The Simpsons, being the series which spawned this trope's very name, has suffered from Flanderization almost across the board. In some sense, it was inevitable, as the show is a very Long Runner. Interestingly, most main characters have been Flanderized twice — the first in the so-called "Golden Age" (Seasons 2 and 3), when the characters evolved into their most popular incarnations, and the second in the so-called "Zombie Age" (Season 9), when Mike Scully became the showrunner and all the subtler character jokes had long been exhausted.
- The Trope Namer is Ned Flanders, the quintessential example of this trope. In his first incarnation, Ned was Homer's neighbor, and a subversion of the "wacky neighbor" trope that was popular at the time that The Simpsons first came on the air. Ned Flanders was better than Homer in almost every way without even trying — he was naturally more polite, generous, level-headed, and well-adjusted than Homer, if a little stuck-up. At least part of that was because Ned was better off financially due to being less impulsive. Homer was portrayed as bitter and selfish for not liking Ned, including full-on Irrational Hatred where Homer disliked Ned out of either petty jealousy or for no reason at all. Ned and his family going to church regularly was just a sign that Ned had a deep-seated and genuine call to be a Nice Guy. However, Ned's devotion to his faith slowly became his single defining characteristic, to the point that he morphed into a fanatical Christian zealot.
- His second incarnation was the result of a standard Flanderization: one aspect of his character was exaggerated — in this case, his religious piety — and used to mine jokes. His interminable piety is now used as a tool to put himself or others into ridiculous situations. In "Hurricane Neddy", his house is destroyed, but Ned didn't insure it because he thinks that would be the same as gambling. In "Viva Ned Flanders", Homer tries to convince him to be less boring and he winds up drunkenly getting married to a barmaid in Las Vegas. He also became extremely overprotective of his sons Rod and Todd to the point where they became sheltered, spineless cowards terrified of engaging in any childhood fun (explained in greater detail near the bottom of this article). Importantly, Ned was still a pretty decent person (and still stood in stark contrast to the rest of the population of Springfield), even if this one aspect of his character was toned up.
- When Ned was Flanderized a second time, his devotion to Christianity became fanatical, tinged by hardcore right-wing bigotry, with his nice-guy attitude stripped away so that he could mock people he thinks are going to hell (e.g. his treatment of Apu and his Hinduism in "Midnight Rx"). Ned also became an avid teetotaler, whereas he could occasionally be seen drinking beer or smoking a pipe beforehand and even having a bar in his basement. Furthermore, several gags in later seasons have him call the police on Homer for petty reasons (such as having sex in Bart's treehouse while he was at camp in "Kamp Krustier"). Interestingly, Ned's second Flanderization was foreshadowed as far back as Season 4 in the episode "Homer the Heretic", when he attempts to convert the newly-agnostic Homer back to Christianity by following him everywhere he goes singing a childish Bible song with his family about Noah's Ark. However, this episode still makes it clear that he genuinely cares about Homer and is trying to help him, albeit misguidedly, whereas, later episodes would imply much less benign intent and he is shown having a holier-than-thou attitude.
- A common side effect of Flanderization is that other personality traits are dropped as another is focused on. For example, one of the core aspects of Ned Flanders was that he was hipper and more with it, in contrast to Homer Simpson, introducing Homer in the early seasons to the idea of credit when he shows off his new RV, and the internet, on which Flanders already had a home business. Now Flanders' responses to new, and even old technology, are much closer to militaristic Amish than the early adopter he was in earlier seasons.
- The titular family themselves have naturally undergone severe Flanderization:
- The financial situation of the entire family has become more incongruous with Society Marches On and Flanderization. In the late 80s they started off normally enough as the classic suburban middle-class family: a father working at a profession in a union that (should) require a college degree, a stay at home mother, the classic "2.5" children, a boy, girl, and baby, two story house and two cars. While financial worries were a theme from the beginning they increased for plot purposes and comedy. A ready explanation for why the Simpsons are so cash strapped despite Homer's income and Marge's conservativism was that Homer was incredibly reckless with money. While financial worries continue to plague the Simpsons money would rarely become a real issue, as many gags would have Homer casually pulling out great sums from his wallet and nonchalantly giving them away. Over the 3 decade run of the show real wages stagnated and many Americans were squeezed out of the middle class, with the decline of industrialization and unionization. Now the Simpsons' situation seems more desirable compared to when they debuted as normal middle class Americans, with many fans pointing out the Simpsons seem rich. By "Homer's Enemy" a large chunk of the plot revolved around Homer's seemingly normal life being seen as amazing. Frank Grimes' complaints might seem less funny now, as to many the Simpsons do seem to "live in a castle".
