A few days ago I was reading some comments on the Happy Days board about the changes Potsie Weber went through during the run of the show. He went from naive Richie's worldy buddy to a complete dimwit who was the butt of everyones putdowns..

A few others have gotten a case of the stupids over the years.

Joey on "Friends" has slowly drifted to the dumb side, while Homer Simpson went from a gruff but caring Dad to a complete moron who shouldn't be let out of the house!

Who else has gone from smart and savvy to dumb and dumber?

Originally posted by TJL
A few days ago I was reading some comments on the Happy Days board about the changes Potsie Weber went through during the run of the show. He went from naive Richie's worldy buddy to a complete dimwit who was the butt of everyones putdowns..

A few others have gotten a case of the stupids over the years.

Joey on "Friends" has slowly drifted to the dumb side, while Homer Simpson went from a gruff but caring Dad to a complete moron who shouldn't be let out of the house!

Who else has gone from smart and savvy to dumb and dumber?

I noticed that..I'm not sure of any others...Well Rebecca Howe from Cheers certainly made a big change but I wouldn't really call her getting more stupid..she went from tough/slightly neurotic to slightly tough/neurotic.

ROSS!!!!!!! On Friends in the beginning Ross was funny and a good character now hes so dumb and such an idiot. I can't stand him anymore.

I think Becky from Roseanne went kind of stupid. She was soppose to be this smart girl in the beginning. But when they put in the second Becky they made her a little stupid. But the show was still funny even if she did become stupid.

Mallory Keaton on Family Ties started out smart, then got sort of dumb, probably so Alex could have a target for his wisecracks.
Chrissy Snow on Three's Company didn't start out as the ditzy blonde. If you watch the first season, she was normal. As the show went on, they turned her into a cartoon character.
Rebecca Howe on Cheers is a good example as well.

Another example would be Buddy From "Charles In Charge."
Like Potsie, he started out as a skirt chasing sidekick to the more sensible Charles, but by the end of that series he was a complete idiot!
Did they give him a labotomy when the show swithced to syndication?

Chrissy was kinda ditzy and frivilous in the first season of TC. She was just slightly off during the first three seasons. But Mr. Furley came and she started to be a complete dummy!

In the beginning of Step by Step JT (hehe) was average for a guy his age, but by the end......he still had the same average-ness.....he still acted like he was 13 years old!

How about Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years? Granted, I am a fan of TWY, but I saw her character go from reasonable at the beginning to downright nasty during the last couple of seasons. This was evident in Episodes #85 ("Double Double Date", her comment to Kevin to explain The Beatles, right before the narration of the conversation turning into war or something to the extent), #110 "Eclipse" (her comments to Kevin connected to Lou Grant and Beaver Cleaver)

Ditto with Kevin Arnold. He was not-so-innocent during the last couple of seasons, as was exhibited in Episode #88 ("Carnal Knowledge"), #99 ("White Lies", spreads a lie about studying with Winnie--should have run away from the locker room crowd IMHO), #106 ("Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones", sneaks out of the house against his parents' orders) #108 ("Hulk Arnold", joins the wrestling team), #109 ("Nose", makes fun of the new girl's nose), and the finale ("Summer/Independence Day", gets smart with his parents, something you never saw the Brady kids do).

Had the show gone on ten more seasons, I do believe Kevin and Winnie would have turned their characters around and regained the innocence they had during the junior high days. The things they did in the episodes I named were things I never did do, or wanted to do in the first place.

Ralph Furley sorta did on "Three's Company". The first season he was on the show he was sorta mean at times. But once Chrissy left, they gave RF some of her lines and became a looooot more crazier then he had been previously.

Edith Bunker-All in the Family/Archie Bunker's Place
Rose Nylund-Golden Girls/Golden Palace
Kelly Bundy-Married With Children
Potsie Weber-Happy Days
Chrissy Snow-Three's Company
Lisa Douglas-Green Acres
Katie Kanisky-Gimme A Break
Buddy Lembeck-Charles in Charge(He had issues)
Gloria Bunker Stivic-All in the Family-Gloria(She was a little ditsy on "Gloria")
Becky Conner-Roseanne(She was smart, then naive, smart again when Lecy was brought back, then naive when Sarah Chalke came back)
Naomi Oates Harper-Mama's Family
Harriet Olsen-Little House on the Prairie(She just got too whiny)
Pamela Barnes Ewing-Dallas(She lost her sophisticated strengh)

Yeah, Kelly Bundy...

She lost some serious gray matter over the years.

