What TV shows have been most impacted by a real life death of a major character?

[BrigThomson]

Law & Order has certainly been able to survive and continue pulling in the ratings without Orbach, but the show just isn't the same. Luckily we have Sam Waterston and as long as Jack McCoy is there I'm watching.

Under the heading "To each his own.." I always preferred Michael Moriarty to Sam Waterson. I find the Jack Mc Coy character so high handed and self righteous, that I often wind up hoping for the defense to kick his butt.

 

[LKellerIII]

Re: What TV shows have been most impacted by a real life death of a major charac

Law & Order has certainly been able to survive and continue pulling in the ratings without Orbach, but the show just isn't the same. Luckily we have Sam Waterston and as long as Jack McCoy is there I'm watching.

Under the heading "To each his own.." I always preferred Michael Moriarty to Sam Waterson. I find the Jack Mc Coy character so high handed and self righteous, that I often wind up hoping for the defense to kick his butt.

Not trying to quibble - I preferred Michael Moriarty to the self-righteous Waterston, also...but Moriarty is not dead. the story is - he went into an emotional tailspin after L&O, and dropped out of sight, becoming addicted (alcohol, I believe) and even became homeless for awhile. Whether or not his substance abuse followed his tenure on L&O, or he was fired because of it, I'm not sure.

According to imdb, he may have been dismissed from L&O because he had a lawsuit pending against then Attorney General Janet Reno. But it's clear that producer Dick Wolf has dismissed many actors over the years, for reasons unexplained.

He is also very tall (6'4") which I don't think I ever noticed.

But Moriarty is still with us, presumably recovered, and still working.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0605363/

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Here's a case where a show was affected by a major star being seriously injured...Raymond Burr was badly hurt in a car accident, causing him to miss most of (IIRC) the 1962-63 season of "Perry Mason". Despite a handful of people filling in for him, including Bette Davis, the show really never recovered from his absence.

 

[bpatrick]

Re: What TV shows have been most impacted by a real life death of a major charac

How about "Wall Street Week" after Louis Rukeyser's death?

Re "The Joker's Wild": I think most fans of the show would
agree that Bill Cullen was not at his best; in fact, the guy who
should have had the job was Jim Peck, who had subbed for
Jack Barry on several occasions and done a fine job. As it
turned out, it was Cullen's last hosting job; his last public
appearance, IIRC, was on "Pyramid" in 1987.

Slightly off-topic: The last appearance of Steve Beverly's game-show
website has an article about "forgotten hosts" (Art Fleming, Bill Leyden,
Hal March, and Garry Moore). In the section on Moore, he says
that Moore and Cullen were best friends, and that the day Cullen
died his widow, Ann, called Garry to tell him the bad news. Garry's
response was, "Excuse me while I go somewhere and cry."

One other note: Charlie O'Donnell was the original announcer on
"Wheel Of Fortune"; when it debuted in 1975 Jack Clark was finishing
his run hosting "Dealer's Choice" and was about to start "Cross-Wits."
Clark took over as "Wheel" announcer around 1982, with O'Donnell
coming back after Clark's death in '88, as you've all mentioned.

 

[mleach]

Re: What TV shows have been most impacted by a real life death of a major charac

Re "The Joker's Wild": I think most fans of the show would
agree that Bill Cullen was not at his best; in fact, the guy who
should have had the job was Jim Peck, who had subbed for
Jack Barry on several occasions and done a fine job. As it
turned out, it was Cullen's last hosting job; his last public
appearance, IIRC, was on "Pyramid" in 1987.

I remember Jim Peck and some of the game shows he had done. However I can see why he did NOT
ended up doing the Jokers Wild though.

In 1984 Peck started doing Divorce Court ( the one with Judge William B. Keane ) and he stayed with that show for a number of years, at least until 1988. For a time in the mid 80's Divorce Court was almost as popular if not bigger than The People's Court but after awhile the bad acting on the show and the fact that many viewers were discovering they weren't watching the actual real divorce cases had taken its toll.

 

[Derek Smalls]

I guess falling under the 'Yet To Be Determined' category would be 'Meet The Press'. I'm sure the show will be just fine, but Tim Russert's passing leaves some HUGE shoes to be filled in that forum....

 

[Corky Marlowe]

but after awhile the bad acting on the show and the fact that many viewers were discovering they weren't watching the actual real divorce cases had taken its toll.
What? Those weren't the actual people getting divorced? Why, I'm mortified, I tells ya! ;D

"Meet The Press" (I actually LIKE Brokaw on there, for some reason) just made me think of another long-running Sunday show that has slipped since it's host died..."The Sports Reporters" on ESPN. John Saunders is pretty good, but Dick Schaap is still sorely missed there.

 

[mleach]

but after awhile the bad acting on the show and the fact that many viewers were discovering they weren't watching the actual real divorce cases had taken its toll.
What? Those weren't the actual people getting divorced? Why, I'm mortified, I tells ya! ;D

Looking back it was funny LOL !!!