- Homer started out as a strict disciplinarian of average intelligence in the shorts and the first season (although he was depicted in a couple of episodes as an animated clone of Al Bundy), turning into a grouchy and boorish Bumbling Dad of below-average intelligence in the second season and then completing his transformation into the crass, lazy and dim-witted but lovable Manchild that most fans know him as by the third season. His oafish but iconic personality stayed roughly the same for the next few seasons, but his flagrant stupidity neared its peak in the eighth season episode "Homer's Enemy", where he was depicted as almost intolerably bad-mannered and moronic (driving the titular "enemy" of that episode to insanity). By the ninth and tenth seasons, he started to become a Jerkass, and by the eleventh season he lost whatever impulse control he had left, Took a Level in Dumbass and became a dangerously imbecilic, aggressive alcoholic with no emotional control, bursting into tears and throwing a temper tantrum on a regular basis. Lampshaded in "The Simpsons' 138th Episode Spectacular":Troy McClure: Professor Lawrence Pierce of the University of Chicago writes, "I think Homer gets stupider every year." That's not a question, professor, but we'll let the viewers judge for themselves. (Cue montage of Homer being increasingly stupid)
- As the central focus of a very long running show Homer has more opportunities to be Flanderized than most characters. Nearly every aspect of him has been Flanderized. One example that combines with Society Marching On is Homer's weight. While by the late 80s obesity in the US had become a concern, only 23% of the adult population was overweight. Homer being 6 feet and 239 pounds marked him as obese from the start, but not extremely so. It was clear it was his sedentary lifestyle and normal enough love for junk food and fatty foods: infamously donuts, beer, and pork chops, that gave him a bumbling dad beer belly. Soon Homer, against Matt Groening's protests, became a "food monster", eating 64 slices of American cheese in a sitting for a "midnight snack", single handedly shutting down an all you can eat restaurant and then suing them, and consuming a gigantic sandwich over the course of a week even as it became rancid. Similarly, Homer's consumption of beer became Flanderized, from being simply a stereotypical suburban dad beer drinker, sharing one with Ned Flanders in his rumpus room in Season 2, to a full blown alcoholic. Both his weight and alcoholism have become major plot points in numerous episodes, though he's always returned to his status quo. With Society Marching On since the late 80s, and a far greater portion of the US being obese, with half predicted to be obese by 2030, Homer actually seems quite underweight for his antics and height, and should be well over 300 pounds normally.
- Homer underwent another, dramatically different Flanderization in the Matt Selman era (Beginning with Season 33), where his Jerkass traits were scaled back drastically to where he was now instead a dim-witted Nice Guy who tries his best to support his family. Contrast this with how he was in the first eight seasons, where it was made clear many times that, despite almost always doing what's right by the end, Homer is still a seriously flawed father, husband and person in general who is often made to learn to the error of his ways.
- In the Ullman shorts and the first season, Marge was the stereotypical nagging housewife (although the episode "No Disgrace Like Home" featured her as an irresponsible Peg Bundy-esque matriarch), while Seasons 2 and 3 had her as a particularly intransigent (if not belligerent) Moral Guardian, constantly picking on Homer for his stupidity and boorishness as well as Bart for his recklessness. By the fourth season, she evolved into a wiser, no-nonsense, level-headed mother with a quirky idea of funnote . Beginning in the fourteenth season however, Marge gradually turned into a stodgy, overprotective Stepford Smiler, also picking up a hypocritical streak that allowed her to engage in some of her family's increasingly reckless hijinks despite her increased moralizing.
- One character trait of Marge's to remain consistent has been her attempts to be as culturally middle-brow and mainstream as possible. But, while in earlier seasons this was just a way to show her as impossibly bland, later on she became increasingly intolerant of both high culture and low culture, regarding the former as pretentious and the latter as vulgar.
