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I think this happens because show-writers are threading the personality of a character through successive generational sieves. A character who is known for traits X, Y, and Z may lose two of those traits as they go out of style with audiences, leaving the character one-dimensional.

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I don't think it's the audience, it's the writers. The original show-writers usually don't last more than a couple seasons. This is why third seasons always suck. Each new generation of writers home in on specific traits to get scripts written, which naturally gets exaggerated every year as writers shuffle in and out. There are probably character summaries to get new writers up to speed which make this process even more explicit.

I feel this can sometimes happen even when the writers stay the same.

Highly subjective opinion incoming!

By season 3, the characters on the BBC show Sherlock had become caricatures of their season 1 selves. Though maybe it doesn't help that the characterisation was always a bit over the top anyway...

Which of Ned Flanders' early-series characteristics went out of style with audiences?

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