chuck cunningham syndrome

Chuck Cunningham syndrome is a jargon used by television critics; it refers to a television series in which a main character or a character otherwise important to the show's plot is dropped with little or no explanation.

Origin

The term comes from the character Chuck Cunningham in the American television series, Happy Days. Chuck, the oldest of the three children in the Cunningham family, initialy appeared in the Love, American Style episode "Love and the Happy Days", which subsequently inspired the series Happy Days. When Happy Days was turned into a series, Chuck appeared during the first season of the show but was written out at the beginning of the second season with the explanation that he was going to college. After the second season, he was never mentioned again. Subsequent episodes referred to the Cunninghams as having two, rather than three, children. On the Happy Days reunion special that aired February 3, 2005, a series of clips was introduced that not only pointed out that Chuck disappeared, but that he was played by two different actors over the course of the series; both of them were then brought out, a surprise to Marion Ross and the rest of the cast.

Examples of Chuck Cunningham syndrome

All in the Family: At the start of the 1976-77 season the Bunkers took in a Puerto Rican boarder named Teresa Betancourt. She was featured in several episodes, but did not return the following season. No explanation was ever given regarding her departure.

All My Children: One of the earliest examples of the Chuck Cunningham syndrome, Joe Martin's son Bobby Martin went up to wax his skis one day in 1970 and was never seen again. The show has been known to poke fun at the incident, such as one episode in which a character ventured into the Martins' attic and found a skeleton with a shirt bearing the words "Bobby" and holding a pair of skis.

Are You Being Served?: Several characters disappeared without explanation during the run of this series, including Mr. Mash, Mr. Grainger, Mr. Goldberg, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Grossman, Mr. Klein, and Old Mr. Grace.

Boy Meets World:

Corey's sister Morgan disappears after the second season. During her absence she is never mentioned. When she reappears two seasons later as a new actress, she comes down the stairs saying "That was the longest time out I've ever had."
The character of Stewart Minkus, a classmate of Cory and Shawn's in elementary school, disappears after the first season, and is never mentioned again until the episode in which they graduate from High School. When he reappears, Cory and Shawn ask where he's been. Minkus responds by pointing towards the camera, and saying "Over there, on the other end of the school." The boys respond that they don't go to that end, as people have been known to never return. Minkus then calls out in that direction to Mr. Turner, a teacher who was likewise dropped from the show after being a regular.
In a first-season episode, Topanga has an older sister named Nebula Stop-the-War Lawrence. She never appears or is even mentioned again.
Corey's best friend, Shawn Hunter, also has two vanishing siblings: a sister who receives a brief mention in an early episode but is never spoken of again and a half-brother named Eddie who lives in the trailer park too.

Danger Man: For the first half of this spy series' second season, secret agent John Drake takes his orders from a somewhat similar figure named Hobbs. Midway through the season, Hobbs disappears and Drake begins taking orders from a succession of guest star performers.

Doctor Who: During the course of this series, the Doctor travelled with many companions. One of these, Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet, disappears from the programme during the serial The War Machines. Though Dodo does send a farewell message to the Doctor at the end of The War Machines, she herself does not appear for a farewell scene. The recurring character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT also disappeared in the mid 1970s without a farewell scene. The actor who portrayed Lethbridge-Stewart, Nicholas Courtney, was unavailable for the final UNIT story, which features a new commander played by Patrick Newell. Lethbridge-Stewart returned six years later for a guest appearance, and then reappeared in a few later serials.

ER: Very prone to disappearing characters. A prominent example is Dr. Anna Del Amico, who vanished some time between seasons four and five; many other supporting characters have simply been dropped without explanation, a fate known within the ER fan community as "being Bobbed", after a supporting character who vanished early in the second season.

Gimme a Break!: Uncle Ed, the Chief's older brother, mysteriously disappeared.

Family Matters: Judy Winslow and Aunt Rachael disappeared from the series without explanation, Aunt Rachael even abandoning her son (the real reason was that Telma Hopkins was given her own sitcom at the time). Aunt Rachael, however, returned for a few subsequent episodes. In Judy Winslow's last episode, she simply goes up to her room and never comes back down.

Law & Order: Captain Donald Cragan (Dann Florek) and ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks) mysteriously vanished after the show's third season. -- The show was initially an "all-male" cast for the first three years, but NBC wanted to add women on the show. So the "boys' club" had to be broken up, otherwise, as then-NBC head Warren Littlefield told series creator Dick Wolf, the show would be cancelled.

However, Cragen's disappearance was not explained until the fifth season episode, "Bad Faith," in which we learn that he heads the Anti-Corruption Task Force. He would later reprise that role for .

The reason for Robinette's disappearance was never mentioned on air, although NBC press releases at the time of the character's departure mentioned that Robinette had moved to a Park Avenue law firm, and the character returned in a later episode as a rights advocate.

Life With Bonnie: The Molloys's oldest child, Samantha, disappeared from the show after the first season. According to series star Bonnie Hunt, this was due to "creative differences."

Married... With Children: Seven runs away to live with the D'Arcys and is never seen again (The producers of the show realized they had made a mistake in introducing his character; his face was later seen on a milk carton).

