What are some cases where the writers seem to be trying to "bury" a character?

[TMC]

And now, this I'm not referring to a "literal" bury (a la at a graveyard) but in a manner similar to what is done in pro wrestling. In other words, when wrestler was bee beaten so many times or in such a humiliating way that their credibility is shot and they no longer look like a threat.

In the case for a here, say an actor/actress leaves after wanting more money than what the production company thought he was worth. Maybe when he/she left, there didn't seem to be any personal disputes but there still are some clues that maybe the writers or someone in production took issue with him/her leaving.

Therefore, it would feel more like something (in the proverbial "burying" dialogue of said past character) that the writers were saying through the present characters than something that something that the characters would normally or naturally say.

[Edward216]

There's two I can think of immediately.

The very well known case of Chrissy (played by Suzanne Somers) on Three's Company. The show got popular and Somers wanted a raise but it was more than the producers and the network were willing to give her. And things got ugly and they seriously limited the character's screen time in episodes. I believe Chrissy was said to be away visiting a sick relative or something. Chrissy would be seen phoning Jack and Janet at the end of episodes. Things were so bad they relegated Somers to a different part of the studio and I've read she wasn't even allowed to speak to John Ritter or Joyce DeWitt in person, I mean I've never cared for Suzanne Somers but that's all really outrageous. Somers was eventually fired and Chrissy was written out of the show and I don't believe after she was written out that she was ever mentioned again though.

Jessica Biel on 7th Heaven. Biel played the oldest daughter Mary Camden. Somewhat similar situation. The show got popular and everybody in the cast was getting well known. Biel was then wanting to do more "adult" roles in movies she was getting offered. I'm not sure at that point if she wanted to completely leave the show or just be able to do these roles she was offered but still stay on the series. But executive producer Aaron Spelling told her no he wasn't allowing her to do that. Biel was upset and publicly complained about it in interviews. That got Spelling even more angry and they started writing the character of Mary as becoming really rebellious, drinking, doing drugs, lying to her parents and all kinds of stuff. Biel became even more unhappy and things got really tense and she then decided she did want to leave the show even if she had to get herself fired, which is exactly what she did. She did a magazine interview and to go along with it there was a topless photo of her in the magazine (I can't remember what magazine it was right now). That was enough for Spelling and he fired her. Mary was written out of the show and was said to have run away from home. But unlike Chrissy the character of Mary was still mentioned in episodes. I don't remember there being anything really bad said about her. It was things like the family would talk about her and say things like why is she acting this way and they all didn't understand why Mary couldn't see how she was hurting her parents and everybody else too and they just wanted her to come home. If I remember there were some episodes where Mary called home but of course the character wasn't seen or heard and you just saw the one side of the conversation. I didn't watch 7th Heaven too much in it's last couple of seasons so somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. But I thought at some point that Mary did eventually come home but of course she was played by a different actress but maybe I'm wrong. But the writers and Aaron Spelling certainly did a lot of work turning Mary from an athletic and hard working teen with good grades into an all out and unlikeable rebel.

Ed.

[WilliamHBonney]

On Itchy and Scratchy they added a charecter called Poochie and after he became poorly recieved they just killed him off and said he was going back to his home planet.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by Edward216

There's two I can think of immediately.

The very well known case of Chrissy (played by Suzanne Somers) on Three's Company. The show got popular and Somers wanted a raise but it was more than the producers and the network were willing to give her. And things got ugly and they seriously limited the character's screen time in episodes. I believe Chrissy was said to be away visiting a sick relative or something. Chrissy would be seen phoning Jack and Janet at the end of episodes. Things were so bad they relegated Somers to a different part of the studio and I've read she wasn't even allowed to speak to John Ritter or Joyce DeWitt in person, I mean I've never cared for Suzanne Somers but that's all really outrageous. Somers was eventually fired and Chrissy was written out of the show and I don't believe after she was written out that she was ever mentioned again though.

