Making a TV show is a lot like playing a game of Jenga. The goal is to build, to move forward, and advance your position. But just like in Jenga, one wrong move and the tower all comes crashing down.
Sometimes a show pulls the wrong pieces. They miscalculate, cutting ties with crucial characters and, as a result, we’re made to suffer.
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See for yourself with these 10+ shows that were ruined when characters were written off.
Charlie Harper in *Two And A Half Men*.
Unfortunately, Charlie Sheen embodied the worst characteristics of his Two and a Half Men character, Charlie Harper.
Sheen’s personal life is ultimately what led to his removal from the show, as he explained in a number of bizarre interviews.
Laurie Forman in *That 70’s Show*.
Laurie Forman’s departure was an omen of things to come. Nearly all of the essential cast members from That 70’s Show ended up leaving, including Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher.
The show was canceled after it’s 8th season.
Klaus in *The Vampire Diaries*.
The Vampire Diaries spent most of their show around two things: the main love triangle, and the battle against the original vampires.
So when the biggest bad guy left for his spin-off, that show started to get a lot more traction than the original.
Glenn Rhee in *The Walking Dead*.
Glenn dying in The Walking Dead was a big drop off for a lot of people.
He was the constantly noble and good character, who never sacrificed his morals. Losing him was like losing a piece of ourselves.
Denise Huxtable in *The Cosby Show*.
Denise just kind of disappeared without any attempt at explaining why or where she’d gone?
This was probably due to the fact that actress Lisa Bonet was pregnant at the time, something that wouldn’t have gelled well with the Huxtables’ family image.
Marisa Cooper in *The O.C.*.
Ugh!
This was just crushing. Being forced to watch Marisa die in Ryan’s arms is something that still haunts me to this day. Needless to say that both Ryan and The O.C. as a whole never fully recovered.
Chef in *South Park*.
The rumour is that Isaac Hayes didn’t take very kindly to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone lampooning his religion (Scientology).
However, Hayes’ son swears that someone else resigned for him after he suffered a stroke. South Park is still great, but Chef will never be forgotten.
Ken Tanaka in *Glee*.
I’m of the mindset that Glee was never all that great to begin with, but that’s neither here nor there.
I will also argue that it was all downhill after the first season, right after Coach Ken Tanaka departed.
Jess Mariano in *Gilmore Girls*.
After Jess left Gilmore Girls , we all continued watching it, but it didn’t mean that we ever stopped being bitter.
Rory belongs with him! We all know it! Plus, we loved seeing the drama he brought to the show.
Roseanne Conner in *Roseanne*.
There’d be no Seinfeld without Jerry, just as Roseanne quickly turned to nothing without…Roseanne.
The comedian was fired after a number of racist tweets landed her in hot water. Roseanne has since apologized for the remarks.
Mike Flaherty in *Spin City*.
After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease , actor Michael J. Fox left his role as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty to direct his efforts to find a cure.
The show limped forward for two years with Charlie Sheen at the helm before being canceled.
Michael Scott in *The Office*.
The Office didn’t know what to do with itself after Michael Scott departed. There was a steady rotation of new bosses that included Robert California and, of course, Andy Bernard.
None came close to capturing the wit and wonder of Michael Gary Scott.
Ned Stark in *Game Of Thrones*.
Come at me, bro! Game of Thrones was never the same after Ned Stark lost his head.
I know that Benioff and Weiss didn’t exactly have much choice in the matter (given the source material), but the fact still remains.
Rita Morgan in *Dexter*.
I underestimated how valuable Rita was to the story. By the 3rd season, I couldn’t stand her. I literally longed for the day when she would meet her end.
Be careful what you wish for! After her death at the hand of The Trinity Killer, Dexter became a sister-loving trainwreck.
Michael Kelso in *That ’70s Show*.
Let’s face it, when Kelso left, he took a lot of the comedy with him.
It was never the same without seeing his dumb antics on screen. We could have had it all, and they left us hanging.
Eric Forman in *That ’70s Show*.
Getting rid of Eric Forman though, that was even worse than Kelso.
Forman was LITERALLY the main character of the show. It revolved around his life!!! How could you take that away from us? How?
Mr. Turner in *Boy Meets World*.
Mr. Turner’s relationship with Shawn Hunter was one of the most beautiful parts of Boy Meets World .
So when he inexplicably disappeared after his motorcycle accident (that he survived), fans were confused and lost.
I still miss him.
Ann Perkins in *Parks and Recreation*.
While Parks and Rec never stopped being funny just because Ann left, it certainly lost some of the original charm that we so loved.
The best part of the show was watching Ann and Leslie’s friendship develop.
George O’Malley in *Grey’s Anatomy*.
T.R. Knight couldn’t wait to get out of his contractual obligations to Grey’s Anatomy and the show seemed to reciprocate the feeling.
While George’s death did happen rather early on in the series, his departure left a hole that would never be filled.
Robb Stark in *Game of Thrones*.
When Robb Stark died in one of the most horrifying scenes of the show, fans were forever changed.
By his death, we were left with the realization that the last, truly good man, like his father before him, was no longer in the game for the throne.
Jenny Humphrey in *Gossip Girl*.
No matter how much we may have hated her, Jenny brought a lot of the drama that we loved to see so much on the show.
So when she left, she took a lot of the nail-biting scenes with her.
Tara Knowles-Teller in *Sons Of Anarchy*.
Tara was Jax’s anchor to morality and, in some ways, to reality as well. Once she was out of the picture, everything was a means to an end.
Jax became lost in himself and the club, inevitably succumbing to everything he once claimed to hate.
Derek Shepherd in *Grey’s Anatomy*.
For those of us who still decided to watch Grey’s Anatomy even after George died, this was the final twist of the knife.
Once Derek died, a lot of viewers were outraged, and stopped watching the show.
Chrissy Snow in *Three’s Company*.
While Three’s Company was always hilarious, there was a definite change in the vibe of the show when our Chrissy Snow left.
There are a lot of reasons why she left, and they were all valid, but it left us hurting.
Sookie St. James in *Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life*.
Okay, she wasn’t written off the show, but it’s still worth mentioning.
She had so little time in the revival series that it was CRIMINAL. How do you have a reunion show without her? I don’t get it.
Kol in *The Vampire Diaries*.
When Kol “dies” in the show, it left fans completely confused and annoyed. It almost made us happy that there was a spinoff coming, so we could watch that instead.
Getting rid of an original vampire so easily seemed like such a huge slap in the face to major fans.
Pablo Escobar in *Narcos*.
Don’t get me wrong: season 3 of Narcos is AMAZING. The show wasn’t altogether ruined by his exit.
But I think we can all agree that we definitely didn’t feel the same amount of urgency to catch the bad guy after he left the show.
Opie Winston in *Sons of Anarchy*.
Opie was one of the only characters on SOA that had something resembling a moral compass.
When he was taken from the show, from Jax, and from us, it left the characters spiraling. No one had a moral code anymore.
Rick Grimes in *The Walking Dead*.
In what was probably the most tragic exit of all, even though it wasn’t a death, we lost Rick Grimes.
The show changed at its very core from the moment he made his exit. While it’s still fun to watch, we miss his acting abilities and his character so much.