- Bart was designed to be a pint-sized terror like Dennis the Menace — he liked to cause trouble for his own amusement and had little to no respect for authority, but he was far from irredeemable, and he had a conscience that prevented him from doing something really bad. Much like his father, he was Flanderized to become an out-and-out comedic sociopath, who cared nothing for the health, safety, or lives of anybody, even his family as long as he could get some laughs. The only thing that could stop him was the prospect of serious abuse (i.e. Homer strangling him). Bart also became as dumb as Homer did; earlier seasons portrayed him as Brilliant, but Lazy, with poor academic performance only because he's easily distracted and doesn't study, whereas later seasons portray him as functionally illiterate. You can see the progression when comparing episodes that show Bart's future; later seasons' flash-forwards show him as a Future Loser (and proud of it), but earlier seasons' flash-forwards (e.g. "Lisa's Wedding", "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie") show him as outgrowing his rebellious tendencies and becoming Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court or at least having a job. The writers, for their part, seem to have caught themselves in the most recent seasons and not only have they toned down Bart's sociopathy and made him Brilliant, but Lazy again, but a flash-forward in "Flander's Ladder" shows him as a Chief Justice of Supreme Court and not as a Future Loser.
- Bart's relationship with Homer was extremely antagonistic and resentment-laden during the first four seasons, while by the fifth season, they would be usually featured collaborating on wacky schemes, and later on, Bart would become Homer's guinea pig.
- Similarly, Bart's relationship with Skinner went from belligerent to one of cordial rivalry. Then, Bart became more of a troll to the hapless principal, and they ultimately became more friendly, with Skinner in one occasion destroying Bart's academic record, whereas his no-nonsense persona of the early seasons would have used it to ruin the boy's chances in life.
- In addition, while Bart’s numerous pranks over the course of the earlier seasons were unquestionably wrong, he never had any intention to hurt anyone (such as when he started to feel remorse over cutting off Jebediah Springfield’s head, or after seeing the results of setting up his teacher, Edna Krabappel, for a Prank Date). Nowadays, his pranks are actively malicious, such as blackmailing Principal Skinner into doing humiliating things for him as long as he promises to not tell anybody about Skinner’s peanut allergy.
- Lisa has gone all over the place. In the Ullman shorts, she was Bart's foil, acting as his more level-headed partner in crime. By the time the series began, she was made the smartest and best-behaved member of the family to stand in contrast to Bart, but she was still a little girl at heart (believing in Santa Claus and liking a cartoon suspiciously similar to The Smurfs). Then they took her intelligence up to eleven, showing her badly outclassing her peers; at the same time, she became a Soapbox Sadie who was the only one to protest against the injustices she perceived around her.note From there, she became a hardcore activist bordering on extremism, her sardonic view of the idiots around her became a Holier Than Thou superiority complex, and her quirkiness and nerdy interests became a patronizing enthusiasm for the most pretentious of vocations, her pursuits being hated by everybody in town (even her family). At the same time, she became horrendously uncool (being unanimously voted as the school's least popular student) and lost most of the friends she had in the early seasons (It should say something that Janey, who was shown to be Lisa's best friend in early seasons, joins other kids in teasing Lisa in later seasons).
- Even Maggie got her share of Flanderization. In the first few seasons, she was depicted as an uncommonly intelligent, adventurous baby who would get up to antics behind the family's back, and on occasion was important into the plot (such as being the one who shot Mr. Burns). In later seasons she became so intelligent and so prone to mischief that she became too powerful for the family to control, even displaying an aptitude for deliberate violence - essentially the family's secret weapon against anyone who would antagonize them.
- The Simpson family has also undergone this collectively. They've gone from an average dysfunctional family into a destructive Big, Screwed-Up Family that everyone hates. Post-flanderization episodes suggest that the Simpsons are genetically inferior and that every historical Simpson has been a hateful loser.
- Power plant magnate Mr. Burns and his loyal assistant Smithers were not only Flanderized, they stopped being independent characters, and would only be portrayed with each other. Most later episodes portray Burns as unable to function without Smithers's assistance.
