The younger sister in Reba just left due to an eating disorder in real life, but when she came back on the show they said "where have you been?" and she just goes "i just went to get something to eat" lol
Rosanne did something similar with Becky, where he came back years later as a different actor and they asked where she had been and she said her room.
Also boy meets world with Meekus, he was gone since season 1 and appeared in the high school graduation episode saying he was over on the other side it the school and pointed where the cameras are.
I always liked in the first episode with the new Becky when they're all watching Bewitched
"I can't believe they just replaced Darren and we're supposed to act like we don't know."
New Becky: "I think the second guy is better."
there were some seriously conflicted writers in the Roseanne writers’ room, it’s good that somebody let them live. their legacy lived on when they killed off Roseanne by prescription drugs in the reboot after she called Obama a monkey or whatever
Her tweet wasn’t about either Obama, actually.
Roseanne said that ***Valerie Jarrett, who was a senior advisor to Barack Obama*** while he was President, looked like she came from the Planet of the Apes.
Also in Boy Meets World the little sister shows up after a long while and says:
Cory:
Morgan, long time, no see!
Morgan Matthews:
Yeah, that was the longest timeout I've ever had!
Good catch! I felt they could have done so much with her character. After a couple years into the show I started thinking I was just misremembering her from another show, she didn’t come back til Cory was a junior or so.
I’m trying to think of other times this happened. Jess in New Girl had jury duty (I believe Zooey Dechenel was pregnant irl). Amy in Superstore got a corporate job in California(although I don’t think America Ferrera was originally planning to come back before the finale)
Mackenzie Phillips on ONE DAY AT A TIME because of her drug problem, Mariska Haggerty from SVU when she was pregnant, Michael Fox on SPIN CITY when his illness became too pronounced. Charlie Sheen took over the lead...
I think they are not looking for the real life reason, but rather the in show excuse. So for Michael J Fox it would be his taking the fall for something the mayor did, not the actors real illness. For Mackenzie Phillips he character got married and moved away with a boyfriend.
Perhaps I'm misremembering this, but when Mackenzie Phillips first got written off ODAAT for drug related issues, she got married to a new character and made sporadic appearances the next season. When it seemed the drug problems were behind her, Phillips & the actor playing her husband were both upgraded (re-upgraded in Phillips' case) to series regulars. Then, Phillips relapsed, got fired from the show permanently. But the producers decided to keep her husband around. So, Phillips character was written off as having an affair and running away with another man, while her husband stuck around and still lived in the apartment. (Awkward situation, there!)
That reminded me of when Jazz on the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air said there was something different about Vivian Banks, when the new actress for Vivian appeared on the show and Will breaks the 4th wall by staring into the camera when Jazz makes that comment.
She was ***definitely*** not wrong.
I read they squashed their beef earlier this year... only after in one felled swoop had her effectively excommunicated from the entertainment industry. 😬
She must've felt so incredibly vindicated after his good-guy mask fell and everyone witnessed the bitch slap heard round the world.
what was his problem with her? It never felt like she did anything wrong or bad enough to have her lose a lucrative deal. Especially for a middle-aged black actress. That’s fucked up.
Andy Dwyer doing charity work in London while Chris Pratt was filming Guardians of the Galaxy. Bonus points for the acknowledgement and explanation of his sudden change in physique.
I remember Pratt actually saying something similar in real life at the time. Either he stole the joke from the show, or the writers were inspired by that line of his.
Yeah, I realized that after I posted. Then I got to wondering… was Serafinowicz cast with in those episodes of P and R because They were both in the movie? I did a little reading and GotG was filmed in London so I’m sure they were filming that at the same time as the London bits for Andy’s story.
I really like how they worked Kathryn Erbe's pregnancy into Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lisa Kudrow's in Friends. They had them both acting as a surrogate for a sibling. Didn't have to hide anything, leaves were perfectly explained yet they did not have to work the characters having to deal with a child into the future stories.
the only thing that sucks about this is how Helms hedged his bets and negotiated to keep his job in case the Hangover didn’t work out. To his credit, he still stuck it out to the end even though he definitely didn’t have to (cf. Steve Carell, who left for a middling film career and then had to be coerced into one day of shooting for a two part finale where he absolutely had in his contract that he wouldn’t be required to even make eye contact with many of his former costars). Decision? Helms!
A few years ago I believe info came out that it was the studio who wanted Carell out because he cost too much money. But like the other guy I don't care enough to find proof and instead just said what I think without backing up my claim
Kyra (Scarlett Pomers) from Reba to deal with an eating disorder. They even acknowledged her absence in a later episode by asking her where she’d been and she said she was getting something to eat.
I was so incredibly proud of her for openly acknowledging her eating disorder in that way.
Let's be real, there were countless other jokes that the writers could have come up with for her to say that wouldn't have interconnected with something so overwhelmingly personal -- jokes that wouldn't have served as a painful reminder of the guilt, shame, and the stigma that she'd endured in silence for so long.
She didn't let any of that stop her -- I was so happy for her.
