History Retool / LiveActionTelevision

* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' had a temporary retool in the fourth season when Ricky gets a starring role in a movie and he and Lucy and the Mertzes go to Hollywood and stay at a hotel. They move back to New York City early the next season. In the sixth season the Ricardos move to Connecticut and are followed by the Mertzes. In the seventh season the show became the ''LucyDesiComedyHour'', an hourlong show with a special guest star each week.

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' underwent a retool in its third season because of the long-running Kazon plotline. The Season 3 premiere, "Basics Part II" effectively ended their storyline because Paramount executives complained that it wasn't exciting enough (which the fans agreed with), noting that the Kazon were akin to the [[AlienScrappy Ferengi]] in the "[[InformedAbility Dangerous Adversary]]" department. In Season 4, the show was retooled again by swapping out Jennifer Lien for Jeri Ryan, and introducing Species 8472 and the Hirogen as new threats.

* ''NaturallySadie'' was re tooled after the first season with changes including Arden replacing Chelsea as the AlphaBitch, bringing in a new romantic interest for Sadie, and even changing Sadie's character.

* For its first two seasons, ''Welcome Freshmen'' was a sketch comedy show taking place at a high school, with the sketches devoted to a certain theme for each episode. In the third season, the show switched to having a narrative.

*** Troughton: A comical, silly and straightforwardly heroic Doctor. Show dropped the historical adventures and began focusing exclusively on aliens.
*** Pertwee: A serious, charming aesthete ActionHero Doctor in a TuxedoAndMartini-MonsterOfTheWeek genre mashup show. Companion role goes from being a small group of mixed-sex travelling companions to a primary young, female partner (Liz, Jo, Sarah Jane) and a larger pool of UNIT coworkers who can be drawn in and out of stories as needed. During this period, the format settles down into the traditional Classic ''Who'' storytelling structure - a four-episode serial structure with a shocking {{Cliffhanger}} at the end of the first three parts - which remains for much of the rest of Classic ''Who'' (even during the Colin Baker-era format mixups, the 45-minute episode 2-parters are structured with a cliffhanger at the exact middle point, and the twelve-parter "Trial of a Time Lord" Colin Baker story can be easily split into four four-parters fitting this format). And everything's suddenly in colour!

*** Davison: A very subtle and human Doctor to contract with the previous LargeHam Doctor, whose sonic screwdriver is destroyed as a symbolic attack on some of the lazier Tom Baker writing. Show adds some SoapOpera elements like a large rotating cast of companions, and even going into soap-like scheduling for an ill-advised period. Stories deal particularly with spectacle and alien worlds, at least as much as the low budgets would allow.
*** Colin Baker: An attempted CharacterCheck, much DarkerAndEdgier Doctor; arrogant, violent and verbose. Stories attempt {{Deconstruction}}s of standard Doctor stories and begin to incorporate some engagement with the implications of time travel itself (which is usually just used as a device to get the Doctor into wherever the adventure will happen).

* ''Series/EerieIndiana'' only had one season, but got a retool two-thirds of the way into it that included the addition of John Astin and JasonMarsden.

** The Fourth Doctor's personality went (inorganically) through three different archetypes depending on who was producing his run, as each writer envisioned a different tone for the show. His first personality, during his GothicHorror-influenced era, was a CreepyCute NightmareFetishist ManChild who occasionally struggled with big moral decisions but was also very unpredictable, possessing BlueAndOrangeMorality. His second personality, during his LighterAndSofter-cum-DenserAndWackier era, was PlayedForLaughs - much more of a {{Buttcuckoolander}} and also much more of a NiceGuy (dipping into FunPersonified at times), although also more of an AttentionWhore and more awkward to deal with. His third personality, when the show decided to get DarkerAndEdgier again, made him philosophical, [[ByronicHero Byronic]], dignified and quite morbid, developing some {{Chessmaster}} qualities and dispensing with a lot of the childlike aspects of his character. Broadly, his taste in hat colour indicates which personality he's going through at the time - a brown hat for [[CharacterizationTags goth!]]Four, a green hat for funny!Four and a red hat for old!Four.

** Season 6: Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Angela graduate and go to [[CaliforniaUniversity Pennbrook University]]. [[RunningGag Mr. Feeny follows them]]. Angela becomes a member of the main cast. Cory and Topanga get engaged, but don't exactly make a mad dash for the altar. Rachel joins the cast and moves in with Eric (now a full-on ButtCuckooLander) and Jack, setting up a LoveTriangle. Alan, Amy, and Morgan are reduced to CommutingOnABus.

* ''[[Series/TheTorkelsons]]'' was retooled into ''Almost Home'' after the first season, having the mother move to Seattle as a nanny, and jettisoning two of her kids for the kids she was nannying (one of whom was played by a young Creator/BrittanyMurphy.)

* The second series, ''Series/JAKQDengekitai'', was initially going to stand out from [[Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger its predecessor]] by being DarkerAndEdgier. However, it ended up being so dark that children started to avoid watching the show, so it got retooled. The retool introduced Soukichi Banba/Big One, who, while initially looked upon as a ''ReplacementScrappy'' for Joker, the previous ''BigGood'', ended up becoming one of the most iconic ''Sentai'' heroes to date and one of three candidates for being the ultimate Big Good of the franchise. In spite of that though, the series still hold the dubious honor of being the only Super Sentai series that was canceled, unable to finish a full one year run.

* The third series, ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', became a politically charged miniseries as opposed to the episodic structure of before.

* ''Series/YesMinister'', after three series, was retooled in an hour-long special which began with Humphrey being promoted to general secretary, and then a cabinet reshuffle resulted in Hacker being appointed prime minister.

