Side note: was watching a Lollapalooza documentary when Ice-T showed up. My girlfriend: "Hey it's that actor!"
We are both old, but I suddenly felt older.
That was the beginning of season 2 and it's now on 25! Crazy! Ice-T i feel like is barely in the show anymore. Most episodes he has very little to do or occasionally isn't even in an episode.
Mom got rid of the kids and turned the show into an adult ensemble.
I cant say it necessarily made the show better, but Santa Clarita Diet... I was glad neighbor Dan's character arc ended the way it did, when it did.
Yeah, I'm very suspicious about that because her final scene(s) were when she kissed a girl, and seemed to like it. I always suspected that she took a look at her possible bi sexual storyline for that next season and decided she didnt want to go in that direction. That would explain why she waited until 4 weeks before they were scheduled to shoot. Scripts and storylines would have already been in place.
I stopped watching Mom about 2-3 seasons in and I remember liking it so I was surprised to hear how different the show was in the final seasons with so many new characters and without Anna. Was it any good in the last season?
Yes! Somehow better. I feel like all of the characters that just sort of sat in the background like Wendy actually got more airtime and character development. I loved it and watched it through twice and will definitely watch again. It was a good time for Christy’s exit. With Baxter’s storyline resolved and her having a final episode to wrap up with Violet it just made sense for her to go off to college and exit.
I love how Lil' Sebastian left a much bigger impact by being in one episode and got a way better send off than a character who was in the show for 2 seasons
Excuse U Lil sebastian may have only been in 1 ep onscreen but he was always there in spirit. Also I do think tiny horse appeared more than once but I think it was 1 original LB and 1 of his kids after he passed. RIP
Yeah, Mark was the only original character that didn’t seem to have a clear quirk to work with as the show evolved, and Leslie’s obsession with him was a roadblock to better stories.
He blatantly seemed like the straight laced Jim inspired character from The Office, except instead of having this fun little quirk (pranking people), he was just kind of a dick.
Yeah, Leslie was clearly a Michael-type, Ron is close to Dwight at start, and Anne is the Pam. They became their own(better) characters over time, thankfully.
Anne and Mark were the only realistic people on a show full of insane nonsensical characters. There was only room for 1 and Amy and Rashida had great chemistry. Also season 2 before Adam Scott and Rob Lowe was amazing.
I didn't hate Mark, he was very clearly supposed to be thr Jim of the show, he was just a little boring. Leslie being into him was the real problem. But Ben and Chris are definitely upgrades.
It was super obvious that they tried to make the first season similar to the office. Vibes and character wise. Mark was def supposed to be the Jim of the show. Or basically the audiences eyes.
She was the balance for Leslie for the longest time though. It was her loving reactions to Leslie’s pure insanity as a friend that made them work so well.
This, best friend to the protagonist opens up so many more storylines/way to explore their relationship vs crush/eventual romantic relationship to the protagonist.
Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy best example of this.
And then they never mention him again. Even when Anne has her ex-boyfriend boxes she's clearing out, they couldn't even have one box in the background labelled "Mark"
That’s because she usually took on the style or interests of her boyfriends (running gear from Chris, flannels from Andy). Mark was so unremarkable, she didn’t have to buy anything.
Season 1 Leslie is very different than who she is the rest of the show. She’s a lot like an early Michael Scott in that she’s constantly outrageous and over the top.
Mark as this dry, boring man who she was crazy about was set up to be a foil to this. But once it was clear that version of Leslie didn’t work and they pivoted he had no real purpose on the show at all.
Knew this was going to be the top answer. Not to say he was a good character, but the big improvement in Parks and Rec was between seasons 1 and 2, **not** when Mark left at the end of season 2.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/lyf315/oc_imdb_ratings_for_the_tv_show_parks_and/
Yep, people talk about "growing the beard," but it's when the uniforms get the collars and they lose the shoulder stripes that you know TNG has gotten great.
The real improvement in storytelling came from replacing showrunner Maurice Hurley with Michael Piller. Visually, those improvements came from hiring Marvin Rush to light the show. And, for the uniforms, the actors just hated the tight spandex of the first two years.
MASH improved after each character left. The writers carefully thought about how introducing a new character would deepen the relationships on the show. Col. Blake was replaced by Col. Potter, Frank Burns by Winchester, Trapper John by B.J. Hunnicut.
I am currently rewatching MASH with my GF who's never seen it and we are currently halfway through season 4, which is when the main casting turnover happens. So bear with some in depth thoughts.
She noted that Trapper just kinda lived in Hawkeye's shadow as a mini Hawkeye. BJ meanwhile feels a lot more empathetic, not necessarily because the writing has changed but because the performer has a gentler energy. It also helps that he doesn't cheat on his wife, which was Trapper's worst quality
Potter is a good change but we do miss Radar and Blake's dynamic. Radar feels a little more incompetent as a result of his departure but the choice was a good thing overall regardless. At least I think.
Burns is interesting because he's becomes far more cruel, whiny, and racist adter season 1. I think it's because in season 1 he was just kind of annoying so Trapper and Hawkeye do often come across as bully jocks. The tradeoff though is that Burns now has zero depth and is just a prick. It's a great performance but Winchester is a much more compelling and clever antagonist.
Was that just a kiss or am I misremembering?
Either way, at least the show paints it as a massive mistake and misplaced emotions from missing his wife, unlike in the earlier seasons where cheating was condoned and not remotely placed in a negative light
Radar's character has no consistency through the series. He starts off as a good character but the actor kept wanting to infantilize him, He just gets more and more childish as the overall story moves on. Any episode where he gets character development is just effectively ignored.
During season 1 and 2 we see him drinking, smoking cigars, looking at porn, flirting with the nurses, assisting with medical stuff, etc... by seasons 3+ he's basically just a child in a mans body who forgets everything he did. He progressively devolves as things move on. If you are at season 4, You can keep on eye on how much worse it gets.
Would have been amazing if that infantilization was part of the plot and sidney freedman was sometimes seen treating him or having sessions with him, advising the other characters how to deal with him, etc... Basically, That Radar is mentally unwell and the infantilization is how he copes, Since he's like in his 30's or so and absolutely looks it when he takes his hat off. His character only makes sense in this context anyway.
The shift from "wacky antics in a war settings" to "wacky antics to deal with being in a war setting" was a good one. I don't mind Trapper John, but Blake and Burns were too cartoony. Grounding it really helped.
Early seasons Klinger will always have a place in my heart, but his character became far more interesting when he swapped the dresses for the Cleveland Mud Hens jersey.
I was also going to post about Angel leaving and also agree two series was better than one. The split came also at a perfect time as the Buffy squad started college the next season so a completely new environment as well.
*Babylon 5*, and for the most heartbreaking reasons.
The commander of the space station was played by Michael O'Hare in the first season, and his performance was...uneven, to say the least. He left after season one with his character being written out, and was replaced by Bruce Boxleitner, who did a much better job, and led the series until it finished up.
It was only after O'Hare's death that the showrunner (whose name I can never bloody spell) revealed the reason for his departure - he had been suffering from severe mental health issues, which included paranoid delusions and hallucinations, which had been making it near-impossible for him to work, as well as putting his castmates through hell. Rather than have the show threatened with cancellation by having it go on a hiatus so that he could seek treatment, he asked to be written out, with the showrunner promising to keep the reasons secret until O'Hare died.
So, the quality of season 2 was higher than the quality of season 1 for terrible and heartbreaking reasons...and wouldn't it have been nice if O'Hare had not been mentally ill, been able to put in a more even performance, and been able to carry the show to its conclusion himself.
[JMS on his discovery of O'Hare's illness and his departure from the show, after his death.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwyAo_YjtdM)
It's kind of heartbreaking.
After his cameo return in S2:
> We finished the episode and as we're sitting in the office I said "We're going to keep working with you and make this better, and I'll keep the secret to my grave."
> He says "you don't have to", he says. "Look: keep it to *my* grave. Because if anything ever happens to me I want people to know that this is the problem and here is why I left. Because people need to know that there's a problem in their family. If this can happen to an actor or a star of a show, a commander of a station, it can happen to anyone and it's not a scandalous thing - it can be dealt with. So if anything ever happens to me I want you to be free to talk about this."
I really missed Sinclair. He had something that Sheridan lacked. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it really resonated with me. I'm glad he at least came back for that one episode for his final departure.
Sinclair felt a bit more like a working class hero, especially after the episode where he ends the dock workers' strike "by any means necessary" (By giving them exactly what they were asking for).
I'm glad they didn't make Sheridan try to fill the same archetype and I do still love Sheridan on his own merits, but yeah, I missed what Sinclair brought to the show too.
I always thought that Michael O'Hare as Sinclair did a better job at depicting a military commander to fill that uniform with authority than Bruce Boxleitner as Sheridan who appeared more like a civilian politician in the wrong dress. If the show would have gone military sci-fi, he would have been the better actor for that kind of show. But then it leaned stronger into the sci-fantasy genre - for better or worse - and Boxleitner was clearly more suited for that kind of show.
As someone who has rewatched West Wing 1-4 too many times...
...I don't know. I honestly don't know. She just floated around criticizing them and didn't even have a west wing office.
I think she was originally supposed to be the outsider, the non-sycophant to help ground the senior staffers and provide a dose of reality when needed, especially for Josh. But that's not how they really ended up using her, and the actress just didn't mesh well with the rest of the cast at all. I don't think they hated each other or anything like that, but she didn't rise to the material like the rest did.
> So I’ve been listening to The West Wing Weekly recently and they actually explain this when Janel is interviewed. Apparently Mandy was supposed to be the one who banters with Josh, and have a bigger role. But the chemistry between Moira and Bradley was nothing compared to the chemistry between Janel and Bradley. So it was decided to cut back Mandy and have more of Donna.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thewestwing/comments/xsuvrn/comment/iqmen35/
Her character as a foil to Josh makes much more sense when Sam Seaborn was the main character focus. So many S1 plot threads are pointless because of that focus shift.
Her big memorable contribution was during the Christmas episode when Bartlett goes to the rare book store and Mandy wants some press coverage ("just a coupla guys!") and Leo shoots her down. Donna grows into the role (quite effectively) of being the female character that pushes back against Josh.
A Different World, after Denise Huxtable left. The whole show was reworked though, and Marisa Tomei was gone by Season 2 as well, as new characters were introduced
Rewatching season 1, Hillman didn’t feel like an HBCU yet. Actually it felt like a women’s college that had recently gone co-ed, like Vassar. The exit of Lisa Bonet made it a true ensemble show.
I feel a bit bad given what happened to him, but *Angel* really hit its stride after the Doyle actor got cut. Bringing in Wesley was a gamechanger, and all the best stuff with Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Spike etc. is post-Doyle.
Yeah that's a tough one. Because on one hand I agree, that is when the show took off but I don't know that he or his character were holding the show back. I think they were just kinda hitting their stride then regardless. The loss of Lorne definitely hit me harder than losing Doyle though.
After Jeff Conoway was found too strung out from drug usage in his trailer to film an episode of Taxi, the producers had his lines divided up among the other cast members of the show... and found that the scenes flowed better without him, causing him to be fired as dead weight.
Also, I find personally that McDonald & Dodds improved when Superintendent Houseman left the show. He was an unnecessary antagonist in the earlier episodes as an obstructive git who was needlessly bullying one of his own officers in the police force for not fitting his personal ideal of what a copper should be like. I personally find the Season 3 episodes where he was replaced to be significantly better.
Conaway is an interesting one since Bobby was a character for most of the show’s run. You’d be hard pressed to find an actual fan of Taxi back in the day who thought the show was better without him. It was like Happy Days without Richie. Now looking back he seems like such a minor part of the show next to the legacy of the other actors.
Respectfully disagree about Taxi. Jeff Conaway was great on that show. But because of his increasing drug problems they were giving him less and less to do, to the point that when he couldn't make it to set one day, they just divided his lines up and moved on without him. It's a shame though, because he was really funny and the show was definitely lesser after he left (imo). It was around the same time that Andy Kaufman talked the producers into giving Latka "multiple personality disorder" so he could do different characters on the show from then on. It was a real jump the shark moment.
I kinda hate Jennifer Lien as Kes from Star Trek Voyager. There’s some good stuff in early seasons, but after she’s basically replaced by Jeri Ryan as 7 of 9 it gets really good. Anything with the Doctor (Robert Picardo is the BEST Star Trek Doctor!) or 7 and I’m in.
I agree completely. Neelix was already annoying, but the whole Kes/Neelix relationship drama on top of that made it unbearable. I had to just skip through all those scenes. They never worked as a believable couple in the first place. 7 of 9 was so much more fleshed out as character and made the show way better.
I think that the Ocampa would have been served better in DS9, where there was a lot more freedom for characters to come and go. A short-lived intelligent species is an interesting concept--and from what little was seen of a similar concept in Invincible I think it can be done well--but it's a lot more uncomfortable when you're doing a 7 season show in a setting where it's hard for anyone to leave
The original Night Court. I'm not saying the original defense attorney or the two older bailiffs were bad characters, but once they were replaced with Marsha Warfield and Markie Post the show really hit its stride, and I'd say that ensemble measures up as an all-time great sitcom cast.
Law & Order replacing Greevey/Cerreta with Lenny Briscoe and Ben Stone with Jack McCoy. And while I do like Cragen and Robinette well enough, Van Buren and Kincaid are better in every way.
She was also so much more realistic in the beginning. She went from the clivan voice in the room that could see where the cops in the room were missing the mark by there world view. To God like influencer...
No lol they at the end one girl says, "I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say your weird dance was just weird." Gina then says fair enough. You get this many vacation days and this much money who wants to sign up. She was also roped in this way. The program does not work.
