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- A.N.T. Farm took the kids out of the local school (and by extension the A.N.T. program) and moved them into a boarding school owned by a high-tech corporation... for some reason. China's family got cut from the cast as a result.
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? attempted this with a "relaunched" series that aired three years after the conclusion of the original series, and had almost none of the production crew or cast (save for Daniel DeSanto as Tucker, who formed the "New Midnight Society"). The revamped show did well enough to last a further two seasons.
- Barney & Friends' format has constantly changed. The original Backyard Gang videos each took place at a different setting each episode and had a fixed cast of six kids (with one cast member being replaced halfway through the series' run and another having a one-time substitute), and Baby Bop was only introduced near the end of its run. After it was greenlit as a television series, the show stayed at a school, brought back four of the Backyard Gang kids, and introduced three new ones. BJ was introduced in Season 2, and three more kids were brought in. All of the Backyard Gang veterans had left by season 3, while Stella and Mr. Boyd made their debuts. Season 4 introduced a fully redesigned school set, brought in a new generation of kids while promoting a handful who had small roles in season 3 and/or were exclusive to home videos to full-time status, and added puppet characters Scooter McNutty and Miss Etta Kette. A third puppet, Booker T. Bookworm, joined in Season 5, but was cut in Season 6. Season 7 moved the setting from a school to a park and once again reshuffled its child cast; Stella and the puppets were gone but Mr. Boyd stuck around. Season 9 replaced all but a handful of the children and mixed park segments with parts on a white background featuring just the dinos. Season 10 introduced Riff and took on a Two Shorts format. Season 12 reverted to the full-length format and focused on story genres. Season 13 was about countries and cultures.
- Boy Meets World got retooled several times of the course of its run:
- Season 2: Cory, Topanga, and Shawn start going to John Adams High. Mr. Feeny follows them. Eric has a much larger role, and begins to take on The Ditz traits of his "modern persona." Topanga abandons her Granola Girl roots and becomes a nerd. More of Shawn's home life is revealed. Mr. Turner, "the bullies," and Chubbie's are introduced. Also, the show loses Minkus, and abandons the old theme song and credits sequence.
- Season 5: At the start of their senior year, Shawn reunites with his Long Lost Sibling Jack, who joins the main cast. Shawn, Jack and Eric (now attending college) move in together in an apartment, and Jack becomes Eric's best friend and comedy sidekick. Heretofore Kidanova Shawn gets a steady girlfriend Angela, who becomes a recurring character. Mr. Turner falls victim to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome and main high school set is changed to the senior hallway. The show gains an increased focus on running storylines, something it had already been experimenting with. Finally, the classic Theme Tune (with lyrics!) is introduced.note
- Season 6: Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Angela graduate and go to Pennbrook University. Mr. Feeny follows them. Angela becomes a member of the main cast. Cory and Topanga get engaged, but don't exactly make a mad dash for the altar. Rachel joins the cast and moves in with Eric (now a full-on Cloudcuckoolander) and Jack, setting up a Love Triangle. Alan, Amy, and Morgan are reduced to Commuting on a Bus.
- The Electric Company (1971) returned in the late 00s as an updated version — filled with rapping kids with superpowers fighting bad guys, Mind Control plots, and other elements that reek of Executive Meddling. Even Joan Ganz Cooney, the creator of Sesame Street, didn't think it was all that good.
- H₂O: Just Add Water drops the leader of the main trio in Season 3. Lewis, the main male character, leaves to go study in America.
- For its fourth and final season Hannah Montana removed Mitchell Musso from the main cast, moved the Stewart family into a bigger house, had Lilly come to live with them, and replaced the series' most-used outdoor set (a generic beach) with a mock-up of Santa Monica Pier. Along with these sweeping changes, the show was renamed Hannah Montana Forever.
