At the end of last year's prime time television season, Fox -- the network with the itchiest trigger finger on television when it comes to cancelling shows -- gave Christian Slater the bad news that his show, "Breaking In," had gotten the axe. Many in the media, including myself, began proclaiming Christian Slater as the new King of the Show Killers, having suffered an 0-3 streak with "The Forgotten" and "My Own Worst Enemy." But the reality is, even if Fox hadn't reversed recently course and given "Breaking In" a second-season renewal (as a mid-season replacement), Christian Slater is nowhere near King of the Show Killers. Three cancelled TV shows wouldn't even put the man in the top 20.
Indeed, you might imagine that after three strikes a sitcom actor would typically float off into obscurity. Not true of many actors, who manage to climb aboard a new show every pilot season, only to see another effort crash and burn. But like the Phoenix from the ashes, these television duds rise again. Of course, some of the most notorious show killers eventually do land a hit: Jon Cryer, for instance, failed nearly a dozen times between Pretty in Pink and "Two and a Half Men." Others, like the supremely talented Paula Marshall, can be seen yet again on this fall season's television schedule as Maleficent in "Once Upon a Time." I give it 6 episodes.
The slideshow that begins below is the Internet's Definitive Guide to the 20 Most Lethal Show Killers. In most cases, these players were regular cast members or had recurring character roles on short-lived television shows; sometimes, a guest appearance on one episode was enough to seal the show's cancelled fate. Some of these shows were lesser failures than others, but you couldn't reasonably consider any of them a commercial success.
20. Jaime King (5): "My Generation, "Gary Unmarried," "The Class," "Kitchen Confidential," "Harry Green and Eugene."
19. Joely Fisher (5): "Wild Card," "Baby Bob," "Danny," "Normal Ohio," and "Grosse Point."
18. Judy Greer (6): "Glen Martin DDS," "Mad Love," "Miss Guided," "Love Monkey," "Love and Money," and "Maggie Winters."
17. Summer Glau (7): "Good Morning Rabbit," "The Cape," "Dollhouse," "The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," "The Unit," and "Firefly."
16. David Krumholz (7): "The Lyon's Den," "Lucky," "Undeclared," "The Trouble with Normal," "The Closer," "Chicago Sons," and "Monty."
15. Mark Feuerstein (7): "The Hustler," "3 lbs," "Shark," "Good Morning Miami," "Conrad Bloom," "Fired Up," and "Caroline in the City."
14. George Clooney (8): "Sisters," "The Building," "Bodies of Evidence," "Jack's Place," "Baby Talk," "Throb," "Sunset Beat," "E/R" (not "E.R."), and the waning years of "The Facts of Life."
13. Rena Sofer (8): "Dirty Sexy Money," "Blind Justice," "Mr. Nice Guy," "Coupling," "The Chronicle," "Opposite Sex," "Timecop," and "Oh, Grow Up"
12. Tim Matheson (9): "Wolf Lake," "The Legend of Calamity Jane," "Charlie Hoover," "Just in Time," "Trying Times," "Tucker's Witch," "Trying Times," "Magician," "Three for the Road."
11. Mädchen Amick (9): "My Own Worst Enemy," "Shark," "Viva Laughlin," "Kidnapped," "Freddie," "Joey," "Jake in Progress," "Queens Supreme," and "CPW."
10. Lindsay Price (10): "Love Bites," "Eastwick," "Lipstick Jungle," "Pepper Dennis," "Kitchen Confidential," "The Mountain," "Coupling," "Becker," "Jack and Jill," and "Head over Heels."
9. David Alan Grier (10): "Life with Bonnie," "Samurai Jack," "Cedric the Entertainer Presents," "The Preston Episodes," "Tanner '88," "All is Forgiven," "The Proud Family," "Dag," "Damon," and "Pinky and the Brain"
8. Jon Cryer (11): "Danny Phantom," "Stripperella," "Hey Joel," "Becker," "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," "The Trouble with Normal," "Mr. Show with Bob and David," "Getting Personal," "It's Good to Be King," "Partners," and "The Famous Teddy Z."
7. Mark Valley (11): "Human Target," "Swingtown," "Emily's Reason's Why Not," "Keen Eddie," "I'm with Her," Harry Green and Eugene," "Pasadena," "The Lone Gunmen," "Brimstone," "LateLine," and "Gideon's Crossing."
6. Sherri Shepard (12): "Sherri," "The Wedding Bells," "Kim Possible," "Less than Perfect," "Brandy and Mr. Whiskers," "My Adventures in Television," "Emeril," "The Jamie Foxx Show," "Suddenly Susan," "The Trouble with Normal," "Holding the Baby," and "Cleghorne."
5. Paget Brewster (12): "Dan vs.," "Stacked," "Duck Dodger," "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," "Rock Me Baby," "George Lopez," "Raising Dad," "Dag," "The Trouble with Normal," "Love and Money," "The Expert," and "Godzilla: The Series."
4. Paula Marshall (13): "Friends with Benefits," "Gary Unmarried," "Shark," "Out of Practice," "Hidden Hills," "Ms. Match," "The Weber Show," "Snoops," "Cupid," "Chicago Sons," "The Single Guy," "Nash Bridges," "Wild Oats."
