One multi season TV show with one of its seasons different from the rest

[roadman65]

Not the usual character and cast change that makes a change in one or more specific season of a well known show, but something of the show's score, opening theme, and direction of the characters.

A perfect example would be the five season Brady Bunch where Season One is totally different from Season's Two to Five.  During its first year the show focused mainly about the boys trying to get along with the girls and adjusting to becoming a large family.  As some of  you all remember they both used to fight all the time among the two genders as well. In two to five the family behaved as a normal family who have always been together.  Plus the musical score was very sleepy compared to the other seasons that had more up tempo and upbeat musical back rounds.  Then of course the opening theme was not sung by the Brady Kids as in the following seasons where a male chorus sang the intro.

So Season One of the Brady Bunch was completely different than the remaining seasons completely.  In fact when in syndication, I really do not care much for it as the show was lame when it first started.  It would not surprise me if the show was retooled the rest of its run because it was so lame in its launching season, as that particular show was not high in the Nielsons during its first run like in syndication.


Then Mannix too, was different during its first season as main character Joe Mannix was working for a PI firm during that. In the remaining seasons he works from home in his own office.   I do not even know if in syndication they even rerun its first season as it always has the remaining season episodes of where he is independent with his secretary Peggy being shown.

Hazel had the opposite as when NBC picked up its final season it did not want actors Don La Forge and Whitney Blake to return for it on their netork.  Both La Forge and Blake were regulars on the show during its run on ABC, but NBC had their own ideas and replaced both actors with new ones, and gave the show a retooling where main character Hazel went to work at a brand new house and new employers.  Only Bobby Buntrock was allowed to stay and he moved in with her as both La Forge and Blake were written out by having them move to the Middle East leaving their son behind to go to school.

What other shows had one complete season, other than characters, although Hazel is the exception being it was indeed retooled as a result of the change, that was different from the rest of them?

[hotdogPi]

There are probably a few examples here. (Warning: do not click if you have less than an hour of free time)

[renegade]

"Happy Days" was like that, too ... the first season was filmed, and used canned laughter ... subsequent seasons were videotaped before a studio audience.  The Cunninghams' house somehow re-arranged its layout.  And whatever happened to Chuck?

[jp the roadgeek]

Until the final season of All in the Family, the show was recorded on tape before a live audience (as always stated by Rob Reiner).  In it's final season (and I assume carrying over into Archie Bunker's Place), Carroll O'Connor tells is it was recorded, then played to a studio audience for live responses. Also, the opening theme changed a bit.  Season 1 saw a more live, off the cuff version, including a laugh track after Edith's "And you knew who you were then" line, plus a couple of episodes even had bumper music.  Seasons 2-5 had a recorded version that ended with Archie kind of staring at Edith, while seasons 6-8 ended with Edith putting her head on Archie's shoulder.  The final season had a theme with the final line "Gee, our old LA- SALLE- ran great" really stretched out, and Archie leaning back on Edith.

The first season of The Facts of Life was quite different from the rest.  The axe came down for season 2 and eliminated all but 3 of the first season girls (including Molly Ringwald), then added Nancy McKeon.  Plus the theme song lyrics changed from a totally different set of lyrics (including Charlotte Rae herself singing a line) to the more famous "You take the good, you take the bad..." lyrics.   

[wanderer2575]

Not sure if "Mr. Lucky" counts since it ran for only two season (1959-1960), but there was a marked change in direction.  It started with the title character owning and operating a floating casino aboard a luxury yacht, and the inevitable questionable characters he has to deal with.  In season two, the sponsor demanded that the setting be changed from a floating casino to a floating restaurant, and the show lost much of its bite.

[roadman]

The two hour pilot episode of Baa Baa Black Sheep, titled The Deadliest Enemy Of All**, was much more serious and 'gritty' than the subsequent episodes were.  This is particularly evident if you watch the series in syndication, where the episode (broken into two parts) is shown between the first and second seasons.  I suspect NBC had the producers sanitize the show to appeal to a wider audience.

** Note that the TV movie Flying Misfits, while the inspiration for Baa Baa Black Sheep, is NOT the pilot episode for the series, although it has been erroneously identified as such - even by Universal in the liner notes on the DVD box set.

[Stephane Dumas]

"Happy Days" was like that, too ... the first season was filmed, and used canned laughter ... subsequent seasons were videotaped before a studio audience.  The Cunninghams' house somehow re-arranged its layout.  And whatever happened to Chuck?

My Three Sons (1960-72) http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/MyThreeSons had also caught both the "Chuck Cunningham syndrome" as well as the "Cousin Oliver".

