History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / LiveActionTV

* [[Series/StrangerThings Stranger Things]]
** Kali Prasad was set up to being a pretty big deal in Season 2, as she is introduced at the very beginning of the season. She even gets her own [[Main/DayInTheLimelight Day in the Limelight]] episode which reveals that she was [[spoiler: Eight, one of the only surviving test subjects after the tragedy with Eleven and Vecna, with Eleven’s mother thinking of Kali as her “sister.”]] With nowhere else to go, Kali ended joining a gang. [[spoiler: Eleven’s mother even told her to go find her for help against the monsters of the Upside Down]]. However, this all goes crashing down when she, as well as the rest of her gang are [[Main/PutOnABus Put On A Bus]] at the end of their [[Main/DayInTheLimelight Day in the Limelight]] episode, where they are never seen again aside from a few cameos. With Kali’s interesting backstory and [[Main/MasterOfIllusion cool powers]], she and the rest of her gang could have been so much more than they ended up being.
** [[Main/AlphaBitch Angela]] is [[Main/TheBully The Bully]] who spends the first few episodes of Season 4 tormenting Eleven at every possible opportunity. When [[spoiler: Eleven finally puts Angela in her place by punching her with a roller skate and gives her a concussion]], she is never seen again. This raises a lot of questions: Why did she have it out for Eleven? Why did the entire town seem to always side with her? What happened to her after [[spoiler: her concussion]]? Answers to these questions could have given her a [[Main/FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuse]] and perhaps some [[Main/CharacterDevelopment Character Development]].

** Data's artificial daughter, Lal. A naive android girl who has emotions and contractions but isn't "fully human", and she would give Data some good moments with being a father. They could even have made full episodes with her, but unfortunately, she "died" in her first episode.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': General Richard Franklin, Dr. Franklin's father, has a complicated relationship with his son and is an interesting combination of an OfficerAndAGentleman, a FourStarBadass, AFatherToHisMen, a HeroOfAnotherStory (he is conducting a vital campaign and has nicknames like "Old Firestorm," "The Liberator of the African Bloc," "Hero of the Canal Wars," and "Scourge of Janos VII") and a VillainOfAnotherStory (he has mild authoritarian tendencies, really hates aliens, and supports developing biological weapons). He appears in a grand total of one episode (plus a cameo in the novelization of ''Film/BabylonFiveInTheBeginning''), then is never seen or significantly mentioned again. It isn't even revealed which side of the Earth Alliance Civil War he fights on except through WordOfGod.

** ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' all of the rangers sans Nick, who is a BaseBreakingCharacter, receive little to no development during the season. Each one has at least one episode compared to Nick's story playing a part of the main plot of the show, depriving them of having any actual importance outside of being his team.

** Adam Monroe is a popular villain from this show, especially due to his amazing powers, badass fighting skills, a twisted backstory, the potential to be the most evil character within the entire series, and the actor's physical [[EvilIsSexy attractiveness]]. He had more potential, so what do the writers do to him to prove it? They unceremoniously get rid of him by having him forced to the main antagonist of the Villains arc's room and have him essentially become a battery power for him so that he would no longer be paralyzed. Then when he gets another chance at proving himself later on in the series, he gets killed again in an even more pathetic and lackluster manner.

** ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'': Lauren, Jayden's older sister [[spoiler:, actual inheritor of the sealing technique and other Red Ranger]]. She's introduced late into the series and, while one would expect her to be made much of due to her role, she is repeatedly pushed aside or ignored in favor of the party focusing on [[HeroWorship Jayden]], since he had to keep Lauren's existence a secret to them. Lauren does show moments of having character depth and does talk to Jayden about their deceased father (she even uses his former morpher), but barely much comes of it. [[spoiler:Even when she performs the sealing technique, something she has been working on perfecting for years, but fails, it's again barely brought up with her.]]

*** As a human raised by demons inside the pocket dimension where they were all imprisoned, SixthRanger Ryan Mitchell had a lot of potential to be an interesting character, but after his HeelFaceTurn his upbringing is hardly ever mentioned and he doesn't interact with Diabolico, who raised him, again. Even though Diabolico increasingly becomes a NobleDemon later in the season, culminating in an EnemyMine scenario with the Rangers against Queen Bansheera. It would have made sense for Diabolico's relationship with Ryan to be explored as a factor in this, but no.

*** As a human raised by demons inside the pocket dimension where they were all imprisoned, SixthRanger Ryan Mitchell had a lot of potential to be an interesting character, but after his HeelFaceTurn his upbringing is hardly ever mentioned and he doesn't interact with Diabolico, who raised him, again, even though Diabolico increasingly becomes a NobleDemon later in the season, culminating in an EnemyMine scenario with the Rangers against Queen Bansheera. It would have made sense for Diabolico's relationship with Ryan to be explored as a factor in this, but no.

** Kes. A likeable alien regular with an interesting back story and an [[BizarreAlienBiology intriguing (if often nonsensical) biology]] that could have done with a lot more exploration, and strong friendships and chemistry with pretty much all the popular characters. Then someone decided a character had to be axed to make room for Seven of Nine. Kim was severely injured during the cliffhanger at the end of season 3 and was supposed to die in the opener - but over the break between seasons Kim's actor Garrett Wang was included on People's list of sexiest people alive. So they rewrote the latter half of the two-parter at the last minute to instead keep him alive and set up the removal of Kes one episode later. To add insult to injury, the show would bring her back for one episode, where, for no apparent reason, she has gone mad and wants to kill everyone, after which she flies off and is never mentioned again. (It's telling that the [[Literature/StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch Voyager Relaunch novels]] decided that that wasn't the real Kes and featured a version more in line with her original portrayal.)

** Ensign Sito, the Bajoran redshirt. There was actually going to be an episode where she comes back and it turns out that she didn't die, but one writer thought that it would make the episode she initially appeared in less emotional or whatever, so we never see her again.

** Then there's Tasha Yar's ''sister'' Ishara, who had a very memorable episode, with dimensions Denise Crosby probably wished Tasha had during Season 1 - doubles as a WhatCouldHaveBeen had the writers later in the series been penning Season 1 tales.

** Then there's Tasha Yar's ''sister'', who had a very memorable episode, with dimensions Denise Crosby probably wished Tasha had during Season 1 - doubles as a WhatCouldHaveBeen had the writers later in the series been penning Season 1 tales.

*** As a human raised by demons, SixthRanger Ryan Mitchell had a lot of potential to be an interesting character, but after his HeelFaceTurn his upbringing is hardly ever mentioned and he doesn't interact with Diabolico, who raised him, again, even though Diabolico increasingly becomes a NobleDemon later in the season, culminating in an EnemyMine scenario with the Rangers against Queen Bansheera. It would have made sense for Diabolico's relationship with Ryan to be explored as a factor in this, but no.

** While she is TheScrappy of the season, that's partially because Vypra was never used to any great extent. Her role as a surrogate sister/mother to Impus disappears after he becomes Olympius. As the most human-looking villain of the season, this would have potential to make her either reform or be a more complex character. Neither happens.
** As a human raised by demons, SixthRanger Ryan Mitchell had a lot of potential to be an interesting character, but after his HeelFaceTurn his upbringing is hardly ever mentioned and he doesn't interact with Diabolico, who raised him, again, even though Diabolico increasingly becomes a NobleDemon later in the season, culminating in an EnemyMine scenario with the Rangers against Queen Bansheera. It would have made sense for Diabolico's relationship with Ryan to be explored as a factor in this, but no.

** Tommy's brother David Trueheart. Introduced in ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' and never mentioned again outside of that season, even when he should have been. Appears in 5 episodes as a red herring for the Gold Ranger and once that plotline bit is resolved, never shows up again in person. He's mentioned in one more episode, but in every other scene and show where he should have at least been mentioned (''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'''s first episode, ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'''s "Legacy of Power" and "Fighting Spirit", even briefly), he wasn't.

** David Trueheart. Introduced in ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' and never mentioned again outside of that season, even when he should have been. Appears in 5 episodes as a red herring for the Gold Ranger and once that plotline bit is resolved, never shows up again in person. He's mentioned in one more episode, but in every other scene and show where he should have at least been mentioned (Series/PowerRangersTurbo, first episode, Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder a couple of times: Legacy of Power and Fighting Spirit, even briefly), he wasn't.
*** The same goes for Sam Trueheart, David's adoptive father, albeit for different reasons. Sam (and True of Heart, who Sam's actor plays in Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers) is only there to serve as an introduction to Tommy's Native American heritage and as a vehicle for David to be introduced. Once that happens, Sam again vanishes and we only ever hear about him the one last time we also hear about David. Interestingly enough, his actor, Frank Salsedo, was still alive when Dino Thunder was being filmed, the only one between the two Trueheart actors to be such (David's actor Erik Frank passed away in 2001 from an undisclosed illness).
** The Phantom Ranger was introduced in ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' when that season was GrowingTheBeard. He was mysterious, had a romantic interest in Cassie, supplied the rangers with new zords and promised to return. His identity and origins were to be revealed in ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', but due to budget it never happened.
** ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'': While she is TheScrappy of the season, that's partially because Vypra was never used to any great extent. Her role as a surrogate sister/mother to Impus disappears after he becomes Olympius. As the most human-looking villain of the season, this would have potential to make her either reform or be a more complex character. Neither happens.

** ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': Both the Omega Ranger and Morgana suffer. Omega Ranger, aka Sam, did not have actor due to budget and as a result never got any character development as he would only be featured mostly in sentai footage. Morgana's potential fell apart due to her mysterious past being sidetracked in favor of the show's ongoing plot with Emperor Grumm's plans for Earth.

** Leela started out a badass companion the likes of which had never been seen before - undereducated, but a genius and a natural skeptic resisting her culture's tyrannical CargoCult, who gets caught up in a PygmalionPlot by a [[TheAtoner guilt-heavy]], [[HurtingHero slightly traumatised]] LoveHungry Doctor on whom her culture's SatanicArchetype is based. On top of that, she's also a really funny character with HotBlooded LiteralMinded FishOutOfWater views, and she and the Doctor have loads of onscreen chemistry and CommonalityConnection due to both being outsiders who can never return home. She manages three stories of this before a combination of TroubledProduction, CastSpeciation issues caused by the addition of K-9, ExecutiveMeddling pushing a LighterAndSofter tone on the show, and her costar Creator/TomBaker's bullying AttentionWhore behaviour meant she was constantly being upstaged, underused and mischaracterised until she got written out in a hugely out-of-character LastMinuteHookup. Ironically she was originally going to be a straight example, lasting for three stories only and leaving, although a regime change meant she ended up sticking around.

** Aside from [[MagnificentBastard Ba'al]], Yu was by far the most interesting of the System Lords. He was the only one that was openly against Anubis from the beginning, was nice enough that his worshipers seemed to genuinely respect him instead of following out of fear, like Ba'al he recognised the value of not obliterating Earth, and was so old even by [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Goa'uld standards]] he was actually ''going senile''. And yet with the exception of during a brief EnemyMine situation none of this was really explored, and he went the way of all the other System Lords after the Replicators arrived. It was also pointed out in his debut that Yu is the only known Goa'uld to ''not'' [[GodGuise take the identity of an Earth culture's god]] (instead he uses the identity of Yu the Great, the legendary first Emperor of China), suggesting that while still a villain he might actually be in some significant way different from most Goa'uld. Given his age, maybe he's even ''really was'' Yu the Great during his time on Earth instead of just appropriating the name. But nothing ever comes of this and ultimately falls into the stereotypical Goa'uld "AGodAmI" attitude.

** The CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass PsychoRangers Stillman sisters are decently entertaining villains who survive their debut in the show but never show up as recurring foes.* ''Series/ControlZ'': We're supposed to sympathize with Luis as he is constantly bullied by Gerry, but we only have the three first episodes to witness the same routine to the point when the hacker worsens everything through the public fight that results in Luis getting hospitalized and remains there for the remainder of the first season...[[spoiler:until his tragic death]]. Even if Gerry's backstory revealed how this situation came about in the first place, it would've been a perfect move for the writers to further delve deeper into Luis's own backstory.