Amber Brown (2022): Amber's parents have a less bitter relationship than in the books. They also both are more attuned to her needs here.
The Behind the Music episode featuring "Weird Al" Yankovic is this when compared to the majority of episodes, thanks mainly to Weird Al's relatively drama-free life.
The E! True Hollywood Story used to be an incredibly depressing show that documented a certain celebrity's fall from grace or detailed their grisly murder or suicide. However, in recent years the show has shifted its focus to the latest hit reality show or celebrities who are at their current peak of popularity.
The Following Due to media watchdog groups and parents complaining about the violence the show was toned down and made more family friendly.
Arya witnesses far more carnage in the Riverlands, suffers more personal degradation, and kills more people in combat as well as in cold blood in the books.
The young characters are all aged up in part so that all this sex and violence isn't happening to even younger characters.
Bodily mutilations are less pronounced for practical reasons. For example, the Hound's scars are less grotesque, and Tyrion and Rorge both keep their noses in the series. This is Lampshaded in "Valar Dohaeris," where there were rumors that Tyrion had lost his nose during the Battle of Blackwater.
Some of the murders committed or ordered by characters the showrunners wish to keep more sympathetic are omitted or at least given a veneer of self-defense.
While certain villains such as Ramsay are not given anything resembling a Adaptational Heroism treatment, their actions and traits are somewhat scaled down. Ramsay's Hunting the Most Dangerous Game for example, while extremely disturbing on the show, is still particularly more gruesome in the novels. The other changes is that Ramsay has Adaptational Attractiveness and engages in consensual relationships with women, some of whom become Monster Fangirl and he sends them on hunts when he gets bored of them, whereas in the books, all his victims were innocent women. Likewise, almost all of Euron Greyjoy's most heinous crimes are omitted from the show, thanks to many of the victims in the books being his own family, most of whom are given next to no focus or Adapted Out. His hinted-at apocalyptic ambitions also get no mention or hinting in the series.
A number of characters receive Adaptational Heroism, removing some of their more villainous characteristics or actions and making them more sympathetic. Examples include Tywin, Tyrion, Renly and Sandor.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7 starts out with a much lighter mood than the dark, dark, dark Season 6 — a deliberate move from the writers to give the audience a break from the doom and gloom. The season did take a noticeably grimmer tone as it progressed.
Angel's fourth season was incredibly dark and grim, with a pretty gloomy tone. The fifth season saw a switch to more standalone episodes rather than an arc. While it did feature its share of Tear Jerker moments - notably "You're Welcome" and "A Hole In The World", it was still lighter than Season 4.
Season 1 was rather dark and bleak. Season 2 lessened the focus on magic, almost turning the show into a Slice of Life where there happened to be demons. More emphasis was placed on the sisters' personal lives, with no Big Bad and the only recurring arc was a Love Triangle between Piper, Leo and Dan.
Season 5 was a big contrast to the fourth - which was the darkest season (featuring the deaths of two major characters). Put it in comparison - Season 4 opens with Piper and Phoebe mourning Prue and trying to avenge her death. Season 5 opens with a mermaid trying to find love. Season 5 also introduced more conventional fantasy and fairy tale elements - such as unicorns, wood nymphs etc.
Homicide: Life on the Street's fourth season is notably less dark than the preceding seasons. While still tackling dark and controversial subjects, this season's increased focus on Lewis and Kellerman and lack of serialized story arcs made it comparatively lighter and more comedic. To compensate, the following season was one of the darkest in the show.
Season Four of House is much lighter than the depressingly dark third season. And then it immediately went back to dark and depressing when it was time for the finale.
Gordon Ramsay:
In The F Word, he's not as much of a bastard as he is in Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. In fact, he is much more pleasant and enjoys cooking in this one rather than what happens in his other shows. The British version of KN also paints Ramsey in this light instead of the scream hound in the bombastic American adaptation. Even in the instances that he does lose his cool, it's easy to see that it comes from genuine frustration instead of exaggerated ranting.
