30 TV and Movie Characters That Changed Dramatically Over the Course of a Franchise

On a solid binge, you might notice that pilot episodes always seem to look out of place. That’s because they are. They were this one-off pipe dream of an episode (usually shot way before the rest of the first season) that lets the audience, the creators and the network all dip their toes into the warm bath of what the show could be. 

Sometimes a show needs a lot more than one episode to find its stride, though. The first and last seasons of Parks and Recreation look drastically different (for all the right reasons). 

Their glow-up was pretty spot-on, but some of these other shows and characters… Oof. Seems like finding a stride and keeping that stride are two totally different things.