3. Dondre Whitfield (15): "The Event," "Samantha Who?" "Jake in Progress," "Second Time Around," Strong Medicine," "Half and Half," "Less than Perfect," "The Hidden Hills," "Girlfriends," "Inside Schwartz," "Nash Bridges," "Secret Agent Man," "Between Brothers," "Living in Captivity," and "The Crew."
2. Justin Louis (15): "Durham County," "1-800-Missing," "Hidden Hills," "Mutant X," "The Fighting Fitzgeralds," "The Fugitive," "Battery Park," "Trinity" "The Net," "Three," "Cracker: Mind over Murder," "Public Morals," "Local Heroes," "Cobra," and "Urban Angel."
1. Jason Gedrick (15): "Lie to Me," "Lincoln Heights," "Windfall," "Crossing Jordan," "LAX," "S.O.S. 18," "North Shore," "Boomtown," "Philly," "Strange Frequency," "The Beast," "EZ Streets," "Murder One," "Sweet Justice," and "Class of '96."
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Not too quibble, but does Arrested Development count against Judy Greer’s total?
Wasn’t David Krumholz also a guest star on Firefly?
#9 no mention of Chocolate News??
david alan greer-thank god you’re here?
A few you over looked.
Mark Feuerstein “Once & Again”
Tim Matheson “The Quest”
Mädchen Amick “Fantasy Island” “Twin Peaks”
Mark Valley “Once & Again”
Paula Marshall “Veronica Mars” “Sports Night”
Justin Louis a.k.a. Louis Ferreira “SGU Stargate Universe”
One more that should be on the list.
Liz Vassey(7) “3Way” “Tru Calling” “Push Nevada” “The Tick” “Maximum Bob” “Brotherly Love” “Pig Sty”
No Ted McGinley? Isnt he the patron saint of show killing?
@brian Ted McGinley just gets a bad rap. He’s no where near the mythic show killer people make him out to be. The two big shows he’s accused of killing are Happy Days and The Love Boat and they both continued on another 4 seasons after he joined their main cast.
Jason Gedrick only failed because none of his characters wore cassette decks on their legs.
*fires up Twisted Sister*
Judy Greer may have been associated with some shit shows, but Arrested Development was the tits and she seems to have found a home at Archer and I love it.
Ted McGinley was Jefferson Darcy and Stan Gable. Argument invalidated.
Vassey didn’t kill CSI. She was on for five seasons and on it goes. Nothing seems to kill that show….
I’d also probably also include Huff in Paget Brewster’s list, although it was a great show, it was never very successful
Ted McGinley is the king of shark jumping, a different discipline to show-killing. He doesn’t actually KILL shows, he is the harbinger of a show going off the rails. Given that he’s actually a decent actor, scientists are still trying to figure out why.
HOWEVER: I’m pretty sure we only see screen caps of Mädchen Amick showing her bush. This thread needed some class and there you go.
You can put one more notch in Rena Sofer’s bedpost with her arrival signaling the death knell of “Just Shoot Me.”
Can’t we just add Two & 1/2 Men to Jon Cryer’s list already? Also, anyone says anything bad about Judy Greer, and I stab them in the neck with a pencil.
For Tim Matheson you also forgot “Jonny Quest”. He was the voice of Jonny and despite it now being a great beloved classic, it only ran one season.
Terribly flawed list for 2 reasons.
1. Too many actors/actresses included that not only have not killed shows they appeared in, but successful ones they currently STAR in.
2. No Nancy Travis? She should be #1 on this list.
Justin Louis also killed “Stargate Universe”…
I’m not sure if there are some rules that I’m unaware of, but I think Rena Sofer also killed Just Shoot Me, and Paget Brewster was also on Huff, which was cancelled midway through its 2nd season. Not that she was the one who killed it, but that doesn’t seem to really be a requirement here.
Mmmm Paula Marshall.. it is now 5 past 12
Dustin Rowles is clueless. Many of these folks were either guest stars or only on a handful of episodes of the shows they supposedly “killed.” The king will always and forever be Ted McGinley… with Nathan Fillion as heir apparent.
What was the criteria? I don’t think you can count certain actors as show killers if they were brought into a show, that was obviously on its way out, to try and give it a change to save it.
How about Alison LaPlaca? She is the sitcom kiss of death. The Jackie Thomas Show, Stat, Open House…
Kim Possible was only planned for 3 seasons and they actually had to write and script the fourth to satisfy a franchising deal Disney cut with a german network.
Samurai Jack likewise ended on schedule rather than being cancelled.
This is a really stupid list. The fact is that almost ALL shows in general die early deaths. These actors are just lucky and well-liked enough to constantly get jobs that actually break the barrier past being a single-pilot series.
Does Clooney get dinged for E/R when he left it about 8 seasons before it was shut down? If he does then you need to ding him for Roseanne, where he was for one season.
The whole thing reminds me that some great series out there get cancelled way too early, and some crap should never be made.
No Norm MacDonald?
Jon Cryer was in Mr. Show for about five seconds as a cameo and I would hardly call that show a failure. Pretty much every comedian in show business these days cites it as a major influence.
Ted McGinley tried to commit suicide, but he fucked that up too. The man can kill everything but himself.
Ted McGinley is the Angel of Death.