History DarkerAndEdgier / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/AlexRider'': This adaptation is grittier than the books, dialling back on the [[Creator/RogerMoore Moore-era]] ''Franchise/JamesBond'' elements. For example, Alex's only gadget is a phone disguised as a music player, which doesn't even work (so no circular saw CD player or exploding earring). Alex himself is also much less of a boy scout than the book version, sneaking off to parties and drinking.

* ''Series/{{Creepshow}}''

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' spent some time being notably darker than its already dark source material, ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Whereas the show likes to focus on the violence and sex (and rape), and famously declaring "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention", the books remain idealistic, with several of the shows more cynical characters still attempting to be heroes. This was then reversed as soon as the series [[OvertookTheManga Overtook the Novels]], with the sixth season showing good guys actually achieving concrete things, and some of the novel series' more notorious {{Karma Houdini}}s and {{Invincible Villain}}s actually getting defeated.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has certainly gotten darker over its five year run. While DeliberateValuesDissonance has allowed them to have the hero impale someone in the back in the very first episode, most fans agree that the show [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] in ''The Beginning of the End'' when Merlin takes in an innocent orphan boy and Arthur helps him escape Camelot, and it turns out that he's [[spoiler: Mordred]]. And this was just the first season.

* ''Series/{{Outlander}}''
** ''To Ransom a Man’s Soul'': Although the first series of the show had touched on dark themes before, the finale centers a graphic sexual assault and the following psychological torture that nearly breaks protagonist James Fraser’s spirit. Only after repeated cajoling is he able to escape the darkness of his mind and begin to heal.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' was initially a very family-friendly show that gradually turned DarkerAndEdgier throughout its [[LongRunner ten years]] of running, taking its first attempt around season four, but the story arc is widely criticized as it doesn't fit well in the Superman background. ''Zod'' (the season six premiere) has a fair bit of unnecessary violence, but ''Phantom'' (season six finale) is a serious dip with high amounts of gore and violence wherever [[EvilTwin Bizarro]] goes (EnfantTerrible alert!), and more in season seven due to increased [[RoboticPsychopath Brainiac]] activity. Season eight introduces [[InvincibleVillain Doomsday]], which is pretty much a walking terror tank. On the morality side, [[spoiler:Lana Lang]] dabbles in the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Luthor]] business around season six; [[spoiler:Kal-El proclaims "Clark Kent is dead"]] in the season eight finale, but the most shocking swerve comes in the beginning of season nine, with [[spoiler:Chloe Sullivan, previously the living embodiment of IncorruptiblePurePureness, turning into a ManipulativeBitch.]]
** Season 5 also had some darker edges to it, as the characters graduated from the high school setting, Lana and Clark's relationship frayed as the former grew closer to Lex, and [[spoiler: Jonathan Kent succumbed to a heart attack and died, leaving Clark without a supportive father figure]].

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' was announced to be Darker And Edgier than ''Series/StargateSG1''. It dealt with an all-around darker atmosphere in which AnyoneCanDie, along with an arc enemy intended to be even more frightening than the BodyHorror of the Goa'uld and ScaryDogmaticAliens of the Ori. Unfortunately, they forgot to [[NotQuiteDead keep them dead]], and the enemy's only advantages were soon nullified, until all they had was numbers.
** To be fair, early on ''Stargate Atlantis'' did a good job of killing or [[PutOnABus bussing]] well-liked supporting characters and a main character was even PutOnABus mid-season 2. They did start to shift away from this as the series progressed, though.
** ''Series/StargateUniverse'' in turn is a DarkerAndEdgier version of the previous two Stargate series. What makes this one significant is that the creators stated that it will be a DarkerAndEdgier Stargate ''from the get-go''. And then... They never really shut up about it and all they were ever talking about was how much darker, edgier and grittier ''Universe'' will be.
*** Ironically enough, ''Universe'' turned out to be unusually resembling of the ''younger and edgier'' version skit, done a mere two years before Universe premiered, in the [[Recap/StargateSG1S10E6200 SG-1 episode ''200'']]. Were the writers prophetic? We'll never know...