In FOX's summer series of Master Chef, Ramsey was even more considerably friendly; in fact, he was the encouraging judge of the three. While he did show flashes of his usual temper and frustrated mannerisms, he oft-encouraged contestants, even sending one who screwed up on her audition to go home and bring back items from home to make a dish as her own (she went on to compete on the show). Justified in that unlike Hell's Kitchen, these are people not in the dining business to begin with, but normal Joes looking to broaden their love of cooking by becoming a chef.
There was an interesting back-and-forth with The Addams Family across different media. The original single-panel cartoons depicted the characters as genuinely misanthropic monsters who killed random people for the lulz. The TV show, by contrast, depicted them as nice, arty bohemians whose square neighbours were frightened of them because of their weird lifestyle. The cinema films swung the pendulum back towards actual violence and death (though unlike in the cartoons their victims typically deserved it), but the animated kids-TV show spun off from the films went fluffier again.
The Adventures of Superman was actually a hard-hitting and violent crime drama in its first season, and featured Phyllis Coates as an especially tough and strong-willed Lois Lane. For the second season, Noel Neill replaced Coates, and played a much softer and more traditionally feminine Lois. The show itself became less violent and more kid-oriented. By the third season, the show had become much more lighthearted and whimsical, with more science-fiction and fantasy elements and less violence.
When the Argentinian Soap Opera "Floricienta" was adapted for Chilean viewers as "Floribella", some aspects of the show became this. In example, the original Evil Matriarch was portrayed as very malevolent, but in the Chilean version she's portrayed somewhat more comically. It doesn't help that the Chilean actress is actually known for comical villain roles, which isn't the case with the Argentinean counterpart. The ending was also modified. In the original, Flor's "prince" dies... he gets better in the remake and they get married in the finale. This was also repeated in the Mexican remake of the show, Lola Erase Una Vez.
Jeopardy!, to a degree. Until about the 1990s, the clues were often straightforward, and host Alex Trebek was rather stuffy and formal. Over time, the clues have become more whimsical and punny, with occasional pop culture references and double entendres (arguably without dumbing the show down). Trebek also loosened up, especially in the 21st century; for the last 20 years or so before his 2020 death, he smiled and laughed more, and got in plenty of Deadpan Snarker moments.
Newsround is a simplified version of BBC News, with more kid friendly language and some concepts adults would be familiar with more fully explained. It also tends to lack financial news and only goes into politics on rare occasions (around election time for example). It isn't afraid to report on death or depressing topics (it was the news broadcast that broke the story of the Challenger disaster in the UK, if only because of timing) but is a bit more sensitive about it, they also might report something which seen as a story of high 'kid interest' that the adult news wouldn't bother with. It was the go-to source for Harry Potter-related news in the UK, less so since Internet access became all but universal. It is also lighter on politics than it used to be. It was the first television programme that some kids saw Michael Howard MP, interviewed at the Rio Earth Summit by a Press Packer in 1992 as Environment Secretary.
Sherlock: During the first and second seasons, Holmes battles a severe tobacco smoking habit; in the original Conan Doyle stories Holmes battles a cocaine and morphine habit.
Stargate SG-1 has gradually taken this course over its ten seasons, getting closer and closer to self-parody in the process.
Star Trek: Discovery experienced this trope so markedly as a result of a change in showrunners and a Soft Reboot that many fans joke that there are actually two series of the same name: one a gritty military SF drama that was cancelled after its second season and the other a Slice of Life drama about gay nerds on a spaceship.
The mixed reaction to the Darker and Edgier swing of early Discovery and Picard, and the incredibly positive response to Anson Mount's turn as a pre-Career-Ending InjuryChristopher Pike, led to Pike getting his own Spin-Off, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is very much a classically styled Star Trek episodic action-adventure that isn't afraid to be aggressively silly at times while still having plenty of character drama.
Many game show fans have noticed that Alex Trebek was a lot more laid-back on Classic Concentration (1987-91) when compared to his still-formal hosting style on Jeopardy! at the time. As the show progressed, he also began to wear sweaters instead of suits, further emphasizing his increased casualness.
