What Happened to TV Characters After Their Shows Went Off The Air?

[Mark Giardina]

The Fugitive

Dr. Kimble resumes his practice after being found innocent of murdering his wife. He later marries the woman he met in California and they have a family. He dies of a heart attack after retiring. Lt. Gerard becomes Chief of Police in Stafford Indiana. He also retired years later. Both men made an attempt to avoid each other while alive.

All in the Family
Archie Bunker sold his bar and became a conservative radio talk show host. "Meathead Mike Stivik is elected to the U.S. Senate from California. Gloria Stivik goes to work for Jenny Craig. She's fired after being there just one year.

Hogan's Heroes

Sgt. Hans Schultz returns to his job as president of a toy company. Col. Klink goes to work for the CIA. General Burkhalter joins the East German government. Col. Hogan opens up a brothel in Nevada. Newkirk becomes a member of the House of Lords in England. LeBeau becomes President of France.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

WKRP:

1) Andy Travis becomes color commentator for the Reds. He has to cut his hair to please Marge Schott.

2) Mrs. Carlson and Arthur move to Florida and buy a 1,000 Watt daytimer and run a MOYL format off the bird so they don't have to deal with jocks

3) Jennifer Marlowe becomes a newscaster on the newly developing CNN

4) Bailey quarters becomes a child welfare worker

5) Dr Johnny Fever becomes homeless in LA. He gets rehabed and gets a job overnights on KMET

6) Venus Flytrap goes back to his real name and gets a fill-in job at WWRL. He later goes to BET.

7) Herb Tarlek moves to the cleveland area and works on his tan and runs for Congress. Today he the House Minority leader and using his real name.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Green Acres

Oliver and Lisa become multi-millionaires by signing a national deal with Whole Foods to market
their farm's unique line of Green and Organic products (frozen organic hotscakes, square eggs, etc.)

Alf and Ralph Monroe become fabulously wealthy when, in their effort to extend the benefits of
home ownership to all Americans, Fannie Mae issues a ruling that contractors who are only licensed
to build chicken coops and rehang doors may now also build affordable spec housing. Monroe
Brothers goes on to become one of the largest homebuilders in the Midwest through the remainder
of the housing bubble.

Hank Kimball leaves the Agriculture Department and moves to Tampa, Florida, where he attains
fame and celebrity as a TV Infomercial Pitchman. His unassuming style and halting, quirky delivery
endear him to millions of fans who are lining up to order the Mighty Chopper, Awesome Auger,
Muscle-Man Hooks and Sham-Kablam with their credit cards. (Sham Kablam is a really good product.
Well, it's not a good product......not a bad product either....)

Eb Dawson enrolls in a correspondence course in Broadcasting and goes on to a long career as the
new anchorman at WPIXL-TV in Pixley. His stellar career is marred only by one incident...an
obscenity-laced tirade at the little old man and little old lady in the Weather Clock which went
out live and became a YouTube sensation.

Sam Drucker decides to sell his General Store when the US Postal Service offers him a promotion to
Postal Inspector. He moves to Cleveland, Ohio, to replace outgoing Postal Inspector Andy Taylor,
who is moving back to his hometown of Mayberry, North Carolina to run for Sheriff again. Arnold
Ziffel becomes the new proprietor of the Hooterville General Store.

Fred Ziffel passes away, and Doris is surprised to find herself inheriting millions of dollars that Fred had
stashed away from a modeling gig he had taken years ago. (Fred had posed in his raincoat to appear
on packages of frozen fish sticks). She uses the money to buy the Hooterville Telephone Company,
and invests to upgrade their service to residents of the Valley, providing FIOS, Cable TV, and even
a Fargo Hole.

Mr. Haney moves to Washington, D.C. and becomes a Presidential Speech Writer. No, wait...that really happened.....

 

[LKellerIII]

WKRP:

7) Herb Tarlek moves to the cleveland area and works on his tan and runs for Congress. Today he the House Minority leader and using his real name.

I thought John Boner...uh...Bayner...er...Boener looked familiar!


8) You forgot Les Nesman, who leaves Cincinnati and hits in big as a network sports anchor. He becomes an expert golf color commentator, and learns how to pronounce "Chee-chee Rod-ree-guez."