Jessica Biel on 7th Heaven. Biel played the oldest daughter Mary Camden. Somewhat similar situation. The show got popular and everybody in the cast was getting well known. Biel was then wanting to do more "adult" roles in movies she was getting offered. I'm not sure at that point if she wanted to completely leave the show or just be able to do these roles she was offered but still stay on the series. But executive producer Aaron Spelling told her no he wasn't allowing her to do that. Biel was upset and publicly complained about it in interviews. That got Spelling even more angry and they started writing the character of Mary as becoming really rebellious, drinking, doing drugs, lying to her parents and all kinds of stuff. Biel became even more unhappy and things got really tense and she then decided she did want to leave the show even if she had to get herself fired, which is exactly what she did. She did a magazine interview and to go along with it there was a topless photo of her in the magazine (I can't remember what magazine it was right now). That was enough for Spelling and he fired her. Mary was written out of the show and was said to have run away from home. But unlike Chrissy the character of Mary was still mentioned in episodes. I don't remember there being anything really bad said about her. It was things like the family would talk about her and say things like why is she acting this way and they all didn't understand why Mary couldn't see how she was hurting her parents and everybody else too and they just wanted her to come home. If I remember there were some episodes where Mary called home but of course the character wasn't seen or heard and you just saw the one side of the conversation. I didn't watch 7th Heaven too much in it's last couple of seasons so somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. But I thought at some point that Mary did eventually come home but of course she was played by a different actress but maybe I'm wrong. But the writers and Aaron Spelling certainly did a lot of work turning Mary from an athletic and hard working teen with good grades into an all out and unlikeable rebel.

Ed.

There are actually other examples of this happening as well.

Case in point, Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) on NBC's The Cosby Show lost quite liberal amounts of intelligence when Bonet did a squicky sex scene in the adult oriented film Angel Heart, completely against the wishes of Bill Cosby, and then further infuriated him by becoming pregnant with her and husband Lenny Kravitz's daughter, forcing her to be removed from the lead role on the spin-off show A Different World.

Similarly, Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth) was written off of NBC's Law & Order in a very humiliating manner by having him be "exiled" to Staten Island for punching a homophobic city councilman who'd beaten a murder rap when Noth started having quarrels with creator and executive producer Dick Wolf over Wolf being forced to fire co-stars Dann Florek (Capt. Donald Cragen) and Richard Brooks (ADA Paul Robinette) in order to satisfy then NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield's demands to add women to the previously all-male primary cast.

Finally, after Charlie Sheen was ultimately fired from CBS's Two and a Half Men after repeated instances of off screen misbehavior against both CBS and co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre, as well as his various legal troubles, his character on the show, Charlie Harper, was humiliatingly killed off by being run over by a train and his character retroactively changed from someone who was a jerk but still had somewhat redeemable qualities into someone who was a straight up jerk ass and proud of it, with the jokes at the character's expense becoming more progressively mean spirited. It should be noted that Lorre had actually made repeated attempts to can Sheen previously, and only didn't succeed because then CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler kept thwarting them out of fear that Sheen's absence would severely undermine the show's ratings base.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by glickmam

There are actually other examples of this happening as well.

Case in point, Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) on NBC's The Cosby Show lost quite liberal amounts of intelligence when Bonet did a squicky sex scene in the adult oriented film Angel Heart, completely against the wishes of Bill Cosby, and then further infuriated him by becoming pregnant with her and husband Lenny Kravitz's daughter, forcing her to be removed from the lead role on the spin-off show A Different World.

Similarly, Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth) was written off of NBC's Law & Order in a very humiliating manner by having him be "exiled" to Staten Island for punching a homophobic city councilman who'd beaten a murder rap when Noth started having quarrels with creator and executive producer Dick Wolf over Wolf being forced to fire co-stars Dann Florek (Capt. Donald Cragen) and Richard Brooks (ADA Paul Robinette) in order to satisfy then NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield's demands to add women to the previously all-male primary cast.

