Shows that had atmosphere changes

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by jason88cubs, Jul 10, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. jason88cubs

    jason88cubs Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Us
    So I'm watching Andy Griffith show and I am n season 3 and I really noticed something about the show

    I love the first 5 seasons so much (though I feel the later half of season 5 was weak) but season 1 was by far the best as it had a raw, unpolished feeling to it and it really came off as a southern show in a small town

    In season 2 it started being more polished and clean cut and I feel like more sitcomy


    Cheers also had teh same. After Shelly Long left the show became more zingy and zangy and lost that special feeling it had where it was centered around the bar (show was still great though)

    ANy other shows you can think of that had atmosphere changes like that/?
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2018
    guy incognito and Ginger Ale like this.
  2. Nice Marmot

    Nice Marmot Nothin’ feels right but doin’ wrong anymore

    Location:
    Tryon NC
    Burn Notice

    I forget how many seasons it ran but the initial seasons were fun with a sense of humor and then the last was so dark it was hard to believe it was the same show.
     
  3. mr. steak

    mr. steak Forum Resident

    Location:
    chandler az
    By the end of Seinfeld the shows were 90% yelling.
     
    Jack Lord and jason88cubs like this.
  4. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Probably among the most well-known changes in atmosphere was in MASH, where the first several seasons were irreverent and jokey/funny in the Trapper John era, but after he left that gradually changed and the show become kinda preachy, moralistic, and in my opinion not really that funny anymore.
     
  5. Fregly

    Fregly Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London
    The change out of most of the main cast on House. Baffling. I stopped watching.
     
  6. SonOfAlerik

    SonOfAlerik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westland, MI USA
    Does Dukes of Hazzard count? After 6 episodes on location the switched to a studio lot. Really changed the feel of the show.
     
    guy incognito and Keith V like this.
  7. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    The main cast does come back in season six, though. IMO even with the cast changes in season 4 the show's atmosphere doesn't really change that much, Greg House is still the same a--hole he always was:laugh:

    Nowhere IMO does the change of atmosphere on a TV series seem more apparent than with M*A*S*H. The humour more or less starts disappearing from the series starting at about season six. True, the series always had a bit of a "dramedy" aspect to it at times but after a while it's almost like a completely different show. "Wasn't this supposed to be a comedy?" my wife said when we were watching season 8 or thereabouts...
     
    Morton LaBongo likes this.
  8. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Anyone remember "The John Larroquette Show" from the early-90s? It started off really dark in the first season both visually and topically, but was retooled to look and feel like more of a traditional sitcom by season 2. I have fond memories of the show, very funny. It's basically a lost sitcom now.

    dan c
     
  9. cboldman

    cboldman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hamilton, OH USA
    Lost In Space started as a straight sci-fi adventure and then took a turn toward the broadly absurd to keep pace with its competition, Batman, which was very popular. And for that matter, Batman got sillier and sillier as it rolled on. I think the producers had stumbled onto a winning formula and then struggled to figure out exactly what they had done and how to maintain it.
     
    Ginger Ale likes this.
  10. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Roseanne went from a sitcom about a working-class family in the Midwest to a fantasy sitcom about a family who won the lottery and went on wacky adventures. It went from a great show to a terrible one and took a huge nosedive off a cliff.
     
    guy incognito and trd like this.
  11. dirwuf

    dirwuf Misplaced Chicagoan

    Location:
    Fairfield, CT
    I’m not following this...to me when Diane left it became less “rom com” and much more about the bar.
     
    Strat-Mangler likes this.
  12. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed in Vancouver, BC and the show had that sort of rainy, natural feel to it. The tone was often quite dark and veered towards the "horror" end of the "sci-fi/horror" spectrum. In season six, production of the show moved to Los Angeles (mostly because of David Duchovny). This not only changed what the show looked like in the literal sense, there was a change in tone as well. Many of the monster of the week episodes started being more comedic in tone, lighter or even romantic (episodes like "The Rain King" and "Dreamland" spring to mind).

    I quite enjoy seasons six and seven, but they were definitely different from the earlier seasons.
     