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Ben Cartwright sells his ranch to "Bugsy" Siegel and the property is renamed Las Vegas. Ben disappears and is never found.

Marshal Matt Dillion is in charge of security at the retirement center where he currently lives. Festus becomes director of the FBI. Ms. Kitty is arrested for running an illegal brothel.

The Untouchable's Eliot Ness is indicted on tax fraud. Ends up sharing a cell with Al Capone.

Becoming senile in his old age, Superman jumps out of the window at the Daily Planet building but forgets to put on his suit. He's arrested on public lewdness charges.

Andy Sipowitz retires from NYPD Blue and becomes the new Sheriff in Arizona arresting illegal immigrants and making them sleep in tents.

Zack Morris is still attending college. This makes his tenth year as a freshman. Schreech is in the adult movie business. Kelly is a Playboy bunny in Chicago. Jessie is a pole dancer in San Francisco.
Slater spends his days in front of a mirror admiring himself. Mr. Belding was named Secretary of Education by President Obama.

The Brady Bunch were arrested for transporting heroin into the United States from Latin America.

Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver changed his name to Donald Trump and now lives in New York City.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

8) You forgot Les Nesman, who leaves Cincinnati and hits in big as a network sports anchor. He becomes an expert golf color commentator, and learns how to pronounce "Chee-chee Rod-ree-guez."

I would have guessed he was hired by the TV program AgDay as their first farm reporter!

 

[gr8oldies]

Some shows did sequels or reunion specials that "explained" what happened to characters after the shows. In "The New WKRP", Dr. Fever made guest appearances as a consultant, Venus was the CEO of BET, Les was still Les and no mention of what happened to Andy and the rest of the old cast.

Johnny in a homeless shelter seems much more likely!

 

[Corky Marlowe]

The Brady Bunch were arrested for transporting heroin into the United States from Latin America.

Where were they arrested, the Grand Canyon or Kings Island?

Regarding "The New WKRP", something similar happened on that Dick Van Dyke reunion show some years ago. We learned that Laura owned a dance studio, Ritchie bought the Petries' house in New Rochelle, and that after Jerry died, Millie and Stacy got married.

 

[onairb]

The 'DVD; reunion show is a textbook example of how NOT to do a reunion show!

 

[jwk1979]

The Brady Bunch were arrested for transporting heroin into the United States from Latin America.

Where were they arrested, the Grand Canyon or Kings Island?

Regarding "The New WKRP", something similar happened on that Dick Van Dyke reunion show some years ago. We learned that Laura owned a dance studio, Ritchie bought the Petries' house in New Rochelle, and that after Jerry died, Millie and Stacy got married.

I thought Millie and Stacy were just dating, I don't recall it ever being stated that they had gotten married after Jerry's death. If you look up the credits for that reunion special, it still list the characters as Millie Helper and Stacy Petrie, not Millie Helper Petrie.

 

[jwk1979]

There was an awful "Beverly Hillbillies" reunion movie in the 1981 or so that showed that Jed had moved back to the hills after Granny died, Jethro and Elly Mae had stayed in California with Jethro running Mammoth Studios and Elly Mae running a Zoo. Miss Jane was working for the Federal Government while I don't recall if they ever said what became of the Drysdales or if they were even mentioned.

 

[gregg75]

Ricky Ricardo opened a small club in the Little Havanna section of Miami. He was the opening and only act every night. He was also head bartender and janitor.

Lucy divorced Ricky. She moved to Toledo and became department manager of the paint department at Montgomery Wards.

Ethyl pushed Fred out of the 6th story window of their apartment building and went to prison in
upstate New York.

Fred survived the fall (he landed on a light pole) but walked with a limp from then on. He could never remember the fall, but can almost color inside the lines now.

 

[Mark Giardina]

There was an awful "Beverly Hillbillies" reunion movie in the 1981 or so that showed that Jed had moved back to the hills after Granny died, Jethro and Elly Mae had stayed in California with Jethro running Mammoth Studios and Elly Mae running a Zoo. Miss Jane was working for the Federal Government while I don't recall if they ever said what became of the Drysdales or if they were even mentioned.

Perhaps there was no mention of the Drysdales because Raymond Bailey, who played Milburn Drysdale died in 1980.

