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Denser and Wackier: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Happy Days]]'': The actual shark-jumping episode is a good example. Picture the premise of the show -- how the Cunningham family was so gosh-darn swell back in the fifties. Now, reconcile that image with [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Fonzie]] water-skiing over sharks to overcome his fear of them, and you can see how [[Jumping the Shark]] became a [[Trope Namer]].
* ''[[Family Matters]]'' starts out as a mundane sitcom, but succumbed to this trope as a result of Steve Urkel, who got initially got into plots with his suave, handsome, scientifically induced alter ego Stefan until the end of the series featured him traveling into [[Recycled in Space|space]]. Steve Urkel being the harbinger of these changes was likely incidental, since an [[Extraverted Nerd]] does not require fantastic elements in order to function.
* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' started off as a [[Wagon Train to Thethe Stars]] that was only slightly wackier than usual, but from the last few episodes of the first season the writers really started pushing the boat out both in terms of [[Cerebus Syndrome]] and in how crazy the situations they put the characters into became. Among mainstream TV shows, it's probably rivalled only by the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' franchise for how close canon episodes got to what are usually [[Crack Fic]] concepts. And it mostly did this while still keeping the stories emotionally significant.
* ''[[The Office]]'' in the USA rolls with this, though not quite as badly as some other shows. The first two seasons (really the first season, but what was technically the first season was stunted), portrayed a fairly realistic day-to-day workplace with a [[Pointy-Haired Boss]], who, while on the extreme of what should be firing offenses, was fairly realistic in his incompetence, but later seasons saw a more ironclad [[Contractual Immortality]] take place for many characters, especially Ryan, Michael, Dwight, and (in one case) Meredith.
* The TV adaptation of ''[[Honey I Shrunk the Kids (TV series)|Honey I Shrunk the Kids]]'' is much denser and wackier than [[Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (Film)|the original movie]], with stuff such as talking about foot odor, [[Bizarre Alien Biology|aliens that eat with their butts]], and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|clowns]].
* ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]'' gets sillier with each season. Back in the pilot, Jack's official job title being "Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming" was about the only especially unrealistic aspect of the show. Now [[Surreal Humor]] in the form of weird, off-the-wall stuff is a regular feature of the series.
* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' got like this in season 7, especially when you compare it to [[Cerebus Syndrome|the more serious]] season 6. While it had several serious episodes and some realistic plotlines, it also had a lot of convoluted and wacky plotlines, especially the Jack and Eric ones. For example one plotline involved Eric gaining the ability to see into the future whenever he sneezes and Jack trying to use this power to win the lottery. Luckily, this was the show's final season.
* ''[[Super Sentai]]'' had two: ''[[Gekisou Sentai Carranger]]'' and ''[[Engine Sentai GoongerGo-onger]]'', both which were car-themed [[Affectionate Parody]] seasons.
* ''[[Frasier]]'' did this right — after a first season that was very well-written, but quiet, sensible, slow-moving, and rather ''[[Cheers]]''-ish in style, the second season amped the show up into a full-blown theatrical [[Farce]] and perfected its trademark blend of ludicrously overblown plots, highbrow wit, and slapstick, which it marinated in (and scooped many, many Emmys for) until it started losing momentum in season nine.
* ''[[Downton Abbey]]''. While the first series is a rather understated comedy of manners with subtle observations on the class structure of Edwardian England. The second veers at several times into full blown soap opera, complete with plot lines invoking {{spoiler|amnesia and mistaken identity, a suicide-murder frame-up, a miraculous medical recovery, and a rather superfluous affair}}.
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* [[Kingdom Hearts]] started doing this as soon as the second game came out. The games are spread across different consoles as a [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]], making it [[Kudzu Plot|very confusing]] for anyone who isn't really into the series.
* Though the first ''[[Serious Sam]]'' wasn't exactly serious to begin it with, it still had a ''relatively'' realistic art-style and cartoonish but not that out-there [[Standard FPS Guns]]. Then came ''Serious Sam II'', which had things like a world based on fairy tales, a kamikaze parrot as a weapon and [[You Don't Look Like You|redesigned]] the hero to make him more cartoonish. However, the third game is apparently going to be [[Darker and Edgier]].
* The creators of ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' realized that if they wanted their [[First-Person Shooter]] to be memorable and stand out from other similar games, like ''[[Call of Duty]]'', they would have to drastically distance themselves from the feel of the first game, and take absolutely nothing seriously. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|It worked.]]
