Our actor left so screw the character.

[The Ichi]

Nov 3, 2014 9:02:57 GMT -5 Savage Gambino said:

May not be the same case because she didn't leave on her own accord, but Charisma Carpenter. Got fired from Angel after getting pregnant, then her character hooked up with Connor in that insane storyline, and then she dies off-screen.

The way that whole thing went down kinda changed the way I look at Joss Whedon, tbh.

In fairness, he kills off about 90% of his casts anyway so it's hard to say if it was done out of spite or not.

[Beets by Schrute]

I think the biggest one done was to the actor and actress who play Matthew Crawley and Sybil on Downton Abbey. They want to leave and the creator is like "Screw it, they're dead."

[lockedontarget]

Cordy didn't die off-screen. She had a goodbye episode in the last season.

It was a really good exit.

Also that same season killed off two other regulars and the ending implied that everyone else would die off-screen.

Angel was pretty bleak in general.

[Deleted]

Maude Flanders wouldn't count, would she? The story is that her actress had a pay dispute with Fox Broadcasting Company, so that would eventually inspire her character dying via t-shirt gun/falling? Even so, her actress would come back for later episodes. I guess that wouldn't count.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

Anyone that left Sliders: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders#Changing_cast

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

Nov 3, 2014 11:51:30 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Nov 3, 2014 10:46:50 GMT -5 bibboid said:

Denise Crosby on Star Trek : TNG. She wanted to quit so they killed her off in a way that even a red shirt would find lame.

Along the same Star Trek lines, how Jadzia Dax was written out of Deep Space Nine was sorta red-shirty in its own right.

Not really. Terry Ferrell wanted to leave from the start of the season and she wanted to die in the episode with Worf. At the end, they gave her a pivotal death, Dukat kills her, it closes the wormhole and sends Sisco in a deep depression.

[WoodStoner1]

Shirley. The whole series, we thought she'd end up with Carmine, then they pull a new guy out of their butts and he does NOTHING as per the injured "mummy" gimmick.

[Mozenrath]

While not dead, on at least two occasions, Gundam sequel series have been f***ed up, plot wise, due to an actress dispute.

"Sayla's brother is seemingly back from the dead. Better have her not actually appear to give a shit because the actress wanted more money."
"Cagalli's actress pissed off the director's wife, time to completely neuter her and reduce her to a plot device at best who spends all day crying."

I debate if Diane Chambers' exit from Cheers would fit for this. On one hand, it painted her in a very negative light, but on the other, it's hard to say it's entirely inaccurate to how self-centered she was as a character.

[Throwback]

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Nov 3, 2014 10:24:26 GMT -5 @knapp said:

I would not be surprised at all about DeMunn leaving like that. He's been in most if not all of Darabont's movies, so the 2 must be friends by this point.

Wouldn't be shocked if Laurie Holden (Andrea), another Darabont favorite, left for similar reasons. Considering Andrea is still around in the comics, her TV departure seemed VERY sudden - and I've never thought it as just "Kirkman wants to change things up."


I recall Saved by the Bell (the casts after Zack and the original gang went away) doing this thing where they'd graduate certain characters every year, so as to make the cast full of different students and not just all of 1 class. It led to more than a couple weird moments where graduates either did or didn't get closure when they left - IIRC, one case featured a couple splitting up "over the phone" because 1 of them had apparently graduated / left the show.

Save by the bell was just oddly put together in general. Like how the original gang graduated but the next season they do the Tori season and people try and pass it when Kelly went away for the photo shoot and I forgot where Jessie was. Yet some how everyone got older? The story plot never made sense in that season.

Trying too think about other shows. I can't remember if they ever explained Pamela Anderson Character being replaced by Heidi on Home Improvement.

[Mozenrath]

Nov 3, 2014 22:13:55 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Nov 3, 2014 10:24:26 GMT -5 @knapp said:

I would not be surprised at all about DeMunn leaving like that. He's been in most if not all of Darabont's movies, so the 2 must be friends by this point.

Wouldn't be shocked if Laurie Holden (Andrea), another Darabont favorite, left for similar reasons. Considering Andrea is still around in the comics, her TV departure seemed VERY sudden - and I've never thought it as just "Kirkman wants to change things up."


