History ChuckCunninghamSyndrome / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': Despite his relative prominence early on, Mark Brendanawicz was never heard from or spoken of again after he was PutOnABus at the end of the second season. Ironically, Creator/MichaelSchur even promised Mark would return every once in a while, but those plans failed to materialize and his departure turned into a LongBusTrip, and he subsequently became an UnPerson in the eyes of the writers. This was especially noticeable in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (where Ann, whom Mark dated for most of Season 2, clears out some junk she had accumulated from her previous relationships to sell for charity and has a box for every other ex-boyfriend she's had except Mark) and "Pawnee Commons" (where the park design plans he drew up for the Lot 48 project and gave to Leslie before his departure are completely forgotten about). The only thing in the later seasons to acknowledge his existence is the drawing he made in the Season 2 episode "The Camel" of a man feeding pigeons in a park still hanging in Ron's office. He's also one of the few (if only) prominent side characters that did not come back in any capacity in the final season, appear in any flashback clips, or in the 2020 ReunionShow.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': After he was PutOnABus at the end of the second season and it turned into a LongBusTrip when the original plan to bring him back every once in a while failed to materialize, Mark Brendanawicz was never spoken of again, even when it would've made sense to at least reference him. This was especially noticeable in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (where Ann clears out some junk she had accumulated from her previous relationships to sell for charity and has a box for every other ex-boyfriend she's had except Mark) and "Pawnee Commons" (where the park design plans he drew up for the Lot 48 project and gave to Leslie before his departure are completely forgotten about). The only thing in the later seasons to acknowledge his existence is the drawing he made in the Season 2 episode "The Camel" of a man feeding pigeons in a park still hanging in Ron's office.

** Susan Campbell, friend of Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous, appeared in several of the early episodes but vanished midway through the second season.

** Scully's invisible brother, Charlie. He is seen once in a flashback to when they were children, mentioned perhaps twice, and then never again. And though we see Scully's other siblings, older sister Melissa and older brother Bill who have a moderate impact on the plot, Charlie is never seen as an adult in the show's nine-year run. (At least not definitively: He ''may'' be one of the [[TheVoiceless silent mourners]] at their father's funeral.)

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness During the show's first season]], Creator/StephenColbert had a SitcomArchNemesis in the form of fellow comedian Creator/DavidCross, who played [[StrawmanPolitical fictional liberal talking head "Russ Lieber"]], before the character was removed from the series.

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness During the show's first season]], Creator/StephenColbert had a SitcomArchNemesis in the form of fellow comedian Creator/DavidCross, who played fictional liberal talking head "Russ Lieber", before the character was removed from the series.

** Karen Hayes, the wife of long running character Bill Buchanan, who is sort of put on a bus with her husband at the end of Season 6 as they are both forced to resign. However, Bill is a main character for most of Season 7 and his wife is never mentioned [[spoiler: not even after his death.]] Her not being mentioned is partly justified in that Bill spent most of his time in the field where there was less time for chit-chat than when he co-ordinated from CTU. This was due to actress Jayne Atkinson doing a play when the season was being filmed.

* ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' had a few regular characters vanish without mention, with the most memorable being [[CharacterOutlivesActor Mr. Grainger]] and Mr. Lucas (actor left to pursue other interests).
** In a later episode, Captain Peacock remarks that the last time the department went an entire day with no sales, "we fired the junior." This could feasibly have been Mr Lucas.

** G'Kar's assistant Na'Toth only appears twice in the second season (after an unsuccessful [[TheOtherDarrin recasting]]) and doesn't appear at all in that season's second half. A third season episode mentions that she'd been on Narn when [[spoiler:the planet was bombed into submission by the Centauri]] and was presumed dead. Finally in an season 5 she [[CommutingOnABus reappeared for one episode]] as a P.O.W. on Centauri Prime and was sneaked onto a transport home. Interestingly, G'Kar's first assistant Ko'Dath also disappeared off-screen (though this was explicitly mentioned on screen as death due to an "[[BusCrash unfortunate airlock accident]]"). Is it any wonder why G'Kar becomes something of a loner for most of the series?

** Another character, Bulldog, was given an entire episode's focus when he was introduced, then was never heard from or mentioned again. The story is that he was intended to be a recurring character afterwards, but the actor playing him couldn't work out his schedule to fit the show. WordOfGod says in the podcast for Bulldog's lone episode, "Hero", that they decided to wrap up the character's arc within a single episode because Creator/CarlLumbly was an "expensive actor".

