Shows that changed style of writing over course of series - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

like2throw · 01-10-2009, 06:18 PM

Were there any shows that dramatically changed their style of writing for whatever reason (Increased ratings for example) from one season to the next; not small changes, but complete overhauls in the pacing and writing of the shows. For example, one show going from a complete soap style drama in one season, and then turning into a flat out sitcom style tv show in later seasons, or vise versa.

70s show watcher · 01-10-2009, 08:00 PM

the flintstones and saturday night live both changed there writing style from one season to the next with the flintstones the first 4 seasons had eps that kids liked but they were more targeted to adults with mother in law jokes marrrage jokes and even a couple of eps where each suspected the other of having an affair

after season 4 the shows were aimed almost entirely at kids with most of the stories being about pebbles and bamm bamm. snl went the other route .during its first 5 years .the first 3 seasons had alot of political jokes and things aimed at a coilage audience but after john belushi hit it big with animal house in the summer of 78 more and more high school and grade school kids began tuning in and the houmour became louder and more shrill during seasons 4 and 5 this is not to say it still wasant a funny show but if you watch the shows from that era today the change is noticeable

repeatshistory · 01-10-2009, 08:01 PM

I think both Happy Days, and M*A*S*H are good examples of this. Between the first and second season, a decision was made to go from film to live audience recording on Happy Days, this naturally affected the writing style, so to accomodate the audience reaction and applause, as well as to pander to a different type of audience.

M*A*S*H became more and more 'drama' like over it's run, until it really became a drama with some humor elements, as opposed to a flat-out 'sitcom'.

factsoflife · 01-10-2009, 09:25 PM

Anything But Love went through several incarnations during it's short run; i'm guessing it had to do with low ratings. Almost every season of the show had a different cast.

JulieSomoski · 01-11-2009, 01:51 PM

For Seinfeld, the writing didn't change much, but the writing definitely got more zanier over the seasons. Once Larry David left, the storylines really got wacky, especially in the last 2 seasons.

Lorimar Television · 01-11-2009, 04:06 PM

Family Matters was originally a Full House type show with those "soft", "mushy" moments in season one. Then after Urkel was introduced it started to be less mushy and more comedic. Starting in season 5 it became more sci fi with Urkel's inventions and by season 7 it was for the most part very unrealistic.

James · 01-11-2009, 08:02 PM

I'll have to say The Wonder Years starting with the 1991-92 season after the original writers left. Kevin went from being likeable to rebellious. Winnie went from being sweet to witchy. (Actually, the word I want to use rhymes with "witchy" and relates to dogs, but I won't use it here!)

jimpickens · 01-11-2009, 09:03 PM

Beverly Hillbillies went from being about the Clampetts trying to figure out life in the big city to the last four seasons revolving around the antics of Jethro, trying to find Elly Mae a husband, or some guest star trying to get money from them. Married With Children went from being the perfect send up of a family sitcom during the first five seasons to being a live action dirty cartoon during its final five. Night court also suffered the same fate as MWC going from clever and funny to nothing but sex jokes and cartoonish situations.

JulieSomoski · 01-11-2009, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

I'll have to say The Wonder Years starting with the 1991-92 season after the original writers left. Kevin went from being likeable to rebellious. Winnie went from being sweet to witchy. (Actually, the word I want to use rhymes with "witchy" and relates to dogs, but I won't use it here!)

I definitely agree with that - I want to say the show got "meaner" by seasons 5 and 6. It wasn't really a lighthearted, nostalgic show anymore as it was in the earlier years, mainly because the characters were growing up and going their seperate ways. But, it was also the characters that got meaner because of the change in writing that occurred. One reason I never liked the last 2 seasons as much as the first 4.

TMC · 01-14-2009, 04:19 AM

"Boy Meets World" - It started off as a relatively lighthearted, coming-of-age sitcom. As the kids got older, it seemingly turned more into a emo-filled, dramedy. It didn't help matters that the characters' personal traits/backgrounds kept being altered.

comedyfreak · 01-14-2009, 09:55 AM

Sanford And Son-The first season episodes seemed to be based on Step Toe And Son episodes. Season 2-5 seemed like the writers came up with their own material. Plus Lamont was mean and impatient with Fred during the first season as well.