[Avalanchez71]

In the Heat of the Night was different from when it was on NBC than CBS.  I know that some of this had to do with Carroll O'Connor taking on the role of producer.

Season 1 was filmed in Hammond, LA and the relationships of the characters were averse.  The chief was not racist but he was adverse.

The next couple of seasons the characters were less adverse and the story lines were sort of corny.

When the show landed on CBS the story lines were more realistic and the characters were more developed and you saw less stereotypes.  They also started using actual police type tactics and the Sheriff and court system was more developed as well, although they never had any Constables on the show.  Mississippi has constables that serve the Justice of the Peace courts and in some counties they patrol as well.  I would imangine they could have had a neat storyline of rouge constable in an episode.  I feel they never had a constable in the story line as it was actually filmed in Georgia where constables no longer play a role versus Mississippi where they do play a role in law enforcement.

[Jardine]

Lost in Space in several ways:

last season they weren't confined to a single planet

first season was B/W and more sci-fi and less fantasy than last 2 seasons

intro music changed last season

'technically' at the start of the second season they weren't 'lost' anymore as Dr. Smith managed to sabotage the Jupiter back to our solar system and Don West and John Robinson should have been able to keep track of where they were after that

[sparker]

The Man From Uncle's first season was quite different from the remaining 3 1/2 in several ways.  The storylines revolved more around ordinary "civilians" being caught up in espionage/counterintelligence scenarious, and how the series protagonists (the characters played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum) interacted with these folks.  The music, particularly the main title theme (essentially an extended blues riff) as written by Jerry Goldsmith, was also quite different that first year (1964-65) -- the orchestrations were much more elaborate and required a full ensemble.  Things changed for the 2nd season; the "civilian interaction" aspect was eliminated; the plots were more straightforward "secret agents against the villain of the week" -- and the music was simplified -- a small jazz ensemble primarily made up of woodwinds performed the Goldsmith-composed theme from a new orchestration by Lalo Schifrin (who went on the following year to compose the Mission Impossible theme & score).  Unfortunately, the plots became stale during the ensuing seasons (the first season they were at least interesting), and the series was cancelled halfway through its 4th season. 

Interestingly, when local stations used to run the series in syndication, the first (and best) season was often omitted because of one thing only -- it was in black & white, while the ensuing seasons were in color.     

[RoadWarrior56]

A correction on the first entry on this thread, about Hazel.  Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember that show when it aired the first time.  All of the initial seasons were aired on NBC, the final season was aired on CBS.  To my memory, the rest of the information in the entry is correct.

[froggie]

JAG also has a noticeably different feel between its first season (on NBC) and its subsequent seasons (on CBS).

[Avalanchez71]

Not to mention the addition of Catherine Bell. 

[froggie]

...who also appeared in the Season One finale, as did Patrick Labyorteaux ("Bud").

[roadman65]

Until the final season of All in the Family, the show was recorded on tape before a live audience (as always stated by Rob Reiner).  In it's final season (and I assume carrying over into Archie Bunker's Place), Carroll O'Connor tells is it was recorded, then played to a studio audience for live responses. Also, the opening theme changed a bit.  Season 1 saw a more live, off the cuff version, including a laugh track after Edith's "And you knew who you were then" line, plus a couple of episodes even had bumper music.  Seasons 2-5 had a recorded version that ended with Archie kind of staring at Edith, while seasons 6-8 ended with Edith putting her head on Archie's shoulder.  The final season had a theme with the final line "Gee, our old LA- SALLE- ran great" really stretched out, and Archie leaning back on Edith.

The first season of The Facts of Life was quite different from the rest.  The axe came down for season 2 and eliminated all but 3 of the first season girls (including Molly Ringwald), then added Nancy McKeon.  Plus the theme song lyrics changed from a totally different set of lyrics (including Charlotte Rae herself singing a line) to the more famous "You take the good, you take the bad..." lyrics.   

Also the actors John Lawtley ( I think that is his name) developed Chuck Cunningham syndrome as he was dropped.  In the first three episodes Jenny O Hara played on the show, and she disappeared..

Lost in Space in several ways:

last season they weren't confined to a single planet

first season was B/W and more sci-fi and less fantasy than last 2 seasons

intro music changed last season

'technically' at the start of the second season they weren't 'lost' anymore as Dr. Smith managed to sabotage the Jupiter back to our solar system and Don West and John Robinson should have been able to keep track of where they were after that

The Robot in the first season was an ally to Dr. Smith, where in the the other two seasons the evil anti hero despised the Robot.  Remember, no one in the first original five episodes was friendly to the Robot, and as Will believed he can make it to what it was in the later episodes, and important piece of equipment, he was forbidden by his dad to even try.