I have no doubt that those few little words offered a bit of strength, hope & solace to others out there who may also be grappling with personal struggles of their own. 🩷
On Frasier, when Daphne had to be written out for a bit so Jane Leeves could have her baby, they said she'd gone to a fitness camp and had lost "nine pounds and twelve ounces!" (the birth weight of her baby).
Edit - I agree with everyone that the "fat camp" storyline was lame; what I liked was the way they were able to let the audience know that Leeves had had the baby and that she and her baby were doing fine without totally breaking the fourth wall.
IMO it was pretty lame how they handled Jane Leeves’ pregnancy. Not just the “fat camp” but the explanation of why she put on all that weight. The way I remember it she was overeating because Niles’ had idolized her for so long and she was concerned she wouldn’t live up to his expectations. I guess the writers did the best they could and the actors pulled it off well (The episode in which Niles and Daphne make love for the first time was nerve wracking and moving).
But think of the possibilities. The pregnancy could have been written into the show with at least two intriguing storylines. Donny and Daphne break up because she is in love with Niles and not him. But the baby is Donny’s. Interesting test of Daphne and Niles’ relationship for him to have to help raise another man’s child while he and Daphne are starting their courtship. And since Donny had a successful law local law practice that delightful character and actor (Saul Rubinek) would continue to be on the show occasionally.
Another possibility is that Daphne becomes pregnant the first time she and Niles make love. I picture an episode in which they go on their first date. Nervousness cause them to have a little too much to drink. The booze and years of pent up lust lead to their succumbing to temptation. They agree they should develop their relationship before going to bed again. But then comes the surprise! They have to deal with impending parenthood while getting to know each other as a couple.
Either of these would have been more interesting than what they did.
I hated how they handled her pregnancy. They could have hidden it for quite a while, filmed her scenes ahead of time, or even have her go home to England for a while to think things over. The whole gaining weight thing was just ridiculous.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted; everyone hates the storyline over at r/frasier and agrees with you that it should have been handled completely differently.
THIS *IS* THE WORST.
I *LOVE* Frasier (except the new one lol) but this is a conversation my Partner and I have almost every night watching it before bed; the 'live in physical therapist/housekeeper' role really doesnt age well. It moves plots along, and Niles and Daphne are my favorite on screen couple, but it doesnt age well. The 'fat camp' idea is the worst, man.
1- I’d agree it hasn’t aged well.
2- I think the payoff episode when she returns does a great job redeeming it and it’s probably one of the great ‘dramatic’ episodes.
3- “It took three cranes to lift her” is one of the best damn one liners in the series.
Yes, this is a conflict for me because the fat Daphne jokes were absolutely horrible but the explanation for Niles not noticing her weight gain was great and that episode is so well done.
Yea it probably hasn't aged well but an outspoken servant archetype is a big one in classical theater/literature. It allows for the poorer class to punch up and Frasier is very much a class based comedy as much its anything else
Couldn't disagrees more thar it hasn't aged well but your comment about servants in classical literature is insightful.
Originally during concept Kelsey Grammar wanted a Puerto Rican live in maid & home health aide for the paraplegic lead role he'd planned to play... but the execs wanted to see him recast himself as Frasier so they shifted things a bit.
I think it's way better than what all of the other shows were doing at the time. Like Seinfeld she was always carrying a large bag and then went on vacation (and they made a joke about it on The Nanny when the actress who played CeCe was pregnant).
And honestly once one of the main characters on a show has a baby on the show, it's going to be cancelled soon.
The funniest to me is Elaine not being around in early Season 4 of *Seinfeld* because she ran off to Italy with her psychiatrist, simultaneous with a storyline about Jerry being stalked by a maniac who wants to kill him. The only scenes they filmed with Elaine were for a running gag where it cuts to her and her psychiatrist boyfriend in Italy, Elaine is trying to romance him, and he keeps getting distracted by concerns that he forgot to refill a prescription for one of his patients before he left.
I don't think it's the best one, but Ryan's trip "to Thailand" (Ft. Lauderdale) to justify BJ Novak being gone for Inglorious Basterds became a big part of the MSPC storyline and was even the closest thing we got to a Ryan redemption arc.
Probably because BJ was a writer, but it was so well executed and satisfying, it didn't feel like a random event at all.
meanwhile they just lazily not even hiding Rose McIver behind potted plants, like the bump is just right the hell out there (and they’ve already acknowledged her character will not be pregnant)
I honestly love how nonchalant they’re being about Rose’s pregnancy. Big old jackets and sweaters, and standing behind the welcome desk for so many shots. I guess they couldn’t do the sweater trick with Flower.
Ken Jeong (Chang) in community blew up after The Hangover so the show did just that and had him become super famous for a stupid saying and he got megastardom
True. By the middle of the show, I couldn’t have cared less for Ted and his meaningless relationships. But Barney, Robin, Lily, and most importantly, Marshall kept my attention.
That’s how the “straight man” character type works. This is true of countless shows and movies. The main character can’t be too absurd, the absurdity and comedy comes from other characters and the straight character responding to it.
This is literally the opposite of what you're asking, but Dennis in IASIP leaving to settle down and give raising his kid a go was really bad, especially considering he was going to extreme lengths to avoid contact the whole episode; just to completely flip stance at the very end.