* This has been done several times in ''Series/{{Alias}}''. In one episode during a later season, an overarching storyline is resolved, Sydney finally admits her love for Vaughn, and the show's premise fundamentally changes as a result.
* ''AntFarm'' took the kids out of the local school (and by extension the A.N.T. program) and moved them into a boarding school owned by a high-tech corporation...for some reason. China's family got cut from the cast as a result.
* While billed as a SpinOff The Suite Life One Deck could be thought of more as a retool. It features 4 of the main characters from 'Zack and Cody' including the two leads, and simply changes location from the hotel to a cruise ship.
* After its cancellation and renewal, ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic Battlestar Galactica]]'' was retooled into ''Galactica 1980'', which proved [[DorkAge so unpopular]] that many fans of the original show [[FanonDisContinuity refuse to acknowledge its existence]] (with the possible exception of the "Return of Starbuck" episode).
* Ironically, at the same time ''Galactica'' was being cancelled, ''[[BuckRogers Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]'', which aired opposite it, was retooled to make it more like ''Galactica''. The second season of Buck Rogers was a departure from Buck and Wilma protecting Earth from evil. In the second season, Buck, Wilma, and Twiki were stationed aboard a research vessel, but their adventures were somewhat similar to the first season, though some of the main characters were replaced by others, like Buck's new sidekick, Hawk.
* ''Series/TheBill'' has undergone several in its 26+ year lifespan. The most dramatic were in 2002 (when 7 of the regular long standing cast members were killed off in a single episode), and 2009 (when the series moved to HD, started being broadcast after {{Watershed}}, and completely replaced its theme music with a different tune for the first time ever).
* The first season of ''{{Blackadder}}'' had Blackadder as a simpering coward and borderline ButtMonkey, and Baldrick as HypercompetentSidekick - his "cunning plans" actually tended to be cunning. From the second season onward, Blackadder became the DeadpanSnarker that the show is best known for; and Baldrick became a classic BumblingSidekick. The result was a much funnier show.
** This was actually a retool of a retool. The original pilot for Blackadder featured the characters being much closer to those in the second series. It was only after the objections of Rowan Atkinson (who felt they hadn't provided him with an actual character) that the characters were changed around.
** The change in scale also affected the character of the show. Unlike the ambitious, near-filmic original, the second series was far more small-scale and almost entirely studio-based. While this was pretty much forced on them due to the budget being reduced, Ben Elton (who replaced Atkinson in the writing partnership) also told Curtis he thought they should have done it in front of a studio audience anyway. In addition, he said "Doing it on film in this glorious sort of vastness was probably a mistake. Rowan falling off a horse at 200 metres is not really any funnier than anyone else falling off a horse at 200 metres- get the camera in close and he’ll make you laugh." [[http://www.blackadderhall.com/?page_id=358]]
* CBS' primetime drama ''Central Park West'' suffered this. The show was originally about a pair of siblings who immersed themselves in the world of high-class socialites, and got caught up in all the backroom deals and intrigue that followed. In the second season, the theme song was changed (from a sultry and mysterious jazzy song to the type of theme you'd hear on a cheesy soap opera), the show was marketed as "CPW", half the cast was jettisoned (including one of the two siblings), Raquel Welch was cast as an [[{{Dynasty}} Alexis Carrington-esque]] business owner, and many story arcs were dropped. However, it could be said that the show immediately improved as a result of this retool (especially since the writers dropped the pretenses and started having fun with the material). Then, it was cancelled shortly thereafter.
* ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' was retooled when it moved from network TV to syndication, discarding Charles' original employers and girlfriend and replacing them without changing the house where he worked -- and managing to maintain a single continuity through the process.
* Throughout the three series of ''Chef!'', only three actors remained constant, although this was explained in the first episode (Le Chateau Anglais had a high turnover rate), but the third season seemed a real departure from the previous tone, as Gareth's wife left him, a man from OopNorth bought the restaurant off of him, an [[CulturalTranslation American was added to the primary cast]] (although one had previously appeared in the first season), the soundtrack got a bit worse, and the ''entire'' kitchen staff started to develop personalities. Nevertheless, managed to be an example of a successful retool.
* ''{{Coach}}'' had Hayden Fox leave Minnesota State University to coach a pro team in Orlando in Season 8.
* ''Cursed'' was a sitcom starring Steven Weber as a man [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cursed]] by his ex-girlfriend and his unending stream of bad luck. This somewhat one-note premise having a limited appeal, it was renamed ''The Weber Show'' and retooled as a kind of gender-reversed ''Series/WillAndGrace'' focused on Weber's friendship with a LipstickLesbian. The show still only lasted one season.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' introduced several new characters and a college setting, leaving most of the background characters from high school behind, after Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley left Sunnydale in the third season finale to create a {{Spinoff}}. It was retooled again in the sixth season, emphasizing that Buffy had to take on the role of an adult now and there was no school at all.
** ''Series/{{Angel}}'' was retooled after the first season, which was heavily FilmNoir [[OccultDetective supernatural detective]] style and became much more modern fantasy oriented. The fifth season showed a dramatic change with the main characters becoming the operators of their enemies' law firm at Wolfram and Hart, including near limitless resources.

** Twelve's arrival seems to be another shakeup; the companions are allowed to live their lives outside of the TARDIS and the first two episodes seem to be showcasing a much more ambiguous Doctor similar to some of the classic Doctors, with the Doctor getting much more physical in encounters similar to The Third Doctor as well as displaying a much more pompous, snarky and self-righteous attitude similar to the Sixth Doctor.

* {{Community}} lampshades this trope in the first episode of its fifth season; most of the study group have left Greendale, but have generally been unsuccessful in their new careers or found them unfulfilling, forcing them back to the college for more study. Abed lampshades the fact that bringing the group back together for more shenanigans around Greendale is akin to a retool, explicitly referencing the ninth season of {{Scrubs}}. Not surprisingly - considering the show's penchant for meta and self-awareness - this season sees some of the biggest changes in the format of the show; two of the seven main cast members leave (one of whom is replaced by a surprisingly ''not'' SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute {{Expy}}), a season one recurring character who had a case of ChuckCunninghamSyndrome returns, and Chang is finally (if reluctantly) accepted as a regular member of the study group.
** Season four had some minor retooling by virtue of original show runner Dan Harmon's departure, but for the most of it the format remained the same and at worst the season is simply considered a DorkAge by many fans, a fact which is parodied in the show under the pseudonym 'the gas leak year.' With Harmon's return for the fifth season, a lot of the early episodes in season five involved reversing the changes from the previous season, including giving the study group a reason to get back together, dropping the 'Changnesia' plot for Chang, and giving Pierce's departure proper closure by [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal Killing Him Off For Real]]]].
* TheElectricCompany is back and [[DorkAge updated]] for the late 00s -- filled with rapping kids with superpowers fighting bad guys, MindControl plots, and other elements that reek of ExecutiveMeddling. Even Joan Ganz Cooney, the creator of ''Series/SesameStreet'', doesn't think it's all that good.
* ITV soap ''{{Emmerdale}}'' was renamed from ''Emmerdale Farm'' in 1989, and became DarkerAndEdgier (having previously been a pleasingly twee saga about the day-to-day lives of farmers). In 1993, they [[KillEmAll killed half the cast in a plane crash]], leaving only a handful of original cast members.
* The ChannelFive soap ''FamilyAffairs'' had several retools. The first one [[ArtifactTitle got rid of the eponymous family entirely]], and later ones were even more drastic. None of them seemed to help the ratings, though.
* The 2007 ''Series/FlashGordon'' series was retooled during a mid-season hiatus to combat highly negative fan reactions; the MonsterOfTheWeek format was abandoned in favor of an arc-based storyline, Flash's BlackBestFriend was dropped from the cast, and much more screen time was spent on Mongo in general. Arguably, the show got better as a result.
** Didn't save it from being canceled.
* After the death of Dolph Sweet, ''Series/GimmeABreak'' was given a massive overhaul. The two older daughters were dropped, the rest of the cast moved from the California suburbs to New York City, and Joey was given [[CousinOliver a younger brother]] (played Joey Lawrence's younger brother, Matthew). And even that was tweaked in the final season, with Samantha, Grandpa Kiniski and the new NYC neighbors leaving, and Nell's mother, Addele, moving in.
* ''HeartsAfire'' changed its setting and most of its supporting cast for its second season.

* The series in the Japanese ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise have gone through several retools since almost the beginning of their existence.
** The very first ''Series/KamenRider'' season had its lead actor, Hiroshi Fujioka, involved in an accident, which made it impossible for him to continue involved in the show's production for an extended period. Initially, that led to a ''FakeShemp'' Hongo, who mostly appeared as Kamen Rider, played by a replacement suit actor and voice actor, and also through ''StockFootage'' spliced with new scenes. In spite of that, the focus shifted to the supporting cast, and FBI agent Kazuya Taki was introduced as a non-super powered heroic lead. After a few episodes, a new protagonist and Kamen Rider, Hayato Ichimonji, was added, Hongo Takeshi left to fight against Shocker in other countries, and the show went through several changes, like lessening the horror elements of the first few episodes and the creation of the instant transformation sequence with a "henshin" call that would go on to become one of the franchise's trademarks. Ruriko, Hongo's love interest, was phased out of the series, the hang out spot of the supporting cast was changed and three new girls were introduced alongside Hayato. The soldiers working for the organization Shocker also started sporting a more uniform look with wrestling masks, rather than the varied situation appropriated look from the first 13 episodes. The changes were a success and the series exploded in popularity. Eventually, Hiroshi Fujioka recovered and returned to the series as Hongo, recovering the main character spot after a few months of guest appearances, but, even when he returned, the style of the series didn't shift to its initial one.