Mark on Roseanne started off as a really cool tough guy but turned into a buffoon by the end of the series! As did all of the male characters.:mad:

Carlton Banks from Fresh Prince started out okay, but after awhile his character got a little bit silly. :crazy: i think the problem might have been that the writers could have gotten a little bit silly when writing the script and just threw it in. I think that's the way with lots of sitcoms that are on tv for quite awhile. Like, how many episodes could anyone write before the show becomes silly? It's always bound to happen sometime.

Bobbie Jo on Petticoat Junction was originally "the smart one" of the Bradley girls. After Pat Woodell left the role and Lori Saunders started to play Bobbie Jo , she became the ditsy one. Not that there's anything wrong with that; in fact I liked it better.

Is it just me or did Elaien on Seinfeld go from being every guys dream friend to a bitch and a witch? There was a turning point episode where Elaine found out what kind of money jerry made and started flirting with him just because she thought he had money.She never really bounced back after that.

I also want to agree with Kelly Bundy.She didnt start out stupid.What happened?

Denise from The Cosby Show got real lazy, irresponsible, and forgetful around season 3. Not to mention that she got C's and D's in college but got A's and B's in high school!

Eric Matthews on Boy Meets World!!! He was like a freak by the end of the show....

Janet Wood from Three's Company got dingy after Chrissy left.

Originally posted by mamamiasweetpeaches

I also want to agree with Kelly Bundy.She didnt start out stupid.What happened?

Too much peroxide. It scalds the brain...

Originally posted by baronzzz
Bobbie Jo on Petticoat Junction was originally "the smart one" of the Bradley girls. After Pat Woodell left the role and Lori Saunders started to play Bobbie Jo , she became the ditsy one. Not that there's anything wrong with that; in fact I liked it better.

THANK YOU! I thought about her last night and you beat me to it. I was thinking the exact same thing. I was thinking about posting the same information.

Woody & Rebecca from Cheers definitely gotdumber as the years went by. :crazy:

Woody on Cheers definitaly dumbed his girlfriend Kelly down. She stared ot very smart then was turned into the female version of woody. It is yet another case of " when peroxide attacks".

And for dishonorable mention, Rebecca was hardly bearable on cheers for seasons 8,9,10, and 11.

I think that Screech from Saved By The Bell got more stupid every season.


During the Miss Bliss, and Ninth grade era he was a normal kid... but corny. But he later turned into such a pain!

I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me on this one, but it seems like Edna Garrett was dumbed down some in the later years of the Facts of Life. Not that she was a complete moron, but she wasn't as quick as she once was, particularly in the Over Our Heads Years. And the girls treated her like she was dumber, which only added to the effect. Watch some of the Over Our Heads episodes and maybe you'll notice how she was made to be a bit clumsy at times. She was no longer the knowledgeable Mrs. G of the Eastland and Edna's Edibles years. Maybe it all is supposed to be the effects of everyone getting older.

Originally posted by SBTB Geek
I think that Screech from Saved By The Bell got more stupid every season.


During the Miss Bliss, and Ninth grade era he was a normal kid... but corny. But he later turned into such a pain!

Gotta agree with you on that one. Wasn't there an episode where Screech got struck by lightening? Maybe that did him in. We've got a new category.

Too much peroxide

Got hit by lightning

Anybody else care to add a few categories to the list? lol

BTW SBTB Geek, I love your avator. Elvis Rules :)

Originally posted by tootieismyfav
Eric Matthews on Boy Meets World!!! He was like a freak by the end of the show....

I agree completely!!! In the earlier episodes, Eric gave advice to Corey and helped him out, but by the end of the show he was the biggest idiot! Even his parents thought he was dumb! Freak is the perfect word for it! Freakishly stupid!

Joey has been stupid during EVERY season...That's just his character. And everyone in the cast gets there share of being the butt of the jokes.

Thanks for the compliment Jenny! :)


BTW, I agree with you guys about Eric from Boy Meets World. He turned into such a numbnut!

Originally posted by Factsoflife_jo
I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me on this one, but it seems like Edna Garrett was dumbed down some in the later years of the Facts of Life. Not that she was a complete moron, but she wasn't as quick as she once was, particularly in the Over Our Heads Years. And the girls treated her like she was dumber, which only added to the effect. Watch some of the Over Our Heads episodes and maybe you'll notice how she was made to be a bit clumsy at times. She was no longer the knowledgeable Mrs. G of the Eastland and Edna's Edibles years. Maybe it all is supposed to be the effects of everyone getting older.

I am one who strongly disagreed with this posting. If anything happened to Edna Garrett was she was being dimenished from the show. Charlotte Rae had even admitted on the E True Hollywood Story that the reason why she left the show was she felt seven years was enough and her role on the show was dimenished due to the girls being older.

Jeannie got dumber by the season. She was already there from the gitty up but she was off the hook by the final season. I am taking about I Dream of Jeannie.