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

[tlyle]

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

"8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" comes to mind with the death of John Ritter. They wrote it into the story line, and the show continued for a short time before being canceled. I think this show would have lasted 5 years had John Ritter lived.

What other shows and characters, and how did the show handle the death? Did the show continue or get canceled?

 

[dadetim]

i don't know how the show handled it, but i do know that the death of phil hartman has certainly impacted newsradio. jon lovitz couldn't impact the show like phil hartman did

 

[RicoGregg]

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

Around 1965 or '66, CBS debuted a new Western sitcom called "Pistols n' Petticoats", which starred legendary actress Ann Sheridan. The show reviewed well, and once it was on the air, it was very popular very fast. It was the season's breakout hit. Then Ann Sheridan suddenly died. They tried to make a few episodes of PnP without her, but it just didn't work. The viewers left in droves, and CBS mercifully pulled the plug. It's popped up on cable sometimes, and it's too bad that it didn't get a full chance. It would have been one of TV's all-time great comedies.

 

[Stanislav]

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

i don't know how the show handled it, but i do know that the death of phil hartman has certainly impacted newsradio. jon lovitz couldn't impact the show like phil hartman did

Hartman's death also impacted "The Simpsons" (his recurring characters were retired rather than re-voiced) as well as "Third Rock From the Sun," which had only filmed the first of a 2-part episode in which Hartman guest starred.

 

[dhett]

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

On the TV series, Dallas, Jim Davis, who portrayed Jock Ewing, the family patriarch, died in April 1981. He had been ill for most of the last season, and the writers of the show ended the season with his character and Miss Ellie leaving on an extended second honeymoon. The next season, instead of Jock coming back to the ranch with Miss Ellie, he went to South America to check on some oil properties and went missing. Thirteen episodes were written with him missing before he was confirmed killed in a helicopter crash. That episode in January 1982 ended with a memorial photograph of Davis.

 

[Tom Wells]

Wow! I'd forgotten Pistols and Petticoats.
I remember Red Foxx ( Sanford and Son) got a deal to start a show sometime back in the 90's, and died shortly thereafter.

Didn't Rod Serling's Night Gallery end immediately when he died?

Did the original Darrin on Bewitched die, or was he just replaced?

 

[Stanislav]

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

"Eight is Enough" was certainly impacted by the death of Diana Hyland after only 4 episodes. Changing the storyline to make Tom a widower, then having him remarry (different character/personality/actress), certainly changed the tenor and direction of the series.

And how about "Alias Smith and Jones," which was never the same after the death of Pete Duel?

 

[Braves2005]

Wow! I'd forgotten Pistols and Petticoats.
I remember Red Foxx ( Sanford and Son) got a deal to start a show sometime back in the 90's, and died shortly thereafter.

Didn't Rod Serling's Night Gallery end immediately when he died?

Did the original Darrin on Bewitched die, or was he just replaced?

Redd Foxx almost died from his heart attack on the set on his show "The Royal Family" in 1991, Della Reese thought that he was faking at first but realized the real thing was happening and Foxx died at the hospital. The show was retooled with Jackee from 227 as the star and the show was cancelled soon after a couple of months.

Rod Serling died in 1975. Night Gallery ended its run in 1973 due to low ratings. It would be much more successful in syndicated reruns.

Dick York left Bewitched in 1969 due to back problems plus an addiction to painkillers and was replaced by Dick Sargent and lasted 3 more years with him in the role of Darrin.

 

[Braves2005]

Freddie Prinze from Chico and the Man is a classic example of this. He committed suicide in January 1977 and one episode in particular "Ed Talks To God" was filmed the day that Prinze died. He was replaced by a young boy named Raul played by Gabriel Melgar and it lasted the entire 1977-1978 season but the show dropped to the bottom 10 of the ratings. The last episode explained how Chico died when Raul was playing with Chico's guitar and Ed smashed it against the wall.

 

[genius]

Deaths of actors has caused many major storyline changes on the soaps. The original actor who played who played Alan Spaulding on Guiding Light died while in the middle of a major storyline involving Alan and the character was written out for months before they found a recast. Another World had to rewrite their 25th Anniversary plans over Douglas Watson's death, and Benjamin Hendrickson's suicide last year caused Hal, one of the show's major characters, to vanish before they let the character die off-screen.


I realize that it is a British series, but on Are You Being Served? there were two deaths. Arthur Brough was the first one, and the character of Mr. Grainger was quietly written out. They had at least three or four replacement characters who were all rather unsuccessful in the position of "senior salesman", so they stopped writing for a character in that position all together. The other death was that of the actor who played Young Mr. Grace. The actor intially went on hiatus as seen in the episode where his turns the company over to his older brother Old Mr. Grace, although he came back for Old Mr. Grace's birthday. The actor intended to return fulltime, but died, and neither Grace brothers were seen again, and in AYBS? Again! they killed off Young Mr. Grace by saying he died in a scuba accident.

