Unexplained important absences at a TV / Film wedding or funeral

[PD98]

Those characters don't show up to me mostly because then they'd have to pay the actors and such...it's cheaper to not have them...

But the writers could at the very least give a reason for the characters to not be there: stuck at the airport, at home for an illness or injury, too distraught to make it to the funeral, etc. Hell at the very least nowadays they could have someone holding a cellphone/laptop/iPad/etc. to imply that the missing characters that would logically be there are at least watching the wedding.
If they wanted to they could also have the abense part of the story, in The Nanny when Fran and Max got married his mother and brother weren't there and in an earlier episode they had it where Max and Nigel had a falling out, in the episode it is revealed that Max's mother didn't show up because she doesn't approve, and the absence of Aunt Fredia was brought up in a later episode and the bases of the conflict of the episode. This shows that even though a character is absent from the wedding or funeral, it can have an in-universe reason that is explained before, during, or after the event.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

On The Brady Bunch, Mike Brady doesn't attend Greg's high school graduation on the final episode of the series. And there's no mention as to where he is.

Behind the scenes, actor Robert Reed threw a tantrum - so bad that it was the final straw for creator Sherwood Schwartz. He wrote Reed (and Mike) out of the episode. There was also rumors that if the show had been picked up for a sixth season, Reed would've either been replaced with another actor or Carol was going to become a widow.

Actually, at the end of the episode, when they're all walking in the house after the graduation, Carol says something like "Too bad your father had to be out of town on business..."

In real life, the story is that Robert Reed actually WAS on set during the episode, but wouldn't participate because he felt the script was too stupid (Greg's hair tonic turning his hair orange).

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Related to this thread are cases where a character's absence IS explained, but the explanation is stupid or invalidates the premise of the series.

For example, on Good Times, when Esther Rolle wanted out because of her objection to the JJ character as well as the storyline where Florida was going to have a relationship with a new character, Carl, (played by Moses Gunn) who was an atheist, they began the 5th Season with Florida already having married Carl and moved away for his health. He had cancer, and apparently, moving to another state cures cancer.

Meanwhile, the whole premise of the show was that they wanted to get out of the ghetto, but could never scrape together enough money to do so. So, Florida gets married to a guy with terminal cancer, somehow gets to leave the ghetto, but leaves her 3 kids behind in their crime-infested housing project.

Then, Florida comes back the next season after Carl's death, and once again is stuck in the ghetto with her 3 kids and Thelma's new husband. Then, miraculously in the finale, they all get enough money to leave the ghetto for good.

Wilona's good fortune was odd in that she got to leave the ghetto with Penny after being promoted to head buyer at her boutique with a commensurate raise in salary. However, during the course of the series, they already did episodes where she was promoted to head buyer at the boutique on two prior occasions! So, finally on the 3rd time getting promoted to the job she already had, she got the money to leave!

[XPac]

The sitcom Grounded for Life had the youngest child Henry absent for the entire last season without any sort of explanation, including the graduation at the end. I thought it was weird they didn't have any sort of explanation for it.

[ChrisIII]

Clooney/Doug wasn't at Dr. Greene's funeral in ER. Clooney said he didn't want to do a cameo that would overshadow Greene.

[LordMikel]

But the writers could at the very least give a reason for the characters to not be there: stuck at the airport, at home for an illness or injury, too distraught to make it to the funeral, etc. Hell at the very least nowadays they could have someone holding a cellphone/laptop/iPad/etc. to imply that the missing characters that would logically be there are at least watching the wedding.
If they wanted to they could also have the abense part of the story, in The Nanny when Fran and Max got married his mother and brother weren't there and in an earlier episode they had it where Max and Nigel had a falling out, in the episode it is revealed that Max's mother didn't show up because she doesn't approve, and the absence of Aunt Fredia was brought up in a later episode and the bases of the conflict of the episode. This shows that even though a character is absent from the wedding or funeral, it can have an in-universe reason that is explained before, during, or after the event.

But also realize, that is 30 seconds of pointless talk, which could be used for something else. It is why people don't say hello or good bye on TV. It takes up time.

[Castle]

Sound of Music wedding. Always wondered why Maria took that long walk down the aisle all by herself. the wedding was basically like a royal wedding. where was her dad or mum.

[PD98]

Sound of Music wedding. Always wondered why Maria took that long walk down the aisle all by herself. the wedding was basically like a royal wedding. where was her dad or mum.

