History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / TVShowsGToO

** Oh, and after they get the baby and several plane passengers seem uncomfortable with their homosexuality, ''Mitchell'' tries to make a dramatic speech and ''Cam'' has to shut him up.

** The very first episode, in particular, is a bit different. Arthur's behaviour is considerably more immature (possibly justified by a combination of Merlin being a good influence in later episodes, or even just getting to know him better), some of the humour is kind of strange (as pointed out on the audio commentary - what was the point of the thing with the sandwich and the porridge?) and Merlin's ability to slow down time has [[CoconutSuperpowers hardly been seen since]]. As well as this, the brief glimpse of Merlin's home would suggest that it's not quite so poverty-stricken as is shown in later episodes. And, to follow on from the example above, the romantic relationship between Gwen and Merlin was abandoned very early on. Also of note is that his innate magical ability doesn't require any incantations. This is quickly abandoned after he learns some spells and has to whisper them in order to avoid being executed as a magic-user. His original ability just has him look at something.

** The "sexposition", a character rambling about backstory or motivation while a scantily or nude clad female (or occasionally male) is seen, usually in a brothel, were much more common in season one than the later seasons. This has two reasons: First, characters seem to have less time to go to brothels (what with many of them being too down on their luck to do so) and second, much of the backstory is already covered and many motivations are either clear or more interesting if left unclear. Also, the writers have taken a hint from some fans [[DistractedByTheSexy complaining that you can't follow the details of the plot]] with all the {{Fanservice}}.

** To expand the concept above - Rider 2 isn't a secondary rider, but a lead rider. Similary, ''Riderman'' isn't seen as a secondary rider of ''Series/Kamen Rider V3''. The first true secondary rider came at ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' via Kamen Rider G3, and even then he didn't transform with a driver unlike the [[Series/KamenRiderRyuki next series']] Kamen Rider Knight.

** In the first season, all four cast members have significantly [[CharacterizationMarchesOn different personalities]]. Sweet Dee is [[OnlySaneMan the female voice of reason]] for the gang rather than equally crazy, Charlie is more of a standard loser than the ManChild idiot savant he becomes, Mac is just an immature wanna-be tough guy rather than the ArmoredClosetGay he becomes, and Dennis is a rather normal vain preppy rather than the sexual deviant he becomes.

** [[http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/tvbanners/453163/p453163_b_v7_ab.jpg An early promotional picture of the show]] depicts Warloworth in a jacket.

** Official art depicts Warloworth as wearing a white bib with buttons and a black bowtie. In the actual show, he also wears a black coat. Similarly, one of the stock arts for Johnny Crawfish depicts him with pink lips and the inner part of his claws being pink, rather than everything being orange-red in the show proper.

* Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} was significantly different in its early years. It didn't have commercials and its programming was more educational (with a low budget Sesame Street clone called Series/{{Pinwheel}} being their flagship series). Its ratings were dead last among cable channels, so it rebranded itself in 1984. It started airing commercials, changed its logo to the now-iconic "orange splat" logo, and changed its programming to give it a more "kids only" feel, changes that helped make it a household name.

** In the first two seasons, the Small Council meets in a large, spacious hall known as the Small Council Chambers. From season three onwards, it shifts to the Tower of the Hand. This is acknowledged in-show the first time it happens, and is implied to be Hand of the King Tywin Lannister's personal preference - nevertheless, it remains there after Tywin's death. Given no such move takes place in the books, this appears to be merely the show's justification of a set change.

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'':

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': In the first season, all four cast members have significantly different personalities. Sweet Dee is [[OnlySaneMan the female voice of reason]] for the gang rather than equally crazy, Charlie is more of a standard loser than the ManChild idiot savant he becomes, Mac is just an immature wanna-be tough guy rather than the ArmoredClosetGay he becomes, and Dennis is a rather normal vain preppy rather than the sexual deviant he becomes. Frank is entirely absent from the cast in the first season. Instead, Dennis and Dee's mother has a recurring role, but she dies in season 3.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''

* ''Series/{{MASH}}''

* The first season of ''Series/MasterChefAustralia'' had a few differences from the other series, most notably the appearance of "host" Sarah Wilson. Since Gary, George and Matt had become major personalities in their own right, they could handle all of the hosting aspects themselves and Sarah's role ended up being superfluous, so she was dropped.