After years of sexed-up comedy shows, reality TV, Darker and Edgier dramas with Black-and-Gray Morality conflicts, and grisly police/medical/lawyer procedural shows, a straight up battle between good and evil with an intriguing mystery at the core feels so refreshing to audiences in comparison.
Once Upon A Time itself experienced this. Seasons 1 and 2 have a notably darker tone than the others - there are far more character deaths, actual sex scenes and some dark subject matter. Later seasons made things much more family friendly.
Legend of the Seeker compared to its source material. When your source material includes (among other things) The Big Bad brainwashing a kid then killing him by pouring molten metal down his throat, his Dragon being a serial child molester and murderer, institutionalized gang-rape by the enemy army, and a Serial Killer severing a woman's spinal cord onscreen and then killing her in a manner which made a combat hardened general throw up, a lighter and softer Pragmatic Adaptation is the best you're going to get.
Millennium (1996) beginning in season 2 and reduced to TV-PG in some episodes instead of mostly TV-14.
The Office (US) basically changed from a Cringe Comedy to a comedicSoap Opera in its later seasons. This was even reflected in the content ratings, as it went from TV-14 to TV-PG. In general The Office (US) asa much more silly series with more upbeatness and extravagant nonsense humour than the original The Office (UK) that inspired it.
Rizzoli & Isles is much "lighter and softer" than the books it is based on—a more comedic tone, everyone much better looker than their book counterpart, etc.
Red Dwarf. Its latest series (Red Dwarf X) is much more easy going, episodic, and not as self serious as the Darker and Edgier adventure-com direction Red Dwarf VII tried to go, nor is it story arc driven, and prison orientated as Red Dwarf VIII was either. It's gone back to its simple, light hearted sit-com roots.
Hunter beginning in season 2 when the late Roy Huggins took over as executive producer and toned down the violence.
In the 90's, John Larroquette had his own show called, well, The John Larroquette Show. The protagonist was a recovering alcoholic working as the night shift manager of a run down bus station in East St. Louis, and he lived in a one room flop house. Some of the other main characters included a prostitute, a homeless man, and a janitor who took laziness to new extremes. Plots included finding a brick of cocaine in a locker and using it to set up a drug dealer who was trying to extort them. Then the next season came on. John moved to a spacious apartment, started working days, the bum now worked at a newsstand, and the prostitute straightened up, and now owns and runs the local bar. They managed to kill the dark and edgy humor that was the attraction of the original, and the show was summarily canceled.
RoboCop: The Series is definitely this trope applied to the franchise. Suddenly things were more cartoony and slapstick, violence is toned down a few notches (as in, RoboCop is not allowed to kill humans), and merchandising has suddenly became Moral Guardians-friendly (you know this trope has struck when the series resulted in a talking RoboCop action figure that tells kids to stay in school and don't do drugs). However, they did keep the parody commercials, so the main draw of the movies are still there, somewhat.
Robot Wars: After Season 1, the snarky and often downright rude Jeremy Clarkson was replaced by Large Ham Craig Charles, health and safety rules were beefed up, and contestants were barred from swearing on camera. Also, the show's aesthetic was originally a dark futuristic apocalypse, but that eventually gave way to an aesthetic more like an official boxing or martial arts tournament.
The Live-Action Adaptation of Life (2002) focuses on the bullying caused by Manami. It completely scrapped Ayumu's Self-Harm habits which are a major part of her character and did away with certain other aspects.
The first was Ultraman Taro (1973), which was more of a wacky comedy with the defense team and Taro using absurd methods to fight the Monster of the Week from sneezing powder to giant floss, plenty of goofy Kaiju like the drunken Veron and the jovial Live King, silly slapstick battles, and strong inspiration from Japanese fairy tales. While the series proved popular with kids, older fans were alienated, resulting in the Darker and EdgierUltraman Leo succeeding it.
