(If you have yet to watch this week's episode of How I Met Your Mother and you plan on doing so, then, yes, spoiler alert!)
How I Met Your Mother went down a road rarely traveled on Monday when they, quite surprisingly, killed off Marshall's dad. Even though the nature of sitcoms is supposed to be lighthearted (hence, not a drama), death sometimes seeps its way into the narrative for a number of reasons. The most sad, obviously, is when the actor portraying the character dies during production and has to be written out of the show. Other reasons, though, from contract disputes to -- as in the case of HIMYM -- a darker narrative have been a good enough excuse to kill off a sitcom character. Here now a brief history of sitcoms and how they deal with the death of a character.
(Remember, these are all main or recurring characters on sitcoms, so no one episode characters and, no matter how funny Beverly Hills: 90210 could be, no Scott Scanlon. If we've missed any, let us know in the comments.)
Coach on Cheers
For three seasons of Cheers, Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) was the lovable, though somewhat dimwitted, bartender who used to be the Boston Red Sox's third base coach at the same time Sam Malone was a relief pitcher. After Nicholas Colasanto died from heart problems during the third season, Coach's death was not immediately acknowledged. Excuses for his absence were made during conversation and some of his earlier filmed scenes were used as the cold open for the show. At the beginning of the fourth season, Coach's death was part of the storyline and the bartender role was filled by Woody Harrelson. This is Coach's final scene on Cheers.
Valerie Hogan on Valerie
Note to Conan O'Brien: Just because the name of your new show is called Conan, that doesn't mean you can't be replaced and the show's title be changed to Conan's Family. After two seasons, the producers of Valerie made the decision that they wanted to show to be more family oriented and focus on the hijinks of the younger cast members (including Jason Bateman), in an effort to pair the show up with Perfect Strangers. The star of the show, Valerie Harper, did not agree with this new tone and was fired -- on the show Valerie died in a car accident. Valerie (which would later be renamed Valerie's Family then The Hogan Family) lasted four more seasons without the title character. As usual, pretty much every wrong in the world can eventually be traced back to Balki Bartokomous.
Paul Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
This still makes me upset. The beloved John Ritter suffered an aortic dissection during an early second season rehearsal on 8 Simple Rules and passed away. An attempt was made to salvage the show by bringing on David Spade but, alas, 8 Simple Rules was canceled after the end of its third season.
Henry Blake on M*A*S*H
After two seasons of playing Henry Blake, McLean Stevenson asked to be let out of his contract so he could pursue other projects that would cast him as the lead. Unbeknownst to the cast, after Stevenson made this decision, he was written out permanently with his plane being shot down after he left the camp. Quite famously, this development was not in the original script and came as a surprise to the cast when the announcement was made while filming. Unfortunately for Stevenson, one of his next shows, Hello, Larry, is still a punchline to this day. M*A*S*H only lasted for nine more seasons after Stevenson's departure.
Susan Ross on Seinfeld
In Seinfeld's seventh season finale, Susan Ross, who was George Costanza's fiance, dies after being exposed to toxic glue while licking cheap wedding invitation envelopes. Seinfeld is in a rare class considering that the overall tone of the show bordered on dark to begin with, so Susan's death could be seen as the natural progression of that tone. Even so, it was still shocking! It was also the last episode written by Larry David (he did return to write the horrible, horrible finale).
Todd Stites on Suddenly Susan
In 1999, during the third season of Suddenly Susan, David Strickland committed suicide in Las Vegas. In the season finale, Strickland's character is missing and the episode centers around trying to find him. The last scene is a phone call revealing what the audience presumes is his death, but the shot ends before the reveal to make it somewhat more open ended. After the fourth season, amid many cast departures including Judd Nelson and the late Strickland, Suddenly Susan was canceled.
James Evans on Good Times
John Amos -- who played the father on Good Times -- envisioned the show as a precursor to what The Cosby Show eventually became: A show that shed a light on the positive aspects of an African-American family. What Good Times actually was, however, was the J.J. Walker Dy-no-mite Show, and Amos wanted out. Not only was his character shipped off to Mississippi, on the drive there he was killed in a car accident.
The Chief on Gimme a Break!
Dolph Sweet played the lovable Chief on this popular sitcom that featured Nell Carter as a housekeeper. Unfortunately, Sweet was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the end of the fourth season. With Sweet out of the picture the was show revamped, which resulted Joey Lawrence's character taking on a bigger role. Gimme a Break! would continue for two more seasons after Sweet's death.
Elaine Lefkowitz on Soap
Soap, like Seinfeld, had a much darker side. Yes, Soap is definitely a sitcom but it's not every sitcom that kills off a main character after an escape attempt from a kidnapper who was holding her for ransom.
Dan Conner on Roseanne
Probably the strangest of all sitcom deaths considering that John Goodman, who portrayed Dan Conner, never actually left the show after dying. In season eight, Dan has a heart attack, but survives. At the end of the final season it is revealed that Dan actually did die from the heart attack and Roseanne -- who was writing a book about her life -- changed the aspects that she did not like. Hence, in her book, Dan survived, which is what the audience witnessed. Sure.
Edith Bunker on Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place was a quasi-spin-off, quasi-continuation of All in the Family, only the focus of the show shifted from the home to Archie's new bar. Jean Stapleton -- who played Archie's quite popular wife, Edith -- was not pleased about her diminished role and left the show after the first season. So, naturally, the writers killed her off (off-screen) with a stroke to open the second season.
Bill McNeal on NewsRadio
Phil Hartman was killed by his wife in a murder-suicide in 1998. After an episode where the characters on NewsRadio grieve the loss of Bill, who died from a heart attack (except Mathew who refuses to believe that Bill is dead), Jon Lovitz replaced Hartman on the show. (Lovitz discussed the subject of taking over for Hartman, a subject he usually avoids, with Movieline in a recent interview.)
Chico Rodriguez in Chico and the Man
In 1977, as the hottest comic on the planet, and with his own sitcom, Freddie Prinze shot himself in the head. It's been debated it if was an actual suicide or a threat of suicide gone wrong, but regardless, he did take his own life. Unfortunately, his show, Chico and the Man, pretty inexplicably tried to continue on without him. While Chico "was visiting his father in Mexico," Ed Brown (a.k.a. The Man) befriends a 12-year old boy and his mom, played by Charo (yes, seriously). Eventually it is revealed that Chico had died when Ed smashed Chico's old guitar against a van.