You do know the Sound of Music is based on real people? Here's Maria's childhood bio summary:
Her mother died of pneumonia when she was two. Her father, grief-stricken, left Maria with his cousin (her foster mother) who had cared for Maria's half-brother after his mother died. Maria's father then traveled the world, although Maria would visit him upon occasion at his apartment in Vienna. When she was nine, her father died. Her foster mother's son-in-law, Uncle Franz, then became her guardian. Uncle Franz did not treat Maria well and punished her for things she did not do.
Considering her parents were dead, relatives basically treated her like a hot potato if they weren't abusive it is easy to see why she wouldn't invite her relatives.

[PD98]

But also realize, that is 30 seconds of pointless talk, which could be used for something else. It is why people don't say hello or good bye on TV. It takes up time.

Saying "___ couldn't get out of surgery", " ___ won't leave their room", "___ is stuck in Europe", " ___ flight is delayed", "___ couldn't get off work", etc. takes about three seconds, saying where a person is can be treated like an offhanded comment that only people paying attention would notice.

[caj]

Actually, at the end of the episode, when they're all walking in the house after the graduation, Carol says something like "Too bad your father had to be out of town on business..."

Thanks, I had forgotten about that.

[LordMikel]

Saying "___ couldn't get out of surgery", " ___ won't leave their room", "___ is stuck in Europe", " ___ flight is delayed", "___ couldn't get off work", etc. takes about three seconds, saying where a person is can be treated like an offhanded comment that only people paying attention would notice.

Here is an article.
https://www.e***********/news/58251/...rs-say-goodbye

It serves no purpose to rattle off why a person couldn't be there. It doesn't help with the plot and we all know why the person isn't there. Cause it costs too much to have the actor there for a 10 second spot.

It would also take more than 3 seconds.

Character 1: "Hey where is your brother?"
Character 2: "Oh, wouldn't you know, he missed his flight."

Or we could do a "A toast, I'd like to thank everyone who could be here, except for my brother who missed his flight." Which yes, that takes 3 seconds, but are we doing it for a laugh, what is the purpose of that small tidbit of information?

[PD98]

Here is an article.
https://www.e***********/news/58251/...rs-say-goodbye

It serves no purpose to rattle off why a person couldn't be there. It doesn't help with the plot and we all know why the person isn't there. Cause it costs too much to have the actor there for a 10 second spot.

It would also take more than 3 seconds.

Character 1: "Hey where is your brother?"
Character 2: "Oh, wouldn't you know, he missed his flight."

Or we could do a "A toast, I'd like to thank everyone who could be here, except for my brother who missed his flight." Which yes, that takes 3 seconds, but are we doing it for a laugh, what is the purpose of that small tidbit of information?

Except a character doesn't have to ask why the missing character isn't there it can be like "Shame ___ is hungover, they would have loved the party" or when something wacky happens at the wedding the person holding the webcam can turn it to them and tell the missing character(s) that they bet they regret missing out on the wedding the time going to the line can be taken from the padding dances/vows/ceremony that is also unnessary to the plot since the majority of weddings in shows will have the same events or take out jokes that add nothing to episode. Or they could also act like the character is there just off-screen just by mentioning them as if they are there. For a funeral, they could have the missing character(s) signature shown when a present one writers their name the guest book (the same thing can be done for a wedding).

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Another factor regarding unexplained absences that we have to consider is that the unexplained absence isn't an oversight or not included to save time -- it's often a DELIBERATE decision.

In general, when characters leave a TV series, the remaining characters don't spend a lot of time talking about them -- sometimes they're never mentioned again at all.

One major reason is that you don't want to keep reminding the audience of characters who are not there -- you don't want the audience to start missing the character, which might make them all of a sudden look negatively at the show the way it currently is. You don't want to give people a sense of fondness and nostalgia for the "good old days." You want them focused on the here and now -- especially if the departed character isn't ever coming back.

So, when Mike, the eldest son on My Three Sons got married he's mentioned only a few times thereafter. Eventually, it's like he never existed.

When Marion Thorne died, Aunt Clara isn't mentioned on Bewitched, and Esmerelda takes her place as the magical fuck up of the family.

When Vivian Vance left The Lucy Show, she's really not mentioned except when Vance came back to guest star. Same goes for the revolving door at Charlie's Angels.

There are definite examples when a departed character continues to be mentioned -- like when it makes a good punchline (e.g. Diane on Cheers), but most often, it's gone and forgotten.

[Osiris-Rex]

How about on The Big Bang Theory when Lenard got married and neither his brother or sister were there even though both had been mentioned many times.

Also Penny had talked about having a sister several times but only her brother showed up for the wedding. And I don't remember them even giving an excuse as to why Penny's sister wasn't there.
I could see maybe that Leonard wasn't that close to his siblings, but apparently Penny was her nephew's favorite aunt. (Yeah, only aunt but there seemed to be a bond)

[BushidoBlade2]

what is the purpose of that small tidbit of information?

The purpose is to let us know why an important character isn't there.