This thread is for characters who sort of left a show. Maybe they left and kept coming back for a visit, or just had their role reduced. A few examples are:

Tommy Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun) - In the sixth season, Tommy left to go to college. And while he still made appearances in the season, he also missed about eight episodes, scattered throughout the final year. His name was still in the opening credits, he just wasn't on the show as much.

Walt Finnerty (Grounded for Life) - After the second season, Walt went from being a full time cast member to just a recurring character. In the third, fourth and fifth seasons, he only appeared in a total of eight episodes. He appeared in three episodes of the third season, four episodes of the fourth season, and just one episode - the finale - of the fifth season.

Kelly & Jessie (Saved by the Bell) - During their senior year, Kelly and Jessie only appeared in half the season. Episodes that they didn't appear in featured new girl Tori as a friend and love interest for Zack. However, the episodes, though shot seperately, aired mixed together. One week it was a Kelly/Jessie episode, the next week a Tori episode. This caused confusion, because in the Tori episodes there was no mention of Kelly and Jessie and in the Kelly/Jessie episodes there was no mention of Tori.

Mr. Kotter & Vinnie Barbarino (Welcome Back, Kotter) - In the fourth and final season, John Travolta had gone from credited cast member to "Special Guest Star." His character seemed distant from the other Sweathogs and he appeared in something like 9 or 10 episodes that season. While Kotter, who was still in the opening credits appeared in about five episodes. Their episodes were scattered in the season, but Vinnie's last episode is the one where he delivers a baby in the hospital elevator, that's like the 8th to last episode. Kotter appears in the last two episodes.

Potsie Webber (Happy Days) - While Richie and Ralph flat out left the show, Potsie stuck around and just had his role reduced. Even though I don't have an exact episode count, he only appeared in a handful of episodes in the final season. He didn't even appear in the final episode. He remained in the opening credits throughout the entire series, however.

Randy Taylor (Home Improvement)- In the second episode of the final season, Randy gets accepted in a program in Costa Rica and is gone for the rest of the series. He does come back for one episode, where he comes home for Christmas, though.

Kyra Hart (Reba)- Starting in the fourth episode of the fifth season Kyra isn't seen, and very rarely mentioned. She left because the actress was dealing with annorexia, she still remained in the opening credits though. Then Kyra returns for the final season, and when Reba asks where she was, Kyra replied "I got something to eat", an inside joke about her absence.

Crystal (Roseanne) - after she married Dan's Dad in season 3, her role was reduced in the fourth and fifth seasons, and made her final appearance in the season 8 finale.

Lionel and Jenny (The Jeffersons) - Lionel didn't show up at all in season 5, but then came back and he and Jenny had a baby in season 6, but left again only appearing once or twice the rest of the show.

Ellen was really guilty of this in her final season. Her show had become a Seinfeld-ish ensemble in the third and fourth seasons, and then after she came out of the closet and began dating dating, we saw much less of Paige, Audrey, Spence and Joe, and there would be huge patches of episodes they did not appear in, although they remained credited. Spence for instance missed the last patch of episodes before finally appearing again in the series finale.

Let's see:

Karen Arnold from The Wonder Years: In the finale of the second-to-last season she got married. We didn't get to see her at all in the final season, with the exception of the finale. (Of note: Had the show gone on another season, we could have had a multi-part episode in which the Arnolds go to Alaska to visit her. I mean, if the Bradys could take trips...)

Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years: In the second-to-last season she was in like only six of the 23 episodes. I read somewhere that Danica McKellar wanted more money--is this true? In the final season she was back to being a regular. Of course, Winnie was, to be diplomatic, whiny, quite the departure from the other seasons.

Julie Cooper (One Day at a Time)
Becky Conner (Roseanne)
Denise Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
Mr. French (Family Affair)

Let's see:

Karen Arnold from The Wonder Years: In the finale of the second-to-last season she got married.

