What do you think were some of the best and worst evolutions of certain characters in television, from their first episode to their last.

I think a good one is Eddie Winslow of Family Matters. At first he was literally a stupid teenager, but as the show progressed he became smarter (while still making a few dumb moves here and there). He graduated high school, when to college, and in the last season he became a police officer like his dad.

Joey on Friends.

He started as a bit dim but grounded in reality.

Towards the end he was almost retarded. 'Learning French'? Failing on the Pyramid Game? Writing a recomendation letter for his friend that was mistaken for one from a small child? How dumb did they want to make him?

Pure laziness from the wirters.

The first two that come to mind are Elliot, from 'thirtysomething' and Suzanne Sugarbaker, "Designing Women'....

Elliot began as an immature, self-involved, self-indulgent, semi-verbally abusive, selfish, cheating asshole doofus on 'thirtysomething'....almost irredeemable, at least as a husband. I am uncertain that men like that actually change in real life, but the writers handled his evolution pretty deftly...after he and Nancy split, he actually DID grow and change, came to appreciate what he had lost, re-fell in love with her (and she changed as well...from rather weak and insecure and timorous to strong and confident), was deeply regretful of his past misdeeds and wanted nothing more than to be 'her second husband'. But he didn't become some superhero and unrealistic husband either...he was still impulsive, sometimes childish and rash and immature...but in that area, he really grew.

On the flip side, Suzanne regressed. The first season, she was shallow and vain, but savvy, intelligent and she contributed to the designing firm. By the end, tho she WAS funny, she was just a silly, incompetent, airhead.

Certainly one of the best I've seen has to belong to Wesley Wyndham-Pryce on Angel. He starts out on Buffy as a completely incompetent and socially nonfunctional tool, then moves to the spinoff and becomes more humble and sociable in a group dynamic, develops into a leader in his own right after Angel abandons them (even leading an otherworldly army at one point), almost has a breakdown after Billy Blim unleashes his inner psycho, betrays the group in an attempt to save Connor's life, turns nihilist and has an affair with Lilah, creates his own demon hunting operation, becomes downright badass, rejoins AI, joins Wolfram & Hart where he becomes Mr. Magic Mojo guy, finally gets the girl he's obsessed with until she dies a short time later, turns even more nihilist to the point where he can't enjoy anything, and ultimately gets himself killed trying to save the day. That's one hell of an evolution, and I'm sure I left stuff out.

One of the best would be Nellie Olsen on Little House on the Prairie. She started out as a little brat but by the end she had married Percival and become a fine young lady. I think I just channeled my grandma.

Julian Bashir, ST: DS9. He started off naive, annoying and arrogant. Many people hated him. As he interacted with others on the station, especially Garak and Cheif O'Brien, he started to grow up.
He became friends with Jadzia Dax instead of hitting on her all the time, gained some humility and perspective through some of his experiences, and evolved into an extraordinary person/officer, besides being an extremely talented doctor.
Then, it was revealed that he was genetically re-engineered as a child, which shed new light on his earlier obnoxious behavior.
I always liked what they did with his character. Throughout the process of his character developement, he never lost his charm or humor, IMO; despite some of the dark places they took him to.

I think one of the best was actually Steve Sanders on 90210. By the end of the decade he still had his mullet, but he also had help create a successful business, married, and had a baby. He still did some stupid stuff, but they really showed that he realized responsibilities by helping his brother when he was dropping out school and supporting Kelly when she got raped.

Worst character development, I would completely agree with Gulftastic. Joey's character was one of the reason I couldn't stand Friends in later seasons.

Yep. Some other good "kid" character evolutions:

-Al on Step By Step. I liked that they simply made the character grow up. No massive character rewrites, she just matured. Pretty refreshing for a TGIF sitcom.
-Theo on The Cosby Show. Not much to say about this one, other than thinking back on it, I'm really impressed with how the show developed him into an adult.

Bad "kid" character evolutions:

-Eric on Boy Meets World. I always felt bad for the actor. He handled the material well, but I imagine it must have been frustrating to play a guy who got progressively more cartoonish and over-the-top as the series went on. Though in retrospect, I think this is true of the show in general.

