History ADeathInTheLimelight / LiveActionTV

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* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]" begins with Kirk performing a wedding for two crew members, which is interrupted before he can complete the ceremony. The end of the episode reveals there was exactly one casualty in the incident: the groom.

** "Father's Day". Granted, that character's death was a ForegoneConclusion and we are explicitly told this at the start of the episode.
** "Earthshock".

** The episode in which Tara dies isn't centered around her, but she finally gets her name added to the main cast in the opening credits.
** Joyce's death could count in a sort of drawn-out way. Having previously been mostly "Buffy's mom," in season 5 she gets a subplot where she has to undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor. Then we finally have an episode where she's well again, gotten out of bed, and starts dating a nice (though never-seen) man. The episode ends when Buffy gets home, [[MoodWhiplash smiles at the bouquet of flowers said guy has sent, walks into the living room... and finds Joyce's pale,]] [[FunnyAneurysmMoment unmoving body on the couch]], leading into the TearJerker episode "[[SomethingCompletelyDifferent The Body]]."
** Jonathan started out as a minor character who only occasionally found his way into the limelight. But when he died, he was making his [[TheBusCameBack triumphant return]] to Sunnydale, with plenty of coverage of how he and Andrew broke into the Sunnydale High School basement for their ritual at the Hellmouth. (Though he had been that much of a major character a year earlier, ever since the Trio banded together.)

** Does this with Gene Pontecorvo, a soldier who spends a solid three seasons providing background filler for many a group scene before having the season six premiere episode ("Members Only") focus on him, his hopes and dreams, his family life... and his suicide.
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Hesh Rabkin. He's a recurring character since the pilot episode, but never has an episode properly center on him until "Chasing It", nearing the series finale. It focuses on Tony owning him money and reluctantly paying his points while close associates discuss Hesh's demise. Hesh himself fears for his life throughout the episode as tensions rise. In the end, it's his girlfriend who suddenly dies, and Tony swings by to pay his respects/debt in full, though remaining estranged from him for the rest of the series.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "Lower Decks", Sito Jaxa, one of the cadets from "The First Duty" who was reprimanded for unauthorized flight activity, was shown to have stayed on the straight and narrow and become an ensign on the Enterprise. She's then sent on a dangerous mission by Captain Picard. She doesn't survive. There was a story planned for ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' that would have involved her turning up alive in a Cardassian prisoner camp, but it was turned into the "O'Brien must suffer" episode "Hard Time". As far as canon's concerned, she's dead.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': One episode begins with Kirk performing a wedding for two crew members, which is interrupted before he can complete the ceremony. The end of the episode reveals there was exactly one casualty in the incident: the groom.

** From Season 12, "The British Men" focuses on Mick Davies, the representative from the British Men of Letters most sympathetic to Sam and Dean. Through his memories and nightmares we see the harsh [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]]-for-psychopaths training the Men of Letters gave him as a child. At episode's end he's assassinated by colleague Arthur Ketch, before Ketch's Season 13 HeelFaceTurn.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': In series 3, Guinevere's brother Elyan is introduced and knighted. The writers went on to do absolutely nothing with his character until mid-series 5, in an episode which explored his relationship to his sister, made him the key figure in a rescue mission, and gave him more lines than in any previous episodes. Any GenreSavvy viewer could see the giant bullseye on his head from the very first scene. Elyan did get a DayInTheLimelight episode in season 4 (that revolved around him being BrainwashedAndCrazy and trying to murder Arthur) but he's still an excellent example of this trope.

* ''Series/BandOfBrothers'': The third episode, largely focusing on an otherwise unknown character named Pvt. Blithe, concludes with him being shot in the neck and effectively dying (he leaves permanently and is said to have died from this wound years later). Unfortunately for this miniseries that prides itself on TruthInTelevision, Blithe didn't die from this wound, and continued serving in the military for most of the rest of his life until he died in 1967.

