Sitcoms aren’t nearly as popular as they once were and most don’t last past their first season these days but there was a time when a show could run for over five years and still be successful. In order for writers to keep some shows afloat though, they had to do a revamp. When I say, “revamp” I mean that they would add in a new character or in some other way, change the structure of the show in the hopes of refreshing it. In a lot of shows, the premise wears out after a few seasons and rather than doing a spin off, recycling old plots or worse, going the “jump the shark” route (throwing in some ridiculous twist or over-the-top plot scenario in the hopes of drawing attention to the show), the writers will make some major deductions, additions or alterations. There might be an industry term to describe what I define as a revamp but since I’ve never heard of it, I’m going with my own word.
I’ve done a lot of thinking this week in trying to come up with the best examples of a revamp in a sitcom (we’ll leave the TV drama revamps for another day) and here’s what I’ve got:
The kids graduate high school and go on to “The College Years”
In ‘The Cosby Show’ when Denise went to college they did a spin-off with ‘A Different World’ and ‘The Cosby Show’ stayed on track (somewhat) while the college-years version of the show did its own thing. Other shows don’t go as far as to birth a completely new show. Instead they revamp the show from a typical high schooly sitcom to “The college years”. Casualties of this type of revamp are usually any parental figures (they’re often replaced with newer watered down replacement-parental figures) and one or two of the featured regulars who didn’t fit into the new premise of the show (a sibling, a neighbor, etc). The best examples I could come up with for the College-revamp were ‘Saved By The Bell’ and ‘Boy Meets World’.
‘Saved By The Bell’ was no stranger to a revamp. It’s first season was actually called ‘Good Morning, Miss Bliss’. Lisa, Zach, Screech and Mr. Belding were all in what would later be considered season 1 of ‘Saved By The Bell’. The show was later revamped to include Kelly, Slater and Jesse (Miss Bliss, played by the great Hayley Mills was the only major casualty here). Once the show had exhausted as many light ‘n fluffy plot scenarios (with the occasional hard hitting scenario thrown in for good measure: see the episode where Jesse gets hooked on speed), they let the kids graduate and go on to college. The new version of the show added a few new characters and lots of drama but it wasn’t enough to keep the show on the air. They also created a ‘Saved By The Bell: The New Class’ in the hopes of recapturing the old Bayside High magic with a new crop of zany teens. While the show lasted 7 seasons on NBC in its Saturday morning timeslot, it never had the popularity of the original show.
‘Boy Meets World’ started out with pre-pubescent Cory Matthews and his trusted best friend Shawn Hunter as they try and make it through puberty while dealing with a myriad of issues (some humorous and some serious). Almost always at their side to provide a bit of wise-beyond-her-years moral insight was the adorable Topanga Lawrence. The trio made it through high school together and after five seasons of the show, they went to college. This is where the revamp took place. Instead of spending time in the hallway at school, in the Matthew’s kitchen or in Chubbie’s diner as they had in previous seasons, the main set of the show was in their dorm and the student union of the college they attended.
The last 2 seasons of the show focused on the more adult aspect of their life even though they were still kids in many ways. It was almost an entirely different show as the characters that we watched grow up reached a new “starting out” point in their lives. Unfortunately, after high school the show only lasted two more seasons before it faded away. I should add that ‘Boy Meets World’ is a severely underrated sitcom. There was many times in the show that actual serious issues were addressed and they managed to do it in a non-cheesy-sitcomish kind of way. You might say the show was more of a dramedy at times. The revamp wasn’t a total disaster and many appreciated being able to see what happened to Cory, Shawn and Topanga but others might argue that it would’ve been better to let them graduate from high school and end it right there.
An Actor in a show dies and the writers are forced to replace them
In the unfortunate event that an actor in a successful sitcom passes away before their time, writers are forced to find a way to fill the gap that the character has left. ‘8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter’ had to be revamped after the death of John Ritter. In an attempt to keep the show running, they brought on David Spade to play Cate’s wayward nephew, CJ and James Garner as Cate’s father. In that case it wasn’t enough to save the show but that likely had more to do with the absence of Ritter than with the new characters. When ‘News Radio’ star Phil Hartman was killed, the show brought on Jon Lovitz but many would agree that Lovitz just couldn’t fill Hartman’s shoes. One of the few successful attempts to replace a character after the actor has died was in ‘Cheers’ when actor Nicholas Colasanto (Coach) died and writers brought in Woody Harrelson to tend the bar.
A character leaves the show and is replaced by someone new
This type of revamp is similar to when an actor dies but in this case, its usually brought on intentionally by the writers or because the actor has decided to leave the show for other reasons.
