In other words, shows that really ran out of ideas pretty quick into their run. Or they abandoned (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ArtifactTitle/LiveActionTV) original format midway into its run.

Family Matters. And drifting away from its original premise is an understatement for it.

Family Matters. And drifting away from its original premise is an understatement for it.

True. It started out as being about black family in Chicago. By the end, it was a slapstick sci-fi comedy about a nerd, his clone, time travel, and a robot. :eek:

Good Morning Miss Bliss and how it evolved into Saved By The Bell.

A change in settings involving moving across the country. And moving away from a likeable teacher to a group of students.

'Facts of Life'

Started out as a middle-aged housemother/cook guiding X number of teen and preteen girls at an all-girls pre-collegiant boarding school.

Wound up as four young women living under one roof while deciding what each woman wanted to do with her own life while nominally running a business operating out of their home alongside with their onetime housemother/cook's sister and the sister's adopted young son who used to be their gofer- and the occasional input of a teen Australian exchange student somehow living there while attending their own former boarding school.

Truly, would any audience have watched for long (or even any exec had bought it) had the show started out with the premise of its last season?

Didn't the A-Team start off as mercenaries helping down on their luck ordinary people (while evading Col ____ of the US Army). Then the last season it became a modern day mission impossible with orders to do a job?

'Facts of Life'

Started out as a middle-aged housemother/cook guiding X number of teen and preteen girls at an all-girls pre-collegiant boarding school.

Wound up as four young women living under one roof while deciding what each woman wanted to do with her own life while nominally running a business operating out of their home alongside with their onetime housemother/cook's sister and the sister's adopted young son who used to be their gofer- and the occasional input of a teen Australian exchange student somehow living there while attending their own former boarding school.

Truly, would any audience have watched for long (or even any exec had bought it) had the show started out with the premise of its last season?

The premise really did evolve over the years. I remember a critic once wrote that it was a relief that the series was finally cancelled, luckily before it could become a show starring four elderly women, still roommates, living in Antarctica. :lol:

My Three Sons.

The original ABC b/w seasons 1-5 concept was how does a household/family of men comedically function without women. But the CBS version changes concept entirely to general family show, with wives, babies, precocious toddlers, and not even three sons by the end. It seems more like two different-but-related shows (incl. sets, setting, studio, tone, pace), more like Archie Bunker's Place to All in the Family - or Golden Palace to Golden Girls - or Ozzie's Girls to Ozzie & Harriet - or The Conners to Rosanne. Just a different show.

A few one season wonders from the 60's come to mind:

The New Phil Silvers Show

Phil plays a Bilko-like character working as a factory foreman. The series wasn't doing well, so around midseason the premise was changed with the series now focusing on
his home life (domestic comedy as opposed to work based).

The Cara Williams Show

The premise centers around coworkers married to each other (Williams and Frank Aletter) working for a company that prohibits employees from marrying each other. The show struggled for the first half of its run finally dropping the secretly married premise with the domestic and work life of the married couple driving the plots.

It's About Time

Frank Aletter (again) shows up in a comedy about two astronauts who go back in time landing in the days of the caveman. The premise quickly ran out of steam, so the astronauts return to modern times with the cave family they had been living with in tow.

And here's one from the 70's:

Laverne and Shirley

The show about two blue collar ladies working in a beer factory in Milwaukee in the 50's, the factory closes and the show shifts to LA County in the mid60's for the final three seasons.

And one more, this one from the 80's:

Newhart

The series was retooled early in its run, the premise of the show as it moved into its middle and late years was much different than the first two seasons.

The Doris Day Show - Three completely different shows in 5 seasons.

The Lucy Show - 2 completely different shows.

Happy Days

Season 1 - 3ish - we followed the sweet innocent life of Richie Cunningham from teenager to becoming an adult.

Season 4 - onward - Fonize saving the day and getting our characters out of trouble.

The Doris Day Show - Three completely different shows in 5 seasons.

The Lucy Show - 2 completely different shows.

Never cared for TLS after she ditched the kids.

Barney Miller - started out with Barney at 12th Precinct and at home with Liz. Home life was basically ditched in season 2 although Liz made a few appearances at 12th Precinct in subsequent seasons.

Buck Rogers

Season 1 - Buck staying in the future to help Earth from trouble.

Season 2 - Buck and co. venture into The Searcher and it turns into a Star Trek clone including a Spock-like sidekick in Hawk.

They never wrote a story where Buck tries to return to 1987.

Happy Days

Started out as coming of age show centering around Richie Cunningham in the 50's.. Then it becomes Superhero Fonzie banging jukeboxes and catchphrases. Then you have Ritchie and Fonz hanging out with a wisecracking Alien from another planet. Then Ritchie isn't even on the show anymore and it's headlined by a Italian kid with feathered 80's hair.

Cursed / The Weber Show – This sitcom started off being about a guy, played by Steven Weber, who had a gypsy put a curse on him during a date. Each episode dealt with his bad luck in dating and life in general. After a few episodes, that premise didn’t work, so the show ditched the whole curse premise and retitled the series The Weber Show. All in all, the sitcom lasted 14 episodes.

B Positive – The first season was about Drew Dunbar, who needed a new kidney. His former high school classmate, Gina, agreed to give him one. The whole season focused on leading up to the big moment, while also showing Drew and his dialysis friends. The finale saw Drew and Gina going to the hospital for the transplant. At the start of the second season, the transplant was a success, so now the show followed Gina as she inherited a bunch of money and bought the old folk’s home she works at. The focus of the series shifted to her work with the addition of the residents as main characters, while Drew went from being the star to being just one of the characters on the show.

Mom – The show started out about Christy Plunkett, a recovering alcoholic and druggie. She was a single mom, raising her bratty teenage daughter and odd young son. In the pilot, her larger-than-life recovering alcoholic mom, Bonnie, comes back into her life. Soon enough, she moves in with Christy and it’s a family sitcom about the stresses of life while remaining sober. It also shows Christy at work as a waitress with a boss who’s in love with her (but who’s married). It also shows Christy’s stoner ex-husband, who tends to visit a lot. A couple AA friends are introduced early on, but soon, the AA friends take over as both kids leave the series. Bonnie overshadows Christy as a character (much like Fonzie did Richie on Happy Days decades earlier) and it became a show about AA friends hanging out. Both Christy’s boss and ex-husband left the series as it became less about her life and more about the dynamic of the group of friends. The final season saw the departure of Christy (as Anna Faris abruptly quit the show). So, in the end, Christy wasn’t even on the show anymore.

The Joey Bishop Show – This sitcom focused on the home life of Joey Barnes, a Hollywood public relations man. He was a bachelor who still lived with his mom and two younger siblings. The second season changed everything. The family was gone, Joey Barnes hosted his own late night talk show and in the first episode, married Ellie and lived in an apartment, where they had a goofy super (played by Joe Besser) and a sarcastic maid (played by Mary Treen). Also seen was Joey’s best friend and agent Freddy (who is soon replaced by Larry). It’s almost played off as if the first season isn’t canon. In fact, Joey Bishop himself hated the first year and took it out of the syndication package.

Shows may have drifted away from original plots, but I don't think anyone drifts away from a gimmick.