M*A*S*H: Spearchucker Jones appeared during the first season as a doctor at the 4077th and the fourth tentmate in the Swamp. He quietly disappeared during the first season when the producers realized there were no black doctors during the Korean War.

New York Undercover: The lieutenant, played by Patti D'Arbanville, was dropped from the show without any explanation after a third-season finale that killed off two other characters.

The Simpsons: The therapist Dr. Marvin Monroe was dropped from the series with no explanation because the cast all hated the sound of his voice (Harry Shearer has also said it was hurting his throat). The first reference to the character's departure was the appearance of "Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital" in one episode. In an episode about the show's anniversary, it claimed that Marvin Monroe was one of two characters that died at the time (the other character was Bleeding Gums Murphy). However, he reappeared in a later episode claiming he was "ill" during the time he was missing.

South Park: Kevin McCormick, the older brother of Kenny, appeared and spoke in several episodes of the show's early seasons. In later seasons, he is completely absent, even from episodes in which Kenny's family plays a major role. South Park has other characters who were missing for several years or appeared less often (like the bus driver Miss. Crabtree) but none exhibits Chuck Cunningham syndrome as clearly as Kevin.

: Between the first and second seasons, Paul Morrow and Ben Kano disappeared from Moonbase Alpha without any explanation, a particularly glaring omission since there was nowhere they could have gone (both were let go by new producer Fred Freiberger in favor of new characters Tony Verdeschi and Maya in an effort to make the show's appeal a little broader). The introduction of Tony is an example of Chuck Cunningham syndrome in reverse - a character added to the cast with no explanation; he is never seen nor mentioned in the first season yet is chief of security as season 2 begins. By contrast, an entire episode was devoted to the introduction of Maya. Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) also vanished between the first and second seasons. A throwaway line about a spacesuit malfunction was written, but not aired. Morse left due to a contract dispute with Freiberger.

: During the first season, Kellie Waymire made several appearances as a young crewmember named Elizabeth Cutler. Despite her brief appearance, the character became extremely popular with fans. After Waymire became involved in a TV series project and other productions, she was no longer available to play the role, although the character continued to be mentioned from time to time up until the start of the third season. Waymire died in 2003, but to date the series has yet to establish what happened to the character. Similarly, another popular recurring character, an Engineering assistant named Rostov, appeared early in the series and was "name-dropped" numerous times thereafter, but vanished without trace after the start of the fourth season.

Star Trek: During the first season, Janice Rand was a regular, serving in the capacity as the captain's yeoman and potential love interest for Captain Kirk. She mysteriously disappeared halfway through the season and, although she has appeared in four of the Star Trek movies and an episode of since, no explanation has ever been given for her departure (William Shatner claims that Grace Lee Whitney was let go because of serious drug and alcohol problems; while that was true, the producers have said that they just didn't think it was a good idea for Kirk to have a love interest on the ship).

Step By Step:

The youngest Lambert boy on the show, Brendan, saw his role reduced during the last few years of the show until he was completely dropped from the show during the last season without explanation.
In the first season, Carol owns a beauty salon attached to the Lamberts' house. The beauty salon employs two women, Carol's mother and sister, who are also main characters. After the first season, the two women are completely dropped.

That '70s Show: Donna's younger sister, Tina, is shown once and never mentioned again. Donna also apparently had an older sister, Valerie, who was mentioned once but never seen or mentioned again.

Three's Company: Chuck Cunningham syndrome appeared three times in Three's Company:

Lana Shields (Ann Wedgeworth) was added to the show at the beginning of the fourth season but soon disappeared several episodes later when the show's writers realized they had run out of ideas for her.
Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers) was the original blonde girl on the show. She moved temporarily during the fifth season with the apparent intention of coming back, but was never heard from again afterwards (she was forced out of the show during a failed attempt to hold out for more money).
Cindy Snow (Jenilee Harrison), Chrissy's cousin, was Chrissy's first replacement on the show. She disappeared during the sixth season after an argument with Janet and was never heard from again.

The Torkelsons: During their move from Oklahoma to Seattle, the family mysteriously loses two children, Steven Floyd and Ruth Anne.

UFO: At the mid-point of this cult science fiction series' first and only season, several major cast members drop out without explanation, most notably the character of Col. Alec Freeman (George Sewell) who is replaced as the first officer of the secret organization SHADO by Col. Virginia Lake (Wanda Ventham). (The dropping of several characters was sparked by a five-month break in production while the series changed studios, during which time several lead actors obtained roles in other series.)

The West Wing: The West Wing has an especially severe case of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome. Due to the show's large pool of secondary and tertiary characters, characters tend to disappear for no apparent reason (example: Ed and Larry).

The character of Mandy Hampton was dropped after the first season without explanation, though the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, has said that she was dropped because the character had run her course and Moira Kelly's departure was amicable. West Wing characters who have disappeared are said to have gone to "Mandyville".
Sam Seaborn is scarcely mentioned after he loses the special congressional election in Season 4, even though he is supposedly still in the White House. Though the character's on-screen disappearance is sudden and vague, the departure of Rob Lowe from the show was well-documented.

Chuck Cunningham Syndrome

Origin

Examples of Chuck Cunningham syndrome

See also