* ''Series/KnightRider'' (2008) received a massive retool, dropping the government organization aspect and losing 3 cast members (in the space of two episodes) in a horribly anti-climactic KARR plot 12 episodes into the first season. This arguably improved the show quite a bit and focused on more personal stories, more closely resembling the original show in structure. Then it wasn't renewed.
* When ''LaverneAndShirley'' moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles. They took their dad, Lenny, Squiggy, and Carmine with them.
* Struggling soap ''Series/{{Loving}}'' moved from its suburban setting to New York City and became ''TheCity''. The retooled version wasn't any more successful than the original, and the show was soon cancelled.
* After the first season of ''MajorDad'', the setting was moved to a different military base, with some changes in the cast.

* After ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' moved to the SciFiChannel with their eighth season, they got new villains, a new setting, and (due to ExecutiveMeddling) an actual ongoing plot. At the end of the season, some of these changes were backed off on, with a move to a setting similar to the first seven seasons and a lack of stories that carried on between episodes (though the 10th season had a subplot that was dropped halfway through).
** The real reason for this retool was that Trace Beaulieu, who played Dr. Forrester and Crow, had decided not to continue with the show. Being picked up by Sci Fi made the cast changes necessary.

* ''SavedByTheBell'' was retooled after a brief cancellation. The school moved from Indiana to California, and the show even had a name change (it was originally known as ''Good Morning, Miss Bliss'') as well as a few different cast members and a new focus on the students exclusively.
** It was retooled again after the gang graduated and moved on to CaliforniaUniversity. In addition to the new setting and a few new characters, the stories became somewhat more "grown-up." The new show didn't make it to a second season.

* The computer tech show ''The Screen Savers'' that ran on Tech TV then G4 after the merger was retooled as ''AttackOfTheShow''; a more geek and nerd entertainment focused show keeping the same hosts -- at the time, Sarah Lane Kevin Rose and Kevin Pereira as well as Brendan Moran. The user created challenge from the last ''TheScreenSavers'' episode was carried over to the first ''AttackoftheShow'' where the winners were revealed.
* During the first series of ''Series/{{Soap}}'' the writers had originally intended for Bob and Chuck (his dummy) to be the murderer(s) of Peter and after the murder arc was over he was supposed to leave - so there were several hints that there was something much darker behind his silly appearance (e.g. when it's revealed he sends homophobic hatemail to his step-brother, Jodie). Except they proved so popular with the audience that everybody decided to keep him/them and the murderer's identity was changed, and all of Chuck and Bob's dark hints were dropped/ignored/put down to Bob being a {{Jerkass}} and they remained as constant comic relief.

* The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' television franchise has done this on several occasions:

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' did this in the transition between its first and second season (see GrowingTheBeard). The supporting characters started to find their niches, the bridge set was slightly redesigned, characters including Worf and Laforge were promoted, and Diana Muldaur came on as the new doctor, Pulaski.

*** The season three finale/season four opener could also count with the introduction of the Borg as a major threat. The series gets ''just a hair'' DarkerAndEdgier and lets Picard have a delayed and well deserved {{heroic BSOD}} about being assimilated.

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' underwent a retool in its third season because of the long-running Kazon plotline. The Season 3 premiere, "Basics Part II" effectively ended their storyline because Paramount executives complained that it wasn't exciting enough, which the fans agreed with, noting that the Kazon were akin to the [[AlienScrappy Ferengi]] in the "[[InformedAbility Dangerous Adversary]]" department. In Season 4, the show was retooled again by swapping out Jennifer Lien for Jeri Ryan, and introducing Species 8472 and the Hirogen as new threats.

* ''ThomasTheTankEngine'' had a minor retool in Series 5 when it stopped adapting the Railway Series stories it had previously been based on. A further retool was in Series 8 when a new theme song and story format was bought in, and many characters such as Duck were [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome dropped with no explanation]].
** In 2009, the series dropped models and created new episodes exclusively in CGI.
* ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'', the third series of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', became a politically charged miniseries as opposed to the episodic structure of before.
** And [[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay the fourth series]] moves the primary setting to America, and turns Torchwood into more of a resistance movement as opposed to a short-staffed special ops.