Correction: Karen got married in the third-to-last episode of that season. Two more episodes came before the season took a summer break. (Granted, one was a clip show, but still ...)

Barney Fife-"THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW"

Micheal Kelso-"THAT 70S SHOW"

Kelly Fox - Coach

Cindy, Sue Ann, Nancy and Molly on FOL.

Mike, Gloria and Joey Stevick- All in the Family
Eric Foreman- That '70's Show

Mr. Kotter & Vinnie Barbarino (Welcome Back, Kotter) - In the fourth and final season, John Travolta had gone from credited cast member to "Special Guest Star." His character seemed distant from the other Sweathogs and he appeared in something like 9 or 10 episodes that season. While Kotter, who was still in the opening credits appeared in about five episodes. Their episodes were scattered in the season, but Vinnie's last episode is the one where he delivers a baby in the hospital elevator, that's like the 8th to last episode. Kotter appears in the last two episodes.



That's what really crippled the show. Okay, I can understand John Travolta leaving the series after his movie career took off, but when Gabe Kaplan stopped showing up, you really couldn't call the show "Welcome Back Kotter" when Kotter was M.I.A.

Let's see:

Karen Arnold from The Wonder Years: In the finale of the second-to-last season she got married. We didn't get to see her at all in the final season, with the exception of the finale. (Of note: Had the show gone on another season, we could have had a multi-part episode in which the Arnolds go to Alaska to visit her. I mean, if the Bradys could take trips...)

Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years: In the second-to-last season she was in like only six of the 23 episodes. I read somewhere that Danica McKellar wanted more money--is this true? In the final season she was back to being a regular. Of course, Winnie was, to be diplomatic, whiny, quite the departure from the other seasons.

I believe Danica's contract was always to appear in only half of the season's episode order (except for the first season of course). I believe Olivia had the same contract beginning in season 3, because it was hard to create storylines for both of them, seeing how they usually got the least parts anyway.

Then in the sixth season, Olivia had her contract cut down to 6 of the season's episodes (or a fourth of the episodes), not sure why, though.

That's what really crippled the show. Okay, I can understand John Travolta leaving the series after his movie career took off, but when Gabe Kaplan stopped showing up, you really couldn't call the show "Welcome Back Kotter" when Kotter was M.I.A.

They should have changed the name to "Welcome Back, Hey, Where's Kotter?" But no, they didn't. lol

To be honest, it was the Sweathogs that made the show a classic. Gabe Kaplan wasn't all that great an actor. With that said, I loved having him there since that's based on his own experiences and he's charming in his own way.

The big thing that hurt the show in it's fourth season was the change in writers. They just didn't get the show at all. And then of course less Vinnie and Kotter didn't help.

Farrah Fawcett-Majors was a major cast member on "Charlie's Angels" through season one, but left after a year. She didn't appear at all in season two, but made three guest appearances each in seasons three and four.

And Thelma Hopkins did several guest appearances as Aunt Rachel after she had as good as left "Family Matters". The same can be said for Rosetta LeNoire as Grandma Estelle.

On "Sports Night", during the first season, Robert Guillaume suffered a stroke. It took him off the show for a couple months, with his character (Isaac) returning on the season 1 finale. He remained with the show till the end (which was only another season). I'm not sure how many episodes he missed, maybe seven or eight.

Giles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - He was a main character in the show's first five seasons. Then, during the sixth season, Anthony Stewart Head left the opening credits, but remained for the first 8 or 9 episodes as a Special Guest Star. His character left for London only to return at the very end of the second to last episode of the season. He returned for the seventh (final) season, but was still just listed as a guest star. He missed a few episodes in the seventh season, but was in the majority of them, including the finale.

Fred Sanford on "Sanford and Son" - He was the star of the show, yet towards the end of the third season, Fred had left for a while. He didn't return until a few episodes into the fourth season. He missed 9 episodes. During his time off, he was replaced by popular character Grady. Once Fred returned, he stayed with the show for it's duration.