DMike, you took the words out of my mouth regarding Wesley. One of my favorite TV characters of all time, and he underwent an amazing transformation (including suffering more than most fictional characters ever do to get there).

Another one we can't overlook is Cordelia Chase from Buffy and Angel, who went from a stereotypical popular rich bitch (who seemed like she was only there for a comic relief antagonist for Buffy, Willow, and Xander) to an unlikely ally to them after they saved her a bunch of times -- most shows never allow the bully/bitch to become somewhat sympathetic or join the protagonists. Then, after her father's tax evasion caused their family to lose everything, she moved to L.A. by herself with no friends or visible support network, and tried to work and make it as an actress. She became a good ally for Angel, Doyle, Wesley and the others, and evolved into a strong, capable, and heroic woman. I always felt she was the most mature of the Sunnydale High grads (at least after she moved on from her early bitch role), much moreso than Buffy, who always had a family and friends backing her plays, whether she deserved their support or not. Later on in the Angel series, I totally understood why Angel would have feelings for her, and they made a lot more sense than when he lusted after 16-year-old Buffy.

A whole lot of people didn't like the later seasons of Buffy, but I always did, purely for the character evolution. It may be an unpopular opinion, but, even thought the storylines in season 6 and season 7 may not have been as good as earlier years, I always felt the one thing Joss Whedon did extremely well was character evolution, because it always made sense to me where the characters ended up. DMike and bigbadvoodoolou already covered Wesley and Cordelia quite well, so I'll skip those. But, consider.

1) Xander. He started out as the comic relief, the Zeppo. However, he found his niche in the world in season 4/5 when he went into construction, and realized he had a knack for it. By the end of Season 6, he had single-handedly saved the world. And in season 7, he played a key role in the final days of Sunnydale, even though he had no supernatural powers (unlike Buffy, Willow, Faith and even Giles). Xander grew up, and it was a believable journey. At least IMHO.

2) Faith. She arrived in Sunnydale as the hotshot slayer, willing to bend rules and do things her way. Ended up killing a human and turning to the dark side because she always felt inadequate next to Buffy. Teamed up with the mayor and went full-on evil because she craved a father figure who loved her for who she was. After she woke up from the coma, her first instinct was revenge, but ultimately she saw what a mess she'd made of her own life and took responsibility for her own actions. Allowed herself to be put in prison to atone for those sins, and didn't break out (even though she was always capable) until Wesley needed her help to corral Angelus, which she did. And was willing to go back to Sunnydale with Willow (despite how she knew she would be greeted initially) to help keep The First from getting a stranglehold on Sunnydale (and, by extension, the world).

3) Willow. I always thought Willow's journey made perfect sense. Through the years, she just kept getting more and more powerful, which ultimately corrupted her. After Xander talked her down in the Season 6 finale, she realized how dangerous she had become and worked hard to rechannel her power to help the people who needed it most.

4) Buffy. I know a whole lot of people (especially here) hated later-season Buffy, but I liked where her character went in seasons 6 and 7 (and I'm probably the only one). Of course, she was bitter in season 6; she was torn out of heaven and doomed to fight demons some more. However, that bitterness never stopped her from battling those demons (both literally and figuratively). And, in season 7, she realized that she needed to take on the responsibility of gathering those potentials and doing everything in her power to fight off The First. Did her bossiness make her popular? No. But she was doing what had to be done, for the sake of the world. And they were all better off for it.

On the other hand, I think Alias' handling of Lauren was horrible. They started out with what could have been an interesting character, who would have caused interesting conflicts between Sydney and Vaughn, and turned her cartoonishly evil just because the audience hated her. Granted, that was partly the actress, but I think it would have been much more interesting to keep her on Vaughn and Syd's side.

Babylon 5 deserves its own niche in this thread, for the way its characters evolved.

G'Kar's evolution was probably the most dramatic: from a violent uber-nationalist (planetist?) to a thoughtful spiritual leader. Alongside him, Londo evolved from a self-satisfied, corrupt representative of a corrupt people, luxuriating in his privilege, to a man who actually aspired to be a little more like his innocent, idealistic Number Two man, Vir. As these characters evolved, so did their relationship -- from bitter enemies to reluctant allies to actual friends. Andreas Katsulas (I don't think I spelled that right) and Peter Jurasik deserve much credit for making this happen.

