FTA-TV TV Shows That Went In Strange Directions

emuboy

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Australian sitcom Kingswood Country - a show that would horrify the PC Brigade and SJW's if screened today - had two main actors leave during its 5 season run from 1980 to 1984.

The first was Judi Farr who played Thelma Bullpit, Ted's wife and the mother of Greta and Craig. Her departure after 1982 was explained by her winning a round the world trip and never returning. Her absence was covered by bringing in Sheila Kenneally to play Rosa, the widowed mother of Bruno (Greta's husband, Ted's son in law) who moves into the Bullpit house and promoting Col McEwan and Maggie Dence - who played Bob and Merle Bullpit - from recurring characters to the main cast.

However, when Lex Marinos who played Bruno decided not to return for the final series of the show in 1984, an unusual solution was put into place to cover his departure. Bruno became an unseen character - said to be outside, in the next room or on the phone - but never actually seen or heard on the show.

There have been lots of unseen characters over the years and while some are eventually shown on screen and others remain hidden, the reverse of this with a seen character becoming an unseen character is very rare. Besides Bruno I can name only one other example, Sophie, Mel's overly dramatic sister from UK sitcom 'The Worst Week of My Life' in the 2000s, who was a seen (and definitely heard) character in Series 1, but unseen in Series 2 and the Christmas Special.
 
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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers handled the sudden departure of 3 of its stars by using previous footage over and over again, having them doing something else off screen and only appearing eventually in costume with bad voice impersonators.

I do wonder if it inspired this bit in the Simpsons.

 
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers handled the sudden departure of 3 of its stars by using previous footage over and over again, having them doing something else off screen and only appearing eventually in costume with bad voice impersonators.

I do wonder if it inspired this bit in the Simpsons.



considering they're just reusing the Japanese footage anyway, it's not as much of a big deal
 

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Starhunter, a 20 year old sci-fi show with Michael Pare (EDDIE LIVES!) that decided to get rid off all its main characters (except one) between seasons one & two.
 
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Heroes was a major disappointment. First season was stellar. By the time the writers strike occured the show was in the toilet.
Heroes was the classic perfectly written one season TV show, that due to popularity they went for more seasons and they suddenly had to figure out new plots. Save the Cheerleader, Save the world. They did it and it should have been done (except should have had Sylar die).
 
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I actually thought of E Street after I posted this last night. Like you said it was a standard enough soapie in its early years, then changed towards the end of its run to become totally unrealistic with the serial killer, a lifelong paraplegic inexplicably finding himself able to walk and IIRC aliens and werewolves too.

Don't forget the Gangsters as well:)
 

IKnowtheDog

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Lois and Clark new adventures of Superman.

jumped the shark with the wedding then there were chameleons and other weird stuff
 
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Lois and Clark new adventures of Superman.

jumped the shark with the wedding then there were chameleons and other weird stuff

Hyping up the first wedding only for Lois to be a frog eating clone. Delaying the actual wedding week after week with numerous plot twists and turns. Yeah, that certainly pissed off a few at the time.
 

emuboy

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The classic UK sitcom Dad's Army which ran from 1968-1976 went in an unusual direction about midway through its 9 year run - nowhere, at least in terms of time passing. In the earlier years of the show time seemed to roughly on par with the time that passed during the actual Second World War, dates and current events referenced. Then time seemed to progress no later than 1942, there was no mention of things from later in the war such as D Day or V1 and V2 rockets, and when the show filmed its last episode they were still in the middle of the war, it didn't end with VE Day as one might think.
 
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Also, The Twilight Zone. Continuity was terrible. Every week nothing seemed to be related to the previous week's episode.



This has to be one of the top 10 greatest TV episodes ever made.

Brilliant on every level.
 

emuboy

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The Drew Carey Show
Had its moments in the first few seasons but then started reaching for plotlines - eg. Drew's brother having a kid with Mimi, Drew in a coma

IIRC The Drew Carey Show later in its run (after Kate had left) had Drew Carey get a new job for a new company, but also had Mr. Wick and Mimi working at the new employer with no explanation as to how and why.
 

Bomberboyokay

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This has to be one of the top 10 greatest TV episodes ever made.

Brilliant on every level.


Like the idea of watching all of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Problem is because they're so old the twists and tropes can be pretty obvious.
 

emuboy

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Like the idea of watching all of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Problem is because they're so old the twists and tropes can be pretty obvious.

