|
Post by burdette25159 on Sept 26, 2021 16:25:28 GMT -5
Inspired by a thread on Sitcoms Online forums. What is the worst retooling of a show in your opinion. I'm going to start with some examples: Welcome Freshamn going from sketch comedy to just another Saved By The Bell clone for the 3rd (and mercifully final) season, Roundhouse had debuted and it may had led to the format change Hollywood Squares bonus game change www.gameshowgarbage.com/ind048_hsbigmoney.htmlIt's just an endgame change but one at the expense of the main game and Whoppi Goldberg got fired for it Batman '66 going from two a week stories to a once a week show and the addition of Batgirl
|
|
|
Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Sept 26, 2021 16:27:32 GMT -5
The Real Ghostbusters, and q5 meddling.
|
|
|
Post by DiBiase is Good on Sept 26, 2021 16:31:13 GMT -5
The Krypton Factor in 1995 trying to be more like The Crystal Maze and completely retooling the show to be more “modern”. It completely killed off all the charm the original had. Even adding the lovely Penny Smith couldn’t save it and it would be the last series until it was brought back fifteen years or so later.
|
|
|
Post by Hit Girl on Sept 26, 2021 16:42:00 GMT -5
Going for Gold - They stripped away the international element of the show and it became a generic quiz.
The Crystal Maze - It was other worldly when Richard O'Brien hosted it. Now it's also generic crap with a host made of cardboard.
Blockbusters - Was an intellectual show with Bob Holness. Now a comedy show with gag prizes and an incomprehensible presenter.
|
|
|
Post by WoodStoner1 on Sept 26, 2021 17:21:30 GMT -5
We escaped one as it didn't make beyond pilot, but Truth or Consequences being brought back...as a Fear Factor wannabe. (ask our own Sigma about that one, as she covers it on Game Show Garbage).
On that topic...Card Sharks returns...only there's one row of cards to call and you have to predict hidden camera segments.
1996's Dating Game and Newlywed Game reboots which barely resembled the original formats. The next season the classic versions were restored (and Bob Eubanks even came back for NG!)
Play the Percentages goes from survey question format to another Barry-Enright Q&A with a gimmick. (saved only by Geoff Edwards being there still)
The short-lived second season or so of All-American Girl. They got rid of Margaret Cho's family, which was the point of the whole show, and had her move in with her friends. Only they kept the grandmother because comic relief.
Some of you may say....NXT 2.0. As it is, how about WCW Monday Nitro ala Vince Russo? Moreso the first time, as the New Blood era started out somewhat interesting. This was just taking WCW and making another Raw (some people called Russo-booked Nitro "Nitraw" in fact)
Superstars and Worldwide end their lives as recap shows.
Laverne...Where's Shirley?
Subverted, kinda sorta, when Video Power became a game show. Then again, it was a mediocre cartoon show becoming a mediocre game show saved only by the teen dreams of a show where you could grab any video game you wanted. But I missed The Power Team!
BEAST MACHINES.
Animaniacs becomes the Warners and Slappy Show, all shoot promos against everyone, all the time. aka the Kids' WB era.
In the long run it kept the franchise going, but....Scooby-Doo with half the gang left (including Scrappy-Doo) in comedy shorts where the monsters are real.
|
|
|
Post by wildojinx on Sept 26, 2021 17:28:53 GMT -5
The Drew Carey show. Once Kate left and Drew got fired from Winford-Lauder it just wasnt the same.
Also, it didnt exactly ruin the show, but I dont know why they decided to make Hermes a pothead on the Comedy Central eps of Futurama.
|
|
|
Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Sept 26, 2021 18:10:17 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by darbus alan on Sept 26, 2021 18:48:24 GMT -5
I don't know if this counts as a format change, but I didn't like Sabrina The Teenage Witch nearly as much when Sabrina started going to college.
|
|
y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,717
|
Post by y4j1981 on Sept 26, 2021 19:14:06 GMT -5
Subverted, kinda sorta, when Video Power became a game show. Then again, it was a mediocre cartoon show becoming a mediocre game show saved only by the teen dreams of a show where you could grab any video game you wanted. But I missed The Power Team! Never watched it but just posting this cause I like the fun way Funhaus describes it, bout the 1:50 mark
|
|
|
Post by jimmyjackezekiel on Sept 26, 2021 19:32:24 GMT -5
I will never forgive the change in character designs for season 4 of DxD, or Fairy Tail for changing the shade of Lucy's hair between seasons.