I recall Saved by the Bell (the casts after Zack and the original gang went away) doing this thing where they'd graduate certain characters every year, so as to make the cast full of different students and not just all of 1 class. It led to more than a couple weird moments where graduates either did or didn't get closure when they left - IIRC, one case featured a couple splitting up "over the phone" because 1 of them had apparently graduated / left the show.

Save by the bell was just oddly put together in general. Like how the original gang graduated but the next season they do the Tori season and people try and pass it when Kelly went away for the photo shoot and I forgot where Jessie was. Yet some how everyone got older? The story plot never made sense in that season.

Trying too think about other shows. I can't remember if they ever explained Pamela Anderson Character being replaced by Heidi on Home Improvement.

Pamela Anderson did come back for an episode, I figure they explained it there, though I don't recall what the explanation was.

[Citizen Snips]

Nov 3, 2014 10:24:26 GMT -5 @knapp said:

I would not be surprised at all about DeMunn leaving like that. He's been in most if not all of Darabont's movies, so the 2 must be friends by this point.

Wouldn't be shocked if Laurie Holden (Andrea), another Darabont favorite, left for similar reasons. Considering Andrea is still around in the comics, her TV departure seemed VERY sudden - and I've never thought it as just "Kirkman wants to change things up."

She was around for awhile after Darabont got fired. From what I've heard, it was more a case of the audience absolutely hating her character that led to Andrea getting killed off quickly.

[DiBiase is Good]

Kutner in House.
IIRC the Actor was offered a job working for Obama and accepted, so they had to write him out. They decided to have him commit suicide despite there never being the slightest hint of the character having any such issues. I know they then explained there was a darker side to him after the death and not all suicide victims show the "usual" signs but it seemed so rushed and half-assed.

[DiBiase is Good]

Nov 3, 2014 9:02:52 GMT -5 @knapp said:

I never watched it, but I seem to recall Robert Downey Jr. being written out of ALLY MCBEAL in a very weird way that kinda messed up the entire show there for a while...

I heard that as this was before Downey cleaned up, they had him film an abrupt exit in case he went off the rails again and they needed a back-up plan. Of course, he then did just that and his character was gone. It's a shame as his character was really good and Downey was brilliant in the role (even though he's slagged it off since) and his character would have ended up marrying Ally.
Although had he stayed, we may not have had the moment where a lot of people discovered Josh Groban, which would have been a damn shame as I love that guy!

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Charlie in That '70s Show. Bret Harrison was being groomed to be Topher Grace's replacement for the eighth season but he ended up taking another role instead, so they hastily killed Charlie off in the first episode of Season 8. And the other characters didn't even care.

I was also pretty unsatisfied with Pierce Hawthorne's exit (and subsequent death) in Community. Then again I just really didn't want him to leave.

[agent817]

How on Earth was this character not mentioned in this thread?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Chief Reily on Rescue Me may fall under this heading. Forced to retire, he commits suicide. Jack McGee was furious as to how Leary let him know the character was written off the show, killing any chance he had returning as a ghost, as he totally would have.

The way the character left made perfect sense, but since he was never informed he got pissed and that was that for his character.

[Raskovnik]

Nov 3, 2014 23:14:07 GMT -5 agent817 said:

How on Earth was this character not mentioned in this thread?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}

Hey there children, come on over so we can MAKE LOVE.

I think they were entirely in the right on that one.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Nov 3, 2014 10:49:25 GMT -5 Lupin the Third said:

I have a message. Lt. Col. Henry Blake's plane.....was shot down.....over the Sea of Japan.....It spun in......There were no survivors......

*walks away as FAN starts crying*

I really don't think that this qualifies as 'half-assing' his departure. It's one of the most touching moments of the series, and possibly on all TV.

However, when Trapper (Wayne Rogers) left, he was just... gone. No big goodbye, he was just sent home while Hawkeye was away. Come to think of it, they really didn't mention him very often after that, but they did talk about Blake a whole bunch.

[Danimal]

Nov 3, 2014 20:29:41 GMT -5 Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic said:

Anyone that left Sliders: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders#Changing_cast

I wasn't a regular watcher when it originally aired, started at the beginning on Netflix and couldn't believe what they tried to foist on the viewers when I got to the last season. I just quit.