I thought of another one!

Agent Mulder on "The X-Files" - He was the star (along with Agent Scully) on this popular sci-fi series. At the end of the seventh season, his character was abducted by aliens. The actor, David Duchovney was leaving the show, or so I heard. He was in the first couple episodes of season 8 and then the second half of season 8. Then he was absent for all of season 9 except for the finale.

I believe Danica's contract was always to appear in only half of the season's episode order (except for the first season of course). I believe Olivia had the same contract beginning in season 3, because it was hard to create storylines for both of them, seeing how they usually got the least parts anyway.

Then in the sixth season, Olivia had her contract cut down to 6 of the season's episodes (or a fourth of the episodes), not sure why, though.

I recall reading that Danica McKellar's role was reduced because she had gone through a growth spurt and Fred Savage was much shorter than her and the producers wanted to wait until "Kevin" was more or less equal in height to "Winnie." No clue if that is true or not, of course.

I believe Danica's contract was always to appear in only half of the season's episode order (except for the first season of course). I believe Olivia had the same contract beginning in season 3, because it was hard to create storylines for both of them, seeing how they usually got the least parts anyway.

I had never thought of that. To me Danica/Winnie was a regular on the show. Of course, my opinion is based on the fact she was given billing during the opening sequences.

Then in the sixth season, Olivia had her contract cut down to 6 of the season's episodes (or a fourth of the episodes), not sure why, though.

Like I said, I thought Olivia/Karen was only in the finale of the sixth season, not six episodes, assuming that by "the sixth season" you mean the final season. IMDB gave her years on TWY as 1988-92, as opposed to 1988-93.

Gary Burghoff was absent from the first few episodes of the 8th season of M*A*S*H and didn't return until his final episode "Goodbye Radar."

Actually Burghoff had cut back on the number of epsiodes he appeared in previous seasons.

I had never thought of that. To me Danica/Winnie was a regular on the show. Of course, my opinion is based on the fact she was given billing during the opening sequences.



Like I said, I thought Olivia/Karen was only in the finale of the sixth season, not six episodes, assuming that by "the sixth season" you mean the final season. IMDB gave her years on TWY as 1988-92, as opposed to 1988-93.

IMDB is a pretty reliable source. I'm pretty sure she was in at least 1 of the other season 6 episodes (besides the finale) but I missed some of the season 6 episodes, so I'm not totally sure. I just remember reading something or hearing something that she had a contract of 6 of the 22 episodes.

I recall reading that Danica McKellar's role was reduced because she had gone through a growth spurt and Fred Savage was much shorter than her and the producers wanted to wait until "Kevin" was more or less equal in height to "Winnie." No clue if that is true or not, of course.

Wasn't Danica always taller than Fred? That could be a reason, though. There were a lot of episodes, especially around season 4 and 5, that she wasn't in. It seemed like she was in less than half the episodes. But, I know her contract, along with Olivias, was always half the season's episode order beginning with season 3. I guess the writer's just didn't have that many storylines to give either of them.

On "Hey Dude", Ted left the show to go to summer school around eisode 29. He was replaced by Jake, but came back around episode 54. He remained with the show till the end (episode 65). I was so happy that Jake stayed, and most of my favorite episodes were with both Jake and Ted.

I thought of another one!

John Goodman on "Roseanne". His role of Dan Connor was reduced in the final season, due to Mr. Goodman's schedule. While I haven't watched much of the final season, I've heard that he missed a lot of episodes that season.

Farrah Fawcett-Majors was a major cast member on "Charlie's Angels" through season one, but left after a year. She didn't appear at all in season two, but made three guest appearances each in seasons three and four.
She had to. She had a contract and didn't fufill it, so rather than make it a bigger legal issue, the show and her came to an agreement that she would make some guest appearances.