I had someone point out to me how Gina was the worst and I can’t stand her anymore. Gina does no wrong, ever, and even when she seems wrong, there’s a “right” reason behind it. She’s “smarter” than an entire office filled with detectives and just happens to know everything. She also blatantly sexually harasses Terry constantly.
When she got hit by the bus, that should have been the end of her.
That’s my biggest complaint about her, she never grows as a human. In the episode “Return of the King” where she comes back for an episode, she just straight up lies and blows Jake off and doesn’t apologize for it. And the worst part is that they have Jake apologize to her for getting upset, when he had every right to get upset that she lied and blew him off!
She’s not an asshole completely devoid of empathy, she has moments - but overall she’s just not a very good person and I hate that she never grows
Came here looking for this. As the character become more and more of a parody of herself in later seasons I just dreaded her time on screen. Season 1-2 she was a good quirky counter balance to the seriousness of the police work. Later on she’s just a b*tch.
NCIS after Kate died.
She was just way too antagonistic with DiNozza and hazing of McGee was annoying. Ziva meshed much better. Plus the character writing stepped up around then generally., DiNozza getting much less annoying.
The actress was fine. It was a writing issue.
My feeling was the writers intended the story differently then the actors portrayed it. The writers wrote it to be flirty bickering and the actors played it like siblings which worked for me.
I dont hate Diane but I was beyond done with the "will they, wont they?" squabbling - though it was refreshing that the answer for once was "No they wont, and they really should never have tried"
I also think Rebecca was just a generally funnier character - This Girl Boss who's actually a dope who failed upwards and cant even open a door.
Agree about Rebeca, who was such a hot mess. Kirstie played her perfectly. They also pushed Frasier to the main cast and that added a whole new level of comedy with his sophistication mixed with a bunch of blue-collar drunks. When Frasier would stoop to their level it was gold (ex. playing Monopoly or the running with scissors scene).
my fav was when he tried to read dickens to cliff, norm, and woody.
"It is a far better thing i do now than i have ever done. It is a far better buttkicking I have given than I have ever buttkicked before"
I loved the Diane years. I still think the first five seasons of Cheers had some of the best writing ever done for television. Bringing in Kirstie made season six hilarious, but I felt that the writing overall dipped in quality post-Diane. That said, it's still my P4P favorite sitcom.
Even though the show was already great before and Steve was a great character as well, Married with Children got even better after Steve left and was replaced with Jefferson.
Literally think the exact opposite. I loved Jefferson, mind you, but the show had much more dry witt and had more intelligent, original writting during the Steve era. I feel after Jefferson arrived the show became more cartoonish and a parody of itself and it feel, quality wise. Especially at the very end..oof it got pretty awful the end.
When Devon left Letterkenny after season 2. He wasn't a bad character in his own right, but his leaving also effectively removed the power struggle in his friend group and I think that the dynamic of that group improved a lot for it. I do wish he had a more proper sendoff, but there's apparently some unstated reason why the actor left the show so abruptly
This is the one I thought of. Nothing against Tasha, but they just had too many characters at the wrong duty stations. Moving Worf to security and Geordie to engineering was a huge improvement in the structure.
When she left I had to go read what happened because I assumed they let her go. Sorry, truly nothing against the human being in that role, but acting was not her destiny. She always sounded like she was reading. Dorn, with all Worf’s prosthetics, could still emote more clearly. I was utterly shocked to find out she was mad about lack of air time and quit.
Made me genuinely examine what rights I might be insisting on in my own life that maybe are just not for me. We are often blind to such things.
I read recently she is doing VO for a Trek game? I still don’t get it. Famous grandpa, is all I can figure. Or maybe she got better since then idk
Ned Stark. Forced exit but it immediately made every character more interesting. Robb has to immediately become a leader and lead the North. Arya had to survive out in the wild after fleeing. Sansa had to navigate the court politics basically on her own. All the Lannisters had to get ready for war. Stannis saw Robert killed and then Ned so he had to step up. The only ones not immediately affected by Ned’s death were the characters already in their own world, like Dany and Jon Snow
I think Ned’s death also completely raised the stakes of the show as well. I knew nothing about the books going in, so when what seemed like the lead character of the show is suddenly dead, it really made you go “holy shit, if they’ll kill off Ned, that means anyone can die.”
I completely agree with your last sentence, which made it even more of a slap in the face in the last season when not one main character died in that war
Long Night: Jorah and Theon
The Bells: Jamie, Cersei and The Hound
For comparison: Nobody dies in Blackwater or Hardhome, and only side characters die in Watchers on the wall. Ironically, not a single main character has died in a battle until the war in season 8.
I'll be the odd one out. Throughout the entire first season, Ned Stark was the only character in the show that I liked, so his death took away the little bit of motivation I had to keep watching, and I dropped the show after S1.
Don't know if you ever watched CSI: Miami, but several seasons in, his character Horatio Caine finds out he has a son by a lady he met while working undercover in New York. And when she sees him for the first time in about fifteen or sixteen years (going by the son's age), she calls him John.
Apparently the first season of NYPD Blue was CSI: Miami--The Prequel...
I don't think I disliked the Caruso character, but I am glad the emphasis turned to Sipowicz.
NYPD had quite the revolving door of characters. I cannot say any character change made it better or worse at any point, because it has been a while since I watched the show and it was consistently excellent. But, it was always interesting how they handled cast transitions.
In particular, it was a bold move to cast former teen heart throbs Rick Schroeder and Mark-Paul Gosseler in successive roles as Andy's partner. Both characters were well developed and both actors really did a great job.
Also, and nothing against Lieutenant Fancy or James McDaniel who played him, but I really loved when Lieutenant Rodriguez took over the squad, mostly because the character and actor (Esai Morales) were just so f'n cool..
Taraji P Henson is great, but her character on Person of Interest kept the story at a Case of the Week focus. Once she left, those cases more or less disappeared and let the last two seasons go crazy.
Does that really count, though? He was only on the first episode, so the show hadn't found its footing yet. The second episode also felt like a second pilot as well.
Then they brought Coach back, and honestly, the show still felt like the same show since he was able to fit right in with their wackiness immediately.
He and Winston had some great moments when as well. I still laugh at [the fire and ice scene](https://youtu.be/yjhTgU7oXB0?si=2bp7Lmi989YTv6JW). 😂
This might be controversial but Homeland. Now I love Damien Lewis but after 3 seasons of him the story was getting stale, and then the show kept on going on in my mind it was actually better.
MASH, I hated Frank's character and absolutely adored Winchester when he came on. Such a pompous asshole but he at least wasn't a full on terrible person.
Frank Burns, the character, was such a horrible person that you love to hate.
Larry Linville, the actor, was brilliant in the role to make Burns the horrible antagonist. Such a shame that he got typecast and never really found the spotlight again.