I also like the evolution of Charles E. Winchester (one of my favorite TV characters of all time) on M*A*S*H*, from a rival of "good guys" BJ and Hawkeye to an appreciated member of the club about whom even Hawkeye was able to say some good things ("though we may have wounded your pride, you never lost your dignity, so I leave you the most dignified thing I own: my bathrobe. Purple is the color of royalty."). The potential for Charles to be more than just an adversary was present from his very first season, so his evolution made good sense.
Also, I know that many M*A*S*H* fans don't agree with me, but I liked the evolution of Margaret in Seasons 4 through 7, partly because the potential for growth was always there in Margaret (as it was in Charles) from the very first season. As early as Season 1, she helped Hawkeye and Henry out on a couple of occasions. Then in season 3, when Hawkeye called her his favorite officer in the U.S. Army ("don't tell anyone"), that comment didn't exactly come out of nowhere. It made sense that she would become a little more flexible, a little more openly caring, as the seasons went by. Then, in the last three seasons, the writers ran out of interesting places to take her character, and she became annoying.

As for devolving characters, the champion of them all is Rory Gilmore. Alexis Bledel was never much of an actress, but in Season 1 her character was written as a smart, ambitious, but generous and caring person, capable of extending compassion even to her (then) bitter enemy Paris. Yet that character disappeared with sad and surprising swiftness, as soon as Jess came along; more and more episodes brought out the manipulative, self-absorbed little twit in Rory, and before long, the generous and caring person had disappeared, never to be seen again. What a disappointment: Season 1 and early Season 2 Rory was one of my favorites. Now, when other TWOP'ers talk about how much they hate her, I can't argue with them.

The problem with the evolution of Cordelia is that they went waaaay too far with it. We went from snarky Cordy to workin'-for-the-team Cordy to St. Cordy. Fortunately, her last appearance was that good middle Cordelia. And she grew her hair back and got rid of the atrocious blonde.

Not everybody looks better blonde (I'm looking at you, Jessica Alba)

Agreed, ShoppingGirl. Cordy's evolution was, at first, believable and enjoyable, but once we hit St. Cordy and beyond, it lost its spark.


ITA. There were always something deeper present in his character. One thing I always liked about his character was that once he'd really evolved, he didn't lose who he'd originally been. He was still Charles, just... more.

Logan Echolls on Veronica Mars started out as, in Veronica's words, the school's designated jackass. Then we learn that his father beats him, his bitchy sister's galivanting around who knows where, and he really just needs someone to love him. Also, within the very first episode Weevil started out just as much of a jerk, then was revealed as a sort-of ally to Veronica perfectly naturally.

Jin on Lost had a remarkable arc in a single season. He started out looking like a domineering, quasi-abusive husband, and was frightening in Sun's flashback where he is shown to be a hitman for her father. Then much later in the season we get his own flashback, and see that he despises the work he has to do, and that he was planning to leave it all behind.

Such a good example for this thread, MaggieElizabeth. I just rewatched the ep where Rory sleeps with Dean, who's married at the time (working at home -- yay). I know a lot of the TWoP devotees see that milestone as a ticket for boarding the Rory hate-train. Since then, I've tuned out of the show because of the ridiculous plot developments. But I do give the Palladino team some kudos for not giving Rory a smooth ascent into adulthood. Like nearly every late teens/early twentysomething woman I know, Rory has made some pretty awful sexual and romantic choices (Dean and Logan) not to mention bad lifestyle decisions (dropping out of school, stealing a boat) all while letting her most important relationships deteriorate. But I would say she's learning about herself through each one. For a character who was all but given angel wings for the first two years we knew her, I thought Rory's recent evolution was a true-to-life one. Now whether it's an evolution true to Rory's character or done capably by Alexis Bledel -- whew, we could be here all night discussing that.

And don't even get me started on what they've done to Luke this year *grrrrr*.

