# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/41 "2017-03-21T18:37:40Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > 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. Didn’t the terrorists in that episode demand that Jack execute him in a railyard while they were watching from a van? His boss went along with it to keep them from carrying out their plan (whatever it was). There was no way they could have faked it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/42 "2017-03-21T18:47:26Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > There was [Rosalind Shays on LA Law](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov7aTXqMKfY). But I’d be lying if I said I saw it coming. > [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > That doctor on ER who got chopped in half by a helicopter, survived only to have another helicopter crush him. WTF, ER writers? Nitpick; he didn’t get “chopped in half” but instead lost an arm after walking (or was he backing?) into a helicopter rotor. It was great in that it was completely unexpected and handled really quietly, at least initially. And then when a helicopter fell off the roof on him, I think this was the same helicopter. I liked both of these deaths on LA Law and ER because they were so unexpected. Usually, NBC will telegraph a big event like that for a week or more in advance. ---
**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 21, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/43 "2017-03-21T21:18:08Z")
Don’t forget the death of Dr. Sweets on _Bones_. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/44 "2017-03-21T22:04:37Z")
Nina Sergeevna on The Americans. I was literally horrified. “The sentence of death has been upheld, and will be carried out … shortly.” Bang. :eek: Whats-her-name the reporter/mistress on season 1 of House of Cards, pushed in front of a subway train. ---
**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, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/45 "2017-03-21T22:48:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Didn’t the terrorists in that episode demand that Jack execute him in a railyard while they were watching from a van? His boss went along with it to keep them from carrying out their plan (whatever it was). > > There was no way they could have faked it. As I recall (it’s been years since I saw it), he originally went along with it at the office, thinking that they’d find a way out of that situation. It wasn’t until he was in the railyard and saw the situation that he realized there was no easy way out. Still, Jack could have simply refused to do it and walked away - a lot of people would have done that, terrorism be damned, rather than excute an innocent person. Especially one they had known for years. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/46 "2017-03-22T00:55:24Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) was supposed to die in the Pilot episode, but the producers thought better of it. They did kill her in the pilot. ---
**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 22, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/47 "2017-03-22T01:22:15Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > They did kill her in the pilot. She got better. ---
**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 22, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/48 "2017-03-22T03:27:46Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) was supposed to die in the Pilot episode, but the producers thought better of it. Likewise Ptl. Bobby Hill and Andy Renko, both shot in the pilot of _Hill Street Blues_. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/49 "2017-03-22T04:33:11Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > From Buffy/Angel, it would be shorter to list the characters that weren’t killed off. Leaving out the ones where they died but it didn’t take. Jesse in episode one was notable. He seemed to be a major character and we poor viewers hadn’t caught on to the kill’em-at-a-whim nature of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/50 "2017-03-22T04:44:58Z")
Some of you people have a strange definition of the word minor. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/51 "2017-03-22T05:21:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Likewise Ptl. Bobby Hill and Andy Renko, both shot in the pilot of _Hill Street Blues_. Only Renko was DOA at the end of the original version of the pilot; Bobby was in critical condition. Which explains why Charles Haid got special billing in the regular series’ credits. They had to refilm the scene where Esterhaus reports the shooting to Furillo, in order to correct the “DOA.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/52 "2017-03-22T05:29:21Z")
The Asian nurse on _ **St Elsewhere** _ who committed suicide after Terence Knox raped her. For that matter, Terence Knox himself after Ellen Bry shot him twice … once in the chest and once in the balls. ---
**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 22, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472/53 "2017-03-22T15:24:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Some of you people have a strange definition of the word minor. Poets, priests, and politicians do too. That’s all I want to say to you Sorry… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-characters-in-shows-ruthlessly-killed-off/782472.md?page=2)