- Mr. Burns underwent two Flanderizations. Initially, he was just Homer's stern and nasty boss, and head of Springfield's dangerous nuclear power plant. As the first few seasons progressed, Burns' stature as a Corrupt Corporate Executive became more and more exaggerated, to the point where he was depicted physically torturing his employees for fun, making arms for the Nazis, and of course, attempting to block out the sun. One episode implied he was literally Satan while another one showed him as being even worse than Satan. Then, in the second Flanderization, his competence as a sadistic supervillain began to decline, and he became increasingly depicted as a doddering old man with a skewed, quasi-Victorian conception of society. While he's still a nominal villain, most jokes about him now center on his incalculable age, increasing senility, and pronounced frailty. Notably, one 1996 episode established that he fought in World War II alongside Abe Simpson, implying that he was around 70 years old at most; in a later episode, he's shown to be unaware that World War II (or World War I for that matter) even happened. Other episodes humorously imply that he's the oldest man on Earth, and possibly older than the entire human race.note
- Burns underwent a third flanderization. While always very rich, Burns had a fancy but still normal enough office with a stuffed polar bear, then went from blinds to curtains and his office expanded enormously and became filled with hidden doors and various traps to snuff out his enemies. Burns also gets drunk and cries over bringing up the plant to code in Season 2 as though $56 million dollars will bankrupt him. In Season 3's Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk Burns sells the nuclear plant, his source of income and greatest asset, for $150 million. In Season 4's Marge vs the Monorail he is fined $3 million dollars which is fished out of his pocket. By Season 5, his birthday party is lavish enough to have all of Australia spell out a birthday greeting to him, his house is piled with priceless treasures, and virtually has a limitless bank account. Though the writers seem uncertain of his wealth, as in "The Old Man and the Lisa" he states his fortune is $200 million dollars. Now he is certainly in the billionaire club, even though him falling out of this club is a plot point in an the Season 20 episode "The Burns and the Bees".
- Smithers started out as an exaggerated Yes-Man who shamelessly sucked up to Mr. Burns and became bitterly jealous whenever Homer (or anyone else) was able to make good impression with his boss. Around Season 3 he was Flanderized into being a massive wuss who was literally in love with Mr. Burns and incapable of being without him. Starting around Seasons 5 and 6 he became unambiguously gay and attracted to other men as well, and starting around Seasons 8 and 9 his homosexuality increasingly became more central to his character than his specific feelings for Burns. His relationship with Mr. Burns has almost become oedipal, as it was implied that Mr. Burns was a father figure to him.
- Several of Bart and Lisa's classmates started out as generic kids before being fleshed out into more complex characters, only to be Flanderized in the end:
- Ralph Wiggum was originally just another generic classmate of Lisa's. He eventually became a childish, socially-awkward kid who has Hidden Depths of brilliance deep inside his dim-witted deameanor (like when he turned out to be an excellent actor in the George Washington play or when he won a diorama contest because he had the collectible Star Wars action figures that Principal Skinner was trying to find all these years). Then he became incredibly dense (to the point that there are implications that he's a special ed. student) and frequently spouts non sequiturs, though "E. Pluribus Wiggum" showed that Ralph still had a smart side, as he wanted to run for U.S. President because he wanted to bring about world peace. Heck, there was once an entire trope named "The Ralph Wiggum" - it was deleted and merged into The Ditz for being The Same, but More.
- Milhouse van Houten started out as just Bart's wimpy best friend; he was smarter than average, but pretty nerdy, awkward, unpopular and at times cowardly. His unpopularity and bad luck were exaggerated until he became the school's chief Butt-Monkey and Straw Loser, and his personality shifted to become crazier and more prone to random, childish outbursts, bursting into tears at times, and playing with toddler toys. His attraction to Lisa was first brought up as a joke in "Lisa's Wedding", but this evolved so that his sole purpose in life became trying to impress her. The writers admitted they didn't know what to do with Milhouse in the earlier seasons.
- Martin Prince used to be a natural leader, Straw Winner and a proud, no-nonsense kid student, with brains that were equally fit for science, sports or arts. Bullies picked on him but really no more so than they picked on everybody. In the first two seasons he even had occasional moments of being as mischievous as the other kids and his first appearance implied him to be somewhat of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who enjoyed seeing Bart get in trouble. However, as the seasons advanced, his interests in the arts mushroomed into a plain effeminate personality, until he was practically turned into a flamboyant, socially inept sissy and also another of the default nerdish Butt Monkeys of Springfield's Elementary.
- At one point, he was merely Lisa's rival. As Lisa became more hypocritical, she began to actively resent him for being the only person as clever as her, while looking down on those less intelligent.
- While Sherri and Terri Mackleberry weren't always exactly the nicest girls at school, later seasons show them as hating anyone that is not either of them. Early seasons portrayed them as being antagonistic to Bart, while later seasons phased out this trait (with one of the twins even being implied to have a crush on Bart) and instead had them openly bullying Lisa (In one episode Lisa even develops an eating disorder because of them).
