TV shows that were re-tooled and revamped for one reason or another

And then he got a baby brother who matured at 5 times the normal rate.

 

One of the early Fox network sitcoms, Duet, dropped its main characters and changed into Open House, in a continuous story arc bringing a supporting actress to the front. It wasn't because her minor character broke out, but the original premise didn't work very well and ran out of stories. Open House was the first place anyone saw Ellen DeGeneres acting; she started as a minor character there but was stealing the show, which is not really saying much for that show.

 

The Facts of Life had a larger cast of primary characters for its first season. The character Jo was brought in for the second season and the show focused on the characters Jo, Blair, Natalie, Tootie and Mrs. Garrett. That decision seemed to work out for the best. The show was retooled years later when Jo and Blair graduated. The setting was changed to Mrs. Garrett's new gourmet food business, Edna's Edibles. The show was revamped a couple of years later when the store was destroyed by fire, was reopened as a gift shop and George Clooney was brought. Mrs. Garrett eventually left the show.

 

I forget the details, but Beauty and the Beast suddenly changed direction in the last season. Linda Hamilton's character died and the whole tone and focus of the show changed. I thought it was pretty cool, then it got cancelled!

 

Apologies, that does not look right. It's the show Open House and the characters and the other actors and the writing that were terrible, not Ellen DeGeneres there. She was good and the standout by far in Open House, despite her limited character there.

 

"Chico and the Man" after Freddie Prinze committed suicide they replaced him with a 12 year old

As you might expect George Burns had the best solution for a cast change. When Fred Clark, the third actor to portray neighbor Harry Morton, left George stopped the action. He explained to the tv audience that Clark left and introduced new actor Larry Keating to Bea Bendaret, who played Blanche Morton. After pleasantries were exchanged, Burns restarted the action and a fight between the Mortons ensued.

 

And even before that, after Mark and Gloria left for California, they brought in little Stephanie and it became Archie's, Edith's and Stephanie's Place ...

 

I Love Lucy expanded into the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour

 

I wonder how many folks here remember the short lived comedy western series Alias Smith and Jones ?

The show starred Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as two outlaws who were trying to go straight and obtain amnesty from the Governor of their state. I can't remember more than that .

Pete's character's name was named Hannibal Heyes. I remember the show was fairly popular.

Tragically, Duel committed suicide between the 1st and 2nd season and Roger Davis was brought in to replace Duel as Heyes.

Fans of the show never really took to Davis and the show never recovered from losing Duel. It was eventually canceled.

 

Lassie.

 

I still can't believe how long that show lasted. 20 seasons!

http://episodes.lassieweb.org

 

Outside of a soap opera, I think Facts of Life gets the award for retoolings.

 

Don't remember. All those episodes merge together in my head as one giant mess. I think I did about 40-50 episodes in total, most after the move to LA. BTW, the house was on Sierra Bonita St. in the Fairfax district, not too far from where I used to live in the 1980s. They were not in Burbank at all -- this location was a lot closer to Paramount Studios.

 

'Lightning Man' is generally considered one of the worst episodes of a tv show, or, alternatively, one of the best worst episodes. As I remember, Carmine gets hit by lightning (offstage, of course) and becomes a superhero, until the end of the episode when he gets struck by lightning again and loses his powers.

I'da sworn it was one of the very last episodes, but just looked it up and it's season 7.

 

One Day At A Time had a lot of retooling. David Kane gone after season 1, Ginny the neighbor gone after 1 season, Julie coming in and out, Barbara, Julie and Ann all getting married, Adding the little boy Alex to the show. Lots and lots of retooling...

 

Newhart

 

War of the Worlds (1988-89). Went completely off the rails for the abbreviated second season.

 

Ghost Story, with introductions by Sebastian Cabot, changed into Circle Of Fear with no introductions and stories that did not necessarily involve ghosts or the supernatural.

 

A short lived and barely remembered Matthew Perry sitcom called "Second Chance" premiered on the young Fox network in 1987.. The premise was Matthew Perry's adult character died and came back as a ghost mentor to his younger self (played by Perry). Ultimately the ghost mentor story was dropped and the show revamped and retitled " Boys Will Be Boys" and just focused on Perry and Hus friendscon the show and then just went away into late '80s obscurity.

 

No one mentioned Cheers.

Diane gets new boyfriend...some smug psychiatrist (Frasier,) who will eventually become a regular (in later seasons) and one of the most popular characters of the show.
Coach Dies....Woody Introduced.
Lilith introduced as a one-time guest character, which eventually becomes a recurring role, and then in the final couple seasons as a regular.
Diane leaves show....in comes Rebecca
Sam loses ownership of bar.....Sam gets bar back. (Also, didn't the bar burn down at one point also? Been too long for me to remember details.)
Woody gets married, runs for office (because of a Frasier experiment) and becomes a politician.

Probably a couple other things that were added/changed during its run. Though, Cheers did maintain its core theme revolving around workers/patrons of a bar.
Surprisingly, only three characters were regulars for all 11 seasons: Sam, Carla and Norm (Cliff Clavin was considered a recurring character in the first season and not a regular until 2nd season.)

One thing in common with many shows mentioned, including Cheers, is that any show with a huge ensemble there will be changes made over a long run. Also, if egos/salaries are involved (or actors fighting with producers,) or actors die, or little kids growing up into adults during the run, changes will be made. Two And A Half Men is a good recent example.

The Big Bang Theory is a current example of making changes. Original Premise was the lives of 4 science nerds and 1 hot blonde chick. Then as the show progressed, they decided to find and introduce girlfriends/wives so that all 4 science nerds have one. (Johnny Galecki's character over the years has become less "nerdy". The other 3 are still big nerds, especially Sheldon and Raj.)

Speaking of Johnny Galecki, Roseanne is another show that went through lots of changes, namely the oldest daughter was played by two actresses throughout the run (one of the seasons, played by both actresses after the first one left and then came back in later years.) Also, I just want to forget the final season and series finale. It just sucked compared to the rest of the run.

 

Love, Sydney. First Tony Randall's character was gay, and then they conveniently forgot about that. (At least that's how I remember it. Wikipedia suggests his sexuality was downplayed but not necessarily contradicted.)

Wasn't a great show, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

 

Then again, maybe I am misremember it. Tony Randall insists it was always there, just implicit.

 

Bobby Ewing in the shower

 

The "Around The Corner" years of Sesame Street:

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Around_the_Corner

 

Alison LaPlaca