Xenacate

There was a long running British TV sit com called One Foot In The Grave. At the end of the last series the main character, Victor Meldrew, was hit by a car and killed. That was the end of the show, never to be done again. It was quite sad really. Classic series!

ah, but they did bring Victor back as a ghost in a one off "One Foot in the Grave" Comic Relief special!

In the British soap opera Coronation Street, the character of Ernie Bishop was killed off with a shotgun blast in a wages robbery after actor Stephen Hancock staged a one-man pay dispute. This seems to fit the bill - though you're spoilt for choice here!

There are probably lots of examples of characters who were killed off because actors left/died/got fired but the "Dallas" case mentioned above should be proof that nobody has to stay dead. If I recall correctly Bobby Ewing died in a plane crash or something because Patrick Duffy got fed up with the part or wanted more money or something (Duffy got huffy?). After an entire season without him the producers decided they needed him back and the next season began with an explanation that Bobby's death and the entire previous season had all been Pam's dream.

Now that I think about it there were several actors who left or died during Dallas's run. Jim Davis, Barabra Belle-Geddes, Keenan Wynne... Some were replaced, some weren't. Some were even replaced twice.

The first one that jumped to my mind was from Serenity, when a large spike comes through the windshield and kills off ... (I wouldn't want to spoil this for anyone!)

The other idea that occurred was the Blackadder series. At the end of the first series, the main characters are killed off fairly thoroughly; also the second, and fourth, and one in the third series. I suppose that it doesn't fit your original definition, as the actors all came back, but they had very thorough killing-off of their characters.

SPOILER ALERT FOR FIREFLY FANS who haven't seen the movie yet---
I believe this qualifies for your original definition: Wash, a character from the Firefly TV show was killed with a giant spike through the chest in Serenity, a movie that continues the (cancelled) show. He was mourned and buried, and this is not the type of show that would bring back a clone. Another character died, but he didn't get a giant spike through the chest. I don't think there were contract disputes, though.

Well, the deaths of characters Don Schanke and Amanda Cohen on the vampire cope drama "Forever Knight" definitely count--they were blown up by a terrorist's airplane bomb. The show switched stations in its third season, and (I believe) the USA network wanted to appeal to younger audiences, so they killed off two of the middle-aged characters and brought in two younger (looking) ones.

Rank tyranny, that.

That's vampire cop drama...

Speed from CSI is a good one, and so is Tara from Buffy, although in that universe I don't know that you could rule out a return. I don't think either Boone or Shannon on Lost have been xenacated, due to the nature of that show, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see any of the deceased characters somehow reanimated later on. Perhaps Arst, he was blown up pretty thoroughly. THe mother, Joyce, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer died pretty thoroughly, but then, what character hadn't on that show by then? I think Buffy herself had died at least twice by that season. The character of Fred, on the spinoff Angel, wasn't killed, but the personality of the character was destroyed in a kind of demonic possession and the actress ended up playing a different character in the original's body for the final season. They actually made kind of a big deal on the show that she was less likely to come back because she HADN'T died, since in that show's logic death was a lot less permanent than anyone would expect. (I think Angel had died about three times, including once on Buffy, and not including when he Died and became a vampire)

Most current shows have little respect for continuity or a narrative structure that would prevent returning a dead character. Particularly sci-fi. Even when the death of the character is the main narrative focus of a previous story, like the death of Spock in Star Trek II, they still come back. I don't even believe that Xena is forever gone. Offer enough money and anybody could be back. Heck, they may run into Colonel Blake wandering around on that Island in Lost. He's been in one of the bunker living off thsoe wierd old candy bars they found.

I thought of one! From the early seasons of "Law and Order." George Dzunda played one of the original detectives, with Chris Noth the other. After a short time (one season?) Dzunda reportedly expressed his dislike for the cops/prosecuters split format (he wanted more screen time, and there may have been pay issues too), and left or was released from the show. His charactor was killed off, by having another actor wearing a hat and coat, in the rain too I believe, being gunned down outside his home.

I haven't heard of this relating to Xena, but I do remember this happening to my favorite character from the TV show M*A*S*H; Col. Henry Blake played by McLean Stevenson. Stevenson left M*A*S*H without warning at the end of the third season after shooting had already finished. Stevenson believed the reason people were watching M*A*S*H was because of him. So as soon as an offer to do his own show came along he basically said "screw you, I'm going to be a (bigger) star!" and left. Adding insult to the injury, he is reported to have said if his new career doesn't work out he could always return to doing M*A*S*H. Stevenson's method of departure caused such bad feelings on the part of the producers that the cast was re-called, minus McLean Stevenson, and reaction to Col. Henry Blake's (off screen) death was tacked on to the end of the season's final episode so Stevenson could never return. For years afterwards the saying among the television community was that when someone is written out of a show in such a way as to prevent any hope of return, they were said to have been "McLean Stevensoned."

"XENACATE, v.: To kill a TV or movie character off so completely that no chance remains of bringing her back from the dead. Inspired by the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess. Closely related to this is SMITSICIDE, whereby an actor unwisely burns his or her bridges and is written out by the production company with no hope of being rehired. The process is also known as SHANNENCINATION."

Does the "this weeks special guest star" in every episode of Police Squad count? Killed off in the opening credits!