- Kirby Buckets, during its first two seasons, was a sitcom about a teenage boy who wanted to be a professional cartoonist, not unlike Out of Jimmy's Head. The format then shifted in season 3 to become a dimension-warping action show. The cartoon cutaways were dropped, only making brief cameos at the beginning and end of the season, and the episodic format was replaced by a serial-style series.
- Lab Rats started off being a show about a teenage boy introducing his stepdad's bionic children into the real world, while occasionally having to fight of dangerous threats. The last three episodes of Season 3 and all of Season 4 moved the setting to an X-Men-style bionic academy in the middle of the ocean and focused more on the Lab Rats mentoring the abandoned bionic soldiers of the previous season's Big Bad and the normal teenager starting to become a fighter of his own.
- Similarly to the Hannah Montana example above, the fourth and final season of Liv and Maddie moves the Rooneys to their Aunt Dena's house in Malibu, California following the destruction of their Wisconsin home at the end of season three, adds Liv and Maddie's cousin Ruby to the cast, and portrays the twins as attending a prestigious college. Also, the season is renamed Liv & Maddie: Cali Style.
M-Z
- Although Power Rangers gets a retool every year with new costumes and mecha (and as of the seventh season onward a new cast and storyline), some are more notable than others:
- Midway through Power Rangers Turbo 4/5 of the main cast were jettisoned in favor of a new cast. This was done to save the show from failing ratings, and the Retool was just enough of a ratings boost to warrant another season...
- ... Which was Power Rangers in Space. The "kids in high school battle the Monster of the Week and go home" concept was left behind, and arc-based series with the Rangers, well, IN SPACE! took prominence. Additionally, the villains of all past series formed a Legion of Doom. By the time it was over, fans underwhelmed by Turbo and then hit with the loss of their favorite characters (in addition to the belief that this would be the final series) had forgiven the Seasonal Rot and wanted more. They're still getting it.
- Power Rangers RPM was also supposed to be the last season. It was also a vast departure from the way Power Rangers as usual is done. A post-apocalyptic world's last survivors are in a domed city defended by three, then five, then seven heroes led by the genius inventor who actually created the evil AI that started the Robot War.
- Saved by the Bell:
- The show was retooled again after the gang graduated and moved on to California University. In addition to the new setting and a few new characters, the stories became somewhat more "grown-up." The new show didn't make it to a second season.
- The New Class spin-off was retooled every season with cast changes left and right. The show also featured a different set of non-Bayside episodes every season that took place at different locations including a country club, a mountain lodge, a cruise ship, and the local mall.
- Shining Time Station was retooled twice at the end of its life. First, while keeping its title, the show became a prime time series that aired in spurts as a series of specials. Unlike the child-pleasing daytime series, this version added elements of teen drama (such as the addition of a juvenile delinquent from an abusive household), and featured extensive location shooting, breaking free of the prior version's omnipresent train station interior. (The new-found sense of maturity was actually referenced on the show, as Mr. Conductor appeared as usual to relate an Island of Sodor story to the kids, only to be told that they had outgrown Thomas stories). After a handful of these episodes, the show returned to daytime under the new title of Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, which scrapped the entire cast except for George Carlin as Mr. Conductor, and focused almost entirely on Sodor segments.
- Sonny with a Chance is about small town girl Sonny who joins the cast of her favorite sketch comedy show So Random!. Demi Lovato (who played the titular character) ended up quitting the show and taking a temporary break from acting after season two, to deal with some personal problems and also focus on their music career. Disney retooled it by defictionalizing So Random!. Yep, the show within the show became the actual show!
- While billed as a Spin-Off of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Suite Life On Deck featured four of the main characters from its parent series (including the two leads), and simply changed the location from the hotel to a cruise ship.
- In its second season to accommodate its full-time move to Nick Jr., The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss abandoned its half-hour story, replaced the Cat's voice with a less gravelly alternative, and became more of a Blue's Clues-style kids show. Season 1 has been viewed as superior by DMHFan of Muppet Central.
