I know that I typically
don't talk about current events in this blog, but after seeing some
of the backlash and outcry over a particular episode of a long
running series on television, I knew that I had to speak my piece.
Now, I realize that for
some of you, this is old news, but believe it or not, it is still
being talked about on social media and the Internet, and may fans are
claiming that they will never watch the show again.
Of course, I'm talking
about the death of Brian Griffin, the family dog. Brian died of
internal injuries following an accident in which he got run over by a
car while setting up for a game of road hockey with Stewie.
Now, I'm a casual viewer
of “Family Guy”, and have been for years since the show debuted in
1999. I understand that the show is currently in its twelfth season,
and really, if you wanted to kill off a character and not have anyone
lose their job, then really, Brian, Stewie, Peter, or Quagmire would
have worked. After all, show creator Seth MacFarlane voices all of
those characters. And, I suppose of all those characters, Brian
would be the one that is easily replaceable. The show's already cast
Sopranos star Tony Sirico to voice the Griffin family's new pet, so I
suppose that “Family Guy” is already moving ahead with the show.
CONFESSION:
When I first heard the news that a main character was being killed
off on “Family Guy”, my prediction was Chris Griffin, as I
believed that Seth Green wanted to move on to focus on creating more
“Robot Chicken” episodes. But in this case, I was completely
wrong.
Now,
here's the issue. When Brian's death was broadcast on the sixth
episode of the twelfth season, it caused a lot of outrage and
disbelief, which is understandable. After all, in many Family guy
polls, Brian was obviously a fan favourite. And with Brian's death,
many fans are now threatening to boycott the show unless they find a
way to bring Brian back to life. But despite fan outrage, staffers
associated with the show defend the decision, stating that killing
off Brian was really the only option that they had to make the
episode memorable.
Well,
I suppose in some way, “Family Guy” achieved that.
Now,
here's the question. Did “Family Guy” jump the shark with the
death of Brian Griffin? It's hard to say, really. After all, the
episode did air less than a week ago. But, when you look back on the
seven decades of television that we've seen, Brian Griffin is hardly
the first major character to be killed off of a television program.
Earlier in the week, a major character was killed off of “Person of
Interest”. And on “The Mentalist”, Thomas Jane finally found
and murdered the man known as “Red John” - the serial killer who
slaughtered his family ten years earlier.
In
some cases, while killing off a main character signified the death of
a show, others managed to survive several seasons. And, that's what
this blog is about.
We're
going to be discussing television shows that killed off a major
character, and the aftermath following it.
It's
unknown how “Family Guy” will fare after this extremely
controversial decision. But at the same time, controversy is nothing
new for “Family Guy”. I've lost count over how many times the
show was yanked off the air and returned again because of
controversial subject matter alone!
So,
let's begin, shall we?
VALERIE HOGAN
(1986-1987)
Does
anybody remember the 1986 NBC series, “Valerie”? The name might
not ring a bell, but the cast might jog your memory. In the show,
Valerie Hogan was played by actress Valerie Harper of Rhoda fame.
She was a mother of three boys played by Jason Bateman, Jeremy Licht,
and Danny Ponce, struggling to balance motherhood as a mostly single
parent (her husband worked as an airline pilot and was rarely home).
For two seasons, the show did quite well in the ratings, and
everything was fine. At least, until Valerie Harper grew concerned
over the fact that the show seemed to be focusing more on Jason
Bateman and less on the rest of the cast. The end result was that
Valerie Harper was fired from her own show, and replaced with Sandy
Duncan.
As
for how they explained away Valerie's death? They killed her off in
a car accident, and then burned down the house shortly after, making
1987 seem like the worst year of the Hogan family's life. Of course,
the fire episode did erase any and all traces of Valerie Harper, and
Sandy Duncan assumed the new role of Hogan family matriarch.
Oh,
and the show's title changed three times from “Valerie” to
“Valerie's Family” to “The Hogan Family”.
AFTERMATH:
As lovely and talented an actress as Valerie Harper was, her character's death
didn't really cause any damage to the show itself. In fact, Sandy
Duncan breathed new life into it, with the show lasting an additional
four seasons, wrapping up its run in 1991. This meant that Sandy
Duncan appeared in more episodes than Valerie Harper! I wonder if
Duncan's Wheat Thins commercials had anything to do with it? They
were all over the place during that time period.
CARL KANISKY
(1981-1985)
Here's
a conundrum for you all. What happens when one of the stars of the
show passes away in between seasons? That's the situation that
“Gimme A Break” producers faced when actor Dolph Sweet passed
away in 1985. At the time of Sweet's death, he had been playing the
role of police chief Carl Kanisky, whose wife had passed away prior
to the series beginning. Carl's former wife, Margaret, had been
friends with a woman named Nell Harper (Nell Carter) for years, and a
promise was made between the two women that if anything happened to
her that Nell would move into the Kanisky house to help Carl raise
his three daughters played by Kari Michaelsen, Lauri Hendler, and
Lara Jill Miller.
Carl's
death was addressed in the fifth season premiere of “Gimme A
Break”, as Dolph Sweet had died around the same time that season
four had wrapped up. And, the show tried to go on with Nell
continuing to honour her promise to her late friends to look after
the girls.
