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

[GHScorpiosRule]

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.

But that was said in the pilot! You know you can't believe everything that's expositioned/shown in the pilot!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

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.

 

 

But that was said in the pilot! You know you can't believe everything that's expositioned/shown in the pilot!

 

More than that, unless a show is planning to go the American Horror Story route and change up the premise every season, even if you use the same actors, the same characters are always going to be there unless someone leaves or gets fired.

[Chaos Theory]

More than that, unless a show is planning to go the American Horror Story route and change up the premise every season, even if you use the same actors, the same characters are always going to be there unless someone leaves or gets fired.

This isn't exactly the place for it but one of the reasons the OG CSI and L&O remain my favorites to this day was that the shows swapped out characters.

It doesn't matter how much character growth any character has on a procedural after five, six, seven years I start thinking they should have been promoted by now.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This isn't exactly the place for it but one of the reasons the OG CSI and L&O remain my favorites to this day was that the shows swapped out characters.

It doesn't matter how much character growth any character has on a procedural after five, six, seven years I start thinking they should have been promoted by now.

 

The exceptions were Lt. VanBuren (16 seasons(to the end of the show's run)), Det. Lenny Briscoe (12 seasons (left shortly before he passed away)), and ADA Jack McCoy (who did become DA, the last two seasons of L&O).

[roamyn]

I don't know if u call it a change or transformation, but during the original run of The X-Files , Scully went from non-believer to believer.

[selkie]

ER also cycled through lead characters a fair amount over the course of its run.

[Snow Apple]

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.

Her parents also changed from free spirits to uptight corporate types (with different faces). 

[maxskellington]

Joey Potter on Dawson's Creek. From a sweet, studious girl next door to the femme fatale every guy wanted.

 

Jackie on Roseanne. From a normal struggling single girl to a total idiot, Wacky Jackie.

Also from Roseanne - Mark. He started out as a punk, but ended up totally clueless.

 

Ned Flanders on The Simpsons. From kindhearted neighbor to stereotype.

Edited February 25, 2016 by maxskellington

[Blergh]

On 1/31/2016 at 1:19 PM, BookWoman56 said:

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.

The wedding episode epitomized this the worst via having her insist on all the bridemaids wearing these ugly,pink Southern belle cotillion dresses with matching parasols for an INSIDE wedding ( surely a smart girl like Topanga would have known that  genteel ladies back in the day ONLY carried parasols when venturing to the sunny OUTDOORS)! The Original Topanga would have echoed Morgan the Bridesmaid's sentiment of it being SO hideous and uncomfortable that she wouldn't have used it to wipe  a bathroom floor (or something to that effect). That the Latter Day  Topanga would have deliberately put her best friends and future sister-in-law through this JUST to impress other people was rather appalling! 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Blergh

[RealHousewife]

Charlotte York on SATC changed throughout the series. In the beginning she was quite superficial and really wanted a handsome husband. She eventually realized she just wanted to be happy and have love, and that didn't mean a husband who was a pretty boy. I'm sure she's not "the most transformed," but among the shows I watch, she stands out as a character who did show growth in a lovely way.  

[Mabinogia]

23 hours ago, RealHousewife said:

I'm sure she's not "the most transformed," but among the shows I watch, she stands out as a character who did show growth in a lovely way.  

She's certainly the most transformed out of the four IMO. Or rather, her transformation took it's time, slow and sweet and made perfect sense. She was easily my favorite of the foursome, mainly because of her growth. It made her more interesting than the others. And to this day, if I see something pink I say with Charlotte like enthusiasm "it's pink! For girls!" 

[SmithW6079]

I used to love the way characters on soap operas would go from bad to good to bad and back again. I haven't watched them in years, but Natalie Hunter on "All My Children" comes to mind. When she first appeared, she was "bad" but gradually transformed into a bastion of virtue in Pine Valley.