Not sure how well those count.
|
|
|
Post by Triangle Lancer on Sept 26, 2021 20:33:37 GMT -5
I don't know if this counts as a format change, but I didn't like Sabrina The Teenage Witch nearly as much when Sabrina started going to college. Was that before or after the network switch to the WB?
|
|
|
Post by mcmahonfan85 on Sept 26, 2021 21:32:04 GMT -5
ABC should have just let them officially make it a spinoff. a weak spinoff is better than people pretending your nine-season tv show really only has eight season
|
|
y4j1981
Dennis Stamp
Rowsdower
Posts: 4,717
|
Post by y4j1981 on Sept 26, 2021 21:34:33 GMT -5
I don't know if this counts as a format change, but I didn't like Sabrina The Teenage Witch nearly as much when Sabrina started going to college. Was that before or after the network switch to the WB? After. Seasons 1-4 were on ABC. Seasons 5-7 on WB. Season 5 is when she started college
|
|
|
Post by darbus alan on Sept 26, 2021 21:43:36 GMT -5
ABC should have just let them officially make it a spinoff. a weak spinoff is better than people pretending your nine-season tv show really only has eight season They really should've stuck with the original idea of making it a spinoff before trying to say "Oh it's like ER. Cast can come and go." Especially since S8's finale was like, the perfect series finale IMO. Even Bill Lawrence considered S9 a new show. I love Turk. I love Dr. Cox. But they lose so much without JD in his usual role or Carla at all in the dynamic. No Janitor, either, beyond the first episode. Didn't help that most of the new characters were awful, including the ones that carried over from Season 8.
|
|
|
Post by The Heartbreak TWERK on Sept 26, 2021 21:50:38 GMT -5
ABC should have just let them officially make it a spinoff. a weak spinoff is better than people pretending your nine-season tv show really only has eight season They really should've stuck with the original idea of making it a spinoff before trying to say "Oh it's like ER. Cast can come and go." Especially since S8's finale was like, the perfect series finale IMO. Even Bill Lawrence considered S9 a new show. I love Turk. I love Dr. Cox. But they lose so much without JD or Carla in the dynamic. No Janitor, either, beyond the first episode. Didn't help that most of the new characters were awful, including the ones that carried over from Season 8. That said, Janitor's exit in the first episode was perfectly handled.
|
|
|
Post by burdette25159 on Sept 26, 2021 22:27:35 GMT -5
The Real Ghostbusters, and q5 meddling. Which led to some of the characters getting inferior replacement voices (Peter went from Lorenzo Music to Dave Coolier for example) the replacement voices creaked their way into reruns of earlier seasons As for the Krypton Factor in 1995, the changes happened to that show because of Gladiators and Krypton took 1994 off so it can be retooled in order to stay relevant in the Gladitaors age. The speed round that ended episodes in previous seasons became the last chance to gain currency to get advantages in the SUPER ROUND which was hundreds of times WORSER then the worst version of the Eliminator
|
|
|
Post by greyfmdan on Sept 26, 2021 23:33:04 GMT -5
I think a question with a smaller pool of possible answers might be, When did a format retool on an actively running show actually make it better?
|
|
|
Post by karl100589 on Sept 27, 2021 0:09:10 GMT -5
I think a question with a smaller pool of possible answers might be, When did a format retool on an actively running show actually make it better? NXT going from the reality tv hybrid to a straight wrestling show?
|
|
|
Post by DiBiase is Good on Sept 27, 2021 0:32:18 GMT -5
I think a question with a smaller pool of possible answers might be, When did a format retool on an actively running show actually make it better? Have I Got News For You For over ten years it was hosted by the same guy, Angus Deayton. He was eventually let go due to certain aspects of his private life being reported in the tabloids (he survived the first round of stories but when more revelations came out, he had to go) and they were at the start of a new series so decided to use guest hosts for the rest of that series and look for a permanent new host once they’d reached the end of it. They eventually made the decision that having a different host each episode rather than a permanent one would help keep the show fresh. Nearly twenty years later and with Series 62 starting soon, they made the right call. I doubt the show would still be around had Deayton not been so allegedly fond of drugs and prostitutes.
|
|
|
Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Sept 27, 2021 1:28:43 GMT -5
I think a question with a smaller pool of possible answers might be, When did a format retool on an actively running show actually make it better? Spin City going from Mike and Ashley's relationship being the main focus to more to an ensemble show after Carla Gugino's exit. Gugino did a good job, but the show got better when they retooled it to take more an advantage of the very talented ensemble they had. Just like Cheers when Diane left. It became a lot more of an ensemble show.
|
|