Hagerstown, MD's WHAG NBC 25 aired Divorce Court back then ( 1984-1985 ) and I still remember the billboard ads WHAG had plastered all over the area at the time with a hige pic of Judge Keane and a smiling Jim Peck with the words. "Real People..Real Cases...DIVORCE COURT weekdays at 4...WHAG IS NBC...NBC IS WHAG..25 Alive". No wonder people took the show as real LOL

and the sight of Judge William B. Keane on a billboard wasn't exactly a pretty sight either. LOL

 

[bpatrick]

Since Jack Barry died in 1984, perhaps if Peck had
been his replacement he wouldn't have gotten "Divorce
Court." (Last I heard, Peck was a fund-raiser for his
alma mater, Marquette University.)

ABC News appeared to suffer after Peter Jennings'
death; Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff didn't last
long (she was pregnant, he was almost killed in Iraq),
but Charlie Gibson has righted that ship, even if he
often finishes second to Brian Williams (I wonder how
well he would be doing if Bob Schieffer was anchoring
the CBS Evening News, however).

 

[Newname]

Here's a case where a show was affected by a major star being seriously injured...Raymond Burr was badly hurt in a car accident, causing him to miss most of (IIRC) the 1962-63 season of "Perry Mason". Despite a handful of people filling in for him, including Bette Davis, the show really never recovered from his absence.

The number of episodes missed varies, but was either 4 or 5, not 'most of the season'. One source lists the following guest stars who filled in for Burr/Perry:
Bette Davis, Walter Pidgeon, Michael Rennie, Mike Connors and Hugh O'Brien.

If anything hurt 'Perry Mason' that season, it was the change in nights, from Saturday to Thursday(opposite 'Dr. Kildare'), after 5 years of high ratings. The show's formula was likely starting to get stale, anyway. Another factor was the absence of William Talman for a few seasons, although he returned (not regularly, but frequently) around '63 or so.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

If anything hurt 'Perry Mason' that season, it was the change in nights, from Saturday to Thursday(opposite 'Dr. Kildare'), after 5 years of high ratings. The show's formula was likely starting to get stale, anyway. Another factor was the absence of William Talman for a few seasons, although he returned (not regularly, but frequently) around '63 or so.
Good points...Also, didn't they bury Perry opposite "Bonanza" on Sunday nights in its final season? (65-66)
(By that time, Perry was pretty much what we would call today a "grandma" show.)

 

[LKellerIII]

My father thought Perry Mason was stupid, and wouldn't let me watch...so I didn't see the show until years later in reruns. So I have no idea how seriously injured Raymond Burr was, and why he couldn't appear on the show...but I have a funny image of CBS execs sitting around and deciding that nobody would ever want to see Raymond Burr in a wheel-chair. :-\

 

[mleach]

About Raymond Burr....

When he was doing those Perry Mason TV Movies in the 90's, another "problem" was happening. The "big rumor" was that Raymond Burr was gay ( he was though he never really went public about it and really that fact didn't become public until after his death ). Once they heard the rumor it was "...Oh Perry Mason is gay...I can't watch it !!" since there are those who believe even today that by watching a gay man/woman on TV or hear one on the radio..then they could turn you gay too !! I actually worked beside a program director who believed that. "The FCC ought to be doing something about this trash..make it LAW !!". I asked him how could they unless one must be legally married to be on the air. He couldn't answer the question.

But by the time he was doing Perry Mason movies in the late 80's and early 90's it was amazing and sad that so many people wouldn't watch it only because the National Enquirer, The Globe and other taboilds kept printing stories about Burr's private life.

 

[LKellerIII]

About Raymond Burr....

When he was doing those Perry Mason TV Movies in the 90's, another "problem" was happening. The "big rumor" was that Raymond Burr was gay ( he was though he never really went public about it and really that fact didn't become public until after his death ). Once they heard the rumor it was "...Oh Perry Mason is gay...I can't watch it !!" since there are those who believe even today that by watching a gay man/woman on TV or hear one on the radio..then they could turn you gay too !! I actually worked beside a program director who believed that. "The FCC ought to be doing something about this trash..make it LAW !!". I asked him how could they unless one must be legally married to be on the air. He couldn't answer the question.

But by the time he was doing Perry Mason movies in the late 80's and early 90's it was amazing and sad that so many people wouldn't watch it only because the National Enquirer, The Globe and other taboilds kept printing stories about Burr's private life.

Depressing. I guess I'm sheltered because I live in San Francisco where gays are open, accepted, and have considerable political power. Burr lived for his last 2 or 3 decades in the Sonoma, about 50 miles north of SF. Though he was never "out," he didn't really hide it while in the Bay Area. He had lived with the same man for 35 years - as far back as the Perry Mason years.

Many gay actors in those days had live in roomates or "partners," and didn't try to hide their homosexuality by getting married or dating women. I'm sure people talked, but "don't ask, don't tell" was a common courtesy in those days when the celebrity gossip machine was smaller and had less influence.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I've read that William Hopper and Ray Collins (Lt. Tragg) were also gay. It's somewhat ironic that Hopper's mother Hedda was a famous and somewhat vicious gossip columnist who occasionally tried to out other supposedly gay celebrities like Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.