[Anna Yolei]

Since I've been reminded of this post, I'm gonna nominate the entire cast of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I saw a comment upthread about someone preferring dramas over comedies because comedies hardly ever allowed people to truly change and grow, which is certainly true enough of the typical sitcom, but this show is a delightful exception that to be honest I nearly skipped based on the title. 

A lot of people are still sucking lemons that Rebecca did not choose any of her three main suitors, but as creator Rachel Bloom points out, it's a story about the affects of mental illness first and a romcom second and picking a man wasn't the fix she needed in her life. And while "I'm Getting Bi" is a well known banger, this number about amicable breakups existing needs to be heard too:

 

[Spartan Girl]

Pretty much all of The Simpsons have changed into one-dimensional caricatures of their former selves in the worst possible way. Especially Marge, who has devolved into a whiny, hand-wringing, pearl-clutching, haranguing, holier-than-thou Karen.

For example, take how she (tried) to reign Bart in “Summer of 4’2” when Bart got jealous of Lisa playing “bad girl” to make new friends: Marge told him to back off and let Lisa enjoy her new friends because she wasn’t hurting anyone. Granted, Bart didn’t listen and still tried to sanatorium things anyway, but Marge gets credit for calling him out.

Now compare that to several years later, in “On A Clear Day I Can’t See My Sister” when Lisa finally gets so fed up with Bart bullying her that she gets a restraining order on him. Marge is only concerned about BART, and acts like Lisa is the one causing all the problems because she should just take all his crap that he never gets punished for. Or blaming Lisa in another episode because she and Homer are bonding and Bart gets jealous. Ugh.

[DearEvette]

Well fresh off of Stranger Things, I have to say Steve Harrington -- who went from a mean, narcissistic bully to a really great guy.

Also, doing a spot re-watch of Ted Lasso -- Nate -- who went from a bullied kit man to what is looking like a major villain and a coach of his own team over the course of just two seasons.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

Well fresh off of Stranger Things, I have to say Steve Harrington -- who went from a mean, narcissistic bully to a really great guy.

The power of the hair. That hair would not be denied! It is one of the few times I don't mind a character doing a complete 180 because I adore the actor and am glad they didn't keep him a villain. He's got great chemistry with the kids (who aren't quite kids anymore. Yikes they're getting so old). 

[festivus]

I love my Steviepoo so much I'm scared to go back and watch the first season again when he was a jerk.

[DearEvette]

What I liked about the transition for Steve is that is wasn't some obvious villian woobification journey where it was so transparent they were trying to redeem a terrible person.  But it was an organic thing where he learned how limited his world view was and he had to grow with the effed up circumstances around him. 

[Babalu06]

From Ted Lasso:

Jamie Tartt changed for the so much better. He started out as a preening, egotistical, immature jerk to a wonderful, generous friend and son, while still retaining his humor. The best redemption arc I've ever seen.

Nate Shelley - went from kind of sympathetic, if not totally lovable, to despicable (and sort of back again, though I was one who felt his redemption wasn’t totally earned or believable).

[Raja]

On 7/3/2014 at 11:05 AM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

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.

Back to M*A*S*H I would nominate "Sergeant" Klinger who went from the corporal trying to game the system to get a bad paper discharge by cross dressing to who I think was the only character who got promoted , aside from Frank Burns in the big joke who was promoted who as he got transferred  on his way out, and showed greater responsibility during the war. 

Scratch that Father Mulcahy got promoted with no effect except the bars on his uniform

Edited December 2 by Raja

[andromeda331]

On 12/2/2024 at 8:53 AM, Raja said:

Back to M*A*S*H I would nominate "Sergeant" Klinger who went from the corporal trying to game the system to get a bad paper discharge by cross dressing to who I think was the only character who got promoted , aside from Frank Burns in the big joke who was promoted who as he got transferred  on his way out, and showed greater responsibility during the war. 

Scratch that Father Mulcahy got promoted with no effect except the bars on his uniform

Klinger was my favorite character. He always cracked me up. I love all his ways of trying to get out of the army. His romance with Soon Lee. Ending up staying in Korea.