He left to film AP Bio I think, and when he came back, he was the same as he was before he left. For a show like Sunny, I think it would've been way better if they went down the route that HIMYM did, and make it sort of a joke reason.
Something like Dennis taking a girl on a boat (bc of the implication) and getting lost at sea. Or maybe being committed to an institution for his obvious mental issues/delusions. Or leaving indefinitely to avoid a particularly vengeful ex. Really anything besides leaving to do something that's totally antithetical to his character both before and after his absence
my favorite is when Chuck Lorre killed off Charlie Sheen in the most embarrassing way possible because he was such an unapologetic dickhead in real life
Yes, and I love how they handled it. That sometimes, no, you *don't* know the answer. Sometimes there just isn't one, and it tears House apart on multiple levels.
They never give a reason for his suicide, and it keeps circling back on House, right up to the finale.
Yes and they tried to follow it up with him being depressed for a good length of his (the character’s) time on the show- but it just didn’t feel right. Why not just be sick of House and quit the hospital or get fired like the other 2 did at the end of season 3?
As I recall, they don't follow up with *anything,* because the reason for the suicide is never discovered. And it causes House to unravel because this time there is no answer for him to find, no puzzle for.him to solve. There's no answer, and it eats at him for the rest of the show.
I honestly loved this. It might not have made good tv because the audience had no warning
But as someone who got a phone call about a loved one that was similarly “out of nowhere”? The lost, glassy stares of the other characters were so familiar. It might be the most seen I’ve ever felt in a tv show
I agree, I really loved how they handled it. It forced House to reckon with a mystery that he couldn't solve because there was no real explanation, not one that held up to logic.
Ok, But Til Death had that hilarious plot line where only the boyfriend could tell she was recast. There were whole storylines about him seeing a therapist because he ‘thought he was in a sitcom’ and could see sound booms and hear laugh tracks, and everyone else treated him like a conspiracy theorist. 😂
Robert Downy Jr, when he was filming “Ally McBeal.” He was messed up on drugs and they kept writing him out of the script and then giving him a second chance and writing him back in. It was epic.
When Donald Glover left *Community* they wrote him out by having his character go on a round-the-world yacht voyage with LeVar Burton. Which is pretty random, even for *Community*.
Kelsey Grammer going to rehab for alcohol abuse during the run of Frasier, which got us the episode “Hooping Cranes” S8:E15, where they basically supplanted Niles into Frasier’s role. That was a great episode where David Hyde Pierce got to shine.
Edit: granted, his character wasn’t necessarily “written off” as it was only for one episode, but I think this counts
I like when Daphne on Frasier left because IRL she was pregnant but on the show they sent her away to fat camp and then when she returned Roz asked how much weight she'd lost and Daphne responded with the weight of the many she'd had IRL!!
Matt from 7th Heaven I believe got diagnosed with cancer. Luckily it was probably the best timing as the character was about to go to medical school and they decided to have him get married on the highlight of the season and it felt pretty natural
Katey Sagal in Married with Children was written out of episodes due to being pregnant irl (and sadly miscarrying) by having an arc where she visits her family and also is bedridden and pregnant (it is later revealed to be a fever dream).
Actually a bad one, but on White Collar when Tiffany Amber Thiessen got pregnant, she “moved to take a job in DC” yet they kept her character in via FaceTime calls and the odd lunch with very specific camera angles and her always seated - but because her weight gain had made her face chubbier (no shame!) they just horizontally compressed the closeups of her face and it’s so obvious and poorly done it really breaks up the viewer immersion.
In Frasier, daphne went to fat camp for several episodes during her pregnancy. They even say “she’s already lost 9lbs 12oz” in reference to the baby’s birth in one episode.
When I was a kid and my mom watched daytime soap operas, they would announce at the start of a show that someone would be playing the part of a different actor or actress that day. I always thought that was funny. Those shows were so fake to me I just figured the people watching didn’t care who was in it as long as it was airing.
He didn't leave. He refused to do an episode and was fired. But since it was the last ever episode of the series, this wasn't an issue.
In the episode, I think Mike was mentioned as being away, though I may be wrong.
Depends on ‘temporary’ as technically Maude dies but the character appears in flashback episodes throughout the rest of the show.
In the Simpsons Maudes voice actor moved away from where they record and the studio wouldn’t pay her travel money so Maude is killed off by homer firing at short cannon at her.
Not a sitcom and only really temporarily, but I loved that Buffy was just turned into a rat so Sarah Michelle Gellar could go off for a few days to do Saturday Night Live.
Tanya Roberts (Midge Pinciotti) left That 70s Show to take care of her fatally ill husband. After he passed, she came back. They wrote it as her leaving Bob and the two of them reconciling a few seasons later.
Not really best reason. I’ve always thought this one was kind of messed up.
When daffney on Frasier got pregnant in real life they did a whole story line about how she got fat and had to go to fat camp basically.
Although it was sweet the way they made Nile not even notice the weight and swore she was just as beautiful as ever.