** Galactica has had a few others as well. Cally got an episode devoted to her just to wind up getting airlocked at the end. Dee was a prominent supporting character in the first three seasons, but was mostly a background character in the fourth season. She got a lot more attention in the Season 4.5 "premiere" only to off herself halfway through. There was also Simon, arguably the least developed of the Cylons throughout the series. "The Plan" puts a Simon copy in a starring role and makes him a sympathetic figure with a family. He kills himself with no chance of resurrection to avoid having to kill his family.

* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': Did this to the Alternate Lincoln after giving us a much wanted episode with the two Lincoln's trying to figure out how they ended up so different from each other. The obvious guess would probably be Altlivia's influence in his life.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Marshall's father who had rarely been seen in previous seasons, gets a bigger role in season 6 (when Lily and Marshall are trying for a baby) and halfway through the season dies from heart attack.

** Charlie subverts this trope just a little: he's told that he will die for real this time, spends the episode reviewing his favorite memories, does the thing that will kill him... and doesn't die. He dies in the next episode, when the limelight is on another character.

** The series also has a tendency to give a character their limelight episode right before the episode where they die or is effectively written out. Bosco and Jane bond in 2x07, right before Bosco is shot dead in 2x08. Hightower partakes in an investigation in 3x15, before being framed as a Red John accomplice in 3x16. Finally Wainwright [[TookALevelInBadass stands up to Jane]] in 4x23 before he's murdered by proxy in 4x24.

* ''Series/ThePacific'': The eight episode, which focuses on John Basilone's time as a Drill Sergeant later in the war and meeting his future wife. He's killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima at the end.

** "Abandon All Hope" counts for Ellen and Jo Harvelle. They haven't been seen for quite a while and then they come back after their appearance in the beginning of season 5 only for Jo to be wounded by a hellhound, and her and Ellen volunteering to stay behind and blow up a store to help the Winchesters escape. There's also "Hammer of the Gods" for Gabriel/The Trickster who had a big reveal about him in "Changing Channels", but then was murdered by his brother while doing exactly what the aforementioned duo had done.

** Averted with Hershel Greene in Season Four. After mostly playing a supporting role since his introduction, he has an episode in which he gets extra screentime, says his goodbyes to his family, and locks himself in with the sick and dying members of the group in order to save those he can, exposing himself to the deadly virus, and holding his own against the increasing number of freshly turned walkers despite very little in the line of weapons. He not only survives, but doesn't even contract the virus. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Hershel's life isn't completely saved. He dies a few episodes later.]]

** Mark Green had an on-going arc regarding his brain tumor when his actor originally wanted to leave the series. But he stayed on, Mark got an operation to remove the tumor and things developed, only for the tumor to return and him deciding to forego treatment. One episode focused entirely on his trying to fix his relationship with his older daughter, ending with a vision of his work in the ER being complete, before he is confirmed to have died in the next episode.

** Later in the series, Sonya Paxton as well. She appears as the team's ADA for a grand total of four episodes, where she's largely a secondary character at best; her most prominent moment involves showing up in court drunk and being suspended from her job over it. She shows up for a single scene a few episodes later, serving mostly as a plot device to shape Cabot's arc. She appears for two more episodes in the subsequent season; the first relegates her again to a secondary role, but the second involves a case she's personally connected to and thus she features much more prominently -- until the perpetrator on said case murders her in a bathroom.

** Later in the series, Sonya Paxton as well. She appears as the team's ADA for a grand total of four episodes, where she's largely a secondary character at best; her most prominent moment involves showing up in court drunk and being suspended from her job over it. She shows up for a single scene a few episodes later, serving mostly as a plot device to shape Cabot's arc. She appears for a final episode a season later; two-thirds of the way through said episode, she's killed by the perpetrator the team is pursuing.

** Later in the series, Sonya Paxton as well. She appears as the team's ADA for a grand total of four episodes, where she's largely a secondary character at best; her most prominent moment involves showing up in court drunk and being suspended from her job over it. She shows up for a single scene a few episodes later, serving mostly as a plot device to shape Cabot's arc. She appears for a final episode a season later; two-thirds of the way through said episode, she's fatally injured by the perpetrator the team is pursued and dies in Olivia's arms.

** ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' has a bad habit of doing this to its more under-the-radar players, particularly in later seasons. Once a contestant is revealed to the audience to be a homosexual in the same episode, he is voted out. One of the most famous examples would be the episode of Tocantins where Coach is voted out, after being sent to Exile Island, finding a "Dragon Slayer Cane", and (presumably) faking a back injury when losing the immunity challenge to JT.

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': Lieutenant Commander Airiam.

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': In series 3, Guinevere's brother Elyan is introduced and knighted. The writers went on to do absolutely nothing with his character until mid-series 5, in an episode which explored his relationship to his sister, made him the key figure in a rescue mission, and gave him more lines than in any previous episodes. Any GenreSavvy viewer could see the giant bullseye on his head from the very first scene. Elyan did get a DayInTheLimelight episode in season 4 (that revolved around him being BrainwashedAndCrazy and trying to murder Arthur) but he's still an excellent example of this trope.

** Joyce's death could count in a sort of drawn-out way. Having previously been mostly "Buffy's mom," in season 5 she gets a subplot where she has to undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor. Then we finally have an episode where she's well again, gotten out of bed, and starts dating a nice (though never-seen) man. The episode ends when Buffy gets home, [[MoodWhiplash smiles at the bouquet of flowers said guy has sent, walks into the living room... and finds Joyce's pale,]] [[FunnyAneurysmMoment unmoving body on the couch]], leading into the CrowningMomentOfSadness episode "[[SomethingCompletelyDifferent The Body]]."

** ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'' is an {{egregious}} offender. Whenever a girl shows up who isn't one of the handful of prominently featured girls in each cycle, she's either getting called first that week or being sent home. Expect her to be suddenly struggling with the judges' critiques, even though she's never been shown doing so before that point.

* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'': This has become a way for fans to determine who will be eliminated at the end of the episode. In Season 15, when the other eight teams were ignored in favor of devoting an episode to Zev & Justin. Zev & Justin had more airtime, both on the course and in interviews, than the other eight teams combined. Considering how quickly the season went downhill after they were gone, this was probably justified.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "Lower Decks", Sito Jaxa, one of the cadets from "The First Duty" who was reprimanded for unauthorized flight activity, was shown to have stayed on the straight and narrow and become an ensign on the Enterprise. She's then sent on a dangerous mission by Captain Picard. She doesn't survive. There was a story planned for ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' that would have involved her turning up alive in a Cardassian prisoner camp, but said story never made it to the air. As far as canon's concerned, she's dead.

* ''FlashForward2009'': Al Gough receives this as his send-off episode. In fact, it is the first time that more than a few moments are devoted to his flash-forward and the mental turmoil he is experiencing, although it is hinted at every so often in the previous episodes.

* ''HarpersIsland'': Did this quite a lot. Particularly with Booth, Kelly, Richard, Maggie, and Beth. They had so many characters that they didn't have time to properly let us get to know them first.

* ''ThePacific'': The eight episode, which focuses on John Basilone's time as a Drill Sergeant later in the war and meeting his future wife. He's killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima at the end.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Does this with Gene Pontecorvo, a soldier who spends a solid three seasons providing background filler for many a group scene before having the season six premiere episode ("Members Only") focus on him, his hopes and dreams, his family life... and his suicide.

* ''{{Primeval}}'': Episode 4 did this for Tom, to a degree.

* ''TheSopranos'': Does this with Gene Pontecorvo, a soldier who spends a solid three seasons providing background filler for many a group scene before having the season six premiere episode ("Members Only") focus on him, his hopes and dreams, his family life... and his suicide.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "Lower Decks", Sito Jaxa, one of the cadets from "The First Duty" who was reprimanded for unauthorized flight activity, was shown to have stayed on the straight and narrow and become an ensign on the Enterprise. She's then sent on a dangerous mission by Captain Picard. She doesn't survive. There was a story planned for ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' that would have involved her turning up alive in a Cardassian prisoner camp, but said story never made it to the air. As far as canon's concerned, she's dead.