History DemotedToExtra / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'':
** Variation, semi-regular players from the UK version like Ron West and Jimmy Mulville would later be credited under staff.
** Some fans would argue this occurred to Creator/GregProops on the US version, as he mostly only did straight-man roles like the bachelorette in Let's Make a Date, or the host for Party Quirks.

* Very prevalent in the weird final season of ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter''. Mr. Kotter only makes fleeting appearances, due to actor Gabe Kaplan not being very happy with the show. No one acted as though it were at all unusual that Mr. Kotter hardly seemed to be around any more. In fact, Gabe Kaplan still got top billing. At least Barbarino, who was also absent that season because John Travolta was doing movies, was explained away as having dropped out of school. To preserve some semblance of familiarity, the previously stay-at-home Mrs. Kotter became the Sweathogs' new adult supervisor in her role as the school secretary, or something.

** In the comics, Donna was around for the first arc and a half before being killed.

** Judith started to become this in Season 9, before being officially PutOnABus.

* In latter half of season 1 of ''Series/TotalDivas'', Jojo is barely featured at all.

* Takeshi himself in most of the foreign dubs of ''Series/TakeshisCastle'', to the extent that he practically qualifies as TheGhost. Since his main role was as narrator in the Japanese original though, this was kinda inevitable.

* The fate of some of the professional dancers who weren't asked to partner celebrities in the 2010 series of ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing''; those who agreed were put into a "professional dance troupe". The following year the dance troupe was removed, although Ian Waite is apparently too popular to lose altogether as he still regularly appears on ''It Takes Two'' and occasionally partners celebrities in special charity or Christmas editions.

* Guy Blank was part of the main cast in Season 1 of ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'', and recurring in early Season 2 before being...

** Teal'c is the only member of the original SG-1 who did not appear in ''Series/StargateUniverse''. Before that, he got this treatment in the parent show during the last two seasons. With the Goa'uld all wiped out, Teal'c's priority shifted to establishing a new Jaffa government. However, this plot didn't mesh very well with the more urgent Orii plots, so Teal'c was often called away to do SG-1 things instead of being with the Jaffa. He gets called out on this in-universe, but once Gerak (Teal'c main antagonist during the subplot) dies, the whole Jaffa government subplot more or less ends and Teal'c once again spends all his time at Stargate Command. However, Teal'c never really has any plot lines during the final season, instead going completely into his TheBigGuy role while the other members get all the focus and development.

* ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'':
** In season 2, Sandra Benes went from being one of the senior staff to barely having any lines when she appeared. That is, if she was even supposed to be the same character. Oddly, she was called Sahn during season 2. Her original role seemed to be given to another Asian character named Yasko.
** Robert Mathias did.

* On ''Series/SpaceCases'', Commander Seth Goddard suffers an accident that leaves him in a healing coma for most of the second season as part of Nickelodeon wanting to make the show YoungerAndHipper.

* Little Cousin Scampi in ''[[Series/TheSootyShow Sooty]]''.

* In Series 3 of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', the main focus is how John and Mary's marriage has changed the dynamic of the show. Lestrade's still in all the episodes but he doesn't do ''that'' much plotwise.

* ''Series/TheSecretCircle''. Nick was Cassie's love interest in the books. In the series he is quickly killed off and replaced by his older brother Jake (who wasn't in the books).

* Elliot in season 9 of ''Series/{{SCRUBS}}''.
* In universe in ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', after Johnny [=LaRue=]'s crane shot from a made for TV movie causes the station to go over budget.

* Serial-specific example in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS1E7E8WhateverHappenedToSarahJane Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane]]'': Clyde gets about three minutes of screentime in part one, and is a background character in part 2. In addition, due to being RetGone, Sarah Jane is only seen sparsely throughout the serial, Luke only appears at the beginning and end of the story, and Mr Smith only appears at the end of episode 2.

** A multi-series example: Power Rangers seasons are usually 10-12 episodes shorter than Super Sentai seasons, so some of the later seasons have one episode where all the otherwise unused Sentai monsters attack the heroes at once in one big fight scene. Or to just get fed to the Battilizer. Other times they show up in the background of places like the Onyx Tavern. Neo-Saban and Hasbro seasons, however, simply axe the monsters entirely.