One of the worst would be Clark Kent. In the beginning of Smallville, he started out as a sweet, caring young man who looked for the best in everyone and tried not to judge his friend Lex because he is a "Luthor". But then he turned into this self-rightious jerk who lectures people on their wrong doing without acknowledging he did bad things too. He also uses his friend Lex for whatever he needs but then turns around and accuses him and says how he doesn't trust him. The only thing that he cares about is his true love Lana Lang.

He has improved in how he treats Chloe, but it's too little too late to make me want to like him.

My pick for best would have to be Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue.

His character started out as this horribly racist, sexist, drunk detective. He's lonely, bitter and jaded, and appears to hate the world. There was nothing to like, much less love about him. In the first season he ends up in a room with a hooker. It turns into a set up by an enemy where he gets shot and almost killed.

Then, as the years go by, we see changes in his character. Things that happen, both good and bad, make changes in his life. He take a few steps forward, then tragedy would strike and he's slide a few steps back and the cycle would continue.

But by the end of the series, Sipowicz had changed. His character was never perfect. But the flaws we saw in him had become the same ones we see in ourselves. We could sympathize with him during his hardships. We rejoiced with him as he dealt with the demons in his life, and became a better person.

And in the end, he became the heart of the show.

Dennis Franz was very good with that sort of character evolution (and hence, writers and producers felt able to give it to him): he traveled a smaller but similar arc in his two seasons as Lt. Buntz on Hill Street Blues.

I'm glad to see Elliot from thirtysomething mentioned here, as I thought that was one of the best examples of evolution I've seen: at the end of season 1 I would have said he was irredeemable, with the wife-leaving and all, and yet over time he did grow and genuinely change, and earned his chance to get back together with Nancy. And (as suggested in that post) Nancy was equally remarkable in a similar way: at the beginning of the series I thought that Patricia Wettig was herself a mousy, boring person, and was thrilled to realize that the actress was undertaking a challenging, multi-season piece of real character acting. The whole series was good with taking characters new places, but these two were the champs.

Within the premises of comedy, Lou Grant also traveled an interesting path over the seven seasons of Mary Tyler Moore. Partly it was just expediency for the writers, needing him to fill different roles at different points, but all credit to Ed Asner for binding it all together into an intelligible arc. Starting as an old-school "man's man," drinking a lot and always ready for a sexist assumption, very gradually waking up to some of Mary's concerns, living through an unwanted divorce, adjusting to a new life, but still at the end of it all being recognizably the person we first saw -- just changed by his experiences. (Asner was equally fine on the four seasons of his spinoff, but I'm not certain that any further evolution was charted there.)

It may still be up for debate, but Donnatella Moss, in fits and starts, grew something resembling a spine.

Julie Cooper on The OC is an example for a good Character Evolution. She started out as a one dimensional bitch, gold-digging, but as the show progressed more sides of her have been revealed and I think nowadays she's sort of a human bitch, she has low and high points, she's the kind of character that can do anything good or bad and it will still be in character. I still haven't decided if credit goes to the writing or to Melinda Clarke's great portrayal of her.
The same could be said about Logan Echolls on Veronica Mars, who started out as a jackass but later on, more sides of him have been revealed, and Jason Dohring's endearing performance only added to the character.

I usually think it's easier to make good character evolutions with bad guys / bitches, and make them multi-dimensional. Although that's not the case of Gabrielle on Desperate Houseviwes IMO.

Roseanne was guilty of a number of dreadful character (d)evolutions. Jackie started the series as the somewhat flaky but still pretty grounded, sensible sister. By the last few years, she seemed to constantly be auditioning to take over Don Knotts' role as Mr. Furley. The only time she was ever herself again that I can recall was when it was revealed that Dan fell in love with another woman and she had it out with him. There might have been other times but by then it was almost impossible to watch the show.

Something similar happened with Becky; she went from the responsible, straight-A student who fell for Mr. Wrong to a complete ditz who seemed to have had a lobotomy rather than just a change of actresses playing her.

That same show did manage to have that great arc over several seasons of Darlene going from young tomboy to sullen teen to fairly with-it young woman, though, so it wasn't all bad.

