Flanderization/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

* Morgan in ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' was introduced as a shallow but still capable girl with a few ditzy moments. In season 7 she is a complete ditz complete with a whole new way of speaking.

** An in-universe example happens in the episode "When Teens Collide" where Libby and Sabrina accidentally swap personalities and each becomes an exaggerated version of the other. Sabrina becomes power hungry and tries to use her magic to take over the world while Libby becomes sickeningly nice and cheerful.

* All of the main characters from ''[[Friends]]'' go through this.

** Monica Geller's shrillness, competitiveness, obsessive-compulsive disorder and in the [[Flash Back|flashbacks]], her attachment to food. Remember when she was the [[Team Mom|smartest and most mature of the gang]]?

** Rachel sort of got the opposite, she began as the [[Spoiled Sweet]] / [[Rich Bitch]] against everyone else's more subtler characterizations. At the end of the show they were all borderline stereotypes while she was the most realistic, normal person on the show.

*** A ''Friends''-based game for you to play: When watching an episode from Season 5 or later, count how many times the characters shout or overpronounce a line which they would have said casually in the first season.

** The first couple seasons Sam was an angry, vicious tomboy who enjoyed beating up Freddie and being a minor juvenile delinquent. [[It Got Worse]] in season 4, including her running a sweatshop by employing grade school children.

** Not to mention Kelly's promiscuity. Initially presented as simply being boy-crazy, then elevated to school-tramp, until by the time the show was over, she was such a slut that she would cheat on a guy if he so much as left her alone for a few minutes, and so dumb that the only way she could get out of a frat house was by shouting, "I'm pregnant!"

** Marcy goes from a moderate feminist with a disliking of Al and the occasional hint of psychosis into a full-blown misandrist [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]] who will take action solely to make Al and/or men in general miserable. This might even fall under [[Fridge Brilliance]] as this only started happening after {{spoiler|her husband Steve left her}}.

** Colonel Potter's crankiness seemed to get more severe with each passing season.

*** You would too if you had to manage that cast.

** Justin was represented as a smart, collected [[Bookworm]], who loved rules and never broke them. Lately, he has become an almost vicious, revengeful [[Badass Bookworm|badass]] [[Mad Scientist]], who has used magic more than once. And that's [[Karma Houdini|because]] [[Jerkass|of]] [[Annoying Younger Sibling|Alex]].

** Max was at first a [[Plucky Comic Relief]] airhead, who had sometimes witty lines. In the last season [[Book Dumb|he doesn't even know how to spell his own name]] and all his lines are made of one or two words that don't even make sense most of the time.

** Justin's and Alex's innocent [[Sibling Rivalry]] turned into a spiteful, [[Cain and Abel|dark]] enmity that is characterized by revenge and loathing. The affection they expressed quite visibly in the first two seasons was reduced dramatically and by the the end of season three, they barely speak to each other like two normal people. In fact their lines towards one another mostly consist of insults and snarky phrases.

* On ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', London Tipton started out as the shallow, somewhat snobby rich girl who had her airhead moments. Gradually, the airhead part became more and more prominent. On the show's spinoff ''Suite Life on Deck'', she's a full-fledged [[The Ditz|ditz]] with ''occasional'' signs of [[Hidden Depths]].

*** Gob Bluth begins the series as a magician with no stage presence and unexceptional magic skills. But as the series progresses, his ability to do simple magic tricks diminishes more and more ("Yes, but where did the lighter fluid come from?"). Insecurity and need of his father and brother's acceptance also became ever more pronounced as the show progressed.

* Who remembers when J.D. on ''[[Scrubs]]'' was just a little emotionally needy due to him wanting a father figure to replace his own dysfunctional family? Fast forward to season three where J.D. is an appletini (light on the tini)-swilling "sensey" (that's "sensitive person") who can't hold on to his "man cards" (which would be taken away from him if he did something girly) for a full day.

** The cast definitely resemble cartoon characters by Season 6 and 7 (many would include 5, some would even go as far back as 4). Oddly enough, however, Season 8 humanises them again and the show gained a lot more depth and heart. Only to piss all over it with Scrubs: Interns, which showed Dr. Cox, JD, and Kelso at the most Flanderised they'd ever been. (Turk, however, is spared.)

*** Weirdly enough, [[Almighty Janitor|the Janitor]] was kind of an inversion (similar to Jim from [[The Office]]). He started out existing entirely to torment JD, but as the show went on, he got more dimensions and by the final season was fully characterized enough to have girlfriend and get married. He still never missed an opportunity to torment JD, but it was in support of a complete character instead of his only character trait.

