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Archer

Jessica Walter had reportedly recorded nearly all of her Season 12 dialogue before her death in March 2021. When that season’s finale rolled around come October, Archer’s mother Malory was MIA for much of it, though she did pop up to kick some bad guy butt (quipping, “Guess the old gal’s still got it”). Later, in a bittersweet coda, Malory was revealed to have slipped away a tropical somewhere with husband Ron Cadillac (voiced by Walter’s real-life husband Ron Leibman), having decided it “time to pass the torch” to Archer. That final scene, EP Casey Willis told TVLine, was pulled off by recycling some past dialogue that captured “the feeling we were trying to evoke.”

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And Just Like That…

Willie Garson reprised his role as Carrie’s BFF Stanford Blatch in HBO Max’s Sex and the City revival, but he was only able to appear in three episodes, with Garson passing away of cancer in September 2021, midway through filming. His death forced the producers to abruptly write Stanford out in Episode 4, sending him off to Tokyo to go on tour with the teen TikTok star he manages.  

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Barney Miller

When Jack Soo (far right), who played Detective Nick Yemana, died of esophageal cancer in January 1979, midway through Season 5, the police comedy ended that season with a special tribute episode in which the cast “broke the fourth wall” and remembered their colleague. (Later, it was implied that Nick died, too.)

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The Big Bang Theory

When Carol Ann Susi died after a short battle with an aggressive cancer, the sitcom months later paid tribute to the never-seen voice actress, with an episode in which Howard’s mother Debbie passed away while on vacation in Florida.

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Cheers

After being felled by complications from heart disease in February 1985, Nicholas Colasanto made his final appearance as “Coach” in the Season 3 finale. The following season’s premiere established Coach’s death, while introducing his pen pal Woody/new cast member Woody Harrelson.

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Chico and the Man

Freddie Prinze died via suicide in January 1977, at age 22 and midway through Season 3 of this urban sitcom. At first, the show sent the titular Chico off-screen to visit his father in Mexico, then filled his place on the canvas with a young orphan named Raul. Toward the end of the series’ fourth and final season, when Jack Albertson’s Ed (“The Man”) had a breakdown, it was revealed that Chico had at some point died.

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Dallas (CBS)

Jim Davis played family patriarch Jock Ewing through much of Season 4, until he died of multiple myeloma in April 1981. Miss Ellie’s husband was kept off screen for the next 13 episodes, and ultimately killed in a helicopter crash during Season 5.

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Dallas (TNT)

Larry Hagman reprised his iconic role as J.R. Ewing right up until he succumbed to myeloid leukemia in November 2012, early into production of Season 2 of the TNT drama. J.R. appeared in several episodes of Season 2, then became the target of a murder mystery, in part thanks to some computer trickery using existing Hagman scenes.

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The District

Lynne Thigpen’s run as Washington D.C. police chief aide Ella Farmer ended in spring 2003, when the actress (bottom left) suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Ella, in turn, died suddenly in a late Season 3 episode.

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8 Simple Rules

After John Ritter died as the result of an undiagnosed aortic dissection in September 2003, Season 2 of the ABC sitcom took a two-month hiatus, ultimately returning with a special “goodbye” episode tributing the comedy great. James Garner (as Katey Sagal’s TV dad) and David Spade (as cousin C.J.) filled the cast void, though the show would last only one more season.

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Gimme a Break!

When Dolph Sweet died of cancer in May 1985, so did widower “Chief” Kanisky, leaving Nell Carter’s Nell to run the household for two more seasons.

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Glee

Cory Monteith, who starred as the genial Finn Hudson since Glee‘s inception, died of a drug overdose in July 2013, two months before the Fox dramedy was to return for its fifth season. Monteith was then honored in a Season 5 episode titled “The Quarterback,” which revealed that Finn had also died offscreen, though a cause of death was not given for the character.

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Hill Street Blues

Sergeant Esterhaus urged the boys in blue to “be careful out there” until midway through Season 4, when Michael Conrad died of urethral cancer in November 1983. Esterhaus himself was killed off in that season’s Episode 14, replaced by Robert Prosky’s Sergeant Stan Jablonski.

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Homeland

James Rebhorn died (as a result of melanoma) in March 2014, months before production on Season 4 began. Carrie worked out of Afghanistan for nearly all of that season, eventually getting word that her father Frank had died in his sleep from a stroke. Upon returning to the States in the finale, a funeral was held.

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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

The November 2019 death of Brian Tarantina — who played Gaslight MC Jackie since the series’ launch — was addressed in Season 4’s third episode when viewers learned that Susie’s fastidious roommate and sparring partner died after suffering a massive stroke. 

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Monk

When Stanley Kamel died of a heart attack in April 2008, Monk’s shrink, Dr. Charles Kroger, himself suffered the same fate during Season 7, in an episode dedicated to the late actor.