  13. jason88cubs

    jason88cubs Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Us
    But many episodes took place out of the bar
     
  14. Fregly

    Fregly Well-Known Member

    Location:
    London
    I found the new supporting cast suddenly irrelevant and uninteresting, but yeah, I guess House is all about House. The change in personal dynamics was too abrupt for me.
     
    ohnothimagen likes this.
  15. cboldman

    cboldman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hamilton, OH USA
    Newhart switched from multi-camera setup to single-camera film with the second season, which, I thought, gave it a very different feel.
     
    Victor/Victrola likes this.
  16. Vahan

    Vahan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glendale, CA, USA
    It was still multiple cameras with an audience, just now on film. And they also later switched from finished on film, to shot on film and finished on videotape.
     
  17. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I haven't seen it in years, but I recall "Get a Life" getting pretty weird and surreal as it went along.
     
  18. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    Big Bang Theory, after the second season, when the writers began to introduce love interest for three of the four main characters (Leonard was already besotted with whiny Penny). Creepy Howard got married? Creepy, indeed, and I never found the Amy character either interesting or amusing.
     
    Steve...O likes this.
  19. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Irwin Allen had a history of this. The first season of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, shot in black and white, was often dark and menacing, with episodes about spy capers and Cold War themes more often than sea monsters. In the second season, with the switch to color and the addition of the Flying Sub, men stuffed in plastic kelp suits won out over menacing foreign powers. In one third season episode, Admiral Nelson was turned into a werewolf. Really? No wonder Richard Basehart wanted to bail.
     
    Ginger Ale likes this.
  20. sgtmono

    sgtmono Seasoned Member

    Star Trek: The Original Series. The first season had more of a "hard sci-fi" feel to many of the episodes and an overall more dramatic tone. Starting in the second season it got a lot more campy. To me, the first season feels more timeless and experimental, while the second and third season feel more rooted in 1960s television tropes. That's not always a bad thing, but I think Season 1 is superior.
     
    Ginger Ale likes this.
  21. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Star Trek franchises often changed their feel as time went on. The greatest change began with season 3 of Deep Space Nine and really got going during season 4 with the Dominion War. The change of Ira Steven Bahr and Michael Pillar to show runners at the beginning of season 3 and the addition of Ronald Moore to the writing staff really shook things up. No longer was the Federation perfect and harmonious. Sometimes folks didn't get along, with conflicts that lasted for longer than 44 minutes. Imagine that.
     
    budwhite likes this.
  22. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Actually, Newhart started with 4-camera analog videotape TV cameras in 1982, then in the second season switched to 4-camera 35mm film for the rest of its run. One reason is that Newhart himself said he felt he looked better on film (which was true), and he had the pull to get them to spend another $50,000 an episode for film stock. It was never shot single-camera. A decade later, Newhart's final series, Bob, was also shot on multicamera 35mm film.

    This was part of several failed experiments by CBS in the 1970s to change certain shows to videotape, and it did not work. The Betty White Show was another (1977-1978). It wasn't until about 2005 or so that shows began ditching film for digital HD video, and by about 2010 the switchover was about 90% complete. Nowadays, it's very rare for a show to shoot on film (but it does happen, as witnessed by Walking Dead and Westworld).
     
    goodiesguy, Dan C and IronWaffle like this.
  23. Morton LaBongo

    Morton LaBongo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manchester NH
    One that I remember as a kid was The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. The first season I absolutely loved as a kid, it was a sort of action/comedy in a rural setting with much of the humor centered around a tubby deputy who made every situation worse. The second season moved the characters to a large city and it was much much less funny, seemed like it had been retooled as a police drama-comedy without much of the comedy. I think I was around 12-13 at the time and I bailed on the reworked show, I remember being really disappointed.
     
  24. dprokopy

    dprokopy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Seattle, WA
    The Simpsons definitely changed its tone over the years. In particular, Homer changed from being a grumpy but lovable father figure to basically being a brain-damaged *****. The show also became significantly more topical/political.
     
  25. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Oh man, you jogged a long-dormant memory in me. I was a kid and loved "Sheriff Lobo", but also stopped watching later into the run. I always thought it was weird he drove a Cadillac Seville patrol car. The heck? My dad was in the car biz so I noticed stuff like that.

    I can't remember why I stopped watching, it was so long ago and I was young. I assume it was because it was abruptly cancelled like every NBC show of that era!

    dan c
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine