History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/Smallville'': If ever there was an underused character, it was Alicia Baker. Sarah Carter owns every scene as a adorkable, yet mentally unstable love interest for the hero, and manages to have more chemistry with him than any of his other love interests up to that point. The writers actually seem to try to keep her from becoming a BreakoutCharacter by dashing her character halfway through the episode. However, she was so popular that the writers brought her back for two episodes, only to horrifically kill her off. Tellingly, Clark's reaction to her death is some of Tom Welliing's best work on the show. One gets the feeling that, despite her popularity, the writers killed her off because was so awesome that she would have irrevocably upset their beloved StatusQuoIsGod. She still remained the defining EnsembleDarkhorse of the series, even after it ended 6 years after her character was killed.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' naturally features this, particularly from season 2 onwards - where the show's ever increasing LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters caused more than a few to slip into the background:
** Ruby/ Red gets promoted to the main cast at the start of the season. Towards the end she is DemotedToExtra in favour of characters like Neal, Greg and Tamara (who unsurprisingly aren't [[TheScrappy liked too well by the fans]]). Writers said there was more planned for her, but they had no way to feature her at all. Actress Meghan Ory was released from her contract so she would be able to find work elsewhere - and the character did pop up a few times in Season 3.
** August was an EnsembleDarkhorse for season 1 - especially when his rich backstory was revealed. In season 2 he has only one focus episode, which [[spoiler: uses a ResetButton to return him to child age]].
*** He comes back in the second part of season 4, but he's not treated much better.
** Midway through season 2 [[spoiler: Belle loses her memories and is eventually given a cursed persona by Regina in the form of]] Lacey. While [[spoiler: Belle]] helped inspire the good in Mr Gold, Lacey served as an EvilCounterpart - being attracted to his evil side. After she's introduced, Lacey only appears in a couple of minor scenes [[spoiler: before Belle is restored for good]]. The ever-increasing character load left no way for the writers to effectively use her until the finale.
** Given the success of ''{{Disney/Tangled}}'', Rapunzel could have made a great addition to the cast. Instead her character arc is solved within one episode (and she's not even the main focus) - and her role could really have been filled by a generic princess.
** Neal Cassidy aka Baelfire, an EnsembleDarkhorse-bar-BaseBreakingCharacter in season 2, he was made into a regular for season 3. The problem is, the writers apparently REALLY didn't know what to do with him, and the character, who had a smaller arc in season 3A than he did in 2, disappeared as season 3B went underway, only to return for episode 15, 'Quiet Minds', in which [[spoiler: he's killed off]].
** Other characters such as Tinkerbell, Mulan, Ariel and Cinderella are well-received but their arcs get resolved rather quickly - resulting in fans wanting more.
** Ironically, the series regular characters of Hook and Robin Hood have also found themselves in this position, as most of their plots either revolve around their girlfriends, or they're incredibly stupid. Things seem to have started to look up for Hook in season 5, but given the writers... time will tell.
** Both the characters of Merlin and Nimue. Merlin was introduced a season ahead of time and constantly talked up as being this ultimate magical being of ancient age and power. Nimue was the first dark one. Both could have played gigantic roles in the story, but both were done away with by season's end.
* The spin-off ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'' has this as well. The Cheshire Cat, a popular character among ''Alice'' fans, only appears in one scene in the pilot. Other characters such as the March Hare, the Doormouse, the Duchess and the King of Hearts don't appear at all.
** Elizabeth aka Lizard, a tomboyish ActionGirl who works for the Caterpillar, introduced as a close friend to the knave of Heart. She dies stupidly in her second appearance [[ForgottenFallenFriend and is immediatly forgotten afteward]].
** Cyrus's brothers. Their story is clearly a reference to The Tale of The Three Princes from ''Literature/OneThousandAndOneNights'' - but they get barely any lines or development. Their sole function is to fulfil the RuleOfThree so that Jafar can have three genies.
** The Jabberwocky is introduced as TheDreaded - but her backstory is never revealed and she is DemotedToExtra in the finale.
** Alice's younger sister Millie was rather interesting too - especially as the only person in England that believes Alice about Wonderland. She's only featured in one episode, besides a non-speaking scene in the finale.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** This applies to ''the Doctor'', the main character, a couple of times:
*** The Sixth Doctor, who was supposed to start out as an abrasive, egotistical blowhard before softening considerably as his tenure went on. ExecutiveMeddling cut his time short, so he never really got past being an abrasive, egotistical blowhard. Like the above example, there is ExpandedUniverse material that helps rectify this.
*** The Seventh Doctor's arc, as well as his transition from the LighterAndSofter FunPersonified figure the [[ExecutiveMeddling execs wanted]] into a intelligently-characterised Machiavellian KnightTemplar, was just really beginning to kick off when the show got cancelled. Like with the above examples, the ExpandedUniverse finished off his intended arc and did a lot more with him besides, while providing the low-censorship environment which allowed him to be one of the [[DarkerAndEdgier Darkest and Edgiest]] Doctors of them all.
*** For all the mixed feelings that fans have about [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the TV movie]], most agree that the Eighth Doctor was a fine character, and we should have gotten more of him. He's a classic case of WeHardlyKnewYe (though there are novels, comics, and radio plays he features in, and he finally got a send-off scene in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor "The Night of the Doctor"]] mini-episode).
** Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter. According to her actor Carol Ann Ford, she was promised when she accepted the role that Susan would be a weird, inhuman, telepathic ActionGirl. The first episode is named "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]", and it turns out ''Susan is who it's talking about.'' Instead, we ended up with the original ScreamingWoman [[TheLoad Load]], who remains one of the worst examples of the stereotype in the show's history.
** The Meddling Monk from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler The Time Meddler]]". He was a rogue Time Lord, the first other than the Doctor and Susan to appear in the series (long before the names "Time Lord" or "Gallifrey" even became canon), who wasn't evil per se. The Monk just wanted to use time travel for his own personal profit, with the occasional reckless but benevolent scheme to try to change history for the better, like trying to cause the Industrial Revolution to happen early by preventing William the Conqueror from invading England. He would have been a great recurring adversary, and was used quite a bit in the spin-off media, but in the TV show he only appeared again once in what amounted to little more than a cameo.
** Sara Kingdom in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]", a badass space mercenary who [[TheUnfettered killed her own brother in pursuit of her goals]], then began questioning everything she'd ever learned when the Doctor's philosophy began to get to her. She even travels with the Doctor in the TARDIS for several months in a TimeSkip between episodes. She gets killed off in a slightly StupidSacrifice at the end of the story.
** Liz Shaw, a gorgeous, brilliant scientist the Doctor respects as an equal and who had a sort of 'buddy cop' relationship with him, as well as a participant in the first explicit Doctor/companion [[{{UST}} flirting]] on the show (rare in the Classic series). She got PutOnABusToHell after four stories because she was [[TooCoolToLive so cool she overshadowed the Doctor]], the production team feeling he needed a sexy, [[ScreamingWoman screamy]] DamselInDistress instead.
** Harry Sullivan - very funny, very well-acted, very handsome and played by an actor with ''tons'' of chemistry with both Creator/ElisabethSladen's Sarah Jane and Creator/TomBaker's Doctor; the first time the Doctor was travelling in space with a male/female companion pair since Zoe and Jamie in the 1960s. Unfortunately the character was added to be an ActionHero in case the Fourth Doctor ended up being played by an old man, meaning that when he ended up being played by a relatively young actor who was also large and athletic, no-one knew what Harry was supposed to be for. He gets excellent scenes in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]" and some good action in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", but ended up mostly being [[IdiotBall incompetent]] or pushing the more popular Sarah Jane out of the limelight in order to get material. Despite what Creator/RobertHolmes saw as his potential and his costars' affection for him, he was quietly dropped after "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]" and made his final appearance in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", an appearance even his actor thought was superfluous.
** 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.
** Adric. The concept of the Doctor travelling with a nerdy alien boy protegé (compared in the press to a "Baker Street irregular") was a good one, incorporating successful elements of Leela, Jo and Jamie while also serving as an AudienceSurrogate for the new target audience of 'cult' fans. It was also an excellent idea to partner Tom Baker's Doctor with a vulnerable character, as his partnership with the incredibly competent Romana often led to him being upstaged or forced the show into a smug BoringInvincibleHero dynamic. Spectacularly botched casting, unlikeable writing, and CastSpeciation problems caused by the Doctor regenerating into a vulnerable young character ended up [[TheScrappy causing him to detract from the show]].
** Kamelion, the shapeshifting robot. Besides his inhuman nature, he was supposed to be unpredictable due to his weak will and prone to getting subverted by villains (particularly his former owner, the Master). Unfortunately they had the bright idea to build an actual robot (instead of just using an actor in silver makeup) and the only guy who knew how to to operate it had a sudden case of the death, so Kameleon ended up mothballed in a room in the TARDIS. Eventually they employed an actor in silver makeup just so they could kill off Kamelion and tie up that plot thread. What's most annoying about this is that he's a SHAPESHIFTER; he didn't even need to be stuck in the form of a robot.
** Mel. At a time when DarknessInducedAudienceApathy had taken over and the Doctor was acting like a {{Jerkass}}, here comes a {{Camp}} computer programmer who loves time travel and genuinely appreciates the Doctor's company, intended as being a 'retro' homage to the companions of the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately, the idea of the companions of the 60s and 70s being DamselScrappy ScreamingWoman characters is a DeadUnicornTrope and the script editor refused to give her good material due to hating the idea of having a comic actress in a serious sci-fi show. A regime change early in her tenure caused her to be dropped and replaced with Ace, who is generally regarded as much more successfully used.
** The Rani. Smart, capable, obsessed with dinosaurs, and acquainted with both the Doctor and the Master. A villainous female Timelord with elaborate plans, a functional TARDIS and a planet under her rule. She was a completely different type of villain from the Master; a villain who didn't care about power, just scientific knowledge, but was willing to go to sociopathic lengths to gain it. Used a total of two times (three if you count "[[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime Dimensions in Time]]" as canon).
** The ever-so adorable Amelia Pond, whom the audience is introduced to for about the first 15 minutes of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour The Eleventh Hour]]", praying to Santa to send someone to fix the scary crack in her wall. She is smart, brave, witty, so incredibly likeable and huggable... then the Doctor gets in the TARDIS for a short hop of [[BlatantLies five minutes]], and when he re-appears, Amelia is now 19 years old and has become a lot more jaded at the failed re-appearance of her Raggedy Doctor for all these years. Sure, Little!Amelia is shown a few times, but it's only ever briefly, and usually in flashback or the sort. A lot of fans believe she would've made an excellent companion, but for the fact that the BBC could never have allowed a 7 year old girl to run off with a madman in a box across the universe.
** Canton Everett Delaware III: a BadassNormal maverick FBI agent who answers directly to the President of the United States, proves instrumental to dismantling an alien conspiracy to control the United States government, and is engaged in an interracial same-sex relationship--in the 1960's, no less--that he defiantly refuses to keep secret. The Doctor apparently respected Delaware enough that he was one of only five people that he told about his impending "death"--the other four being Amy, Rory, River, and [[MyFutureSelfAndMe himself]]. Despite all that, Delaware gets no appearances beyond his introductory two-part episode, and the vast majority of his three-month battle with the Silence happens offscreen.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Elizabeth Weir. Despite being a lead for three seasons, having a bucketful of UST with the other lead John Sheppard, universally beloved by fans, and being a strong female character who depended on her brains instead of fighting abilities, she was given barely any character-centred episodes, minimal backstory and was PutOnABus at the beginning of Season 4. Cue outrage.

** Harry Sullivan - very funny, very well-acted, very handsome and played by an actor with ''tons'' of chemistry with both Creator/ElisabethSladen's Sarah Jane and Creator/TomBaker's Doctor; the first time the Doctor was travelling in space with a male/female companion pair since Zoe and Jamie in the 1960s. Unfortunately the character was added to be an ActionHero in case the Fourth Doctor ended up being played by an old man, meaning that when he ended up being played by a relatively young actor who was also large and athletic, no-one knew what Harry was supposed to be for. He gets excellent scenes in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]" and some good action in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", but ended up mostly being [[IdiotBall incompetent]] or pushing the more popular Sarah Jane out of the limelight in order to get material. Despite what Creator/RobertHolmes saw as his potential and his costars' affection for him, he was quietly dropped after "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]" and made his final appearance in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]", an appearance even his actor thought was superfluous.

** Back in season 1, an episode was about a student Marcie Ross who can turn invisible and by the end of this episode was taken by FBI agents to be trained in assassination and espionage. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse She never appeared again.]] Then again, she's ''invisible''...

** Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter. According to her actor Carol Ann Ford, she was promised when she accepted the role that Susan would be a weird, inhuman, telepathic ActionGirl. The first episode is named "An Unearthly Child," and it turns out ''Susan is who it's talking about.'' Instead, we ended up with the original ScreamingWoman [[TheLoad Load]], who remains one of the worst examples of the stereotype in the show's history.
** The Meddling Monk from "The Time Meddler". He was a rogue Time Lord, the first other than the Doctor and Susan to appear in the series (long before the names "Time Lord" or "Gallifrey" even became canon), who wasn't evil per se. The Monk just wanted to use time travel for his own personal profit, with the occasional reckless but benevolent scheme to try to change history for the better, like trying to cause the Industrial Revolution to happen early by preventing William the Conqueror from invading England. He would have been a great recurring adversary, and was used quite a bit in the spin-off media, but in the TV show he only appeared again once in what amounted to little more than a cameo.
** Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan", a badass space mercenary who [[TheUnfettered killed her own brother in pursuit of her goals]], then began questioning everything she'd ever learned when the Doctor's philosophy began to get to her. She even travels with the Doctor in the TARDIS for several months in a TimeSkip between episodes. She gets killed off in a slightly StupidSacrifice at the end of the story.

** Harry Sullivan - very funny, very well-acted, very handsome and played by an actor with ''tons'' of chemistry with both Creator/ElisabethSladen's Sarah Jane and Creator/TomBaker's Doctor; the first time the Doctor was travelling in space with a male/female companion pair since Zoe and Jamie in the 1960s. Unfortunately the character was added to be an ActionHero in case the Fourth Doctor ended up being played by an old man, meaning that when he ended up being played by a relatively young actor who was also large and athletic, no-one knew what Harry was supposed to be for. He gets excellent scenes in "The Ark in Space" and some good action in "Genesis of the Daleks", but ended up mostly being [[IdiotBall incompetent]] or pushing the more popular Sarah Jane out of the limelight in order to get material. Despite what Robert Holmes saw as his potential and his costars' affection for him, he was quietly dropped after "Terror of the Zygons" and made his final appearance in a tiny cameo in "The Android Invasion".

** The Rani. Smart, capable, obsessed with dinosaurs, and acquainted with both the Doctor and the Master. A villainous female Timelord with elaborate plans, a functional TARDIS and a planet under her rule. She was a completely different type of villain from the Master; a villain who didn't care about power, just scientific knowledge, but was willing to go to sociopathic lengths to gain it. Used a total of two times (three if you count ''Dimensions In Time'' as canon).
** The ever-so adorable Amelia Pond, whom the audience is introduced to for about the first 15 minutes of "The Eleventh Hour", praying to Santa to send someone to fix the scary crack in her wall. She is smart, brave, witty, so incredibly likeable and huggable... then the Doctor gets in the TARDIS for a short hop of [[BlatantLies five minutes]], and when he re-appears, Amelia is now 19 years old and has become a lot more jaded at the failed re-appearance of her Raggedy Doctor for all these years. Sure, Little!Amelia is shown a few times, but it's only ever briefly, and usually in flashback or the sort. A lot of fans believe she would've made an excellent companion, but for the fact that the BBC could never have allowed a 7 year old girl to run off with a madman in a box across the universe.

** Scott the super soldier from Season 3. He's given significant screen time in "Our Father", up to and including an explanation of his motives for participating in the program, which is a novelty in a show where characters do things for unexplained and inexplicable reasons. He is the first recipient of the perfected formula, neatly subverts WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity, and is all set up to be a big player in the finale. [[spoiler:Then the finale comes and minor villain Knox unceremoniously snaps his neck.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Kes. A likable alien regular with an interesting back story and an 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. There were plenty of characters they could have chosen: Tuvok (who had a similar personality to Seven), Neelix (who was almost universally hated)... and the original intended victim, Harry Kim (who didn't have a personality at all). 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 [[StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch Voyager Relaunch novels]] decided that that wasn't the real Kes and featured a version more in line with her original portrayal.)

* ''CriminalMinds'' gives us Ashley Seaver, intended to fill the roles J.J. and Prentiss were leaving. She was brought in as a rookie agent with no profiling skills because of her particular backstory: her father was a serial killer, which gave her insight on how they project themselves to the rest of the world. This is mentioned only in her introductory episode, which is also the only time she shows any sort of personality. She wanders off from the team and disobeys direct orders because she wants to apologize to the families of the victims. After a promising debut, she just sort of fills the background and tosses around dialogue like anyone at all could have done. In one episode, she even states that she can understand a suspect because she's "dated a few" narcissists, with no mention of her father whatsoever. The Season 6 finale ends with the team given promising offers to split up, and the Season 7 premier shows that they did, but they're now all coming back together... except for Seaver. She gets one line mentioning that she's joined some other team, and then ceases to exist.

** Hunter and Bobbi. Both characters were disavowed, [[StupidSacrifice to save all that the organisation had accomplished]]. In actual fact it was intended for them to star in their own spin-off called Marvel's Most Wanted... which got as far as an (unaired) pilot before ABC pulled the plug.

** Kamelion, the shapeshifting robot. Besides his inhuman nature, he was supposed to be unpredictable due to his weak will and prone to getting subverted by villains (particularly his former owner, the Master). Unfortunately they had the bright idea to build an actual robot (instead of just using an actor in silver makeup) and the only guy who knew how to to operate it had a sudden case of the death, so Kameleon ended up mothballed in a room in the TARDIS. Eventually they employed an actor in silver makeup just so they could kill off Kamelion and tie up that plot thread.

** Hunter and Bobbi. Both characters were disavowed, [[StupidSacrifice to save all that the organisation had accomplished]]. In actual fact it was intended for them to star in their own spin-off called Marvel's Most Wanted... which got as far as an (unaired) pilot before ABC [[StillbornFranchise pulled the plug]].

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Colonel Flagg. Appered in seven episodes over the show's eleven season ([[WildMassGuessing eight if you count Edward Winter's earlier role of Captain Holloran]]), and in his two or three appearances, he was something of a BadAss, and Hawkeye seemed genuinely scared of him. By his finale appearance in "Rally 'Round the Flagg, Boys", he was a bumbling fool tricked into trying to arrest the mayor and chief of police of Uijeongbu as communists after Hawkeye operates on a North Korean. Ironically, writer Ken Levine mentions they tried to avoid using him too often and turning him into TheScrappy.

** Also Jenavian Chato, [[spoiler: {{Badass}} Peacekeeper special agent and assassin introduced in the Look at the Princess Trilogy, one of the few [=PKs=] we meet prior to the third season who shows they ''do'' have a noble side, and an EnsembleDarkhorse whose actress, Bianca Chiminello, is one of the favorites at conventions. She gets her three episodes, [[RomanticFalseLead sleeps with and is ultimately turned down for more by Crichton]], and is never mentioned again.]]

** Benny. {{Badass}} FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, Purgatory veteran, and ally to Dean at a time when he didn't have many. But he was the center of a Sam/Dean conflict, so he had to go.

** Tripp joined the team in the latter half of Season 1, and got a decent amount of focus. He also had an interesting backstory about being the descendant of one of the Howling Commandos, which seemed ripe for exploration. Unfortunately, he got far less screen time in Season 2, and ended up being KilledOffForReal in the mid-season finale. Even his actor, B.J. Britt, says he feels Tripp got "cut short" as a character.

** Victoria Hand. She was a fairly prominent supporting character in the ''Avengers'' comics, and one of the first LGBT characters to appear in the [[MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]]. [[BuryYourGays She ended up being killed off midway through Season 1]], without any real exploration of her backstory or sexuality.

** Tripp joined the team in the latter half of Season 1, and got a decent amount of focus. He also had an interesting backstory about being the descendent of one of the Howling Commandos, which seemed ripe for exploration. Unfortunately, he got far less screen time in Season 2, and ended up being KilledOffForReal in the mid-season finale. Even his actor, B.J. Britt, says he feels Tripp got "cut short" as a character.

** Tripp joins the team in the latter half of Season 1, and gets a decent amount of focus. He also had an interesting backstory about being the descendent of one of the Howling Commandos, which seemed ripe for exploration. Unfortunately, he got far less screen time in Season 2, and ended up being KilledOffForReal in the mid-season finale. Even his actor, B.J. Britt, says he feels Tripp got "cut short" as a character.

* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' introduces a teenage serial killer who seemed completely evil. It turned out he was just misguided & he was eager to learn from Dexter who was eager to teach him. After about 3 episodes of character development, Dexter finds him dead in a chair with his brain removed before he can do anything. Especially weird because it was about 2 episodes away from the end.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Curtis.
** Tony by the end of the series. Season five killed his wife off at the very beginning, which had a potentially intriguing storyline that could have major ramifications, namely, after the man behind her death (Christopher Henderson) was exposed, just how far would he go for revenge? Instead, he spent most of the season offscreen in a coma. Then when he ''finally'' awoke he was then [[BackForTheDead immediately]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off]]. And amazingly enough, it actually got worse when they retconned him back to life two seasons later. For his return we were given a massively convoluted revenge plot that mostly relies entirely on [[GambitRoulette coincidence]] that concluded with one of the biggest [[AssPull AssPulls]] in the series.

** Neal Cassidy aka Baelfire, an EnsembleDarkhorse-bar-BaseBreaker in season 2, he was made into a regular for season 3. The problem is, the writers apparently REALLY didn't know what to do with him, and the character, who had a smaller arc in season 3A than he did in 2, disappeared as season 3B went underway, only to return for episode 15, 'Quiet Minds', in which [[spoiler: he's killed off]].

** ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' all of the rangers sans Nick, who is a BaseBreaker, 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.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Kes. A likable alien regular with an interesting back story and an 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. There were plenty of characters they could have chosen: Tuvok (who had a similar personality to Seven), Harry Kim (who didn't have a personality), Neelix (who was almost universally hated)...but instead they axed Kes, apparently because she was a girl and having more than three female characters in a ''Star Trek'' series would cause the universe to implode. To add insult to injury, the show brought 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 [[StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch Voyager Relaunch novels]] decided that that wasn't the real Kes and featured a version more in line with her original portrayal.)

** From ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', we had Dolly from Vanuatu, Marisa and Betsy from Samoa (Russell actually voted them out because he said that those two could have beaten him), then Sugar, Stephanie, Tom, and Cirie in ''Heroes Vs. Villains''.

** Doyle. Arguably he ''needed'' to die in order to [[spoiler:give Cordelia her powers as a seeress]], but watching [[PowerTrio the dynamic]] between Angel, Doyle and Cordelia in those first few episodes... ''damn'' it makes you wish that they'd kept him around. (Unfortunately a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, the producers getting increasingly worried about his drug problems). He was originally conceived to return later in the series as the BigBad - but actor Glenn Quinn passed away beforehand.

*** For all the mixed feelings that fans have about [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie the TV movie]], most agree that the 8th Doctor was a fine character, and we should have gotten more of him. The [[UnCanceled new series]] begins with him already regenerated into the 9th, making him a case of WeHardlyKnewYe (though there are novels, comics, and radio plays he features in, and he finally got a send-off scene in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor "The Night of the Doctor"]] mini-episode).
*** The 6th Doctor, who was supposed to start out as an abrasive, egotistical blowhard before softening considerably as his tenure went on. ExecutiveMeddling cut his time short, so he never really got past being an abrasive, egotistical blowhard. Like the above example, there is ExpandedUniverse material that helps rectify this.

** The Meddling Monk from "The Time Meddler". He was a rogue Time Lord, the first other than the Doctor and Susan to appear in the series (long before the names Time Lord or Gallifrey even became canon), who wasn't evil per se. The Monk just wanted to use time travel for his own personal profit, with the occasional reckless but benevolent scheme to try to change history for the better, like trying to cause the Industrial Revolution to happen early by preventing William the Conqueror from invading England. He would have been a great recurring adversary, and was used quite a bit in the spin-off media, but in the TV show he only appeared again once in what amounted to little more than a cameo.

** Kamelion, the shapeshifting robot. Besides his inhuman nature, he was supposed to be unpredictable due to his weak will and prone to getting subverted by villains (particularly his former owner, the Master). Unfortunately they had the bright idea to build an actual robot (instead of just using an actor in silver makeup) and the only guy who knew how to to operate it had a sudden case of the death, so Kameleon ended up mothballed in a room in the TARDIS. Eventually they employed an actor in silver makeup just so they could kill off Kameleon and tie up that plot thread.

** Back in season 1, an episode was about a student Marcie Ross who can turn invisible and by the end of this episode was taken by F.B.I agents to be trained in assassination and espionage. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse She never appeared again.]]