The other week I saw one of the best twists ever in Cold Case, where a wealthy Philadelphia businessman had been arrested and charged with murdering his wife by pushing her down a flight of stairs. After his arrest, it came to light that in the late 1960s a girl he had escorted to her debutante ball had also been murdered by being thrown a staircase, the case never solved. The man protested that he was unlucky, that both were accidents and that lightning can strike in the same place twice. The team believed he had murdered both women. Later they became less sure of the debutante's death, due to other circumstances and other suspects in the case and that this guy seemingly had no motive for doing so, but still believed he had killed his wife due to their unhappy marriage which looked to be heading for an acrimonious and costly divorce. But in a twist ending, the man was innocent of killing his wife who fell downstairs and died after having a seizure, but he did murder the debutante years earlier by pushing her down the stairs.
 

emuboy

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It doesn't affect the overall flow of the show too much given the many characters and ongoing plotlines, but this year a Home and Away character departed in a most unusual way, and that she was new to the cast makes it all the stranger.

This year Home and Away introduced a new family, a Maori family from New Zealand. the Parata family. They consisted of Ari, his sister-in-law Gemma, Gemma's teenage son Nikau with Ari's younger brother Tane joining a few weeks later. Like all those who make the New South Wales town of Summer Bay their home the Paratas encountered plenty of drama, and in June decided to return to New Zealand for a week to scatter the ashes of Gemma's late husband, father of Nikau and brother to Ari and Tane. How this was possible due to Australia and New Zealand's closed borders due to COVID 19 was not clear, but I digress.

In usual Home and Away fashion things didn't go smoothly, and the three guys had their passports blocked by the police and could not make the flight, while Gemma was able to travel. There was some communication between Gemma and her relatives after she arrived, and nothing seemed unusual. It isn't uncommon for characters on the show to go into hiatus due to personal circumstances of the actors, for example Alf Stewart was said to be travelling when Ray Meagher had heart surgery, so it seemed logical that the actor who played Gemma, Bree Peters, was just having a short break for some reason and would soon return.

However, weeks passed with no further mention of Gemma by any other characters, and no explanation for her continued absence, such as having become stuck in New Zealand because of coronavirus travel bans or some sort of family problem that required her to stay in NZ. The network made no official announcement on the character, and it was only through Bree Peters' social media posts thanking the cast and crew of Home and Away and wishing them all the best that it became evident that the character of Gemma Parata was gone permanently.

Home and Away as much as is possible for a soap opera tends to stick to the real world and does not have some of the more outlandish departures for characters seen in soaps of yesteryear such as E Street or Sons and Daughters, but will usually have some sort of dramatic departure for its characters whether uplifting, tragic or villains getting what they deserve. On occasion during its long run some characters who didn't work out or were superfluous were written out without explanation (Chuck Cunningham Syndrome) but the departure of Gemma - having her go on a short trip and simply never return with the other characters seemingly forgetting her existence - was quite unusual, especially for a soap opera where drama equals ratings.
 

emuboy

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I'll preface my post with this - the once much-loved show has a now controversial and infamous history, and will now never be seen again in syndication, on DVD or streaming services - and I'll respectfully ask that anyone replying only discusses the show not what happened off-screen, but Australian sitcom Hey Dad! which ran from 1987-1994 had a very odd casting change.

Now, casting changes were nothing unusual for Hey Dad!. Only one actress - Julie McGregor who played Betty - was there for the entire run of 8 years. The others were all replaced over the years in various different ways.

Simon (the eldest son) was played initially by Paul Smith then Christopher Mayer, and when he departed a new character Ben (played by Ben Oxenbold) came on board and he stayed to the end. Debbie, the eldest daughter was played by Simone Buchanan; when she left she was replaced by Sam (Rachel Beck), who in turn towards the end of the series left and was replaced by Tracy, played by the late Belinda Emmett. The father Martin Kelly left in 1993 and his spot was taken by his brother-in-law Greg, Tracy's father. Nudge, the neighbor and Simon's best friend was a victim of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, there one week in 1991 and gone the next with no explanation or further mention. The role of the neighbor was taken over by Arthur McArthur, played by a younger actor Matthew Krok.

None of the ways these casting changes were handled were particularly unusual, but the one involving younger daughter Jenny Kelly was very odd. Jenny was originally played by Sarah Monahan, who was aged 15 at the time she left the show at the end of 1992, the character of Jenny also in her mid teens. The role of Jenny was recast to a much younger actress Angela Keep, who was aged 11/12 when she took over in the role, with Jenny's age wound back several years to match that of the actress now playing her.

There's been plenty of cases of shows such as sitcoms or soaps artificially aging younger characters, but never once apart from Hey Dad! have I ever heard of a show retroactively making a character younger as was done with Jenny. Can you name any others?
 
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