History DarkerAndEdgier / LiveActionTV

* ''Degrassi'' after Miriam [=McDonald=]'s departure in 2010.

** Another example would be ''StarTrekTheWrathOfKhan''. After ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' proved to be a hit, but went far over-budget; Gene Roddenberry was KickedUpstairs from decision-making and Robert Wise was replaced with Nicholas Meyer as director, who was unfamiliar with ''Star Trek''; and instead drew influence on the story from novels such as ''MobyDick''. The result was a dramatic, engrossing movie that got the [[GrowingTheBeard film series its legs.]]

** ''Ultraman Nexus'', which was supposed to be a DarkerAndEdgier reboot of the franchise aimed at a shonen/seinen audience, but got ScrewedByTheNetwork and placed in a Saturday Morning Kids Slot.
* ''PowerRangersInSpace'' seemed to have a more mature theme compared to the previous seasons at the time. It was the first season to carry the LukeIAmYourFather trope. It was also the first season where the bad guys actually used their forces to take over all of Earth, not just aim for a single city. It was also a tragic fair well to a mentor who started it all, Zordon, who commits a HeroicSacrifice, the first death of a good guy in the series.
** ''PowerRangersRPM'' is much, much, much darker than either the whole ''PowerRangers'' franchise or its source material ''{{Engine Sentai Go-Onger}}'', going so far as to kill off a large percentage of humanity in the nuclear bombardment of a RobotWar, and deal with serious psychological repercussions of traumatic events and childhoods at times. ''Power Rangers'' in general, by contrast, is generally the poster child for NeverSayDie, and ''Go-Onger'' was very much a silly LighterAndSofter ''SuperSentai'' series, complete with monster song-and-dance numbers.
*** Other Darker Power Rangers shows include ''PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' and ''PowerRangersTimeForce''.

* SuperSentai has had several rather dark entries among them are DengekiSentaiChangeman, HikariSentaiMaskman, ChoujuuSentaiLiveman, ChoujinSentaiJetman, GoseiSentaiDairanger,MiraiSentaiTimeranger, and JukenSentaiGekiranger.
** ChourikiSentaiOhranger was intended to be a DarkerAndEdgier SuperSentai, about an invasion and robot terrorism, however it went to LighterAndSofter after several real life incidents happened that may or may not have been giving the show a bad rep.
*** TokumeiSentaiGoBusters seems to be going this way too, considering the show deals with robot terrorism just like Ohranger and the Busters themselves can be weakened to the point where an entire city could be destroyed and the enetron could be stolen.
* While ''KamenRider'' as a whole could be viewed as the darker counterpart to ''SuperSentai'' or ''PowerRangers'', some entries stick out, like ''KamenRiderBlack'', whose rival is his brother and both are to fight to the death, or the {{deconstruction}} ''ShinKamenRiderPrologue'', whose Rider's FinishingMove is a spine rip that wouldn't look out of place in ''MortalKombat''.

*** Some believed that KamenRiderFaiz was the darkest of the Heisei era, you got swearing and blood everywhere, characters dying on a regular basis by dissolving to ash, and the even darker novel. Regardly, both Ryuki and Faiz are commonly accepted as being the darkest Heisei rider series.
** In a similar tone to the Japanese ''KamenRider'' series, ''KamenRiderDragonKnight'' is this for North American tokusatsu. Unlike its counterpart, ''PowerRangers'', ''KRDK'' regularly dealt with betrayal, distrust, questionable motives and underlying truths in initially good-looking characters. It also did away with the formulaic MonsterOfTheWeek in lieu of a more naturally-flowing, arc-based narrative. ''KRDK'' was also much more serious and dramatic than ''PowerRangers'', with very little in the way of comic relief outside of the occasional moment from Lacey and Trent, both of whom faded out of the show around episode 20. While still considerably lighter than the above-mentioned, grim-and-serious ''KamenRiderRyuki'', ''KRDK'' deserves mention for making itself a name in tokusatsu circles as an attempt to make a US ''KamenRider'' without tampering with what makes a ''KamenRider'' a ''KamenRider'' by toning it down to a ''PowerRangers'' rip-off/copy.

*** Other Darker ''Power Rangers'' shows include ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' and ''Power Rangers Time Force''.

* SuperSentai has had several rather dark entries among them are DengekiSentaiChangeman, HikariSentaiMaskman, ChoujuuSentaiLiveman, ChoujinSentaiJetman, GoseiSentaiDairanger,MiraiSentaiTimeranger & JukenSentaiGekiranger.

* ''PowerRangersRPM'' is much, much, much darker than either the whole ''PowerRangers'' franchise or its source material ''{{Engine Sentai Go-Onger}}'', going so far as to kill off a large percentage of humanity in the nuclear bombardment of a RobotWar, and deal with serious psychological repercussions of traumatic events and childhoods at times. ''Power Rangers'' in general, by contrast, is generally the poster child for NeverSayDie, and ''Go-Onger'' was very much a silly LighterAndSofter ''SuperSentai'' series, complete with monster song-and-dance numbers.

** ChorikiSentaiOhranger was intended to be a DarkerAndEdgier SuperSentai, about an invasion and robot terrorism, however it went to LighterAndSofter after several real life incidents happened that may or may not have been giving the show a bad rep.

* Then {{Garo}} kicked in, reducing KamenRider into a three-storey building under its ten-storey height. To be short, it is full of kaijins which are far, far scarier than any kaijins ever made.

* ''Degrassi'' after Miriam McDonald's departure in 2010.

