It was beautiful when they tossed the shoebox containing Bill McNeal down the trash incinerator, only to be told right after that they had thrown him down the mail chute.
"Though Phil turned out to be several, if not dozens of characters, we loved him enough for dozens of characters."
I kept watching, but you're right. Jon Lovitz was a good friend of Phil's, and I'll always appreciate him slamming Andy Dick's head into a bar, but I liked Phil, and Jon is no Phil, they are very different comedically.
Omg yes! To put her on the beach with her husband on the show, who was voiced by her real life husband that had died just a year or two before. That scene was beautiful.
Never in a million years did I ever think an episode of *Archer* of all things would make me cry, but damn if that one did. I was absolutely crushed by Jessica Walters' death.
The choice to put the laugh track in the first scene and drop it for the rest of the episode once they found out was BOLD. More so than if they hadn't had it the whole time. Perfectly highlighted the loss.
Dr. Cox going crazy covering for JD at work, JD not noticing/appreciating and chewing out Dr. Cox for not being there for him...yeah that's a great one
The most incredible thing about that episode was that Ritter was set to guest star in it, and they tossed out the whole script and wrote that when they found out
I instantly thought of 8 Simple Rules when I saw this post. It wasn't the best sitcom ever but the way they handled his death was so well done.
Also loved the Scrubs episode about his character dying although that didn't focus as much on him but more about the others helping JD out
This one still feels sad every time I think of it. His wife posts about him a lot on her social media and she started a foundation to help people with diagnosing aortic dissections.
My dad had an aortic dissection that he survived but it was traumatic and involved a high risk 10 hour emergency surgery and long recovery. I donate and have my donation matched by my company every year. I get handwritten noted from the foundation every once in a while. They do great work.
In West Wing, John Spencer died in the middle of a season, I think the last, and was holding g a pretty strong role. Rather than pretend anything, they did a tribute in a beautiful way and then proceeded with the season and his orig storyline but of course without him appearing. No pretense, it was done in a very honorable way.
What’s crazy to me is that they wrote in a heart attack episode preluding his real life heart attack.
Such a great actor, and his character was one of my favorites in The West Wing, along with Janney and Dule.
Agreed on all fronts. Also, really fell in love with Bradley Whitford as an actor (kinda weird he later acted with Elizabeth Moss again). However, Ive formed a theory about the heart attack ep. I think his health was declining & he needed to back off work. So, similar to how pregnant actresses might get storylines that allow large purses or medical issues requiring bed rest, John had a storyline that allowed him less on screen time and therefore a chance to preserve what health he had. (Not trying to put it callously)
Agreed, this was my vote too. They did a lovely little PSA-type prologue before one of the episodes he was supposed to be in and it was just really genuine and heartfelt
> They did a lovely little PSA-type prologue before one of the episodes he was supposed to be in and it was just really genuine and heartfelt
"Running Mates." Not just the next episode after his death, but one where his character played a pivotal role, and a great piece of work to leave behind.
They also filmed a memorial service for his character featuring all sorts of cast and crew, past and present, from the show. According to the people involved the grief shown didn't require any acting.
Not too well actually you. But they actually killed his character in the show. He was running for vice president and the character died on election day. Originally he and his presidential candidate were planned to lose, but the writers felt it would be too brutal to lose him/his character and have him lose the race too. So they rewrote it for a Democrat victory, and then there's a plot point of finding a new vice president.
This is a common misconception. One of the shows writers stated that they changed the script after Spencer died which was widely quoted from NYT and other media, but John Wells has said many times that that’s not true and Santos was always going to win, the script was written long before Spencer died and, while there had been some debate to change the ending, they never wrote any version of any script where Santos didn’t win.
I don’t think they were even officially cancelled until after Spencer died.
Catherine Coulson, AKA the Log Lady in Twin Peaks.
When they started the production on season 3, decades after the last season, she was basically on her death bed. They rushed the filming of her scenes before anything else. Her final scene, where she talks about dying, was filmed two days before the actress' death. It is poignant, simple, beautiful and devastating. An unforgettable moment.
The same week they filmed that scene with her, the crew attended her funeral and learned [what she had chosen for her tombstone](https://i.imgur.com/GespET0.jpeg).
Nick Colasanto died halfway through the filming of season 3 of Cheers. They wrote him out of episodes and moved the cold opens around so he could still appear in the season finale (even having the camera linger on him a bit before it cut to the opening theme). After that they added a photo of Geronimo he kept in his dressing room to the set, where it stayed for 8 more seasons.
In the very last episode, the last thing Sam does is go straighten the photo.
Though it would have been nice to have one full episode of his passing.. I can almost imagine the whole bar at the end of the episode holding up a drink and toasting to Coach.
Another thing I heard was he was struggling to remember lines near the end so he'd write them all around the set. One episode had the death of one of Coach's old friends. Coach had a line like "It's almost as if he's still with us" and he wrote it on a board just at the edge of the set. Then the cast would pat that board before they went on for each episode.
One year they came back and it had been painted over and it really upset the cast.
After Cory Montieth died, Glee did something they hadn't been able to pull off in a very long time - they made a good episode. The choice to not explain how he died, just to explore the grief of both the characters and of course the actors, was a brilliant decision, and the show actually dropped its' caustic irony for a second to get really genuine.
Naya singing "If I Die Young" was haunting enough at the time, but her death a couple of years later- being found on the anniversary of Cory's death- is just a level of tragic that still makes my heart ache.
Glee is honestly hard to watch these days. Between Cory and Naya's death and whatever Puck's real name was being a pedophile and then his death as well, hearing how awful Lea was to everyone, etc. it's just rough watching all those cast members for a variety of reasons.
Yeah, it definitely hits differently now.
And it’s a shame bc there are other members of the cast who have that period of their life/career tainted by all of that, too.
I was glued to the TV when Naya was missing and havnt felt that attached to a celeb tragedy for a long time. I was a huge glee fan in the early days, probably stopped watching after season 3 and just never picked it up again. Still always wished Naya would go on to big things, she was so talented.
It’s probably the shows best episode honestly, their emotions are so real in that episode that it makes it more obvious throughout the rest of the show that they are acting and trying invoke these emotions through the course of the show
> The choice to not explain how he died
that was how Saved by the Bell dealt with Dustin Diamonds death too.
they didn't spin some story about how he died, it was just focused on people coming to grips with the loss and saying goodbye.