Dr. Smith and Don were always enemies, but in the first it was Don hating Smith because of the fact he was a villain looking to kill the whole family. In one episode Don even put Smith in suspended animation because he put the whole mission (and the lives of the crew) in grave danger.  In the second  and third seasons their being enemies changed to Don not liking Smith because he was more annoying and not as much as life threatening.

"Happy Days" was like that, too ... the first season was filmed, and used canned laughter ... subsequent seasons were videotaped before a studio audience.  The Cunninghams' house somehow re-arranged its layout.  And whatever happened to Chuck?

It was the first two seasons actually that had a different Arnolds and a different Cunningham House.  Both were changed due to the camera set up and live shots.

[sparker]

The last season of "Get Smart" (1969-70) was quite different from the first 4; first of all, it had shifted from NBC to CBS, and the writer/comedian Buck Henry, always listed as series co-creator, had returned to polish the scripts.  It was decided to make the show even more of a satire than previously; for that final season, all the episodes' titles were "pun" variations on existing movies and other TV shows, regardless of the plot line.  Prominent among those were "The Treasure of C. Errol Madre", and my personal favorite "The Mess of Adrian Lissinger" (which featured the satirical comedian Pat Paulsen as the episode's villain). 

And the vehicle Maxwell Smart drove was now a Sunbeam Tiger, rather than the Alpine featured in the title sequences of previous seasons. 

[PHLBOS]

The Robot in the first season was an ally to Dr. Smith, where in the the other two seasons the evil anti hero despised the Robot.  Remember, no one in the first original five episodes was friendly to the Robot, and as Will believed he can make it to what it was in the later episodes, and important piece of equipment, he was forbidden by his dad to even try.

That was largely due to much of the footage of those first 5 episodes were filmed prior to the scenes involving the Robot & Dr. Smith.  The latter two characters were added later and the earlier footage (shot roughly a year earlier) with the rest of the cast was originally planned to be a single episode.

When Smith (whose character was supposed to be killed off after the first few episodes (hence, the "Special Guest Star listing) and the robot were added; footage from the original (but never-aired) pilot episode was interspliced & stretched to 5 episodes with the newer footage featuring Smith & the Robot.

As far as Will & the Robot are concerned; earlier episodes had Will imitating Smith's voice to get the Robot to react.  The change to the Robot occurred during either the 6th or 7th episode of the first season when the Robot was broken into pieces following an electrical storm (it was struck by lightning) induced by an alien.  From then on, the Robot's developed the more familiar personality.

[SP Cook]

Among shows that ran a long time:

Gunsmoke was much "darker" in its early days.  The radio version was far darker still.  More violent, Matt is more of a character resigned to a life of violence.

M*A*S*H was far closer to the movie in its first season.  Laugh track, much more outrageous antics.

Happy Days (from wince "jumped the shark" deservedly came) was much more of a family comedy and a period piece in its first season, before switching to orientation on the Fonzie character and, leaving out a few odd references, making episodes where being set 25 years before was irrelevant.

While it did not run that long, Wonder Woman did a complete re do.  The first season was a period piece, set in WWII, while the second was moved to then current times to save $$.

Another is the Andy Griffith Show.  The first season was much more of a family comedy show, and Elinor Donahue (who was at the time a much bigger star than Griffith) was a central character.  Griffith feared the show would be cancelled if her homosexuality became public and fired her.  He then went through a succession of female costars none of which took until the Helen character years later.  Most people, including me, also accept that the B&W episodes, with Barney, are 1000x better than the color ones, without him and with more recogniton of the wider world.  BTW, in the backdoor pilot, an episode of the Danny Thomas Show, Andy was crooked.

[roadman]

BTW, in the backdoor pilot, an episode of the Danny Thomas Show, Andy was crooked.

Much of the "crooked" routine - sheriff is also justice of the peace, escalating fines, etc. used in that Danny Thomas Show episode was repeated in the AG episode Andy and the Woman Speeder.

[Avalanchez71]

North Carolina got rid of the Justice of the Peace system back in the early 70s.  I am sure that the NC Constitution likely would not have allowed a person to serve in incompatiable offices such as serving as the JP and Sheriff.  The constable would have more direclty served the JP but the Sheriff still would have brought cases before a JP anyway.

[SP Cook]

If you want to go there, Mayberry is described as a "township", which, in the civil sense, is a Northern concept unknown in North Carolina, with Andy being the sheriff of just the township, rather than the entire county, as is the practice generally and in NC.  Towns generally have police chiefs.  Then again, likewise, in Gunsmoke Matt is the US Marshal for the whole area, but concerns himself mostly just with Dodge, which apparently has no town or county police. 

