History GenreShift / LiveActionTV

** When Creator/StevenMoffat took over from Davies in 2010 and introduce Creator/MattSmith as the 11th Doctor, the show shifted to a more fantastical and comedic tone, with underlying themes of love and hope.
** Creator/ChrisChibnall's tenure starting in 2018 introduced more of a KitchenSinkDrama approach.

* ''Series/TheGame2006'' started out as a multi-cam CW sitcom. The show was always a {{Dramedy}} but drama slowly overshadowed the comedy so much that the laugh track became increasingly out of place and the attempts at holes to justify it came off as halfhearted most of the time. The laugh track was eventually done away with after the show's ChannelHop to [=BET=], and the show became a full-blown single-cam drama/soap opera with a darker visual pallete and tone.

* ''Series/TheGame2006'' started out as a sitcom, but the laugh track became increasingly out of place in the middle of all the serious situations, until it was eventually done away with and the show became a full-blown drama.

** All the way back in the 1960s, when the show first aired, it was meant to be an Edutainment show with a heavy focus on history and science. One of the reasons William Hartnell gave for leaving the show was that the producer wanted to drop most of the unpopular 'pure historical' and {{Adventure}} stories, and shift the show into DarkerAndEdgier science fiction horror aimed at the PeripheryDemographic of adult science fiction fans the show had, when Hartnell wanted to make a children's programme. There is a transitional period towards the end of Hartnell, but it's only Troughton's addition which fully sends the series into this, developing the stereotypical Second Doctor "base under siege" story type as a cheap way of doing claustrophobic monster-battling horror straight out of a 50's sci-fi B-movie on a limited budget.
** The program significantly revamped itself when Jon Pertwee (and producer Barry Letts) came on, which included but was not limited to changing to color, stranding the Doctor on Earth, and giving him a stable supporting cast. As the scientific advisor to UNIT, Pertwee's stories took on a more socially-conscious spy-fi flair, with the Doctor getting mixed up in conspiracies about international diplomatic conferences (sometimes in space) and evil corporations polluting the environment, and frequently resorting to fisticuffs and high-voltage action to save the day.
** When Philip Hinchcliff started producing, during the beginning of Tom Baker's tenure, the show became a straight-up Hammer horror series in space, with the Doctor battling evil mummies in Victorian crypts, Frankenstein-like monsters on Karn, and enormous rats on the streets of Victorian London.
** Alas, the Hammer Horror-in-space vibe was too much for the BBC, who removed Hinchcliff from the show. Incoming producer Graham Williams took inspiration from a somewhat-popular little movie called [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars]] and retooled the show into more lighthearted space fantasy, including the Doctor's own cute robot companion. With a capable assist from up-and-(in)coming writer Creator/DouglasAdams as story editor, the series took on an increasing comedic and absurdist flair that would later give birth to the wildly-popular ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''.
** In 1980, the original show's last producer, John Nathan-Turner, came onboard, and the show settled into somewhat of a stable genre for its last decade. Somewhat more of a publicist than a sci-fi enthusiast, he kept the show in the news with slick updated visuals (for the time), big non-genre guest stars like Beryl Reid, frequent continental location shooting, and the shocking reappearances of old foes. But the writing suffered by going to grim, nasty, morbid little corners, without a capable writing staff or creative vision to make them work, resulting in some of the best-looking but worst-written stories of the show's history. By the end of his tenure, he finally found a story editor, Andrew Cartmel, who could make it work, and for its final two seasons the show turned into a brilliant, conceptually-heady sci-fi show with strong themes and ideas influenced by Creator/AlanMoore. But it was too little, too late, and the show died an ignominious death in the middle of its creative resurgence.

** The 1985 Christmas special "To Hull and Back" was treated more like a crime caper film than a sitcom

* While the staples of the franchise never go away, different seasons of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', after the original ''[[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Mighty Morphin]]'' era ended, sometimes branch into different genres; typically though, the biggest difference will be whether they lean more towards the fantasy or sci-fi elements (Mighty Morphin was decidedly ScienceFantasy).

