TV Shows That Became A Different Show From How They Began

Actually that seems to be a show that had the same script every episode and had a lack of change.

 

I seem to remember the first episode of Breaking Bad to somewhat of a light comedy. It certainly didn't end up that way!

 

Sure it did! Ever seen the real ending of BB???

 

I discussed this with my buddy and we laughed because it felt like a lot of latter day episodes would have a a cameo by Arness at the start “these are fine bacon and eggs! I hear the postmaster is coming into town today and he’s fixing to find a bride. I reckon that’ll create some stir....”. And then he’s out (I reckon he had a 10am tee time).

 

Arness suffered leg injuries in WW11 that affected him for the rest of his life so that probably played into his appearances or lack thereof, especially as he got older.

 

Based on what I've seen in the series, it seems that Doctor Who follows the "changing a painting by covering part of it with white paint and repainting that part so we only see the final result as of that moment" timeline alterations that was used in the book The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. Basically the Universe we are seeing is the result of all of the timeline changes that have occurred before.

With the destruction of Skaro, one possibility is that The Daleks (who have time travel abilities like The Time Lords) could have altered history to undo the destruction of their star system or maybe mitigate the damage to their home world. Consider that even before The Daleks had time travel The Time Lords were not adverse to making drastic alterations to the timeline.

In "Genesis Of The Daleks" they gave The Fourth Doctor explicit permission to alter the development of The Daleks to make them less of a threat. The Doctor had the opportunity to completely wipe out The Daleks, all he had to do was touch two wires together and The Daleks would cease to exist but he couldn't bring himself to do it. I think that is a reason that The Doctor feels such guilt over The Time War, he could have prevented it.

 

There was an episode of Newhart I'm remembering now where Michael Harris is watching TV and says something like "Oh! I think this is the one where they get off the island!"

 

the first season was so much less corny...so I disagree. ; )

 

I knew that... I was calling him out to back his usual snarky statement...ha ha ha ha ah.

 

Gunsmoke was actually 3 different shows. The first 6 half hour episodes which were typical bad guy starts trouble and gets it episodes. Then the black and white hours which allowed for more character study and more detailed storylines and plots. Finally, when they went to color, by that time Arness was only doing a handful of shows a season and it had become a western anthology with different stories about the weekly guest stars. Matt would be in it for the first minute or so and then head out of town on some business and then you would see him again at the end of the episode when he would come back and ask if anything happened while he was away.

 

There may be some truth to that, however, you may recall he did three seasons of "How the West Was Won", which had to be just as physically taxing as "Gunsmoke"...

Granted, the seasons on that one weren't as long as "Gunsmoke", but, physical work nonetheless.

 

Related: On My Three Sons they would film all of Fred MacMurray's scenes for a season at one time and then intercut them into the rest of the episodes.

 

I agree the new Doctor Who is very different to the old series, but we do have a thread for this sort of plot discussion, which is going beyond the premise of this thread.

Doctor Who General Discussion Thread

 

12 O'CLOCK HIGH.

The series started as a black & white drama centered around the flying American forces based in Britain during WWII. The head of the 918th bomb group was Brigadier General Savage, played by Robert Lansing. His superior was Major General Wiley Crowe played by John Larkin. The first season produced 30-some episodes, but ABC thought Lansing was too old to attract a younger audience. So they fired him and replaced him with Paul Burke (who was actually two years older than Lansing) as Col. Joe Gallagher, thinking he had sleeker good looks. Meanwhile, John Larkin, the actor, died toward the end of the first season, so the producers replaced his character with Andrew Duggan. They also added Chris Robinson as a member of Gallagher's flying compliment and staff. So the second season played a lot like the first with different characters at the helm.

Then came the third season where ABC dictated that the show be in color. So most of the b&w WWII stock footage became useless. Some of it was tinted blue and much of that was repeated ad infinitum in that third season. More ground-based stories were written and the show gradually sputtered to its ending.

 

Been watching Dallas on Amazon Prime Video. The first seasons it seems like they weren’t sure about who/what to focus on. By season 3 the focus was on JR, Larry Hagman w everyone else being supporting cast members. As an aside, the show could be cheesy, but Hagman did a great job.

 

James Garner said people like him, Arness and David Janssen would compare doctors all the time as their tv jobs were physically taxing. Some hour long series back then “Maverick”, “Combat”, “77 Sunset Strip” basically had two lead actors and who would alternate stories week to week to make sure they delivered the product on time.

 

He tried to buy some P***y with a third party check, which kind of Gary Harted him out of any serious future.

 

Just when you're desperate for some good news...NBC apparently has a new game show based on "Slip N' Slide".

Has been abruptly shut down by an outbreak of...multiple crew members with "explosive diarrhea".
'Ultimate Slip ‘N Slide' Production Shut Down by Diarrhea Outbreak, No Joke
Well...that certainly became a "different show" in a hurry...!

 

When Charles In Charge was cancelled by the Network it was continued in syndication with Scott Baio and Willie Aames and a different family. It was explained that while Charles was on vacation the Family moved away (the Mother made an appearance), and a new family moved into the House. Charles could have moved out but decided to stay with the new family since it turned out they needed him.

 

Gilligan's Island is one of those shows that didn't change much over the course of its run, other than going to color. Some episodes dealt with trying to get off the Island, while others dealt with events on the Island not involving trying to get off the island (such as the Turtle Race), but just about every episode fell into one of those two types of stories. Even the two animated series (The New Adventures Of Gilligan's Island and Gilligan's Planet) didn't vary much from those types of stories. It was only with TV movies that things began to change.

 

When HAZEL moved to CBS for its final year, the whole family changed. The Baxters took off for (was it Europe?) and left little Bobby home to live with cousins and Hazel. So a whole new family made the series essentially different.

 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE (60s version) actually did change from its beginning. In the first year, Rod Serling did the narration but initially didn't appear on screen. The first season also used a different theme (from Bernard Herrmann). Late in the first season, the "eye opening" was employed, and by the second season, the familiar Marius Constant theme was adopted for the rest of the run.

The second and third season were relatively stable with a change of the opening images from one season to the next, but by the end of the third, Rod was burnt out and relied more on other writers. The show was cancelled by CBS after three seasons and Rod went up to Antioch College to teach.

After a half season off the air, CBS regretted its decision and wanted the show back. They wanted an hour show, but Rod couldn't be on set, so he filmed a bunch of openings on a bare set. The show even changed titles - slightly, as it was now just TWILIGHT ZONE. The half-season of hour-long shows were different in that they were longer, somewhat drawn out, and not as impactful. The show then went back to a half-hour for its final season, still retaining its shortened title, TWILIGHT ZONE.

 

I love the fourth season of the show. There are some real gems that couldn’t have been made in the shorter running time, like Miniature with Robert Duvall. They rely less on the twist endings, and give the stories more time to develop. Because that season was rarely syndicated, those episodes aren’t as well known as the others, and they deserve a look.

The fifth season is rough; I think The Fear is the worst episode of the series. But you also get William Shatner and the gremlin; Talky Tina; and a favorite of mine, Cone Wander With Me (starting Gary Crosby, Bing’s son).

 

With TZ, I love it all, and happily own one of the best Blu-ray sets ever.

 

M

Historical documents that deeply moved the Thermians.