* When ''Series/BreakingIn'' was ([[ShortRunners briefly]]) UnCancelled, team member [[MasterOfDisguise Josh]] vanished without explanation. There was a minor handwave for another major character who was ''not'' technically a team member, [[RomanticFalseLead Dutch]], disappearing at the same time.

** General Voll was dropped and never mentioned or seen. WordOfGod states that the writers forgot about him when replacing him with the second General.

** LabRat Chad Willingham (who appeared in a few episodes of season 1 and had numerous conversations with the main characters and participated in at least one recreation).

* ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm''

** A couple of platoon members also disappeared with no explanation: Private Bracewell, who appears in the first episode only (WordOfGod states he was cut because the writers felt his character was too much like Godfrey's) and Private Desmond, an AscendedExtra who goes on a mission with the main cast in the episode "Sons of the Sea", then is never heard from again.
** Private Cheeseman appeared for one series and then disappeared entirely, with no explanation. WordOfGod states this was a case of ShooOutTheNewGuy since neither the audience nor the rest of the cast liked him. Cheeseman's storyline was that he was a reporter who temporarily joined the platoon in order to write news stories on them, thus, it can be assumed he left at the end of his assignment; but there is no mention of this in the show, he doesn't get a goodbye and is never referenced again.

** Judy Winslow, the youngest daughter, simply vanished after the fourth season due to a "budget consideration" for the series (they mean "the actress and her parents [[SmallNameBigEgo wanted a salary raise]]"). WordOfGod says she would have returned for the originally planned GrandFinale of the series, if it had lasted to show the marriage between [[spoiler: Steve Urkel and Laura Winslow]]; however, there are several times in the series where Carl and Harriet explicitly state that they only have ''two'' children, which would have made her return a retcon of sorts. WordOfGod said the show was supposed to last another season where Judy would have attended Steve and Laura's wedding, explaining that she was living in Detroit with her aunt Rachel.

* ''Series/FatherDowlingMysteries'': Father Dowling's original FriendOnTheForce was his nephew, Lietenant Phil Keegan. Keegan was the son of the priest's deceased sister (and not Father's Dowling's EvilTwin Blain). Unfortunately for Lietenant Keegan, he suffers a fatal case fo Chuck Cunningham Syndrome right after the pilot, and is never seen or referred to again. Coincidentally, Tom Bosley, who played Father Dowling, also played Chuck Cunnigham's father on ''Series/HappyDays''.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}''

* ''Series/FullHouse'': Besides one-time dates, the times Joey and Danny had recurring love interests (such as Cheryl, Wendy, and Roxie for Joey, and Cindy for Danny) usually ended this way. While they could be handwaved as they just ended up breaking up, only Vicky was given an explanation (she and Danny called off their engagement after around two and a half years together).

** Michelle's best friends Denise disappears after season 7 despite their other friend Teddy still being featured in season 8. Lisa, Derek, and Aaron end up taking her place.

** Harvey Dent, Gotham's young assistant District Attorney, only appears (however prominently) for a couple of first and second season episodes, and is never seen or even mentioned again in the course of the series. Seeing as how in the comics, Dent is a major figure and eventually transforms into ComicBook/TwoFace, one of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s greatest and most iconic adversaries, this omission is particularly egregious.

** The Season 2 finale introduces a clone of Bruce Wayne, 514A. A significant plot point of Season 3 involves him posint as Bruce so that the real Bruce can be kidnapped without anyone noticing. As soon as Selina and Alfred work out he's not the real Bruce, however, he knocks them out, and is subsequently never seen or mentioned again. Granted, it was previously stated that clones do not live very long and that 514A would probably die before too long, but it's still odd that no-one ever thinks to follow up on what happened to him.