* In the first season of ''Series/{{Merlin}}'', especially towards the beginning, the writers set up Prince Arthur and the Lady Morgana as having a potential romantic relationship. Later, this was abandoned to avoid the creepy incest vibe on a family show -- since Morgana is basically Arthur's adopted sister. This caused a good bit of fan outrage in some circles, however, since IncestIsRelative, and they felt Arthur had much less chemistry with Gwen.

** Also in the pilot episode, Claire calls her and Phil's kids as "my" kids, with Phil correcting her to "our" kids, to which Claire hesitantly agreed.

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''

** The early episodes suggest Abby and McGee have some casual relationship of sorts. This is pretty much forgotten about after the 2nd season.

* Early episodes of the first season of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' display this for many. One readily apparent example is that the main cast sit at a table in their favorite bar - rather than what became their regular booth in future episodes.
** Early episodes also had Seinfeld-esque musical scene transitions. Although later episodes would sometimes still use these, they tended to be much more understated.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/GossipGirl'', the very first scene has the eponymous blogger make a post about Serena's return to New York by quoting the user who sent her the photo of Serena spotted at the train station and thanking her… later episodes show that Gossip Girl is actually very private about who sends her information and would ''never'' quote her sources (otherwise, nobody would send her anything, in fear of being exposed as the ones who sent the blast).

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' is almost unrecognizable in the first few seasons compared to what it's like now. The first season was actually heavy on comedy, with little courtroom scenes. If there was a courtroom scene, it was almost always one of the detectives being called in to testify to a completely unrelated to that episode's case. They also didn't have a permanent ADA; Abbie Carmichael was the one who showed up the most with 6 appearances. Most telling of all though were Olivia and Elliot's personalities being flipped. Olivia was the HotBlooded, KnightTemplar who had to be frequently warned that she was on thin ice, while Elliot was the calming influence and a good father and husband.

** When you watch the [[BackdoorPilot backdoor pilot]] in ''JAG'', it's extremely jarring to watch Ducky hitting on Agent Blackadder over and over with almost DiNozzo-level obnoxiousness. It's a far cry from the affable, paternal Ducky we see in the series proper.

** When you watch the [[BackdoorPilot backdoor pilot]] in ''JAG'', it's extremely jarring to watch Ducky hitting on Agent Blackadder over and over in an almost DiNizzo-esque way. It's a far cry from the affable, paternal Ducky we see in the series proper.

** The early episodes suggest Abby and McGee have some casual relationship of sorts. This is pretty much forgotten about after the 2nd season

** Snow White also claims in the pilot that Regina gave her a poisoned apple because she was prettier than her like in the original tale. This is quiet jarring when the ''very next'' episode reveals that Regina wants to avenge the death of her lover, in which Snow was somehow involved. No reasons are given for why Snow made this claim.

* On ''Series/{{Grimm}}'', one of the first episodes had a bear-like Wesen turning completely into an actual bear. This was never referenced again, nor have any other Wesen shown that ability.

* Amazingly, there was a time when ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' was as tame as shows like ''[[Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah]]'' and ''The View''. Before adopting its format of showcasing bizarre people and their torrid antics (often related to sexual matters, like infidelity, unusual fetishes and sleazy sex jobs), and [[TropeCodifier codifying]] the PointAndLaughShow, it tackled political and social issues in a straightfaced manner, generally from a "concerned-liberal" point of view (you may not realize this, but the reason that one of the main reasons Springer got a show in the first place was that he was a Cincinnati City Councilor and later Mayor of Cincinatti and could well have had quite a respectable--if somewhat marred by an early incident where he was caught paying for a prostitute--career in Ohio Democratic politics). He even considered a run for the Senate in Ohio, but by that point it was impossible to talk about him without bringing up his show, so he didn't campaign. Compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIk1_hHC1f4 this]] to its later episodes.

* The first season of ''Series/Hoarders'' featured a man whose house was crammed with stuff to the extent that his stairway was almost unusable, but didn't have problems with the filth usually seen in later seasons. After the hoarder asserted that he didn't need help to get his home in shape, the crew revisited him some weeks later, only to find that he had thoroughly decluttered and that the house was reasonably neat. In subsequent seasons, the people working with the show have been in increasingly dire situations, and a self-help outcome like this would be unthinkable.