Sitcoms are meant as light entertainment and usually feature some core characters, who usually aren’t meant to be taken very seriously. As a staple of the comedy genre, sitcoms have been around for decades with many of them and their famous characters becoming icons of television. The genre has evolved greatly from the days when there were strict expectations about how closely they were allowed to straddle the line between family entertainment and racy humor,
New-age sitcoms now feature subgenres, with many taking on dramatic and serious undertones. However, what has never changed is the fact that audiences still easily find themselves becoming attached to the characters. That attachment is a recipe for sitcoms to feature more drama and intrigue as our interests in their lives and well-being become fodder for seasons that end on cliffhangers, and in some cases, even in character deaths.
When major characters die in sitcoms, they can often leave deep chasms in the hearts and minds of viewers who grow to love them. This can be made worse when those characters are killed off-screen. There’s been a fair few of these over the years, between classic sitcoms, adult-swim, and more contemporary shows alike. In honor of these, here’s a list of 10 major sitcom characters who were killed off-screen.
10 Coach Ernie Pantusso
Cheers
Cheers
- Release Date
- September 30, 1982
- Seasons
- 11
Between 1982 and 1993, the sitcom Cheers endeared itself to audiences around the world, making icons of its characters and cast members in the process. The likes of Ted Danson (Sam), Woody Harrelson (Woody), and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier Crane) became legends, with Frasier in particular going on to spawn a spin-off and one of the most acclaimed sitcoms of all time in its own right.
Cheers itself garnered over 100 Emmy nominations, winning 28 on its way to becoming one of the most beloved classic sitcoms of all time.
Related
10 TV Show Characters That Were Introduced and Then Quickly Written Off
Sometimes fan-favorite TV show characters are written off out of the blue.
The Death of Coach Had to Be Explained
One of the main characters on Cheers during its early seasons was Ernie Pantusso, affectionately known on the show as “Coach”. As the original bartender of the titular bar from the show, Coach was played by Nicholas Colasanto, who made the character a very funny and endearing one. Sadly, Colasanto began suffering from a diagnosed heart condition and had to leave filming during the third season.
He passed away from a heart attack in February 1985, with the character’s absence in the show first explained by a trip away before the writers eventually worked in a narrative that the character had passed away offscreen. As a sad ending for an iconic character, many fans of the show still remember him fondly to this day.
9 Laverne Roberts
Scrubs
Scrubs
- Release Date
- October 2, 2001
- Seasons
- 9
Another iconic sitcom, Scrubs was one that epitomized how much sitcoms had changed since the 20th century. Featuring nine seasons between 2001 and 2010, it followed the staff of a fictional teaching hospital called Sacred Heart. Often intertwining drama with its wacky slapstick comedy, it featured a variety of beloved characters — one of them being Nurse Laverne Roberts, who was played by Aloma Wright.
Her Death on the Show Was a Tragic One
Despite being loved by audiences, Nurse Laverne was ultimately killed off in the sixth season. She was shown for being conservative and capable of intimidating even the hardest characters in the show, but was ultimately a sassy and beloved nurse at the hospital. Tragically, on the show, she was killed after having an accident and landing in a coma.
After the other characters on the show said their heartfelt goodbyes to her on the show, her TV family decided to take her off life support as she could not be saved. This happened off-camera, but what was more tragic was that she was killed off in anticipation of the series being canceled. It ended up being renewed and continued for another three seasons, so her death probably shouldn’t have happened at all.
8 Paul Hennessy
8 Simple Rules
8 Simple Rules
- Release Date
- September 17, 2002
- Seasons
- 3
The very popular show, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, was later shortened to 8 Simple Rules and featured John Ritter as the main character. It followed the Hennessy family between 2002 and 2005 as they coped with raising three children, including two teenage daughters, the older of whom was played by the Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco.
Ritter played Paul, the girls’ dad, while his wife was played by iconic sitcom actress Katey Sagal (Married With Children). The show initially centered around the “rules” for the girls” dating lives, forming the core comedic elements of the show — until Ritter’s untimely death from an aortic dissection in 2003.
A Sad Ending to a Character That Was Very Popular
The show attempted to switch its themes up a bit in the wake of Ritter’s death but never lasted long without him. On the show, it was dealt with through a scene where Paul collapses in a supermarket. His death is handled off-screen and much of it thereafter, was dedicated to the rest of the family struggling to adjust to it in subsequent episodes.
Related
10 Beloved TV Characters Introduced in the Show’s Final Season
With unforgettable performances and unexpected twists, see how these late intros transformed these beloved TV shows’ final seasons.
7 Lt. Colonel Henry Blake
M*A*S*H
A stylized acronym for a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, M*A*S*H, was an iconic show that lasted 11 years between the early ’70s and ’80s. Adapted from the novel, “MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors,” it was set at such a hospital during the Korean War in the ’50s. Funny, with a dramatic side, the character of Henry Blake was a pivotal one in the show for the first three seasons.
A Scene That Drove Home the Reality of War
Widely regarded as one of the most emotionally memorable scenes in TV history, it featured a lighthearted atmosphere for most of it. However, it took a deeply tragic turn when Henry, who was played by McLean Stevenson, gets his discharge from the war and leaves in an emotional scene amid many heartfelt goodbyes.
However, we later heard on the show that his plane was shot down and there were no survivors. It’s been forever remembered as a bold decision, but ultimately one that was made to add a sense of realism in times of war.
