As producers of The Office told anyone who would listen at the NBC TCA party in Pasadena on Thursday night, Steve Carell is leaving the hit series before the season even ends . (Which is earlier than we had even expected.) Faced with the loss of its lead character after seven seasons, the future of The Office may be in doubt. Or, maybe not. Let’s take a look at the brief history of when a male or female lead left a popular television show, and the impact their departure had on future seasons.
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From Coy and Vance Duke to Bobby Ewing: A Brief History of Lead Actors Leaving Their Television Series