For Better Or For Worse: Most Transformed Characters (On A TV Show)

[Kromm]

Either by design, or accident, which characters on TV MOST changed in the course of a show?

 

This could just be a matter of perception, mind you, and not an actual change in something tangible.  it can be bad to good, good to bad, annoying to awesome, awesome to lame, rich to poor (but it should have some impact on how the character acts to matter here), poor to rich, a physical transformation, a philosophical transformation... etc.  Just be specific.

 

What made me think of this topic was watching the Babylon 5 credits someone posted on another topic and seeing G'Kar--who definitely fits the criteria of this topic.  He was always an entertaining character, but they really (and convincingly) changed him up over the course of the series.  

 

I'll also nominate Summer Roberts, who initially was supposed to be a really shallow character around as comic relief, but where the actress charmed both the audience and the writers to make her a totally different character eventually.

[GaT]

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. He started out on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a pompous, ineffective, rule book following Watcher with daddy issues, moved over to Angel, & eventually became a tough badass with a definite dark side.

[Portia]

Mine's kind of obvious, but I love Breaking Bad largely because of the gorgeous symmetry of Walter gradually losing his soul while Jesse is finding his. 

[selkie]

I'll go for the obvious here and say the Doctor from Doctor Who. Recasting the role every few years became a feature instead of a bug.

[spaceytraci1208]

Mine's kind of obvious, but I love Breaking Bad largely because of the gorgeous symmetry of Walter gradually losing his soul while Jesse is finding his. 

Walter's transformation is amazing. Even on the covers of each season of DVDs you see the progression in the darkness of his character

[andromeda331]

LOST's Sawyer and Jin, I've never would have thought by the end of the show I would love them both. They were so horrible in the beginning. Everyone hated them in the first seasons but they both got so much better. 

[thuganomics85]

For all the issues I had with Star Trek: Enterprise (trust me, I had a lot), one of the things I did like was how Trip started out as an anti-alien, arrogant, frat-boy like tool, but ended up becoming one of the more mature, interesting, and thoughtful characters, by the end of it's run.  To the show's credit, it actually did feel natural, like exploring the various new worlds, meeting the alien races, and not to mention his relationship with T'Pol, made him change some of his views and grow as a person.

 

Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones.  Not so much me, since I'm a book-reader and knew it was coming, but it's crazy that the guy who pushed a boy out of a window in his first episode, is now someone who is liked a lot, from what I've been hearing or seeing.  Well, there was that one "scene" this season that rightfully pissed people off, but it seems like a lot of viewers are now blaming (probably rightfully) on the director and showrunners for majorly failing at writing/directing that scene, and are just pretending it was how it was portrayed in the books (as creepy, but consensual sex, instead of rape.)

Edited June 13, 2014 by thuganomics85

[bosawks]

Here's an oldie, Bailey Quarters from WKRP, I just know she's out there somewhere kicking ass and running some multimedia company flicking lit matches at the help.

[Danny Franks]

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. He started out on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a pompous, ineffective, rule book following Watcher with daddy issues, moved over to Angel, & eventually became a tough badass with a definite dark side.

 

Speaking of, I'd say Cordelia Chase transformed quite remarkably from the shallow, vain, snooty cheerleader of season 1 Buffy, to the compassionate, caring, loyal Cordy of season 3 of Angel (anything after that was a mess). And with both of those characters, you can see the transformation happening gradually, with occasional focus thrown on it by the show. You knew why they'd changed, and had witnessed the experiences that changed them.

 

Another that springs to mind would be John Crichton, from Farscape. He begins the show as an all-American, true blue NASA (sorry, 'IASA'), corn-fed country boy scientist. He goggles in amazement at everything that he comes across, he flails and struggles to deal with even the most elementary things in the new world he finds himself in. By the end of the show, he's a badass, leather-clad warrior, possibly batshit crazy, and capable of standing up to any being in the galaxy and telling them to stuff it

[selkie]

Crichton would also be on my list, especially when he realizes he's changed too much and Earth has changed too much for him to go home again, even if it was safe for him to do so.

