15 TV Characters That Were Never Meant to Last

Course correction. It exists in art for a reason, usually in frustrating ways. Usually some artists have to change their intended vision on the whims of a producer that’s funding the show, or some other bigwig that is in charge of creative people but isn’t really creative themselves. Because of this, the art suffers for it.

However, there are times, in television especially, in which course correction has been done for the better. If there wasn’t a change of mind or of plans, several now-iconic characters would have just been around for a brief moment, never given the time to be the fully fleshed out people we see on the screen. In fact, several roles that were meant to be just brief hello/goodbye launched careers.

Here’s a list containing some of the most iconic TV roles and characters that were meant to be one-offs, but turned into endearing presences on our screens.