* To say that the second season of the 1980s ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds'' TV series used some "[[ExecutiveMeddling creative liberties]]" would be stating it lightly. Half the cast either disappeared (General Wilson) or were killed off (Colonel Ironhorse, Norton Drake), the main antagonists of the first season were unceremoniously executed, a new group of aliens took their place as the villains, the setting changed from a mansion to a ''sewer base'' and the entire style of the show changed from a somewhat lighthearted, highly cerebral communism metaphor into a dystopian near-future proto-cyberpunk survivalist fantasy. The fans were not pleased.
* ''{{Newhart}}'' underwent a major change when Kirk and Leslie were written out and Michael and Stephanie were written in. This corresponded with the show becoming more surreal.
* After its first season, ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' switched to a three-camera format, with a new set and a live audience. Most characters left over from the movies (the Pigeon sisters, Oscar's poker buddies) were jettisoned, with the exception of Murray.
* Here's an example that set a record: the premiere of the {{gameshow}} ''YoureInThePicture'' proved that the game was too awkward to be enjoyable. The second episode was completely different: it consists of the show's host, Jackie Gleason, sitting in a bare set and making a drawn out apology for the failed gameshow. This received much better reviews, so the show was turned into a talk show and renamed ''The Jackie Gleason Show''.
* Each season, ''PrisonBreak'' went through a dramatic change in tone and style, though the main cast and the overarching story continued throughout the series. Season 1 is comparable to ''EscapeFromAlcatraz'', season 2 is ''Series/TheFugitive'', season 3 is ''Midnight Express'' (or at least, that's what the writers were shooting for) and season 4 is ''MissionImpossible''.
* ''NaturallySadie'' was re tooled after the first season with changes including Arden replacing Chelsea as the AlphaBitch, bringing in a new romantic interest for Sadie, and even changing Sadie's character.
* Bob Newhart's third series ''Bob!'' was the story of Bob [=McKay=], a greeting card artist who had a few decades earlier created a semi-successful comic book character called "Mad Dog". When Ace Comics offers him a chance to revive the book he quits the greeting card company and deals with the wacky people who work for the comic book company. After the first season the series was renewed, but in the first episode of the second season it is explained that Ace Comics went out of business and Bob crawled back to the greeting card company to get his job back there (and deal with the wacky people there). This version only lasted a few episodes before it was canceled.
* ''It's About Time'' was a series created by the creator of the then current ''Gilligan's Island'', and featured that show's slapstick approach. The storyline concerned two Astronauts whose space capsule goes backwards in time and lands in a time of cavemen. Storylines dealt with the astronauts bringing civilization to the local cavepeople, while at the same time trying to fix their spaceship. At the midpoint of the show's first (and only) season the astronauts manage to fix their ship and leave the stone age, only to find that two of the cave people who helped them stowed away on the ship, flipping the storylines to episodes involving the astronauts hiding the cave people from the government while helping them adapt to 20th Century life. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqzHLZuXRCo The catchy series theme which explained the premise]] was cleverly flipped and adapted to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07pPtYb0z80 this for the second half of the season]].
* ''Series/RobinHood'' was retooled after the WhamEpisode at the end of Season Two in which Marian [[spoiler:is stabbed to death by Guy of Gisborne]] and Will Scarlett and Djaq (the Saracen) are written out of the show. Along with a new writing team and new costumes for the cast, five new characters were introduced to the show ([[CanonForeigner three of whom were not even part of the Robin Hood legend]]) and the premise goes from robbing the rich/feeding the poor to a fight for power over the position of Sheriff as well as Robin's tangled love-life with two new love interests. The three original remaining outlaws become bit-parts, and all of the storylines of the past two seasons become [[AbortedArc Aborted Arcs]]. In fact, one could go so far to say that if it were not for the character names and the locations, there is little in Season Three that connects it to the legend of Robin Hood at all.
* ''SuddenlySusan'' was a comedy about a career-minded woman who works as a writer with a local newspaper. During the jump from the third to fourth seasons, several characters disappeared (including Susan's boss, who she had previously admitted being in love with and a newspaper employee [which was caused by the actor who played him killing himself]), the introduction of a new boss and an overhauled office setting. This retool wasn't really motivated by ratings either, as they had stayed relatively consistent. However, the show was cancelled soon afterwards.
* ''McHalesNavy'' moved to the Italian theater of WW2 in its final season.
* When the spy craze overtook TV in 1965, the detective series ''BurkesLaw'' was turned into ''Amos Burke, Secret Agent''.
* ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' dropped half the cast after the first season (although some of the girls popped up on occasion during the 1980-1981 season), added Jo to contrast with Blair, and most importantly got better writers. (Even the ''theme song'' improved!)
** In addition, there were three major settings throughout the run. At its heart, the main setting always remained at (or near) the campus of Eastland School, but starting in 1983, much of the action shifted to a gourmet bakery called Edna's Edibles. By 1985, with the core group of girls (Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie) in their late teens or early 20s, the girls now began managing a novelty store called Over Our Heads; the explanation for that shift was that a kitchen fire (OffScreen) destroyed Edna's Edibles.
** Another re-tool was planned for the 1988-1989 season, with series star Lisa Welchel being one of the few cast members opting to stay for the to-be-retitled series. The action was to shift back to Eastland, now a co-educational school (done so on Blair's action to save the financially starved school from closing; as she was extremely wealthy, only she had the financial resources to pull off such a move). The set-up was aired in a two-part ''Facts'' episode, "The Beginning of the End/Beginning of the Beginning" (highly reminiscent of the original ''Facts'' pilot, "The Girls School," which aired as a ''DiffrentStrokes'' episode back in 1979), but the series never made it to air. Had the series been green-lighted, ''Facts'' (and its new name) would easily have been NBC's longest-running sitcom at that time.
* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' had a change after the third season due to [[McLeaned Shannen Doherty's departure from the show]] and Creator/RoseMcGowan was added to the cast as fourth sister Paige, and the dynamic changed with Piper now being the eldest, Phoebe being the middle child, and Paige acting as the youngest. The opening credits were also changed with Alyssa Milano receiving first billing and Creator/HollyMarieCombs getting the "and [insert name] as [character]". There was another retool for the final season which had the character of Darryl written out; new characters Billie, Christy, Coop, Dex, and Henry introduced; and the temporary departure of Leo mid season until the finale. Also Phoebe started wearing actual clothes.
* Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''Series/TooCloseForComfort'' starred Ted Knight as a newspaper cartoonist who lived and worked in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco with his wife and two grown daughters. When the show moved to first-run syndication in its final season, it was retitled ''The Ted Knight Show'', Knight's character moved to suburban Marin County and changed his job to co-owner and editor of a newspaper, and his daughters [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished without a trace]]...although Jim J. Bullock's BreakoutCharacter Monroe, originally the boyfriend of one of the daughters, was retained after the retool.
* ''ILoveLucy'' had a temporary retool in the fourth season when Ricky gets a starring role in a movie and he and Lucy and the Mertzes go to Hollywood and stay at a hotel. They move back to New York City early the next season. In the sixth season the Ricardos move to Connecticut and are followed by the Mertzes. In the seventh season the show becomes the ''LucyDesiComedyHour'' becoming an hour long show with a special guest star each week.
* In the first season (1967-68) of ''Mannix'' the title character worked for a detective agency called INTERTECT that utilized state-of-the-art (for its time) computer equipment to solve crimes. However, Mannix generally disregarded the computers and the agency's rules to solve crimes his own way. Lucille Ball (''Mannix'' was the last show produced by Desilu) decided that the computers were over most viewers' heads and asked to have them worked out of the show. This turned Mannix into a more conventional detective series. The [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} font]] used in the credits were based on IBM's corporate font of the time. That font and the theme music were about the only things that transitioned over into the new version of the series.
** In season one, the ''Mannix'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_49tWPNWA&NR=1 title card is literally a computer card.]]
** Season two and beyond (1968-75), [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyZL_3bxD68&feature=related with the better known title card with the shifting letters.]]
* ''Series/TheAvengers'' was originally about Dr. David Keel (played by Ian Hendry) teaming with a mysterious secret agent named John Steed and their investigation into crimes. In the second season Hendry left and Steed became the lead. Steed then gained a new partner, the leather-clad, judo-knowing Cathy Gale, the first ActionGirl of many that Steed would be partnered with through the decade. After her would be the most famous to American audiences, Emma Peel and finally Tara King.

