Retool/Playing With

Basic Trope: The format of a show is changed to appeal to new viewers.

• Straight: Alice and Bob, a struggling sitcom with some noticeable dramatic elements, is slowly turned into a balls-to-the-wall comedy.
• Exaggerated: Alice and Bob, a struggling dramatic series, is turned into an almost Dadaist comedy in the span of one episode.
• Justified: Viewers came for the comedy but didn't stay for the drama.
• Inverted: Alice and Bob, a show enjoying the peak of its popularity, is suddenly changed for little to no good reason.
• Subverted: The shift was temporary. A couple years later, it's back to its old self again.
• Double Subverted: But that shift back was temporary, too.
• Parodied: The producers change everything about the show, including the title and the main characters - to the point where anyone wonders if it's the same show anymore.
• Deconstructed: The Retool doesn't pay off: not only do the fans of the show stop tuning in, but the new premise fails to draw any new viewers.
• Reconstructed: The Retool pays off and gets new viewers in the door.
• Zig Zagged: Some elements of the show are gone for good, but others eventually see their way to returning.
• Averted: No changes are made.
• Enforced: "Ratings are down for this show. Let's change it from a dramatic sitcom to a straight-up sitcom!"
• Lampshaded: "Remember when you used to be serious?" "I don't think about that, and neither should you."
• Invoked: See "Enforced".
• Defied: The producers decide that even though they may need new fans, they don't want to upset the fans they already have.
• Discussed: "Didn't our lives seem a lot more serious until a few months ago?" "Now that you mention it..."
• Conversed: ???

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