Los Angeles- Charlie Sheen's "Two and a
Half Men" character was run over by a bus and got a full-scale
funeral. "Glee" actor Corey Monteith died in real life and had a
tribute episode. "House of Cards" will return minus
scandal-tainted Kevin Spacey, with his screen wife taking center
stage.
Whether by death, design or disputes, television shows are
adept at losing or killing off key characters and carrying on
without them.
ABC television's announcement on Thursday that it
had ordered a spinoff of canceled hit comedy "Roseanne" without
star Roseanne Barr is the latest in a long history of abrupt
changes of direction on the small screen.
ABC did not say how it would deal with Roseanne's character
in the new show, "The Conners", but audiences in the past have
had little problem accepting sudden or dramatic changes.
"If you lose a main character, or someone walks out, or
there is a controversy, and the fix means it is still a funny or
compelling show, then most people will forget very quickly,"
said Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse
University.
"People will completely accept it - if the show is any
good."
Sometimes actors wish to leave, on other occasions they are
fired because of scandals or disputes. In some cases actors die
in real life, or their characters are written out of
long-running TV shows to create dramatic tension.
If they are lucky, they are fictionally dispatched to a far
off city or a new job, like George Clooney's exit from "ER" in
1999, when the actor wanted to develop a movie career.
Others, such as Sheen, fired in 2011 from what was then the
most-watched comedy on U.S. television after months of drink and
drug-fueled partying, are dealt a grisly screen ending.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Characters whose names also provide the title of a show,
like "Roseanne," are not immune to being disposed of.
Valerie Harper, the star of "Valerie", was fired in 1987
after a pay dispute. The comedy continued without her for three
more seasons, although it underwent two changes of name -
"Valerie's Family" and later "The Hogan Family."
In coming months, two award-winning shows - Netflix
political drama "House of Cards" and Amazon's
transgender show "Transparent" - will return without lead actors
Kevin Spacey and Jeffrey Tambor, who were both dropped because
of sexual misconduct allegations.
Neither show has detailed how it will dispatch its main
character. Spacey, who is accused of sexual misconduct by more
than 20 men, has said nothing since an apology to the first
accuser in October 2017. Tambor has denied any wrongdoing.
There's no guaranteed recipe for success after the departure
of a major character, although Thompson said retaining viewers
was more likely when a show had a strong ensemble cast already
in place, like the 1980s comedy "Cheers."
"This is show business, not science. You do it and see how
it works," said Thompson.
Steve Carell's requested departure from "The Office" in
2011, when his character moved to another state, brought a
ratings slump and the comedy was canceled two years later.
"8 Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter" changed abruptly
from comedy to a tragedy when its star John Ritter died suddenly
in 2003, and the death of his screen character became a major
plot point.
Sometimes imagination is all it takes. The original series
of "Roseanne" ended in 1997, with Dan Conner (John Goodman)
dying of a heart attack. Gay comedy series "Will & Grace" first
ended in 2006 with a flash forward 20 years, when the main
characters were married with grown children.
When both comedies returned years later, Dan Conner was
alive and well, and Will and Grace were both older but
childless.
In both cases, what happened was dismissed as a dream, and
the shows moved seamlessly on.