* ''Martial Law'' had a rather bizarre case of this: The end of season 1 saw Sammo and BigBad Lee Hei falling out of a helicopter over the ocean. Sometime during the summer, though, it was decided to retool the show, and instead of season 2 picking up off where the first had ended, it opened with a regular episode, [[CliffhangerCopout with only scant references to the previous cliffhanger]]. [[note]](Sammo asking if someone who's trying to kill him with a bomb is seeking vengeance for Lee Hei's death, and a fellow officer asking Sammo, "Hey, you fell out of a helicopter into the Pacific and survived... how much worse could a bomb be?")[[/note]] Fans were not pleased.
* After two seasons, the live-action ''Superboy'' series changed its title to ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'', and moved the two central characters, Clark Kent/Superboy and Lana Lang, away from college to an internship at The Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters, an X-Files like agency that investigates paranormal phenomena. Along with the title and setting change, the show's stories became darker in tone, and the look of the show became darker as well. Many stories took place at night after the change, and the lighting for the final two seasons was done in a film noir style.
* Although ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' gets a retool every year with new costumes and mecha (and as of the seventh season onward a new cast and storyline), a notable retool took place midway in ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' when 4/5 of the main cast was changed over for a new cast. This was done to save ''Power Rangers'' from failing ratings, and the Retool was just enough of a ratings boost to warrant another season...
** ... Which was ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace''; now ''there'' was a retool. We leave "kids in high school battle the MonsterOfTheWeek and go home" behind and have more arc-based series with the Rangers, well, [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]] and the villains of all past series having formed a LegionOfDoom. Part of why it was so epic is that they wanted the franchise to go out with a bang, but by the time it was over, fans underwhelmed by Turbo and ''then'' hit with the loss of their favorite characters had forgiven the SeasonalRot and wanted more. [[LongRunners They're still getting it]].
** It seems you get the best series when ThePowersThatBe think it's ending. ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' was also supposed to be the last season. It was also a vast departure from the way ''Power Rangers'' as usual is done. A post-apocalyptic world's last survivors are in a domed city defended by [[ThreePlusTwo three, then five]], [[SixthRanger then seven]] heroes led by the genius inventor who [[spoiler: actually created the evil AI that started the RobotWar]].
* ''TheNakedTruth'', a '90s sitcom starring Tea Leoni as a newspaper photographer, was drastically retooled and almost entirely recast each season. In season 1 Nora (Leoni) works at a sleazy celebrity tabloid and had Tim Curry and Amy Ryan for co-stars. Season 2 de-tabloided the paper she worked for and de-zanified the format; only Nora and Camilla (Holland Taylor) remained of the original cast. Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal were added as Leoni's parents. Season 3 saw Nora and Camilla jump ship to another paper with a staff that included Chris Elliot.
* ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' has gone through countless retools over time on the American version. This includes changing the host from Regis Philbin to Meredith Vieira, adding a clock, changing several of the {{Lifelines}}, omitting the "Fastest Finger" round, etc. The 2010-11 season ''completely'' overhauled the game even further, adding a new payout structure and randomizing both the question difficulty and payouts.
* For its fourth and final season ''Series/HannahMontana'' [[DemotedToExtra removed Mitchell Musso from the main cast]], moved the Stewart family into a bigger house, had Lilly come to live with them, and replaced the series' most-used outdoor set (a generic beach) with a [[FictionalCounterpart mock-up of Santa Monica Pier]]. Along with these sweeping changes, the show was renamed ''Hannah Montana Forever''.
* In a very strange example, Goodson-Todman's 1967-69 GameShow ''Snap Judgment'' was changed for its last three months from a contrived word-association game to a direct clone of ''Series/{{Password}}''.
* The first season of ''Series/ThreeTwoOneContact'' involved a team of college students in a room known as the "workshop". In seasons 2-4, it was changed to a cast of middle school-aged kids in a basement. The last three seasons switched to a location-themed format, focusing more on individual hosts (mainly David Quinn) rather than a team. The theme song was also [[RearrangeTheSong remixed]] in the second and sixth seasons.
* ''Series/{{Bergerac}}'', the British cop show, had a bizarre final series in which the lead character relocated to France and became a private eye, to little consequence.
* Gritty police drama ''Series/BetweenTheLines'' ended series 2 with a very over-the-top {{Cliffhanger}}, so much so that when it returned for series 3, the only way out was to reshape the show with the lead characters [[spoiler: no longer cops and all working as private detectives]].
* The sitcom ''Series/FlyingBlind'' went through a major rework halfway through the first and only series, with the male lead leaving his job as an office drone and becoming a Creator/{{Troma}}-esque underground filmmaker instead.
* ''Series/TheEvent'' was put on a hiatus in the middle of its first season and retooled due to low ratings. The show stopped using flashbacks to tell the story in an anachronistic style, the villains' motivations were streamlined, and the heroes made more forceful and less indecisive. This turned the show more into a ''Series/TwentyFour'' rather than a ''Series/{{Lost}}''. The show improved in ratings but was not renewed for a third season.
** It was justified in-story by the aliens finding out that they were wrong about how much time they had and instead of having decades to work behind the scenes they had mere months to enact their plan and save their race [[IDidWhatIHadToDo by any means necessary]]. Their actions became more desperate and destructive, and the more ambiguous characters had to choose where their loyalties really lay. One of the major conspiracy plots is short circuited when the BigBad [[spoiler: realizes that he is delaying the Hero from saving humanity and kills himself to get out of the way]].
* ''SonnyWithAChance'' is about small town girl Sonny who joins the cast of her favorite sketch comedy show ''[[ShowWithinAShow So Random!]]''. DemiLovato (who played the titular character) ended up quitting the show and taking a temporary break from acting after season two, to deal with some personal problems and also focus on her music career. Disney retooled it by {{defictionaliz|ation}}ing ''Series/SoRandom''. Yep, the show within the show became the actual show!
* ''Shining Time Station'' was retooled twice at the end of its life. First, while keeping its title, the show became a prime time series that aired in spurts as a series of specials. Unlike the child-pleasing daytime series, this version added elements of teen drama (such as the addition of a juvenile delinquent from an abusive household), and featured extensive location shooting, breaking free of the prior version's omnipresent train station interior. (The new-found sense of maturity was actually referenced on the show, as Mr. Conductor appeared as usual to relate an Island of Sodor story to the kids, only to be told that they had outgrown Thomas stories). After a handful of these episodes, the show returned to daytime under the new title of ''Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales,'' which scrapped the entire cast except for George Carlin as Mr. Conductor, and focused almost entirely on Sodor segments.
* ''HumanTarget'' got retooled for its second season, with several changes: the cliffhanger of the first season was resolved immediately and then forgotten, the sets got a new, shinier look, and two new female characters were introduced, one of whom was MsFanservice who contributed little, and the other did nothing but [[ArsonMurderAndAdmiration question Chance's methods but grudgingly admit they worked]] ''every single episode'' and provide a forced romance. Also, the music went from BearMcCreary sweeping orchestral to generic action music.
* ''BoyMeetsWorld'' got retooled several times of the course of its run:
** Season 2: Cory, Topanga, and Shawn start going to John Adams High. Mr. Feeny follows them. Eric has a much larger role, and begins to take on TheDitz traits of his "[[TheDitz modern]] [[ButtMonkey persona]]." Topanga abandons her GranolaGirl roots and becomes a HollywoodNerd. More of Shawn's [[ParentalAbandonment home life]] is revealed. Mr. Turner, "the bullies," and [[LocalHangout Chubbie's]] are introduced. Also, the show loses [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Minkus]], and abandons the old theme song and credits sequence.
** Season 5: At the start of their senior year, Shawn reunites with his LongLostSibling Jack, who joins the main cast. Shawn, Jack and Eric (now attending college) move in together in an apartment, and Jack becomes Eric's best friend and comedy sidekick. Heretofore {{Kidanova}} Shawn gets a steady girlfriend Angela, who becomes a recurring character. Mr. Turner falls victim to ChuckCunninghamSyndrome and main high school set is changed to the senior hallway. The show gains an increased focus on running storylines, something it had already been experimenting with. Finally, the classic ThemeTune (with lyrics!) is introduced.[[note]]This retool even got a LampshadeHanging, with Chubbie's getting redesigned into a new restaurant at the start of the season.[[/note]]
** Season 6: Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Angela graduate and go to [[CaliforniaUniversity Pennbrook University]]. [[RunningGag Mr. Feeny follows them]]. Angela becomes a member of the main cast. Cory and Topanga get engaged, but don't exactly make a mad dash for the altar. Rachel joins the cast and moves in with Eric (now a full-on ButtCuckooLander) and Jack, setting up a LoveTriangle. Alan, Amy, and Morgan are reduced to CommutingOnABus.
* ''{{Space1999}}'' : Season 1 was rather thoughtful and existential with an atmosphere of both genuine danger and epic grandeur and could almost have been shot in black and white. It featured a huge, multi-level main set, awesome space battles, and a sweeping orchestral score. Season 2 was far more simplistic, fast-moving and colourful, with loads more monsters, comedy robots and running around. Several main characters were ditched without explanation, a shape-shifting alien hottie was introduced, there was more focus on the characters personal relationships, the sets were smaller and more intimate and the score was largely replaced by funky guitar. Even the heroes uniforms were changed, with jackets, mission patches and ID badges added for extra colour and interest.
* The 2nd ''SuperSentai'' series ''Series/JAKQDengekitai'' was initially going to stand out from [[Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger its predecessor]] by being ''DarkerAndEdgier''. However, it ended up being so dark that children started to avoid watching the show, so it got retooled. The retool introduced Soukichi Banba/Big One, who, while initially looked upon as a ''ReplacementScrappy'' for Joker, the previous ''BigGood'', ended up becoming one of the most iconic ''Sentai'' heroes to date and one of three candidates for being the ultimate Big Good of the franchise. In spite of that though, the series still hold the dubious honor of being the only Super Sentai series that was canceled, unable to finish a full one year run.
** ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' had to have a retool partway through following a terrorist attack on Japan's subway, which was considered too close to the military theme of the season. The show suffered for it and was considered as almost killing the franchise. The show stabilized with the series ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'', but it was only with ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' finding a new timeslot for the franchise that it managed to soar again, recover and even surpass the numbers of the years before Ohranger.
** ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'' went through a retool too. Before its debut, it was touted as the "New Era of Super Sentai", but it quickly became the lowest rated Sentai show in the series' 36 year run (at the time). The initial plotline of the show, regarding the protagonists attempt to rescue their family, and protect the energy source Enetron came to an abrupt end with a climatic battle, alongside with the rushed addition of a new opening theme, gotten from a CD that was already out at the time. It also had a ''crossover'' with ''Film/SpaceSheriffGavanTheMovie'', disregarding how the show had established that it took place in an world with an alternate calendar, differently from Gavan itself, which used the real world one. Finally, afterwards, the popular ''DragonInChief'' of the series, Enter, had a sudden personality change and took the spot of actual ''BigBad'' of the series, with the former ''BigBad'' reduced to ''TheDragon''.
* 90s NBC sitcom ''Jesse'' (starring Christina Applegate) was, quite typical for its era, about a single woman in her twenties with a major WillTheyOrWontThey plot, but distinguished itself somewhat by originally featuring the main character's family (wacky brothers and gruff father) in major roles, as all of them worked at the dad's bar together. However, that family [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished]] in the second season as Jesse got a new job at a hospital with young and attractive colleagues, while her girlfriends got more screentime than in the first season. The producers were obviously trying to make the show more similar to [[Series/{{Friends}} a certain other show of theirs]].
* ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' did a soft [=retool=] in season 4, putting Jack Bauer in a new job (albeit one that still gets him involved in the main action) and ditching most of the main characters from previous seasons in favour of a new BigGood, VoiceWithAnInternetConnection, etc. Unfortunately the writers lost their nerve: by about halfway through the season, Jack was working for CTU again and most of the old cast had returned anyway.
** Season 7 is where they did the [=retool=] ''right''. The action is moved to the opposite side of the country, Jack is neither a federal agent or a federal fugitive, he's teamed up with a DistaffCounterpart, [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction CTU]] has been disbanded (its role is mostly filled by the FBI), and the few returning characters either having gone underground or [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn Face Heel Turned]]]].
* ''EerieIndiana'' only had one season, but got a retool two-thirds of the way into it that included the addition of John Astin and JasonMarsden.
* ''The Doris Day Show'' changed formats almost every of the five seasons it was on air. Originally it was about the eponymous star as a widowed mother of two sons who decided to move back to the family ranch. In season 2, she took a job at a San Francisco magazine and commuted to work. A year later the family moved to an apartment in the city while Day's character went from a secretary to a reporter. For the last two seasons the show was completely overhauled; the two sons and most of the supporting cast (which had changed every year up to that point) were dropped without explanation, Doris became a swinging single career woman a la Mary Tyler Moore and she was referred to as always having been a reporter. The only thing that remained constant about the show during its five-year run was its lead actress.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': The first and, to a lesser extent, the second season focused primarily on action packed pre-trial field investigations, while the third and later seasons joined that formula together with an equal amount of courtroom and office drama in the stylistic vein of ''Series/LALaw''.
* ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' drops the leader of the main trio in Season 3. Lewis, the main male character, leaves to go study in America.
* In its second season to accommodate its full-time move to Nick Jr., ''The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss'' abandoned its half-hour story, replaced the Cat's voice with a less gravelly alternative, ditched the CGI backgrounds and became more of a BluesClues style structured kids show.
* The second season of ''UpAllNight'' dropped the ''Ava'' ShowWithinTheShow, which is cancelled in-universe. This effectively changes the show from a WorkCom[=/=]DomCom hybrid format to being just a DomCom. The switch necessitated changes to the cast, with Missy (a worker on the ''Ava'' show) being dropped in favor of Scott (a main character's brother).
** In the original pilot, Ava and Reagan work as PR executives (not on a TV show), and Ava is not supposed to be part of the main cast. Then {{Bridesmaids}} happened, and NBC's willingness to cash in on Maya Rudolph's popularity surge led to the show's first [=retool=].
** And then the show was retooled ''again'' in the middle of its second season, switching to a new format with ThreeCameras and a StudioAudience. The plans were to transform the show into a ShowWithinTheShow, where Christina Applegate and Will Arnett would suddenly be transformed into actors (playing themselves) in a sitcom with the same format as the show's original premise. Upon plans of this abomination being made public, both Applegate and the show's original creator quit in protest, and mercifully the show was euthanized by NBC execs before the re-tooled studio-audience version ever saw the light of day.
* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' flips it status quo around in season 3 as a result of the events of the season 2 finale: [[spoiler: in light of [[BigBad Percy's]] death, Division is taken over by the government and Team Nikita, who start using its resources to hunt down the remaining Division agents who don't join in the HeelFaceTurn.]]
* The 80s teen sitcom ''Double Trouble,'' starring twins Jean and Liz Sagal (sisters of Katy), revolved around their life in Des Moines, Iowa, being raised by a single dad (Donnelly Rhodes) who ran a dance studio. The second season did a major retool and sent them to New York City, where one sister tried to make it as a dancer and the other attended fashion school with a tactless, snarky professor. They lived in a townhouse with their eccentric aunt and two kooky single guys. (There was no third season.)
* ''The Col'n Carpenter Show'', was a spinoff of ''The Comedy Company'' revolving around Kym Gyngell's signature character, a simple-minded, usually unemployed man approaching middle age - think a cross between ''Series/MrBean'' and a more mild-mannered version of either of the two main characters from ''{{Stepbrothers}}''. It ran for two seasons and was retooled twice during that time. Carpenter was the only regular character throughout the whole series, so it changed the show's dynamic when he moved in with his mother, then again when he moved into a flat with two roommates.
* {{Smallville}}: Not surprisingly for such a LongRunner, Smallville underwent a 2-3 different retools over the course of its history. Season 4 featured the mutant-of-the-week type stories from Season 1-3 falling away in favor of a season-long arc that centered around the hunt for advanced tech from Krypton by various factions, and featured the introduction of LoisLane and the first hints that LexLuthor was starting to grow darker. On the DVD commentary, creators Al Gough and Miles Miller describe the Season 4 premiere as being "like a new Pilot episode" due to the retool. Season 5 arguably may have felt like this, depending on one's point of view, as Lex moved into full-fledged supervillainy and the show became much darker than Season 4. Then in Season 8, the feel of the show got shaken up again; showrunners Gough and Miller left, along with ''four'' major cast members. These departures, combined with a general worry that the show had started to stagnate, necessitated a shakeup. Tess Mercer was introduced and quickly became a fan-favorite character, more DC Comics-related stories and guest stars began to come in, and Clark finally began working at the Daily Planet and exploring the possibility of a relationship with LoisLane. The more mature and {{Superman}}ly tone of the last three seasons had many fans noting that these last three seasons could have quite reasonably been renamed "Metropolis" (a fact that was [[{{LampshadeHanging}} lampshaded]] by lead actor Tom Welling in interviews). The new, Supermanly tone introduced in Season 8 garnered enough praise that it successfully breathed life back into the show and allowed it to last until the end of Season 10, at which point the show was able to properly wrap things up and end on its own terms rather than the network's.

