TV Tuesday: Sad Goodbyes

[yourlibrarian]

News of Michelle Trachtenberg’s recent death saddened and surprised many Buffy fans given she was the youngest member of the cast. Have any of your favorite shows had sudden cast departures? How well did the show move past them? And which deceased actors or other creatives do you miss the most?

Comments

[starfleetbrat]

There's been quite a few for me, but here's a few that had the most impact I think:

Will Lee - Mr Hooper on Sesame Street (Heart Attack)
His death happened when I was young but not so young I was still into Sesame Street - but my younger sisters were, so I was still watching it, and I think it was the first time a character on tv that I knew, died. I think the show handled it really well, they did a whole thing about death where Big Bird learned that people died and everyone talked about their grief. They kept the name of the store Hoopers store as a tribute I guess.


Lee Thompson Young - Barry Frost on Rizzoli & Isles (self inflicted gunshot)
the actor was suffering from depression and had been diagnosed as bi-polar. In the show they killed Frost off with a car accident but the grief from the actors was pretty real according to all reports. I think this one hit hard for me for personal reasons, but it did open up a whole discussion about depression, mental health etc within the fanbase and online.

Don S Davis - Gen Hammond in Stargate (heart attack)
His character retired and then died (also of a heart attack). He was one of my fav characters, but also I grew up watch Canadian TV and remember him from The Beachcombers back in the 1970s. And the John West adverts that ran for the majority of my childhood which starred him. "It's the fish that John West rejects, that makes John West the best"


Elisabeth Sladen - Sarah Jane Smith in Dr Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures (Pancreatic Cancer)
The show was cancelled, but I don't think there was a better way to handle her death, because she was the titular character. But she was one of the best Dr Who companions, and I spent a good chunk of my childhood watching her on my tv every night (dr who aired nightly in Australia back in the 1980s)

[yourlibrarian]

Aw, same about Mr. Hooper and Sesame Street. I wasn't watching it at that point but I remember all the coverage it got about the show using it as a teaching moment. And I heard about Sarah Jane even though I'm not in the fandom.

Yes I could see that in the case of the Rizzoli & Isles actor. One plus these days is that fans can rally together to deal with losses in a way that was harder when news was more difficult to come by and fans could gather less easily.

[author_by_night]

I think the show handled it really well, they did a whole thing about death where Big Bird learned that people died and everyone talked about their grief.

I'm glad they handled it so sensitively.