Mork & Mindy-Season 1 went from Mork trying to learn from humans to buffoonary writing out Mindy's Dad and Grandmother as well as the music student. By season 4 Mork got pregnant and had a kid who aged backwards like Orkans.

megamanj2004 · 01-15-2009, 04:27 PM

Nurses - the first season the writing was a nice, healthy mixture of comical and serious. Then in S2, the wiritng became a tad more comical, thanks to some eps. focusing on Paco and Jack's antics and by S3, it was all-out slapstick, thanks to them focusing entirely the vast majority of episodes on Loni Anderson's character.

Family Matters - the first season was more focused on the family while the second and subsequent seasons, while still focusing on the family members, most of the stories seemed too focused on Steve and his antics.

Beverly Hillbillies, The - the B&W years focused on the Clampetts adjusting to life in Beverly Hills, whereas the color eps. seemed to come off as the writers just sticking the characters in any screwball situation.

andress_jade · 01-19-2009, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebafan1

Family Matters was originally a Full House type show with those "soft", "mushy" moments in season one. Then after Urkel was introduced it started to be less mushy and more comedic. Starting in season 5 it became more sci fi with Urkel's inventions and by season 7 it was for the most part very unrealistic.

I was just going to mention that. I am watching Family Matters on Nick at Nite currently and they have the first season on right now. Back then, Urkel was in maybe a handful of episodes and on for maybe five minutes or something. He wasn't a big part of the cast yet, but after the first season, it became all about him. Personally, I loved Season 1, because it dealt with more personal family issues and how to deal with them. In Season 2 and beyond it became the Urkel Show and lost it's original premise.
I liked Jaleel White but turning the show over to him was a mistake. It should have stayed with it's original plot.

Another thing that changed was how dumb Eddie was in Season 1 and after that they brought on Waldo and made him the dumb one and made Eddie smart.
They never should have gotten rid of Judy or Rachel just so they could have more Urkel. Judy was a cute, sweet character and I would have loved to have seen her grow up.
Why were the Winslow's raising Rachel's son Richie? After Rachel left the show, she left Richie with them. It didn't make much sense.

JulieSomoski · 01-19-2009, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andress_jade

I was just going to mention that. I am watching Family Matters on Nick at Nite currently and they have the first season on right now. Back then, Urkel was in maybe a handful of episodes and on for maybe five minutes or something. He wasn't a big part of the cast yet, but after the first season, it became all about him. Personally, I loved Season 1, because it dealt with more personal family issues and how to deal with them. In Season 2 and beyond it became the Urkel Show and lost it's original premise.
I liked Jaleel White but turning the show over to him was a mistake. It should have stayed with it's original plot.

Another thing that changed was how dumb Eddie was in Season 1 and after that they brought on Waldo and made him the dumb one and made Eddie smart.
They never should have gotten rid of Judy or Rachel just so they could have more Urkel. Judy was a cute, sweet character and I would have loved to have seen her grow up.
Why were the Winslow's raising Rachel's son Richie? After Rachel left the show, she left Richie with them. It didn't make much sense.

I've been watching season 1 as well, and it was much better than remembered - I loved the whole family aspect. But in season 2, and especially in later seasons, they completely ditched that concept for the "wackiness of Urkel."

janet42 · 01-19-2009, 07:08 PM

I liked the first season of Family Matters the best also before it became the Steve Urkel show.

01-10-2009, 06:18 PM	#1
like2throw Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 29	Shows that changed style of writing over course of series Were there any shows that dramatically changed their style of writing for whatever reason (Increased ratings for example) from one season to the next; not small changes, but complete overhauls in the pacing and writing of the shows. For example, one show going from a complete soap style drama in one season, and then turning into a flat out sitcom style tv show in later seasons, or vise versa.