* The TBS music video show ''Series/NightTracks'' debuted in 1983 playing music from all genres (pop, rock, R&B, etc.) until the summer of 1991 when it went to an exclusively alternative rock music (not long before Music/{{Nirvana}} changed the musical landscape).

* The TV film ''Reichenbach Falls'', based on an idea by IanRankin, shifts genres in a rather {{Mind Screw}}y way, reflecting the central character's growing GenreSavvy.

* ''Series/BaywatchNights'' is one of the most infamous examples of this trope. Originally it was a ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' spinoff centered around Sgt. Garner Ellerbee and [[Creator/DavidHasselhoff Mitch Buchannon]] opening a detective agency and [[TheyFightCrime fighting crime]]. The show's low ratings coupled with the success of ''Series/TheXFiles'' caused the producers to ditch Ellerbee and have Buchannon battle ''the paranormal''.

* Season 1 of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' revolves around [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an honest-to-god prison break]] with a cast composed almost entirely of stock characters ripped from classic prison movies, and season 2 continues it with the escaped inmates on the run from the FBI. By the end of season 2, the escapees have all successfully evaded the law [[spoiler: (the few that survived, at least...)]] but the writers manage to justify the title by having the main characters all [[AssPull rounded up for random reasons]] and [[FromBadToWorse a new, even worse prison in Panama]]. Then the final season rolls around, and the whole series morphs into some weird cross between ''Series/MacGyver'' and ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' about the main cast trying to take down some [[TheSyndicate evil shadow corporation]] using zany schemes whipped together with loot from the Dollar Store.

* ''Series/LookAroundYou'' is one of the biggest users of this trope -- the first and second seasons are, to all intents and purposes, different shows. The first series is a series of 10 minute spoofs of educational videos from the 1970s, while the second is a 30 minute studio-comedy parody of shows such as ''TomorrowsWorld''. Apart from a couple of shared {{Running Gag}}s and a brief mention of shared minor characters, the two series are connected only by the theme of science and having the same writers.

* ''Franchise/{[Stargate|Verse}}'': ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' were mostly similar in setup. Yes, the Atlantis team was initially cut off from Earth, but subsequent seasons eliminated this problem. ''Series/StargateUniverse'', you'll have to check to make sure you're actually watching a ''Stargate'' series. It goes with the "cut off from Earth" part and sticks with it (mostly), although the crew of the ''[[CoolShip Destiny]]'' is capable of communicating with Earth. Also, unlike ''SG-1'' and ''Atlantis'', ''Universe'' takes a page out of the reimagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series and focuses more on individuals struggling to survive to the point where even the musical score is completely different from the "typical" Stargate music. The WagonTrainToTheStars aspect is entirely ditched, with few people who are not the ship's crew ever appearing, and only one alien race that appears quite infrequently. Mostly, it was about interpersonal conflicts on a broken ship. You will hear the phrase "SoapOpera [-IN SPACE!-]" a lot.

* While the staples of the franchise never go away, different seasons of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', after the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Mighty Morphin'' era ended, sometimes branch into different genres; typically though, the biggest difference will be whether they lean more towards the fantasy or sci-fi elements (Mighty Morphin was decidedly ScienceFantasy).

** ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' and ''PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' are essentially {{Wuxia}} stories.

** Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' is a WorldTour (inasmuch the [[CaliforniaDoubling budget allowed]]) with a treasure hunt as the main focus.

** Alas, the Hammer Horror-in-space vibe was too much for the BBC, who removed Hinchcliff from the show. Incoming producer Graham Williams took inspiration from a somewhat-popular little movie called [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars]] and retooled the show into more lighthearted space fantasy, including the Doctor's own cute robot companion. With a capable assist from up-andIn-coming writer Creater/DouglasAdams as story editor, the series took on an increasing comedic and absurdist flair that would later give birth to the wildly-popular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise.