* ''Series/HappyDays'' is the TropeNamer, thanks to the character Chuck. He was portrayed as Richie and Joanie's BookDumb and slightly [[TheDitz ditzy]] older brother whose main hobby was basketball. He was actually played by two different actors throughout his time on the show: Gavin O'Herlihy in the first season, Randolph Roberts in the second. After the first Christmas special, he abruptly disappeared from the series completely and was never to be seen or mentioned again, with Howard and Marion acknowledging that they only have two children at the end of the series. In addition to being the Trope Namer, also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this trope in an [[HilariousOuttakes outtake]] from the finale:

** WordOfGod is that Chuck's sudden disappearance from the series was justified by his replacement actor, Randolph Roberts, deemed not sufficient for the role previously filled by Gavin O'Herlihy. Plus, it was apparent that the writing team found Fonzie as the better fit for the role of a big brother figure Richie needed. Gary Marshall decided to write Chuck out of the show to see how many angry backlash fan letters he'd receive. Luckily for him, he didn't receive many. More info can be found [[https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/happy-days-why-chuck-was-written-out-of-the-show-completely.html/ here]].

** Basically, if your name is not Carly, Sam, Freddie, Spencer, Mrs. Benson, Gibby, or T-Bo you will not be coming back, especially if you aren't a villain. Only a handful of characters have even made ''second'' appearances, and three of them are Nevel, Nora and Chuck, who are all villains. The only other prominent one to come back was Griffin, who showed up in a second episode, {{Justified|Trope}} because he lives in the same building, and vanished again.

** Two of Elliot's daughters haven't been seen since season eight, though one gets brief mentions in seasons 10 and 11. All the more jarring because one of them has a twin brother who had a DayInTheLimelight episode. In the episode "Bang", Elliot says he has five kids, so they still exist. The other two apparently have normal, uneventful lives.

* ''Series/MissionImpossible'': All cast changes on Mission Impossible occurred without explanation, except for [[spoiler: the switch from Terry Markwell's Casey Randall to Jane Badler's Shannon Reed in the revival, when poor Casey is caught and killed. (Needless to say, the Secretary disavows all knowledge of her actions.)]] But only Dan Briggs, the original IMF leader, is a genuine Chuck Cunningham (replaced by Jim Phelps because Steven Hill refused to work on the Jewish Sabbath). Other changes are explained by the way the leader chooses the rest of the team after he gets the assignment. The fact that he chooses the same people over and over is actually a kind of reverse Chuck Cunningham.

** This nearly happens to Mr. Monroe. He was in the opening credits in season 1, replaced with Gordy in season 2, and starts appearing less and less until he disappears. However, [[TheBusCameBack he finally returns in a late season 3 episode.]] and was promptly re-added to the opening credits.

* ''Series/PairOfKings'': [[spoiler:Season 2 ends with the Evil King resuming his life as Lanny's pet fish Yamakoshi but Season 3 has no appearance of Yamakoshi or an explanation for his sudden disappearance.]]

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Dr. Grace Miller was introduced with much fanfare in season 3, then promptly vanished off the face of the earth. Series creator Creator/BillLawrence later explained that this was because Miller had been a failed attempt to create a female Dr. Cox character. This didn't work because A) it was redundant, as Jordan more than adequately fulfills that role, and B) Dr. Miller was an unfunny, unlikable shrew.

** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' has Hermiod, a recurring Asgard on the ''Daedalus'' introduced in Series 2. He later vanishes without explanation. At least, there is no explanation given in ''Atlantis''. The final episode of ''SG-1'' however, does show that the Asgard committed mass suicide, and WordOfGod states that Hermiod died with the rest of his people.

** Grace Lee Whitney was shown as Lt. Janice Rand in Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture; so apparently she was simply re-assigned elsewhere until then.

** ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' took advantage of being animated to feature much more alien-looking aliens than ''TOS'' [[RubberForeheadAliens would have been capable of]], most notably M'Ress and Arex's species. Arex in particular was too inhumanly thin and gangly to be portrayed by a person in a costume (and that's leaving out his ''three digitigrade'' legs). As a result (and also because the canon status of ''TAS'' was up in the air for many years), the characters never appeared or were even mentioned in any of the subsequent live-action shows or movies. For most if not all of the run of TNG and [=DS9=], CGI wouldn't have been up to the task of inserting an Arex who didn't look jarringly fake, and even now it would probably still be too difficult and pricey for a weekly series. Barring a few cameos for the former in the movies, neither species would make a proper apperance until the following animated series ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''.

*** At the end of Season 1 the Romulan Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash operative Narek is taken into custody by Altan Soong's androids after failing to manipulate his way to freedom. WordOfGod says a scene showing him being taken into Starfleet custody pending trial for his crimes across the season was cut for time, so instead in the final version he is simply led away off screen and then never seen again.
*** In Season 2 Soji Asha dissappears at the start of the season where after a one-scene introduction re-establishing her character, she chooses to stay behind on a planet and schmooze with some dignitaries while Dr. Jurati departs on the USS ''Stargazer''. That is the last time she's seen or referenced on the show.