 

[jwk1979]

There was an awful "Beverly Hillbillies" reunion movie in the 1981 or so that showed that Jed had moved back to the hills after Granny died, Jethro and Elly Mae had stayed in California with Jethro running Mammoth Studios and Elly Mae running a Zoo. Miss Jane was working for the Federal Government while I don't recall if they ever said what became of the Drysdales or if they were even mentioned.

Perhaps there was no mention of the Drysdales because Raymond Bailey, who played Milburn Drysdale died in 1980.

Granny was mentioned several times and Irene Ryan died in 1971/72.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

MTM:

1) Mr.Grant did not really go to LA as a serious newspaper man. He joined his cousin Bud and was the Vikings line coach until fired by Les Steckel.

2) Ted Baxter met with the much younger Rupert Murdoch and worked behind the scenes to develope a Fox persona.

3) Rhoda moved to NYC, but married Bobby Bacala

4) Murray Slaughter got tired of being everybody's sensitive man and:

a) Founded Blackwater
b) Had a sex-change and became an insensitive woman
c) Went to Hollywood and opened a drama school and coached Frank Fontana.
5) Sue Ann------can't think of anything that hasn't been said

 

[RicoGregg]

Bugs Bunny invented the wildly successful snack, Carrot Cake, found in convenience stores everywhere, married starlet Quinn O'Hara, and they live happily on property adjacent to Hearst Castle.

Porky Pig moved back to his native Iowa, ran a successful corn farm, until one day for no particular reason he decided to build a baseball field right in the middle of his farm, as he told the local Gazette, "The voice kept saying 'If you build it, he will come.' I b-b-b-built it, I'm waiting for him to c-c-c-come." He is now residing in the local funny farm.

Daffy Duck toured with the Cab Calloway Orchestra until the bandleader's death. He later hosted one of the first talk shows on BET, then did a piano playing act with Donald Duck that played places like Vegas and Atlantic City.

The Roadrunner became a spokesbird for Plymouth automobiles and Time Warner Internet Service. (Beep-Beep!)

Wile E. Coyote became a professor of Desert Studies at Cal. State San Bernardino.

Both Foghorn Leghorn and Henry Hawk became spokesbirds for Kentucky Fried Chicken. They later co-starred in a failed UPN sitcom.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Both Foghorn Leghorn and Henry Hawk became spokesbirds for Kentucky Fried Chicken. They later co-starred in a failed UPN sitcom.

Foghorn Leghorn just ran--unsucessfully--in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate
in Arizona. He was handily trounced by incumbent Sen. McLettuce and is rumored to
be headed back to local TV as a sportscaster.

"Here are the ball scores--Angels 3, Devils 2..."

 

[TexasTom]

Quantum Leap:

The series ended with a voice over intoning that Sam Beckett leapt away and was never heard from again. The reason why is because he leaped into the 22nd century (all previous leaps had been into the past), where he became captain of the first starship Enterprise.

(As a sidenote, I always thought that the perfect ending for "Star Trek: Entrerprise" would have been to have Captain Archer leap out at the end of the last episode. Unfortunately, that probably would have brought a lawsuit from Universal.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

The Odd Couple.

After Oscar and Felix separated, Oscar lost his job at the paper and became homeless. He still continued to pick up cigarettes from the curb. He got skinny and scruffy and lived in an unheated building. Felix decided to visit family on a dude ranch in Texas where he tried to be a cowboy. sadly, some local boys didn't cotton to Felix and after a nasty experience with a fender, he put on his best western duds and took a bus back to New York where he hoped to start over again. He had his transistor radio and listened to Ron Lundy as he headed across Jersey. Beyond all co-incidences, Oscar and Felix reunited and began living in Oscars messy flat. It got too cold and the pair took a bus to Miami.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Cheers:

Sam, Cliff, Frazier, and Norm move to Atlanta where they get jobs and stay pals. They decide to head for the mountains for a week of camping and rafting. Meanwhile, after leaving Mayberry for Georgia, Goober and Gomer are sitting on their porch with their banjo and not much to do. Along come our city slickers and one of them gets a big jolt. was it:

1) Norm
2) Frazier
3) Cliff

??????????????