TV Character Personality Changes

[caj]

Sometimes tv characters will go through complete personality changes over the years.

What are your favorite or least-favorite tv character personality changes?

[AndrewCrossett]

Homer Simpson, over the course of the first 2-3 seasons went from a grouchy Walter Matthau type to a complete idiot. (Of course, the idiot was funnier.)

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on Angel.

[Jackalope89]

Margaret Houlihan from MASH. Went from being an accomplice of Frank's (though she was still a good nurse) to being an all around better person.

[Gaastra]

Cosmo from fairy oddparents went from slow witted but still somewhat smart husband to a complete dim wit to a complete evil jerk.

Fronz from happy days went from a one shot bad guy bully to the cool friend with a attitude.

[ChrisIII]

Does Doctor Who count?

[DrNewGod]

Margaret Houlihan from MASH. Went from being an accomplice of Frank's (though she was still a good nurse) to being an all around better person.

That's a favorite of mine. Another was Charles Winchester. He never quite lost his arrogance, but his sense of empathy and humility grew over the seasons. While the Korean War was the worst thing to happen to most of the characters, it's probably the best thing that could have happened to Winchester, in that it made a better person of him.

It didn't last long, but Night Court's Dan Fielding was something of a generic conservative early in the first season, as opposed to the rampaging Lothario he would be come.

[j9ac9k]

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on Angel.

That's a good one. He really changed over the course of many seasons in a very organic way just through his experiences.

[Riv86672]

Archie Bunker became a lot more open minded and tolerant as time went on.

Fonzy went from taciturn loner to basically a family man by the end of Happy Days.
What's interesting is when we meet him he'd already gone through a change, quitting his street gang and getting a regular job. Interacting w. the kids at Arnold's helped him open up to ppl around him though, and try and achieve more than he already had by going straight.

Ned Flanders of course, to the point where he's the name of a character becoming a parody of themselves. Granted i like him the way he is now cuz its hella funny.

[AnakinFlair]

Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer- went from a wallflower to possibly the most powerful person on the show.

I enjoyed Thea's growth on Arrow, from spoiled socialite to vigilante to co-leader of the new League of Heroes. I've also liked seeing Caitlin Snow grow from emotionally shut-off doctor to bad-ass with ice powers.

[j9ac9k]

(should I mention Daenerys Targaryen...? No, mabye not. Nothing to see here...)

[AndrewCrossett]

That's a good one. He really changed over the course of many seasons in a very organic way just through his experiences.

Yeah, not many shows can do those long sweeping character arcs anymore because they don't last long enough. Willow, Spike and Cordelia are other good examples in the Buffyverse. You can do a lot more character development in 12 total seasons and ~300 episodes than you can in three 10-hour Netflix drops, which is the standard now.

[numberthirty]

Since long runs came up...

While it wasn't a particularly stark change, Jax Teller during Sons Of Anarchy.

Sort of starts out as a new dad attempting to have a family while being an outlaw, and ends it being a father of two who has realized that those two things cannot coexist.

[ChrisIII]

Regarding Doctor Who, even without the regenerations the Doctor's personality has changed a bit within incarnations.

-The fourth Doctor had three producers who kind of had their own take on the character. Tom's Fourth Doctor started off somewhat more serious but the middle of his run brought out more of his comedic talent, although his final season attempted to reign that in a bit. The Seventh Doctor kind of was the opposite, silly at first but much darker and manipulative later on. Capaldi's Doctor likewise started off as sort of rude and aloof (Like some of Capladi's other roles) but eventually evolved into one of the more compassionate Doctors, something it seemed like they were trying with for the Sixth Doctor but didn't have enough time. Even Tennant's Doctor sort of had a brief psychotic break.