Yes??? They killed off an entire prog rock band??
Which TV character's death moved you the most?
- Thread starter Rowdy Roddy McDowall
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Certainly Henry Blake. I remember seeign a little special on the show "M*A*S*H" adn the actor who played Radar said the cast didn't know and he came in and read the lines; the reactions being filmed, are of the cast learning for the first time.
This episode of "Scrubs" always gets me -- and I rarely ever see it mentioned. Some of the backstory is missing from the clip below: J.D. and the lady had been getting pretty friendly and talking and they had a conversation where they talked about death and she said she imagined it was like a beautiful song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMITAolIGc
Also, I agree with other posters on "Newsradio" after actor Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife while the kids slept. Online trivia states the cast had to stop several time filming, they were crying and so choked up.
Wesley from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and then the spin-off "Angel". What was so great about it is that perhaps Wesley is one of the finest TV characters ever made, who went through long, often painful, personal transformatiosn, which were all believable; and he was such a good character and loved, that after about a little over five seasons worh of him (counting the BTVS episodes), it was horrible to see him go, and the bittersweet comfort at the end.
If animation counts, Robin's parents in "Batman: The Animated Series" ("Robin's Reckoning: Part 1").
This episode of "Scrubs" always gets me -- and I rarely ever see it mentioned. Some of the backstory is missing from the clip below: J.D. and the lady had been getting pretty friendly and talking and they had a conversation where they talked about death and she said she imagined it was like a beautiful song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMITAolIGc
Also, I agree with other posters on "Newsradio" after actor Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife while the kids slept. Online trivia states the cast had to stop several time filming, they were crying and so choked up.
Wesley from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and then the spin-off "Angel". What was so great about it is that perhaps Wesley is one of the finest TV characters ever made, who went through long, often painful, personal transformatiosn, which were all believable; and he was such a good character and loved, that after about a little over five seasons worh of him (counting the BTVS episodes), it was horrible to see him go, and the bittersweet comfort at the end.
If animation counts, Robin's parents in "Batman: The Animated Series" ("Robin's Reckoning: Part 1").
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It's not often discussed, but one typical reason for killing of a character is as a "FU" to the actor/actress for breaking a contract or whatnot. The idea is when the actor's subsequent (in their own mind) A-List career plan crashes and burns, they can't just come grovelling back for their old job regardless, because their character died when they left. Finito.
See also Andrea Thompson and Robert Foxworth on Babylon 5. Andrea even got "dissected" afterward!
Well, it was Foxworth's agent who double-booked him on B5 and DS9 at the same time, so he had to break SOME contract...and the DS9 bit was a two-parter, so it made him more money. Can't really fault him for that.
For me, it was Xena. I wasn't so much saddened as angered & offended by the undignified death they gave her. I didn't want to watch the series again after that.
It's not often discussed, but one typical reason for killing of a character is as a "FU" to the actor/actress for breaking a contract or whatnot. The idea is when the actor's subsequent (in their own mind) A-List career plan crashes and burns, they can't just come grovelling back for their old job regardless, because their character died when they left. Finito.
So usually, they give these cases the stupidest possible death. Something like, I dunno, falling down an elevator shaft or something.They don't usually give them something heroic, because they don't usually want the fanbase to look at these characters with any degree of respect. After all, that's the guy that broke contract, so they want people to stay with the characters that are left, and to be glad that that guy is gone now. Sometimes it won't be a stupid death though, sometimes it'll just be the character doing something corrupt or becoming irredeemable or something, so that when they leave nobody wants them back.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule...
This brings to mind the horrible death for Professor Arturo on "Sliders." He was by far my favorite character and the only reason I watched that show. Not only was he fired because the producers (one producer's wife) didn't like him, but they took a story JRD wrote for the show, mixed it with some horrible "Island of Dr. Moreau" ripoff plot and used it to kill off the character. They completely disregarded all the science, all the research JRD had done, and not only killed off his character but blew up the planet his corpse was on. It was the ultimate "screw you."
I could never really watch it after that. I tried, but, without The Professor, it just wasn't interesting to me.
It was gut-wrenching the way that Roseanne revealed it in her narration of the final moments of the show. That he'd died when he had his heart attack earlier in the series and she kept him alive as a character in the story she was writing because she couldn't bear the truth. It made the closing scene of that series so much more bleak, knowing that she was living in that house without him, sitting on the couch alone.
Good call. Colin Hay is amazing and I love this song. Especially how they used it. Scrubs was great at making me laugh one minute and sad the next.
And this is also a reminder, that before her death in real life, and before I saw "18th & Potomac," Kathryn Joosten had me teary eyed in Scrubs, as a patient who didn't want dialysis to extend her life, instead opting to go peacefully:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5amRtlBUM[/yt]
Both of these scenes set up a nice, moving, and funny scene later on:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxXJ853UVM[/yt]
Not to mention JD's (first) final scene:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsyUZ2nGbo[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsyUZ2nGbo[/yt]
One that just occurred to me because of the Scrubs talk.
Amber from House. They make you hate her, they make you love her, they kill her in a really gut-wrenching way.
Amber from House. They make you hate her, they make you love her, they kill her in a really gut-wrenching way.
Jadzia on DS9. Ianto on Torchwood. Jin and Sun on Lost.
Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street- I'd outgrown the show by then, but I had to watch that episode.
Lucy Knight on ER. Even more than Dr. Greene, because it was just so shocking and it almost destroyed Carter.
Can't believe nobody's mentioned Coach from Cheers.
Crosetti on Homicide. It was offscreen, but it was the reactions of the other detectives, especially Pembleton, that did it.
Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street- I'd outgrown the show by then, but I had to watch that episode.
Lucy Knight on ER. Even more than Dr. Greene, because it was just so shocking and it almost destroyed Carter.
Can't believe nobody's mentioned Coach from Cheers.
Crosetti on Homicide. It was offscreen, but it was the reactions of the other detectives, especially Pembleton, that did it.
Kate on NCIS. They gave her a nice farewell episode.
I'm really hoping David McCallum makes it past the end of the series. He doesn't look anywhere near his age, but you never know.
I'm really hoping David McCallum makes it past the end of the series. He doesn't look anywhere near his age, but you never know.
Clearly the extra attention on Palmer is meant to be a trap door should the unthinkable happen.
But I agree. I've adored McCallum for a long time. It will be a really sad day. And like you say, he certainly doesn't look 80. Hell, the guy looks like he could still be in his 60s.
^He's always been incredibly attractive, so it's no surprise he's still good looking. He's lived a fairly clean and sober life as a family man, and it shows. Compare him to his former co-star Robert Vaughn, who is only one year older. David looks like he's at least 15 years younger.
Marcus was a dick and died a dick.
And Carter reminded me too much of Rottingham from Men in Tights. And not in a good way because most of the time Rees is fucking awesome.
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