...in later Leave It to Beaver episodes

https://www.metv.com/stories/ken-osmonds-military-commitment-made-it-so-he-only-appeared-sporadically-in-later-leave-it-to-beaver-episodes

The United States Army Reserve kept Eddie Haskell off the show.

Quick count 65% of LITB 1st page threads MeTV averaging about 1½ replies.

It affected season 5. They brought in David Kent to play Scott/Bill Scott for 4 episodes to fill the void. They were probably episodes Osmond was slated for; however, he did manage to appear in one of them. His episode total for the season was 16, matching season 3.

Osmond also appeared in only 5 episodes for season 2, for reasons unknown. It could have been extended contract negotiations.

Eddie OWNED season 6 though!

cd

It was a rarity when an episode was centered on any character other than Beaver or Wally. But Eddie was an exception: he quit school, he moved into an apartment, he toyed with idea of commercial fishing in Alaska for the summer.