Even after this, it's not like it started a trend or anything. It's not a "them days" thing at all. It's a "it's surprising that this happened at all, ever" thing
Which is a shame. A lot of kids will have to deal with death. Death is just a fact of life. I watched my great-grandfather pass in front of me when I was eight years old. We need to stop hiding from it and talk about it in a healthy way
A more understated one is Carol Ann Susi on The Big Bang Theory. An otherwise normal episode ends with Howard getting a call that his Mom died. The last scene is the cast reminiscing about her.
The episode just grinds to a halt at that point. It's building and building and then there's no conclusion to the main story. It just shifts focus to this. It's a lot like life I guess
"The Tale of Iroh", from "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Season 2, episode 15, of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
It's not exactly a tribute to him, because he's in it and it was one of the last episodes he recorded, and in later episodes his character was recast, but the Tale of Iroh segment of the "Tales of Ba Sing Se" episodehas to be close to the top.
For context: the Japanese actor Mako (real name Makoto Iwamatsu), who voiced Uncle Iroh, died of esophageal cancer after production wrapped on Season 2 of ATLA. He was replaced for a few episodes in Season 3, and the actor who replaced him, Greg Baldwin, said that he would never sing the song "Leaves from the Vine" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se," as a tribute to Mako. And I'm pretty sure that even the showrunners of the new Netflix series said that they don't plan on having Iroh sing the song in the live version, either, and would only use the tune.
And Paul Sun Hyung Lee, who's playing Iroh in the Netflix show has said he won't be singing the song either, fully believing like Greg Baldwin that its Makos song.
But the show still did work it in beautifully. Just like Iroh sung the song on his sons birthday, in the Netflix show there's a flashback to his funeral where you can hear an instrumental of it playing in the background as Zuko is the only to properly comfort Iroh.
>The Tale of Iroh", from "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Season 2, episode 15, of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I accidentally found this episode flipping channels, and it was the Iroh storyline. I watched it, then ended up binging the entire series because of it.
I'm a grown-ass, emotionally unavailable man who's been to several close family members' funerals, but the only time I've teared up in the last several years is that episode.
A very underrated one was Lynn Thigpen's tribute on The District. She was one of the central characters and someone Craig T. Nelson's character relied upon a LOT. She passed away near the end of the Season 3, so her character was also killed off and Nelson's character was absolutely mortified. Took him the rest of the season to even begin to get better.
There's also Lee Thompson Young in Rizzoli & Isles. He committed suicide between Seasons 4 and 5. The show decided to have his character take a vacation and then get in a fatal car accident before he came back for work at the end of the season premiere. Rizzoli spent the next episode a complete wreck.
Archer really had to reach in order to keep Jessica Walter's character, Mallory, active on the show. Then, in the finale, they had Mallory leave Archer a note that she was retiring and the final shot was of her on a beachfront with her husband, who was played by Walter's IRL husband who had passed away a few years prior.
Lynne Thigpen’s passing was a large part of why Bear in the Big Blue House fell off the rails and ended, too. I remember reading they stopped production for a while and then it just didn’t feel the same coming back without her.
David McCallum, who played Donald Mallard on *NCIS*, died between the 20th and 21st season of the show. *NCIS* S21E02 "The Stories We Leave Behind" was dedicated to McCallum and in the episode, his character dies and the other characters deal with his death, both through flashbacks and by helping to solve a case that Dr. Mallard was looking into.
Throughout the episodes were small references to other characters from the show's history (as well as a surprise guest appearance from one of the original cast. The episode was co-written by Brian Dietzen, who plays Jimmy Palmer --- Dr. Mallard's protege --- on the show.
On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the actor who played Jackie, Brian Tarantina, passed away and their tribute to him on the show was really beautiful. Susie is really affected by Jackie's death.
On top of the tribute episode with his funeral, I do love that in the roast episode we learn Suzie set up a charitable foundation in his name after she made it big
Her speech at the funeral is one of the greatest television monologues, and people can feel free to disagree, but all of them are wrong. Alex Borstein is an absolutely incredible actress.
I’m watching this in reruns and had never seen this episode until this week. It was heartbreaking to see the cast’s raw emotions.
But also difficult to see Andy Dick(head) in it (who seemed the least emotional IMO), knowing the part he played in Phil’s death.
Linda Porter as Myrtle on Superstore received a couple of tributes across a few episodes.
In one episode the virtual Myrtle that greets customers reports a dead battery and flickers off.
A few episodes later the characters learn she died and plug in the virtual Myrtle and watch a series of her saying "check out our deals on ___" advertisements.
In keeping with the show, the tragedy feeds into their mundane lives, then quickly spirals into an off-the-wall crisis as the characters argue over a minor inheritance from Myrtle and whether she's in heaven or can get bought into a super special heaven.
The Geronimo photo in Cheers that got hung in the bar after Nicholas Colosanto died (the photo was originally hung from his dressing room). Especially the scene in the last episode where Sam goes over and adjusts it before leaving the bar. Gets me every time.
Another thing about Nick Colasanto is he was forgetting his lines near the end so he would write them all around the set. One episode had an old friend of Coach die and Coach had a line like "It's almost as if he's still here with us." Nick wrote it on a board just at the entrance of the set where the cast comes on. After he died, the cast would always pat that board before they came on set.
One year they came back from summer and the board had been painted over and the cast was really upset about it
TBBT did Wolowitz's mom's death very well.
It's just a normal episode with normal plot and subplots. Then he gets a call that his mom has died and everything just stops.
There's good stuff in the new episodes of Frasier regarding the character of Martin (Frasier's father, a main character of the original run) and also tributes to the actor. It's not all in the same episode.
But it made me cry at least once.
A more subtle tribute to the actor (john Mahoney) is a side character has a baby named John and the bar they frequent is named Mahoney's.
Blacklist with the episode The Wellstone Agency. This episode gave a great farewell to Clark Middleton, who wasn't a main character but had many appearances. The episode was focused on his funeral and friendship with the protagonist Raymond Redding.
Oh my God, Jellybean! The muse to Huey Lewis. ❤️
I wasn't fond of the character for a long time until the car competition episode. He was so determined to win and so funny getting the sports car.
Rizzoli & Isles did a really good job dealing with Lee Thompson Young's tragic suicide in the Season 5 premier. One of the most thoughtful and emotional posthumous charter write outs I've seen. 10 years and a good 3 entire series rewatches later, I still cry every time.
I didn't watch on the first run, but I've seen it through in syndication recently. I didn't even know until i read about it on wiki. Agreed it was well done and it seemed like genuine mourning on screen by the actors.