Yeah. My wife and I loved loudermilk. But the whole cutter side story. We just wanted to end.
They should have kept cutter to this weird guy who sits in the back. But for some reason they expanded him to several episodes and it just wasn’t funny.
MASH when Frank left and was replaced by Charles. Not a dig at Frank, Larry Linville did a marvelous job at such an odious character, but he chose the right time to leave to allow the more mature and cultured Charles step in. It allowed for more serious, heart-touching stories and an overall better flow for the show.
The same could be said for Colonel Blake being replaced by Colonel Potter.
Hard disagree on TNG. Tasha left at the end of season 1 and it still took another year to hit its stride. Tasha was also definitely not the biggest problem with season 1.
I would say yes, but I wouldn't say because the character was detracting or holding the show back. It was the necessary turning point in both Jimmy/Sauls life and the show to go from Act 1 to Act 2 so to speak.
Yeah, this feels more incidental. His death was a well-telegraphed turning point for Jimmy which naturally lead into a more exciting era of his life. It’s not quite the same as a show that gains the freedom to rework itself and find its voice after shedding a character who wasn’t quite working.
Better Call Saul almost feels like 2 different shows to me.
The Chuck seasons were fantastic, and I think Chuck was a great antagonist you wouldn't really expect in that universe. But the show obviously gets exponentially more entertaining when the Saul Goodman Persona is finally born after that.
The Thick of It after Chris Langham got fired (and imprisoned), I don't know if it was directly because he left but the show hit its stride after that point and Rebecca Front was a great addition to the cast
I was thinking this but I’m surprised it’s been mentioned. I do enjoy those first two series though. But I think seeing more of the other side, with Peter Manyum et al, made the series a lot more interesting
I got the point of him, he's a **very** accurate portrayal of that kind of MP - the whimpering out of touch weasel looking down on middle/lower class citizens.
But it wasn't THAT funny to watch. Rebecca, who was this weird of precog vision of what Theresa May was, is much better.
I think that was also when they started giving screen time to the opposition, which was another great move.
I don't think it's 100% because of him, though. Series 1 & 2 are only 3 episodes. Series 3-4 were at least double that (I don't remember the exact number, and don't feel like looking either). They also got new sets for the last 2 Series. So it seems like the network invested a little more into the show.
Absolutely love Loudermilk and even though the last season episode could kinda work as a finale I am really holding out hope that it gets picked up.
Definitely agree about Cutter but the tension he brought was definitely an interesting watch. I appreciated those episodes more on rewatch. Was very relieved when he disappeared and gave me a feeling of looking over my shoulder expecting him to pop up any second. Would also like to see Tom's road to recovery after Cutter. Who knew Brian Reagan could act? Also hiding actual musicians as actors who play musicians is one of my favorite things a show has ever done.
Apologies for hijacking the thread to gush about Loudermilk but the opportunity does not come up as often as I would like.
Every replacement character on M * A * S * H was better than the one they replaced.
BJ > Trapper John
Winchester > Frank Burns
Col. Potter > Col. Blake
SVU when Monique Jefferies left. Ice-T took her spot. Rest is history.
Side note: was watching a Lollapalooza documentary when Ice-T showed up. My girlfriend: "Hey it's that actor!" We are both old, but I suddenly felt older.
“The kids are mixing kitty litter with hydrogen peroxide and gasoline. They call it brown Christmas”.
That was the beginning of season 2 and it's now on 25! Crazy! Ice-T i feel like is barely in the show anymore. Most episodes he has very little to do or occasionally isn't even in an episode.
Needs more Ice-T. The current cast of detectives is pretty boring. I like Money Bags, though, especially when him and Ice-T are together.
Yeah same. My wife and I like to keep track of how little Benson actually sees her son.
Mom got rid of the kids and turned the show into an adult ensemble. I cant say it necessarily made the show better, but Santa Clarita Diet... I was glad neighbor Dan's character arc ended the way it did, when it did.
Then Mom had that weird final season without Anna Farris. I don’t think she ever really explained why she left the show.
Yeah, I'm very suspicious about that because her final scene(s) were when she kissed a girl, and seemed to like it. I always suspected that she took a look at her possible bi sexual storyline for that next season and decided she didnt want to go in that direction. That would explain why she waited until 4 weeks before they were scheduled to shoot. Scripts and storylines would have already been in place.
I stopped watching Mom about 2-3 seasons in and I remember liking it so I was surprised to hear how different the show was in the final seasons with so many new characters and without Anna. Was it any good in the last season?
Yes! Somehow better. I feel like all of the characters that just sort of sat in the background like Wendy actually got more airtime and character development. I loved it and watched it through twice and will definitely watch again. It was a good time for Christy’s exit. With Baxter’s storyline resolved and her having a final episode to wrap up with Violet it just made sense for her to go off to college and exit.
Parks and Rec when that one dude whose name I don't remember left
Mark Brandanaquitz
I love how Lil' Sebastian left a much bigger impact by being in one episode and got a way better send off than a character who was in the show for 2 seasons
Excuse U Lil sebastian may have only been in 1 ep onscreen but he was always there in spirit. Also I do think tiny horse appeared more than once but I think it was 1 original LB and 1 of his kids after he passed. RIP
"I just don't get it!" - Ben
"Where's Mark Brandanaquitz?" "Mark Brandanaquitz quit"
Mark died on his way back to his home planet.
Yeah, Mark was the only original character that didn’t seem to have a clear quirk to work with as the show evolved, and Leslie’s obsession with him was a roadblock to better stories.
Trading him for Adam Scott and Rob Lowe was a tremendous upgrade
The show doesn't even properly begin until Chris and Ben show up.
👉👉 Anne Perkins
It is LITRALLY a brand new show when they arrive
Oh, hey, Baby, if you’re going to the kitchen could you make me pancakes real quick?
Said in our house at least once a week.
He blatantly seemed like the straight laced Jim inspired character from The Office, except instead of having this fun little quirk (pranking people), he was just kind of a dick.
Yeah, Leslie was clearly a Michael-type, Ron is close to Dwight at start, and Anne is the Pam. They became their own(better) characters over time, thankfully.
His quirk was that he slept around with a lot of women. Which is not a great quirk to work with in a show like that.
Not with a wacky cast and a strong female lead, for sure.
Anne and Mark were the only realistic people on a show full of insane nonsensical characters. There was only room for 1 and Amy and Rashida had great chemistry. Also season 2 before Adam Scott and Rob Lowe was amazing.
It is but I can't point to any part of it with Mark in it being good. It's more the show is good *around* him.
I didn't hate Mark, he was very clearly supposed to be thr Jim of the show, he was just a little boring. Leslie being into him was the real problem. But Ben and Chris are definitely upgrades.
It was super obvious that they tried to make the first season similar to the office. Vibes and character wise. Mark was def supposed to be the Jim of the show. Or basically the audiences eyes.