- Janey Powell was originally characterized as Lisa's best friend. Later seasons started portraying her as one of Lisa's few friends, if not her Only Friend. And then after Lisa became an unpopular child and lost all of the remaining friends she had as a result of her own Flanderization, Janey stopped interacting with Lisa altogether to the point in which she now joins other kids in teasing and ridiculing her for her misfortunes. Most recent seasons seem to show that Janey and Lisa are not even friends anymore.
- Marge's sisters Patty and Selma went from just making mean jokes about Homer being fat, ugly, and a lousy father and husband who should never have knocked up their baby sister Marge, to kidnapping him and locking him in a dirty bathroom a la Saw. Most recent seasons seem to have toned this down however, especially in Selma's case as a result of her Character Development throught the series.
- In early seasons Patty was merely uninterested in dating, to the point where she abandoned a romantic relationship with Skinner because she couldn't leave Selma by herself in a relationship with Barney. Over the years her disinterest in men became more and more exaggerated, and it reached to the point where various episodes started hinting at the fact that she is a lesbian until it was confirmed in "There's Something About Marrying".
- Selma was originally someone who was very desperate of finding a romantic partner and having a child out of fear of dying alone like her aunt Gladys did. That evolved into a Running Gag about her marrying and divorcing half of the men in Springfield as the series progressed, and would only ever be taken seriously when the plot demanded for it.
- Moe started out as a cheap, grumpy bartender who would do anything for a little extra money, including resorting to humorous behind-the-scenes illegal activities (such as smuggling animals for unknown reasons). He was also surly and hot-tempered, but was still a fairly decent man overall. He wasn't necessarily a bad guy, just a troubled, unhappy grouch living a disappointing, loveless life and doing whatever he can to improve it. As the series progressed however, particularly from Season 9 onwards, his behaviour became increasingly unethical and criminal. He started to encourage alcoholism, became a registered sex offender, engaged in far worse crimes, and is now subjected to a running gag where he attempts suicide and always fails due to bad luck.
- Edna Krabappel started out as Bart's teacher, then got some characterization — she was revealed to be fairly promiscuous, yet a lonely, bitter divorcée, with no passion for her life or her teaching job (understandable if Bart Simpson is one of your students). Then she married Ned Flanders, and became Demoted to Satellite Love Interest until her voice actress' death.
- Helen Lovejoy went from the pastor's nagging wife to a stuck-up bitch who has to get the dirt on everyone, but mostly on Marge. She seems to exist purely to antagonize Marge for no reason other than because she wants to.
- Helen's husband, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, became less enthusiastic about his faith in God as the series went on, likely to balance out Ned Flanders's increasing zealousness. His decreased interest in his job was explored in the Season 8 episode "In Marge We Trust" where it's revealed that Ned constantly bothering and telephoning him made him stop caring. At the end of the episode, his lost passion for being a reverend was briefly rejuvenated, but it quickly dwindled away again as seasons passed to the point where in "She of Little Faith" he was more than happy to turn his church into a hub for corporate advertising after it gets damaged by a homemade model rocket and needs Mr. Burns to cover the cost of repair.
- Apu went from from an impossibly cheap shopkeeper who couldn't care less about his customers to a hard-working, intensely patriotic immigrant. After his wife Manjula was also Flanderized from a loving wife to an extreme nag after the octuplets were born, Apu somewhat relapsed into his old "dishonest salesman" traits while his workaholic tendencies were ret-conned into an excuse for him to stay away from his family at any costs, with one episode even joking about him running away and abandoning his family.
- In earlier seasons, Chief Wiggum was the no-nonsense head of a highly-corrupt police department (even though he was liable to join in from time to time). As the SPD became a three-man force however, his intelligence (not that high to begin with) took a drop and his commitment to his job took a nosedive, essentially becoming a lapdog to Quimby, enforcing whatever dumb/heavy-handed law the mayor came up with.
- Lounote started out as a nasty cop. Later he became Wiggum's retainer. Likewise, Eddienote became The Quiet One.
- Otto went from the laid-back, rock music-loving bus driver the kids thought was cool to a dangerous, drug-addicted low-life and a terrible driver. He was implied to be a pot-smoker through occasional subtle jokes, but (in a very similar process to Futurama's Hermes) the drug jokes got more common and overt over time, and now they dominate his character, and he'll use any and all illegal drugs at any given time. His love of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal was also Flanderized to the point that he favored it over getting married, cancelling his own wedding and breaking his fiancee's heart.