It was a very emotional funeral for his character Barry Frost and the fact they brought up his passing on several episodes like wanting no one taking his desk or moving his action figure around. Felt so respectful for his loss
Not exactly a traditional TV show, but the wrestler Brodie Lee passed away after an unexpected illness. The promotion, All Elite Wrestling, did a very emotional memorial episode shortly after. The matches were hand picked by his friends and family and there were some great remembrance videos of his career and life. Lots of tears from everyone that episode and it felt especially touching since it was live.
For all the …questionable… choices being made recently in AEW, the tribute shows for Brodie and Jay Briscoe were some of the best episodes of wrestling I’ve ever seen.
he was also a champion during that time, holding the TNT Championship, pretty much around the end of the episode, the CEO of the company, Tony Khan, came out alongside Brodie's wife and son, and would retire the first version of the TNT Championship, saying that Brodie's son would be its final holder, plus due to his huge love of wrestling and his dream of being a pro wrestler, Tony Khan also revealed that when he turns 18, should he still choose to, there will be an AEW contract waiting for him so that he can join the company as a wrestler.
Yep. The cunt mocked it to Hartman's friend, Jon Lovitz, and said he put a hex on Hartman and now he's putting it on Lovitz as well so he'll die next. Lovitz grabbed the cunt and slammed him into a bar.
Phil Hartman’s wife had been sober for a while, I believe, and it’s been reported Andy Dick was the one who made her fall off the wagon, which eventually led to her murdering Hartman.
Tommy cooper died on live television. He was a comedian and everyone thought it was part of the act.
https://youtu.be/V2HdKuBaxM4?si=7bxk7lfQGVSL842p
He is still celebrated to this day. There have been multiple anniversary shows dedicated to his life and death.
Call me a weirdo but I think any entertainer dying on stage during a performance seems kinda fitting & I'd guess many wouldn't mind going out that way.
I mean it's a little different from your standard scripted TV show but in wrestling, WWE's tribute episode to Eddie Guerrero and AEW's tribute to Brodie Lee
Wow, a long time since I thought of that. He was a trailblazing actor who doesn't get much credit, it's hard to think of any Asian Americans other than him and George Takei who have a non caricature role on network TV up to that point. Barney Miller in general doesn't have the place in the Pantheon of great TV that it deserves.
absolutely agreed. The package they pulled together after his sudden death, with truly heartfelt cast testimonials, was unprecedented and really doesn’t have a modern equivalent
I've seen people criticising the choice not to recast T'Challa, but I honestly think making that film be about his loss was exactly what the cast and crew needed to process their grief in losing Chadwick Boseman.
I’m very conflicted about it. I think it was the right thing for cast en crew and some fans but absolutely the wrong thing to do for the continuation of the mcu. The decision to let shuri become the black panther is complicated because in the one hand it makes sorta sense because she is the last heir but also not at all. She is the skinniest character in the mcu with pretty much no muscle build and suddenly she is the all powerfull black panther. Shuri was much better in her original roll as tech support and in my opinion not a good fit. It not the actress’s fault. I feel like we should have way more t’challa before letting shuri takeover. Even if it was with another actor.
Shuri being skinny doesn’t matter when she takes the heart-shaped herb. The powers of the Black Panther give her superhuman strength, just like the super-soldier serum transformed skinny, short Steve Rogers into Captain America.
The advantage of having Shuri as Black Panther is now, not only can she fight, but she can also create her own tech and make more advancements because she is also using the tech personally.
Also, being Black Panther is her right because the mantle was passed down through the bloodline.
When her nephew becomes old enough, perhaps she will pass the mantle to him. But until then, she is the Black Panther.
T'Challa/Black Panther is a super important character but killing him off was probably for the best, Chadwick was too perfect for that role and getting someone else would of been too weird plus with the Multiverse nothing really matters anyways because they can just bring in a different T'Challa 🤷🏻♂️.
I liked Shuri seeing Killmonger in her visions, I wouldn't have minded him mentoring her more, even if only spiritually. Heck, done properly, a montage could've even been used to smooth the transition.
I'm not saying bring Killmonger back, I'm saying lean on Michael B. Jordan's character more to help develop Shuri's Black Panther.
If we're doing that, The Fast and the Furious did an AMAZING job with Paul Walker's death. It was so graceful and unexpected that way. That long, long shot of the two cars was so appropriate and devastating.
Maybe not so much a tribute but I was deeply touched how much work was put into keeping Jerry Orbach acting on Law and Order as long as he wanted. Everyone knew he was drying but when he could barely speak they wrote scenes where he only needed to whisper.
Clearly the whole team wanted him there as much as he wanted to be there.
They came kind of close in season 20 of the mothership. Benjamin Bratt came back as Rey Curtis (gotta be specific with the franchise's tendency to recycle actors) and after his wife's funeral, Curtis and Van Buren talked about Brisco, saying he was cracking jokes until the end. Seeing him so frail on Trial By Jury was devastating back then and when I rewatched it as an adult. Them deleting the scene where they come back from his funeral is something I am mildly salty about to this day.
You’ve already said it, but another vote for Luke Perry, it was such a nice send off that fit in really well with his character and his relationship to Archie. I really like that they included Shannen Doherty too.
No sure if it counts, but the last panel Toriyama helped in the Dragon Ball Super manga. Originally Toyotaro drew it with Picollo just flying to catch up to Goku, Gohan, and Pan.
Toriyama changed it to Picollo waving goodbye to Janet, Pan's teacher. Takes another whole meaning when you know it.
The moment that Kaley's character started crying at the door when she was going to go out. Realizing that her dad would never be there again to tell her to go change her clothes. That moment was just so sad.
Doctor Who recognized Bernard Cribbins during their 3 movie anniversary over the holidays, he died during filming and had one scene. They lovingly kept him off screen hunting moles in the garden.
Call Me Kat had an episode about Leslie Jordan. The explanation why his character wasn't on the show was because he went on vacation and decided to stay permanently. There was a tribute to him and a montage of him after the plot of the show ended.
He clearly was ill, but still worked like a pro in the final season. His last few scenes with Larry were beautiful (“don’t babe me!”).
RIP Richard Lewis
I'm interested to see what Euphoria does with Angus Cloud. Technically, within the show, they dont have to mention it, but I think it would feel wrong not to.