[Shannon L.]

I'm a few episodes from the end of season 4 of Chuck and have noticed a big change in Casey and Morgan.  Casey is developing more of a heart, or rather, he's allowing his emotions to show a little more and Morgan is actually maturing.  He's still a bit silly, but not as annoyingly so as in the first 2-3 seasons. 

[shlbycindyk]

Howard on The Big Bang Theory.  When the show first started he hit on every woman he saw and was a real sleazy guy.  Now that he's married he's actually a decent person and I like the character much better now.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. He started out on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a pompous, ineffective, rule book following Watcher with daddy issues, moved over to Angel, & eventually became a tough badass with a definite dark side.

Definitely. He went through a LOT of changes.

 

Niles from Frasier -- he went from being a snobby person to one who cared about his family and friends.

[blueray]

I would definetly but John crittin on my list. He starts off very nieve and scared (with good reason) to being badass. I love how he at the begining of the series he is doing everything to get home, but when he finially gets there he realizes its no longer home, at least not where he belongs.

 

I would also put Nog on the list from DS9. The ferengi starts off as a troubled teen who can't read (not sure if that was strictly english) and didn't care about school. To a outstanding starfleet officer. He literually grows up on the show.

 

Jin and Sawyer definetly change a lot too.

[AimingforYoko]

Carol Peletier on The Walking Dead. Season One Carol would've never

shot Lizzie in the head.

[Misslindsey]

Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World and Joey Tribbiani from Friends started as somewhat competent characters and than evolved into characters that you wondered how they could function on a day to day basis.

[Raja]

Detective Andy Sipowicz went from an angry alcoholic goon to the moral center of NYPD Blue.

On The Wire Lieutenant Carver went from just another poorly trained slightly bent Baltimore detective to the protege of Major Colvin and at least some hope that some "real police" would still be in Baltimore's upper police ranks in the future.

[libad]

Kevin Girardi (Jason Ritter) in Joan of Arcadia.  Starts out as a self-pitying ex-jock parapelegic kid and becomes a self-confident revitalized-jock recovering-parapelegic adult.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Margaret Houlihan in M*A*S*H. She went from a hypocritical martinet who doubled as the Blowjob Queen of Korea to a strict-but-fair humanitarian. Example: One of the early season episodes has Frank putting in for a Purple Heart because he slipped in the mud and threw his back out. When Henry questions it, Margaret prissily explains that as the injury happened in a war zone, it was combat-related. The latter-seasons Margaret would have been offended as hell by anyone trying the same thing.

[Kromm]

Margaret Houlihan in M*A*S*H. She went from a hypocritical martinet who doubled as the Blowjob Queen of Korea to a strict-but-fair humanitarian. Example: One of the early season episodes has Frank putting in for a Purple Heart because he slipped in the mud and threw his back out. When Henry questions it, Margaret prissily explains that as the injury happened in a war zone, it was combat-related. The latter-seasons Margaret would have been offended as hell by anyone trying the same thing.

I agree she totally fits the premise of this thread very well, but at the same time I actually disliked the change on one level, because it felt SO fake (especially in the two years or so that would have passed in that world character lived in--vs. the decade or so that passed in the world the show was airing in).  It was part and parcel of the show going on WAY too long that we couldn't see Margaret change in little ways, without having to totally reinvent her as another person in the same body.

[St. Claire]

Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World and Joey Tribbiani from Friends started as somewhat competent characters and than evolved into characters that you wondered how they could function on a day to day basis.

As did Brittany S. Pearce. She was a bit of a dimwit in the first season of Glee, but by the time she graduated, she pretty much had the mental capacity of a preschooler. 

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

...especially in the two years or so that would have passed in that world character lived in--vs. the decade or so that passed in the world the show was airing in...