And word to everyone who mentioned Joey on Friends. It seemed like the last couple years they just took one charcter trait of each friend and blew it up to the point where that was the character in his or her entirety. (ex. Monica = obsessive-compulsive freak)

Yes it's sad. The characters were actually more three-dimensional in the early seasons, than in the last five or so. Monica always had issues, but she was maternal and sensible too; she was especially sympathetic when dealing with her parents or discussing her longing for a baby. By the end, she was such a horrible, smug, controlling monster that I didn't want her anywhere near a baby.

All the other Friends became flat stereotypes too, and it was just absurd how much they had regressed into moronic adolescents.

Another evolution I didn't care for: Nate Jr. on Six Feet Under. Towards the end, he kept making horrible mistakes that ultimately affected not only his self-absorbed ass but his loved ones. I understood the prodigal son aspect at the beginning of the show. But by season five, Nate wasn't just a son anymore. His death was the only thing that redeemed his cheating on pregnant Brenda for me. On the other hand, I loved the arc they did with Brenda. She went from a confused and impulsive broad with so many demons to a responsible wife and mother who made a comfortable peace with her issues. And Rachel Griffiths just rocked the role the whole way.

A great, slow evolution was Quinn Morgandorffer from Daria. She was known as the shallow little sister, but there were instances where she showed more depth (Writing the A+ essay, showing intellect to her tutor). In the finale movie, she has to take a job to pay off expensive shoes. There she befriends a college age hostess and begins to realize there is more to life than following trends. Then she has to deal with whether or not she should confront her hostess friend about her drinking problem. By the end of the movie, she decides to break from the Fashion Club. I thought it was great how the writers didn't just make her the mean popular girl and gave her room to grow.

Another horrible devolution from a TV favorite: Sam Malone.

Early on, Sam was something of an equal to Diane in matching wits. Yes, he was uneducated, but he had some wisdom to him, too. And some wit, as in the time (early on in Season one...) where he talks with Diane about the colors of her eyes...never having seen that color before, etc. He charms her, and she falls for it, and he wins that small battle. Later on in the series, he could never have done that--he was as dull-headed as Coach was in early seasons, but without Coach's charm. And as for wisdom? Sam's the one who, when Diane is leaving the bar (when Shelley Long made the bad career move), tells her to have a good life. He knows it's goodbye. Diane, of course, laughs this, telling him "I'll be back. You'll see. I'll be back." And then she leaves, and we see her going up the steps, and Sam softly repeats: "Have a good life." Such a great moment.

And then, when the next season begins, Sam is a complete oaf, without depth. The show was never the same after that, though I still enjoyed it, and it wasn't really the absence of Diane, but rather the mishandling of Sam.

I think when shows decrease in quality the character evolutions go downhill fast. For example how almost everyone on Boy Meets World became cartoonish or nothing like they were in the first season.

In the same way the characters on Buffy changed. Buffy went from have semi equally balanced life before her death. She had friends, family, boyfriend, and school. She was a person who happened to be a slayer. But after she came those things were gone; all she was just a slayer. Willow had the most change through out the series, bordering on too much change. She was almost unrecognizable toward the end. Xander and Giles did not have any character development after blowing up the high school. Any development they could have was giving to other characters that got brought in: Faith, Anya, Riley, Spike and sadly Dawn.

I agree Darlene on Roseanne is a greet example of character evolution. I think if they did not replace the actress who played Becky then that character might have become something, instead of de-evolving into that did not resemble Becky anymore. In addition, most of the characters on OZ developed well. They changed to fit the setting of a prison.

Also when Wesley moved to Angel; his evolution is like the character of Barbara in Night of the Living Dead and the remake. He went from being meek to a guy who could fight for himself.

I have to concur with the evolution of Elliot Weston being the best written. He grew into a man who deserved Nancy, but you still could recognize him throughout.

The worst? Well, the destruction of Adam Rove (Joan of Arcadia) has to rank up there.

As the show That's so Raven progresses I think Chelsea is getting dumber and dumber, and worse, I think it is much funnier for it. I think that Anneliese van der Pol is very talented and plays the character well.

I would think that Carrie on SATC is the owner of this thread. In season 1, she is all carefree, wild and independent, as the show progressed, she became an obnoxious, irresponsible, self entitled, dramatic and desperate diva. She gives up her career, her life, to be with a guy, not even bothering to think about the consequences, SHEESH!!!

