History Main / WrittenInAbsence

* During the Pain Invasion Arc in Manga/{{Naruto}}, an ANBU named Ko Hyuuga mentions to Hinata that Hiashi and Hanabi are out of town on a mission, which is relevant since the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio is actively involved in the battle, and is Kiba's mom.
* A truly bizarre case is the second story of the ''UruseiYatsura'' manga, which is the only story in the manga that doesn't contain Lum at all. In fact, Lum is not even mentioned, and Shinobu takes her place in the story.
** Not bizarre at all when you consider that ''Ataru'' is the actual protagonist, was meant to be the actual "star" of the manga, and that that he was originally supposed to be in an {{OTP}} with Shinobu. Takahashi originally wanted UY to be an anthology revolving around Ataru, with Lum as a throwaway gag character for that story. but Lum became [[EnsembleDarkhorse the most popular character in the series]] and so, barring one other story, she figured in all of the manga. (This is also why, for the first year or so, Lum is a lot more malicious in the manga than the later sweet-with-a-twist-of-Tsundere character she became. It seems that Takahashi toyed with making her at best an antagonist or, at worst, a borderline villain before realizing that just didn't work.)

* ''Film/MenInBlack 2'': Jay (Will Smith) and his boss (Rip Torn) are talking about how Jay is burning through partners really fast. Somewhere in there, Jay says "You can't count L. She wanted to go back to the morgue." L, played by Linda Fiorentino, had been first shown as a morgue worker, then shown as Jay's partner at the end of the first movie, and then carried over to the AnimatedSeries.
* ''The Klumps'', sequel to ''TheNuttyProfessor'' remake with Eddie Murphy: This one has a lab hand talking about Sherman Klump's (Murphy) previous partner/love interest (Jada Pinkett) transferring to another university. Janet Jackson serves as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Jada as his new partner/love interest.

* Tank of ''Film/TheMatrix'' was said to have died between it and ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' (by Tank's sister, Zee, who said she lost two brothers on the Nebuchadnezzar) after Marcus Chong's salary demands and conflicts with the Wachowski brothers lead to him being fired.

* After the death of Anita Mui, her character in ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'' was written out of the film almost entirely, only appearing in one scene played by an anonymous actress with her face covered. Director ZhangYimou had felt it would be disrespectful to simply recast the role.

** Neither Odin nor any of the other Asgardians save for [[TheMightyThor Thor]] appear, and Comicbook/{{Loki}} explains why; the Bifrost Bridge had been destroyed at the close of ''Film/{{Thor}}'', and Odin had to expend a dangerous amount of dark energy just to send Thor back to Earth.

** Sam is absent in ''[=iWon't=] Cancel the Show''. It is mentioned that she is in juvie for shoving a hot chili dog down a foreign dignitary's pants. In this case, though, her absence is pivotal to the episode's plot.

** Carly was sent off to take care of her grandfather in Yakima and only seen at the beginning and end of the episode. This was because Miranda Cosgrove had broken her ankle in a bus accident while touring and had not healed enough yet.
* Star Redd Foxx got in a salary dispute with the producers of ''SanfordAndSon'' during its fourth season and was said to be gone to St. Louis for funeral. The funeral apparently lasted a few months. Luckily, the supporting cast, especially Grady, was more than capable of filling the void and Foxx returned for the final two seasons before his (and costar Demond Wilson's) salary dispute killed the show for good.

** Kelsey Grammer missed the episode [[http://www.frasieronline.co.uk/reviews/index2.php?sort=lowrating&item_id=77 "Head Game"]] because he was in rehab. Niles took Frasier's place starring in the episode - an introductory scene with both characters was recorded later.

** Zoe's injury in "Out of Gas" was contrived so Gina Torres could get away for her marriage to Laurence Fishburne.

** Quite a few episodes from season four of needed some mention of why Joyce wasn't around, as Joss Whedon got second thoughts about killing her off, and then had to work around the schedule she had set up thinking she would be off the show that season.

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Destiny" (season 5), Angel and Spike have a conversation in the teaser where Spike's asking for an office, and asks if he can just take Wesley's because Wesley's gone. Angel retorts that he's not gone, he's taking a leave of absence, which was given the in-universe justification that he had thought he had killed his father in the previous ep "Lineage". In real life, Wesley's actor Alexis Denisof was having his wedding with AlysonHannigan.