01-10-2009, 08:01 PM	#3
repeatshistory Doing my part to make your day Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 31, 2008 Location: Williams Bay, WI Posts: 381	I think both Happy Days, and MASH are good examples of this. Between the first and second season, a decision was made to go from film to live audience recording on Happy Days, this naturally affected the writing style, so to accomodate the audience reaction and applause, as well as to pander to a different type of audience. MASH became more and more 'drama' like over it's run, until it really became a drama with some humor elements, as opposed to a flat-out 'sitcom'.
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01-10-2009, 09:25 PM	#4
factsoflife Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 11, 2000 Posts: 8,747	Anything But Love went through several incarnations during it's short run; i'm guessing it had to do with low ratings. Almost every season of the show had a different cast.
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01-11-2009, 01:51 PM	#5
JulieSomoski Roseanne Reboot - March 27! Forum Veteran Join Date: Nov 06, 2004 Location: Michigan Posts: 7,558	For Seinfeld, the writing didn't change much, but the writing definitely got more zanier over the seasons. Once Larry David left, the storylines really got wacky, especially in the last 2 seasons.
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01-11-2009, 04:06 PM	#6
Lorimar Television Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 06, 2007 Posts: 7,034	Family Matters was originally a Full House type show with those "soft", "mushy" moments in season one. Then after Urkel was introduced it started to be less mushy and more comedic. Starting in season 5 it became more sci fi with Urkel's inventions and by season 7 it was for the most part very unrealistic.
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01-10-2009, 08:00 PM	#2
70s show watcher Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: May 20, 2008 Location: between point place and studio 8 h Posts: 4,549	the flintstones and saturday night live both changed there writing style from one season to the next with the flintstones the first 4 seasons had eps that kids liked but they were more targeted to adults with mother in law jokes marrrage jokes and even a couple of eps where each suspected the other of having an affair after season 4 the shows were aimed almost entirely at kids with most of the stories being about pebbles and bamm bamm. snl went the other route .during its first 5 years .the first 3 seasons had alot of political jokes and things aimed at a coilage audience but after john belushi hit it big with animal house in the summer of 78 more and more high school and grade school kids began tuning in and the houmour became louder and more shrill during seasons 4 and 5 this is not to say it still wasant a funny show but if you watch the shows from that era today the change is noticeable

01-11-2009, 08:02 PM	#7
James Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jan 07, 2001 Location: Dayton, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,370	I'll have to say The Wonder Years starting with the 1991-92 season after the original writers left. Kevin went from being likeable to rebellious. Winnie went from being sweet to witchy. (Actually, the word I want to use rhymes with "witchy" and relates to dogs, but I won't use it here!)

01-11-2009, 09:03 PM	#8
jimpickens Member Senior Member Join Date: Nov 01, 2007 Location: weston,wv Posts: 1,391	Beverly Hillbillies went from being about the Clampetts trying to figure out life in the big city to the last four seasons revolving around the antics of Jethro, trying to find Elly Mae a husband, or some guest star trying to get money from them. Married With Children went from being the perfect send up of a family sitcom during the first five seasons to being a live action dirty cartoon during its final five. Night court also suffered the same fate as MWC going from clever and funny to nothing but sex jokes and cartoonish situations.

01-14-2009, 04:19 AM	#10
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,925	"Boy Meets World" - It started off as a relatively lighthearted, coming-of-age sitcom. As the kids got older, it seemingly turned more into a emo-filled, dramedy. It didn't help matters that the characters' personal traits/backgrounds kept being altered.
	Last edited by TMC; 01-20-2009 at 04:18 AM.

01-14-2009, 09:55 AM	#11
comedyfreak Cheers! Forum Fanatic Join Date: Dec 14, 2005 Location: Sunny California Posts: 11,061	Sanford And Son-The first season episodes seemed to be based on Step Toe And Son episodes. Season 2-5 seemed like the writers came up with their own material. Plus Lamont was mean and impatient with Fred during the first season as well. Mork & Mindy-Season 1 went from Mork trying to learn from humans to buffoonary writing out Mindy's Dad and Grandmother as well as the music student. By season 4 Mork got pregnant and had a kid who aged backwards like Orkans.
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01-15-2009, 04:27 PM	#12
megamanj2004 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 21, 2004 Posts: 2,361	Nurses - the first season the writing was a nice, healthy mixture of comical and serious. Then in S2, the wiritng became a tad more comical, thanks to some eps. focusing on Paco and Jack's antics and by S3, it was all-out slapstick, thanks to them focusing entirely the vast majority of episodes on Loni Anderson's character. Family Matters - the first season was more focused on the family while the second and subsequent seasons, while still focusing on the family members, most of the stories seemed too focused on Steve and his antics. Beverly Hillbillies, The - the B&W years focused on the Clampetts adjusting to life in Beverly Hills, whereas the color eps. seemed to come off as the writers just sticking the characters in any screwball situation.
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01-19-2009, 07:08 PM	#15
janet42 Three's Company Fan! Senior Member Join Date: Feb 22, 2007 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,757	I liked the first season of Family Matters the best also before it became the Steve Urkel show.