* RetroGameMaster: The first season was primarily a documentary show in which Arino interviewed people from the game industry involved with certain companies or specific franchises. From Season 2 and onward, the "Arino's Challenge" segments that were originally meant to be a secondary portion of the show became the main feature instead
* ''Series/{{Smash}}'' was retooled in its second season, after negative reviews from critics for much of the first season, as well as a very TroubledProduction. The less popular characters were written out and the characters move on to a different musical. [[FridayNightDeathSlot It hasn't worked out very well.]] The show was cancelled at the end of its 2nd season.
* ''Series/TopGear'' originally ran from 1977 until 2001, when it was cancelled. Although it relaunched just a year later in 2002, "new" Top Gear is fundamentally different in spirit and character to its predecessor. The original was an informative/factual news and review magazine about cars, and though it became far less dry and more entertaining in the way it did this as time went on, at heart it remained true to that. While the relaunched format isn't uninformative (and does overlap the original in places), it's clear that its ultimate focus is to entertain the viewer, with everything in the end serving that purpose. Unlike the original, it's far more studio based, and more focused on the characters and interplay of the presenters- often intentionally played-up- with the cars often being a means to that end, rather than the point in themselves. Much of the show essentially lets the viewer participate (by proxy) in what James May himself called "self-indulgent cocking-about".
* Famed sitcom Series/{{Rhoda}} was retooled at least twice during it's four year run. First, Rhoda and her husband Joe separated and she got a new job. Then, she and Joe got divorced and [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome he disappeared from the show]], then she got yet another new job, and her parents separated as well.
* One of the most infamous examples was ''Baywatch Nights'': this ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' spinoff involved the show's resident police officer, Sgt. Garner Ellerbee (Gregory Alan Williams) decide to open a detective agency, being joined by Mitch Buchannon (DavidHasselhoff) and Ryan McBride (Angie Harmon) and have them deal with street crime. Then when the show proved to be a flop, the producers were inspired by the success of ''Series/TheXFiles'' and decided to replace Ellerbee (who, again, ''founded the agency'') with a paranormal investigator and turn the show into "DavidHasselhoff fights aliens, mutants and ghosts".
* ''Series/{{Unforgettable}}'' was canceled after its first season, then UnCanceled a year later because a couple cable channels were eyeballing it. As a result season two has completely new sets, swapped out most of the supporting cast (though they kept the coroner), and the season premiere ignored the MythArc (though we'll see if the last part stays the case).
* The [[{{Third Line Some Waiting}} Francis segment]] of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' was retooled three times. For the first two seasons, Francis' stories were about attending a [[{{Boarding School of Horrors}} strict]] {{military school}} in Alabama. At the start of season 3, Francis and Eric turned 18 and got emancipated, running away to Alaska to work at a logging camp. The camp closed at the end of the season, leaving Francis and Piama to move south; season 4 opened with them getting jobs on a guest ranch in New Mexico. In the last two seasons, Francis stopped appearing except when one of the other characters needed to interact with him; during this time, it turned out he and Piama were fired from the ranch and were living unemployed in a crap apartment, Francis having reverted to his slacker ways.
* ''Series/PerfectStrangers''-- After the first six seasons having focused on Larry and Balki living together as roommates in a small urban apartment, the series took a different turn when Larry married his longtime girlfriend Jennifer and bought a large Victorian-style house together. Balki and his girlfriend, Mary Ann, would move in as roommates at the new house and eventually marry as well, and both couples would have children. Characters that had been prominent in the first six seasons (such as Sam Gorpley) were phased out, and the newsroom setting took a significant backseat to the characters' domestic life.
* Happened with the ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' 1988 Christmas special, "Dates"--prior to that episode the series had focused almost exclusively on Del's get rich quick schemes (it's the original premise; "only fools and horses work!" is a line in the theme song!), but in subsequent episodes the series would start to involve Del and Rodney's personal lives much more, aided by the episodes being doubled in length.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'': At the middle of season six, Jane finally succeeds in [[spoiler:killing Red John]], and the CBI is disbanded [[spoiler:after it turns out its director Gale Bertram is a member of Red John's organization]]. After a two-year TimeSkip, Rigsby and van Pelt are married and have left the series to run a cybersecurity business, and Jane, Lisbon, and Cho go to work for the FBI out of a Texas office.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': The season 1 finale set the show on a big retool on half of the show. One half was still flashbacks and backstory on how the characters developed into who they are/were in the past. The other half changed from "Lets break the dark curse" into "Lets fight various story book characters while redeeming the evil queen and rumplestiltskin."

