Characters Who Were at Their Best (or Worst) and Then Leave

[Adamantium]

At Their Best

Lowell Mather (Wings) - He started out very stiff but by the end of the second season, he developed into a very funny character. However, Lowell was at his best in the sixth season. And then, he appears in only one episode of the 7th season and is gone.

Bill McNeal (NewsRadio) - I felt Bill McNeal was at his peek when Phil Hartman tragically died. So Bill was at his funniest when he was taken from us. I really do enjoy Phil's performance the most in the fourth (his final) season.

At Their Worst

Eric Forman (That '70s Show) - Yes he was still funny in the 7th (his final) season. But he had become some pathetic loser that season and was pretty much just a huge joke.

Darrin Stephens (Bewitched) - Dick York was ill. And it showed. The fifth season wasn't that great a season because of his health issues. He gave it his all, and deserves credit for that.

[catlover79]

I have to agree with Dick York. Physically, he was no longer at the top of his game. It's so sad that things turned out the way they did for him.

[Dean Winchester]

At Their Best
Prue (Charmed). Season three solidified the show and the character of Prue was without a doubt at her best during Shannen's final season, but of course, she and Alyssa Milano weren't getting along, ruining a great show for the fans.

At Their Worst
Mrs. Garrett (Facts Of Life). By 1986, Charlotte Rae was basically a recurring character on the show she had top bill on. The girls were all becoming women and didn't necessarily need a guardian type character, so there really wasn't much left for Mrs. G to do in her last two seasons on the show.

Chef (South Park). Granted, it's animation but the character of Chef was given a huge sendoff at the start of season 10 as payback for Isaac Hayes quitting the show over it's anti-Scientology episode (in the final episode, he gets set on fire, falls a number of stories, gets impaled by a stick and had his face ripped off by a mountain lion before ****ting himself). Chef was a key adult figure for the show in it's early years when it was slapstick and nothing but, but after season three or four, he appeared less and less frequently and had become an inessential part to the show.

[James]

At their best:

Waldo Geraldo Faldo, Family Matters. I thought he was funny!

Cody Lambert, Step By Step. It was too bad that Sasha Mitchell's off-stage problems doomed his character.

At their worst:

Kelly Fox, Coach. All she did was take up space! :mad:

[Dean Winchester]

Cody Lambert, Step By Step. It was too bad that Sasha Mitchell's off-stage problems doomed his character.

from what I heard, it turned out years later that Sasha's ex-wife fabricated everything and was an alcoholic drug user

[rebafan1]

At their best:

Randy Taylor, Home Improvement. It was his choice, but he was the best Taylor son! It was still Ok without him, but not the same!