Between the four characters who spanned the length of the show (Hawkeye, Margaret, Klinger and Mulcahy) the time stretch is most obvious with her: someone's hair will not normally change from dirty blonde to gray to white in two years' time.

[spaceytraci1208]

Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World and Joey Tribbiani from Friends started as somewhat competent characters and than evolved into characters that you wondered how they could function on a day to day basis.

Kelly Bundy was also a victim of advanced stupidity acquired through age. The first couple seasons of Married With Children she was a typical (for TV) bratty and superficial teenager. By the time the show ended she could barely exit a room without walking into a wall

[Raja]

Between the four characters who spanned the length of the show (Hawkeye, Margaret, Klinger and Mulcahy) the time stretch is most obvious with her: someone's hair will not normally change from dirty blonde to gray to white in two years' time.

Well to give the benefit of doubt it wasn't just any two years, it was two years in a war zone. And as a Major she would have been older the the other nurses

[Snowprince]

Kelly Bundy was also a victim of advanced stupidity acquired through age. The first couple seasons of Married With Children she was a typical (for TV) bratty and superficial teenager. By the time the show ended she could barely exit a room without walking into a wall

       

       Same can be said of Family Ties Mallory Keaton (Justine Batemen).

[Princess Sparkle]

Mine's kind of obvious, but I love Breaking Bad largely because of the gorgeous symmetry of Walter gradually losing his soul while Jesse is finding his.

I'm going to go with Breaking Bad too, only I'm going with Hank. He started the series as a brash and boorish guy, but by the end of the series, he was the closest thing to a moral center the show had.

[Actionmage]

Even though I love the show, I nominate Oliver Queen/ The Green Arrow as most transformed.

 

We've seen where he was before he got blown up in the north China Sea and saw his father commit a murder-suicide to ensure Oliver's survival. Oliver was a college drop-out x4, he was a boozy, druggy, womanizing hedonist who didn't understand why pizza delivery guys couldn't break $100. He cheated on his steady girl constantly, and apparently it was a not-so-secret secret.

 

He's gone through five years of assumed deadness by his hometown. He's been dragooned into a government program and turned into a grumpy operative. He has found fleeting comfort with an array of women, but they rarely stayed in his life to be special enough to him. He'd seen a woman he cared for die twice in front of his eyes and blamed himself for the death of another woman. 

 

He comes home to find his mother plotting with his best friend's father to destroy the poor section of town. He discovers that his mother arranged to have him kidnapped and tortured as soon as he was found alive, in order to appease the friend's father.  He was given a bodyguard without preamble. He barely shared thoughts or stories. He was prickly and rude and curt and seemingly a bit insane, but it was all chalked up to the isolation of the island he was found on.

 

As of this half season, Oliver Queen has a good friend in that bodyguard, so good that they consider themselves brothers. Oliver has found a woman he loves unreservedly and who loves him back as much.  His sister went through a rough period, but Oliver demonstrates his love for her as much as he ever did, if not more. He is attempting a mayoral run in order to bring his fight against the villains his city faces into the light, so everyone he can use to that end can be brought in to help.( Cops aren't always keen on helping vigilantes, at least in Star City.) He just got engaged. If only a frenemy from his past hadn't murdered his mother, things might be practically perfect for Oliver (except for that pesky mystic badass, Damien Darhk, smirking and whatevering at Ollie from a shady corner.)

 

Things will never be perfect for Oliver, but Mr. Queen has come a far way from the lives in his head, goon-killin' machine we met in the pilot and the dude-bro we met in flashbacks.

[Ujio]

I'm going to go with Breaking Bad too, only I'm going with Hank. He started the series as a brash and boorish guy, but by the end of the series, he was the closest thing to a moral center the show had.

ITA with all the posters that mentioned the characters in Breaking Bad. Skyler is another one that goes from "a good wife" to (almost) a Lady Macbeth. All characters "evolve" organically, too. What an amazing character-driven series!!!

