There Has Never Been So Much Death in One Television Season–and There’s More to Come!
It’s been a grim season for some of the most popular characters on television–and it’s only going to get worse.
Beloved television characters are being struck down as never before, and it appears that the Grim Reaper is about to strike again. The Internet is buzzing that yet another significant television character is going to die tonight. If you want to know which show is supposed to feel the Reaper’s wrath, scroll to the end of this article.
Meanwhile, it has been widely reported that a much-loved character will bite the dust before the end of the season on The WB’s Everwood, which returns from an unforgivably long hiatus next Monday. During this show’s four-year run I have come to care deeply for all of its characters and I would rather not see any of them go, except for spoiled brat Ephram–but I certainly don’t wish him dead. I’d be happy if he went off on another extended trek through Europe or joined a cult or enlisted in the military (like that would ever happen), never to be seen again, his presence known only through phone calls, letters and e-mails.
I gotta admit, I have lately had my fill of television death–so much so that I fear compassion fatigue will set in. Writers and producers this season have been on a collective killing streak the likes of which we have never seen. It started last summer with the death of Nate Fisher on HBO’s Six Feet Under. Though upsetting, it made sense in the grand scheme of a series that literally revolved around death as it approached the end of its fifth and final season. And there was nothing sensationalistic about it because the health issues that struck Nate down tracked back to the cliffhanger finale of season two when he had brain surgery.
Then came the death of delicate Shannon on ABC’s Lost, only a few weeks in the timeline of the series after her stepbrother Boone suffered a fall and died (last spring, near the end of the first season). The loss of Boone, a rather empty character, seemed to matter little to the show, but the softly pretty Shannon was evolving from self-centered girl to compassionate woman and entering into a tentative relationship with Sayid the torturer. They were, to say the least, an interesting couple–far too interesting to come to an abrupt end simply because a new character (Ana Lucia, who has proven not very interesting at all) mistook her for one of the Others and shot her. I was annoyed by Shannon’s death. I had invested time in the character and that investment was just beginning to pay dividends. And then: Ka-blam!
Next on the chopping block was television’s coolest dad, Jonathan Kent, on The WB’s Smallville. Hands down, the most laudable aspect of the storytelling on this series since day one is that Clark, the alien teenager at the center of it all, always treats his parents with respect. Unlike so many other teen characters on television, Clark doesn’t keep secrets from his folks. Rather, Clark keeps secrets with his folks about his secret identity and does his best not to tell his friends (with an occasional exception along the way). Noble Clark always shares his problems with his parents and is the better for it. (Take a lesson, Ephram!) The dynamics between Jonathan and Clark and Jonathan and his wife Martha consistently demonstrated some of the strongest family ties on television. In the Smallville narrative, Clark was doing just fine maturing into manhood, superpowers and all. He was already growing up fast. He didn’t need the loss of his father, and neither did we.
Which brings me to 24 and its recent wholesale slaughter of characters we have known for many years. It began with the assassination of President Palmer and violent killing of former CTU agent Michelle Dressler in the season premiere. Then came the death of Edgar Stiles, the chubby computer whiz who last season suffered the loss of his mother following a terrorism related event at a nuclear power facility. Edgar was one of dozens of hard-working CTU agents (the good guys) who died when a terrorist breezed into their headquarters (simply by stealing and altering a key card) and released deadly nerve gas in the ventilation system (talk about sloppy security). Last week, Jack Bauer’s longtime friend and colleague Tony Almeida was murdered by yet another terrorist while grieving over the loss of his wife.
I wasn’t happy to see Palmer or Michelle die in the season opener–after all, I had invested a good deal of time over a four year period following their lives, too. But their deaths instantly propelled this season’s thrilling story into high gear. Conversely, Edgar’s death did little more than remind us that on this show anyone can die at any time–something we already knew. Half the fun of 24 during the last two seasons came from watching the friction build between Edgar and his comrade in computer wizardry, Chloe. That’s over now. There is a hole in the show.
As for Tony, wouldn’t it have been enough to simply send this guy out of town to recover from his injuries and perhaps start a new life? His murder added about as much to the show as the loss of Edgar. The guy was an American hero, for cryin’ out loud. If he had to die, he deserved something better than having one of the men responsible for the death of his wife plunge a needle into his heart.
By the way, these remarks should not be mistaken as a negative critique of 24, one of the three best dramas on television this year along with FX’s The Shield and HBO’s The Sopranos. And speaking of The Sopranos, as must any article about death on television, the murder last season of the frighteningly flawed Adriana did little to strengthen that series. In fact, her boyfriend Christopher has become far less interesting as a high-strung loose-cannon now that he isn’t involved in a complicated relationship with a messed-up but sympathetic woman. A brief appearance by Adriana in a dream sequence during the sixth season premiere made immediately clear how much this character is missed. Had she temporarily left town (while the actress who portrays her, Drea De Matteo, wasted her talents on the disastrous NBC comedy Joey) Ade might be back now. Her return would be most welcome.
We suffered another loss this past Sunday, when tennis pro Dana succumbed to cancer on The L Word. Like the death of President Palmer, Dana’s passing will truly mean something within her show’s world. We have never seen the group of close knit friends at the heart of this show suffer a loss that was so personal to so many of them. Presumably, all of their lives will change in profound ways when the series resumes next season.
Death-driven producers would be well advised to catch their breath and think about what they are doing, because killing popular characters can backfire on a show, no matter how dramatically powerful the departure. NBC’s The West Wing began losing ground (and ratings) after the beloved Mrs. Landingham died in a sudden car accident during the show’s two-part season finale in May 2001. The show quite literally lost its heart. One could argue that Detective Andy Sipowicz endured one death too many on NYPD Blue. (After losing his son, his partner and his wife, it mattered little when he lost another colleague.) It may be that in its first season ABC’s Desperate Housewives killed off too many characters who could have added a lot to its disappointing sophomore year, in particular the delightfully meddlesome Mrs. Huber and Bree Van De Kamp’s husband Rex, with whom she engaged in so many memorable and entertaining confrontations.
And who can forget the most damaging primetime death of all: That of Bobby Ewing on Dallas? The aftermath was so disastrous that the entire season to come had to be dismissed as a dream one year later in order to return the character to the show. Dallas lasted for many seasons thereafter, but it never really recovered the creative strength or ratings dominance it had enjoyed before Bobby bit the dust.
As for tonight’s trauma, if all the buzz is to be believed it appears that the big prime time death mentioned at the top of this article will happen during the fifth season finale of FX’s The Shield, capping what has been the best season yet of this electric drama. Don’t miss it!
