The Francis segment of Malcolm in the Middle was retooled three times. For the first two seasons, Francis' stories were about attending a strictmilitary 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.
It's not changing the A-plot, and I'd call that a "real stretch" for a retool if nothing else changed.
Each season, Prison Break 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 Escape From Alcatraz, season 2 is The Fugitive, season 3 is Midnight Express (or at least, that's what the writers were shooting for) and season 4 is Mission Impossible.
Needs more context. It was a given that the nature of the show would change from season 1 to 2, but the fourth season "spy-setup" plotline needs more elaboration.
During the first series of 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.
Doesn't sound like a retool - just an element that didn't work.
Took the following examples out:
It's not changing the A-plot, and I'd call that a "real stretch" for a retool if nothing else changed.
Needs more context. It was a given that the nature of the show would change from season 1 to 2, but the fourth season "spy-setup" plotline needs more elaboration.
Doesn't sound like a retool - just an element that didn't work.