He was having a lot of trouble with the producers. He asked for too much money and stopped showing up to rehersals and meetings so they canned him. At least that's what all the reports were saying at the time. I remember reading about it before the episode aired but they didn't say which character it was.

Edit: I guess that info could be wrong even though I read it in a few different places. Apparently this is an interview with him talking about it.

http://www.csifiles.com/interviews/rory_cochrane.shtml

The girl on Rescue Me is now on Numb3rs. I forget as to whether she's been written out yet.

Interestingly enough, I caught a re-run of "Encounter at Farpoint Station" the other day and much to my surprise, O'Brien was in the very first episode. I never realized he went back so far with the series.

I remember hearing he was not happy doing TV and wanted out of his contract to return to movies, never heard he was fired or the problems he caused which would be one way to get out of your contract. I really think he wanted away from the cheese fest that is CSI:Miami before it destroyed his career too much. That said I still watch the show every week.

Major Burns also Left but I can't remember the reasoning. Just discharged, I guess

OK, you got me. I meant 3's Company. Maybe Howard later directed a She's the Sheriff episode.

I thought of a few more.
David Curuso's character left NYPD Blue for...another precinct?
Flo left Alice to open her own bar.
Florence left The Jeffersons to work in a Hotel.

I like how Desmond leaves the hatch and then shows up as another character (German operative) on 24, and his storyline still enables him to show up on either show.

Show: Beverly Hills 90210
Character: Brenda Walsh (Shannon Doherty)
Reason: Went to school or work in Europe and ended up on Charmed years later

Didn't Randy end up going to Africa or South America on Home Improvement?
Little bastard didn't even have the decency to show up for the series finale.

He went crazy when he lost his temp command of the 4077 and he got a section 8 out of the Army and got to go home.





Show: Farscape
Character: Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan
Reason: Died
Real Reason: Got ill from all the paint/makeup she had to wear on a daily basis, appeared in later episode in ghost form.

That's something that sorta bugs me. A character leaves and yet isn't there for the series finale. I read that Shannon Doherty will not return for the series finale of "Charmed". Yes, I know she died but seems to me characters come back to life on that show (based on seeing several eps in syndication) and given there's a supernatural element, it wouldn't be hard anyways.

Show Wings
Character Lowell Mather
Reason testified in mob trial and joined the Witness Protection Program.

That seems to be a popular one...

Have another one:

Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character: Oz
Reason: Don't remember the whole jist of it, but wasn't it basically to find his inner-wolf?

I thought he wound up getting promoted and sent to run a hospital stateside. One of us is misremembering ...

The same thing happened to the actor who played Rev Bem on Andromeda, though they wrote the character out of the show by sending him off on a spiritual quest.

The same thing also happened to Buddy Ebsen, who was originally cast to play the Tin Man in the 1939 MGM film of the Wizard of Oz.

That's only because no one wants to work with Shannon anymore. I think Leo is coming back though.

This is partially incorrect. He went on a crazy drunken binge in Seoul after Margaret got married. After he was briefly held for psychiatric evaluation, he was transferred to a V.A. hospital in his hometown and promoted to Lt. Colonel.

Thanks, I knew it was when he lost command or Margaret borke it off, and I did not recall the promotion.

Another one I was reminded of was on "Dawson's Creek": Dawson's dad was eating an ice cream cone (why?), dropped it and when he went to pick it up, he looks up and sees headlights. Whoops. While that's certainly unique, couldn't they have gone the safe route with a robbery gone wrong or even cancer?

I thought she left cause that was gonna be her spinoff but when it didnt work out she returned. Same thing with Joanie and Chachi goin back after their show tanked.

Same thing with the Ropers.

The promise of a 'successful' spinoff kills characters just as much as the actor tryin to get more money.

Never heard about the Lowell on Wings story, I thought he just left to do Ned and Stacey and they replaced him with another nitwit mechanic with a buzzcut( I think his name was Buzz)

Rob Lowe on the West Wing left for the big success of Lyon's Den and Dr. Vegas.

The Andy Griffith Show is unwatchable IMO after Don Knotts left to become a movie star.

MASH...Spearchucker and the Aussie guy.

Watch the racial slurs, it is Australian. Some people.


Were either of their departures mentioned? It seemed like they were holdovers from the movie, then they were gone after a few episodes.

I don't remember if their departures were mentioned.

The Ropers never came back permanantly though. I remember seeing the True Hollywood Story and Norman Fell wanted to come back after his show tanked and they wouldnt let them.