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' had a change after the third season due to [[McLeaned Shannen Doherty's departure from the show]] and RoseMcGowan was added to the cast as fourth sister Paige, and the dynamic changed with Piper now being the eldest, Phoebe being the middle child, and Paige acting as the youngest. The opening credits were also changed with Alyssa Milano receiving first billing and Holly Marie Combs getting the "and [insert name] as [character]". There was another retool for the final season which had the character of Darryl written out; new characters Billie, Christy, Coop, Dex, and Henry introduced; and the temporary departure of Leo mid season until the finale. Also Phoebe started wearing actual clothes.
* ABC's ''Too Close for Comfort'' starred Ted Knight as a newspaper cartoonist who lived and worked in San Francisco with his wife and two grown daughters. When the show moved to first-run syndication in its final season, it was retitled ''The Ted Knight Show'', Knight's character moved to suburban Marin County and changed his job to co-owner and editor of a newspaper, and his daughters [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished without a trace]]...although Jim J. Bullock's BreakoutCharacter Monroe, originally the boyfriend of one of the daughters, was retained after the retool.

** The Fourth Doctor's personality went (inorganically) through three different archetypes depending on who was producing his run, as each writer envisioned a different tone for the show. His first personality, during his GothicHorror-influenced era, was a CreepyCute NightmareFetishist ManChild who occasionally struggled with big moral decisions but was also very unpredictable, possessing BlueAndOrangeMorality. His second personality, during his LighterAndSofter-cum-DenserAndWackier era, was PlayedForLaughs - much more of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and also much more of a NiceGuy (dipping into FunPersonified at times), although also more of an AttentionWhore and more awkward to deal with. His third personality, when the show decided to get DarkerAndEdgier again, made him philosophical, [[ByronicHero Byronic]], dignified and quite morbid, developing some {{Chessmaster}} qualities and dispensing with a lot of the childlike aspects of his character. Broadly, his taste in hat colour indicates which personality he's going through at the time - a brown hat for [[CharacterizationTags goth!]]Four, a green hat for funny!Four and a red hat for old!Four.