** Parodied on ''{{CSI}}'' (of all places) in the episode, "A Space Oddity", where the Darker and Edgier and Bloodier and Gorier revival of a ''StarTrek''-like show, "Astro Quest," was revealed to SF convention goers by the [[spoiler:murder-victim-to be/]]new show's producer. This ''Battlestar''-esque Edgier version was so bad that one of the con-goers leaps up and screams to the producer, "You suck!" The yeller was Ron D. Moore, creator and Exec Producer of the new ''Battlestar'' series, in a real-life StealthParody (embedded within a ParodyRetcon) of what happened to HIMSELF when he introduced the "re-imagined" BSG, back in 2002. The episode, incidentally, was written by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson, writers of many Battlestar episodes--who got to throw away their BSG SeriesBible and use any and all {{Technobabble}} that came to mind. During this scene, actress Grace Park (the Cylon Sharon and now-star of Yet Another Edgier and Darker remake, ''Hawaii Five-O'') was in the audience, looking equally appalled, to complete the inside joke. Between the many ''Battlestar'' references and ''Star Trek'' homages, this was certainly one of Television's CrowningMomentOfFunny. [[spoiler:Fortunately for the CSI 'verse the creator of the D&E&B&G version is also the episode's AssholeVictim.]]

* ''StarTrek'' as a franchise has received two doses of DarkerAndEdgier in the last few decades.
** The first was the ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode ''The Best of Both Worlds'', during which happened the battle at Wolf 359, which is in some circles referred to as "[[HarsherInHindsight The 9/11 of Star Trek]]", which is especially relevant in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. After this point, stories started focusing more on the imperfections of the Federation, which had until that point been portrayed as a Utopia.

** The second was the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek'' film, which [[spoiler: destroyed Vulcan and killed Kirk's father, years before ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' is set]]. As a result, the Federation in future Treks is likely to more closely resemble the post-Wolf 359 and post-Dominion War Federation seen in [=DS9=] instead of the happy-go-lucky world of TOS and early TNG.

* ''Degrassi'' after Miriam McDonald's departure in 2010.

* TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries: The first two seasons had a very light-hearted, humorous tone. Season Three, though...oh dear GOD. It not only dropped Nancy Drew completely, but started off by killing Joe's fiancée in a car wreck (complete with Joe weeping over her body) and having Joe go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge in response (Last Kiss of Summer). Season Three ditched almost all the light-hearted humor, showed actual dead bodies, and involved more dangerous situations (including references to selling off Joe and a missing woman to white slavers in China — huhwhat?) and more conflict between the brothers ("Game Plan" had Frank pulling a gun on Joe). The turn confused the show's teen audience, and lost viewers.

* TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries: The first two seasons had a very light-hearted, humorous tone. Season Three, though...dear God. It not only dropped Nancy Drew completely, but started off by killing Joe's fiance in a car wreck (complete with Joe weeping over her body) and having Joe go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge in response (''Last Kiss of Summer''). The rest of Season Three ditched almost all the light-hearted humor of the show, showed actual dead bodies, and more dangerous situations. The turn confused the show's teen audience, and lost viewers.

* Seasons V, VI and VII of ''RedDwarf''.

* Season V, VI and VII of ''RedDwarf''.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is the essence of this trope. The TV series is a considerable case of "Darker and Edgier" than the movie, which was a high-camp spoof of horror movies. Almost all viewers agree that the tone of the TV series was a marked improvement.
** A Darker and Edgier [[ContinuityReboot remake]] of the original ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' movie is currently under development. In season 1 of the TV series, some of the events of the movie were referenced, but a movie with a different script (an early draft), so a large number of fans have been keen for a remake which fits into the Buffy canon. In spite of this, the news has not been well received, mainly due to the [[TheyJustDidntCare absence of Joss Whedon]] and the more understandable absence of [[DawsonCasting Sarah Michelle Gellar]][[hottip:*:The TV series was DawsonCasting in the first place, but some people still want to see the older cast reprising even younger roles]].

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* Then {{Garo}} kicked in, reducing KamenRider into a three-storey building under its ten-storey height. To be short, it is full of kaijins which are far, far scarier than any kaijins ever made to the point of HighOctaneNightmareFuel.

* In the 70's, not long after the series was created, MAD Magazine gave us Sesame Street with random gang violence, drugs, evictions, prostitutes, pimps and gangsters called Reality Street (the writer was a pessimist). Even the intro was changed - Smoggy days, feeling my lungs decay. It's a street of depression, Corruption, oppression! It's a sadist's dream come true! And masochists, too! Can you tell me how to get, get away from Reality Street?

*** Some believed that KamenRiderFaiz was the darkest of the Heisei era, you got swearing and blood everywhere, massive AccidentalNightmareFuel, characters dying on a regular basis by dissolving to ash, and the even darker novel. Regardly, both Ryuki and Faiz are commonly accepted as being the darkest Heisei rider series.

* UnitedStatesOfTara: The series starts out pretty dark, but becomes an absolute CrapshackWorld in the third season.

* TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries: The first two seasons had a very light-hearted, humorous tone. Season Three, though...dear God. It not only dropped Nancy Drew completely, but started off by killing Joe's fiance in a car wreck (complete with Joe weeping over her body) and having Joe go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge in response (''Last Kiss of Summer''). The rest of Season Three ditched almost all the light-hearted humor of the show, showed actual dead bodies, and more dangerous situations. The turn confused the show's teen audience, and lost viewers.

* In the original version of ''{{Survivors}}'', the third season goes in this direction; at the very least, the characters appear to be taking a lot fewer baths.