Maybe it doesn’t fit here, but Father Ted had almost the reverse of a contingency plan. Dermot Morgan, the lead character, writer, and all-everything of the show, had had enough by the end of the third season, and decided to make the its last episode the final episode of the show.
Dermot Morgan died the day after the final episode was finished filming.
It would depend on the actor. If an actor is living on the edge like say John Belushi was, certainly there are always plans in the works.
But as other posters have noted, episodes are made far in advance that they can sort them out. You have “Petticoat Junction” where Bea Benaderet, had advanced cancer and they had written her out but the cast knew she wasn’t going to ever come back full time.
I think most contingency plans would be not needed as it’s easy to write out a minor character and if the star goes out of it, it’s nearly impossible to replace him/her. Look at “Chico And The Man,” or “The Royal Family.” “Sanford Arms,” proved you can’t do “Sanford and Son,” if you have neither Sanford nor the “the son.” And it was reaffirmed years later when Sanford came back on his own.
Certainly studios which make TV shows and movies have insurance policies out on their stars that will pay off in case of something happening suddenly so the financial loss is mitigatged. This is a reason why actors/actresses don’t do their own stunts. Insurance won’t let them.
I’ve always thought it would make sense to film a few bits and pieces of footage, and keep it in the contract that you can use that footage. That way you can pull off an actual proper goodbye to a character.
Of course, I was thinking more along the lines as when an actor quits. There should be a clause that lets you use footage in the finale. Bugged the crap out of me in Charmed and Home Improvement, with the whole family-based endings.
Floyd the Barber, 1 - they just replaced the first actor to play Floyd because Andy Griffith didn’t think he was funny. No Mayberry-universe acknowledgment.
Floyd the Barber, 2 - when Floyd was heading downhill fast, he ‘retired’ and moved out of Mayberry.
So if Charlie dies, they just shut down production until he comes back? 
Well, that’s really more of a “if Charlie goes to prison” contingency, but given the odds of the show continuing to be successful without him, it probably would work just as well.
By now, they would probably just shut the show down. It’s in multiple syndication, so they are making their money on it. The kid is getting too old to be cute, and they are running out of story lines for just about everybody. If Sheen were to croak tomorrow, they would probably do one last show with him being absent do to cold feet over the wedding, and then have everybody die from eating bad shrimp left over from the reception.
Howard McNear was the 2nd guy who played Floyd. He had a stroke so after that he was always shown sitting down since his speech was OK but he could not walk or stand.
IIRC, she originally was supposedly away visiting someone. She came back for an episode and you could tell it was sort of “We love you and thanks” type of appearance.
David Strickland’s suicide was after a weekend of extremely hard-livin’ in Vegas with Andy Dick as a running partner. They reportedly spent a few thousand dollars on blow (and in Strickland’s case hookers) in just 48 hours time, and then DS hung himself in a sleazy hotel room.
Brooke Sheilds said that David Strickland was crying out for help, and she seems to blame Andy Dick for arranging the weekend.
Strickland was due in court in LA the next week to face drug possession charges and I guess death seemed a better idea than the slap on the wrist that he would have certainly recieved if found guilty.
I saw Jon Lovitz on some show blaming Andy Dick for Phil Hartman’s death as well. (Apparently, Andy Dick supplied coke to Phil’s wife, who was known to be unstable.) If both stories are true, Andy Dick is responsible for the deaths of two actors.
Partially responsible at the very least, and in the Hartman situation Andy Dick actually gloated and made jokes about the deaths, claiming to have “cursed” Phil Hartman.
I sure hope that the recent West Virginia sex-abuse charges get Andy Dick the hillbilly justice he so richly deserves.
PS—To any WV Dopers, I have only been thru West Virginia once, but it seemed just beautiful, so please forgive the hillbilly bit…
They acknowledged it with a brilliant parody.
Batman had two Riddlers and three Catwomen.
Rather oddly chosen example, since 8 Simple Rules lasted for 2 seasons after Ritter’s death, when he was only on it for 1.
“You’re the Oracle?”
“Yes, my child.”
“But why do you look so different?”
“Listen, Neo, this series stop making sense a movie and a half ago. So don’t ask stupid questions.”
“Whoa.”
If you can really call it an explanation.
(I’ve always taken this to mean that she changed her form to try and hide from Smith. She does try to hide from him throughout the sequels, and he hates Neo. To everyone else, she was doing exactly what she was supposed to.)
Nice collection of clips referencing the two Beckys.
And on several other possible contingency plans:
I went to school with Jeremy Gelbwaks, the original Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family. He didn’t have a good explanation for the blond kid who replaced him.