** In ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'', the Omega Ranger was demoted compared to his Sentai counterpart [=DekaBreak=]. Disney wanted to save on production costs and would have eliminated the character entirely, but he was so prominent in ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'' that cutting him out of all the StockFootage would have been impossible. They decided that the next best thing would be to come up with a HandWave to justify hiring a voice actor rather than a regular actor to play the role[[note]]he's a {{Time Travel}}er, so when not morphed he manifests as a ball of light to enforce NeverTheSelvesShallMeet[[/note]]. In the end, Disney were the only ones happy with this decision: the writers resented being saddled with such a bothersome plot element and thus used the character as little as possible, and viewers hated him because he was little more than a living weapon with no personality or development.

** Bulk and Skull start getting less screen time as time went on. First in ''Turbo'' they were turned into chimps for a good portion of the series (behind the scenes, this was prompted by the actors being away to shoot a pilot for a spin-off series). It wasn't until ''In Space'' that their screen time was cut significantly due to the focus being on space travel and the rangers having little time on Earth. Aside from one small cameo, the duo are mostly absent through the series middle episodes with the bulk (no pun intended) being at the beginning and end of the series.
*** After Skull was PutOnABus in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', the writers apparently had trouble coming up with material for Bulk on his own. He only appears in a few episodes (he does get last billing in the title sequence in those episodes though). He would not have a recurring role again until ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' 12 years later.

* Following Episode Three of ''Series/ThePacific'', Colonel Lewis Puller makes a sole appearance when the 1st Marines is relieved by the 5th after the disastrous attack at Bloody Nose Ridge.

* As ''Series/OnceUponATime'' kept introducing more characters from outside Storybrooke, everyone who wasn't part of the Snow-Charming family started getting reduced to cameos. This gets a LampshadeHanging in season 5: Leroy/Grumpy says the dwarfs will join the quest to Camelot because they're tired of not being involved in things. They proceed to get written completely into the background of the Camelot storyline.

* Jimmy Cooper as of season two of ''Series/TheOC'' Creator/TateDonovan still received an AndStarring in the opening credits, but Jimmy didn't really do anything other than hang out on his boat.

** Johnny Fiama and Sal Minella, after 2005. In fact, most characters created for ''Tonight'' disappeared entirely once the show was cancelled; Johnny, Sal and BreakoutCharacter Pepe are notable for sticking around at all.

** Dr. Julius Strangepork didn't appear much on the show outside of [[PunctuatedForEmphasis PIGS ... IN ... SPAAAACE!]] anyway but has made a few background cameos here and there.
** Bean Bunny after the early 1990's.
** Clifford was the last Muppet designed by Jim Henson and it seems they had something planned for this guy. But after ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' went off the air...

** Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, throughout the '90s - with only Animal maintaining a steady presence and involvement in stories. Likely a result of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt's passings.

* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'':
** Bob in series two, where the lack of a zoo setting gave him no real reason for being around. He gets a bit better in series three where he becomes the owner of the club the Boosh frequent, but only slightly.
** In the radio version of "Mutants" Joey Moose adventures alongside Vince and Howard throughout it and proves to be a competent ally, while in the television version he's killed in the opening scene and his body parts are used to make the mutants.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'':
%%%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample** Wayne Rigsby in the second half of season 6, following [[spoiler: Red John's death]].

** Wayne Rigsby in the second half of season 6, following [[spoiler: Red John's death]].
** Grace Van Pelt in season 6 after the [[spoiler: Red John arc ends]].

* Happened to Rene David in Season 2 of ''Series/TheLunchroom''. Despite being Will's love interest and the closest thing to a female lead the show had in the first season, she only has a few minors scenes before disappearing without explanation.

* Unfortunately, possibly due to budget from the TV show, not all off ''Series/TheLetterPeople'' got to be seen much and few such as Mister Z and Mister V were PutOnABus. In the Classroom version, they appeared more and you were allowed to use a Letter Person or more into a story or lesson as much as you desired. The same happened with the Word Machine. In the TV Show, he only appeared in one episode and was invented by Professor Foghorn. In the classroom version, we don't really know where the Word Machine came from, but he appeared more then just one story and he needed the Letter People to help him make words rather then just simple letters like in the TV show. Plus, alot of the Letter People got involved in the Runaway words mishap then just Miss O.