AFTERMATH:
The problem was that by 1985, all the girls had grown up. By the
conclusion of season five, two of the actresses had left the show
permanently, and the third one had a recurring role until the end of
the series. But this set the stage for the radical revamp of the
show in which Nell's character moves to New York City with foster son
Joey (Joey Lawrence), and new cast members were added, played by
Telma Hopkins, Rosetta LeNoire, and Rosie O'Donnell. Unfortunately,
the show had changed so much that it alienated viewers, and the show
was pulled from NBC's schedule by 1987.
PAUL HENNESSY
(2002-2003)
Fast
forward eighteen years later to 2003, and the same exact situation
that happened on “Gimme A Break” happened on the set of “8
Simple Rules”, when John Ritter passed away in September 2003.
This left the character of Cate Hennessy (Katey Sagal) as a widow
with three teenage children – Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), Kerry (Amy
Davidson), and Rory (Martin Spanjers) – adjusting to life without
their husband and father. To assist Cate, the producers added James
Garner and David Spade to the cast as Cate's father and Cate's nephew
respectively.
AFTERMATH:
Considering that the show was all about an overprotective father
sticking his nose into the affairs of his daughters' romantic lives,
the death of John Ritter was a huge blow for the show – one that it
never really recovered from. Though Garner and Spade tried their
best to turn around the show, the original premise was lost forever.
The series was cancelled in May 2005 after three seasons.
MAUDE FLANDERS
(1990-2000)
Now,
here's an interesting scoop about “The Simpsons”. Apparently at
some point during this year, a major character from the show (which
has run twice as long as “Family Guy”) is slated to die. And the
only clue they've given us is that the person who will be axed is
someone whose voice actor has won an Emmy for their role.
(For
those of you taking bets, you can eliminate Principal Skinner or Mr.
Burns. Harry Shearer plays both characters, and he's yet to win the
award!)
But
until that death happens, let's take a look at a major death for a
secondary character. Maude Flanders was the wife of Ned Flanders,
and both of them made a perfect match. They were kind, generous,
church-going...and both could be quite hypocritical if either one
were challenged on their beliefs. But the reason why I include Maude
on this list is because the story behind why she was written out is
interesting...and her death is probably one of the most asinine death
to ever be written into a sitcom (albeit an animated one).
From
1990 to 1999, the role of Maude Flanders was played by voice actress
Maggie Roswell. But when a pay dispute erupted behind the scenes of
“The Simpsons”, coupled with the fact that Maggie had just
relocated to Colorado, Roswell quit the series in 1999. From that
point on, Maude was voiced by Marcia Mitzman Gaven. At least, that
was the case until February 2000.
You
see, the day before Valentine's Day, Maude and Ned were at the
opening of a new speedway, and the Simpson family were seated in
front of them. Maude left to go and get herself and Ned some snacks,
while Homer was obnoxiously trying to score a free T-shirt from the
cannon shooting girls below.
Well,
needless to say, Maude got hit with a wayward T-shirt, and fell
several stories to her death – and given that the last thing that
she saw was Homer Simpson's butt crack, that's a really disturbing
way to go. I mean, for god sakes, Homer, where were your
tighty-whities? I mean, seriously.
AFTERMATH:
Ironically enough, Maggie Roswell worked out a deal with “The
Simpsons”, and she returned to the show in 2002. But Maude
Flanders stayed deceased, paving the way for Ned to embark on several
affairs with a singer named Rachel, an actress named Sara, and Mrs.
Krabappel. Wonder how Ned would react if the show killed off Mrs. K,
given that Marcia Wallace passed away quite recently?
CHEF (1996-2006)
Okay,
so everyone who's ever watched “South Park” knows that the show
never ever took death seriously. How else could you explain why
Kenny has experienced over a hundred deaths during the show's
seventeen years on the air?
And,
anyone who has ever seen an episode of the early years of “South
Park” knows that one of the stars of the show was Chef, the man who
served lunch to all of the students at South Park Elementary. Voiced
by Isaac Hayes, Chef was certainly an enigma of sorts. He was often
the one adult in the whole town that Kenny, Kyle, Cartman, and Stan
could talk to and get an honest answer. Mind you, those answers
often came in the form of 1970s era music that deserved one of those
“Parental Advisory” stickers on it, but for a group of eight year
old boys, it sailed right over their heads. But Chef was definitely
the coolest character on the show. He even had a hit on the charts
with this classic single.
But
when Isaac Hayes voiced his opposition towards an episode of “South
Park” that aired during the show's ninth season, he had a falling
out with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and he quit the series
just before the show began recording the vocal sessions for season
ten. The reason? Well, the show completely made fun of the religion
known as “Scientology”, and Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist, took
offense.
So,
when the show's tenth season premiered, Matt and Trey killed off Chef
– ironically enough by having Chef join a cult which brainwashed
him. Despite the best efforts of the boys to rescue him, Chef ends
up falling off of a bridge that was struck by lightning, is impaled
by a tree branch, gets shot, gets mauled by a mountain lion, and is
partially dismembered by a grizzly bear.
Or in
other words...most gruesome death on a television sitcom EVER!
AFTERMATH:
The show is still going on seven years later, and Chef's death
certainly didn't affect the show in a negative way at all. But even
if everything was hunky-dory and Chef had stayed on for the
foreseeable future, Trey and Matt likely would have had to write him
off anyway, as Isaac Hayes passed away in the summer of 2008.
So,
those are five characters that were killed off of shows, as well as
the ultimate fates of the shows themselves. What fate will “Family
Guy” have following the death of Brian Griffin? It's too soon to
tell, but I think it'll be fun to see what happens.
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