* ''Series/TinMan'' has DG (Dorothy Gale) going to the Outer Zone (yup, the [[SignificantMonogram O.Z.]]) where she befriends a man who has lost part of his brain to evil experimenters, and a tortured empathic beast who seems to be a human/lion crossbreed, and the "Tin Man" of the title, a cop who wears a tin star.
** He was also locked in a metal life support box that kept him alive but awake and unable to move or talk, furthering the Darker And Edgier parallels. The whole thing is a combination of the movies, the book, and a bunch of DarkerAndEdgier twists and story details.

* As ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' progressed, werewolves, vampires, mummies and Franken-monsters passed by, not to mention that Alex's magnificent NobleDemon skills developed and Justin became a monster hunter and a MadScientist. Oh, and Max lost his conscience for an episode or two. Really. Not to mention that they apparently killed off Stevie without anyone seeming to care. Alex even made a harsh, sarcastic comment about her ''death'', then walked away happily.
** Season 4 seems to be taking it up a notch with the "Wizards vs. Angels" trilogy.

** ''Series/SpaceSheriffSharivan'' was darker than ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'' when it aired. It featured a more dramatic overarching plot, villains who were very threatening and and overall much more serious tone than its predecessor.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' season 3. [[spoiler:Carter dies and Team Machine fails to stop Samaritan from activating]]. Samaritan makes things get and ''stay'' darker, as the gang is on the run and in constant danger.

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!!Series with their own pages:

* From 1995 until 1998, Belgian Network VT4 was this in comparison to the other Belgian networks that were airing at the time. They even pretended that they were illegal. In reality though they were only a RuleAbidingRebel. The headquarters of the owners were located in London and they send their content through U-turn construction. That means that they have to abide to the British law instead of the Belgian one.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. The ContinuityReboot is one of the more successful -- [[InferredHolocaust and for that matter, logical]] -- cases of darkening. The original ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' wasn't exactly a SugarBowl, but it did devolve into 1970s style camp a lot of the time. In the reboot, AnyoneCanDie is in full effect, the fight scenes are much more violent, the characters have a whole lot of DysfuctionJunction going on, and the themes are much more heavily layered [[GoingCosmic with a philosophical and religious bent]].

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' after Miriam [=McDonald=]'s departure in 2010. The ''Franchise/{{Degrassi}}'' franchise has gone DarkerAndEdgier many, ''many'' times over the years, starting with the transition from ''Series/TheKidsOfDegrassiStreet'' (typical crisis; friend's having a tonsillectomy and you're too young to visit them in the hospital) to ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'' (typical crisis: TeenPregnancy). The producers once acknowledged that they re-made the theme song (from being performed by a children's choir to being performed by rock band Jackalope) because of the show's shift in tone during the Emma era. Once the show started featuring storylines about STD outbreaks and school shootings, it no longer felt appropriate to have a bunch of children singing the theme song. They discussed leaving the theme entirely out of ''Bittersweet Symphony pt. 2''.

** Carmen's boyfriend Jason has RoidRage, shatters a lamp and almost attacks Carmen and George.

* ''Series/Danger5:'' Series 2 begins with the death of [[spoiler: The Colonel and Claire]]. Jackson has PTSD. Hitler [[spoiler: comes back from the dead after killing Satan]]. A few one-shot villains from the first series return with varying degrees of BodyHorror.
[[DenserAndWackier That said, the series also becomes even more ridiculous as a result]].