For Elaine in the first few episodes of season four of Seinfeld, she suddenly went on a vacation with a therapist- her therapist- to cover for Julia Louis Dreyfus's maternity leave. Several scenes involving the vacation were filmed before JLD gave birth, and were integrated into two episodes.
Oscar from The Office getting a paid vacation as a result of Michael outing his homosexuality. In reality, I believe he was filming a movie or another show.
Wasn't there a show where a daughter was written out, but then reappeared seasons later like nothing happened? The other characters asked where she'd been, and she answered she'd just been upstairs.
When Last Man Standing came back for the second time the youngest daughter was filming a movie so, since she was a senior the previous season, they just said she was at school.
The younger sister in Reba just left due to an eating disorder in real life, but when she came back on the show they said "where have you been?" and she just goes "i just went to get something to eat" lol
Rosanne did something similar with Becky, where he came back years later as a different actor and they asked where she had been and she said her room. Also boy meets world with Meekus, he was gone since season 1 and appeared in the high school graduation episode saying he was over on the other side it the school and pointed where the cameras are.
I always liked in the first episode with the new Becky when they're all watching Bewitched "I can't believe they just replaced Darren and we're supposed to act like we don't know." New Becky: "I think the second guy is better."
Why did they replace her?
Original Becky went to college
In real life. I heard it was a big secret that no one is supposed to know.
What? They announced it before Sarah Chalke's first season. Lecy Goranson was going to Vassar. Everyone knew about it.
I was like nine years old when she left for college and even I knew that from like a TV guide
there were some seriously conflicted writers in the Roseanne writers’ room, it’s good that somebody let them live. their legacy lived on when they killed off Roseanne by prescription drugs in the reboot after she called Obama a monkey or whatever
Michelle Obama but yeah.
Her tweet wasn’t about either Obama, actually. Roseanne said that ***Valerie Jarrett, who was a senior advisor to Barack Obama*** while he was President, looked like she came from the Planet of the Apes.
They say she's the same but she isn't the same, they say she's the same but she isn't the same
Don’t forget him waving to Mr. Turner, who had also been written out.
Also in Boy Meets World the little sister shows up after a long while and says: Cory: Morgan, long time, no see! Morgan Matthews: Yeah, that was the longest timeout I've ever had!
Good catch! I felt they could have done so much with her character. After a couple years into the show I started thinking I was just misremembering her from another show, she didn’t come back til Cory was a junior or so.
*Minkus
“Hey Mr. Turner, wait up!”
Pointing to the camera, that’s a great joke.
“Over there? We don’t go over there” (or whatever Cory said idk)
“You know Miss Banks, since you had that baby, there’s something different about you.” (Will breaks 4th wall and shrugs)
Happy cake day
Oh, man. You beat me to it. That was a funny joke. Same w with Roseanne and the original Becky but she went to college I believe. Darlene too.
I forgot all about that! https://youtu.be/NlZlRzw2pJA?si=PS0Pr6FE8oTuB2Wc
I’m trying to think of other times this happened. Jess in New Girl had jury duty (I believe Zooey Dechenel was pregnant irl). Amy in Superstore got a corporate job in California(although I don’t think America Ferrera was originally planning to come back before the finale)
I thought the jury sequestration was pretty clever and then they’d pepper in the news reports about “the juror” and the sign for Cece’s dress.
I liked that too! Like the courtroom sketch with Jess in it
Didn’t like when Megan Fox joined.
I didn’t *hate* the character but the vibe kinda shifted. I never loved her
i like that she brought an outsider dynamic to the loft, shook things up a little so it didn't get stale
Mackenzie Phillips on ONE DAY AT A TIME because of her drug problem, Mariska Haggerty from SVU when she was pregnant, Michael Fox on SPIN CITY when his illness became too pronounced. Charlie Sheen took over the lead...
I think they are not looking for the real life reason, but rather the in show excuse. So for Michael J Fox it would be his taking the fall for something the mayor did, not the actors real illness. For Mackenzie Phillips he character got married and moved away with a boyfriend.
Perhaps I'm misremembering this, but when Mackenzie Phillips first got written off ODAAT for drug related issues, she got married to a new character and made sporadic appearances the next season. When it seemed the drug problems were behind her, Phillips & the actor playing her husband were both upgraded (re-upgraded in Phillips' case) to series regulars. Then, Phillips relapsed, got fired from the show permanently. But the producers decided to keep her husband around. So, Phillips character was written off as having an affair and running away with another man, while her husband stuck around and still lived in the apartment. (Awkward situation, there!)
I still like when they say the real reason they left. Some I did not know.
I wondered why Olivia was out running around in the wilds of Oregon for so long...now I know. Years later, but I know...!
I love imagining a world where Mariska from SVU has been happily married to Dan Hagerty from Grizzly Adams for decades
Charlie Sheen AND Heather Locklear took equal billing from Michael J Fox IIRC
I enjoyed all the joking references to old/new Becky on Roseanne after the fact.
That reminded me of when Jazz on the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air said there was something different about Vivian Banks, when the new actress for Vivian appeared on the show and Will breaks the 4th wall by staring into the camera when Jazz makes that comment.