Bill Cosby turned out to be a big hypocrite. Lisa Bonet didn't become pregnant from a one night stand if it was with her husband. Meanwhile Cosby was raping dozens of women. If Chris Noth's feud was about them being fired after the end of season 3, why was he still on the show 2 full seasons after? He didn't leave until the end of season 5. I didn't miss him anyway, much preferred Jesse L. Martin and Benjamin Bratt.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Edward216

There's two I can think of immediately.

The very well known case of Chrissy (played by Suzanne Somers) on Three's Company. The show got popular and Somers wanted a raise but it was more than the producers and the network were willing to give her. And things got ugly and they seriously limited the character's screen time in episodes. I believe Chrissy was said to be away visiting a sick relative or something. Chrissy would be seen phoning Jack and Janet at the end of episodes. Things were so bad they relegated Somers to a different part of the studio and I've read she wasn't even allowed to speak to John Ritter or Joyce DeWitt in person, I mean I've never cared for Suzanne Somers but that's all really outrageous. Somers was eventually fired and Chrissy was written out of the show and I don't believe after she was written out that she was ever mentioned again though.

Jessica Biel on 7th Heaven. Biel played the oldest daughter Mary Camden. Somewhat similar situation. The show got popular and everybody in the cast was getting well known. Biel was then wanting to do more "adult" roles in movies she was getting offered. I'm not sure at that point if she wanted to completely leave the show or just be able to do these roles she was offered but still stay on the series. But executive producer Aaron Spelling told her no he wasn't allowing her to do that. Biel was upset and publicly complained about it in interviews. That got Spelling even more angry and they started writing the character of Mary as becoming really rebellious, drinking, doing drugs, lying to her parents and all kinds of stuff. Biel became even more unhappy and things got really tense and she then decided she did want to leave the show even if she had to get herself fired, which is exactly what she did. She did a magazine interview and to go along with it there was a topless photo of her in the magazine (I can't remember what magazine it was right now). That was enough for Spelling and he fired her. Mary was written out of the show and was said to have run away from home. But unlike Chrissy the character of Mary was still mentioned in episodes. I don't remember there being anything really bad said about her. It was things like the family would talk about her and say things like why is she acting this way and they all didn't understand why Mary couldn't see how she was hurting her parents and everybody else too and they just wanted her to come home. If I remember there were some episodes where Mary called home but of course the character wasn't seen or heard and you just saw the one side of the conversation. I didn't watch 7th Heaven too much in it's last couple of seasons so somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. But I thought at some point that Mary did eventually come home but of course she was played by a different actress but maybe I'm wrong. But the writers and Aaron Spelling certainly did a lot of work turning Mary from an athletic and hard working teen with good grades into an all out and unlikeable rebel.

Ed.

Mary was not recast. Jessica Biel came back for occasional episodes, including the season 10 finale which was meant to be the series finale.

[70s show watcher]

i think the writers of roseanne seemed to be trying to make the audience really dislike dan connor/john goodman the last 2 or 3 seasons of the show when he went from being a somewhat goofy but very loveable husband and father to a very selfish unlikable jerk who most people wanted to see kicked to the curb

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Bill Cosby turned out to be a big hypocrite. Lisa Bonet didn't become pregnant from a one night stand if it was with her husband. Meanwhile Cosby was raping dozens of women. If Chris Noth's feud was about them being fired after the end of season 3, why was he still on the show 2 full seasons after? He didn't leave until the end of season 5. I didn't miss him anyway, much preferred Jesse L. Martin and Benjamin Bratt.

I guess Noth was still under contract during the third season, and the contract didn't expire until the end of the fifth season.

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by 70s show watcher

i think the writers of roseanne seemed to be trying to make the audience really dislike dan connor/john goodman the last 2 or 3 seasons of the show when he went from being a somewhat goofy but very loveable husband and father to a very selfish unlikable jerk who most people wanted to see kicked to the curb

I think that was more what the executives wanted and not the writers.