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' did this occasionally; Father Mulcahy would be visiting the orphanage or someone would be on leave.

*** And in series 5, they had an [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger Amy-lite episode]], but ''not'' a Doctor-lite one, despite him also doing ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'', The Proms, and the video scenes for the Doctor Who Experience!
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Dr. Crusher's absence (throughout season two) was explained as being "transferred to head Starfleet Medical". In real life, the writers were having trouble developing the character so tried a different approach in Dr. Pulaski. This didn't work out, and there was pressure to bring Crusher back, so she returned in season three, where she remained for the rest of the run.

* Several episodes from Season 6 of ''TheBobNewhartShow'' only had Bob in them for one scene, in which he would do one of his patented one-sided telephone conversations from "out of town."
* One episode of ''{{Taxi}}'', shot while Judd Hirsch was filming his Oscar-nominated performance in ''Ordinary People'', only has Alex (his character) in it for one scene -- a phone conversation at the very end -- saying that he was on a skiing trip.
* A variation occurred in the 2009 season finale of ''GreysAnatomy''. George is absent for most of the episode, but the writers have people constantly talk '''about''' him. This was supposed to distract viewers from noticing that [[spoiler:he is in fact never on screen, because the episode's wham ending (where he turns out to be the John Doe that saved a girl from being hit by a bus only to get hit himself) absolutely requires this]]. It actually works rather well.
* Lalaine's character Miranda was left out of the last few shot episodes of ''LizzieMcGuire'', and Lizzie always had some excuse for her not being there (Usually, she said Miranda was on vacation in Mexico). Then TheMovie came out without Miranda. Poor girl missed her own middle school graduation.
* The actor playing Henry isn't in ''GroundedForLife'''s final season. In the final episode, his Grandpa casually mentions that "he's around here somewhere".
* ''That70sShow'' episode where the gang tells of how they all met each other. When Eric met Donna, her mom wasn't there because she "got her finger stuck on something". Actually Midge had left the show.

* During the second season of ''Series/WMACMasters'' it originally looked like Eric "Panther" Betts had been BrotherChuck as he disappeared between seasons without mention, however a few episodes in Tracer tells Warlock that Panther was previously TheMole working for Jukido (a role the two of them now had) but had BecomingTheMask so they had to take him out. In reality he had broken his hip and thigh during a fight with The Machine and could not compete.
* In DeadLikeMe, Betty is gone for one episode due to being trapped in a morgue. We don't see her there, but we hear her shouting for help.
* ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'': In the third season RequiredSpinoffCrossover, "The Galetea Affair". In the TheTeaser, Solo and Kuryakin are attacked by THRUSH agents while on the Venetian canals, and Solo winds up diving into the canal to save his life. In the first scene of Act I, it's mentioned that Solo has caught pneumonia as a result of his swim in Venice, and for that reason Mr. Waverly teams Kuryakin with ''Series/TheGirlFromUNCLE'''s partner, Mark Slate. The GirlOfTheWeek is built up for the entire episode as Slate's LoveInterest, only to have Solo appear in TheTag to [[TheCasanova sweep her off her feet and away from Slate]].

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' did a good job [[HideYourPregnancy hiding Alyson Hannigan's pregnancy]] during season 4, but had to cover her absence in episodes 20-23. In the ColdOpening to episode 20, Barney tells her a dirty joke. She's so offended she doesn't return for three weeks, the end of episode 23, having finally got over the joke.
** In case you're interested, TheOtherWiki says the joke is as follows; "What's the difference between peanut butter & jam? [[spoiler: I can't 'peanut butter' my dick down your throat.]]"
* One of the leads of ''Series/{{Route 66}}'', George Maharis, took a leave of absence due to illness, and a few lines of dialogue assign his character Buz the same fate. When Maharis left for good, there are one-line mentions for about two episodes afterward about how Buz is ill and in hospital again, but no resolution is ever really given - it turns into a BrotherChuck scenario when Tod never mentions his former best friend HeteroSexualLifePartner again. [[BusCrash Maybe he died.]]
* During production of season 5 of ''AllInTheFamily'', Carroll O'Connor temporarily walked out on the show due to a salary dispute. The producers rather cleverly responded to this by crafting a three-part story arc in which his character, Archie Bunker, goes missing after leaving to attend a lodge convention.
* After David Duchovny decided to leave ''Series/TheXFiles'', his character's absence was written well in one case and badly in another. Season 8 had him abducted and returned for the last few episodes, which fits well with the show's premise. Season 9 starts off with Mulder gone completely, and fans are never given a straight answer as to why he was missing, save for the flimsy excuse that it wasn't "safe" for him to stay with Scully and their new baby, though no one could remember a threat that would warrant such a measure in season 8, and that him leaving goes against his character.