Wordy McWordy McWord. I was just about to say Londo and G'Kar, but fortunately I scrolled down first.

Also word to the person who said that by the end of Friends, every character had become their quirks. That happened to the cast of Cheers, too.

I also hate(d) Carrie, but I don't know if I ever would have called her "independent." Carrie had her own career and her own money, but everything she did was about getting a boyfriend, many times at the expense of the girlfriends she claimed to be devoted to. Having to constantly blab about how independent you are often means you are anything but. In the episode where she might have to move out of her apartment, the audience discovers that she has almost no savings, because she spends all her money on designer clothes and fancy dinners out. She's a big, dumb, helpless child who can't cook, clean, balance her checkbook, fix her computer, or do absolutely anything for herself. The scenes with her at Aidan's mountain house when she's wearing stilettos and won't do anything involving "nature" are supposed to be cute, but they're obnoxious.

Regarding her love life, Carrie met Mr. Big early on in the first season and ended up with him in the finale. The writers wanted to see it as coming full circle. I saw it as not growing up. Mr. Big cheated on Natasha, and Carrie completely broke Aidan's heart. Yet they always justified their horrendous actions by saying they were meant to be together. If anything, her relationship with Big was what caused her to devolve so much as a character. She depended on him and constantly needed his attention/validation, to the detriment of any pluckiness or spirit she might have displayed at the beginning of the series.

On the other hand, I saw a lot of growth from Samantha. Initially, she was just there to shock people. Yet, as the show progressed, she showed some of her vulnerabilities. Getting a chemical peel was vain, but it allowed her to admit that she was self-conscious about her age. She got genuinely pissed at Carrie when she felt like Carrie was passing judgment on Samantha's sex life, allowing Samantha to acknowledge that, no matter how liberated she was about her sexuality, it bothered her that other people didn't feel the same way. At the end of the show, she was in a relationship with Smith, a guy who challenged her and made her feel good about herself. Although they had become monogamous, they didn't get married, move in together, or even exchange "I love you"s. All the other girls on the show got into "happily ever after" pairs at the end of the series, but Samantha simply said to Smith, "you mean more to me than any man I have ever known." She stayed entirely true to her unsentimental character while acknowledging that she had changed and grown thanks to their relationship.

I have to agree with queenbee9b on Steve Sanders. I always thought that Steve was nothing more than the bumbling best friend. Even though he tried in the early seasons, it wasn't until the later years that he really grew up. He was mature and caring.

As for destruction, I hate what Lost has done to Sawyer this season. While he has always been somewhat of a jerk, he was at least (to me) likeable. This season I almost cringe anytime he's on screen, especially lately. He just seems mean now, with no redeeming qualities. He seems to have lost his edge and his spark. He's no fun anymore. Pretty sad since he was my fave character last season.

So much word. I'll get to him later, but I am putting Bree and Susan from Desperate Housewives here. They have the worst stories on the show right now. Whereas Gabby and Carlos have the best evolutions.

The Best: Chloe from Smallville. She went from a very insecure girl to a more mature woman. Also Wesley Windham-Pryce. I didn't like him to much after S3 but he evolved.

The worst: Clark Kent from Smallville. He went from cute and willing to give everybody a chance to a holier-than-thou, self-righteous, holding everybody accountable except Lana, asshat. Gunn from Angel. How is it that TPTB took a very cool character and slowly assassinate said character within like 2 seasons? I missed the old Gunn.

I thought that Rachel on Friends was a pretty evolved character. She started off as the rich, spoiled girl and ended up an independent, successful business woman (and mother). I also think that Chandler was pretty evolved. He seemed more secure and confident towards the end of the series.

On that same thread... Joey's evolution was the worst. I found him funny but he just got dumber and dumber. Every once in awhile we got the "street smart" Joey, but really he was just dumb. It's sad.

In a nutshell, he turned into his father. It's a shame they didn't play up Clark's dorkier/shy side more throughout the show. Clark was so endearing in those first few seasons. Now he's just an ass.

Wesley from Angel is one of my favorites for all of the reasons previously stated a few pages back.