The most recent occurrence of this would have to be Shannen Dougherty. Her difficulty on the set of Charmed had a hand in her character Prudence Halliwell getting killed.

How about Big "P" Bonpensiero in the Sopranos (TV), or Janet Leigh in Psycho (movie)? I think it was clear that either one, although probably considered a "star" of the show, wasn't coming back.

I supposed I should've read all of the previous comments before posting, oh well. 😊

Don't know about Xena but I do know that there was an instance of this on the show Homicide: Life on the Street. The actor Jon Polito had a huge falling out between the first and second season. So, beginning in the third season, they made it where Polito's character committed suicide. I am quoting this from memory, but according to the featurette on the Homicide DVD behind the scenes, when they were trying to figure out what to do with the character, they decided that Crosetti (Polito) was "dead, dead dead. That son of a bitch is dead."

How about when Gary Shepherd (Peter Horton) died on thirtysomething? I think he left the show to become a director.

And Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) on ER left for the same reasons.

This one was before my time, but my dad tells me that Kathleen Nolan left "The Real McCoys" (on TV in the early 60s) due to a bitter contract dispute, so her character was killed off before the last season and her on-air husband became a widower, seeking a new wife in the final episodes. That's pretty harsh! (although I've never seen the show)

not being enough of a tv soap watcher to identify a specific character, but I believe lots of those have been xenacated.

I can vouch for the death of Poochie -- I was one of the Executive Producers of that episode (wonderfully written by David Cohen) and we wanted the "producers" of Itchy & Scratchy to go to comical extremes to make very clear that the crudilicious character of Poochie (voiced by Homer) would never, ever bother people again. Hence, he was killed on the way back to his home planet.

Ironically, a lot of the younger kids in the "Simpsons" audience genuinely liked Poochie. He did have a certain style, I guess.

Shannen Doherty is one that comes to mind. Her charecter Pru on Charmed was killed off due to her (Shannen's) real life conduct and problems with the other cast members and producers. A little research will show this as a prime example of "xenacation". Though I have to say the definition is flawed in my mind. Xena ended because they wanted to end it,and go out strong, not because of problems with anyone on the cast, just ask Lucy Lawless' husband, he was the executive producer...

One problem - you've failed to make a distinction between killing off a character to get rid of an actor and -recasting- a character to get rid of an actor. Soap operas, for example, routinely recast, typically using plastic surgery to explain the transition to a new actor. Because of this option, no character on -any- TV show is -ever- totally dead - they are "mostly dead" at best because things blow over in Hollywood and they can bring anyone back from the dead at any time in any number of ways.

However, the closest I can come to an example of a "Xenacate" is Prudence Hallowell on the show CHARMED. They killed Pru off because of a falling out with the actress/producer Shannon Doherty and have yet to bring her back in any form. Doesn't meant they can't - just that so far they haven't.

The ultimate example of Xenacation is the play

^^haha...not really xenacation in my opinion, but that's the best quote I've heard in a while

Pru on Charmed is probably the perfect example, but Tara from Buffy is a close second. An earlier poster got it wrong. She is indeed irrevocably dead due to the fact Osiris himself insisted she could not be brought back, but she did not reappear as The First. The actress that played her refused to come back because she did not want the character defiled, so they brought back a minor character to relay a message from Tara instead. In fact, I think Tara is the only major dead character on the show that did not come back in some form.

A good example I can think of, although perhaps a bit obscure, is Professor Maximillian Arturo (played by John Rhys-Davies) on the show Sliders. Rhys-Davies was critical of the creative process during the show, and when a producer that he crossed eventually took control, he fired Rhys-Davies. On the show, Rhys-Davies' character Arturo was shot, had his brains sucked out, and then was blown up along with an entire planet. If that isn't a strong message about how the execs felt about him, I don't know what is.

So far I think the Simpson's Poochie wins. (Poochied?).

Get's my "vote" anyway. 😊

Alex, the best choice so far has been the character of James from Good Times, played by John Amos, mentioned several posts ago. That was a biggie. McLean Stevenson from MASH isn't a good one, because there have been interviews where the shows creators considered having him rescued from the Sea of Japan when it was still undecided if the new cast members were going to work. Oh, and if you've ever heard Eddie Murphy's riff on Good Times, It's hilarious...

How about the death of Ricardo Montebon (sp?) at the end of Naked Gun?

He falls from a stadium, is run over by a truck, a steam roller, and a marching band, causing George Kennedy to sob, "My father went the same way."

I should have mentioned that "Ricardo Montalban" is also shot before falling from the stadium.

Shannon Doherty of Charmed fame was canned because of her attitude.

I am not sure if this is too late, but here goes.
The Sopranos is a fine example. There are plenty of characters who are Xenacated. Most notably are Jackie, Ralphie, Adriana (she went to Joey), Jimmy, etc...

I don't think you can apply this term to any movie or TV series character who gets killed off as part of the original script. My impression is that xenacate applies to characters who are excised because the actor died, wants out, wants too much money, is being a pain in the ass, etc. Whether they come back or get replaced by a different actor probably has nothing to do with it although it's possible that the intention might be to make sure the actor is gone (gone, Baby).

I would have to say, ummm xena on xena warrior princess

How about Chuck from "Happy Days". He didn't exactly die that we know, but on the last show, Mr. C said something about having 2 children.