# Minor characters in shows ruthlessly killed off **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2017, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472 "2017-03-18T10:11:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/21 "2017-03-19T13:58:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Also the first episode of Buffy. Alas poor Jesse. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/22 "2017-03-19T19:38:56Z")
_NCIS_ is pretty ruthless at killing off recurring characters, usually just as you were getting to like them. Just saw the rerun where Ned Dorneget gets killed by a “bouncing betty” mine. The next episode (I think) shows Gibbs at Ned’s funeral, hallucinating that he sees all the other agents, etc., who have been killed in violent fashion. I’d forgotten how many there were. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/23 "2017-03-19T23:10:09Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > _NCIS_ is pretty ruthless at killing off recurring characters, usually just as you were getting to like them. Just saw the rerun where Ned Dorneget gets killed by a “bouncing betty” mine. The next episode (I think) shows Gibbs at Ned’s funeral, hallucinating that he sees all the other agents, etc., who have been killed in violent fashion. I’d forgotten how many there were. Looking at the Wikipedia entry for the show, I see that NCIS now has a character named Alexandra Quinn. Have they ever made reference in the show to the fact that there’s a porn actress with that name? (Jennifer Esposito, who plays the NCIS character, is coincidentally almost the exact same age as the other Alexandra Quinn.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/24 "2017-03-20T05:35:22Z")
When Maclean Stevenson left M_A_S\*H because he thought he was too big a star to play a supporting role, the producers dropped him into the Sea of Japan. At the time, it was incredibly shocking. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/25 "2017-03-20T14:00:30Z")
The great but forgotten TV series showed the heroine having a mentor, Frank Morgan, who worked with her and gave her assignments. At the end of the 4th episode, he was killed. A major surprise, since he was clearly intended to be a regular. He was replaced by Anthony Stewart Head, pre-Buffy (and I suspect he may have gotten the gig as Giles because someone saw him in the same sort of role here). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/26 "2017-03-20T14:02:01Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > When Maclean Stevenson left M_A_S\*H because he thought he was too big a star to play a supporting role, the producers dropped him into the Sea of Japan. At the time, it was incredibly shocking. I’d hardly call him a “minor character.” Of course there were lots of redshirts (the OP used the term; later goldshirts) in various incarnations of _Star Trek_ who were killed off to show how dangerous various missions were. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/27 "2017-03-20T14:14:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The great but forgotten TV series showed the heroine having a mentor, **Frank Morgan** , who worked with her and gave her assignments. The man behind the curtain or the sax player? I think you left out the series name. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/28 "2017-03-20T14:16:30Z")
I could list several people in _ **24** _… . ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/29 "2017-03-20T14:20:32Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > The man behind the curtain or the sax player? > > I think you left out the series name. He meant “VR 5” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/30 "2017-03-20T14:30:47Z")
Ah, tnx. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/31 "2017-03-20T15:03:28Z")
Lucy Knight (Kellie Martin) on ER, stabbed by a patient with schizophrenia who also attacked and severely injured Dr Carter. They decided the actor/role wasn’t working and decided to move on. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/32 "2017-03-20T23:37:41Z")
Chuckles the Clown on “Mary Tyler Moore” In the last episode (“The Frank Nitti Story”) in the first season of the “Untouchables” agent Cam Allison was killed in a gunfight but saved Eliot Ness’s life. There were conflicts between series star Robert Stack and Anthony George over screen time and guess who won? Frank Nottingham himself was killed in the episode but managed to return throughout the series (which were not chronological). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/33 "2017-03-21T00:00:34Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > The man behind the curtain or the sax player? > > I think you left out the series name. I guess it really _was_ forgotten. The show was **VR5** ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/34 "2017-03-21T07:06:13Z")
Star Trek: Enterprise had a brutal one. Some terrorists took some scientists hostage at a lab. The bad guys looked through what the scientists were working on, saw some dreadful shit and decided a field test was in order. They put a scientist in a big-ass test tube, dropped some Symbalene Blood Burn on him and we got to watch as it as proven effective. Fucking hell. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/35 "2017-03-21T10:43:30Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Lucy Knight (Kellie Martin) on ER, stabbed by a patient with schizophrenia who also attacked and severely injured Dr Carter. They decided the actor/role wasn’t working and decided to move on. There are others on ER, most strikingly: [spoiler]In season 3, Omar Epps played Dennis Gant, a surgical intern alongside Carter and under Benton’s supervision. Benton is very tough with him and later in the episode, people ask where he is, and reference to being late for his shift. Near the end of episode, they admit a suicide from under the L train. Comments are passed about him being a goner, and “let’s go through the motions”. “Someone page gant”. Then a buzz comes from the body, and irritated, people ask who’s pager is that. It takes a few seconds to realise that the pager is on the body, and the unsaveable person is actually Gant. They redouble their efforts furiously, fade to credits. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/36 "2017-03-21T11:27:49Z")
Rory on _Doctor Who_. He got better. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/37 "2017-03-21T16:45:20Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I guess it really _was_ forgotten. The show was **VR5** The show was on the air for ten weeks in 1995. I think it’s a little bit much to assume people are going to recognize it just from the name of one secondary character. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/38 "2017-03-21T17:00:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The show was on the air for ten weeks in 1995. I think it’s a little bit much to assume people are going to recognize it just from the name of one secondary character. I didn’t expect them to. I just forgot to put the name in my post. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/39 "2017-03-21T17:07:43Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > There are others on ER Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) was supposed to die in the Pilot episode, but the producers thought better of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/40 "2017-03-21T18:07:26Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > I could list several people in _ **24** _… > . The worst of which was probably Jack’s boss, who Jack shot in the back of the head while the guy was pleading for his life. That was a brutal scene, as the guy went from willing participant in what they thought was some kind of play-along trick, to a slow realization that Jack was being put in a situation where he might really have to kill him, and that Jack was exactly the kind of person who would do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472.md?page=3)