1980's Ultraman 80 becomes this after Leo lost majority of viewers, and due to moral reformation in Japan at that time, the show was toned down to be less serious and violent.
Ultraman Cosmos (2001) has our hero take Gentle Giant up to eleven as he would often spare and pacify the Monster of the Week instead of destroying them (likewise, the defense team of the series are actually a monster study and protection group). This is extremely jarring when compared to both the follow-up seriesUltra Q Dark Fantasy and Ultraman Nexus, but was ultimately the result of Cosmos's controversial approach to the franchise formula resulting in Tsuburaya deciding to take a much darker path.
Neo Ultra Q (2013) downplayed this trope somehow. Although it retains Sci-Fi Horror atmosphere like its twopredecessors, Neo Ultra Q adds more comedy bits into its Kaiju horror blender.
Prehistoric Planet was a kid-aimed version of Walking with Dinosaurs that removed (some of) the more graphic content and had narration.
Power Rangers does this due to having breather seasons instead of Breather Episodes. RPM's setting was a Post Apocalyptic Terminator-meets-Mad-Max fusion, Samurai had monsters that were basically living torture devices, Megaforce featured villains trying to destroy the entire universe with the Sixth Ranger being the Last of His Kind, and the former two series proved that so long as you mostly skip the word you can have good people stay dead in a kids' show. So while we don't go all the way into comedy or skimp on Character Development, Dino Charge pulled some Revisiting the Roots, with dino-powered teenagers with attitudes making being a superhero look as awesome and fun as possible. (Also, the hilarious tongue-in-cheek Ninja Storm followed the serious In Space thru Wild Force.)
Once Upon a Time's first season was a Darker and Edgier take on fairy tales, giving a lot of characters a Family-Unfriendly Death and featuring a lot of dark themes (Regina sacrifices her own father to cast the Dark Curse, a werewolf accidentally eats their own lover, the Huntsman became the Queen's sex slave). In the Storybrooke portions the tone was closer to a procedural, with things like a murder frame up and sex scenes between Regina and Graham. While Seasons 2 and 3 did have some of those dark themes, the show took a much more family-friendly direction by Season 4. Main characters rarely died, there was no brutal violence, villains were much hammier and references to sex vanished overnight.
Schitt's Creek was so similar on the surface to another edgy sitcom about rich jerks going broke critics often called it Canadian Arrested Development. However, after the first few episodes, it becomes clear that the main characters on Schitt's Creek are far kinder and the show's humor, while sharp, isn't nearly so cynical.
Dai Sentai Goggle Five is a downplayed example. Neither Denshi Sentai Denziman nor Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan were the grittiest of seasons, but whereas they had enough serious moments to balance out the comedy, Goggle Five saw a tilt towards lighter plotlines and more focus on children.
Kousoku Sentai Turboranger was definitely this to the season that preceded it, Choujuu Sentai Liveman, which featured a darker and more realistic plotline, along with one of the franchise's bleakest and most melancholy endings. Turboranger by contrast featured a much more fantastical story regarding fairies, much more comedy and fewer dark and dramatic moments than Liveman. The season after it, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman, was more varied however. It definitely never got to be as dark as Liveman, but it has one of the grimmest first episodes in the franchise yet at the same time lots of comedy and yet again more plots involving children (though it makes more sense this time since the main characters are schoolteachers).
Mood Whiplash notwithstanding, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger was much lighter than its dark and serious predecessor Choujin Sentai Jetman. While Jetman ranks with Liveman as a contender for darkest season in the franchise, Zyuranger had your standardized team of do-gooders in the lead, more comedic and less-threatening villains (most of the time anyway) and plotlines that generally revolved around children.
Engine Sentai Go-onger is much more lighthearted than the action-packed, drama-heavy Gekiranger, since it has talking cars, a group of silly villains who are not above pulling an Enemy Mine with the heroes at some point (the Ministers), and lots of comedy. That said, it does have some dark moments, such as the final confrontation against Yogostein, the Christmas two-parter, and the final arc.