* There are reports that the beginning episodes of the third season of ''Series/SonnyWithAChance'' will be restructured to resemble the ShowWithinAShow, "So Random", to allow star DemiLovato time to recover following her RealLife CreatorBreakdown, without added pressure.

* SmartGuy has an episode where the eponymous character, TJ Henderson, was absent. It was explained away that TJ was away at a science camp for a week. In addition, it was also somewhat important to the episode, because Floyd Henderson had spent most of his finances on the tuition for the camp, meaning Marcus and Yvette had to get jobs to buy what they wanted. Yvette ended up working in a department store with her (white) best friend; the latter's sole job was following black customers around the store since the owner feared they would shoplift. Marcus got a job at a late-night radio station, despite his dad's insistence that he not get that kind of job.

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': Deputy Enos Strate was absent for two episodes in season two, being temporarily replaced by the debuting Cletus Hogg. The Balladeer explained that the doctor had to "separate Enos from his appendix". This write-in was TruthInTelevision; actor Sonny Shroyer really ''was'' in the hospital—''for appendicitis''.
** Also in Season 2, Sheriff Rosco Coltrane was missing for a short stretch due to a contract dispute with actor James Best. His absence was explained as Rosco having been forced to go to the police academy for re-certification. Several actors filled in as cameo substitutes during the interim before the dispute was settled and Rosco returned to Hazzard.
** One of the temporary replacements was, appropriately enough, [[TheOtherDarrin Dick Sargent]].
* Gil Grissom was absent for several episodes on Series/{{CSI}} when William Petersen did a play. Grissom was sent to a college for a seminar, in the same city where Petersen was doing the play.
* The character of Mike Brady was 'out of town' for the final episode of Series/TheBradyBunch because actor Robert Reed thought the storyline was too ridiculous and demanded script changes. To avoid an ugly showdown, the producers wrote him out of the episode.
* Two different examples from Series/{{Numb3rs}}: When Peter Nichols took a temporary leave of absence during the second season to be in Series/{{24}} his character, Larry Fleinhardt, (a professor of Cosmology) spent six months on the International Space Station. Since the show runners knew about it well in advance, they wrote in a several-episode build-up to the launch. In the second example(s), due to budgetary concerns the secondary characters were written out in increasingly flimsy excuses. In fact, in the last two seasons, the secondary characters rotated in and out literally once character per episode. To the point that one of the (once-again) absent characters lampshades it in a phone conversation with his partner, saying that his misses him.
* Has happened once on ''{{Glee}}'': When Darren Criss left for two weeks to replace DanielRadcliffe in ''HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying'' on Broadway, they wrote in a storyline in which Blaine gets hit in the face with a slushie laced with rock salt and [[EyeScream injures his eye]]. Thus they could explain in-universe that the reason Blaine was absent for two episodes was because he had to have surgery on his eye and stay home from school.
* During Warehouse 13 season 4, we are told that "H.G is god knows where." In reality, Jaime Murray was too busy filming Defiance to be on Warehouse 13.
* ''Charmed'' has made that for various characters as Dan does not show up in four episodes of the second season (it's been said that he is on a vacation in Astral Monkey) Cole is absent in Pardon My Past, because he wants to know his personality and Darryl moved to the east cost since his actor was suddenly dropped out.
** Don't forget Leo who was frozen.
* ''Sliders'' had an episode in which Quinn is absent during half of the episode. In reality, Jerry O Connell asked to have some more time in order to participate to Jerry Maguire.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' explained that the reason Otacon was saving the game for Snake during the Tanker Chapter was because Mei Ling was busy during the mission with SSCEN. Of course, that didn't stop her from making a voice cameo after Otacon botchs various sayings to tell him off.