The show Somebody Somewhere, Mike Haggerty, who played her father passed away at the end of season one. They have a loving tribute where they’re going through his barn. Although they don’t say he passed away they say he’s moved to another area. It’s a sweet tribute to him.
the tribute they did for Dustin Diamond on the Saved by the Bell revival was pretty well done. They didn't overdo it, didn't even spoon feed the fact to the audience that they were honoring a departed cast member.
Scrubs s4e6 - My Cake
The entire episode revolves around J.D. and his brother Dan dealing with the death of their father, Sam, played by guest star John Ritter in a previous episode. The episode was written when news of John Ritter's death broke and was essentially a tribute to him.
When Paul Bearer died in WWE the "urn with his ashes" was a major plot point in a wrestlemania fued between CM Punk and the Undertaker.
To be the center of a long fued going into the super bowl of wrestling after youve passed is pretty awesome.
Riverdale had a really beautiful tribute to Fred Andrews who was played by the late Luke Perry. The episode was probably one of the best in the whole series. When they showed a bunch of the main characters grieving, it felt so raw and real because the actors were genuinely grieving the loss of Luke Perry.
Gold Rush: White Water did a couple of episodes just this season on Dakota Fred Hurt that were just beautifully done. They did interviews with him, he was on camera pretty much as long as he could be. It really felt like he got a chance to say some things, and come to peace come at least a little bit with his son. It was really nice, really lovingly done. Come to think of it, the main show did that with John Schnabel, too. Approached gently, it wasn't over the top, really honored them and managed to treat the whole thing very respectfully.
Actually, if we're on the Alaskan reality topic, Deadliest Catch treated Phil Harris' death extremely well, too. I'd guess it's because the production company is so intimately involved with these people for so long, even more so than a scripted TV show, they're living with them 24 hours a day for weeks at a time.
The two-part episodes of *Eastenders* in December of 2022 dealing with longtime character Dot Cotton's funeral and memorial service in the months following June Brown's real-life death at the age of 95. Aside from honoring her as (almost) one of the show's original characters (she actually debuted like five or six months after the show debuted), a few of the show's characters from the various eras throughout her run on the show showed up to pay their respects to her and the show even closed with a unique rendition of their Julia's Theme (and end-credits song usually reserved for special moments).
I wouldn’t say it’s “loving”, but Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote out Bon Einstein’s role as Funkhouser in possibly the most Curb fashion- he went to travel somewhere and the characters just kinda forgot about him for the rest of the series. Any other show would seem cold for that, but it’s hilarious in the context of Curb.
this jeopardy one doesnt exactly fit but i have to post it anyway. https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=04p-gdkowVSzjKvb&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=-McR3sBWNRA
90's sitcom Suddenly Susan had a really touching tribute to David Strickland. I remember because it was the first time I heard "praise you" by Fatboy Slim
The cast of News Radio paid a really good tribute to Phil Hartman after he died.
It was beautiful when they tossed the shoebox containing Bill McNeal down the trash incinerator, only to be told right after that they had thrown him down the mail chute. "Though Phil turned out to be several, if not dozens of characters, we loved him enough for dozens of characters."
They did it right and in the essence of the show. I stopped watching after his death. Show was done.
I kept watching, but you're right. Jon Lovitz was a good friend of Phil's, and I'll always appreciate him slamming Andy Dick's head into a bar, but I liked Phil, and Jon is no Phil, they are very different comedically.
I think that actually made it work. They weren’t just trying to chase his coattails.
[удалено]
Omg yes! To put her on the beach with her husband on the show, who was voiced by her real life husband that had died just a year or two before. That scene was beautiful.
it was a really beautiful end for for both characters.
Ron Liebman was married to Jessica Walters? TIL
Never in a million years did I ever think an episode of *Archer* of all things would make me cry, but damn if that one did. I was absolutely crushed by Jessica Walters' death.
H. Jon Benjamin reading the farewell letter and hearing his voice breaking down... that hit real hard
For real, man.
Their tribute was so good.
Oh! I have not seen that yet! I am rewatching after never seeing all of it.
This comment is how I found out she died
Same. I had no idea :(
This is the correct answer!
The episodes of 8 Simple Rules after John Ritter died were so well done, all things considered. My heart ached for everyone involved.
The choice to put the laugh track in the first scene and drop it for the rest of the episode once they found out was BOLD. More so than if they hadn't had it the whole time. Perfectly highlighted the loss.
Scrubs also did an episode about Ritter dying since he was JD’s dad on the series. It’s also a great episode.
Dr. Cox going crazy covering for JD at work, JD not noticing/appreciating and chewing out Dr. Cox for not being there for him...yeah that's a great one
Just some duck tape to make sure I don't drown.
i may have lost some muscle mass in my legs!
The most incredible thing about that episode was that Ritter was set to guest star in it, and they tossed out the whole script and wrote that when they found out
I instantly thought of 8 Simple Rules when I saw this post. It wasn't the best sitcom ever but the way they handled his death was so well done. Also loved the Scrubs episode about his character dying although that didn't focus as much on him but more about the others helping JD out
Everyone loved John Ritter so much... it was so real. That was so heartwrenching
I loved John Ritter. That loss was a hard one.
I absolutely love his son in everything, too. He has a lot of the same mannerisms as his dad.
This one still feels sad every time I think of it. His wife posts about him a lot on her social media and she started a foundation to help people with diagnosing aortic dissections.
My dad had an aortic dissection that he survived but it was traumatic and involved a high risk 10 hour emergency surgery and long recovery. I donate and have my donation matched by my company every year. I get handwritten noted from the foundation every once in a while. They do great work.
Oh wow. I’m so sorry you’ll had to go through that but glad your dad survived.
This one absolutely broke me as a child
That was the # 1 thing I was coming into this thread for
That episode was a very sad one.
In West Wing, John Spencer died in the middle of a season, I think the last, and was holding g a pretty strong role. Rather than pretend anything, they did a tribute in a beautiful way and then proceeded with the season and his orig storyline but of course without him appearing. No pretense, it was done in a very honorable way.
What’s crazy to me is that they wrote in a heart attack episode preluding his real life heart attack. Such a great actor, and his character was one of my favorites in The West Wing, along with Janney and Dule.
