Unsolved TV Mysteries

Last night I felt crummy and flopped in front the television, and I found myself clicking back and forth between ladies’ figure skating (one of my secret pleasures) and American Idol Rewind, which is basically a rerun of old seasons (which is new for those of us who didn’t catch on until last year).

I think it was Season One, and co-hosting with Ryan Seacrest was this droopy looking guy, Brian Dunkleman (who bore a slight resemblance to Dana Carvey), who disappeared some time between Season One and last year when I started watching.

Which led me to think about other mysterious TV disappearances. Such as:

• In the Happy Days’ pilot, Ron Howard’s character had an older brother named Chuck. He apparently attended college and when on camera, seemed always to be holding a basketball. Then he vanished, and for the entire run of the show, no reference to a third Cunningham sibling was ever made again.

• Most TV aficionados know about the twin Darrens in Bewitched and the two Darlenes in Roseanne (and that the actresses were both named Sarah, one of which, Sarah Chalke, went on to star in Scrubs). But also, in Seinfeld’s first season, Jerry had a different character playing his father than in the rest of the episodes. And a good thing, because that guy was grumpy and unlikable versus the “newer” actor, who was grumpy but likeable.

• Gilmore Girls had a couple of characters bloopers in its first season, Laine (Rory’s Korean friend) had a father, who like the mysterious Vera on Cheers and Maris on Frasier, was referred to but never seen. And then he was never referred to again. And in an early episode, the actor who ended up playing Kirk appeared under another name as a cable guy who’d come to install DSL at Lorelai’s house.

And then a few I had to look up, because if you know me, you know what happens once I get curious about something:

• Good Times was a spin-off from Maude. Esther Rolle’s “Florida” was Maude’s maid, and in that show, her husband, played by John Amos, was called “Henry,” yet when the spin-off was spun-off, the writers had changed Amos’s character’s name to James.

• The Dunkleman mystery: He quit AI after Season One to “pursue his acting career.” (In case any of you were wondering) The producers of AI were probably relieved, because they weren’t that thrilled with him. In a 2006 interview, Dunkleman said that the decision had “probably been a mistake” (are you listening, David Caruso?) and that he’s now a stand-up comic. Also, he’d been unable to tolerate the “cruelty” of AI.

• Malcolm In The Middle: We never learn the family’s last name.

Well, that was all I could find, except for, you know, things like Donald Trump's hair or why AfterMASH was ever made. Let me know if you are aware of any others.