* In ''{{Neopets}}'', once [[FarEast Shenkuu]] joined the [[TournamentArc Altador Cup]] in 2007, there were 17 possible teams competing, so an odd team out was always written out (due to training accident or some such) in order to make a nice, neat, 16-team bracket. Now fixed in 2010, as [[{{Steampunk}} Moltara]] has joined and made it an even 18 teams.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Lightspeed", the titular heros are nowhere to be seen. The replacement squad, Titans East, had "Returned to Steel City" so the villainous H.I.V.E. five thought they could have free run of the city. A hero does show up later, but he's apparently not affiliated with the Titans (yet).
* Superman in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' often was said to averting a natural disaster somewhere; after all, having Superman around every episode would often undermine the tension. Subverted once when he actually showed up later in the episode saying the disaster turned out to be relatively minor.
** This happened pretty often to other members too, as most episodes were missing at least one of the Leaguers, although the absences weren't always explained. One example would be the Christmas episode, which explains that Batman is busy doing monitor duty, although the other absence from that episode - Wonder Woman - is never explained. Of course, even when it's not explained, given that they're superheroes it is easy to assume that they're just busy handling their own crises.
*** Or in that case, she doesn't really celebrate Christmas, given she has actually met Greek gods and is a literal Amazon.

* An odd variation occurs where an absence isn't stated in the episode itself, but is hinted at by the viewers: In the Disney/{{Hercules}}/Disney/{{Aladdin}} crossover episode ''Hercules and the Arabian Night'', Iago is notably the only Aladdin character who has not made an appearance in the episode. ''Aladdin'' fans who have seen ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves'' will know the reason is because [[spoiler:Iago left with Cassim, Aladdin's father, to start a new life.]]

* Like ''YoungJustice'', ''TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' often had various members of the team missing for one reason or another, which was usually justified with a HandWave line of dialogue. [[AntMan Ant-Man]] might be conducting a scientific study, MsMarvel might be busy with her S.W.O.R.D. work, ComicBook/BlackPanther might be dealing with politics in his native Wakanda, [[TheMightyThor Thor]] might be visiting his family in Asgard, and so on.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' does the same thing. Comicbook/BlackWidow is often missing due to her work with [[{{SHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]], while [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] is sometimes implied to be off with his ''[[HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH other]]'' team.

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* Like ''YoungJustice'', ''TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' often had various members of the team missing for one reason or another, which was usually justified with a HandWave line of dialogue. [[AntMan Ant-Man]] might be conducting a scientific study, MsMarvel might be busy with her S.W.O.R.D. work, BlackPanther might be dealing with politics in his native Wakanda, [[TheMightyThor Thor]] might be visiting his family in Asgard, and so on.

* Tank of ''Film/TheMatrix'' was said to have died between it and ''The Matrix: Reloaded'' (by Tank's sister, Zee, who said she lost two brothers on the Nebuchadnezzar) after Marcus Chong's salary demands and conflicts with the Wachowski brothers lead to him being fired.

* After the death of Anita Mui, her character in ''HouseOfFlyingDaggers'' was written out of the film almost entirely, only appearing in one scene played by an anonymous actress with her face covered. Director ZhangYimou had felt it would be disrespectful to simply recast the role.

* NataliePortman was unavailable for ''Film/TheAvengers'' due to pregnancy. Her absence was explained as Jane Foster being transferred to a secure location in an observatory for her protection since the villain abducted one of her colleagues.

*** Comicbook/WarMachine was absent as well, but no explanation was given. [[AllThereInTheManual The prequel comic]] to ''IronMan3'' finally cleared this up by stating that he was busy fighting terrorists in China during the events of ''The Avengers''.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''House'' had this. The first episode of the fourth season shows the absences of Foreman, Chase and Cameron (who quit in one episode of season 1 before coming back). All of them were fired or resigned. By the following of the fourth season, only Foreman appears in the team while the others failed to participate in a few episodes.

* In one episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Bad Guys", Sam Carter was absent from the team. One of the characters explained that she was in Washington briefing the President about the events in a previous episode. "Bad Guys" hinged on the fact that the team [[PhlebotinumBreakdown couldn't get the Stargate working]] and had she been present, the episode would have lasted all of ten minutes (the time for her to hook up her Naquadah generator). So it was a good thing overall.