* ''Series/LincolnHeights'' started out as a police drama about a man who decided to move his family to the neighborhood he polices. It then becomes the African American version of ''Series/TheOC'' The second version was arguably much more interesting since there are plenty of cop shows on television, but almost no dramas starting Black families.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was initially presented as just a drama about people stranded on a desert island with only subtle supernatural occurrences, but increasingly became a sci-fi/fantasy show in disguise. The show went from being more subtle SF/F to full-blown science fiction in Season 3 when [[spoiler: Desmond started time-travelling]], and cemented that change in Season 4 with an episode written with the specific purpose of smacking the viewers around the head with the message "LOST IS SCIENCE FICTION". And then season six ditches the science fiction in favor of becoming a fantasy show.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' famously began drifting away from being a Black Comedy after the departure of Colonel Blake and Trapper John, and by the time Radar left in the 8th season, it had lost most of its dark humorous edge and had rebranded itself a "Dramedy."
* ''Series/{{Passions}}'' started out as a typical soap opera and quickly mutated into a supernatural weird-fest. Ditto for ''Series/DarkShadows'' and ''Series/GeneralHospital'''s SpinOff ''Port Charles''.
* The early episodes of ''WebVideo/{{lonelygirl15}}'' were in the style of a realistic video blog. Over time, it turned into a sort of soap opera/drama/thriller hybrid with evil cults, conspiracies, guns and laser beams. For an example of just how different the show has become, compare classic episode "Proving Science Wrong!"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQEBobE9XZs]] to one of the early season 2 episodes, "Home Invasion."[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnVvMzQpGUo]]
* ''Series/{{House}}'' was pitched to Fox as a show somewhat along the lines of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'', where the doctors use their medical skills to solve crimes. It quickly moved away from this and became a drama centered on the fact that "everybody lies," from the patients to [[JerkAss House]] himself.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is a slightly odd example since, in hindsight, the static setting seems an obvious way to do more [[StoryArc arc-based]] storylines and use lots of recurring characters but, in the beginning, it was just normal Franchise/StarTrek with a gimmick -- the only important difference was that the [[OncePerEpisode alien of the week]] from the PlanetOfHats came to ''them'' instead of the other way 'round thanks to the wormhole discovered in the first episode. The first season is almost indistinguishable from other Treks, and only when the characters are established do the writers start doing different things.
* For much of its long life, ''Series/TheBill'' was a PoliceProcedural, but when a new executive producer took over in 2002 it rapidly shifted into a CrimeTimeSoap, alienating many long-term fans.
* ''BaywatchNights'' is one of the most infamous examples of this trope. Originally it was a ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' spinoff centered around Sgt. Garner Ellerbee and [[Creator/DavidHasselhoff Mitch Buchannon]] opening a detective agency and [[TheyFightCrime fighting crime]]. The show's low ratings coupled with the success of ''Series/TheXFiles'' caused the producers to ditch Ellerbee and have Buchannon battle ''the paranormal''.
* ''Series/LookAroundYou'' is one of the biggest users of this trope -- the first and second seasons are, to all intents and purposes, different shows. The first series is a series of 10 minute spoofs of educational videos from the 1970s, while the second is a 30 minute studio-comedy parody of shows such as ''TomorrowsWorld''. Apart from a couple of shared {{Running Gag}}s and a brief mention of shared minor characters, the two series are connected only by the theme of science and having the same writers.
* As lampshaded by the announcer, following the move from [=TechTV=] to G4, the video game review show ''Series/XPlay'' became less about reviewing games and more about employing successive "[[GagSeries lame vaudeville gags]]." At one point, the show was able to provide thorough reviews of at least five games in one single airing, but due to the space the gags took up, they were barely able to get through three. They later became less frequent, thus leaving time for only one or two sketches a week, then the ''opposite'' happened: it changed from a sketch comedy/video game review show into a pure video game news and review show (with only about two reviews per episode and less comical news reports).
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has had a number of shifts throughout its run. The show was pitched as, and started out as, a SliceOfLife situation comedy with a spaceship as the setting, that morphed into a more action-oriented Sci-Fi Comedy in its third series, eventually morphing into more of an Action Comedy by its sixth series, then more of a Sci-fi Dramedy in Series 7, and then a Prison Comedy in Series 8. The shifts in tone were relatively subtle, but if it weren't for the consistent characters, episodes from different series would appear to be from completely different programs.
* ''Series/ThePractice'' started as a gritty legal show focused on a firm that struggled to make the rent and convince clients to pay for traffic court. By the time the show was over, the firm was representing increasingly bizarre clients, getting cases related to [[AuthorTract current events]], winning impossible cases, and having endless episodes about the lawyers' personal lives. ''Series/BostonLegal'' completed the transition and added comedic elements. The universe therefore shifted from legal procedural/drama, to a soap opera/drama, and then finally to a soap opera/dramedy. Watching an early episode of the first show and a late episode of the second show is highly jarring.
* Likewise, the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episodes "The Benders" and "Family Remains". The show's MythArc itself experienced a massive shift in the fourth season. Seasons 1-3 were a horror series focused on Sam and Dean fighting random monsters while also working to stop whatever BigBad was currently involved (Azazel in seasons 1-2; Lilith in season 3), and then with the fourth season the show transformed into an apocalyptic [[spoiler: angel and demon war]] with an ''occasional'' monster thrown in.