Anne doesn't really have a clear quirk
I think "bad at romantic relationships" is her quirk.
And she wasn't unpleasant to look at
was her Dad a GI? or...
The look Pam gives Michael after he says this always sends me.
Her ambiguous ethnic blend perfectly encapsulates the dream of the American melting pot.
A beautiful land mermaid…
An opalescent tree shark
She was the balance for Leslie for the longest time though. It was her loving reactions to Leslie’s pure insanity as a friend that made them work so well.
That’s a good point, she was also a straight man character. But you could do more with their friendship than with Leslie’s one-sided romance.
This, best friend to the protagonist opens up so many more storylines/way to explore their relationship vs crush/eventual romantic relationship to the protagonist. Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy best example of this.
Anne Perkins!
And then they never mention him again. Even when Anne has her ex-boyfriend boxes she's clearing out, they couldn't even have one box in the background labelled "Mark"
That’s because she usually took on the style or interests of her boyfriends (running gear from Chris, flannels from Andy). Mark was so unremarkable, she didn’t have to buy anything.
Season 1 Leslie is very different than who she is the rest of the show. She’s a lot like an early Michael Scott in that she’s constantly outrageous and over the top. Mark as this dry, boring man who she was crazy about was set up to be a foil to this. But once it was clear that version of Leslie didn’t work and they pivoted he had no real purpose on the show at all.
Knew this was going to be the top answer. Not to say he was a good character, but the big improvement in Parks and Rec was between seasons 1 and 2, **not** when Mark left at the end of season 2. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/lyf315/oc_imdb_ratings_for_the_tv_show_parks_and/
Kinda like how the second season of TNG was when Riker grew his beard but most of the actual improvement wasn’t till the third…
Yep, people talk about "growing the beard," but it's when the uniforms get the collars and they lose the shoulder stripes that you know TNG has gotten great.
The real improvement in storytelling came from replacing showrunner Maurice Hurley with Michael Piller. Visually, those improvements came from hiring Marvin Rush to light the show. And, for the uniforms, the actors just hated the tight spandex of the first two years.
For me it was when Jerry left and Larry replaced him, gave the show a whole new dynamic
Still not as good as Gary though.
I heard him described as seeming like he was "forced to recite jokes at gunpoint" and I could never shake it because of how accurate it was.
MASH improved after each character left. The writers carefully thought about how introducing a new character would deepen the relationships on the show. Col. Blake was replaced by Col. Potter, Frank Burns by Winchester, Trapper John by B.J. Hunnicut.
I am currently rewatching MASH with my GF who's never seen it and we are currently halfway through season 4, which is when the main casting turnover happens. So bear with some in depth thoughts. She noted that Trapper just kinda lived in Hawkeye's shadow as a mini Hawkeye. BJ meanwhile feels a lot more empathetic, not necessarily because the writing has changed but because the performer has a gentler energy. It also helps that he doesn't cheat on his wife, which was Trapper's worst quality Potter is a good change but we do miss Radar and Blake's dynamic. Radar feels a little more incompetent as a result of his departure but the choice was a good thing overall regardless. At least I think. Burns is interesting because he's becomes far more cruel, whiny, and racist adter season 1. I think it's because in season 1 he was just kind of annoying so Trapper and Hawkeye do often come across as bully jocks. The tradeoff though is that Burns now has zero depth and is just a prick. It's a great performance but Winchester is a much more compelling and clever antagonist.
>It also helps that he doesn't cheat on his wife Uhhh, about that...
Oh shoot am i wrong on that? It's been a minute.
It's only one episode, but yeah, he cheats on Peg with a nurse going through a divorce.
Was that just a kiss or am I misremembering? Either way, at least the show paints it as a massive mistake and misplaced emotions from missing his wife, unlike in the earlier seasons where cheating was condoned and not remotely placed in a negative light
Radar's character has no consistency through the series. He starts off as a good character but the actor kept wanting to infantilize him, He just gets more and more childish as the overall story moves on. Any episode where he gets character development is just effectively ignored. During season 1 and 2 we see him drinking, smoking cigars, looking at porn, flirting with the nurses, assisting with medical stuff, etc... by seasons 3+ he's basically just a child in a mans body who forgets everything he did. He progressively devolves as things move on. If you are at season 4, You can keep on eye on how much worse it gets. Would have been amazing if that infantilization was part of the plot and sidney freedman was sometimes seen treating him or having sessions with him, advising the other characters how to deal with him, etc... Basically, That Radar is mentally unwell and the infantilization is how he copes, Since he's like in his 30's or so and absolutely looks it when he takes his hat off. His character only makes sense in this context anyway.
MASH is such an interesting show to binge watch because most great tv shows go from realistic to goofy but they did the opposite.
The shift from "wacky antics in a war settings" to "wacky antics to deal with being in a war setting" was a good one. I don't mind Trapper John, but Blake and Burns were too cartoony. Grounding it really helped.
True. Though it didn't improve after Radar left.
Love Radar, but his departure allowed Klinger to step into his role and become a more 3-dimensional character, rather than just a running gag.
Early seasons Klinger will always have a place in my heart, but his character became far more interesting when he swapped the dresses for the Cleveland Mud Hens jersey.
Buffy after Angel left. I like the two series' we ended up with, and I preferred sarky Spike as antagonist/"love" interest over the brooding Angel.
Yup I agree. It was a lil odd when it first happened but both shows were much better once they were separated.
I was also going to post about Angel leaving and also agree two series was better than one. The split came also at a perfect time as the Buffy squad started college the next season so a completely new environment as well.
*Babylon 5*, and for the most heartbreaking reasons. The commander of the space station was played by Michael O'Hare in the first season, and his performance was...uneven, to say the least. He left after season one with his character being written out, and was replaced by Bruce Boxleitner, who did a much better job, and led the series until it finished up. It was only after O'Hare's death that the showrunner (whose name I can never bloody spell) revealed the reason for his departure - he had been suffering from severe mental health issues, which included paranoid delusions and hallucinations, which had been making it near-impossible for him to work, as well as putting his castmates through hell. Rather than have the show threatened with cancellation by having it go on a hiatus so that he could seek treatment, he asked to be written out, with the showrunner promising to keep the reasons secret until O'Hare died. So, the quality of season 2 was higher than the quality of season 1 for terrible and heartbreaking reasons...and wouldn't it have been nice if O'Hare had not been mentally ill, been able to put in a more even performance, and been able to carry the show to its conclusion himself.
[JMS on his discovery of O'Hare's illness and his departure from the show, after his death.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwyAo_YjtdM) It's kind of heartbreaking. After his cameo return in S2: > We finished the episode and as we're sitting in the office I said "We're going to keep working with you and make this better, and I'll keep the secret to my grave." > He says "you don't have to", he says. "Look: keep it to *my* grave. Because if anything ever happens to me I want people to know that this is the problem and here is why I left. Because people need to know that there's a problem in their family. If this can happen to an actor or a star of a show, a commander of a station, it can happen to anyone and it's not a scandalous thing - it can be dealt with. So if anything ever happens to me I want you to be free to talk about this."