I'm just starting to get into Farscape and I really like the evolution of Aeryn Sun and how she learned to let go of all the things that were drilled into her during her upbringing and training. One of the best scenes of the first season was where she got to confront Crais, the man who was responsible for her banishment and removal from everything she knew and loved, and she tells him, "I lost everything because of you! You know what I learned while I was away from you? Everything I lost isn't worth a damn!" After that she seemed to spend a lot of time trying to figure out exactly where she belonged. Yet despite all her changes she didn't turn into a total softie. She was still a bad-ass with a fondness for big guns.


I also love the evolution of Jack "Spy Daddy" Bristow on Alias. He went from someone so cold and detached that he couldn't even bring himself to have dinner with his daughter to someone who melts at the sight of his granddaughter and calls her "sweetheart". Watching the ice melt away from his heart over the years has been lovely indeed. And again, despite all that, he's still a bad-ass.



Yeah, that wasn't even an evolution. That was the desperate act of producers who were trying to do something - anything - to kick up the ratings in order to keep from being canceled. And then they made it even worse by half-assing the aftermath. If you are going to make a character do a 180, at least own it. And what was the result? Cancellation.

After having read the entire DC Infinite Crisis series in one sitting, I think I've figured out what's up with Clark on Smallville:

He's not destined to be Superman. He's destined to be Superboy-Prime, a superpowered psychotic willing to destroy everyone and everything in order to get back to his home universe, the one where he's the only hero - and willing to blame his victims for "making him" kill them.

It's the only way I can force the character to make any sense to me...

Well, this explains everything. And it makes sense (Something Smallville ceased to do years ago).

If the monkeys in charge have the titanium balls to end the series like that, I will declare Smallville the greatest damned show in the history of ever. That's the only way Clark Kent's descent into utter stupidity and whininess could make any sense.

I'd say Captain Jonathan Archer's character "evolution" in Enterprise was the worst, but I don't think his character really ever did evolve. In the first two seasons, he was a jackass, but an affable jackass. By season 3 and 4, he was a bobbleheading, foaming at the mouth, always pissed off jackass.

Amen. I was actually confused by what they did to Adam. Holy crap. He cheated on Joan? And let's add Joan to the list. She was always kind of petulant and cranky, but she learned something after each visitation. Then season two rolls around. I can understand her resisting her connection to God. Pretty heavy stuff. They could have addressed that intelligently and thoughtfully. I remember complaining to Mr. Rosey (on a rare occasion that he watched the show with me) that Joan never learned anything anymore. She just made the same mistakes over and over. She just turned into a whiner. No wonder Amber Tamblyn was pissed.

I thought the evolution of Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) on The Comeback was outstanding: from an attention-starved person dependent on approval and recognition from others, to someone more healthily detached and self-confident following some rough experiences, right back to her original personality once she started getting some attention again. The last scene of her autographing customized barf bags after her appearance on the The Tonight Show was almost novelistic.

The evolution of Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show always struck me as pretty weird. He went from an arrogant Ivy League jock when he first appeared to a totally put-upon weenie in the end.

And on that note, they really screwed up Lex, too. They way they were heading for the first three seasons, Lex looked to end up as a charismatic, sympathetic character who did some seriously questionable things, but did them because he thought they were the right things. And maybe even saw it as his duty to protect the Earth from a virtually omnipotent alien prone to frequent bouts of instability, even insanity. The whole Naman/Segeeth thing, where Lex suggested that Segeeth could be the hero? That was fantastic. Now he's just the latest in a long line of Lana worshippers.

I have to say that the character of Taylor Townsend from The OC is an example of a great character evolution. She started off like a poor man's Tracey Flick and then gradually grew into this mutli-dimensional sounding board and one of the only decent characters still on The OC.

Ooh, does this mean we'll get to see him carve an S into his chest and punch Lana's head clean off without even trying?

Only if she gets in his way.

"Why did you make me do that, Lana? Why couldn't you just call me God, instead of making me rip your guts out and feed them to a rabid squirrel?"