One of the most notable examples of this would have to be when Diane left in ‘Cheers’. Shelley Long left the show and Kirstie Alley came in to fill her shoes. While Alley’s character was different than Long’s the transition was successful. That might be attributed to Alley’s performance but is more likely to do with fantastic writing and a tight ensemble cast.
‘The Facts of Life’ was not as successful with this type of revamp as ‘Cheers’ was. The show started out as loose spin-off of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’. The original premise of the show was about a group of girls from different walks of life who attend a boarding school together and are parented by the kind Mrs. Garrett. After half a season, half a girls (including Molly Ringwald) were written out of the show. ‘Facts’ was similar to ‘Saved By The Bell’ in that it experienced an early but minor revamp before it really took off.
‘Facts’ centered mainly on Mrs. Garrett essentially raising these girls into women with good morals. The start of the revamp came when Mrs. Garrett’s bakery, Edna’s Edibles burned to the ground and was reborn as “Over Our Heads”, a gift shop that sold random fun items (I recall there being a useless purple squiggly thing sold in the store) but it wasn’t until Mrs. Garrett left the show and was replaced by her sister (played by Cloris Leachman) that the show really changed. By then, the girls were in their late-teens/early-20’s and had basically shed their original character traits (plus their hair got much bigger). Tootie was no longer the braces-wearing pre-teen, Jo was still tough but not nearly the tomboy she showed up as, Blaire was still spoiled but a lot less heartless and Natalie, still chubby and bubbly had also grown up a lot.
Notable references to the revamped version of ‘Facts of Life’ are that it included a pre-famous George Clooney and the brother of Sean Astin, Mackenzie. In the grand tradition of revamp attempts though, changing the premise slightly, the addition of a new parental figure and adding a bit more adult content to the show didn’t save it from cancellation.
The final major revamp tactic is the addition of a child to the mix
Once all the kids have grown up (maybe there’s one still living at home but the rest have grown up and moved out) the parents are left to try and be funny without the usual hijynx of the kids to keep things fresh so the writers add in a new adorable face to lighten up the mood and revive some of the youth in the parents.
In ‘The Cosby Show’ once Rudy grew into a teenager, the show was definitely lacking the role of the adorably outspoken little girl that Rudy once filled. They solved this problem by bringing in Olivia, played by Raven-Symoné. Olivia helped breath new life to the successful show with her almost-too-cute humor as Denise’s stepdaughter. She was like Michelle Tanner only funnier. I definitely attribute much of the success of the last three seasons of ‘The Cosby Show’ to Olivia (and more specifically, Raven-Symoné’s performance). There were quite a few hilariously heart warming scenes between Cliff and Olivia as they sat together in the kitchen having discussions.
Going back even earlier than ‘The Cosby Show’, another example of the new-child revamp is ‘Diff’rent Strokes’. When Arnold grew out of the watcha-talkin-bout-willis years, there was a sufficient absence of adorableness to the show. To fill the void, writers had Mr. Drummond get married to a beautiful southern woman with an adorable red-headed son named Sam. Played by Danny Cooksey (who went on to do ‘Salute Your Shorts’ on Nickelodeon and play a small role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Sam was a guitar playing cutie that allowed Arnold to take him under his wing and show him the ropes of living an upperclass lifestyle in New York City. Sam helped buy the show three more years before it was finally cancelled.
The last example I’ll give for the child-revamp is ‘Growing Pains’. Just as the youngest Seaver, Ben was growing out of his childhood years, Maggie and Jason Seaver had Chrissy. Within the span of a season, Chrissy jumped from being a baby to a five year old. Like Sam in ‘Diff’rent Strokes’, Chrissy’s job was to play the adorable red-head. The writers probably hoped that by miraculously aging Chrissy into a 5 year old, she’d be more useful to the show (how often to babies last in sitcoms anyway?). After a year of older-Chrissy, the show attempted another slight revamp with Luke (played by a then, unknown Leonardo DiCaprio). Luke was a runaway that Mike took in and became the surrogate child of the Seavers for a while. By that point though, there were problems on the set (Kirk Cameron’s outspokenness with his religion, Tracy Gold’s eating disorder, etc) plus the show had pretty much run its course.
And finally, an example of the exact opposite to the child-revamp of a show is ‘Family Matters’. After three or four seasons, the youngest daughter, Judy Winslow was completely written off the show. Her character wasn’t popular and was rarely the subject of plotlines. Writers probably figured viewers wouldn’t even notice if she just disappeared. And disappear, she did. They didn’t explain where she went, she just went up to clean her room one day and was never seen or heard from again in the Winslow house. The funny thing is that for the most part, viewers really didn’t notice that she was gone until much later in the series and by then, no one really cared.