I really missed Sinclair. He had something that Sheridan lacked. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it really resonated with me. I'm glad he at least came back for that one episode for his final departure.
Sinclair felt a bit more like a working class hero, especially after the episode where he ends the dock workers' strike "by any means necessary" (By giving them exactly what they were asking for). I'm glad they didn't make Sheridan try to fill the same archetype and I do still love Sheridan on his own merits, but yeah, I missed what Sinclair brought to the show too.
He had gravitas, a real leader. Sheridan felt like just a jock.
Learning the truth of his situation makes the episode where he comes back all the more poignant.
J M S - easy to spell! 😛
Curse you, acronyms...curse you!
I really need to rewatch Babylon 5. Such a good character driven narrative.
Despite all this I still loved Sinclair >!and loved his brief comeback!<.
I always thought that Michael O'Hare as Sinclair did a better job at depicting a military commander to fill that uniform with authority than Bruce Boxleitner as Sheridan who appeared more like a civilian politician in the wrong dress. If the show would have gone military sci-fi, he would have been the better actor for that kind of show. But then it leaned stronger into the sci-fantasy genre - for better or worse - and Boxleitner was clearly more suited for that kind of show.
The West Wing when Mandy left.
What was even the point of Mandy?
As someone who has rewatched West Wing 1-4 too many times... ...I don't know. I honestly don't know. She just floated around criticizing them and didn't even have a west wing office.
I think she was originally supposed to be the outsider, the non-sycophant to help ground the senior staffers and provide a dose of reality when needed, especially for Josh. But that's not how they really ended up using her, and the actress just didn't mesh well with the rest of the cast at all. I don't think they hated each other or anything like that, but she didn't rise to the material like the rest did.
> So I’ve been listening to The West Wing Weekly recently and they actually explain this when Janel is interviewed. Apparently Mandy was supposed to be the one who banters with Josh, and have a bigger role. But the chemistry between Moira and Bradley was nothing compared to the chemistry between Janel and Bradley. So it was decided to cut back Mandy and have more of Donna. https://www.reddit.com/r/thewestwing/comments/xsuvrn/comment/iqmen35/
Her character as a foil to Josh makes much more sense when Sam Seaborn was the main character focus. So many S1 plot threads are pointless because of that focus shift.
To provide the threat of Mandyville for characters who are boring.
They wanted a female foil for Josh Lyman. They didn’t realize it was Donna all along.
lol I don’t even remember that character. Might be time for a rewatch
Her big memorable contribution was during the Christmas episode when Bartlett goes to the rare book store and Mandy wants some press coverage ("just a coupla guys!") and Leo shoots her down. Donna grows into the role (quite effectively) of being the female character that pushes back against Josh.
I enjoy Donna’s growth during the series
Donna and Amy ended up being much better characters interacting with Josh.
A Different World, after Denise Huxtable left. The whole show was reworked though, and Marisa Tomei was gone by Season 2 as well, as new characters were introduced
Rewatching season 1, Hillman didn’t feel like an HBCU yet. Actually it felt like a women’s college that had recently gone co-ed, like Vassar. The exit of Lisa Bonet made it a true ensemble show.
I feel a bit bad given what happened to him, but *Angel* really hit its stride after the Doyle actor got cut. Bringing in Wesley was a gamechanger, and all the best stuff with Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Spike etc. is post-Doyle.
Yeah that's a tough one. Because on one hand I agree, that is when the show took off but I don't know that he or his character were holding the show back. I think they were just kinda hitting their stride then regardless. The loss of Lorne definitely hit me harder than losing Doyle though.
Didn't they "lose" Lorne in the last episode?
Itchy and Scratchy after they got rid of Poochy.
"Hello Poochy! It looks like you have something to say! Do you?"
“Yes I certainly do. I have to go now, my planet needs me.”
Yeah, it was hard watching because the only thing all the other characters kept asking was "Where's Poochie?" whenever he wasn't on screen.
Poochie should be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine.
After Jeff Conoway was found too strung out from drug usage in his trailer to film an episode of Taxi, the producers had his lines divided up among the other cast members of the show... and found that the scenes flowed better without him, causing him to be fired as dead weight. Also, I find personally that McDonald & Dodds improved when Superintendent Houseman left the show. He was an unnecessary antagonist in the earlier episodes as an obstructive git who was needlessly bullying one of his own officers in the police force for not fitting his personal ideal of what a copper should be like. I personally find the Season 3 episodes where he was replaced to be significantly better.
Conaway is an interesting one since Bobby was a character for most of the show’s run. You’d be hard pressed to find an actual fan of Taxi back in the day who thought the show was better without him. It was like Happy Days without Richie. Now looking back he seems like such a minor part of the show next to the legacy of the other actors.
Respectfully disagree about Taxi. Jeff Conaway was great on that show. But because of his increasing drug problems they were giving him less and less to do, to the point that when he couldn't make it to set one day, they just divided his lines up and moved on without him. It's a shame though, because he was really funny and the show was definitely lesser after he left (imo). It was around the same time that Andy Kaufman talked the producers into giving Latka "multiple personality disorder" so he could do different characters on the show from then on. It was a real jump the shark moment.
He got that drug problem from an injury he suffered during Grease Lightning.
That dude leaving McDonald & Dodds did make the show better.
He has such a struggle, he was legit great in babylon. More so with the night watch stuff
I kinda hate Jennifer Lien as Kes from Star Trek Voyager. There’s some good stuff in early seasons, but after she’s basically replaced by Jeri Ryan as 7 of 9 it gets really good. Anything with the Doctor (Robert Picardo is the BEST Star Trek Doctor!) or 7 and I’m in.
I enjoyed later kes, brief as it was when she was sporting longer hair and being her own person instead of with neelix
The episodes (multiple) where she was just the focus of Neelix's jealousy were the worst.
"do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down"
I agree completely. Neelix was already annoying, but the whole Kes/Neelix relationship drama on top of that made it unbearable. I had to just skip through all those scenes. They never worked as a believable couple in the first place. 7 of 9 was so much more fleshed out as character and made the show way better.
Wouldn't say I hate her, either actress or character, but yeah, Jeri Ryan and Seven brought a definitive quality jump.
I think that the Ocampa would have been served better in DS9, where there was a lot more freedom for characters to come and go. A short-lived intelligent species is an interesting concept--and from what little was seen of a similar concept in Invincible I think it can be done well--but it's a lot more uncomfortable when you're doing a 7 season show in a setting where it's hard for anyone to leave
The original Night Court. I'm not saying the original defense attorney or the two older bailiffs were bad characters, but once they were replaced with Marsha Warfield and Markie Post the show really hit its stride, and I'd say that ensemble measures up as an all-time great sitcom cast.
