Second season improvments

N

Nut_Sac

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Sometimes, a show can get a little better over time if they get another season. However, the improvements can sometimes be really noticeable. It is like the writers went to an online forum and worked on the problems that viewers were complaining about. I can think of two shows that were noticeably better in their second seasons:

American Dragon: Jake Long. The first season was OK. I was hooked on the Huntsgirl plot and the fact that Jake let his friends know about the magical world after they learned about it and therefore not return to the status quo was a plus, but everything else was hit or miss for me. The second season had better writing, more character development and (though this is debatable among fans) a better art style.

The Replacements. The first season was bad. It was the same formula of replacing people Todd and Riley didn't like and learning from it over and over again. The second season was much better (not great but decent to good) because it was more character driven and the replacement program was used with a little more creativity.

Does anyone else want to contribute?
 
The first show that came to my mind when I saw the title was Justice League. The second season for one didn't make Superman look like a grandpa. And the episodes themselves felt like a huge step up from the first season. The villain team up was also done better in the 2nd season.
 
Easily The Ren and Stimpy Show. While the first season has it's share of hits, the second season (especially the cartoons produced while John K was still in charge) look terrific. They brought in Rough Draft, used Carbunkle more and polished up the overall look of the show.
 
Do you mean The Replacements instead? I had to double-take when seeing The Weekenders since it's one of my favorite cartoons.

But I agree with how Jake Long became a lot better in the second season. The first season was hit or miss, but once the second season rolled around I actually became really into the storyline and the relationship between Jake and Rose. But it did take me a while to get used to the new art style
 
As good as the first season of Avatar was, the second season managed to trump it (mainly for the addition of Toph to the gAang).
 
American Dad - The first season isn't particularly strong. But the second season showed some great improvements.
I usually skip Volume 1 when I'm marathon-ing the series in the background
 
Well, there are two cases of improvements.

When season 1 was bad, but season 2 turned out to be surprisingly good.

That would be Legion of Superheroes. First season of of LOSH was a pretty standard kiddy cartoon, but the second one really upped the overall quality with the multiple story arcs and dark themes here and there.

Jusitce league also falls into this category, as it's been said.

Then there is another case when first season were already amazing and the second was even better.

That would be Avatar, the second season of which is easily the best piece of storytelling i ever witnessed in my life. The first and third seasons of ATLA are great too, but they're simply no match for "Book Earth".
 
Justice League is one that immediately comes to mind for me. Looking over the first season again, there's a lot of lazy writing even on the really good episodes like "Enemy Below" and "Brave and the Bold". But somewhere around "Savage Time" things really started to shift. There's a great featurette on the S2 DVD where the creators talk about really stepping up their game and cracking the whip, and the work shows.
 
Tiny Toon Adventures had this kind of improvement. The first season was very enjoyable, but the second and third seasons were the tops. The writing and scoring was better.
 
Mighty B: While the first season wasn't the best, the second season improved by making the stories more wacky and less gross. Towards the end of the season the episodes were awesome. Too bad the first season led to it's cancellation.
 
The Simpsons. Season 1 was decent for what it was, but season 2 showed a huge improvement by tightening the animation and dialog so the comic timing was faster, adding more satire and better writing, expanding the cast of characters, and solidifying the look of the Simpson's house (in season 1, it was kind of all over the place). The character designs also were more pleasing to the eye.

Yeah, just from an animation standpoint, season 2 was leaps and bounds better. I do love the plots and humor from season 1, though. And I don't think either of us would deny "Space Madness" and "Stimpy's Invention" are gold. ;)

(On a side note: I'm still baffled how anyone can like the animation from season 1 better than the first Games season. At least season 3 wasn't full of animation errors and choppy movements. Methinks some just say, "Oh it's Games, therefore it sucks" instead of looking at the animation objectively)
 
Avatar's second season was 100x better than the first season, so that applies here.. The better animation, story, stronger bending/better choreography... Pretty much explains it.

Clannad After Story was much better than Clannad.. Both are great though. But there's no comparing Clannad to After Story.. haha
 
As others had mentioned, JL was the first show I thought of. Outside of that, Futurama, Gargoyles, and SWAT Kats.
 
I am going to say Ed Edd n Eddy. I didn't think that the animation was all that great during season 1 and I didn't care for the more stylized backgrounds. I also didn't like very many episodes.
 
spider man the animated series season 2 was when they started doing storylines

men in black slecker animation

freakazoid season couldn't make heads or tails of it season 2 full half hour stories
 
Both the 1990s Fantastic Four and Iron Man Animated Series improved greatly in S2. Villains became a more credible threat, the characters had more personality and the stories were more creative (Such as Iron Man moving beyond the standard "Mandarin tries to steal Stark's armor").



Plus, the Season Season had filler episodes which were actually fun, rather than simply taking away from the storyline based episodes. Season One's filler wasn't horrible, but it certainly lacked something in terms of rewatching value.
 
Yeah, Freakazoid found its legs in season two, which was sadly its last season. For me it was "season 1 was great, but season 2 was simply aweeesome." We had full plots and which delved into characters more. At least we can say it ended on a high.
 
GaoGaiGar, the first season stuck to monster of the day mechanics and lacked substance. In season two (or perhaps you could consider it half way through the series) they kicked things up about 100 notches, started developing a worth while story and pushed hot blooded action to the stratosphere basically forgetting it was intended for children's television and selling toys.
 
Agree that the 2nd and 3rd season of The Simpsons are at their best. Most of the episodes started to be more centered to the secondary characters than the main family which help to the creativity of the animated show for some years. (At least, until 1998-99 which is start to be too digital and saturated at my opinion.)

Ren & Stimpy season 2 wasn't my favorite period honnestly. The first and a semi-part of third season are the bests. (Space Madness, Ren Hoek, Stimpy's Invention for season 1. Stimpy's Cartoon Show, To Slave and Slave Not highlights my season 3 favs.)
 
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