** Fifteen years after its cancellation, Creator/RussellTDavies managed to revive Doctor Who to a modern audience by reinventing it as a drama series with sci-fi elements, shifting the focus of the show away from the "monster of the week" formula to some much needed character development for the Doctor and his companion.
** When Creator/StevenMoffat took over for Davies in 2010 and introduce Creator/MattSmith as the 11th Doctor, the show shifted to a more fantastical and comedic tone, with underlying themes of love and hope.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' to ''Series/{{Caprica}}''. The former is a SpaceOpera that also happens to be a DarkerAndEdgier ContinuityReboot of a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 70s action adventure show]]. The latter is a {{Cyberpunk}} story set in a setting similar to (though not actually) TwentyMinutesInTheFuture blended with a FamilyDrama.

* On ''Series/{{Community}}'', most episodes are comedic in tone, following the study group and their antics on the Greendale campus. However there are some switchups. "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]" keeps this up for the first five minutes, but as soon as things switch to the bar, things become more somber. The end of the episode isn't comedic, but poignant. Consuming alcohol doesn't make the characters do anything funny, but makes things ''sad'' (it's the [[LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek "Lifetime original movie of beverages"]] as Troy puts it). In short, it's been an action movie ("Modern Warfare"), a Rankin-Bass style Christmas Special ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"), a spaghetti Western ("A Fistfull of Paintballs"), a single-camera documentary show ("Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking"), and a zombie movie ("Epidemiology"). The reason it can pull all of this off is because while each episode is a great example of the genre it's shifted to, it's also a great episode of ''Community'' at the same time.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' were mostly similar in setup. Yes, the Atlantis team was initially cut off from Earth, but subsequent seasons eliminated this problem. ''Series/StargateUniverse,'' you'll have to check to make sure you're actually watching a ''Stargate'' series. It goes with the "cut off from Earth" part and sticks with it (mostly), although the crew of the ''[[CoolShip Destiny]]'' is capable of communicating with Earth. Also, unlike ''SG-1'' and ''Atlantis'', ''Universe'' takes a page out of the reimagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series and focuses more on individuals struggling to survive to the point where even the musical score is completely different from the "typical" Stargate music. The WagonTrainToTheStars aspect is entirely ditched, with few people who are not the ship's crew ever appearing, and only one alien race that appears quite infrequently. Mostly, it was about interpersonal conflicts on a broken ship. You will hear the phrase "SoapOpera [-IN SPACE!-]" a lot.
* ExecutiveMeddling notoriously forced the {{Camp}}y DetectiveDrama ''Series/BurkesLaw'' to become a TuxedoAndMartini spy series instead. The changes (which included firing virtually the entire cast and retitling the show ''Amos Burke, Secret Agent'') bombed spectacularly and the series was canceled midway through the season.
* ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' was arguably one for the Heisei-era ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise as a whole. The creator even notes that before the show even aired, the fandom was up in arms about Kamen Rider "Being turned into a [[TeenDrama high school drama]]!"
* ''Series/{{Touch}}'' becomes a more actionized thriller in the second season, as Martin is faced with more dangerous tasks which involve him running into really dangerous people. The first season was very SliceOfLife.

