I actually really liked Pulaski - having a crew member who was competent and trusted, but not particularly liked seemed a nice touch of realism.
The joke was referencing her LA Law character who died falling down an elevator shaft. She was pretty much hated by all but one of the characters.
Kes? Unlike the writers I would certainly know what to do with her (as in she was my physical type to a T)-if 7 of 9 hadn’t turned out to be the best character on the show, I would have remained sorely POed at Kes’ canning. The actress, Jennifer Lien, was so emboldened by this act of confidence on the part of the show’s producers that she immediately retired from show-biz (which was a damned shame).
According to Wikipedia, she left the show in 1997 and retired from acting in 2002.
They didn’t just have her die of old age? If I remember, her character was from a race that had the life expectancy of a hamster.
She did have a low life expectancy, but her character ascends to a higher plane or something similarly stupid.
Crosby - wanted more airtime, didn’t get it, was kicked off. I loved her character, hated when she returned.
Nichols’ King story is apocryphal.
Whitney - every single cast member explained that she’d been let go to make more room for Kirk’s dalliances. When they got her story she flat out said “I was an alcoholic”.
Pulaski - good riddance.
Well, maybe, but I’ve seen a documentary about TOS where Nichols tells this story, so unless she was lying.
Now she was sleeping with Roddenberry, but just about every female in the place was also it seems…
She’s been known to put a certain spin on things. In old interviews she claims the first inter-racial kiss was bogus; that they shot it so as to not actually see their lips touch (which apparently, they didn’t).
Now of course she embraces the story as being true.
There were some takes in which the kiss happened, and some in which the kiss almost happened. They used one where it almost happened. The important part, though, was that the kiss looked like it happened, which was enough to drive the Southern stations crazy. It is not like there was anything different about Nichelle Nichols kissing a white man - she was screwing Roddenberry (or vice versa.)
As for the King story, given the importance and visibility of her role, I see no reason it couldn’t happen.
In one season, they seemed to be working a Hispanic woman into a major character. (Sorry, I suck at names. She says thank you to replicators cuz that’s how mom raised her and spills coffee on Picard after literally bumping into him). Then, after a few episodes, she vanishes.
That would be Ensign Sonya Gomez, portrayed by Lycia Naff. From what I heard (insert your grain of salt as necessary) Naff rubbed just about every other cast member the wrong way, so the producers didn’t write her into any more episodes.
FWIW, it was actually hot chocolate she spills on Picard. Not that I’m a Trekkie or anything… 
Bah. Coffee, hot chocolate. I prefer a nice glass of tranya!
You’d think the producers would be happy that the one who wanted to leave was the one whose character had had a “we can just put her in a different body” out from day 1.
Well, it depends, really. Was it just Terry Farrell who wanted to leave, or did the actor who played the symbiont want to go, too?
I can’t imagine why someone would object to being in Terry Farrell.
Didn’t make a difference. It’s the same symbiont in a new body. They kept the same actor.
No, no, Sulu doesn’t do that any more.
He is happily married to a very nice guy now.
Gates McFadden was fired at the end of season one. The reason was the audience wasn’t responding to her the way it was expected. Replaced by Mold and the fan reaction made it clear that the new doc wasn’t working out so the brought McFadden back and start writing the character better.
ISTR Grace Lee Whitney also was once quoted as saying that a studio exec forced himself on her at a end-of-season wrap party, took her somewhere else and raped her, and she then had something of a nervous breakdown. Can’t recall where I read that - sorry.