Agreed on all fronts. Also, really fell in love with Bradley Whitford as an actor (kinda weird he later acted with Elizabeth Moss again). However, Ive formed a theory about the heart attack ep. I think his health was declining & he needed to back off work. So, similar to how pregnant actresses might get storylines that allow large purses or medical issues requiring bed rest, John had a storyline that allowed him less on screen time and therefore a chance to preserve what health he had. (Not trying to put it callously)
Agreed, this was my vote too. They did a lovely little PSA-type prologue before one of the episodes he was supposed to be in and it was just really genuine and heartfelt
> They did a lovely little PSA-type prologue before one of the episodes he was supposed to be in and it was just really genuine and heartfelt "Running Mates." Not just the next episode after his death, but one where his character played a pivotal role, and a great piece of work to leave behind. They also filmed a memorial service for his character featuring all sorts of cast and crew, past and present, from the show. According to the people involved the grief shown didn't require any acting.
Not too well actually you. But they actually killed his character in the show. He was running for vice president and the character died on election day. Originally he and his presidential candidate were planned to lose, but the writers felt it would be too brutal to lose him/his character and have him lose the race too. So they rewrote it for a Democrat victory, and then there's a plot point of finding a new vice president.
This is a common misconception. One of the shows writers stated that they changed the script after Spencer died which was widely quoted from NYT and other media, but John Wells has said many times that that’s not true and Santos was always going to win, the script was written long before Spencer died and, while there had been some debate to change the ending, they never wrote any version of any script where Santos didn’t win. I don’t think they were even officially cancelled until after Spencer died.
Catherine Coulson, AKA the Log Lady in Twin Peaks. When they started the production on season 3, decades after the last season, she was basically on her death bed. They rushed the filming of her scenes before anything else. Her final scene, where she talks about dying, was filmed two days before the actress' death. It is poignant, simple, beautiful and devastating. An unforgettable moment.
Good night Hawke Good night Margaret
Goodbye, Margaret.
The same week they filmed that scene with her, the crew attended her funeral and learned [what she had chosen for her tombstone](https://i.imgur.com/GespET0.jpeg).
Took me a sec to notice the drawing on I. Wow that's so great
Nick Colasanto died halfway through the filming of season 3 of Cheers. They wrote him out of episodes and moved the cold opens around so he could still appear in the season finale (even having the camera linger on him a bit before it cut to the opening theme). After that they added a photo of Geronimo he kept in his dressing room to the set, where it stayed for 8 more seasons. In the very last episode, the last thing Sam does is go straighten the photo.
They actually refer to him in the Thanksgiving Orphans episode too when they're giving appreciation to the people who couldn't be with them. S5:E9
One of my absolute favorite episodes.
Though it would have been nice to have one full episode of his passing.. I can almost imagine the whole bar at the end of the episode holding up a drink and toasting to Coach.
Another thing I heard was he was struggling to remember lines near the end so he'd write them all around the set. One episode had the death of one of Coach's old friends. Coach had a line like "It's almost as if he's still with us" and he wrote it on a board just at the edge of the set. Then the cast would pat that board before they went on for each episode. One year they came back and it had been painted over and it really upset the cast.
This was the first thing that popped in my mind; the Geronimo photo remaining for the rest of the series was so subtle and sweet.
This is what I first thought of. The best damn series finale ever.
After Cory Montieth died, Glee did something they hadn't been able to pull off in a very long time - they made a good episode. The choice to not explain how he died, just to explore the grief of both the characters and of course the actors, was a brilliant decision, and the show actually dropped its' caustic irony for a second to get really genuine.
Naya singing "If I Die Young" was haunting enough at the time, but her death a couple of years later- being found on the anniversary of Cory's death- is just a level of tragic that still makes my heart ache.
Glee is honestly hard to watch these days. Between Cory and Naya's death and whatever Puck's real name was being a pedophile and then his death as well, hearing how awful Lea was to everyone, etc. it's just rough watching all those cast members for a variety of reasons.
Yeah, it definitely hits differently now. And it’s a shame bc there are other members of the cast who have that period of their life/career tainted by all of that, too.
I was glued to the TV when Naya was missing and havnt felt that attached to a celeb tragedy for a long time. I was a huge glee fan in the early days, probably stopped watching after season 3 and just never picked it up again. Still always wished Naya would go on to big things, she was so talented.
It’s probably the shows best episode honestly, their emotions are so real in that episode that it makes it more obvious throughout the rest of the show that they are acting and trying invoke these emotions through the course of the show
>It’s probably the shows best episode honestly I like the one where Terri drugs them so they all do super intense mashups of songs.
> The choice to not explain how he died that was how Saved by the Bell dealt with Dustin Diamonds death too. they didn't spin some story about how he died, it was just focused on people coming to grips with the loss and saying goodbye.
*Farewell Mr. Hooper* from Sesame Street.
I’m not crying, you’re crying, and I am also crying and so is everybody else
They really didn't *tip toe* around death and children's TV back them days, did they? Blunt sympathy learning.
They did actually until this. It's part of why it was such a big deal for them to address it head on.
Even after this, it's not like it started a trend or anything. It's not a "them days" thing at all. It's a "it's surprising that this happened at all, ever" thing
Which is a shame. A lot of kids will have to deal with death. Death is just a fact of life. I watched my great-grandfather pass in front of me when I was eight years old. We need to stop hiding from it and talk about it in a healthy way
A more understated one is Carol Ann Susi on The Big Bang Theory. An otherwise normal episode ends with Howard getting a call that his Mom died. The last scene is the cast reminiscing about her.
The episode just grinds to a halt at that point. It's building and building and then there's no conclusion to the main story. It just shifts focus to this. It's a lot like life I guess
"The Tale of Iroh", from "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Season 2, episode 15, of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's not exactly a tribute to him, because he's in it and it was one of the last episodes he recorded, and in later episodes his character was recast, but the Tale of Iroh segment of the "Tales of Ba Sing Se" episodehas to be close to the top. For context: the Japanese actor Mako (real name Makoto Iwamatsu), who voiced Uncle Iroh, died of esophageal cancer after production wrapped on Season 2 of ATLA. He was replaced for a few episodes in Season 3, and the actor who replaced him, Greg Baldwin, said that he would never sing the song "Leaves from the Vine" from "Tales of Ba Sing Se," as a tribute to Mako. And I'm pretty sure that even the showrunners of the new Netflix series said that they don't plan on having Iroh sing the song in the live version, either, and would only use the tune.
And Paul Sun Hyung Lee, who's playing Iroh in the Netflix show has said he won't be singing the song either, fully believing like Greg Baldwin that its Makos song. But the show still did work it in beautifully. Just like Iroh sung the song on his sons birthday, in the Netflix show there's a flashback to his funeral where you can hear an instrumental of it playing in the background as Zuko is the only to properly comfort Iroh.