* The TBS music video show NightTracks debuted in 1983 playing music from all genres (pop, rock, R&B, etc.) until the summer of 1991 when it went to an exclusively alternative rock music (not long before Music/{{Nirvana}} changed the musically landscape).
* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': Happened most notably with ''Rock and Chips'' which was a rather downbeat drama with some laughs rather than the traditional sitcom of the original, but it did occasionally happen within the series itself.
** The 1985 Christmas special "To Hull and Back" was treated more like a crime caper film than a sitcom
** The series finale "Sleepless in Peckham," while still having plenty of comedic moments, had a far more serious atmosphere than most of the series.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' started off as a fairly standard action/drama with [[UnbelievableSourcePlot a twist on the police procedural formula]], but otherwise fairly mundane. By the end of the third season it had become a series about [[PostCyberpunk the grander implications of artificial intelligence]] and considered by many as a science-fiction series.
* ''Series/{{Helix}}'' starts off with a group of CDC scientists trying to stop an outbreak of a zombie-like [[TheVirus virus]] in a remote research facility. And while there are hints of some kind of shadowy conspiracy involving the virus' creation from the start, there audience is not prepared for the reveal midway through the first season that the virus was created for the purpose of [[spoiler: allowing an AncientConspiracy of immortals to TakeOverTheWorld]], which completely changes the basis of the show.
* Series/TheGame2006 started out as a sitcom, but the laugh track became increasingly out of place in the middle of all the serious situations, until it was eventually done away with and the show became a full-blown drama.
* The short-lived 1990's series ''Series/TheBradys'' was a continuation of ''Series/TheBradyBunch,'' with the same characters played by most of the same cast. But the spinoff was a downbeat drama rather than the lighthearted comedy its predecessor had been.
* A {{downplayed}} example comes in the form of ''Series/OnceUponATime''. Yes, it's an UrbanFantasy, but for the first season, outside of flashbacks (which are set in a fantasy world), fantasy aspects like magic were seldom seen, more in a case of RealAfterAll than anything else, and it played out more like a SoapOpera than anything else. Then the finale came and TheMagicComesBack, cranking the UrbanFantasy UpToEleven to its proper trope.
* Series/FamilyMatters started off as a traditional DomCom, but the series began to incorporate ScienceFiction [[FantasticComedy elements]] as the focus shifted to Steve Urkel and his wacky inventions. Time travel, cloning, and teleportation were all used as the basis for episodes.
* Early episodes of ''Series/DarkShadows'' were more of a conventional SoapOpera with a spooky-Gothic-romance motif, with the occasional ScoobyDooHoax or delusion to explain away any supernatural-seeming elements. Then the genuine vampire Barnabas Collins was introduced and became a BreakoutCharacter, and before long the show had become a MonsterMash of ghosts, werewolves, curses, time travel and alternate realities.
* In-universe example in season 3 of ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Joey has a role in a play and the rehersals show it as a gritty slice-of-life drama about a couple breaking up. Then when we see the actual performance, it turns out that it ends with Joey's character going off in a UFO to find an environmentally friendly energy source.
* The first season of ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' was a musical comedy set in a generic medieval location. The second season introduced more fantastical elements, including explicit uses of magic and a running gag involving a real unicorn.
* ''Film/BatesMotel1987'' did have one or two minor horror elements inherited from its forerunner, ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', but it was intended as a PilotMovie for a supernatural anthology series; essentially ''Series/FantasyIsland'' set in a motel. Not that it really mattered, as the series was never picked up.

** The series as a whole has drastically shifted in genre since its beginnings as well. The majority of season one was a fairly straightforward and mildly pessimistic comedy centered on somewhat quirky people in mostly ordinary situations. After a while its occasional forays into meta humor became so memorable that it evolved into a surrealist show with jokes so meta that their very meta-ness is intended as a commentary on meta-ness itself.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' were mostly similar in setup. Yes, the Atlantis team was initially cut off from Earth, but subsequent seasons eliminated this problem. ''Series/StargateUniverse,'' you'll have to check to make sure you're actually watching a ''Stargate'' series. It goes with the "cut off from Earth" part and sticks with it (mostly), although the crew of the ''[[CoolShip Destiny]]'' is capable of communicating with Earth. Also, unlike ''SG-1'' and ''Atlantis'', ''Universe'' takes a page out of the reimagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series and focuses more on individuals struggling to survive to the point where even the musical score is completely different from the "typical" Stargate music. The WagonTrainToTheStars aspect is entirely ditched, with few people who are not the ship's crew ever appearing, and only one alien race that appears quite infrequently. Mostly, it was about interpersonal conflicts on a broken ship. You will hear the phrase "SoapOpera [-IN SPACE!-]" a lot. It only lasted a season and a half,