** Season 6: Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Angela graduate and go to [[CaliforniaUniversity Pennbrook University]]. [[RunningGag Mr. Feeny follows them]]. Angela becomes a member of the main cast. Cory and Topanga get engaged, but don't exactly make a mad dash for the altar. Rachel joins the cast and moves in with Eric (now a full-on CloudCuckooLander) and Jack, setting up a LoveTriangle. Alan, Amy, and Morgan are reduced to CommutingOnABus.

* Happened with the ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' 1988 Christmas special, "Dates"--prior to that episode the series had focused almost exclusively on Del's get rich quick schemes, but in subsequent episodes the series would start to involve Del and Rodney's personal lives much more, aided by the episodes being doubled in length.

*** Eccleston: Gallifrey has been destroyed in the Time War and the Doctor has a whole new truckload of {{Angst}} to feel about it. The focus remains on the human companion, and a whole lot of SoapOpera elements are explicitly added to genre mashup levels. Since production values are notably better the monsters tend to be quite self-consciously {{camp}}y, and the science fiction elements are intentionally very soft. The Doctor is also portrayed as almost always knowing the monsters he's up against, a new development. However, the mythology of the series is deliberately shied away from in order to bring in new fans.

*** Smith: Smith's Doctor is very similar to Tennant's Doctor, but more childish and less moody. Show's mood changes to a "cosmic fairy-tale" theme with a much stronger focus on {{Time Paradox}}es than ever before, and incorporating strong elements of SexComedy. Horror episodes are significantly more common during this period, and MythologyGags to the Classic series, purposefully avoided before, become thick on the ground.

** ...Which was ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace''; now ''there'' was a retool. We leave "kids in high school battle the MonsterOfTheWeek and go home" behind and have more arc-based series with the Rangers, well, [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]]] and the villains of all past series having formed a LegionOfDoom. Part of why it was so epic is that they wanted the franchise to go out with a bang, but by the time it was over, fans underwhelmed by Turbo and ''then'' hit with the loss of their favorite characters had forgiven the SeasonalRot and wanted more. [[LongRunners They're still getting it]].
** It seems you get the best series when ThePowersThatBe think it's ending. ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' was also supposed to be the last season. It was also a vast departure from the way ''Power Rangers'' as usual is done. A post-apocalyptic world's last survivors are in a domed city defended by [[ThreePlusTwo three, then five]], [[SixthRangers then seven]] heroes led by the genius inventor who [[spoiler: actually created the evil AI that started the RobotWar]].

* {{Community}} lampshades this trope in the first episode of its fifth season; most of the study group have left Greendale, but have generally been unsuccessful in their new careers or found them unfulfilling, forcing them back to the college for more study. Abed lampshades the fact that bringing the group back together for more shenanigans around Greendale is akin to a retool, explicitly referencing the ninth season of {{Scrubs}}. Not surprisingly - considering the show's penchant for meta and self-awareness - this season sees some of the biggest changes in the format of the show; two the seven main cast members leave (one of whom is replaced by a surprisingly ''not'' SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute {{Expy}}), a season one recurring character who had a case of ChuckCunninghamSyndrome returns, and Chang is finally (if reluctantly) accepted as a regular member of the study group.

** In season one, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_49tWPNWA&NR=1 the ''Mannix'' title card is literally a computer card.]]

* In the first season (1967-68) of ''Mannix'' the title character worked for a detective agency called INTERTECT that utilized state-of-the-art (for it's time) computer equipment to solve crimes. However, Mannix generally disregarded the computers and the agency's rules to solve crimes his own way. Lucille Ball (Mannix was the last show produced by Desilu) decided that the computers were over most viewers' heads and asked to have them worked out of the show. This turned Mannix into a more conventional detective series. The [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} font]] used in the credits were based on IBM's corporate font of the time. That font and the theme music were about the only things that transitioned over into the new version of the series.
** In season one, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_49tWPNWA&NR=1 the Mannix title card is literally a computer card.]]

*** Tom Baker: A slightly [[ByronicHero byronic]] ManChild Doctor with [[ComicalOverreacting funny mannerisms]]. Show drops the secret agent elements but keeps the MonsterOfTheWeek formula, very rarely dealing with recurring enemies (only two Dalek stories in the whole seven-year tenure). Show also begins taking heavy influences from HammerHorror films, giving it a gothic tone and {{Genre Shift}}ing the show into 'horror' rather than sci-fi, though this is dropped in favour of comedy and pure sci-fi later after a MoralGuardian crackdown. The final season shows a sudden increase in production values, the theme music and visuals are changed, the Doctor starts wearing a more costume-y outfit in order to provide more visual identity and the writing gets dark again, though staying out of horror for the most part.

*** Pertwee: A serious, charming aesthete ActionHero Doctor in a TuxedoAndMartini-MonsterOfTheWeek genre mashup show.
*** Tom Baker: A slightly [[ByronicHero byronic]] ManChild Doctor with [[ComicalOverreacting funny mannerisms]]. Show drops the secret agent elements but keeps the MonsterOfTheWeek formula, very rarely dealing with recurring enemies (only two Dalek stories in the whole seven-year tenure). Show also begins taking heavy influences from HammerHorror films, giving it a gothic tone, though this is dropped in favour of comedy later.

** The all-but-abandonment of "pure historicals" (episodes with no science fiction elements other than the Doctor and his TARDIS himself) and their replacement with much rarer "pseudohistoricals" (stories where the Doctor will travel back in time to fight an alien) was an early attempt at this, as historicals were proving much less popular with audiences than the PeopleInRubberSuits. The first story to contain pseudohistorical elements was "The Chase" (which contained a short WackyWaysideTribe sequence involving Daleks on the Mary Celeste), and the first true pseudohistorical was "The Time Meddler" - the reveal that it was another time traveller causing the mayhem was a shocking twist to an audience expecting a CostumeDrama with HornyVikings, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny but pretty much expected now]]. The last pure historical of this era was "The Gunfighters", although the Peter Davison story "Black Orchid" also fits the strict definition of this story type.

*** [=McGann=]: A rather naive and enthusiastic Doctor, aimed at being an AdaptationDistillation of traits from the popular Fourth Doctor. Show begins taking heavy influence from ''Series/TheXFiles'' and is the first to introduce explicit romance between the Doctor and his companion (although Tom Baker and Pertwee had both dabbled in ShipTease). Focus remains on the human companion rather than on the Doctor.
*** Eccleston: Gallifrey has been destroyed in the Time War and the Doctor has a whole new truckload of {{Angst}} to feel about it. The focus remains on the human companion, and a whole lot of SoapOpera elements are explicitly added to genre mashup levels. Since production values are notably better the monsters tend to be quite self-consciously {{camp}}y, and the science fiction elements are intentionally very soft. The Doctor is also portrayed as almost always knowing the monsters he's up against, a new development.

*** [=McGann=]: A rather naive and enthusiastic Doctor, aimed at being an AdaptationDistillation of traits from the popular Fourth Doctor. Show begins taking heavy influence from ''Series/TheXFiles'' and is the first to introduce explicit romantic elements.
*** Another notable one is the change from the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh Doctor, since while the two Doctors are very alike in personality compared to, say, the Second and Third, the whole mood of the show changes with him from a SoapOpera with monsters into a "cosmic fairy-tale" theme with strong focus on {{Time Paradox}}es and elements of SexComedy.