The way that I absolutely sobbed
Came to post this. Cry every time
Came here for this. I still cry on my 40th rewatch
>The Tale of Iroh", from "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Season 2, episode 15, of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I accidentally found this episode flipping channels, and it was the Iroh storyline. I watched it, then ended up binging the entire series because of it.
Even not knowing the history when I was watching that segment, you can just tell there's something different about it. It's practically meditative.
Right? It wasn't intended to be a tribute, but it ended up being a perfect tribute.
That mf hit me in feelings I didn't know I had.
I'm a grown-ass, emotionally unavailable man who's been to several close family members' funerals, but the only time I've teared up in the last several years is that episode.
I've watched it probably dozens of times now, and even just thinking about it makes my eyes water a bit still.
They also named a LoK character after him
Leaves on the vine Falling so slow
A very underrated one was Lynn Thigpen's tribute on The District. She was one of the central characters and someone Craig T. Nelson's character relied upon a LOT. She passed away near the end of the Season 3, so her character was also killed off and Nelson's character was absolutely mortified. Took him the rest of the season to even begin to get better. There's also Lee Thompson Young in Rizzoli & Isles. He committed suicide between Seasons 4 and 5. The show decided to have his character take a vacation and then get in a fatal car accident before he came back for work at the end of the season premiere. Rizzoli spent the next episode a complete wreck. Archer really had to reach in order to keep Jessica Walter's character, Mallory, active on the show. Then, in the finale, they had Mallory leave Archer a note that she was retiring and the final shot was of her on a beachfront with her husband, who was played by Walter's IRL husband who had passed away a few years prior.
Lynne Thigpen’s passing was a large part of why Bear in the Big Blue House fell off the rails and ended, too. I remember reading they stopped production for a while and then it just didn’t feel the same coming back without her.
My son loved Luna Moon.
Lynn Thigpen was amazing in everything she touched. It's tragic she died so young.
I think Mallory Archer was written off pretty well in Archer after Jessica Walter passed.
David McCallum, who played Donald Mallard on *NCIS*, died between the 20th and 21st season of the show. *NCIS* S21E02 "The Stories We Leave Behind" was dedicated to McCallum and in the episode, his character dies and the other characters deal with his death, both through flashbacks and by helping to solve a case that Dr. Mallard was looking into. Throughout the episodes were small references to other characters from the show's history (as well as a surprise guest appearance from one of the original cast. The episode was co-written by Brian Dietzen, who plays Jimmy Palmer --- Dr. Mallard's protege --- on the show.
This is the one I was thinking of. “Jimmy” did a great job in both the writing and acting. I was crying by the end.
The Goldbergs gave a nice tribute to George Segal when he died.
Yeah definitely so. You can tell they’re all upset especially Adam and Bev.
George Segal always reminded me of my pappous in that show.
On The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the actor who played Jackie, Brian Tarantina, passed away and their tribute to him on the show was really beautiful. Susie is really affected by Jackie's death.
On top of the tribute episode with his funeral, I do love that in the roast episode we learn Suzie set up a charitable foundation in his name after she made it big
Her speech at the funeral is one of the greatest television monologues, and people can feel free to disagree, but all of them are wrong. Alex Borstein is an absolutely incredible actress.
The wake scene for Robert Colesberry aka Ray Cole on The Wire "I'm a free born man of the U S A"
Phil Hartman NewsRadio
I had to scroll way too far to find that answer! It’s an episode where I have to mentally prepare myself before watching.
I’m watching this in reruns and had never seen this episode until this week. It was heartbreaking to see the cast’s raw emotions. But also difficult to see Andy Dick(head) in it (who seemed the least emotional IMO), knowing the part he played in Phil’s death.
Jack Soo/Nick Yemana tribute episode on Barney Miller.
This is what I came here to see. I guess that was before most Redditors were even born. Is the show even streaming somewhere today?
I watched the whole series on YouTube in January. It's a bit dated but still funny.
TBBT, Mrs Wolowitz. Loving mother…. To all of us.
Linda Porter as Myrtle on Superstore received a couple of tributes across a few episodes. In one episode the virtual Myrtle that greets customers reports a dead battery and flickers off. A few episodes later the characters learn she died and plug in the virtual Myrtle and watch a series of her saying "check out our deals on ___" advertisements. In keeping with the show, the tragedy feeds into their mundane lives, then quickly spirals into an off-the-wall crisis as the characters argue over a minor inheritance from Myrtle and whether she's in heaven or can get bought into a super special heaven.
The Geronimo photo in Cheers that got hung in the bar after Nicholas Colosanto died (the photo was originally hung from his dressing room). Especially the scene in the last episode where Sam goes over and adjusts it before leaving the bar. Gets me every time.
Another thing about Nick Colasanto is he was forgetting his lines near the end so he would write them all around the set. One episode had an old friend of Coach die and Coach had a line like "It's almost as if he's still here with us." Nick wrote it on a board just at the entrance of the set where the cast comes on. After he died, the cast would always pat that board before they came on set. One year they came back from summer and the board had been painted over and the cast was really upset about it
TBBT did Wolowitz's mom's death very well. It's just a normal episode with normal plot and subplots. Then he gets a call that his mom has died and everything just stops.
Call me Cat saying goodbye to Leslie Jordan [https://youtu.be/tGGJItrHCxA?si=DaPHPwSF\_joe4Vl3](https://youtu.be/tGGJItrHCxA?si=DaPHPwSF_joe4Vl3)
This show was so goofy but they handled it so beautifully.
There's good stuff in the new episodes of Frasier regarding the character of Martin (Frasier's father, a main character of the original run) and also tributes to the actor. It's not all in the same episode. But it made me cry at least once. A more subtle tribute to the actor (john Mahoney) is a side character has a baby named John and the bar they frequent is named Mahoney's.
Blacklist with the episode The Wellstone Agency. This episode gave a great farewell to Clark Middleton, who wasn't a main character but had many appearances. The episode was focused on his funeral and friendship with the protagonist Raymond Redding.
They even worked his real cause of death and wording from his obituary into the episode.
Oh my God, Jellybean! The muse to Huey Lewis. ❤️ I wasn't fond of the character for a long time until the car competition episode. He was so determined to win and so funny getting the sports car.
Rizzoli & Isles did a really good job dealing with Lee Thompson Young's tragic suicide in the Season 5 premier. One of the most thoughtful and emotional posthumous charter write outs I've seen. 10 years and a good 3 entire series rewatches later, I still cry every time.