- Seymour Skinner has been Flanderized in many occasions. Early appearances had him mainly as a reasonably competent, no-nonsense principal who was liable to be somewhat cruel, especially with Bart. His Vietnam War background became more pronounced by Season 5, even managing to make him pretty badass in a few episodes (e.g. "The Boy Who Knew Too Much"), although at times it also veered into making him a borderline Sociopathic Soldier, and his competence began to slip. A few seasons later, though, he was Flanderized into a pathological and pathetic Momma's Boy who was able to believably convince the town he was still a virgin in his 40s (though this was a lie to deflect from accusations of improper conduct with Edna Krabappel). He still was competent at his job and had his share of badass moments until around Season 15, after which point he merely embarrassed himself whenever he tried to assert authority over Bart or any other students, although in the few times he tried to straighten up Bart in later seasons, he came off as rather heavy-handed.
- In part, the de-emphasizing of Skinner’s Vietnam War service may simply be due to the passage of time. In the early years of the show, the war had only been over for twenty years or so, making it entirely plausible that a man in his 40s could have fought in it. Now, however, a Skinner who was also a Vietnam vet would have to be in his late '60s at the youngest.
- In early seasons, Seymour's mother Agnes was either the stereotypical sweet, yet overbearing elderly lady (even naming a trope) or was an unseen figure that exerted over Seymour the same power Norman Bates' mother had over the hotelier. During the seventh and eight seasons she gained a harsher personality, becoming a crotchety old woman who became increasingly unlikable and controlling of her son, even keeping him from going to college. These days, she seems to just brazenly hate Seymour, and openly tells him she doesn't love him, regrets him being born, etc.
- Superintendent Chalmers was initially a somewhat distant all-powerful authority figure — the one man who Principal Skinner genuinely feared. He started spending more and more time in Springfield Elementary, however, and now seems to work there full time. His once-intimidating power has accordingly diminished a lot, with him and Skinner now mostly functioning as a sort of goofy vaudeville-style comedy duo, with Chalmers being the bossy straight man to Skinner's nervous wimpiness. Neither man seems to be respected by either the staff or the students.
- Lenny and Carl were originally Those Two Guys whom Homer worked with; both were more competent than Homer, but they still liked him (in a class-clown sort of way). Later in the series, they started being written as Ambiguously Gay, to the point where Lenny's defining character trait is his (unevenly reciprocated) infatuation with Carl. Their intelligence also dimmed to Homer's level, making them more liable to join Homer in his antics.
- Barney Gumble was introduced as simply being a close friend of Homer's who always happened to be hanging out at Moe's Tavern. However, as Lenny and Carl filled in his role as Homer's best friend, his drunkenness was emphasized more in later seasons. In newer episodes, he's usually seen lying around in drunken stupor or hung over. He did sober up in Season 11, but the writers weren't very consistent about it and after a few seasons, he mostly reverted to the drunkard role.
- Krusty the Clown went from being a cheery and fun-loving children's entertainer who loved having the camera on him (even though he was illiterate and tried to hide his Jewish heritage), to a weary and cynical old showbiz figure with a heart of gold starting around Season 3, to a greedy and shameless Sell-Out by the sixth season or so. Some of this might be chalked up to an Aborted Arc from very early in the show where he would be revealed to be Homer in disguise (they do look surprisingly similar). Similarly, his Nice Character, Mean Actor and Depraved Kids' Show Host persona went from him just smoking or not being that funny when off the clock to him being a porn addict who does cocaine.
- Milhouse's dad, Kirk Van Houten started out as a boring cracker factory manager with a vaguely defined personality while his wife Luann was portrayed as a fussy housewife who mollycoddled her son. After they divorced in "A Milhouse Divided", the writers took the idea of Luann becoming the "liberated" woman of the 90s, while turning Kirk into a depressed, overweight deadbeat and ran with it... all the way to the horizon. He became a pathetic, friendless loser who couldn't hold down a job and who was only able to retain weekend custody of Milhouse in "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" because the judge felt that sorry for him. Even getting back together with Luann in "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" and re-marrying her in "Little Orphan Millie" has done nothing to turn him around; he remains a magnet for bad luck and contempt from everyone he knows, even (and especially) Luann.