Wasn't Rebecca Schaeffer acting on a TV show when she was mudered?

 

[easttxtv]

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

Deaths of actors has caused many major storyline changes on the soaps. The original actor who played who played Alan Spaulding on Guiding Light died while in the middle of a major storyline involving Alan and the character was written out for months before they found a recast. Another World had to rewrite their 25th Anniversary plans over Douglas Watson's death, and Benjamin Hendrickson's suicide last year caused Hal, one of the show's major characters, to vanish before they let the character die off-screen.

I've often wondered what AW could have been like had Douglass lived. He went too soon--I was shocked--he looked like he had a lot more good years in him. If there had been a finale during his lifetime, Mac would surely have been the one to turn out the lights in the Cory Mansion with Rachel by his side going up the stairs...

BH's show was As the World Turns, btw. I heard about the reason for his death from someone BH worked with on stage. Truly tragic.

Wasn't Rebecca Schaeffer acting on a TV show when she was murdered?

My Sister Sam, with Pam Dawber. Looked like a really good show, what I got to see of it.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

"Dennis The Menace" was never a huge hit, but it only lasted a year after Joseph Kearns, the guy who played Mr. Wilson, died. He was replaced by Gale Gordon, who played his "brother".

"Hill Street Blues" was never quite the same after Michael Conrad died.

More recently, "Law & Order" has lost a lot of its mojo since Jerry Orbach's death.

"What's My Line?" only hung on for a little over a year after the death of Dorothy Kilgallen.

One show that lasted quite a while after a major character died in real life was "Cheers", which ran for a decade after Nicholas Colasanto ("Coach") died.

 

[Stanislav]

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

"Barney Miller" went on after Jack Soo's death -- as an ensemble show, it could absorb that loss better than some shows, although the character of Yemana added a lot of spice to the squad room that was missing after he died. The show also took the unusual step of breaking the 4th wall and doing an entire clip episode of the best Yemana moments, while the other actors stepped out of character to talk of their feelings for Soo.

 

[Ultimajock]

"What's My Line?" only hung on for a little over a year after the death of Dorothy Kilgallen.

...however, the show lasted another ten years plus after Fred Allen died; perhaps tellingly, John Charles Daly's opening speech on the first broadcast after Kilgallen's death was taken verbatim from the one he delivered on the first show after Allen's death, simply substituting Kilgallen's name for Allen's and the name of Dick Kollmar (Kilgallen's husband) for Portland Hoffa (Allen's wife)...

 

[Braves2005]

Will Geer who played Grandpa on The Waltons died during the summer hiatus in 1978. In the season opening for the 7th season (1978-1979) that year, the show dealt with Grandpa's death in 1941 when the show was now set in.

On Night Court, both Selma Diamond and Florence Halop died within a year of each other, Selma in 1985 and Florence in 1986. When Selma's character died they mentioned that as they did when Florence's character died as well.

Jon Eric Hexum of Coverup fatally shot himself after a game of Russian Roulette with his gun. He thought he had a gun with blanks in it. Another actor took over but the show faded away after that.

 

[kirkiefan]

Pete Duel as Hannibal Heys on the popular but short lived "Alias Smith and Jones" a western/sitcom which aired on ABC in the early 70s.

Duel was previously billed as "Peter Deuel"(his real name) in 1966 when he co-starred with Judy Carne(later of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" on NBC) in the even lesser short lived ABC sitcom "Love On A Rooftop"

Duel shot himself in December of 1971 at the show's height of its poularity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Duel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alias_Smith_and_Jones

 

[Charles1]

"Petticoat Junction" was not the same after the death of Bea Benaderet (Kate Bradley, the mother). Trying to center the show around Uncle Joe (played by Edgar Buchanan), then adding June Lockhart to play the local doctor, made the show a far weaker version of what it used to be.

 

[Smittian]

"Night Court" lost Selma Diamond after the second season. She was replaced by Florence Halop, who died during season 3. The female bailiff's role was played by the much younger Marsha Warfield for the rest of the series 8 year run.

 

[dhett]

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

Jon Eric Hexum of Coverup fatally shot himself after a game of Russian Roulette with his gun. He thought he had a gun with blanks in it. Another actor took over but the show faded away after that.

IIRC, Hexum's gun did have blanks in it. But blanks at that close range can be fatal also.

You're correct about the show. I was a fan of the show, but after Hexum's death, the new character just didn't connect, and I stopped watching. I wasn't alone.

 

[bk77]

Gimmie A Break...Dolph Sweet who played the father on the show died in early 1985 or cancer. His death was written in the show. Some say the show more/less died with him even though GAB did continue for a few more years.

Then you had "Mother Jefferson" Zara Cully on the Jeffersons. She died in 1978 of cancer. I don't think her death was mentioned on the show other than in passing several years later.