Edited January 7, 2016 by Ujio

[Gudzilla]

Going back a little Gabrielle from Xena.

[roseha]

I kind of think that Lassie as played by Tim Omundson in Psych belongs here.  In the early episodes he's not portrayed very sympathetically, even though he's the only character other than Gus and Henry who's clearly on to Shawn's pretense.  However as the episodes go on he becomes a lot more mature and sympathetic, especially in his concern for Juliet.  I suspect the show's creators knew how good Tim was and didn't want to waste him in a two dimensional role.

[Anna Yolei]

Quinn from Scandal....OMG. I watched the first three seasons on my Google Play account, so her change from doe eyed exposition bot to the knockoff Dexter she is now was easier to see. It makes sense, given her history and that Huck was the guy she was closest to in the group, but I was surprised...not by the show, but that such a drastic change was allowed on a network TV show.

[Anna Yolei]

I would also put Nog on the list from DS9. The ferengi starts off as a troubled teen who can't read (not sure if that was strictly english) and didn't care about school. To a outstanding starfleet officer. He literually grows up on the show.

In a lot of ways, Nog is the very embodiment of what DS9 did well--taking the established patterns and turning them on their proverbial heads. Sisko's own attitude on the Ferengi was put in check not by Quark's on the money snark, but by Nog, sneaking behind his father's back to read and become educated.

Rare is the character that didn't change in some way (Morn, maybe? Vic Fontaine?), but for the screen time he had, Nog was a tertiary character in name only IMO.

[The Crazed Spruce]

I kind of think that Lassie as played by Tim Omundson in Psych belongs here.  In the early episodes he's not portrayed very sympathetically, even though he's the only character other than Gus and Henry who's clearly on to Shawn's pretense.  However as the episodes go on he becomes a lot more mature and sympathetic, especially in his concern for Juliet.  I suspect the show's creators knew how good Tim was and didn't want to waste him in a two dimensional role.

I totally agree.  My favourite scene from the finale was when Lassiter watched the message that Shawn left for him, and just when Shawn's about to confess that he isn't psychic, Lassie ejects the disk and throws it out.  I swear, it brought a tear to my eye.  (Granted, they completely ruined that feeling with the copout ending, but that was still a great moment.)

[Chaos Theory]

The reason I like Dramas more the comedies is that characters are allowed to grow some more then others of course. Nog on DS9 and Quinn on Scandal are two of the better examples of well written growth that made sense for the character themselves and the overall story.

Another character that saw a good deal of growth is Parker on Leverage. I think of all the group she was the one who grew and changed the most.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Chaos Theory

[Shannon L.]

Funny, I was just thinking about this thread last night (and I have no idea what made me think of it) and, I was thinking about Nellie Olsen on Little House on the Praire.  She started off a hateful, whiny brat, but, after she got married, while she was still occasionally whiny and still had the occasional tantrum, she really matured a lot.  I loved the moments when she'd roll her eyes at her mother or tell her off.  Young Nellie would have never done that. 

Edited January 20, 2016 by Shannon L.

[blueray]

 

Another character that saw a good deal of growth is Parker on Leverage. I think of all the group she was the one who grew and changed the most.

I agree with that. She learned how to interact socially with others and to trust them. I love that she becomes the  mastermind in the end.

[GreekGeek]

I also thought of Margaret Houlihan on M*A*S*H first. She was the only woman in the opening credits, so the show tried to make her everything to everybody-- uptight martinet, feminist spokesperson, compassionate sweetie. 

 

On the more realistic long-running shows, kids tend to change a lot--it would be ridiculous to write a teenager like a nine-year-old. Darlene on Roseanne changed a lot--from wisecracking tomboy to depressed angry Goth to mature young wife and mother. Her sister Becky also changed quite a bit, from "golden girl" to disappointment.

