12 Main Character Deaths That Killed Great TV Shows
9. Bobby Singer (Supernatural)
Episode Of Death: S07E10 - "Death's Door:
With great power comes great responsibility and with eight seasons on the air (three more than was ever intended) comes unnecessary character deaths.
After dealing with the loss of their father, Sam's death and resurrection, Dean's imprisonment in and escape from Hell, the destruction of the Roadhouse (and later all of its inhabitants), and finally with the The Devil, it seemed there wasn't much more that Supernatural could do, that it had no real stories left to tell.
As such, it makes sense that show-runner Eric Kripke intended the show's fifth season to be its last. However, just as ratings can kill a show, they can also keep it on the air long beyond its allotted life span and, with Season 9 quickly approaching, Supernatural is still ticking over.
However, it's difficult to generate a sense of tension when a show has effectively dispatched what should have been its primary antagonist, its Biggest Bad - Lucifer himself, as if X-Files had seen the defeat of the Colonists or if LOST, after its finale, the deaths of Jack and the Smoke Monster, the whole cast's ascension to "Heaven", had decided to just keep on going.
Because of this, the monsters the Winchesters have faced off against in recent years have had a distinct B-list vibe to them: Eve, Crowley, the Leviathans, Crowley (again - though Mark Shepherd is always entertaining). The mythology of the show has been stretched further than was ever intended - what with Purgatory and the Tablets - but no more is this in evidence than in its treatment of Bobby Singer, Sam and Dean's surrogate father.
The one person they could truly rely on, Bobby was there to pick up the phone and, when called upon, fraudulently confirm the boy's status as FBI agents. Gruff and curmudgeonly, Bobby managed to break free of a demon's control (more or less unprecedented in the show's run) and stab himself with a magical knife, leaving him paralyzed.
He suffered, he sold his soul, and then, in Season Seven, he got shot in the head for his troubles. Since then, we've had Ghost Bobby, Poltergeist Bobby; Bobby's been rescued from Hell (par for the course) and ascended to Heaven (no inverted commas here), and yet the show just keeps on bringing him back: Jim Beaver, Bobby's actor, is due to appear in the upcoming Season 9.
Which just goes to show, you can keep a good man down (or is that up?) and that, after the second or third resurrection, the stakes just sort of go out of the whole thing. Bunch of eejits.