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Murphy Brown (revival)

During the 20 years that the sitcom was off the air, Robert Pastorelli died of a narcotic overdose, while Pat Corley was felled by congestive heart failure. Upon the series’ revival in fall 2018, it was established that perpetually employed painter Eldin (in an ill-fated run with the Pamplona bulls) and bar owner Phil had both passed on, with the latter’s sister (played by Tyne Daly) now slinging the suds.

NCIS Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles

Barely six weeks after Miguel Ferrer lost a long battle with cancer, Assistant Director Owen Granger vanished from his hospital room, post-mole hunt, leaving behind a note for Hetty saying he had “unfinished business to take care of.” One year after that, it was revealed that Granger died while visiting his daughter in WITSEC.

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NewsRadio

Phil Hartman was tragically shot to death by his wife in May 1998, after production on Season 4 of the NBC workplace sitcom had wrapped. In the Season 5 opener, it was revealed that his Bill McNeal had died of a heart attack.

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Night Court

This NBC comedy bid adieu to two successive bailiffs when Selma Diamond (who played Selma Hacker) and Florence Halop (as Florence Kleiner) each died of lung cancer, in May 1985 and July 1986, respectively. Marsha Warfield followed as bailiff Roz Russell, for Seasons 4 through 9.

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Rizzoli & Isles

Some 10 months after Lee Thompson Young died at age 29 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, one of the TNT drama’s first Season 5 episodes established that Detective Barry Frost had perished in a car accident, setting the stage for a funeral including a moving euology by his partner Jane.

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Roseanne (revival)

Because Glenn Quinn had died in December 2002 (as the result of a heroin overdose), ABC’s early-2018 revival indicated that Mark had died from unspecified causes about a decade prior, right before Darlene and David’s namesake son was born.

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The Royal Family

Redd Foxx’s big comeback vehicle came to a halt when the Sanford & Sons alum died of a very real heart attack in October 1991, early into the sitcom’s freshman run. A “reboot” of sorts, introducing 227’s Jackee Harry as an outrageous relative of Della Reese’s now-widowed character, quickly proved unsuccessful.

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Sesame Street

The iconic children’s program faced an adult dilemma when Will Lee, who had long played Mr. Hooper, died of a heart attack in December 1982. A teaching moment emerged via the “Farewell, Mr. Hooper” episode that aired in November 1983, in which the characters acknowledged the storekeeper’s death.

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The Sopranos

A storyline in which Livia Soprano would testify against her son Tony was scrapped when Nancy Marchand was felled by lung cancer and emphysema in June 2000. After appearing in one final scene (by way of computer trickery), Livia herself suddenly died, leaving Tony with so many unresolved feelings for his combative creator.

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Suddenly Susan

After David Strickland, who played music reporter Todd, died by suicide in March 1999, the sitcom paid special tribute to the actor in an episode that deftly established that Todd had died, too.

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The Waltons

When respiratory failure claimed the life of veteran actor Will Geer in April 1978, Grandpa Walton himself died later that spring, in the Season 6 finale.

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The West Wing

During the acclaimed drama’s seventh and final season, White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry died of a heart attack – the same sad fate met by portrayer John Spencer in December 2005.

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Will & Grace (revival)

Debbie Reynolds, who during the comedy’s original run recurred as Grace’s mother, Bobbi, passed away in December 2016 after suffering a severe stroke. When the series returned to NBC in fall 2017, it first paid quiet tribute to Reynolds with a portrait of her glimpsed during a Christmas episode set in early 20th century New York. In a March 2018 episode, Grace and Will traveled to Schenectady to posthumously celebrate Bobbi’s birthday, while a November 2018 #MeToo episode saw Grace visiting her mother’s grave.

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All My Children

After a battle with lung cancer, Frances Heflin died in June 1994; Erica Kane’s mother Mona died peacefully in her sleep that August.

Passions

David Bailey was just a few months into the role of evil Alistair Crane when the actor drowned in November 2004. Daytime vet John Reilly took over the role.

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General Hospital

Anna Lee’s run as the venerable Lila Quartermaine came to an end when the veteran actress succumbed to pneumonia on May 2004; Lila herself then passed away that July. John Ingle, who had taken over as Lila’s husband Edward when original portrayer David Lewis’ health sidelined him, died of cancer in September 2012; Edward’s own passing was written in that November.

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The Bold and the Beautiful

Though Darlene Conley passed away in January 2007 amid reports of a battle with stomach cancer, the larger-than-life Sally Spectra lives on, off-screen, as she has since her portrayer’s death.

The Young and the Restless

Jeanne Cooper’s May 2013 passing was addressed in a special tribute special that aired that month and featured many cast members remembering the daytime icon. Katherine Chancellor herself was later memorialized in two episodes.

The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless

In the immediate wake of longtime cast member Kristoff St. John being found dead, at age 52 (a cause of death has not yet been released), the daytime serial announced that in late-April 2019 it “will feature a storyline that pays tribute to both Kristoff and his character,” Neil Winters.