# What TV shows have ended by killing off the lead?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 22, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822 "2005-12-22T17:36:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/41 "2005-12-23T00:13:07Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#):
>
> Not entirely humorous, nor exactly what the OP asked for, but doesn’t that describe what happened to _My Sister Sam_ after Rebecca Schaeffer was killed?
She was [killed](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0769726/) a year after the [series](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090487) was cancelled.
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### Author:  [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/42 "2005-12-23T04:49:24Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> **Bablyon 5**
I thought of that, but it could be argued that Sheridan didn’t die, he just pulled a Frodo and was taken “Beyond the Rim”(into the west) by Lorien(Gandalf) (sorry, as much as I love Babylon 5 I was disappointed in this particular aspect of the ending - it seemed pretty clear to me that SOMEONE had been reading RotK right before that scene was written 🙂 ). The old “no body, no death” rule - especially with the comment that the Minbari believe he’ll be back someday…
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### Author:  [@MackoUr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MackoUr)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/43 "2005-12-23T05:47:24Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> I always loved the ending to the book version of **The Spy who Loved Me,** because it ended with James Bond on the floor, writhing in pain as the lethal poison works its way through his system… and nobody notices… and no mention is made of it in the next book…
I beg to differ here, but Bond succeeds in subduing Rosa Klebb by the time his French backup shows up and is saying something to them when he collapses. The next book, _Dr. No_ a doctor explains to M that Bond recieved a near-fatal dose of shellfish toxin.
The Bond books, ah my misspent youth.
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### Author:  [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/44 "2005-12-23T06:11:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> That was **Nichols**.
Yes, it was Nichols. It was one of my favorite shows and I can still hum the theme song. I’ve written about it before here on the SDMB. I’ve never met another person who has seen the show, let alone admires it like I do. Funny, I once read an interview years ago with James Garner. He said that Nichols was his favorite show to work on.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/45 "2005-12-23T06:56:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Unless the Astrobase GO! folks get off their butts and bring 'em back toot sweet, I’m going to regretfully nominate _The Venture Brothers_.
IIRC, you can put most of the blame for that on the Adult Swim folks, who waited so long to renew the series.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/46 "2005-12-23T07:04:21Z")
Does “Valerie” count? They killed off the lead, renamed it or spun off as “Valerie’s Family” then renamed it “The Hogan Family.”
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/47 "2005-12-23T07:06:33Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Unless the Astrobase GO! folks get off their butts and bring 'em back toot sweet, I’m going to regretfully nominate _The Venture Brothers_.
It’ll be back earlyish next year.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/48 "2005-12-23T07:11:02Z")
> [@HPL](#):
>
> I don’t know if it counts because it’s Anime, but Cowboy Bebop ended with Spike either dead or just about to die, after taking out half a building.
If anime counts, we’re going to be here all night. 😃
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/49 "2005-12-23T07:23:04Z")
Interestingly, the google ads at the bottom of the page are all for P2P file sharing services specifically tailored for the sharing of TV programs. In reading the fine print on the sites, I notice that they indicate that they are **not** affiliated with any network or studio, and thus fall into that wonderfully grey area that Napster fell into when it was originally launched.
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### Author:  [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/50 "2005-12-23T07:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
I always loved the ending to the book version of **The Spy who Loved Me,** because it ended with James Bond on the floor, writhing in pain as the lethal poison works its way through his system… and nobody notices… and no mention is made of it in the next book…
[QUOTE]
Actually, that was _ **From Russia With Love** _. And Bond’s miraculous recovery was mentioned at the beginning of the next book.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/51 "2005-12-23T07:46:29Z")
Well, if anime DOES count here’s two off the top of my head:
Witch Hunter Robin - The male and female leads both “disappear” from an underground laboratory when it collapses, but are generally presumed dead.
Big O - The universe itself ceases to exist.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/52 "2005-12-23T08:10:51Z")
Dallas.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/53 "2005-12-23T08:19:02Z")
> [@HPL](#):
>
> I don’t know if it counts because it’s Anime, but Cowboy Bebop ended with Spike either dead or just about to die, after taking out half a building.
Still the best TV series ending I’ve ever seen.
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### Author:  [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/54 "2005-12-23T08:20:53Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#):
>
> But Holmes was brought back to life, and I don’t think Conan Doyle killed him again. Isn’t he officially still alive, in retirement somewhere, keeping bees?
If you’re talking about the books, then yes, Holmes was thought to be killed in “The Final Problem”, circa 1891. He came back in 1894 for “The Adventure of the Empty House.” His last story was “His Final Bow,” which took place in August 1914. (I just finished re-re-re-reading _The Annotated Sherlock Holmes_, can you tell?)
The Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes does have one series end with “The Final Problem” according to [imdb.com](http://imdb.com), but the very next series they did “Empty House” where Holmes returns. So … kinda.
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### Author:  [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/55 "2005-12-23T08:25:57Z")
While not actually killed in their own series
The Lone Gunmen were killed in an episode of the X-Files after their series was canceled.
What’s the point of a spoiler tag is in this context? How are you going to know what’s being spoiled if you don’t look? Maybe an exercise in self-control?
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/56 "2005-12-23T08:36:26Z")
> [@Fish](#):
>
> If you’re talking about the books, then yes, Holmes was thought to be killed in “The Final Problem”, circa 1891.
Hercule Poirot died at the end of “Curtain”, but I’m not sure if that was part of the David Suchet series.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/57 "2005-12-23T12:50:53Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#):
>
> In a sense the lead guy in **Twin Peaks** died at the end. (Though his body went on, filled with evil.)
Apart from the fact that there was no end, dammit…
Cooper didn’t die. The good Dale is trapped in the Black Lodge. Forever. With only Laura Palmer, The Man From Another Place, and a strobe light for entertainment.
I guess if I had to spend eternity in a gaudy limbo, I could probably think of enough combinations of things to do with a morally corrupted teenage girl and a dancing dwarf to get by.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/58 "2005-12-23T17:37:50Z")
> [@Finagle](#):
>
> Soap. The last episode was a cliff hanger with just about everyone being shot.
>
> Offhand, I remember Jessica was in front of a firing squad and Burt and Danny had just kicked down a door and met a hail of gunfire. Not sure about the rest of the cast – it was probably 20 years ago…
Katherine Helmond once did an interview in which she stated that the series had been slated to go for at least another year, and that new scripts were already written - in which she would have been rescued from the firing line (her rebel-leader boyfriend had taken the bullets out of all the guns & substituted blanks). But the series got axed - CENSORED by humorless fundamentalists. At any rate, Jessica at least did survive the last episode.
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/59 "2005-12-23T18:02:00Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#):
>
> What’s the point of a spoiler tag is in this context? How are you going to know what’s being spoiled if you don’t look? Maybe an exercise in self-control?
Hmm… good point, yeah. Normally I’d say to vaguely mention the fandom that the spoiler is from. But in this thread, if you did that, people would have a pretty good idea who might have kicked it.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-shows-have-ended-by-killing-off-the-lead/336822/60 "2005-12-23T18:03:13Z")
**Newhart** (the one in Vermont) sort of qualifies. It seems he is killed. If he was indeed alive in the first place. On one plain of existence he is dead - ah… maybe.
**Magnum P.I.** would qualify if the series had ended when it should have. So if you think of it ending without that last lame season, it would be one of the first ones thought of.
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