Revamps were more frequent in previous decades because sitcoms were the height of primetime then. Now with reality tv shows and dramas setting the pace on television, a revamp wouldn’t be enough to save a sitcom from cancellation halfway through its first season. These days, networks usually aren’t willing to give sitcoms much of a chance to find its legs. If its not an instant hit, they might move it around a bit but it will most likely end up cancelled within 13 episodes. If writers did get the opportunity to give a successful show a fresh start, they might consider adding an adorable child to the mix. It seems out of all the revamps, the kid-factor rarely fails.
’Big Brother: All Stars’ (CBS) 8:00 pm
On Thursday, Janelle won Head of Household and has to decide which houseguests to nominate for eviction. I’ve been watching the live feeds and could tell you who the nominees are but what fun would that be? The houseguests also participated in a food competition which left some of the houseguests on the dreaded slop.
”Entourage” (HBO) 10:00 pm
The Release- (New!) – The gang’s main focus since season 2 has been on the success of Aquaman but in this episode they get news of the release of Vince’s earlier film, Queens Boulevard. Also, Ari’s under pressure as usual and Drama takes out his nervousness for his upcoming audition by copping an attitude. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you have HBO and you’re not watching ‘Entourage’, you’re not getting your money’s worth!
Waiting To Exhale (BET) 7:30 pm
Normally I wouldn’t bother promoting a movie for Monday night TV watching but since its rerun season I thought I’d change it up a bit. If you want sitcoms, I recommend ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘King of Queens’ on CBS but if you’re not in the mood for reruns, put on BET and watch Waiting To Exhale. Four women cope with trying to find and maintain solid relationships. Its worth a watch if only for Angela Bassett’s performance. My favorite scene is when she destroys her cheating husband’s designer clothes by dumping all of it into his car and setting it on fire.
”Fear Factor” (NBC) 8:00 pm
(New!) – Nothing like watching a bunch of people do ridiculously stupid things in the hopes of winning some money. This episode promise the usual amount of craziness with people digging through mud, something involving a junkyard and scary dogs as well as an airborne bus of some sort.
’Last Comic Standing’ (NBC) 9:00 pm
The stand-up comedy business isn’t easy to get into but for these final four contestants, its about to get even harder. In this episode, one contestant is eliminated leaving three to go on to the next round.
’Rescue Me’ (FX) 10:00 pm
Tommy starts to realize how all the drama going on is affecting his crew. It also appeared from the preview that the guys will find out about Probie’s potential homosexuality. This show’s been great this season.
’America’s Got Talent’ (NBC) 8:00 pm
The fourth and final semi-final round - (New!) – In the past few weeks viewers and the judges have narrowed the contestants down to two finalists per week. This episode is the last of the semi-finals. The judges will choose one of the contestants/groups to go on to the finals and the viewers will have the opportunity to call in and vote for the second finalist. The variety of talent on this show is amazing. Its worth watching if only to see what brilliant talents people in this country have.
’Big Brother All Stars (CBS) 8:00pm
The Live Episode- (New!) – If there’s one episode of ‘Big Brother’ that’s worth watching each week, it’s the live episode. Feed-watchers usually have a pretty good idea of who is going to be voted out but you never know for sure until Julie Chen announces it on the live episode. Immediately following the eviction is the new head of household competition which will determine who will rule the BB-roost for the following week.
”America’s Got Talent’ (NBC) 9:00 pm
(New!) – Find out who America has voted to go on to the next round. The results episode usually includes performances by people who didn’t make it onto the competition. These people have some very strange but worth-watching talents.
’The World Series of Pop Culture (VH1) 10:00 pm
Season Finale (New!) – If you haven’t become addicted to this brief but entertaining competition, you’re missing out! For pop culture junkies like myself who spend way too much time watching clip-shows, this show will make you feel like a genius. Eventually that wears off though and you end up wondering why your brain has retained so much useless information. Either way, it’s a fun show. Tune in to see which team wins the first ever World Series of Pop Culture.
’Monk’ (USA) 9:00pm
Mr. Monk, Private Eye - (New!) – I just started watching ‘Monk’ and it really is as good as everyone says it is! In this episode Natalie convinces Mr. Monk to open up his own detective agency. This show really is laugh out loud funny.
’Psych’ (USA) 9:00pm
9 Lives - (New!) – Watch ‘Psych’! Its clever and light and it’s ok if you’ve never seen an episode because it’s pretty easy to jump right into. The main character Shawn pretends to be a psychic in order to work with the police department as a private investigator. In this episode, Shawn investigates a supposed suicide that he is convinced is a murder. He pretends the victim’s cat is giving him clues.
10 Things I Hate About You (Comedy) 8:00 pm
This modern take on The Taming Of The Shrew is set in high school and stars Larisa Oleynik, Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger (just before he hit it big). Basically it’s a funny movie about a bunch of teenagers with Ivy-league vocabularies trying to date each other and failing miserably. Its mostly fun just to see Heath Ledger sing.
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