Killed Off: A History of TV Shows That Violently Rid Themselves of Core Characters

Grey’s Anatomy has seen enough behind-the-scenes drama to have made for multiple on-screen evictions. Most prominently was the surprise death of T.R. Knight’s Dr. George O’Malley, who got smashed by a bus at the end of the show’s fifth season. This followed a few years of turmoil, most scandalously the affair where Isaiah Washtington caused a fight on set by calling Knight a “faggot,” which ended up getting leaked to the press. After public pressure, Washington was let go, and subsequently, the two loudest rabble-rousers about the situation — Knight and Katherine Heigl — were written into some of the series’ worst-ever storylines. Knight ended up quitting, while Heigl hung around for one more season before leaving in season 6. And while her character, Dr. Izzie Stevens, was allowed to escape with her life, she’s been as good as dead on Grey’s for years.

Where to stream Grey's Anatomy

Over her years on television, Shannen Doherty has garnered a reputation for being difficult on set. She departed her star-making role on Beverly Hills, 90210 with much acrimony. And while that show probably would have liked to have killed Doherty off, she was instead sent off to pursue theater in London. But when it came time for Doherty to unceremoniously exit her second Aaron Spelling-produced show, Charmed, there was no beating around the bush. After reported on-set clashes with on-screen sister Alyssa Milano, Doherty’s character, Prue Halliwell, was killed by a demon’s energy blast at the close of the show’s third season.

Where to stream Charmed

After an infamous and very public meltdown and feud with Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre, Charlie Sheen was axed from Two and a Half Men. The question of how to remove his character, Charlie Harper, from the show was answered at the beginning of the show’s ninth season, when it was revealed that Charlie — last seen running off to Paris with his stalker, Rose (Melanie Lynskey) — died from being hit by a subway train. …Very possibly pushed by a wildly jealous Rose.

Where to stream Two and a Half Men

Lost was no stranger to knocking off the odd character at irregular intervals. They kind of became notorious for it, in fact. But perhaps the most harrowing on-screen death that wasn’t storyline-dictated came when Mr. Eko, the character played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, was killed by the island’s formidable smoke monster. Akinnuoye-Agbaje was apparently not too keen on living in Hawaii and so far away from his home in London, so he asked showrunners Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse to write him out.

Where to stream Lost

You probably had no idea that Isaac Hayes — Oscar-winning music star and voice of South Park‘s Chef since the show’s beginning — was a Scientologist until South Park began laying into the show with both barrells. When Hayes objected to the shabby treatment of his chosen religion, it led to an impasse and eventually Hayes’ exit from the show. Of course, show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone couldn’t let Chef go quietly. Using patched-together audio from Hayes’s previous performances, the show had Chef join a child-molesting cult (after being brainwashed) before falling to a gruesome and utterly undignified death.

Where to stream South Park

The story goes like this: Jay Thomas was cast as a guest star on Cheers and a romantic interest for Rhea Perlman’s Carla. Carla’s marriage to Eddie LeBeck was a rare moment of contentment for the feisty barmaid, but Thomas, who had a radio show at the time, was fond of publicly griping about having to kiss Perlman on-screen, making mention of needing “combat pay.” Before you knew it, Eddie was being written out of the show’s seventh season, and then, in season 8, Eddie was killed by a zamboni in an off-screen incident.

Where to stream Cheers

Series patriarch John Amos wasn’t all that happy with the tone that Good Times was taking as it began to be more known as the Jimmie Walker “Dy-no-mite!” show rather than a situation comedy about a striving black family dealing with actual issues. Amos was not shy about making his complaints known, both behind the scenes of the show and in the press. After the show’s third season, creator Norman Lear told Amos that his contract wasn’t being picked up, and his character was killed in an offscreen car accident.

Where to stream Good Times

While it’s never been confirmed, there were anonymous reports that Michael Pitt wasn’t very well-liked on the set of Boardwalk Empire, and that there were problems with him throughout the show’s first two seasons. And while Pitt’s Jimmy Darmody was the co-lead of the show, Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson was lead enough to carry the show, and so the show’s producers has Nucky shoot and kill Jimmy at the close of season 2.

Where to stream Boardwalk Empire

In 1999, The Simpsons voice actor Maggie Roswell — who played such characters as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Miss Hoover, and LuAnn Van Houten — began agitating for more money per episode. When salary negotiations hit an impasse (Roswell’s ask for an increase from $2,000 an episode to $6,000 an episode was met with an offer for a $150 raise instead), Roswell and the show parted ways. And in the season 11 episode “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily,” Made Flanders was killed off after taking a few rounds of a t-shirt cannon in the chest and plummeting from the top of a stadium. (Roswell would return to The Simpsons three years later, but Maude stayed dead.

Where to stream The Simpsons

In one of television’s most notorious killing-off scenarios, contract disputes on Valerie — NBC’s sitcom crafted around Mary Tyler Moore Show star Valerie Harper — caused the network and Harper to come into conflict. After the show’s second season, things got so bad that Harper was written out of her own show. When the show came back in season 3, the show was called Valerie’s Family, with her kids (including Jason Bateman) and husband now alone, with aunt Sandy (Sandy Duncan) joining them to help them get along. Valerie’s off-screen death was mentioned only briefly, and by season 4, the show was re-titled The Hogan Family, erasing Valerie’s presence for good.