* The original ''[[Earthworm Jim (Videovideo Gamegame)|Earthworm Jim]]'' was already wacky, but its sequel went off the deep end - for example, its third level featured Jim as a cave salamander floating through a pinball bumper- and pencil-studded intestine while shooting inflated sheep on his way to a [[Insane Troll Logic|nonsensical]] game show at the level's end. Thankfully, it actually [[Surreal Humor|worked]]. After that, ''Earthworm Jim 3D'' on the N64 (developed by an entirely different team) descended into infantile, "random" gags and ''[[Bubsy]] the Bobcat''-quality puns.
* ''[[Sonic Colors (Video Game)|Sonic Colors]]'', compared to some of Sonic's [[Shadow the Hedgehog|more]] [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|recent]] [[Sonic Unleashed (Video Game)|titles]], is definitely more cartoony and surreal in its plot and dialogue.
** ''[[Sonic Generations (Video Game)|Sonic Generations]]'', while not as dense or wacky as Sonic Colors, is still obviously denser and wackier than the other Sonic games. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|Sonic games seem to be more critically acclaimed when they don't take themselves seriously.]]
* ''[[Dead Rising 2]] : Off The Record'' promises to be this. The original installments had heavy goofy elements but a fairly serious main storyline. ''Off The Record'''s trailer shows Frank having fun in an amusement park full of zombies, basically just screwing around, while wacky music plays.
* ''[[Saints Row]]'' started off as just a slightly wackier ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' clone about gang warfare, but its second installment began introducing outlandish minigames like streaking naked, driving a sewage truck spraying gunk everywhere to devalue property, riding a quad while on fire, and so on. The third game goes ''completely'' nuts, with a cyberspace level, futuristic VTOL jets and hoverbikes, a vehicle that sucks people up and shoots them out of a cannon, zombies, and so on.
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== Western Animation ==
 
* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'' is one of the ''better'' executions of this trope, as the original seasons of the show (series 1-9) while not that bad, was very grounded then had a quite realistic premise... Quite unlike the 'anything goes' antics that made the ''whole'' show a pop-culture fixture [[Long Runner|in later seasons]]. However, many viewers feel that as years dragged on, [[Seasonal Rot|this went on too far]]. Now the show toned down wackiness ''just a bit'' and returned back to its original roots.
* The ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' cartoons started out as a fairly typical 'cat chases mouse' cartoon, which even in the early 1940's wasn't anything new. As time went on though, episodes began taking place [[Recycled in Space|in different time periods and settings]], and thanks to the influence [[Tex Avery]] had on MGM's animation studio, the slapstick violence was cranked [[Up to Eleven]].
* ''[[Total Drama Island (Animation)|Total Drama Island]]'' was a pretty exciting relatively realistic "animated reality show". The second season takes place in a movie studio and every episode is a shout out to films with much cartoonier antics. The third season is a musical.
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': The characters <ref>except for Squidward, Gary, Sandy, and Plankton</ref> became wackier, [[Took a Level In Dumbass|dumber]] and rather callous. The show as a whole becomes zanier.
* ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'', big time. The first few seasons were rather realistic in comparison to what it later became -- the only ''really'' crazy things happened in flashbacks. After the show was [[Un Cancelled]], however, the plots and the characters became wackier, zanier, [[Took a Level In Dumbass|dumber]], and quite [[Took a Level In Jerkass|mean spirited]] at times.
* Disney cartoon adaptations are often this. ''[[Timon and Pumbaa]]'' is a noticeable example, being random slapstick and goofy compared to the more realistic film.
** Same goes for ''[[101 Dalmatians (Disney)|101 Dalmatians: The Series]]''.
* Arguably happens in compressed form [[Once an Episode]] of ''[[Regular Show (Animation)|Regular Show]]''. Rigby and Mordecai set out at the beginning of the episode to accomplish something completely mundane -- maybe clean out the park fountain, maybe win a bowling tournament, maybe buy a grilled cheese sandwich -- and it will always go completely insane by the end of the episode.
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' became this way starting with season 2 onwards. The show started out as an animated series with fairly realistic settings and events(much like ''[[King of the Hill (Animation)|King of the Hill]]''). Once it entered its second season however, the characters became very [[Flanderized]], the story-lines became zanier and far more outlandish, and the show as a whole became much more cartoony and fast-paced(to the point where even the characters seem to be talking a mile a minute at times).
 
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