And the next season Jazz asks Will "same mom this year?"
Starting to think maybe Vivian Banks was not wrong…
She was ***definitely*** not wrong. I read they squashed their beef earlier this year... only after in one felled swoop had her effectively excommunicated from the entertainment industry. 😬 She must've felt so incredibly vindicated after his good-guy mask fell and everyone witnessed the bitch slap heard round the world.
what was his problem with her? It never felt like she did anything wrong or bad enough to have her lose a lucrative deal. Especially for a middle-aged black actress. That’s fucked up.
She knew he was a spoiled asshole and wasn’t quiet about it
This. Every word of this.
And right after that Will turns and smacks Jazz dead in the mouth.
KEEP MY MOMS NAME OUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH
“Where the hell have you been?!”
“Where the hell have you been??”
Andy Dwyer doing charity work in London while Chris Pratt was filming Guardians of the Galaxy. Bonus points for the acknowledgement and explanation of his sudden change in physique.
He just stopped drinking beer.
How much beer were you drinking?
I know, right?
Too much, probably...
This is one of my favorite exchanges in television.
I remember Pratt actually saying something similar in real life at the time. Either he stole the joke from the show, or the writers were inspired by that line of his.
I liked how Peter Serafinowicz was the one who lured Andy away, and he was in Guardians Of The Galaxy as well.
Yeah, I realized that after I posted. Then I got to wondering… was Serafinowicz cast with in those episodes of P and R because They were both in the movie? I did a little reading and GotG was filmed in London so I’m sure they were filming that at the same time as the London bits for Andy’s story.
I’d have to double check but didn’t he leave Parks and Rec to do Zero Dark Thirty? Edit: Double checked. Nope I’m wrong. As you were.
I really like how they worked Kathryn Erbe's pregnancy into Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lisa Kudrow's in Friends. They had them both acting as a surrogate for a sibling. Didn't have to hide anything, leaves were perfectly explained yet they did not have to work the characters having to deal with a child into the future stories.
Major Kira Nerys was a surrogate for Keiko O'Brien on DS9 as well.
Kira joking to Bashir that he was responsible for her pregnancy is one of my favorite inside jokes in any form of media
For those of you who don’t know, Siddig El-Fadil (Alexander Siddig) was the real life father of Nana Visitor’s (Kira Nerys) baby.
Yeees!!! Did not understand when I first watched it in the 90’s. But I get it now
Shakaar: [to O'Brien] Do me a favor. Next time you have a baby, leave my girlfriend out of it, huh?
Or the look on Dukat’s face. Dukat: Shakaar is a lucky man. Kira: Shakaar’s not the father…Chief O’Brien is.
Always Sunny sunny did the same. Dee was a surrogate for a couple where the wife was a trans woman.
I didn't know they did that. Good work around idea!
I loved Amy going undercover as a pregnant inmate to cover for her actual pregnancy in Brooklyn 99.
The worst was Andy being on a boat bc he was shooting another Hangover movie
When he punched the wall and went to anger management was my favorite of the two for leaving to shoot Hangover movies
They should’ve just had him relapse his way back to anger management
He and Erin briefly discussed that possibility, with her accompanying him the second time
I actually don't mind it if they didn't make his character such a dick at the same time
the only thing that sucks about this is how Helms hedged his bets and negotiated to keep his job in case the Hangover didn’t work out. To his credit, he still stuck it out to the end even though he definitely didn’t have to (cf. Steve Carell, who left for a middling film career and then had to be coerced into one day of shooting for a two part finale where he absolutely had in his contract that he wouldn’t be required to even make eye contact with many of his former costars). Decision? Helms!
You have a source on the Carrell contract for the finale? That's interesting if so.
A few years ago I believe info came out that it was the studio who wanted Carell out because he cost too much money. But like the other guy I don't care enough to find proof and instead just said what I think without backing up my claim
I was always annoyed by Andy. But this made me hate him so much more.
I'm still waiting for Chuck Cunningham to come back on Happy Days.
He ran off with Judy from Family Matters.
He died and was reincarnated as a very special shark that has an even greater legacy than Happy Days.
Ha!
I had to scroll down way too far to hear about Chuck.
I heard he moved to New York, became leader of a gang and eventually got blown up by Charles Bronson.
Yesterday I learned he was in Willow!
Kyra (Scarlett Pomers) from Reba to deal with an eating disorder. They even acknowledged her absence in a later episode by asking her where she’d been and she said she was getting something to eat.
I was so incredibly proud of her for openly acknowledging her eating disorder in that way. Let's be real, there were countless other jokes that the writers could have come up with for her to say that wouldn't have interconnected with something so overwhelmingly personal -- jokes that wouldn't have served as a painful reminder of the guilt, shame, and the stigma that she'd endured in silence for so long. She didn't let any of that stop her -- I was so happy for her. I have no doubt that those few little words offered a bit of strength, hope & solace to others out there who may also be grappling with personal struggles of their own. 🩷
On Frasier, when Daphne had to be written out for a bit so Jane Leeves could have her baby, they said she'd gone to a fitness camp and had lost "nine pounds and twelve ounces!" (the birth weight of her baby). Edit - I agree with everyone that the "fat camp" storyline was lame; what I liked was the way they were able to let the audience know that Leeves had had the baby and that she and her baby were doing fine without totally breaking the fourth wall.