* ''Series/ICarly'': Sam is absent in ''[=iWon't=] Cancel the Show''. It is mentioned that she is in juvie for shoving a hot chili dog down a foreign dignitary's pants. In this case, though, her absence is pivotal to the episode's plot.
** The actor that plays Gibby is the only main cast member still under 18 and can't work as many hours per day during shooting. This normally leads to his character mentioning how he has to leave all of a sudden (usually making a comical exit) halfway during scenes that he initially was slated to have lines in the entire scene. While his original lines are rewritten for someone else such as Freddie or Sam to say.
*** Sometimes if an episode runs long, they will edit a scene out that Gibby was supposed to do on the webshow, from the actual episode. The writers will then have the other characters mention how they plan to cut Gibby from that week's webshow. Occasionally HilarityEnsues.

** In the AfterShow ''TheSanfordArms'' Fred and Lamont were said to have moved to Arizona [[HandWave "for Fred's health"]]. When Fed returned in the {{Revival}} ''{{Sanford}}'' Lamont was apparently working on an oil pipeline in Alaska.
* The ''{{Frasier}}'' episode "Cheerful Goodbyes" had Frasier and his family attending the retirement party of Cliff Clavin, Frasier's old friend from ''{{Cheers}}''. The party was not at Cheers but somewhere else, and only Norm, Carla and a few of the recurrers were at the party. Sam and the Cheers bar itself were explained away by Sam hosting a Red Sox reunion at Cheers that night, and thus unable to make it.

* Shepherd Book was absent from one episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}''; the explanation given was that he was off meditating.

* Helga Geerhart was absent from two episodes of ''Series/AlloAllo''. Her absence was filled by a terrifying woman called Elsa Bigstern.

* Quite a few episodes from season four of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' needed some mention of why Joyce wasn't around, as Joss Whedon got second thoughts about killing her off, and then had to work around the schedule she had set up thinking she would be off the show that season.

* During the filming of series four of ''OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', Lennard Pierce (Grandad) was suddenly taken into hospital, which was explained by having a character ask after the missing Grandad's health. Pierce then died; in the next episode, Grandad's funeral is held and he is replaced by his brother, Uncle Albert.
* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' does a variation on this a lot, with characters appearing in the first five minutes and being told to handle paperwork for an active case (or in Stabler's case, something involving his family), and the partner doing the rounds with Munch instead.

* After David Duchovny decided to leave Series/{{The X-Files}}, his character's absence was written well in one case and badly in another. Season 8 had him abducted and returned for the last few episodes, which fits well with the show's premise. Season 9 starts off with Mulder gone completely, and fans are never given a straight answer as to why he was missing, save for the flimsy excuse that it wasn't "safe" for him to stay with Scully and their new baby, though no one could remember a threat that would warrant such a measure in season 8, and that him leaving goes against his character.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'', ''Bad Guys'', Sam Carter was absent from the team. One of the characters explained that she was in Washington briefing the President about the events in a previous episode. ''Bad Guys'' hinged on the fact that the team [[PhlebotinumBreakdown couldn't get the Stargate working]] and had she been present, the episode would have lasted all of ten minutes (the time for her to hook up her Naquadah generator). So it was a good thing overall.

* In ''{{Franchise/Terminator}} 3: Rise of the Machines'', it is said that Sarah Connor died of leukemia in 1997. The actress, Linda Hamilton, however, would not play a part anyway because she felt that T2 was the proper ending and there was no reason for shooting more pictures on the franchise.

* ''{{XXX}}: State of the Union'': In another case of ThePoorMansSubstitute as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Ice Cube gets the job previously held by Vin Diesel, and we're told that the Vin Diesel version has died in a jet-skiing accident. The end of the film even has the government already searching for a new one.

* One of the leads of ''{{Route 66}}'', George Maharis, took a leave of absence due to illness, and a few lines of dialogue assign his character Buz the same fate. When Maharis left for good, there are one-line mentions for about two episodes afterward about how Buz is ill and in hospital again, but no resolution is ever really given - it turns into a BrotherChuck scenario when Tod never mentions his former best friend HeteroSexualLifePartner again. [[BusCrash Maybe he died.]]