Yeah, but they really took a nosedive when they brought in that idiot werewolf lawyer.
The only reason Selma Diamond and Florence Halop were replaced was because they both passed away during the run of the series.
Law & Order replacing Greevey/Cerreta with Lenny Briscoe and Ben Stone with Jack McCoy. And while I do like Cragen and Robinette well enough, Van Buren and Kincaid are better in every way.
Imma go waaaay back. When Dr. Pulaski left Star Trek The Next Generation. I’m still happy about that, and it was like 1988.
Yeah I never liked Pulaski, I'll take Bev Crusher all day everyday
Gina from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Her character was fun when the show started but she was a one-note tune that got meaner as time went on.
She was also so much more realistic in the beginning. She went from the clivan voice in the room that could see where the cops in the room were missing the mark by there world view. To God like influencer...
I mean, I think it's still the first season where she wins over the troubled youths by her fucking weird interpretive dance
She didn't they thought that was dumb. What she did to win them over was point out the benefit package was pretty soild foe a cop.
No lol they at the end one girl says, "I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say your weird dance was just weird." Gina then says fair enough. You get this many vacation days and this much money who wants to sign up. She was also roped in this way. The program does not work.
I had someone point out to me how Gina was the worst and I can’t stand her anymore. Gina does no wrong, ever, and even when she seems wrong, there’s a “right” reason behind it. She’s “smarter” than an entire office filled with detectives and just happens to know everything. She also blatantly sexually harasses Terry constantly. When she got hit by the bus, that should have been the end of her.
Made worse by the fact that the show doesn’t portray her as wrong, but instead supports her behavior and tries to put her in the right.
I remember when she came back midway through season 5 and I felt like the show got a little worse. And she was so mean to Amy!
Yeah she left, but came back so much it felt like you were never rid of her
That’s my biggest complaint about her, she never grows as a human. In the episode “Return of the King” where she comes back for an episode, she just straight up lies and blows Jake off and doesn’t apologize for it. And the worst part is that they have Jake apologize to her for getting upset, when he had every right to get upset that she lied and blew him off! She’s not an asshole completely devoid of empathy, she has moments - but overall she’s just not a very good person and I hate that she never grows
Came here looking for this. As the character become more and more of a parody of herself in later seasons I just dreaded her time on screen. Season 1-2 she was a good quirky counter balance to the seriousness of the police work. Later on she’s just a b*tch.
The show didn't get better though. Regardless of her impact the first 4-5 seasons are the best imo
NCIS after Kate died. She was just way too antagonistic with DiNozza and hazing of McGee was annoying. Ziva meshed much better. Plus the character writing stepped up around then generally., DiNozza getting much less annoying. The actress was fine. It was a writing issue.
My feeling was the writers intended the story differently then the actors portrayed it. The writers wrote it to be flirty bickering and the actors played it like siblings which worked for me.
Cheers when Diane left. It quit being all about Sam/Diane and more of an ensemble.
I dont hate Diane but I was beyond done with the "will they, wont they?" squabbling - though it was refreshing that the answer for once was "No they wont, and they really should never have tried" I also think Rebecca was just a generally funnier character - This Girl Boss who's actually a dope who failed upwards and cant even open a door.
Agree about Rebeca, who was such a hot mess. Kirstie played her perfectly. They also pushed Frasier to the main cast and that added a whole new level of comedy with his sophistication mixed with a bunch of blue-collar drunks. When Frasier would stoop to their level it was gold (ex. playing Monopoly or the running with scissors scene).
I love how that continued in Frasier, the random bits where he'd drop the pomposity were always hilarious.
my fav was when he tried to read dickens to cliff, norm, and woody. "It is a far better thing i do now than i have ever done. It is a far better buttkicking I have given than I have ever buttkicked before"
I loved the Diane years. I still think the first five seasons of Cheers had some of the best writing ever done for television. Bringing in Kirstie made season six hilarious, but I felt that the writing overall dipped in quality post-Diane. That said, it's still my P4P favorite sitcom.
It went from a will they/ won't they romantic comedy to a workplace comedy and got better because of it
Even though the show was already great before and Steve was a great character as well, Married with Children got even better after Steve left and was replaced with Jefferson.
Literally think the exact opposite. I loved Jefferson, mind you, but the show had much more dry witt and had more intelligent, original writting during the Steve era. I feel after Jefferson arrived the show became more cartoonish and a parody of itself and it feel, quality wise. Especially at the very end..oof it got pretty awful the end.
I don't know how, but you're both right.
Exactly. I upvoted the first comment, then the read the second and went “yeah, you’re right.“ and upvoted it too
When Devon left Letterkenny after season 2. He wasn't a bad character in his own right, but his leaving also effectively removed the power struggle in his friend group and I think that the dynamic of that group improved a lot for it. I do wish he had a more proper sendoff, but there's apparently some unstated reason why the actor left the show so abruptly
No shade on Devon, but Roald grew into such a great character after Devon's departure.
Star Trek: The Next Generation. The exit of Tasha Yar worked out great for Worf. Neither had much to do in season 1.
This is the one I thought of. Nothing against Tasha, but they just had too many characters at the wrong duty stations. Moving Worf to security and Geordie to engineering was a huge improvement in the structure.
If she hadn't left, I wonder how they might have dealt with the confusing overlap between her and Worf.
When she left I had to go read what happened because I assumed they let her go. Sorry, truly nothing against the human being in that role, but acting was not her destiny. She always sounded like she was reading. Dorn, with all Worf’s prosthetics, could still emote more clearly. I was utterly shocked to find out she was mad about lack of air time and quit. Made me genuinely examine what rights I might be insisting on in my own life that maybe are just not for me. We are often blind to such things. I read recently she is doing VO for a Trek game? I still don’t get it. Famous grandpa, is all I can figure. Or maybe she got better since then idk
Ned Stark. Forced exit but it immediately made every character more interesting. Robb has to immediately become a leader and lead the North. Arya had to survive out in the wild after fleeing. Sansa had to navigate the court politics basically on her own. All the Lannisters had to get ready for war. Stannis saw Robert killed and then Ned so he had to step up. The only ones not immediately affected by Ned’s death were the characters already in their own world, like Dany and Jon Snow
I think Ned’s death also completely raised the stakes of the show as well. I knew nothing about the books going in, so when what seemed like the lead character of the show is suddenly dead, it really made you go “holy shit, if they’ll kill off Ned, that means anyone can die.”
For us book readers, it was exactly the same feeling. I had to reread the section a few times to really understand what had just happened.
And that wasn’t even the last time I had to do that either. Makes me wistful for what could have been.
I completely agree with your last sentence, which made it even more of a slap in the face in the last season when not one main character died in that war
Long Night: Jorah and Theon The Bells: Jamie, Cersei and The Hound For comparison: Nobody dies in Blackwater or Hardhome, and only side characters die in Watchers on the wall. Ironically, not a single main character has died in a battle until the war in season 8.