*** This got even worse during Season 11 when [[spoiler:Lucifer's cage was shown again, and Adam is inexplicably missing from it.]] He is however briefly shown in a flashback.
*** During the 15th and final season, [[spoiler: Adam finally appears again, having been freed from the cage when the doors to hell were opened during the season premiere.]]

* ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', in which John Burns disappears after the first season without on-screen explanation (though he may have been fired for crashing the beloved Cab 804 beyond repair; WordOfGod is that he was just too boring a character.)

* ''Series/TheConners
** The ultimate version is Andy Harris, who was the son of Jackie and her boyfriend, Fred. Andy was born in 1994 ("Labor Day") and breastfed at the altar while Jackie was marrying Fred. Then on Season 5, Episosode 15, Jackie reveals that she "actually" ''aborted'' the pregnancy.
** Andy Harris was referenced in a prior episode of ''Roseanne,'' when Dan jokingly says that "there ''used'' to be another kid around here," suggesting that Dan ''ate'' Andy because there wasn't enough food in the house.
*** Or maybe this was Jerry Conner, Dan and Roseanne's fourth child and second son, born in season eight of ''Roseanne'' and consigned to unmentioned oblivion in ''The Conners''.

** Chrissy Snow. One of the main trio of Seasons 1-4 was dropped from the show during Season 5 after Suzanne Somers was unceremoniously fired following a nasty pay dispute. At the end of her contract, her character would appear in only one scene per episode talking on the phone. It was explained that she had moved back to Fresno to take care of her ailing mother. After her contract was up, Chrissy was never spoken of ever again in the remaining three seasons.

** They did it again with Agent Garrett Fowler. He was a major villain in Season 1 and the first half of Season 2. He and Neal face off in the mid-season finale, he gives them all the information he has, Peter brings him back to the Bureau, and... nothing. Absolutely nothing. We never find out what happened to him. He gets a passing reference at the beginning of Season 3, but it's only a mention of his and Neal's confrontation. WordOfGod doesn't even seem to know. When asked, Jeff Eastin replied, "Peter killed him and buried him in the backyard." Needless to say, this inspired a lot of fan fiction...

** Virgil, Joxer's son, had been traveling with Xena and Gabrielle for 6 episodes in seasons 5 and 6 before being completely forgotten due to the actor taking up a gig in ''Series/DarkAngel''

** Veronica disappeared entirely after the third season and Tam after the fourth. Particularly jarring in both cases because the former was Georgie's WillTheyOrWontThey LoveInterest and the latter Sheldon's only real friend.

** Miss King, a sexy female clerk at Mainwaring's bank whom the writers admit was introduced solely for the purpose of being MsFanservice. She disappears after series two and is never heard from again, although she did play a very small role in TheMovie.

** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' has Hermiod, a recurring Asgard on the ''Daedalus'' introduced in Series 2. He later vanishes without explanation. At least, there is no explanation giviniven in ''Atlantis''. The final episode of ''SG-1'' however, does show that the Asgard committed mass suicide, and WordOfGod states that Hermiod died with the rest of his people.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': After he was PutOnABus at the end of the second season and it turned into a LongBusTrip when the original plan to bring him back every once in a while failed to materialize, Mark Brendanawicz was never spoken of again, even when it would've made sense to at least reference him. This was especially noticeable in the Season 5 episodes "Halloween Surprise" (where Ann clears out some junk she had accumulated from her previous relationships to sell for charity and has a box for every other ex-boyfriend she's had except Mark) and "Pawnee Commons" (where the park design plans he drew up for the Lot 48 project and gave to Leslie before his departure are completely forgotten about). The only thing in the later seasons to acknowledge his existence is the drawing he made of a man feeding pigeons in a park still hanging in Ron's office.

** Zach, Claire's friend in Season 1, also caught this syndrome. Admittedly, Claire permanently left his town four episodes after his last appearance, and Creator/ThomasDekker had [[Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles other commitments]], but it's still a little jarring how he's never even mentioned again.