** Cuddy may actually be a case of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]] because some women really do become that obsessed with having children.

*** Especially considering she has already reached a remarkably high level of professional success as the head of a major a hospital. It seems like she was the kind of woman who decided to just put finding a mate and starting a family on the backburner for her career, has now reached the top and decided that while a mate would be nice, she really just wants to start a family at this point and doesn't feel the need to wait until she finds the right man to do so.

* ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'''s Randy Hickey has gone from "[[The Fool|simple-minded but occasionally quite deep]]" to "[[The Ditz|repeatedly attempting to stick extremities into a bug zapper]]".

** Aversion or Saving Throw? In ''Randy's List Item'' it was revealed that most of Randy's stupidity is a deliberate act to make Earl feel more important as the elder brother.

* Fonzie on ''[[Happy Days]]'' gradually evolves from a mysterious and vaguely threatening hood with a skill for mechanics to an [[The Ace|almost superhuman paragon of coolness]] who can do literally ''anything''...even [[Jumping the Shark|jump over a shark]]!

** In the first couple of seasons, Potsie and Ralph were actually somewhat sharper and more worldly than Richie. They soon devolved into a [[The Ditz|hopeless ditz]] and a compulsive [[Pungeon Master|lame jokester]], respectively.

*** Hey, he had a perfectly good reason for that. He bought an entire ham and they didn't have a fridge.

** Castiel, who went from being mildly curious about various human oddities to a [[Literal Minded]] virgin who has trouble grasping even the simplest jokes and metaphors, and doesn't understand normal human behaviors like sex and personal space.

* Chelsea on ''[[That's So Raven]]'' went from an occasional (but still likable) ditz to an even worse one who irritates even her best friends.

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'s'' Eric Matthews went from a merely shallow, girl-crazy airhead to an [[Adult Child]].

** Note that their boss was the utterly terrifying and thoroughly emasculating Pearl Forrester. Maybe she just has that effect on minions.

* ''[[Judge Judy]]'' used to play it straight, only occasionally losing her temper with the most thick-headed litigants. The popularity of her scathing wit turned her into a prejudicial [[Hanging Judge|psycho-bitch]]. Toward the end, she seemed more intent on making herself out to be a bitch more than making a solid or sensible ruling.

* In the early seasons of ''[[Thirty Minute Meals|30 Minute Meals]]'', host [[Rachael Ray]] was quite calm, comparatively quiet, and did not use many acronyms in her speech. There were only a few hints to her underlying quirkiness. Over the run of the show, she transformed into a hyperactive, noisy, acronym-using parody of what she once was.

** Donna goes from a snarky, somewhat sardonic individual to one who is incredibly bossy and sometimes violently angry in later seasons.

** Then there's Louise, who started the series as a naive, narcissistic, somewhat manipulative, not particularly intelligent girly-girl, with a touch of quirkiness about her. By the seventh season, she is incredibly manipulative, sometimes very spiteful and bitchy, very snobby, and ''incredibly'' self-centered - to the point where she names her newborn child "Louise Louise" (after spending an episode not wanting the child because of her fears that it would be "prettier" than her). She also goes from not minding Jonny at all (and not showing a hint of disgust when he kisses her in the episode 'Lard', and stating that she actually likes him "in a way"), to outright despising him for the most trivial of reasons (she even gets him shot by the police, after she gets a job at the Office for National Statistics and changes his profile to that of a serious criminal).

* Happened to virtually the entire cast of the French Canadian show ''[[Le Coeur a Ses Raisons]]'' as the show moved further away from being a parody of American soaps and more toward comedic absurdity: Ashley started out as a slightly ditzy nurse, and later became a few steps away from mentally disabled. Criquette began as spoiled and melodramatic and became downright hysterical about the slightest things later on ("You left the toilet seat up! This proves you have a mistress!").

* You'd be hard-pressed to find a character from ''[[Night Court]]'' who wasn't Flanderized.

** Bull Shannon started off as a menacing yet deep character, eventually morphing into a totally harmless, child-like clod.

* Eric, Kelso, Donna and Fez on ''[[That 70s Show]]'': from a relatively normal teenager, Eric turned into an absolute nerd; Kelso went from awkward and indecisive to plain stupid; Donna became so aggressive that she was a borderline [[Straw Feminist]]; and Fez, formerly a classic desperate virgin, turned into a pervert. Also, Red was a somewhat stern, but no-nonsense parent in the first season, but as seasons went on, he became a constantly angry introvert that borderline terrorised and bullied Eric.

** Myra went from a quirky girl with a crush on Steve Urkel to an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Clingy Jealous Girl]].

