Seven Sitcoms That Got Seriously Retooled After Season One
First impressions are everything — except when they’re not. While most sitcoms that struggle in their first season get the ax, there have been occasions when a network is so invested in the success of a star or a concept that they give it another shot after retooling things. Sometimes they ditch a few characters or switch the location; other times they go so far as to change the name of the show. Then they put it back out into the world and hope everyone forgets about the original incarnation.
Here are seven such shows that were retooled after (or during) their first season, with notably mixed results…
Ellen
Ellen DeGeneres’ mid-1990s ABC sitcom was a modest success. Its first season, though, was very different from those that would follow. For starters, it was called These Friends of Mine instead of Ellen. And a couple of those friends (played by Holly Fulger and Maggie Wheeler) were replaced with new characters. The reason for the name change is pretty obvious: There was, of course, a much more famous show on TV at the time with the word “friends” in the title (or in its case, only the word “friends” in the title).
Home Movies
The cult favorite Home Movies originally debuted on UPN in 1999 with five episodes in “Squigglevision,” even though co-creator Brendon Small felt that look belonged to Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. UPN swiftly canceled the show due to low ratings, but Cartoon Network decided to add it to its new Adult Swim lineup. After eight more Squigglevision episodes, Small switched over to Flash animation. Meanwhile, its improvisational style was replaced with more solid stories that powered four more Adult Swim seasons.
The Conners
If not for Roseanne’s penchant for parroting insane conspiracy theories, The Conners might still be named Roseanne, just like the show’s original incarnation. But following a racist tweet after the reboot’s first season, she was killed off via a secret opioid addiction. While many questioned the wisdom of continuing the show without her, The Conners has lasted six more seasons, with a final one on the way.
Newhart
After the very successful Bob Newhart Show concluded in 1978, comedy legend Bob Newhart returned to network television with Newhart in 1982. He was still more or less playing himself, just as an innkeeper this time around instead of a psychologist. Newhart’s new on-camera wife (Mary Frann), worked well with him, but the only other character bringing in solid laughs that first season was Tom Poston as handyman George Utley.
And so, Newhart and creator Barry Kemp overhauled the show. The sweet, but unfunny maid Leslie (Jennifer Holmes) was replaced by her entitled brat cousin, Stephanie (Julia Duffy), after she had a standout guest spot in Season One. (The introduction of her yuppie boyfriend Michael (Peter Scolari) soon followed.) The show also took on a more surreal tone with wackier characters tasked with annoying Newhart. Most notably, there were the trio of woodsmen brothers Larry, Darryl and Darryl.
All of the changes worked as Newhart ended up being a hit, lasting a total of eight seasons to The Bob Newhart Show’s six.
Bob
The retooling magic, though, didn’t strike again with Newhart’s third sitcom. In Bob, Newhart played a greeting card artist who returns to the world of comic books, which he’d left years earlier. Nothing about the show really worked, so after the 25-episode first season, nearly all of the supporting cast was tossed, and Bob went back to the greeting-card business, this time as president of the greeting card company. But none of this took either, and Bob ended after just eight more episodes.
Norm
Norm Macdonald’s first sitcom doesn’t get nearly the love it deserves. In it, Norm played a former NHL player who got kicked out of the league for gambling and tax evasion, and is now doing community service as a social worker.
Norm was mostly a vehicle for Macdonald to annoy a straight man, but the first five episodes didn’t have a solid antagonist. So, the original boss was replaced by Max Wright, best known as the flustered dad on ALF. As Norm’s boss, Wright pretty much played his ALF character, but now he was annoyed by Macdonald instead of an ugly sock puppet. The pairing worked well as Wright and Macdonald played wonderfully off each other, providing the show’s biggest laughs.
Nikki Cox and Macdonald’s Dirty Work co-star Artie Lange, who played Norm’s brother, also joined the cast in Season Two. Moreover, the show’s title was shortened from The Norm Show to the leaner Norm.
Norm was never a home run ratings-wise, but it did end up lasting a total of three seasons.
The Odd Couple
When The Odd Couple debuted in 1970, it closely followed in the footsteps of the hit 1968 film starring Walter Matthau as Oscar and Jack Lemmon as Felix. In fact, Season One used the same set from the film and taped with a single camera (a laugh track was added later). Despite the superb chemistry between stars Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, for Season Two, the show switched to a more traditional multicam format filmed in front of a live studio audience. With Klugman and Randall both being trained stage actors, the format gave the series an extra boost of energy and spontaneity, which carried it along until it was ultimately canceled after Season Five.