*** When the TV series was rescued from cancellation, there was a sharp turn away from light comedy. The reasons for this are twofold: Buffy was figuratively ''and'' literally killed at the end of Season 5, then resurrected when the series was bought by Creator/{{UPN}}. Secondly, the series was now under Marti Noxon's purview, as Creator/JossWhedon did not return as showrunner (though he remained a producer). Every character underwent a {{deconstruction}} of their earlier, comedic roles: Buffy, having been yanked back from a blissful afterlife, became a borderline-suicidal, hedonistic loose cannon. Willow the witch began dabbling in black magic, with animal sacrifices and the like. The slacker student, Xander, did not miraculously become Creator/CaryGrant once he reached adulthood; rather, he ended up dirt-poor like the rest of his family, and he still had very little understanding of how to attract women. Giles, the fuddy-duddy who spends every evening curled up with a book, similarly had no romantic prospects; his duties as Watcher were sapping the life from him. And so on, and so forth. There were attempts to emulate Whedon's off-the-cuff meta humor, but this was an entirely different show. ''Buffy'' no longer embraced and poked fun at tropes.
*** Wishverse Buffy is one of if not the darkest heroes in the Buffyverse.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. The ContinuityReboot is one of the more successful -- [[InferredHolocaust and for that matter, logical]] -- cases of darkening. The original ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' wasn't exactly SugarWiki/{{WAFF}}y, but it did devolve into 1970s camp a lot. In the reboot characters die, the show had onscreen rape and implied rape, the show had onscreen sex. As the show progressed it became darker every season: during the second season, Pegasus' admiral allowed torture of Cylons and would kill anyone who would not follow her orders; she also forced civilians into the war and destroyed civilian ships. The third season has death squads that go through New Caprica and arrest/ kill anyone who tries to fight the Cylons. When the humans escape New Caprica the people who were in the death squads are secretly killed due to people wanting vengeance. The show was also more violent and much more religious.
* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' is a very odd example since dark humour is always its main characteristic and each season's different elements can be darker or more lighthearted depending on the direction. Thanks to a more cinematic appeal, the first season has a grittier, more gothic atmosphere with emphasis on the dung part of the Dung Ages and the squalor that people are forced to live in. Because of its budget and a more visual approach, it has the most brutal onscreen scenes of violence and often blurs the line between black comedy and historical dramedy with [[spoiler: a very morose and sad ending]]. Even its soundtrack is complemented by grim and ominous church organ music. ''Blackadder II'' was much lighter (though not without its dark moments) because of the changes in all the aforementioned areas. ''Blackadder the Third'', while still following the second series' direction, is edgier due to the absence of the slapstick of the first season and picturesque quality of the second season. In particular, Blackadder is shown to intentionally kill a larger number of people, with a higher proportion of them being undeserving than the previous ones, though the series is the only one of the four which doesn't feature an ending where everyone dies. ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' is the darkest and the most tragic series, with the main characters living permanently under the shadow of death (being set in the trenches of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Western Front]] and all), and a classic DownerEnding.

* ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' steadily becomes darker every season. In the second season, it shows decapitated heads. As the series progresses, the police become more and more like a private military and use any means necessary in order to stop terrorism. In the second season, it ends with Carlos leaving the police and Kara and him on the run. One of the FBI agents are killed and it later shows his dead, decaying body.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' -- with the "Stevil" episodes. For a family friendly sitcom, this is R-rated stuff. But that's only one thing that makes it Darker and Edgier. It's the fact that it's played off for laughs. It seems that in making a comedic villain for halloween episodes, they veered off-course and into ComicBook/TheJoker's territory of his properly evil acts becoming even more monstrous because he treats it like a big joke. The LaughTrack didn't dilute the NightmareFuel.

* The [[CulturalTranslation American remake]] of ''Series/ShamelessUK'' (its own page is [[Series/ShamelessUS here]]). The original already takes place in a CrapsackWorld filled with {{Dirty Cop}}s and other degenerates, and is generally hailed as a pretty grimly accurate depiction of modern poverty. The American remake is much harsher, with the family patriarch being a much less sympathetic character than his original source, and the CerebusSyndrome really takes hold in the fourth season.

* ''Series/TheRanch'' took this turn after [[spoiler:Rooster was killed off due to the real-life firing of Danny Masterson]]. The issues faced by the Bennetts got more serious and took much longer to resolve, Colt and Abby's marriage seemed to actually be ending, and the few laugh lines that remained often seemed tonally out of place.

* ''Series/TheRanch'' took this turn after the necessary real-life firing of Danny Masterson resulted in Rooster's death. The issues faced by the Bennetts got more serious and took much longer to resolve, Colt and Abby's marriage seemed to actually be ending, and the few laugh lines that remained often seemed tonally out of place.