* Bob from ''[[Teachers]]'' started off as a stern boss in the first series before turning into a more easy-going, if awkward character. This later was Flanderized into him being the [[Butt Monkey]], with his wife leaving him in the third series and reaching [[Seasonal Rot|its peak]] in the fourth, with his new Thai bride (who refuses to have sex with him but does so with his replacement as head of English) and his wearing of an ill-fitting toupee.

** In Charlie's case, he did drink an awful lot of beer while getting head over the head with stuff in Hundred Dollar Baby.

** Dee also changed from a more sympathetic, level-headed voice of reason to become just as depraved and self-centered as the rest of the characters.

** The cast stated in interviews that they are intentionally Flanderizing Frank. Their goal is "to make him even more depraved in each season, than in the previous one." The peak was reached in season five, with the episode "The Gang Gives Frank an Intervention" where every single character at least at one point mentions that he has become the lowest form of human being.

* ''[[Roseanne]]'''s characters suffered from this. The worst victims were Mark (who went from being a troubled teen with a hidden good streak and some hints of under-education from dropping out, to a complete idiot who actually burned his hand repeatedly in one episode because he was bored) and Jackie (who started out as a bit neurotic and insecure but generally a competent single female to a complete nutcase who would erupt in to nervous, annoying laughter at the drop of a hat. By the final seasons, it was no small wonder that she somehow managed to hold down a job, keep her house and not have child services take her kid away).

** Writer John Lutz started out as a normal, albeit undesirable member of the writing crew, but as time progressed became more and more of a ''[[Butt Monkey]]'' to the point that he now only appears on-screen to be humiliated or personally injured.

** Likewise, Kenneth started out as a slightly odd, small-town innocent with some strange behaviors (like his "gag skeleton"). In the latest season, the "innocent" has been discarded in favor of either creepy and evil or schizophrenic.

* In ''[[Lost]]'', Sayid's role in season 5 was to contemplate his past crimes, then commit some more so he can contemplate those crimes too. Season 6 "rectified" this by killing off Sayid and reviving him as a infected Sayid who literally can do nothing but kill.

** That was justified in-story though. When Sayid was revived, he was taken over by The Man in Black's "sickness" and thus was consumed by evil.

* Adrian [[Monk]]. He went from having an (admittedly rather severe) case of OCD but still being ''very'' good at his job to accusing someone of murder just because he was a nudist and being unable to perform simple tasks. For example, in Season 1 we're told that Monk wasn't reinstated because Stottlemeyer withheld his recommendation. In Season 3 all he has to do is complete a multiple-choice test. He physically couldn't complete the test.

** Even worse, Randy Disher. Went from being a slight [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who tried to solve cases by copying everything Monk said, into somewhat of an ADHD-kid like guy who by the series finale {{spoiler|we wonder why the hell he lands a job as a police chief as he hasn't contributed much as far as the series is concerned.}}

*** Hand-waved at one point. Stottlemeyer explained once that Randy is very very good at paperwork (an important part of actual police work) and because he's not quite as dumb as he looks, good at getting suspects to talk and accidentally reveal too much (if he doesn't reveal too much himself first).

* The Banker in the US version of ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'' suffered greatly from this. He was originally portrayed as a mysterious, cold, calculating penny-pincher who wanted to buy the case for as little as possible. Through a combination of [[Motive Decay]], turning into a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], and repeatedly having him [[Kick the Dog]], he was turned into a flatly evil and sadistic villain. The truly ridiculous thing about this is that he shouldn't have had anything ''to'' Flanderize in the first place. The Banker is a game official, no more, no less.

** It also makes the [[Fridge Logic]] more apparent: if it weren't for the banker, the players would have no offers and simply be forced to keep whatever was in the case they picked, making for an uninteresting game with no safety net.

* ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' started out with four elderly women who had some reasonable character development, but over time, Rose got more and more stupid, Sophie got more and more bitchy, and Blanche turned into nothing more than a man-crazed slut. Dorothy became the straight man who insulted everyone, but despite her insults, no one ever called her out on them.

** Possibly because most of the time, they were deserved. (For example, in one episode, Dorothy is trying to study for an important test, but is constantly interrupted by the other three with petty requests - would ''you'' sit there and take that?)

** Tom Haverford's over-the-top, attention-whoring, obsessively entrepreneurial traits were massively enhanced in early season 4 with the "Entertainment 720" arc. However, ever since the company went bankrupt, he appears to have gone back to his earlier personality again. Perhaps it was just Jean Ralphio's influence on him.