- Doctor Hibbert was originally one of the few characters in Springfield who was unquestionably competent at his job, even if it came at a high price, with his central flaw being his lack of bedside manner. Notably, he refused to advise Homer on his work-from-home obesity scheme in King Size Homer. In later seasons, it seems as though his competence and integrity has been tinkered with in order to keep up with the rest of Springfield's wackiness, as it's been implied that he's practicing without a license and is addicted to morphine, while his horndog tendencies have been exaggerated as well (considering that he was conceived as a parody of the now-disgraced Bill Cosby, It Makes Sense in Context). After about Season 17, he goes Out of Focus and gets a speaking role once every few seasons, if at all.
- Doctor Nick Riviera originally used his professional title to peddle products on Troy McClure's "I Can't Believe They Invented It!" infomercials. After the infomercials ran their course, he started practicing medicine to serve as a less competent but affordable foil to Doctor Hibbert. He was never competent, but he did show some flashes of effort, like when he successfully performs a multiple bypass surgery on Homer in "Homer's Triple Bypass" (with help from Lisa). Moments like have all but evaporated as his incompetence and disregard for human life has been flanderized to keep him behind Doctor Hibbert.
- In Lionel Hutz's first few appearances, he is a very corrupt but highly competent lawyer who is excellent at making phony cases appear compelling. He became progressively less competent and more eccentric in the third and fourth seasons, using increasingly nonsensical arguments that only end up successful about half the time. From the fifth season onwards he became increasingly ridiculous and was taken seriously by few people. It came to the point where he couldn't negotiate a better deal than eight dollars and a popsicle for a babysitting gig, and he transparently disposed of documents by throwing them in dumpsters and yelling at anyone who came near said dumpsters.
- Ned wasn't the only Flanders to get hit by this. His two sons Rod and Todd were initially presented as simply being very well-behaved but otherwise approachable and well-adjusted Christian children to contrast with Bart's rebellious mannerisms and Lisa's will to question things (as part of how the Flanders family's contrasted the Simpsons as the traditional "ideal" American family). But as the show went on, their idealistic depiction was Flanderized into being completely naive, socially inept, and extremely sheltered children who were easily traumatized by things every other kid in Springfield found typical, thrived on Incredibly Lame Fun, and had clearly developed a warped worldview as a result of their father's overprotective fundamentalism. This is probably best exemplified by the fact early seasons depicted Rod and Todd as regular students of Springfield Elementary who interact normally with the other kids, but later on, they are instead students at a private Christian school who have no friends outside of each other.
- Even the town of Springfield gets this treatment. It was initially portrayed as a typical unassuming American everytown with several noticeable flaws that were occasionally highlighted for satirical purposes, but in later episodes, it gets portrayed as a rude, uncultured place and a forsaken hellhole while rival town Shelbyville turned from a low-rate version of Springfield (as in "Lemon of Troy") to a large, prosperous city (as in "The Seven-Beer Snitch"). In "New Kid on the Block", Springfield is even said to have been dubbed "America's Worst City" by Time.
- The town itself, and not just the people, have undergone this. Originally Springfield was an Everytown, USA in that it was pretty similar to most places. The climate was temperate and the town had a square with a statue of the founder, in garb from the Old West/Oregon Trail era, and had suburban tract housing. More locations were added consistently until Springfield became an Everyplace, with 100-plus-degree heat in the summer, hurricanes, snowstorms that can barricade a school, quarters for seemingly every ethnicity, a waterfront, a seedy downtown, forest parks, deserts, giant mountains, a world-class museum of the kind typically found only in major cities, and a history stretching back to the colonial era. In general the joke of finding what state Springfield was in went from, "it could be anywhere", to "it can't be anywhere", with even the state Springfield is in intentionally described to be geographically impossible.
- Springfield Elementary School followed this path. Initially, it was shown as a rather typical American elementary school with typical problems (poor funding, underachieving problem students, jaded and disciplinary teachers). Later episodes showed a caricatured Sucky School with problems that were due to outright criminal negligence and malice: the school building itself violated every building code on the books, the school playground and field trips resulted in serious injuries or even deaths of students, the school cafeteria served food waste (and in some cases, inedible items), and the school teachers and administrators engaged in felony-grade corruption to cut corners or embezzle funds and rarely even attempt to do their jobs properly.