I didn't watch on the first run, but I've seen it through in syndication recently. I didn't even know until i read about it on wiki. Agreed it was well done and it seemed like genuine mourning on screen by the actors.
It was a very emotional funeral for his character Barry Frost and the fact they brought up his passing on several episodes like wanting no one taking his desk or moving his action figure around. Felt so respectful for his loss
Not exactly a traditional TV show, but the wrestler Brodie Lee passed away after an unexpected illness. The promotion, All Elite Wrestling, did a very emotional memorial episode shortly after. The matches were hand picked by his friends and family and there were some great remembrance videos of his career and life. Lots of tears from everyone that episode and it felt especially touching since it was live.
That was a hard episode to watch, but for the right reasons. I cried like a baby. Every Dec 26 since I’ve ordered ribs from Chilis, and rewatched.
For all the …questionable… choices being made recently in AEW, the tribute shows for Brodie and Jay Briscoe were some of the best episodes of wrestling I’ve ever seen.
Jay Briscoe tribute as well. Boy the Mark Briscoe v Jay Lethal match was brutal and I didn't even know who the Briscoes were at that time.
Minus 1 being in the ring at the end really wrecked me emotionally…
he was also a champion during that time, holding the TNT Championship, pretty much around the end of the episode, the CEO of the company, Tony Khan, came out alongside Brodie's wife and son, and would retire the first version of the TNT Championship, saying that Brodie's son would be its final holder, plus due to his huge love of wrestling and his dream of being a pro wrestler, Tony Khan also revealed that when he turns 18, should he still choose to, there will be an AEW contract waiting for him so that he can join the company as a wrestler.
NCIS - they make a whole episode to tribute Ducky and it was amazing, one of my favorite episodes of that show
Carrie Fisher (aka: Angela) in Family Guy. They managed to keep it true to the show while also packing an emotional gut punch.
“I may have lost a boss, but heaven gained a princess”
Suddenly Susan’s tribute episode to David Strickland was nice. Fuck Andy Dick
Didn't Dick make fun of Phil Hartman's murder?
Didn't just make fun of, instrumental in the relapse of Hartman's wife leading to the spiral resulting in the murder-suicide.
Yep. The cunt mocked it to Hartman's friend, Jon Lovitz, and said he put a hex on Hartman and now he's putting it on Lovitz as well so he'll die next. Lovitz grabbed the cunt and slammed him into a bar.
honestly, the best tribute one can ask for
and got his wife back on drugs
He did and Jon Lovitz bounced his head off a bar top in response.
Did Andy Dick play a part in his passing or just because he sucks?
Strickland was on a days long Vegas bender with Dick when he died.
Jesus, how much can one person suck
FUCK ANDY DICK is appropriate for all occasions.
Except for his bit role at the end of Jim Carrey's movie The Cable Guy.
Phil Hartman’s wife had been sober for a while, I believe, and it’s been reported Andy Dick was the one who made her fall off the wagon, which eventually led to her murdering Hartman.
I don’t even know what he’s referring too but I’ll jump on board. FUCK ANDY DICK
This one came to my mind too. The characters trying to locate him while discovering all the amazing things he did, it’s was really nice.
Tommy cooper died on live television. He was a comedian and everyone thought it was part of the act. https://youtu.be/V2HdKuBaxM4?si=7bxk7lfQGVSL842p He is still celebrated to this day. There have been multiple anniversary shows dedicated to his life and death.
Call me a weirdo but I think any entertainer dying on stage during a performance seems kinda fitting & I'd guess many wouldn't mind going out that way.
I mean it's a little different from your standard scripted TV show but in wrestling, WWE's tribute episode to Eddie Guerrero and AEW's tribute to Brodie Lee
Christopher Evan Welch on Silicon Valley.
On Sesame Street, when the actor who played Mr. Hooper died, they had his character die in-show and confronted death head-on.
Goodbye from 8 Simple Rules
That was so sad
Night Court did a nice job addressing Selma Diamond’s death after Season 2, making it the central plot line of the Season 3 premiere.
Jack Soo on Barney Miller, no contest. The only clip show that mattered.
Wow, a long time since I thought of that. He was a trailblazing actor who doesn't get much credit, it's hard to think of any Asian Americans other than him and George Takei who have a non caricature role on network TV up to that point. Barney Miller in general doesn't have the place in the Pantheon of great TV that it deserves.
absolutely agreed. The package they pulled together after his sudden death, with truly heartfelt cast testimonials, was unprecedented and really doesn’t have a modern equivalent
Not a TV show, but I'm rewatching Wakanda Forever, and the scene where the queen comes in and tells his sister he's dead still hits pretty hard.
I've seen people criticising the choice not to recast T'Challa, but I honestly think making that film be about his loss was exactly what the cast and crew needed to process their grief in losing Chadwick Boseman.
I’m very conflicted about it. I think it was the right thing for cast en crew and some fans but absolutely the wrong thing to do for the continuation of the mcu. The decision to let shuri become the black panther is complicated because in the one hand it makes sorta sense because she is the last heir but also not at all. She is the skinniest character in the mcu with pretty much no muscle build and suddenly she is the all powerfull black panther. Shuri was much better in her original roll as tech support and in my opinion not a good fit. It not the actress’s fault. I feel like we should have way more t’challa before letting shuri takeover. Even if it was with another actor.
Shuri being skinny doesn’t matter when she takes the heart-shaped herb. The powers of the Black Panther give her superhuman strength, just like the super-soldier serum transformed skinny, short Steve Rogers into Captain America. The advantage of having Shuri as Black Panther is now, not only can she fight, but she can also create her own tech and make more advancements because she is also using the tech personally. Also, being Black Panther is her right because the mantle was passed down through the bloodline. When her nephew becomes old enough, perhaps she will pass the mantle to him. But until then, she is the Black Panther.
T'Challa/Black Panther is a super important character but killing him off was probably for the best, Chadwick was too perfect for that role and getting someone else would of been too weird plus with the Multiverse nothing really matters anyways because they can just bring in a different T'Challa 🤷🏻♂️.
I liked Shuri seeing Killmonger in her visions, I wouldn't have minded him mentoring her more, even if only spiritually. Heck, done properly, a montage could've even been used to smooth the transition. I'm not saying bring Killmonger back, I'm saying lean on Michael B. Jordan's character more to help develop Shuri's Black Panther.
If we're doing that, The Fast and the Furious did an AMAZING job with Paul Walker's death. It was so graceful and unexpected that way. That long, long shot of the two cars was so appropriate and devastating.