* ''[[Victorious]]'' was hit with this pretty badly (and in Season 2, no less):

** Cat started off as down to earth, not too smart but not too stupid either. Come season two, she's a basically useless [[The Ditz|ditz]].

** Tori was snarky and commonly aggressive, but she did try to be normal. Despite very rarely getting punished for her [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|screw-ups]], she usually felt bad and did what she could to help. She is subject to [[Alternative Character Interpretation]], but nowadays she can do incredibly selfish acts and [[Karma Houdini|always escapes retribution for it]].

* ''[[The Cosby Show]]'''s Denise started out as a funky, spunky, spirited, independent, intelligent young woman. Somewhere along the line, she turned into a flaky, clueless, freeloading moron. Additionally, despite being willing to leave New York travel to Africa for a photojournalism assignment (the actress was written out for maternity leave), she somehow freaked out at the notion of leaving New York, for the wilds of. . .Rhode Island.

* [[Oh My Gods|Oh gods]], ''[[Psych]]''. Where do we begin? Shawn went from being a happy-go-lucky average-intelligence charmer to a genuinely stupid, somehow universally attractive, lovable [[Jerkass|asshole]], while poor Gus went from Shawn's slightly uptight but more traditionally competent and knowledgeable buddy to a total loser whose areas of expertise are mostly [[Informed Ability|informed abilities]] and exists almost solely to finish Shawn's pop cultural references. Jules went from being your average cop stand-in with a little bit of [[UST]] with Shawn to [[The Chick]], and Lassiter went from being Shawn's [[Foil]] with a little bit of hidden bigotry to such a gigantic creep that it is honestly a wonder why anyone lets the man near them. Buzz McNab ([[Ensemble Darkhorse]], anyone?), meanwhile, has all but disappeared. He's mostly rescinded back to his original place as a figure in the background of certain scenes. The [[Flanderization]] of all of the characters is actually many fans' biggest complaint.

* [[Extras]] spoofs this in the [[Show Within a Show]] 'When The Whistle Blows', where the main character, based on a person that Ricky Gervais' character Andy Millman once knew, has the catchphrase "You 'avin' a laff? Is 'e 'avin' a laff?" despite Andy's wishes to keep the phrase restricted in its use, to keep in line with the original person. In fact, much of his show involves the blatent flanderization of the various characters involved, in response to the changes BBC attempted to place on Ricky's earlier show The Office, in which Extras is itself flanderising, given some of the ridiculous suggestions from BBC executives in the show being green lighted.

** An argument could be made for Maggie here, too. She went from being relatively down on her luck and without social tact early in the show to being quite the sad sack towards the last few episodes.

** Slightly justified. In the season 2 finale, Pierce states that he's never had friends for more than a semester or two, and by this point expects everyone to leave him eventually. So he pushes and tests them so that they'll prove him right. This explains how much worse he got in season 2 - since the study group wasn't abandoning him, he ratcheted up his harsher traits in an attempt to push them away. Also justified in that he was also dealing with an addiction to painkillers for much of the season, during most of the actions described above occurred. In general, season 3 has seen him returned to something closer to his season 1 persona -- however, it's also seen him pushed [[Out of Focus]] more.

** Britta was always a [[Granola Girl]], but the [[Soapbox Sadie]] aspect of her character has been flanderized to hell. Concurrently, she managed a really odd transition from [[Ms. Fanservice]] ("the hot girl in Spanish class") to [[Butt Monkey]] ([[Phrase Catcher|"You're the worst!"]]). You can see the evolution of her character [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpHJfNerMDc here].

* In ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'', Benny starts out as an annoying and insensitive [[Lady Drunk]] who still cares about her son. Later on, she starts to just be mean just to be mean.

* In ''[[Weeds]]'', Doug goes from the somewhat childish, well off accountant in the earlier seasons, to a incompetent man baby as the series progressed. This happens sharply after they relocate to Ren Mar, and by the sixth season its surprising he can change his own diapers. This may be due to the fact they try to give him some depth by highlighting how his life has fallen apart.

*** To the point that Mike is referred to as "Other Asian" as often as not.

* The Canadian television series ''[[Kenny vs. Spenny]]'' involves two roommates in a house competing against each other in a series of tests to find out who is better at certain things. In the first season, it was very tame (little to no profanity or crude references) and both hosts maintained a relatively civil (and even positive) friendship with each other, even when one or the other lost the competition. When the show moved to the Showcase Television network, both characters' personalities became exaggerated. Kenny went from "mildly entertained by rigging the contest, but still a good friend" to "unrepentant [[Jerkass]] who spends most of his time thinking up the next borderline-illegal [[Plan]] he can use to win a competition". Spenny went from "amicable straight guy who won't stoop to his friend's level" to "meek nerd who pretends he's mature, but suffers from severe paranoia."

