castalia | Of character deaths, writers with balls, and the reset button. (Reply)

Okay, I'm gonna come out and say something in response to a lot of what I've been reading in SGA fannish circles. Then I have a bit of a survey question for all of you.

I've seen a LOT of people going on about how they hope Carson isn't brought back because it would undermine the emotional and narrative impact of killing off a main character. That they're impressed by the writers being brave enough to do that. That's a fair point. However, permanent death or not, I think this is another example of the writers taking the easy route and claiming it to be this bold thing they've done.

You know what would impress me? If they'd had the balls to kill off a character like Sheppard. The lead male, the guy who's first-billed. Something that pretty much never happens in television.

Killing Carson is similar to what the SG-1 writers did back when they killed off Janet Frasier. They patted themselves on their collective back and told us they were doing it for the audience's own good, showing realism and giving us a patronizing life lesson that sometimes our favorite characters die. But they took the easy way out with killing Janet - sure, she was a beloved character and a fan-favorite. But was she a MAIN character, a lead? No. She was recurring and the show moved on without her, sparing only a few brief tears at the time. They also lost a lot of the emotional impact by spending the entire two-parter pretending it was Jack who was really dead, thus relegating Janet to the "better, more acceptable loss" category. Now the SGA writers have killed off a fan-favorite, someone who was recurring and while yes, he was moved up to main character status and put in the opening credits, he was still the safe option. The main team is still intact, the top-billed characters still there.

So, on to the question. Can anyone think of a series where a lead or POV character has been killed? I'm talking permanent death, no reset button, no bringing the actor back as a different character (Hercules and Angel are out, in this case) or as a spirt guide, hologram, AU version, etc.

I know a lot of people cite Joss Whedon shows when talking about this stuff, but I wouldn't call Tara or Joyce lead characters and I'm unsure about Doyle. Cordelia might count, but the mystical weirdness may count against it. Wesley, Anya, Wash, and Book all died in finales where they knew that was it, they wouldn't be making any more of the shows, so I'm not counting those either. Those are safe deaths, b/c while they may cause fannish uproars, the shows don't have to go on afterwards, and Buffy and Angel remain alive at the end. This will take a number of shows out of the running, I think. Finales are safe times to kill off characters.

The best early example I can think of is Henry Blake from M*A*S*H. While not first-billed, he was still a lead character and his departure is considered an important moment in TV history. The show survived long after this, but the uproar caused by the tragic nature of his death supposedly prompted the writers to avoid ever killing off a character in such a manner ever again. Still, even in this case it was prompted by the actor wanting off the show.

OZ was fairly good at what the TV Tropes wiki calls "Killed Off For Real". Any number of lead characters were killed off without warning. This may just be an HBO thing, as Deadwood has done this with Hickok.

Surprisingly, ER has a number of lead deaths under its belt. Dr Greene was first-billed back in the day, wasn't he? They may have to lose some points for stupid deaths, however, as having a helicopter fall on someone is just silly.

Blake's 7 gets an honorable mention for killing off its title character and continuing on for a while without him. He did come back for the finale, but as he died again for real along with everyone else, they get points for their "kill 'em all!" bravado.

Farscape gets points for Zhaan, but D'Argo was a finale death and everyone else came back eventually.

NYPD Blue killed off a few lead detectives, though I don't remember their names. Whoever Jimmy Smits played.

NCIS killed Kate, who was IIRC second-billed and the female lead character. She was in the next two episodes as a sort of hallucination while her team members remembered her, but it was definitely a permanent death.

Any others? I'm especially looking for title or first-billed characters. Now that I've started listing them I've become incredibly curious about this. It'll also tie in rather well with this year's