Denver Pyle on "THE DORIS DAY SHOW"-after his character wasn't a regular after the 2nd season, he still guest-starred every once in a while in the 3rd season.

Also, James Hampton on that show. He was a regular in the first season, but then only did a couple shows in the 2nd.

Gary Burghoff was absent from the first few episodes of the 8th season of M*A*S*H and didn't return until his final episode "Goodbye Radar."

Actually Burghoff had cut back on the number of epsiodes he appeared in previous seasons.That was because Burghoff hated the role of Radar by then. He liked it at first; but not when they made the character into a naive farm boy, who wouldn't drink anything stronger than grape nehi.

He partly showed his frustration in the episode "GOODBYE RADAR" (Radars last one) by not wearing his "Radar cap" to show who he really was-a balding, middle aged man.

She had to. She had a contract and didn't fufill it, so rather than make it a bigger legal issue, the show and her came to an agreement that she would make some guest appearances.

Farrah Fawcett didn't fulfill her contract? Why? Didn't she like her role on the show?

the way I heard it was; at the time she was married to Lee Majors who was starring in "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" at the same time, and he was one of those old fashioned husbands who didn't want his wife working at the same time.

There must be another side to that though, because I remember she guest starred on "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" a few times, and also did some TV movies at the time.

Mr. Bentley on The Jeffersons left for Russia and returned in the last seasons.
Florence on The Jeffersons briefly left the show to star in her own show and returned when it got cancelled.
Joanie and Chacchi left and returned to Happy Days.

Florida Evans was absent from "Good Times" for the fifth season. She was back in the sixth season.

Mindy's Grandma was written out of the show during the second season and returned for the 3rd season in a reduced role.

The Kravitzes were not seen on Bewitched during its final season (1971-72), and there was no explanation why. :confused:

Mindy's Grandma was written out of the show during the second season and returned for the 3rd season in a reduced role.
"Mindys Grandma" on what show?

"Mindys Grandma" on what show?
Mork & Mindy

The youngest daughter on the Bonnie Hunt show disappeared after season 1 with no explanation.
Mr and Mrs Roper went to their own show and after 1 and 1/2 seasons was cancelled and couldn't get back on Three's Company because their show lasted more than a year.

"Mindys Grandma" on what show?
Mork & Mindy

Doris Martins (Doris Day) father-in-law and sons dissapeared from her show after 3 seasons with no explanation.

Mrs. Drysdale dissapeared from "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" in the last season with no explanation.
Also Janet Trego in the 2nd season.

Doris Martins (Doris Day) father-in-law and sons dissapeared from her show after 3 seasons with no explanation.

Mrs. Drysdale dissapeared from "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" in the last season with no explanation.
Also Janet Trego in the 2nd season.
Did they ever say whatever happened to Pearl and Jethrine??

On "Family Guy" Peter's friends Joe and Cleveland both had sons who were in a few episodes in the first couple of seasons, but they have both vanished.

I honestly don't remember when either of them made their last appearance.

;)

Did they ever say whatever happened to Pearl and Jethrine??
no, they never did. Those are two more who simply vanished.

no, they never did. Those are two more who simply vanished.
That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. Thanks! :D

I've brought my old thread back!

Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) from "The Wild Wild West" - He appeared in all four seasons, however in the fourth, he missed nine episodes. The actor had suffered a heart attack and used those episodes to recover.

"Spearchucker", Igor, Ginger Ballis, Capt. Spalding, and some other characters on "MASH".
Frank Lorenzo on "ALL IN THE FAMILY".

Denver Pyle on "THE DORIS DAY SHOW"-after his character wasn't a regular after the 2nd season, he still guest-starred every once in a while in the 3rd season.

Also, James Hampton on that show. He was a regular in the first season, but then only did a couple shows in the 2nd.


Also Denver Pyle directed a lot of the episodes for the 2nd and 3rd seasons.

James Hampton appeared in one 2nd season and one 3rd season episode.