I would agree, though some later books (maybe starting around Carpe Jugulum, but also sometimes crops up in earlier works) felt less wacky -- and often angrier -- to me. Hence I stopped after Thud!.
Media That Started Out Kind of Lousy And Ended Up Really Good/Great (6 Viewers)
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Is it okay if I cheat a little and say Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by itself? Because while parts it were almost physically painful to watch, I thought the finale did a great job to wrap everything up. I especially enjoyed the last few seconds: A sign that says, "Welcome to Sunnydale" falls backward into the crater where the town used to be. Someone asks Buffy what happens now, and a smile slowly comes over her as she realizes that for the first time in far too long--maybe her entire life--what happens now is entirely up to her.
I didn't care for Pulp Fiction when I finally saw it. It just seemed like a series of sordid things happening to characters I didn't empathize with...until Jules gave his speech in the final scene. Then I thought back to the earlier plots and realized that this was what the film was really about. It's one of the most powerful moments in film that I can recall, and it completely changed the way I evaluated the rest of the film.
I didn't care for Pulp Fiction when I finally saw it. It just seemed like a series of sordid things happening to characters I didn't empathize with...until Jules gave his speech in the final scene. Then I thought back to the earlier plots and realized that this was what the film was really about. It's one of the most powerful moments in film that I can recall, and it completely changed the way I evaluated the rest of the film.
Both the computer animated Star Wars cartoons. The first season of Clone Wars is nearly dire, and the second isn't amazing either, but it steadily improves in every aspect.
Rebels never reaches the lows of Clone Wars (and consensus is that it doesn't reach the highs either, although I'd personally disagree), but the first season is definitely less serious than the rest, and like Clone Wars before it (which used a different art style than Clone Wars, meaning Rebels couldn't just use their art assets), Rebels looked better and better over time.
The first couple of Discworld books are fairly decent goofy comedy-fantasy novels. They quickly bloom into something incredible.
The last stretch of the books isn't incredible, but it's not stagnant, either, which I really appreciated.
They aren't as good, or as wacky, but they take the world he'd created and move it forward, and extrapolate what could happen in a place like that. Several of the characters have actually accomplished things, changed the world for good, and there are anachronistic things abound throughout the books. The later books consider what clever people with wacky magic and otherwordly beings might come up with in that setting. A fantasy comedy setting, where the author evolved the setting to develop a fantastic telegraph and postage system!
I also really enjoy some good righteously angry comedy, and so the slightly "tired of the world still insisting on being so dumb about all this" tone was deeply satisfying to me.
Oh my goodness, the books' quality was like a story. Started at the low point, got more and more exciting, peaked, and then tapered off for an epilogue.
Rebels never reaches the lows of Clone Wars (and consensus is that it doesn't reach the highs either, although I'd personally disagree), but the first season is definitely less serious than the rest, and like Clone Wars before it (which used a different art style than Clone Wars, meaning Rebels couldn't just use their art assets), Rebels looked better and better over time.
The later Discworld books were definitely different than the mid-period books, but I just have to speak up for them here, because I see people say they aren't good and feel "off" all the time, and it disappoints me a bit. To be clear: I know you aren't doing that here, you specifically said they felt less wacky and angrier, not worse.
The first couple of Discworld books are fairly decent goofy comedy-fantasy novels. They quickly bloom into something incredible.
The last stretch of the books isn't incredible, but it's not stagnant, either, which I really appreciated.
They aren't as good, or as wacky, but they take the world he'd created and move it forward, and extrapolate what could happen in a place like that. Several of the characters have actually accomplished things, changed the world for good, and there are anachronistic things abound throughout the books. The later books consider what clever people with wacky magic and otherwordly beings might come up with in that setting. A fantasy comedy setting, where the author evolved the setting to develop a fantastic telegraph and postage system!
I also really enjoy some good righteously angry comedy, and so the slightly "tired of the world still insisting on being so dumb about all this" tone was deeply satisfying to me.
Oh my goodness, the books' quality was like a story. Started at the low point, got more and more exciting, peaked, and then tapered off for an epilogue.
Ooh! In this vein: the Peter Bogdanovich film Targets. It's a thriller about a spree shooter shooting up the LA area, with ruminations on the nature of horror as the film juxtaposes the shooter with an aging Boris Karloff. Mostly I thought it was *fine*, if not something I'd watch all the way through. Then the climax happens and COMPLETELY turns the film around for me! You all should check it out.
Spoiler: Show
I'm a bad case for "heavy" subject matter: I get weighed down easier, and it takes longer for me to recover. So I might be able to enjoy a work with those sorts of things in it, but it can be an ordeal to survive. Not worse, just so different that it was no longer what I wanted out of the series. I do think it's fair to let others know that there is a change in case they'd feel the same way. No one has to read an entire series.
I'm somewhat reluctant to say this because it's not something that I have personal acquaintance with, but my impression is that the Shantae video game franchise could qualify as this. Starts off as a minor and really basic offering of the mascot platformer type, at a time when such a thing was already beginning to lose steam and released on the Game Boy in a way that meant it both had a lot of competition for attention and was out near the end of that console's lifespan to not give it much time to get a following. Has since managed to build itself up as a series with a well-developed gameplay model, a compelling and charming setting and cast of characters, and a reasonably dedicated following, with respectable sales figures to show for it.
I kind of wonder if gaming comeback stories like CP2077 and No Man Sky, are viable?
I thought Agents of SHIELD would be the trope namer...
The first season was just awful, until the big reveal at the end. After that it kept (mostly) getting better, with just a couple of misses.
Man...after Thud! there's Wintersmith (all Tiffany Aching is worth it), Nation (which is without a doubt my favorite Pratchett book, but it is not Discworld), I Shall Wear Midnight, Snuff (a quite thoughtful exploration of unexamined prejudices), Raising Steam (which is a bit formulaic for Pratchett but touches on the allure of trains and engines), Dodger (a great take on the Artful Dodger story), and the absolutely hearwrenching The Shepherd's Crown (in which I feel Pratchett consciously says good-bye in a beautiful way).
At least two or three of my favorite Pratchett books in that era. There's some anger, yes, but not always. And if you read only one of those, try Nation. It even made my father cry at one point, and he's not a guy who cries at books.
I disagree that the first season was awful. I just rewatched it not long ago, and the worst sin of the first part of the first season is that it's formulaic and not ground-breaking. But otherwise, it's competent, the characters are just as compelling (even Skye is quickly shown to be scared and trying to bluster her way through things), and they're setting up a lot of stuff to come in the future. It definitely kicks up a notch after The Reveal, but even before that, it was a decent super-spy adventure show that was steadily improving with every episode.