The Pretender" was a very formulaic, "pretending" to be someone different every week, but in the last season and a half it was Jarod running around and the Centre trying to catch him. I liked the change, but it wasn't the same show near the end.

"ER" after the seventh or eighth season turned into "Grey's Anatomy".

Yes. It started as a serious "post-college" drama trying to learn to live on your own to the outrageously over-the-top soap.

I'd also nominate Buck Rogers when they stopped being "Earth issue of the week" to a Buck-led Star Trek thing minus Dr. Huer and Dr. Theopolis. :(

When I was a kid, I remember Moonlighting turning from a comedy mystery-solver even I could enjoy to a whiny, listless love story, complete with Bruce Willis pining for Cybil Sheppard at the sliding glass door. Ugh.

Wow, someone metioned SBTB and Das Monkey is nowhere to be found - he must be on vacation!

SeaQuest was another one I forgot. After I bought and finished Season 2 I also went and looked up the final season. It was then I recalled never watching the final and now I remember why.

I get what you're saying, but Grey's Anatomy debuted in 2005. That would make it ER's 11th season.

Angel changed quite a bit after its 1st season. It went from an episodic detective series to a heavily serialized show.

I never followed Deep Space Nine very closely, but didn't it get more "adventurous" near the end?

Since most of the obvious ones have been mentioned, I throw out Cheers. It started out as an entertaining show exploring the dynamics of romance with basically intelligent but flawed lead characters from different backgrounds and how they came to fall for each other.

After Diane left and Sam lost the bar (and about 40 IQ points) the show devolved in wacky stories revolving around Sam trying to get his bar back.

Still one of the funniest shows ever written, but the Diane years versus the post Diane years are as different as night and day to me.

Alias also radically changed multiple times.

Sydney started as a mole in SD-6 working secretly for the government, and having to keep both "aliases" a secret from her friends.

Eventually they pretty much got rid of the friends and the "normal" life, she was outed as a mole and worked for the CIA directly.

At the end of Season 2, beginning of season 3, she had been abducted and brainwashed by yet another secret organization, and led a wildly divergent life, which she had to find out about as the season progressed. The big bad leader of the first organization had been pardoned in the meantime, and her boyfriend had gotten married as well.

I still haven't watched all of the last season, but they rebooted it again and it became a more straightforward government organization thing with the same cast of characters.


Some would argue that Friday Night Lights strayed away from it's small hometown Texas community feel and away from the football games and more towards standard soap opera territory in it's second season.

Another interesting example is the way The Practice gradually morphed into Boston Legal. Its final season has more in common with BL, doesn't it?

Twin Peaks strayed pretty far from the main plotlines midway through Season 2 before getting back on the rails and ending on a fantastic cliffhanger.

I'll admit that I stopped watching a season or two before it ended, but The X-Files felt like a completely different show once Scully and Mulder only showed for the occassional guest appearance.

You're kidding right?

While the first season of Angel had more "monster of the week" episodes than the other seasons, the show was heavily serialized since day one. The same would apply for Buffy's first season and what should've been Firefly's first season (instead of it's first and last). :(

The Dukes of Hazard went from "Walking Tall" to "Hee-Haw"