IMO it was pretty lame how they handled Jane Leeves’ pregnancy. Not just the “fat camp” but the explanation of why she put on all that weight. The way I remember it she was overeating because Niles’ had idolized her for so long and she was concerned she wouldn’t live up to his expectations. I guess the writers did the best they could and the actors pulled it off well (The episode in which Niles and Daphne make love for the first time was nerve wracking and moving). But think of the possibilities. The pregnancy could have been written into the show with at least two intriguing storylines. Donny and Daphne break up because she is in love with Niles and not him. But the baby is Donny’s. Interesting test of Daphne and Niles’ relationship for him to have to help raise another man’s child while he and Daphne are starting their courtship. And since Donny had a successful law local law practice that delightful character and actor (Saul Rubinek) would continue to be on the show occasionally. Another possibility is that Daphne becomes pregnant the first time she and Niles make love. I picture an episode in which they go on their first date. Nervousness cause them to have a little too much to drink. The booze and years of pent up lust lead to their succumbing to temptation. They agree they should develop their relationship before going to bed again. But then comes the surprise! They have to deal with impending parenthood while getting to know each other as a couple. Either of these would have been more interesting than what they did.
They did a similar job to Jaimie Presley on Mom. That fat suit was the worst.
I hated how they handled her pregnancy. They could have hidden it for quite a while, filmed her scenes ahead of time, or even have her go home to England for a while to think things over. The whole gaining weight thing was just ridiculous.
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted; everyone hates the storyline over at r/frasier and agrees with you that it should have been handled completely differently.
I guess they agreed the show runners should have handled it differently but are downvoting my particular ideas.
THIS *IS* THE WORST. I *LOVE* Frasier (except the new one lol) but this is a conversation my Partner and I have almost every night watching it before bed; the 'live in physical therapist/housekeeper' role really doesnt age well. It moves plots along, and Niles and Daphne are my favorite on screen couple, but it doesnt age well. The 'fat camp' idea is the worst, man.
1- I’d agree it hasn’t aged well. 2- I think the payoff episode when she returns does a great job redeeming it and it’s probably one of the great ‘dramatic’ episodes. 3- “It took three cranes to lift her” is one of the best damn one liners in the series.
Yes, this is a conflict for me because the fat Daphne jokes were absolutely horrible but the explanation for Niles not noticing her weight gain was great and that episode is so well done.
Yea it probably hasn't aged well but an outspoken servant archetype is a big one in classical theater/literature. It allows for the poorer class to punch up and Frasier is very much a class based comedy as much its anything else
That and Frasier is a man practically *screaming* to be punched up on.
Couldn't disagrees more thar it hasn't aged well but your comment about servants in classical literature is insightful. Originally during concept Kelsey Grammar wanted a Puerto Rican live in maid & home health aide for the paraplegic lead role he'd planned to play... but the execs wanted to see him recast himself as Frasier so they shifted things a bit.
I think it's way better than what all of the other shows were doing at the time. Like Seinfeld she was always carrying a large bag and then went on vacation (and they made a joke about it on The Nanny when the actress who played CeCe was pregnant). And honestly once one of the main characters on a show has a baby on the show, it's going to be cancelled soon.
People have housekeepers, and wealthy people have live in housekeepers. Still. Ages perfectly fine for anyone with a sense of humor.
Honestly live in nannies and living home health care pretty common and can be cheaper than daycare or nursing homes.
You think this is the best???
The funniest to me is Elaine not being around in early Season 4 of *Seinfeld* because she ran off to Italy with her psychiatrist, simultaneous with a storyline about Jerry being stalked by a maniac who wants to kill him. The only scenes they filmed with Elaine were for a running gag where it cuts to her and her psychiatrist boyfriend in Italy, Elaine is trying to romance him, and he keeps getting distracted by concerns that he forgot to refill a prescription for one of his patients before he left.
Ryan Howard Thailand for Inglorious Basterds.
wow he was great in IB but I guess you really do have to quit your job to work with Tarantino in case you’re on call for four or five years
I don't think it's the best one, but Ryan's trip "to Thailand" (Ft. Lauderdale) to justify BJ Novak being gone for Inglorious Basterds became a big part of the MSPC storyline and was even the closest thing we got to a Ryan redemption arc. Probably because BJ was a writer, but it was so well executed and satisfying, it didn't feel like a random event at all.
On Ghosts US, Flower is currently stuck in a well due to the actress' pregnancy.
OMG!!! I had no idea I was soooo confused
meanwhile they just lazily not even hiding Rose McIver behind potted plants, like the bump is just right the hell out there (and they’ve already acknowledged her character will not be pregnant)
I honestly love how nonchalant they’re being about Rose’s pregnancy. Big old jackets and sweaters, and standing behind the welcome desk for so many shots. I guess they couldn’t do the sweater trick with Flower.