Mr. Pilot (Pilot Mountain in real life) is described as the "county seat", although later the Howard character works in Mayberry, but is "county clerk". 

Also, Raleigh is almost always used as the "nearest big city", when Winston-Salem or Greensboro would be closer.  I have read that CBS lawyers of the era though that using a state capitol made fictional characters more defensable, while if, say, they had a theme of a crooked mayor of Greensboro, the real one could be upset.  I don't know about that.  Also note that when people from Raleigh or the NC "state police"  (NC actually has a Highway Patrol) show up, they have accents that sound more like New Jersey than the Piedmont.

[Avalanchez71]

North Carolina has townships.  However, they are only for purposes of recording deeds by dividing the county into townships.  They have no government structure.  In the 50s the township also served as a dividing line for the election of Justices of the Peace and constables.

[vdeane]

Last Man Standing is like this.  Season 1 was essentially Home Improvement with girls instead of boys.  With Season 2, three characters were recast and aged forward four years (one of these characters was a one-off character in season 1 promoted to recurring/regular) and the show became much more political.

Star Trek: The Next Generation too.  Worf and LaForge were generic redshirts instead of in the roles they're known for (Yar ran tactical; she was killed off near the end of the season), the uniforms were slightly different (the stripe didn't fully disappear until mid Season 3, though the skirts (worn even by some men in the background!) didn't take long to vanish), Riker didn't have a beard, Picard was much more serious, Wesley was still just an annoying kid (he got some character development later, though by that point the damage to his perception was done), and the show's writing had obviously not hit its stride yet.

[roadman]

If you want to go there, Mayberry is described as a "township", which, in the civil sense, is a Northern concept unknown in North Carolina, with Andy being the sheriff of just the township, rather than the entire county, as is the practice generally and in NC.  Towns generally have police chiefs.  Then again, likewise, in Gunsmoke Matt is the US Marshal for the whole area, but concerns himself mostly just with Dodge, which apparently has no town or county police. 

Mt. Pilot (Pilot Mountain in real life) is described as the "county seat", although later the Howard character works in Mayberry, but is "county clerk". 

Also, Raleigh is almost always used as the "nearest big city", when Winston-Salem or Greensboro would be closer.  I have read that CBS lawyers of the era though that using a state capitol made fictional characters more defensable, while if, say, they had a theme of a crooked mayor of Greensboro, the real one could be upset.  I don't know about that.  Also note that when people from Raleigh or the NC "state police"  (NC actually has a Highway Patrol) show up, they have accents that sound more like New Jersey than the Piedmont.

The name Mt. Pilot was a cross between Pilot Mountain and Mt. Airy.  Mt. Airy is where Andy Griffith grew up, which is why it has so many "Mayberry" themed gift shops and other businesses now.  The fictional town of Mayberry was neither of those communities, but was said to have been located about midway between Raleigh and Asheboro.  As a kid watching the AG Show, and knowing very little about North Carolina geography at the time, I always presumed that Raleigh was closer to Mayberry than Mt. Pilot was based on the dialogue.  Always seemed that, while Andy would occasionally go to Raleigh on business, to go over to Mt. Pilot (for any reason) was always touted as a big deal.

[roadman65]

A little off the topic, but bringing in the Andy Griffith Show into this, we also have the Dukes of Hazzard that also defies the rules of the south too!  In Florida here, the Sheriff of a county is an elected position and can only be fired by the Governor of this State. I assume that GA is the same.

Yet, in the show, Boss Hogg hired Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane and its was made noted that he could have fired him at any time, and considering that Roscoe was far from being the ideal lawman and bumbling, he would not have the job in real life, but Hogg kept him anyway, but making sure Roscoe knew all along he was practically on borrowed time.  Plus, he conducted business out of his own personal bar he owned and not in the county administration building like all county commissioners do anyplace.  County Commissioners I do not know if they are elected or appointed, but it was obvious that JD Hogg got to be one because he owned all the real estate in his fictional Hazzard County, GA setting.

Also to note, where in GA today are there only two law enforcement officers patrolling an entire county?  Remember, The Dukes of Hazzard had only Roscoe and Enos and only in one season did they have three as Boss's cousin Cletus Hogg was the third man when actor Sonny Shroyer left to pursue his own show that flunked out, to return to his original role after Rick Hurst was already cast as his replacement.   Then are there any counties even in the 80's when the show aired that had all dirt roads as outside of the downtown area which was the only paved roads there?