10 TV Shows That Got Better After The Main Character's Death

4. Grey's Anatomy - Dr. George O'Malley

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ABC

While Ellen Pompeo's Meredith Grey is clearly the main character of Grey's Anatomy, the early goings of this ABC show was very much an ensemble as Grey and her fellow interns got to grips with the day-to-day life of a surgeon.

For T.R. Knight's George O'Malley, he was one of the four interns who started alongside Meredith, and he was a major part of the series' formative years. So, when George brutally died, it was a genuine gut punch.

Admittedly, George had been underutilised in Season Five, but the handling of his death stands as one of the most impactful moments in Grey's Anatomy history. By this point specialising in trauma surgery, O'Malley decided he wanted to join the military. As his colleagues plan to talk him out of this career change, they find themselves dealing with a disfigured Joe Doe case, where a man was flattened by a bus as they saved someone else from being ran over.

That man, of course, would ultimately be George O'Malley.

The death of George made Grey's Anatomy more compelling due to the initial shock and subsequent fallout of this demise. As for the show as a whole, it's recently started its 18th season - showcasing just how much of a true powerhouse it has become over the years.

Of course, Grey's Anatomy would then go even more big-time in its deaths in 2011 when Patrick Dempsey's McDreamy, Derek Shephard, died after being struck by a truck.

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