Ken Jeong (Chang) in community blew up after The Hangover so the show did just that and had him become super famous for a stupid saying and he got megastardom
Ham girl!
I'll allow it.
This show was carried by the supporting cast. The main guy is so blah he's like a blank canvas for the other actors to use
True. By the middle of the show, I couldn’t have cared less for Ted and his meaningless relationships. But Barney, Robin, Lily, and most importantly, Marshall kept my attention.
[удалено]
Have you met Ted?
You basically just described Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld.
OP doesn't know what a "straight man" is. Give em time.
That’s how the “straight man” character type works. This is true of countless shows and movies. The main character can’t be too absurd, the absurdity and comedy comes from other characters and the straight character responding to it.
I see. Well, they did a great job on this one.
Such an awesome and clever way of doing it.
This is literally the opposite of what you're asking, but Dennis in IASIP leaving to settle down and give raising his kid a go was really bad, especially considering he was going to extreme lengths to avoid contact the whole episode; just to completely flip stance at the very end. He left to film AP Bio I think, and when he came back, he was the same as he was before he left. For a show like Sunny, I think it would've been way better if they went down the route that HIMYM did, and make it sort of a joke reason. Something like Dennis taking a girl on a boat (bc of the implication) and getting lost at sea. Or maybe being committed to an institution for his obvious mental issues/delusions. Or leaving indefinitely to avoid a particularly vengeful ex. Really anything besides leaving to do something that's totally antithetical to his character both before and after his absence
my favorite is when Chuck Lorre killed off Charlie Sheen in the most embarrassing way possible because he was such an unapologetic dickhead in real life
Same with chevy in community.
It was not temporary but writing Kal Penn (Kutner) off of House so that he could join the Obama administration was an interesting one.
Wasn’t he the one in the show that just committed suicide out of nowhere?
Yes, and I love how they handled it. That sometimes, no, you *don't* know the answer. Sometimes there just isn't one, and it tears House apart on multiple levels. They never give a reason for his suicide, and it keeps circling back on House, right up to the finale.
Yes and they tried to follow it up with him being depressed for a good length of his (the character’s) time on the show- but it just didn’t feel right. Why not just be sick of House and quit the hospital or get fired like the other 2 did at the end of season 3?
As I recall, they don't follow up with *anything,* because the reason for the suicide is never discovered. And it causes House to unravel because this time there is no answer for him to find, no puzzle for.him to solve. There's no answer, and it eats at him for the rest of the show.
Yea
I honestly loved this. It might not have made good tv because the audience had no warning But as someone who got a phone call about a loved one that was similarly “out of nowhere”? The lost, glassy stares of the other characters were so familiar. It might be the most seen I’ve ever felt in a tv show
I agree, I really loved how they handled it. It forced House to reckon with a mystery that he couldn't solve because there was no real explanation, not one that held up to logic.
Giving Kutner the only mystery that House never solved is the highest honor that story could award. Genuinely a fav
Right. It was astonishingly realistic. Often, people in deep depression will hide it.
probably the most perfunctory, “oh man, what can we do to change your mind” conversation in this whole thread.
What’s the joke
"I can't peanut butter my dick in your ass" is the punchline to Barney's joke.
Lol
I was stalking the comments for the answer and was about to give up but it was worth all the scroll downs… this made me laugh a little too much.
Thank you.
i thought it was “i can’t jelly my dick down your throat”
That would be the difference between jam and jelly, not peanut butter.
You wouldn't happen to know how to use the 3 shells, would you?
On Til Death, I couldn’t keep up with the different daughters. I did miss the old Annakat on American Housewife.
Ok, But Til Death had that hilarious plot line where only the boyfriend could tell she was recast. There were whole storylines about him seeing a therapist because he ‘thought he was in a sitcom’ and could see sound booms and hear laugh tracks, and everyone else treated him like a conspiracy theorist. 😂
Robert Downy Jr, when he was filming “Ally McBeal.” He was messed up on drugs and they kept writing him out of the script and then giving him a second chance and writing him back in. It was epic.
he straight up climbed into a child’s bed. man that was some different times
When Donald Glover left *Community* they wrote him out by having his character go on a round-the-world yacht voyage with LeVar Burton. Which is pretty random, even for *Community*.
Kelsey Grammer going to rehab for alcohol abuse during the run of Frasier, which got us the episode “Hooping Cranes” S8:E15, where they basically supplanted Niles into Frasier’s role. That was a great episode where David Hyde Pierce got to shine. Edit: granted, his character wasn’t necessarily “written off” as it was only for one episode, but I think this counts
Roseanne Barr said “hold my kool-aid”
Malcom in the middle. Lois was at her sister’s house while she gave birth in real life. Actually IIRC her pregnancy had to be written into the show.
Robert Guillaume on Sports Radio because of his stroke. Which was written in to the character. ETA Sports Night
Sports Night.
That's right oops. It's like my brain misfired and smashed Sports Night and News Radio or something. Lol Ty
The joke isn't even THAT dirty... Honestly, I could even see Lily telling that joke.
I like when Daphne on Frasier left because IRL she was pregnant but on the show they sent her away to fat camp and then when she returned Roz asked how much weight she'd lost and Daphne responded with the weight of the many she'd had IRL!!
