Prime-time makeovers
By Patrick Day, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
As the near-constant ads on FX informed us, the hit series “Nip/Tuck” started its fifth season with the plastic surgeons Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) no longer in their comfortable Miami digs. They moved out to Los Angeles in a quest for new clients and (producers hoped) fresh creative insights into the characters.
When it comes to mid-series creative shake-ups, moving cross-country is nothing new -- even Lucy and Ricky Ricardo moved out to L.A. at one point. But as other TV producers have learned, major overhauls can sometimes be the first step toward disaster. Here are some of TV’s biggest mid-course corrections, and how the shows fared after. (Michael Becker / AP)
‘Pros & Cons’
The change: Dour, angry ex-con-turned-private-detective Gabriel Bird (James Earl Jones) was not a hit with audiences, so for the second season of Gabriels Fire, the Chicago-based character moved to sunny Los Angeles and teamed up with a wise-cracking private eye played by Richard Crenna. Together they made a lot more jokes and laughed a whole lot. The show also got a new title, Pros & Cons.
The impact: Not enough to save the show. Perhaps people were spooked by the idea of having to listen to Darth Vader break into a cackle every few minutes, but not even the sudden injection of good-natured fun could entice people to watch. It was canceled midway through the second season. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