[Kromm]

I also thought of Margaret Houlihan on M*A*S*H first. She was the only woman in the opening credits, so the show tried to make her everything to everybody-- uptight martinet, feminist spokesperson, compassionate sweetie. 

It ruined her (just as much as Hawkeye turning into a moralistic windbag ruined him).

 

While Hot Lips didn't have to remain totally one dimensional, they dulled her edges so much she simply became BORING instead.  Consequence of the show going on WAY too long.

[Danny Franks]

It ruined her (just as much as Hawkeye turning into a moralistic windbag ruined him).

 

While Hot Lips didn't have to remain totally one dimensional, they dulled her edges so much she simply became BORING instead.  Consequence of the show going on WAY too long.

 

Oh lord, late seasons Hawkeye really was a drag. As most of that show was, in the end. By the time Radar left, it was more crap than good. As for women, I always felt they should have made Nurse Cutler, who appeared in a few episodes in the first season, a regular. I really liked her, and she provided a nice change of energy with Hawkeye and Trapper, in that she called them out on crap without getting shrill and angry like Margaret would. It didn't hurt that Marcia Strassman was cute as hell, either.

 

I feel like Castle is a show where, by the end of season 6 (when I finally stopped watching) all the characters were barely recognisable from what they had originally been. Both physically and in terms of personality. The reason I was able to quit a show I'd been borderline obsessed with was because I realised that I just didn't feel like I was watching the same people any more. I think it was a case of writers just disregarding character to make their jobs easier, and of actors just not really bothering to play the roles any more, and simply being themselves.

[Kromm]

Oh lord, late seasons Hawkeye really was a drag. As most of that show was, in the end. By the time Radar left, it was more crap than good. As for women, I always felt they should have made Nurse Cutler, who appeared in a few episodes in the first season, a regular. I really liked her, and she provided a nice change of energy with Hawkeye and Trapper, in that she called them out on crap without getting shrill and angry like Margaret would. It didn't hurt that Marcia Strassman was cute as hell, either.

 

I feel like Castle is a show where, by the end of season 6 (when I finally stopped watching) all the characters were barely recognisable from what they had originally been. Both physically and in terms of personality. The reason I was able to quit a show I'd been borderline obsessed with was because I realised that I just didn't feel like I was watching the same people any more. I think it was a case of writers just disregarding character to make their jobs easier, and of actors just not really bothering to play the roles any more, and simply being themselves.

There's also that hell on Earth called "Law & Order Special Victims Unit", where unlike the Mothership show, we got stuck seeing the same faces turn into Senior Citizens over the run of the show.

 

I mean that's no slam against older protagonists on TV in general, but when you have to explain them in one show for 17 years (and counting), it's fucking ludicrous and annoying.

EDIT Hah, to be fair I haven't watched SVU in years. I didn't realize until checking now that Mariska Hargitay and Ice T were the only oldies left. But man, time has caught up with Mariska.  Again, nothing wrong with an older face on TV. But how could the show possibly make her interesting, or believable, this many years in?  I see they promoted her from Sergeant to Lieutenant finally. How long was she a Sergeant again? She must have been on the 20 year promotion plan, since I'm pretty sure that's the rank the show had her start with in Episode 1 (and she had to have had it for a few years when we first met her). 

Edited January 31, 2016 by Kromm

[Raja]

There's also that hell on Earth called "Law & Order Special Victims Unit", where unlike the Mothership show, we got stuck seeing the same faces turn into Senior Citizens over the run of the show.

 

I mean that's no slam against older protagonists on TV in general, but when you have to explain them in one show for 17 years (and counting), it's fucking ludicrous and annoying.

EDIT Hah, to be fair I haven't watched SVU in years. I didn't realize until checking now that Mariska Hargitay and Ice T were the only oldies left. But man, time has caught up with Mariska.  Again, nothing wrong with an older face on TV. But how could the show possibly make her interesting, or believable, this many years in?  I see they promoted her from Sergeant to Lieutenant finally. How long was she a Sergeant again? She must have been on the 20 year promotion plan, since I'm pretty sure that's the rank the show had her start with in Episode 1 (and she had to have had it for a few years when we first met her). 