Tensou Sentai Goseiger is nowhere near as dark as Kobayashi's magnum opus Shinkenger nor as comedic as the above Go-onger due to having three sets of equally despicable villains and a Big Bad who is also the Sentai equivalent of Satan, but it's still uplifting, as the titular Rangers themselves are stranded angels-in-training and the story has several slice-of-life elements.
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger is another top contender for being one of the most upbeat entries in the franchise, with the majority of its characters being bright and colorful, a very hammy narrator, and heavier focus on comedy for the most part. It also helps that the show is written by none other than the same guy who wrote W and Fourze.
After four seasons of being Darker and Edgier, Mashin Sentai Kiramager goes back to being more humorous, even more than so Go-onger and Kyoryuger. Many of its characters are downright silly and most of the episodes are comedic in nature, even after Cerebus Syndrome kicks in. The Yodonna spin-offs, while definitely darker, more mature, and visceral than the original series, heavily leans closer towards Black Comedy.
Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger takes the franchise's Surreal Humor to its logical conclusion, with very outlandish characters (on both ends), absurd comedy, and very bizarre plots courtesy of the Walds. Even with some serious moments popping up, such as Stacy getting an upgrade or Hakaizer being Kaito's missing dad, the show never stops being silly.
In general, Power Rangers adaptations of Sentai seasons tend to be much less serious and intricate compared to their overseas counterparts, mostly due to differences in broadcast standards between Japan and the west (where Never Say "Die" is in full effect). Zyuranger is definitely one of the most lighthearted Sentai seasons, but compare its Big Bad (a witch who sold her soul to Satan and committed genocide on the dinosaurs to avenge her son) to Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers's (a witch who just wants to Take Over the World, who eventually devolves into being a comic relief nagging wife).
Metal Heroes was generally darker in tone than its sister series Super Sentai when the two aired together, though that didn’t mean it didn’t get lighter on occasion.
Space Sheriff Shaider zig-zags this. While it has bigger stakes and more threatening villains than the two previous seasons, it was also made to be more kid friendly in an effort to appeal to a wider audience. As a result, episodes plots shifted between being serious and being goofy (and often times both). The villains, while competent, could also be quite silly at times, such as the episode that had the Big Bad getting a “space flu”.
Juukou B-Fighter starts out as light-hearted, is a lot lighter than most of the previous seasons and really should be this, but because it follows the opposite trajectory of Blue SWAT, it ended up being darker towards the end than its preceding show.
The Boys (2019): Definitely, in comparison to the comics. Whilst the show still features brutal, graphic violence, and still shows the depravity of the supes, it doesn't go anywhere near as extreme as the source material. Part of the reason for this is the many changes that were made to the storyline, and the fact that the number of superheroes that appear has been dramatically reduced (with The Seven being the only ones getting any real screen-time), which in turn eliminates much of the sexual depravity that was present in the comic, as well as cutting out the many graphically-violent confrontations that The Boys have with the supe community.
Destination Fear: Compared to Ghost Adventures, where they primarily look to help people that are being affected extremely negatively, Dakota and the DF try to actively avoid dark/demonic locations due to not wanting to take on a personal risk when they separate at night, and are genuinely shocked if a location turns out to be more sinister than anticipated.
The first season of RuPaul's Drag RaceUK was noted by many fans to have a much less tense atmosphere than the original American series. This is because the UK show airs on The BBC, which forbids game shows from giving cash prizes. The winner's only prize is a trip to Los Angeles to film a spin-off webseries similar to Alyssa's Secret. Since not as much was on stake, the queens were able to just enjoy each other's company and showcase their talent on TV rather the fights and cutthroat attitudes that have come to define the US version.
Chicago P.D. started out as what could be seen as somewhat light take on what The Shield had been, with Hank and Olinsky being doing all sort of ethically questionable things (including a literal cage for "enhanced interrogation techniques") and being implied to having been full on Dirty Cops back in the day. As time went on (and more focus came upon police brutality in Real Life), the writing tamed and made the Intelligence Team much less prone to illegal tactics.