** Anyone remember Lyle, Claire's brother? Don't worry, neither do her parents. When Claire's in college, her mother, mother's boyfriend, and HRG, and HRG's sort of mistress, all have a Thanksgiving with Claire, but there's no Lyle in sight. Lampshaded later on in this exchange where Sylar remembers the name of Claire's dog over Lyle:

** Desiree (Mari Marrow), Nikki's best friend, simply vanished about halfway through the first season and is never mentioned again. A few episodes later, she is replaced by Andell, a character from parent series ''Series/{{Moesha}}.'' This is especially jarring considering that Desiree lives next door to the Parkers. Her disappearance from the show can later be justified as Nikki eventually moved into Kim's apartment...but that still didn't happen until a season after she disappeared.

* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'': In season 1, the original characters that visited the playhouse were Miss. Yvonne, Cowboy Curtis, The King of Cartoons, Reba the Mail Lady, The Cowntess, Knucklehead, Captain Carl, Tito the Lifeguard, Mrs. Steve, Dixie the Cabbie, the Playhouse Gang (Opal, Elvis, and Cher), and the Door-To-Sailsman. During the second season, Tito is replaced by a soccer player called Ricardo, Mrs. Steve is replaced by a new friend named Mrs. Rene (though Steve is mentioned in the season 4 ep. "Fire In The Playhouse), and the Playhouse Gang is different with the gang being Fabian, Rapunzel, and Li'l Punkin. Captain Carl, Dixie, and Salesman are dropped. After season 2, the new Playhouse Gang aswell as Knucklehead. Reba was dropped after season 4 but was mentioned in season 5 and appeared in a flashback in the finale.

** Susan Campbell, friend of Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous, appeared in several of the early episodes, but vanished midway through the second season.

** Any Harris was referenced in a prior episode of ''Roseanne,'' when Dan jokingly says that "there ''used'' to be another kid around here," suggesting that Dan ''ate'' Andy because there wasn't enough food in the house.

%%* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' had Delores Mitchell and Norman Briggs.

** Cynthia, a recurring character, originally has a one-sided crush towards Malcolm. She goes to Europe and when she comes back, is [[SheIsAllGrownUp all grown up]]. Malcolm eventually re-considers her as a potential love interest. In her final episode, she loudly proclaims in front of the whole school that they had previously been intimate. And then, without explanation, she never appears again.

** The first series features pretty secretary Angie as one of the main characters in all episodes. She vanishes without a trace from series 2 onwards, replaced with a brand new secretary, Julie, who is merrily treated as if she's been there since the beginning by all the other staff; she even later appears in Angie's place during a flashback episode set during the beginning of the series. Of course, the whole thing did [[spoiler: turn out to be a dream]], so...

** The first series features pretty secretary Angie as one of the main characters in all episodes. She vanishes without a trace from series 2 onwards, replaced with a brand new secretary, Julie, who is merrily treated as if she's been there since the beginning by all the other staff. Of course, the whole thing did [[spoiler: turn out to be a dream]], so...

* The trope was actually inverted on ''Series/HappyEndings''. Apparently Jane and Alex have an older sister, Brooke, that didn't appear until the series finale, which centers around Brooke's wedding, despite not once being mentioned by the group, whom Dave and Penny, who have been friends with the Kerkovichs for years and Brad would be brother-in-law too, or their parents.

*** Elnor not only spends the majority of Season 2 dead, but he also disappears from the show between the transition from Season 2 to Season 3 after being revived by Q at the end of the season.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Guinan appeared numerous times per season, starting with season two, but was completely absent from season seven despite numerous scenes set in Ten-Forward where she was the bartender/proprietor, and many scenes where the characters might have sought her age-old wisdom had them instead going to some other character. Guinan was, of course, played by Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, who was a very busy film actress during TNG's run. Her absence in the final season could possibly be explained by her filming schedules for ''Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit'', ''Made in America'', and numerous voice roles. She did come back for ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': {{Recurrer}} Cara Dune was given a SequelHook in season 2, intended to lead into a SpinOff titled ''Rangers of the New Republic''. However, Creator/{{Disney}} declined to renew actor Creator/GinaCarano's contract following several incidents of spouting far-right and transphobic remarks on social media, resulting in the character and show both being dropped.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Similarly, Leonard gets a love interest, Dr. Stephanie Barnett (Sara Rue) in Season 2. Fearing they're moving too fast, he tries to break up, but she keeps luring him back with sex. At the end of their third episode, he heads off for another booty call. Presumably he grew a spine between that and the next episode, when she's just gone.