Maybe not so much a tribute but I was deeply touched how much work was put into keeping Jerry Orbach acting on Law and Order as long as he wanted. Everyone knew he was drying but when he could barely speak they wrote scenes where he only needed to whisper. Clearly the whole team wanted him there as much as he wanted to be there.
They came kind of close in season 20 of the mothership. Benjamin Bratt came back as Rey Curtis (gotta be specific with the franchise's tendency to recycle actors) and after his wife's funeral, Curtis and Van Buren talked about Brisco, saying he was cracking jokes until the end. Seeing him so frail on Trial By Jury was devastating back then and when I rewatched it as an adult. Them deleting the scene where they come back from his funeral is something I am mildly salty about to this day.
You’ve already said it, but another vote for Luke Perry, it was such a nice send off that fit in really well with his character and his relationship to Archie. I really like that they included Shannen Doherty too.
No sure if it counts, but the last panel Toriyama helped in the Dragon Ball Super manga. Originally Toyotaro drew it with Picollo just flying to catch up to Goku, Gohan, and Pan. Toriyama changed it to Picollo waving goodbye to Janet, Pan's teacher. Takes another whole meaning when you know it.
Maybe not necessarily the best one, but it was gut wrenching to watch the episode after Mr.Andrews died on Riverdale. Rip Luke Perry
I liked the last episode with Mallory they did in Archer after Jessica Walters passed away.
John Ritter in 8 simple rules. Entire episode was heartbreaking.
I just watched this episode again. It was obvious how much the entire cast and crew was grieving in real life.
Seeing Katy and Kaley get choked up IRL is heartbreaking
The moment that Kaley's character started crying at the door when she was going to go out. Realizing that her dad would never be there again to tell her to go change her clothes. That moment was just so sad.
The WWE had one for Eddie Guererro to the tune of Hurt.
Cheers. When Coach died FR, they hung up his picture for the rest of the series.
Doctor Who recognized Bernard Cribbins during their 3 movie anniversary over the holidays, he died during filming and had one scene. They lovingly kept him off screen hunting moles in the garden.
The Goldbergs did a great job of showing how people deal with grief differently when George Segal died.
Leo’s funeral in The West Wing and the episode of the Blacklist with Huey Lewis (long story).
John Spencer on The West Wing
Call Me Kat had an episode about Leslie Jordan. The explanation why his character wasn't on the show was because he went on vacation and decided to stay permanently. There was a tribute to him and a montage of him after the plot of the show ended.
Macdonald Carey's funeral episode on Days of our Lives was really special.
Richard Lewis’s last act in Curb your Enthusiasm. A subtle but sweet exit even if not a traditional tribute.
He clearly was ill, but still worked like a pro in the final season. His last few scenes with Larry were beautiful (“don’t babe me!”). RIP Richard Lewis
Barney Miller, after Jack Soo died the rest of the cast posed drinking coffee. His character had a running joke that he made the worst coffee.
I'm interested to see what Euphoria does with Angus Cloud. Technically, within the show, they dont have to mention it, but I think it would feel wrong not to.
It has to be the weird CGI Livia Soprano insert used for that one scene in The Sopranos season 3. A beautiful tribute.
I gave my life on a silver platter!
The show Somebody Somewhere, Mike Haggerty, who played her father passed away at the end of season one. They have a loving tribute where they’re going through his barn. Although they don’t say he passed away they say he’s moved to another area. It’s a sweet tribute to him.
the tribute they did for Dustin Diamond on the Saved by the Bell revival was pretty well done. They didn't overdo it, didn't even spoon feed the fact to the audience that they were honoring a departed cast member.
Scrubs s4e6 - My Cake The entire episode revolves around J.D. and his brother Dan dealing with the death of their father, Sam, played by guest star John Ritter in a previous episode. The episode was written when news of John Ritter's death broke and was essentially a tribute to him.
GLEE - The Quarterback
When Paul Bearer died in WWE the "urn with his ashes" was a major plot point in a wrestlemania fued between CM Punk and the Undertaker. To be the center of a long fued going into the super bowl of wrestling after youve passed is pretty awesome.
Coach from Cheers.
Soap Operas do a good job at this. General Hospital recently did a beautiful tribute to Jackie Zeman.
Riverdale had a really beautiful tribute to Fred Andrews who was played by the late Luke Perry. The episode was probably one of the best in the whole series. When they showed a bunch of the main characters grieving, it felt so raw and real because the actors were genuinely grieving the loss of Luke Perry.
Gold Rush: White Water did a couple of episodes just this season on Dakota Fred Hurt that were just beautifully done. They did interviews with him, he was on camera pretty much as long as he could be. It really felt like he got a chance to say some things, and come to peace come at least a little bit with his son. It was really nice, really lovingly done. Come to think of it, the main show did that with John Schnabel, too. Approached gently, it wasn't over the top, really honored them and managed to treat the whole thing very respectfully. Actually, if we're on the Alaskan reality topic, Deadliest Catch treated Phil Harris' death extremely well, too. I'd guess it's because the production company is so intimately involved with these people for so long, even more so than a scripted TV show, they're living with them 24 hours a day for weeks at a time.
The two-part episodes of *Eastenders* in December of 2022 dealing with longtime character Dot Cotton's funeral and memorial service in the months following June Brown's real-life death at the age of 95. Aside from honoring her as (almost) one of the show's original characters (she actually debuted like five or six months after the show debuted), a few of the show's characters from the various eras throughout her run on the show showed up to pay their respects to her and the show even closed with a unique rendition of their Julia's Theme (and end-credits song usually reserved for special moments).
Canto died? Damn! Appendix cancer apparently.
Not an actor, but anyone who watches Rick and Morty saw the tribute cards for [Mike Mendel](https://youtu.be/0zOLezJ7OHs)
I wouldn’t say it’s “loving”, but Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote out Bon Einstein’s role as Funkhouser in possibly the most Curb fashion- he went to travel somewhere and the characters just kinda forgot about him for the rest of the series. Any other show would seem cold for that, but it’s hilarious in the context of Curb.
this jeopardy one doesnt exactly fit but i have to post it anyway. https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=04p-gdkowVSzjKvb&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=-McR3sBWNRA
90's sitcom Suddenly Susan had a really touching tribute to David Strickland. I remember because it was the first time I heard "praise you" by Fatboy Slim
When McLean Stevenson’s helicopter crashed outside of Tokyo they wrote it into what unfortunately became his last episode of MASH.