6 Edna Krabappel
The Simpsons
One of the longest-running and successful shows in TV history, The Simpsons has been a staple of adult swim lovers the world over for more than three decades now. Between the famous animated family and their antics, the show has built up an entire town of iconic characters in that time. One of these was Edna Krabappel, a very sardonic, but also hilarious teacher who was voiced by Marcia Wallace.
She Was Retired Out of Respect
In October 2013, Wallace herself passed away, and the show chose to retire her character. This was a show of respect for all the many long years that Wallace voiced the character. It’s never shown how she died on the show, but her death is sweetly acknowledged by the likes of Ned Flanders and even Bart during his iconic chalkboard gags, which featured the words “We’ll really miss you Mrs. K” in the episode directly after Wallace’s death.
5 Susan Ross
Seinfeld
Seinfeld
- Release Date
- July 5, 1989
- Seasons
- 9
As George’s on and off girlfriend in the hugely popular sitcom, Sienfeld, Susan Ross was a very memorable character on the show. Played by Heidi Swedberg, she eventually becomes his fiancée. However, she’s later killed off in a somewhat quirky way.
Her Demise Was Because of a Lack of Comedic Chemistry
Renowned for its wacky humor, the show stuck to its guns even when dealing with the death of a major character. Her death comes from licking toxic envelopes for the couple’s wedding invites, which George only bought because they were cheap. The decision was made because producers felt like the pair lacked the dynamic comedic chemistry that many others on the show shared. In keeping with its penchant for dark humor, the manner of her death was just as irreverent as the show.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, here’s a snippet of what Jason Alexander (George) had to say when he was interviewed on Howard Stern about it.
“I couldn’t figure out how to play off of her. Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring. And she would do something, and I would go, ‘OK, I see what she’s going to do — I’m going to adjust to her.’ And I’d adjust, and then it would change.”
4 Pierce Hawthorne
Community
- Release Date
- September 17, 2009
- Seasons
- 6
Another quirky show full of outlandish humor, Community was a sitcom by Dan Harmon that ran between 2009 and 2015. It featured the likes of Joel McHale, who played a disbarred lawyer who attends a community college when he finds out his degree isn’t legitimate. Centering on the students at the fictional Greendale Community College, another central character was Pierce Hawthorne, who was played by the legendary comedic actor, Chevy Chase.
Too Many Differences and Behind-the-Scenes Drama
Pierce Hawthorne was a business owner who often held some very controversial, albeit funny, views on things. He was written off the show in season four in a hilarious way, as producers killed the character off after he suffered dehydration from too rigorously filling up multiple cylinders for his sperm bank. Behind the scenes, that decision came from too many differences of opinion and conflicts between Chase and other people from the show.
3 Mrs. Wolowitz
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
- Release Date
- September 24, 2007
- Seasons
- 12
It lasted for 12 seasons and became one of the most popular and successful sitcoms of all times. Chuck Lorre’s, The Big Bang Theory is now legendary the world over as it featured a bunch of genius but nerdy scientists all trying to navigate love lives and their careers while working for Caletch. Among the many memorable characters, Howard Wallowitz’s mother somehow managed to be one of them, even though we never once got to see what she actually looked like.
She Was Always an Off-Screen Character
All we know of the character was that she was a very large woman with an unmistakably funny and grating voice who yelled everything she ever said on the show from other rooms, but was never actually seen on the show. Despite this, she became one of its most funny and memorable characters.
Sadly, Mrs. Deborah Wolowitz was killed off because the woman who voiced her, Carol Ann Susi, passed away from cancer in 2014 and the producers decided to respect that in the show as well. In the end, Mrs. Wolowitz died as she lived on the show — an off-screen character.
2 Charlie Harper
Two and a Half Men
An iconic show, an iconic character, from a now infamous actor who played him, Charlie Harper, was all of these things from his time as the lead character in Two and a Half Men. For many seasons, Charlie Sheen’s boozy and hedonistic portrayal of the character was hilarious, while the show itself will always be remembered as one of Chuck Lorre’s best ever.
The Tiger’s Blood Saga in a Nutshell
As beloved as Charlie Sheen and his portrayal was, and as super popular and successful as the show was, none of it could withstand the turbulence of Sheen’s infamously memorable descent into real-life hedonism back then.
After his frenetic life of hardcore substance abuse and debauchery with adult film stars, Sheen eventually derailed as his erratic behavior grew worse. This eventually culminated in him falling out with Chuck Lorre in spectacular fashion, leading to his firing from the show and the character being killed off-screen under suspicious circumstances after he marries his stalker and cheats on her during their honeymoon.
1 Roseanne Conner
Roseanne/The Conners
Roseanne
- Release Date
- October 18, 1988
- Seasons
- 10
An iconic character created and played by Roseanne Barr for her eponymous sitcom, Roseanne, after being one of the most successful sitcoms of the late ’80s and ’90s, it was later rebooted. It followed a blue-collar family and was set to keep up its success after the revival found Roseanne being a Trump supporter. However, when a racist tweet from Barr surfaced, the show was canceled and Roseanne the character was killed off.
Axed from Her Own Show
In an ironic way, Roseanne ended up being the downfall of her own show and character. After season 1 ended by revealing she had a hidden opioid addiction, when the show was canceled, it was replaced by a spin-off called The Connors, a show that Roseanne was not given a part in. To explain her absence, the first episode of the show reveals that she has died from an opioid overdose. Topical, but pretty grim too, it was a sad end to the legacy of the character on and off the screen.