Well police are not like the military with a gain rank or get put out policy. She was just a detective for most of the run, later they made Munch from Homicide a Sergeant a couple of years before his second retirement. It was after Detective Stabler retired and they moved the Captain Cragan out to pasture that she made Sergeant to leave her in charge of the unit and then a quick promotion to Lieutenant a year later when the NYPD upper ranks accepted her brilliance, I guess since nobody got shot in the squad room under her watch

[Kromm]

She was a Detective in the beginning?  Okay, that makes sense. So I guess it's poor ol' Ice that got the backseat in the promotions department then.

[SmithW6079]

Soap operas have character transformations down to an artform. Characters who start out evil become good and vice versa.

[BookWoman56]

Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World and Joey Tribbiani from Friends started as somewhat competent characters and than evolved into characters that you wondered how they could function on a day to day basis.

I'd add Topanga Lawrence from Boy Meets World to the list of characters who transformed not in a good way. She started out as a quirky, intelligent, free-spirited, interesting girl and devolved into a conformist, stereotypical female teen focused on her appearance and being popular, not interesting and completely interchangeable with virtually every other female teen on TV.

[spaceytraci1208]

Soap operas have character transformations down to an artform. Characters who start out evil become good and vice versa.

And age a decade over the course of just a couple years

[Kromm]

And age a decade over the course of just a couple years

Vs. other genres of TV shows, where sometimes they don't acknowledge aging at all!

[Chaos Theory]

I'd add Topanga Lawrence from Boy Meets World to the list of characters who transformed not in a good way. She started out as a quirky, intelligent, free-spirited, interesting girl and devolved into a conformist, stereotypical female teen focused on her appearance and being popular, not interesting and completely interchangeable with virtually every other female teen on TV.

Topanga change in a bad way is debatable. I often liked the way the show portrayed her as someone who knew what she wanted. Boy Meets World ran for nearly ten years and each of the main characters started as kids and grew into adults so yes they were going to change. I think the only one whose change showed no logic was Eric.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

She was a Detective in the beginning?  Okay, that makes sense. So I guess it's poor ol' Ice that got the backseat in the promotions department then.

 

Yeah, in the pilot episode Benson had just joined the sex crimes unit, and Stabler had apparently been there for a few years.

[andromeda331]

If we're bring up Topanga's transformation into just like every other teen, Rory Gilmore had that

transformation too. And it wasn't good. Rory started out a good down to earth kid who loved

school, books, and hanging out with her mom. She was a nice kid who loved her grandparents and

tried to bridge the gap between her mom and grandparents. She transformed into a spoiled

brat, who can't handle disappointment, and got everything handed to her on a silver platter.

The crowning moment was when Mitchum tells Rory she doesn't have it as a journalist

and Rory's reaction is to steal a boat and drop out of Yale. When her mother refuses to

let her, she drops out and moves in with her grandparents. A move she knew would

throw a wrench in her mom and grandparents' relationship. But still did it anyway.

After months of her grandparents' paying for everything she decided to make up with

her mom because Grandma started laying some rules.  The same girl who was once

behind at Chilton worked hard to catch up and when Paris gave her crappy assignments

on the school paper managed to turn it around.

[Chaos Theory]

Yeah, in the pilot episode Benson had just joined the sex crimes unit, and Stabler had apparently been there for a few years.

Part of what initially made it interesting for me was the concept that no one lasted in sex crimes for longer then a couple years. It is a major pet peave of mine that procedurals keep casts forever even when it makes no sense. I thought maybe this one wouldn't. Ha! To me.

I stopped watching a long time back. You know shows are getting hinky when I start getting swicky. But I can see that there was some growth in Benson.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Chaos Theory