* Mohinder, from the NBC show "[[Heroes]]", begins the series with a light Indian accent. As the show progress, his accent becomes increasingly most noticeable.

** It also goes from Indian to British.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' has the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] and alien races. Exploding bridge consoles? Only happened during the Kobayashi Maru scenario in ''Wrath of Khan'', to simulate damage. Jeffries tubes? Mentioned a few times in the show as an alternate route when doors won't close; mentioned in all spinoffs as where ''everything'' is. Even in the spinoffs themselves, some time between Picard's transformation to Locutus and ''First Contact'', the Borg became Space Vampires!

** A character-specific version afflicted [[Mirror Universe]] Intendant Kira in ''[[Deep Space 9]]''. According to Nana Visitor, her sexualised approaches to her mainstream universe counterpart were originally meant to be a narcissistic interest in the [[Screw Yourself]] possibilities, but the later mirror universe episodes turned her into a fanservicy [[Depraved Bisexual]], somewhat to Visitor's displeasure.

* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' does this with Sean in season 6. He became Emma's boyfriend, and just get together. The fact that he ''did'' help Ashley cheat on Jimmy in the season 1 finale is used...as the new way for them to get together. And his tendency to get angry and do marginally legal things (as if Emma didn't perjure herself to get him sent to jail afterward) were made much of.

* Temperance Brennen from ''[[Bones]]'' went from being socially aware, sassy, intelligent and sarcastic in the pilot to the caricature of smart people she has now become: the socially inept genius who replaces ordinary words with their little-known scientific equivalents and can't spot obvious sarcasm.

{{quote| "If I wanted to watch a Reality Game Show that was all about winning competitions with little to no social game whatsoever, I'd watch [[The Amazing Race]]."}}

* [[Rules of Engagement]]: After the first couple seasons Adam became incredibly stupid. The actor doesn't mind.

* ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]'': Romeo and Bullethead started the show as two [[Book Dumb]] guys who occasionally got into trouble. However, as the series progressed, they became more and more stupid and got into more and more trouble in and out of school. They both still showed occasional flashes of intelligence, but it would be quickly snuffed out by jokes about Bullethead's family living in a trailer park and Romeo [[Fan Service|ripping off his shirt to the delight of the females in the audience]]. The show did provide a glimmer of hope at the end of the series when they finally graduated and prepared to go to college, but then [[Fan Service|Romeo took off his gown to show off his chest to his classmates one last time.]]

* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'', of all shows:

** The youngest Kanisky daughter, Samantha, also went through a dramatic personality change, although this one can probably just be chalked up to the natural process of growing up. In the first season, she was an athletic tomboy, whose interests included baseball, fishing, and schoolyard brawls. Before long, however, she started taking an interest in boys, and eventually developed into a somewhat stereotypical teenaged girl. By the later seasons, she was dressing in a very feminine fashion and was interested in hairstyles, clothes, music, and boys - above all, boys. Her original tomboyish personality was now a distant memory.

* Just about all of the characters on [[News Radio]] became increasingly ''offbeat'' as time passed, but Lisa Miller seemed to stand out as the one who REALLY became wacky, compared to what she was like originally. When the series started, Lisa was a fairly level-headed, down-to-earth journalist who often seemed to be the designated "rational one," keeping the station going in the face of Dave's inexperience and the other characters' eccentricities. Over time, Lisa's neuroses became more and more pronounced, such as when she decided to re-take the SAT to see if she was really getting dumber, and when she revealed that her obsession with academics had led her to gain an extensive criminal record (stealing a car because she was late for an exam, breaking into a post office to get her college admission letters). By the final season, she had lost all connection with reality and basically turned into a cartoon character. Her crowning moment of insanity had to be {{spoiler|when she chose to go through with her wedding to a convicted criminal because, as she decided, having a husband in prison was a great way to balance marriage and a career.}}

* Peter Dickson, more famously known as the E4 Voice-over Guy, was a rather noticeable over the top TV announcer for British TV channel E4. However he soon became a Cult Hero and he has since got more and more over the top. So much so that if you hear anything with The E4 Voice-over Guy that isn't so ridiculously over the top and ruddy silly then you think it's not the real Peter Dickson. Compare this older promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mZJhlfrSIo with this new one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61UsTZe0NMc.

** Lampshaded in a British Government radio advert where he starts as his usual bombastic self. He then talks with his normal voice to advertise the new Bureau of Career Advice, he just sounds really odd.