Oh, yes, watching Joan go from a smart, if petulant and unfocused girl to a total idiot who didn't learn anything and took everything literally (I kept waiting for an exchange like, "Joan, we really need to address the elephant in the room." "Elephant?!? Where??") when before she frequently commented about how she knew God usually spoke to her in metaphors. At first when she struggled with that God asked her to do, it was usually because she was barking up the wrong tree or because she didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle so she couldn't see the whole picture, but then she'd figured it out and take action. That turned into Joan never getting it, even after her "mission" was over, and God would basically have to sit her down at the end of the episode and explain what happened and why - only so she could completely forget everything that happened by the next episode. For a show to work, you have to really be behind the main character in order to go along for the ride, and after a while it got really hard to get behind Joan.

As for Smallville, I don't know why I still torture myself with that show. Chloe has had her ups and downs as a character, but my only real complaint is that I wish she'd give up on Clark because she deserves better and he's never going to remove his nose from Lana's bum. But just about everyone else has gotten progessively worse -- because of Lana. Heck, even Lana has gotten worse. I caught a season one episode not long ago and I was amazed at how I didn't want to hurt Lana. She was still mildly annoying and the fact that she wore a chunk of the rock that killed her parents around her neck was creepy, but she was tolerable. But now it is like she believes her own hype and fully expects the world to revolve around her.

kostgard how far are you through Farscape? I don't know because this might be a tad spoilery if you read on.

You however wrote that -

Oh TOTALLY, that's one of the reasons why Aeryn is my favourite 'Farscape' character. And its great that she genuinely struggles with getting closer to people, particularly to Crichton but step-by-step, makes it. Her relationship with Talyn the hybrid Leviathian-Peacekeeper warship and with Pilot are particularly touching, she's almost Talyn's mother in a strange way and behaves in a very maternal manner towards him, as for Pilot, she just values everything he says and trusts him in a kind of bone-deep sort of way which is remarkable progress for a woman who was taught all her life to be distrustful of people.

She was really unsure about the pregnancy initially, but as time progressed she became incredibly protective of that baby and loved it, even though it hadn't arrived, so badly she'd die for it, as she nearly did whilst being tortured in 'Prayer' towards the end of the fourth season and how far she went in 'Peacekeeper Wars', particularly in her relationship with Rygel who was serving as a temporary surrogate for the little tyke. Her getting with Crichton in the end was definitely pay off.

As for truly diabolical acts perpetrated against a television character I point you no further than ER, those characters have been sabotaged every last one and they are only just trying to recover from it. One character in-particular is especially ruined, for this I direct you to a link elsewhere because other-wise I'd be repeating myself, mine is second from bottom so just scroll-up above the one that's directly linked.the destruction of Kerry Weaver Perhaps slightly out of context, but I swear, that's what they did and we are supposed to think that's alright? No, its piss poor writing, that's what that is.

Anyone mention Jack Bristow yet?

Maybe the reason I think Jack developed well is that most of the other characters on Alias went through weird repolarizations, rather than evolution. Ditto with Wesley on Angel: all the other characters on the show developed poorly, which made Wesley stand out.

Jack started out as a wreck of a human being. Brilliant, but barely holding it together. He eventually came to terms with his wife and connected with his daughter. He lost his fear (which was really a major part of his personality). He accomplished his life's mission, helping to bring down the Alliance. I can't say he became less serious, because that strategic part of his brain is always at work, but he gained the ability to let down his guard a little. Making jokes and developing work friendships.

That's the way the character was written, so I guess Jack's evolution is the writers' accomplishment. But he's probably the best actor of the regular cast. (That was true with Wesley as well.) Maybe Garber was able to have a consistent, growing character because he kept up that ambiguity. Vartan, for example, couldn't handle nuance, so he was Boy Scout most of the time, a bad guy every once in a while. Rifkin is really the only competition for best actor on Alias, and he sure played an ambiguous character, but really didn't evolve per se.

eta: I shouldn't say anything about character development on Alias until next week, because who knows what'll happen on the finale.

Why, the problem with that characterization of an "evil" Lex Loser was that it didn't involve Lana and her magical vagina! HATE.

All this profound talk about Aeryn Sun is making me depressed. I watched the series, but obviously, I did not appreciate it and the characters enough! D'oh. I've been praying for reruns for a year now. Don't think I'll get them.