Steve Carell is officially gone from The Office and, between that and this whole royal wedding thing, it feels like the world has sobbed itself dry. In fact, we just tried to cry as an experiment and couldn’t because there are no tears left. None at all. But do we blame the people? No, not really. Michael Scott’s goodbye on The Office was heart-wrenching, and it was hard to see our beloved Dunder Mifflinites go through that painful farewell, especially since every moment was underscored with the uncertainty of how the show itself will cope in future seasons. Will it sink or swim? It’s hard to say, but The Office is hardly the first show to part with a leading man or lady. After the jump, we calculate the odds with a look back at how some of the biggest shows fared after cutting main characters loose.
Eric Foreman, That ’70s Show
According to the show’s script, Eric left home to teach in Africa during the show’s eighth and final season, but, really, Topher Grace ran off to play Venom in Spider-Man 3. The show replaced our lovably dry, clumsy, and kind of geeky Eric with Randy Pearson, the poofy-haired, Donna-dating Eric wannabe. Fans were outraged when Donna broke up with Eric over the phone to be with Randy and, towards the end of the season, they began to phase him out. The show concluded with Eric coming back and telling Donna he missed her and that he was dumb to leave. Well, duh.
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