History SerendipityWritesThePlot / LiveActionTV

** The subplot in the first few episodes in which Cromartie, the main Terminator pursuing the Connors, gets blown up and has to rebuild himself with a different face (as seen in the page image for TheNthDoctor), was introduced because Creator/GarretDillahunt, who the showrunners wanted for the role, had a scheduling conflict for the pilot. Cromartie's original "face" was played for one episode by Owain Yeoman.

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' didn't do so well its first three seasons, coming off as a re-hash of previous ''Star Trek'' incarnations. In a last-ditch effort to save the show from cancellation, the writers created [[MsFanservice Seven of Nine]], whose tight suit would hopefully keep ratings afloat. But a combination of juicy writing material and a superb acting performance from Creator/JeriRyan resulted in her becoming a BreakoutCharacter. She also brought along plotlines that gave the show a voice of its own to distinguish itself from the other ''Star Trek'' spinoffs (a focus on family and humanity) and brought in some much-needed villains that the audience could take seriously, the Borg. Her catsuit wound up being little more than an added bonus for male viewers, and a source of humor for less serious episodes.

* ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'': The influenza epidemic that hits the train off-screen in the six-month time skip between Seasons 2 and 3 was written in to explain the absence of several actors who couldn't resume shooting due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions on travelling. As such, both Last Australians, Mama Grandé, and Dr. Headwood have died of influenza by the Season 3 premiere.

** The reliance on Sentai footage affected ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' in a more negative way. It was originally planned to involve a lot more time travel, with the rangers jumping to different locations and time periods in different episodes. However they [[DidntThinkThisThrough then realised]] that every single Giant Monster vs. Megazord fight in the series was set within the same city and landscape, which severely limited the locations they could have the MonsterOfTheWeek appear in. This then led to the infamous intro with plenty of shots of different eras and dress styles being an outright lie, as most of this came from a single episode that was set in a movie studio, with that week's monster being a reality-warping director that sent each ranger to a different movie scene.

* In the same vein, some "{{Lower Deck Episode}}s" are done when the lead actors in a show's cast are occupied filming one episode, forcing the production staff to do another episode focusing on minor or original characters in order to stay on schedule. ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "Doctor-lite episodes", in which the Doctor and his cmpanion generally only have a few minutes of screen time, are a good example.

* In the same vein, some "{{Lower Deck Episode}}s" are done when the lead actors in a show's cast are occupied filming one episode, forcing the production staff to do another episode focusing on minor or original characters in order to stay on schedule. ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "Doctor-lite episodes", in which the Doctor and his Companion generally only have a few minutes of screen time, are a good example.

* Creator/JaneLeeves' second pregnancy on ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' came at the perfect time, plot-wise, for Niles and Daphne to have a baby in the final season, just ahead of schedule enough for Daphne to give birth [[spoiler: in the finale]].

* The TearJerker ending to the final episode of ''[[Series/{{Blackadder}} Blackadder Goes Forth]]'', in which the main characters go into the attack but are then obscured by a huge explosion before the image fades to a field of poppies, had to be thrown together in post-production. There was limited filming time, and the director had no experience with action scenes, and there was no money for a stunt co-ordinator in the budget. The resulting footage of Blackadder, George, Baldrick and Darling charging through No Man's Land while shells blew up around them looked distinctly underwhelming (they just fell over and lay on the ground looking not very dead), but the explosion effects were also so terrifying for the actors that Creator/RowanAtkinson refused point-blank to do any retakes. The footage was deemed unusable, but while the film editor was cycling through it and trying to figure out what to do, he realized that slowing it down made it far more effective. As a result, they re-edited the footage, slowed it down, dropped the audio out and replaced it with the theme music played as a LonelyPianoPiece, and then at the moment, a large explosion obscured the actors from view, crossfaded to a still photograph of some poppies. The result was the most hard-earned DownerEnding to any situation comedy.

** [[Series/KamenRider The original show]] famously switched main characters for nearly half its run, introducing a second Kamen Rider who took over the series as the original hero, Takeshi Hongou, went off to "fight evil overseas". As one can probably guess, this was caused by Creator/HiroshiFujioka badly breaking his leg during a stunt, forcing the emergency appearance of a second main character to keep the show going until his return. The existence of multiple Riders, however, would go on to massively shape both the rest of the show and the future of the franchise.