Shows that were not the same after a character left

[Powerboy]

Inspired by Caj and his thread about characters introduced late in a show's run that worked.

In this case, characters/ actors that left and the show just was not as good anymore.

The first one I think of is the Andy Griffith show when Barney Fife/ Don Knotts left.

In fairness, two of it's three seasons as the number one show were after Barney left, although one of those can be explained by the viewers knowing it was the last season.

But most people, including AG himself, mark Barney leaving as the point where it went from having something special to becoming just another sitcom.

[Immortal Weapon]

Spin City after Michael J Fox left. Charlie Sheen didn't do it for me.

[Hypestyle]

Happy Days after Ron Howard and Donny Most left.

[Riv86672]

Michael Scott leaving The Office changed the show’s dynamic to something less fun, at least for me.

Much as I didn’t really like Eric Foreman, his leaving def. screwed up That 70s Show for me.

[caj]

I know I'm in the minority but I still love the color episodes of TAGS after Barney left. Mind you, I loved the Barney episodes but I liked the transition the show made about it being about the townspeople in the color episodes. And I loved Aunt Bee.

For me, it was Shelley Long leaving Cheers. I still thought the show was funny and it added some great characters. But nothing could replace that Sam and Diane dynamic of the first 5 seasons.

[DrNewGod]

James MacArthur's Daniel "Danno" Williams leaving Hawaii 5-0. The show tried a slightly less idealized and more contemporary vibe going forward, but it just wasn't the same again. Presenting the fictional 5-0 something of an almost comedicly uptight organization was one of the series' charms.

Babylon 5 lost something in replacing Claudia Christian's Susan Ivanova with Tracy Scroggins' Elizabeth Lochley. Now, yeah, there was a lot of stuff besides the cast change going on, as JMS and team were having to patch together a 5th season out of what they dropped from the 4th when they thought there wouldn't be a 5th. Moreover, I had no problem with Scroggins' performance, but it might have worked better had Lochley's characterization been a significantly more different than Ivanova's, or even if they had merely recast Scroggins as Ivanova. The show was forced to work a lot harder to offset the relational context Ivanova's took with her.

[titanfan]

"Alias" after Will and Francie left. The show was known for big action and having a big special effects budget and they had to save money and cut cast. In theory, Will and Francie (the civilians of the show) were the right ones to cut, but imho, the show was never the same after that. The characters tethered Sydney to the real world and reminded us who and why she was fighting for. The heart of the show was lost, and while it was still a pretty good show, it would never be the same after that.

That said, Bradley Cooper would go on to become an A-Lister after that, and Merrin Dungey always seems to be working, so being cut from Alias might have inadvertently helped their careers.

[AndrewCrossett]

Game of Thrones. Heh.

Northern Exposure, Happy Days, The X-Files, Bonanza. Supernatural lost a lot post-Bobby.

[DrNewGod]

"Alias" after Will and Francie left. The show was known for big action and having a big special effects budget and they had to save money and cut cast. In theory, Will and Francie (the civilians of the show) were the right ones to cut, but imho, the show was never the same after that. The characters tethered Sydney to the real world and reminded us who and why she was fighting for. The heart of the show was lost, and while it was still a pretty good show, it would never be the same after that.

That said, Bradley Cooper would go on to become an A-Lister after that, and Merrin Dungey always seems to be working, so being cut from Alias might have inadvertently helped their careers.

I should have thought of that one. The show was far less interesting when Garner's Sydney Bristo's life lost its tether to any world other than the espionage shit hole.

[Powerboy]

I know I'm in the minority but I still love the color episodes of TAGS after Barney left. Mind you, I loved the Barney episodes but I liked the transition the show made about it being about the townspeople in the color episodes. And I loved Aunt Bee.

For me, it was Shelley Long leaving Cheers. I still thought the show was funny and it added some great characters. But nothing could replace that Sam and Diane dynamic of the first 5 seasons.

Oh, I still loved TAGS after Barney left, just not as much. There were other factors too, like Opie getting older and the Opie episodes being less about Andy and Opie as father and son and more about Opie doing other things.

[Nate Grey]

Earth: Final Conflict.

Liam Kincaid (Robert Leeshock) left at the end of Season 4.

Season 5 was retooled to where the show was basically Renee Palmer (Liam's kinda sorta love interest) vs the Atavus, basically space vampires. In retrospect, not as bad as I felt it was watching the eps as they aired, but definitely not at good as it was when Liam was on the show and it was about the Taelon conflict.

[Anthony W]

Earth: Final Conflict.

That show was never the same after the lead Kevin Kilner left after the first season.

[AnakinFlair]

Deep Space Nine after they killed off Jadzia Dax. Dax was far from my favorite character nor did the show really hinge on her. But the decision to bring in another Dax Host and spend key parts of the next season establishing that new character really altered the dynamic of the show and I'm not sure if it was in a completely good way. I actually liked Ezri overall, but I felt that the show put too much focus on this new character while trying to wrap up the story lines of what was one of the most expansive casts on TV at the time.

It's always extra dicey when they bring in a new character during what everyone knows is the final season. Because then you have to spend precious time in a limited number of episodes establishing this new character and trying to get the audience to like them. I did like Ezri, and I know why it happened (contract talks fell through), but I feel if they were going to bring in a new Dax, they should have done it during seasons 5 or 6.

Stargate Atlantis, when Weir left. Carter wasn't a bad leader by any stretch of the imagination (she has that deferment style of commanding that reminds me of Captain Raydor from Major Crimes), but something still felt lost without Weir, can't quite put my finger on it. Then Woosley was just a weird fit altogether though he did grow on me.

I was also going to say when Weir left on Atlantis. I liked Carter, and was happy to have her back. And I found Woolsey to be... okay. My problem was that Weir's 'death' came out of left field. Then they set it up that she could come back, either as an enemy or an ally, but they never really did anything with that. And to me, the problem was that Weir represented stable leadership on the expedition. And after she left, it was like a revolving door of leaders. They needed to pick one person and stick with them. And maybe that would have been Woolsey, had they not been canceled after season 5.

For me, a show that was never quite the same was when Calista Flockhart left Supergirl after Season 1. Sure, they brought her back occasionally, but that first season invested a lot in the relationship between Cat and Kara, and with CatCo being a place where Kara could be human, and not have to be Supergirl. After Cat left, though, CatCo very quickly faded to the background, and it was just never as good.

I'll also throw in Arrow was never really the same after Moira was killed.

[BlueandGold]

Good Times wasn't the same after James Evans Sr was killed off.

[Captain Smith]

Too many to list but Law and Order, and Law and Order SVU suffered terribly with the loss of the early crew. The latest set of actors on SVU are horrible.