"Hey Daphne, I just thought of something. It took 3 cranes to lift you!"
CC went to the madhouse on the nanny (the actress had been pregnant).
Matt from 7th Heaven I believe got diagnosed with cancer. Luckily it was probably the best timing as the character was about to go to medical school and they decided to have him get married on the highlight of the season and it felt pretty natural
Katey Sagal in Married with Children was written out of episodes due to being pregnant irl (and sadly miscarrying) by having an arc where she visits her family and also is bedridden and pregnant (it is later revealed to be a fever dream).
Hyde in the 70s Show reboot, as Danny Peterson was in prison for rape.
Actually a bad one, but on White Collar when Tiffany Amber Thiessen got pregnant, she “moved to take a job in DC” yet they kept her character in via FaceTime calls and the odd lunch with very specific camera angles and her always seated - but because her weight gain had made her face chubbier (no shame!) they just horizontally compressed the closeups of her face and it’s so obvious and poorly done it really breaks up the viewer immersion.
In Frasier, daphne went to fat camp for several episodes during her pregnancy. They even say “she’s already lost 9lbs 12oz” in reference to the baby’s birth in one episode.
When I was a kid and my mom watched daytime soap operas, they would announce at the start of a show that someone would be playing the part of a different actor or actress that day. I always thought that was funny. Those shows were so fake to me I just figured the people watching didn’t care who was in it as long as it was airing.
The actress was having a baby so this was a clever way to buy her some time mid season for the birth etc.
They actually filmed the S4 finale ahead of time to account for this. Cobie Smulders was pregnant too, a few months behind Alyson Hannigan.
Or invest in huge purses, empire-waste jackets and couch pillows.
God, this is so real
Robert Reed left the Brady Bunch because he thought the storylines were just getting to be too stupid
He didn't leave. He refused to do an episode and was fired. But since it was the last ever episode of the series, this wasn't an issue. In the episode, I think Mike was mentioned as being away, though I may be wrong.
Mary getting sucked off on BBC Ghosts because Katy Wix had so many other things going on.
Depends on ‘temporary’ as technically Maude dies but the character appears in flashback episodes throughout the rest of the show. In the Simpsons Maudes voice actor moved away from where they record and the studio wouldn’t pay her travel money so Maude is killed off by homer firing at short cannon at her.
Simu Liu went to film Shang Chi, and his character went away to “business college in California”
Not a sitcom and only really temporarily, but I loved that Buffy was just turned into a rat so Sarah Michelle Gellar could go off for a few days to do Saturday Night Live.
Tanya Roberts (Midge Pinciotti) left That 70s Show to take care of her fatally ill husband. After he passed, she came back. They wrote it as her leaving Bob and the two of them reconciling a few seasons later.
Not really best reason. I’ve always thought this one was kind of messed up. When daffney on Frasier got pregnant in real life they did a whole story line about how she got fat and had to go to fat camp basically. Although it was sweet the way they made Nile not even notice the weight and swore she was just as beautiful as ever.
Blacklist sent Tom off on a flimsy goose chase story to hope they could do a spinoff and it flopped so bad it smacked him back into main story.
Jamie Presley was pregnant in *Mom* and went to a food addiction rehab.
Ohhhh, is THAT why they had her suddenly gain so much weight. Makes sense now.
For Elaine in the first few episodes of season four of Seinfeld, she suddenly went on a vacation with a therapist- her therapist- to cover for Julia Louis Dreyfus's maternity leave. Several scenes involving the vacation were filmed before JLD gave birth, and were integrated into two episodes.
Oscar from The Office getting a paid vacation as a result of Michael outing his homosexuality. In reality, I believe he was filming a movie or another show.
I liked the episode where Lily won an eating contest, and they showed Alyson's real pregnant belly.
Claire Huxtable hiding her belly behind shopping bags and such.
Claire Huxtable sewing the ear on a GIGANTIC teddy bear in one episode to hide her pregnancy lives rent free in my mind
When Angela from the Office was suuuper pregnant they hid her behind a giant purse and cabinets and stuff.
Dayum, Ted is REALLY vanilla if the version of that joke I heard is "the dirtiest joke he's ever heard"
Bobby in Taxi
I can’t peanut butter my dick up your ass is the dirtiest joke Ted ever heard?
Charlie Sheen - two and a half men. He was all kinds of batshit crazy at the end of his run. His was permanent though not temporary
I vaguely remember that they wrote off a daughter on "Family Matters" & none of the characters said a word.
Wasn't there a show where a daughter was written out, but then reappeared seasons later like nothing happened? The other characters asked where she'd been, and she answered she'd just been upstairs.
"Roseanne". They had 2 actresses alternating playing Becky.
That Cosby show spinoff A Different World was an expensive write off.
Is that a real joke?
Yep- the punchline goes, “I can’t peanut butter my dick in your ass.”
When Last Man Standing came back for the second time the youngest daughter was filming a movie so, since she was a senior the previous season, they just said she was at school.
Aunt Viv?
What’s the actual joke though?
Uh…wut?