* Parodied by ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' which spoofed the trailer for ''Film/{{Joker}}'' with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpak5lFxvs Grouch]]'', a DarkerAndEdgier take on ''Series/SesameStreet''.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' was initially a very family-friendly show that gradually turned DarkerAndEdgier throughout its [[LongRunner ten years]] of running, taking its first attempt around season four, but the story arc is widely criticized as it doesn't fit well in the Superman background. ''Zod'' (season six premiere) ([[NamesTheSame the episode]]) has a fair bit of unnecessary violence, but ''Phantom'' (season six finale) is a serious dip with high amounts of gore and violence wherever [[EvilTwin Bizarro]] goes (EnfantTerrible alert!), and more in season seven due to increased [[RoboticPsychopath Brainiac]] activity. Season eight introduces [[InvincibleVillain Doomsday]], which is pretty much a walking terror tank. On the morality side, [[spoiler:Lana Lang]] dabbles in the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Luthor]] business around season six; [[spoiler:Kal-El proclaims "Clark Kent is dead"]] in the season eight finale, but the most shocking swerve comes in the beginning of season nine, with [[spoiler:Chloe Sullivan, previously the living embodiment of IncorruptiblePurePureness, turning into a ManipulativeBitch.]]

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''. The ContinuityReboot is one of the more successful -- [[InferredHolocaust and for that matter, logical]] -- cases of darkening. The original ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' wasn't exactly SugarWiki/{{WAFF}}y, but it did devolve into 1970s camp a lot. In the reboot characters die, the show had onscreen rape and implied rape, the show had onscreen sex. As the show progressed it became darker every season: during the second season, Pegasus' admiral allowed torture of Cylons and would kill anyone who would not follow her orders; she also forced civilians into the war and destroyed civilian ships. The third season has death squads that go though New Caprica and arrest/ kill anyone who tries to fight the Cylons. When the humans escape New Caprica the people who were in though death squads are secretly killed due to people wanting vengeance. The show was also more violent and much more religious.

** ''Series/SpaceSheriffSharivan'' is a downplayed example. Although it may seem tamer on its own, it was darker than ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'', featuring a dramatic overarching plot and villains who were a lot more serious and threatening.
** ''Series/ChoujinkiMetalder'' was darker than all the ''Metal Heroes'' shows previous to it when it aired. It featured a much more serious and (relatively) realistic plot compared to other series, [[DoAndroidsDream existential themes]] around its main protagonist, a significantly higher body count and [[BittersweetEnding a rather bleak ending]].
** After ''Metalder'' came the much more light-hearted ''Series/SekaiNinjaSenJiraiya'', but after it came ''Series/KidouKeijiJiban'' to challenge ''Metalder'' for the title of darkest ''Metal Hero'' series. Battles in the series were significantly more costly, Jiban was often times outgunned in his battles against the futuristic crime syndicate he was fighting, bleaker themes around pollution and destruction of the environment came into focus, and there was a higher rate of casualties, with [[spoiler:most of Jiban's allies dying in the final episodes.]]

** When it began ''Series/BlueSWAT'' was much darker than the shows that preceeded it, featuring a gritty take on an AlienInvasion that was intended to get more older fans interested. It worked, but when the new tone alienated younger viewers, it went through a {{retool}} that [[ReverseCerebusSyndrome reversed this]] and made it more light-hearted, [[VillainDecay the villains progressively becoming jokes]]. This led to the kid-oriented succeeding series, ''Series/JuukouBFighter'', ironically ending up darker than ''Blue SWAT'', as it featured much more threatening villains who stayed competent throughout, higher stakes and a dramatic plotline that involved TheHero having to fight a duel to the death with his EvilTwin.

** ''Series/SpaceSheriffSharivan'' is a downplayed example. Although it may seem tamer on its own, it was darker than ''SeriesSpaceSheriffGavan'', featuring a dramatic overarching plot and villains who were a lot more serious and threatening.
** ''Series/ChoujinkiMetalder'' was darker than all the ''Metal Heroes'' shows previous to it when it aired. It featured a much more serious and (relatively) realistic plot compared to other series, [[DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep existential themes]] around its main protagonist, a significantly higher body count and [[BittersweetEnding a rather bleak ending]].

* Mocked in an episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', where Crow writes a Christmas carol entitled "Let's Have a Creator/PatrickSwayze Christmas" (based on his favorite movie, ''Film/{{Roadhouse}}''). Needless to say, this goes downhill rather quickly, but Joel and Tom Servo draw the line at the inclusion of ''a fight scene''.

* ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'': This show's version of Alice falls closer to the warrior Alice of [[Film/AliceInWonderland2010 the Tim Burton movie]] than the innocent girl of the original stories and most earlier treatments.
** Also, Jafar. If you thought he was evil in [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} the original animated movie]]...