** When Creator/StevenMoffat took over for Davies in 2010 and introduce MattSmith as the 11th Doctor, the show shifted to a more fantastical and comedic tone, with underlying themes of love and hope.

* Series/TheGame started out as a sitcom, but the laugh track became increasingly out of place in the middle of all the serious situations, until it was eventually done away with and the show became a full-blown drama.

** Alas, the Hammer Horror-in-space vibe was too much for the BBC, who removed Hinchcliff from the show. Incoming producer Graham Williams took inspiration from a somewhat-popular little movie called [[Franchise/StarWars Star Wars]] and retooled the show into more lighthearted space fantasy, including the Doctor's own cute robot companion. With a capable assist from up-and-coming writer Creater/DouglasAdams as story editor, the series took on an increasing comedic and absurdist flair that would later give birth to the wildly-popular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise.

** Series 6 turned into a [[ScienceFiction Sci Fi]] SoapOpera at times.
** * ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' to ''Series/{{Caprica}}''. The former is a SpaceOpera that also happens to be a DarkerAndEdgier ContinuityReboot of a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 70s action adventure show]]. The latter is a {{Cyberpunk}} story set in a setting similar to (though not actually) TwentyMinutesInTheFuture blended with a FamilyDrama.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', the parent show of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', can and frequently does change genres from one story to the next. A show whose premise is that the main character travels throughout time and space lends itself exceptionally well to this. One can convincingly argue that almost the entire series is basically the Doctor gatecrashing various genres and bringing trouble with him.
** All the way back in the 1960s, when the show first aired, it was meant to be an Edutainment show with a heavy focus on history and science. Now it's a sci-fi fantasy horror dramedy where Agatha Christie fought off murderous alien wasps and Winston Churchill sent spitfires into space to fight alien crafts. So, yeah, the genre changed somewhere there.
** Series 6 turned into a [[ScienceFiction Sci Fi]] SoapOpera at times.
** One of the reasons William Hartnell gave for leaving the show was that the producer wanted to drop most of the unpopular 'pure historical' and {{Adventure}} stories, and shift the show into DarkerAndEdgier science fiction horror aimed at the PeripheryDemographic of adult science fiction fans the show had, when Hartnell wanted to make a children's programme. There is a transitional period towards the end of Hartnell, but it's only Troughton's addition which fully sends the series into this, developing the stereotypical Second Doctor "base under siege" story type as a cheap way of doing claustrophobic monster-battling horror on a limited budget.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' to ''Series/{{Caprica}}''. The former is a SpaceOpera that also happens to be a DarkerAndEdgier ContinuityReboot of a [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 70s action adventure show]]. The latter is a {{Cyberpunk}} story set in a setting similar to (though not actually) TwentyMinutesInTheFuture blended with a FamilyDrama.

* Season 1 of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' revolves around [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an honest-to-god prison break]] with a cast composed almost entirely of stock characters ripped from classic prison movies, and season 2 continues it with the escaped inmates on the run from the FBI. By the end of season 2, the escapees have all successfully evaded the law [[spoiler: (the few that survived, at least...)]] but the writers manage to justify the title by having the main characters all [[AssPull rounded up for random reasons]] and [[FromBadToWorse a new, even worse prison in Panama]]. Then the final season rolls around, and the whole series morphs into some weird cross between ''MacGyver'' and ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' about the main cast trying to take down some [[TheSyndicate evil shadow corporation]] using zany schemes whipped together with loot from the Dollar Store.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' has gone over the course of three seasons from [[UnbelievableSourcePlot a twist on the police procedural formula]] to a show about [[PostCyberpunk the grander implications of artificial intelligence]].