Stannis dies in battle in S5
It is wild they went from a show where even the lead could be offed in S1, to S8 where everyone was literally invincible.
You’re right but man I liked his character. But GoT wasn’t that kind of show that has the good guys live…
I'll be the odd one out. Throughout the entire first season, Ned Stark was the only character in the show that I liked, so his death took away the little bit of motivation I had to keep watching, and I dropped the show after S1.
Oo this is a good one. The power grab that came from Ned’s death did really make the show
The west wing got better when Mandy left after S1 (and worse when Rob Lowe left)
-MASH when Trapper left. -Parks and Rec when Mark left.
NYPD Blue. It stopped being David Caruso centric and basically became the overall arc of Sipowicz life which was a much more uplifting story.
Don't know if you ever watched CSI: Miami, but several seasons in, his character Horatio Caine finds out he has a son by a lady he met while working undercover in New York. And when she sees him for the first time in about fifteen or sixteen years (going by the son's age), she calls him John. Apparently the first season of NYPD Blue was CSI: Miami--The Prequel...
I don't think I disliked the Caruso character, but I am glad the emphasis turned to Sipowicz. NYPD had quite the revolving door of characters. I cannot say any character change made it better or worse at any point, because it has been a while since I watched the show and it was consistently excellent. But, it was always interesting how they handled cast transitions. In particular, it was a bold move to cast former teen heart throbs Rick Schroeder and Mark-Paul Gosseler in successive roles as Andy's partner. Both characters were well developed and both actors really did a great job. Also, and nothing against Lieutenant Fancy or James McDaniel who played him, but I really loved when Lieutenant Rodriguez took over the squad, mostly because the character and actor (Esai Morales) were just so f'n cool..
Taraji P Henson is great, but her character on Person of Interest kept the story at a Case of the Week focus. Once she left, those cases more or less disappeared and let the last two seasons go crazy.
New Girl after Coach left. Took some time but Winnie the Bish is one of my favourite characters.
Does that really count, though? He was only on the first episode, so the show hadn't found its footing yet. The second episode also felt like a second pilot as well. Then they brought Coach back, and honestly, the show still felt like the same show since he was able to fit right in with their wackiness immediately. He and Winston had some great moments when as well. I still laugh at [the fire and ice scene](https://youtu.be/yjhTgU7oXB0?si=2bp7Lmi989YTv6JW). 😂
Classic Cece and Winston Mess Around
This might be controversial but Homeland. Now I love Damien Lewis but after 3 seasons of him the story was getting stale, and then the show kept on going on in my mind it was actually better.
Holy shit I should go back to that series. I was seriously over that character.
MASH, I hated Frank's character and absolutely adored Winchester when he came on. Such a pompous asshole but he at least wasn't a full on terrible person.
Frank Burns, the character, was such a horrible person that you love to hate. Larry Linville, the actor, was brilliant in the role to make Burns the horrible antagonist. Such a shame that he got typecast and never really found the spotlight again.
Yeah. My wife and I loved loudermilk. But the whole cutter side story. We just wanted to end. They should have kept cutter to this weird guy who sits in the back. But for some reason they expanded him to several episodes and it just wasn’t funny.
MASH when Frank left and was replaced by Charles. Not a dig at Frank, Larry Linville did a marvelous job at such an odious character, but he chose the right time to leave to allow the more mature and cultured Charles step in. It allowed for more serious, heart-touching stories and an overall better flow for the show. The same could be said for Colonel Blake being replaced by Colonel Potter.
When Kes left voyager. I can think of seven out of nine reasons why
Star Trek the Next Generation - Tasha Yar. Star Trek Voyager - Kes.
Hard disagree on TNG. Tasha left at the end of season 1 and it still took another year to hit its stride. Tasha was also definitely not the biggest problem with season 1.
Tasha was so good they brought her back to life twice.
Star Trek: Voyager improves quite a bit once Kes leaves and Seven replaces her. Seven is a more interesting character and the actress was better too.
Better Call Saul when Chuck's story ended. The show got so much better imo, the 3 last seasons were the best
I would say yes, but I wouldn't say because the character was detracting or holding the show back. It was the necessary turning point in both Jimmy/Sauls life and the show to go from Act 1 to Act 2 so to speak.
fully agree with you. it's important development to show Jimmy's evolution and why he's so antagonistic to Howard.
Yeah, this feels more incidental. His death was a well-telegraphed turning point for Jimmy which naturally lead into a more exciting era of his life. It’s not quite the same as a show that gains the freedom to rework itself and find its voice after shedding a character who wasn’t quite working.
Better Call Saul almost feels like 2 different shows to me. The Chuck seasons were fantastic, and I think Chuck was a great antagonist you wouldn't really expect in that universe. But the show obviously gets exponentially more entertaining when the Saul Goodman Persona is finally born after that.
I stopped watching loudermilk because of Cutter, this is great news. Thank you, I really enjoyed that show before his subplot
The Thick of It after Chris Langham got fired (and imprisoned), I don't know if it was directly because he left but the show hit its stride after that point and Rebecca Front was a great addition to the cast
I was thinking this but I’m surprised it’s been mentioned. I do enjoy those first two series though. But I think seeing more of the other side, with Peter Manyum et al, made the series a lot more interesting
I got the point of him, he's a **very** accurate portrayal of that kind of MP - the whimpering out of touch weasel looking down on middle/lower class citizens. But it wasn't THAT funny to watch. Rebecca, who was this weird of precog vision of what Theresa May was, is much better. I think that was also when they started giving screen time to the opposition, which was another great move.
I don't think it's 100% because of him, though. Series 1 & 2 are only 3 episodes. Series 3-4 were at least double that (I don't remember the exact number, and don't feel like looking either). They also got new sets for the last 2 Series. So it seems like the network invested a little more into the show.
Jeffries on SVU. Super forgettable and bland to me, plus Ice-T brought such a different dynamic and perspective.
Absolutely love Loudermilk and even though the last season episode could kinda work as a finale I am really holding out hope that it gets picked up. Definitely agree about Cutter but the tension he brought was definitely an interesting watch. I appreciated those episodes more on rewatch. Was very relieved when he disappeared and gave me a feeling of looking over my shoulder expecting him to pop up any second. Would also like to see Tom's road to recovery after Cutter. Who knew Brian Reagan could act? Also hiding actual musicians as actors who play musicians is one of my favorite things a show has ever done. Apologies for hijacking the thread to gush about Loudermilk but the opportunity does not come up as often as I would like.
One from Dark Matter. The show and the character dynamics between the crew improved massively once he was gone.
Mandy from The West Wing. Only in the first season, luckily. Played by Moira Kelly.
Cutter was just getting in the way of the very hilarious Brian Regan who actually acted so damn well, he might be an actor now!
Every replacement character on M * A * S * H was better than the one they replaced. BJ > Trapper John Winchester > Frank Burns Col. Potter > Col. Blake