* Superman in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague' often was said to averting a natural disaster somewhere; after all, having Superman around every episode would often undermine the tension. Subverted once when he actually showed up later in the episode saying the disaster turned out to be relatively minor.

*** Or in that case, she doesn't really celebrate christmas, given she has actually met Greek gods and is a literal Amazon.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' explained that the reason Otacon was saving the game for Snake during the Tanker Chapter was because Mei Ling was busy during the mission with SSCEN. Of course, that didn't stop her from making a voice cameo after Otacon spent his time botching the various quotations with Snake where she essentially told him off.

* ''Charmed'' has made that for various characters as Dan does not show up in four episodes of the second season (it's been said that he is on a vacation in Astral Monkey) Cole is absent in Pardon My Past, because he wants to know his personnality and Darryl has moved into east cost since his portrayer was suddenly dropped out.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture 2'' had its entire plot reworked when Crispin Glover wanted too much money to reprise his role as Marty's father. Instead of a trip to the 60s (where George was a flower child), we go to an alternate 80s where Biff had become extremely wealthy thanks to a certain book, [[spoiler: and George was dead]].

** Taub and Thirteen were dropped out with Taub being absent for four episodes while Thirteen only missed two and were present in the two others although she was'nt on the team anymore.

** Cuddy was'nt on the show anymore after the seventh season. Foreman wanted to tell House her new place but he cut him saying that he did'nt need any details.
** Also, Chase and Taub did'nt appear in the first four episodes, leaving House to find the money in order to rebuild a team. Taub also missed one episode where he must take care of his daughter while Chase left the hospital (because Jesse Spencer was casted on an other show) near the end of the series.
** Foreman missed a few episodes for the final season while Wilson only was absent in two. Adams and Park were'nt present in one (not the same) . Possibly explained by the fact that the actors agreed to drop their salary out in order to save the show.

** Done also with Leo as Tommy Chong was sentenced.

* ''House'' had this. The first episode of the fourth season shows the absences of Foreman, Chase and Cameron (who quitted in one episode of season 1 before coming back). All of them were fired or resigned. By the following of the fourth season, only Foreman appears in the team while the others failed to participate in a few episodes.

** Similarly, in SisterSister, one episode had Tia and Tamera being absent for most of the episode because they were out of state. They returned in the last few moments of the episode in question, when Tyreke and Jordan were waiting for them at the airport, but they learned from an announcement that the twins flight had been redirected (or so they thought), so they decided to wait out for them, only for the twins to come off shortly after they left.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' explained that the reason Otacon was saving the game for Snake during the Tanker Chapter was because Mei Ling was busy during the mission with SSCEN. Of course, that didn't stop her from making an voice cameo after Otacon spent his time botching the various quotations with Snake where she essentially told him off.

** Not bizarre at all when you consider that ''Ataru'' is the actual protagonist, was meant to be the actual "star" of the manga, and that that he was originally supposed to be in an {{OTP}} with Shinobu. Takahashi originally wanted UY to be an anthology revolving around Ataru, with Lum as a throwaway gag character for that story. but Lum became [[EnsembleDarkhorse the most popular character in the series]] and so, barring one other story, she figured in all of the manga. (this is also why for the first year or so, Lum is a lot more malicious in the manga than the later sweet-with-a-twist-of-Tsundere character she became... it seems that Takahashi toyed with making her at best an antagonist, at worst, a borderline villain before realizing that just didn't work.)

* Roy Scheider's absence from ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'' was explained by saying that his character, Martin Brody, had died of a heart attack between movies. His wife says he died from fear though...

** Herr Flick is missing from the epilogue, without any explanations. Though seeing that he worked for the Gestapo...

* In a non-temporary example, perhaps the weirdest subversion of this in the history of ''ever'' came in the third season of ''Series/DueSouth''. When David Marciano left the show, his character, Ray Vecchio, was actually recast... with a replacement character who, at first, shared the same name. His replacement was actually supposed to be an undercover cop pretending to be him, while they explained that the real Vecchio was undercover elsewhere. (If you can think of a weirder way to explain in-story why an actor is gone, I would be very interested to hear it.)

* Lalaine's character Miranda was left out of the last few shot episodes of ''LizzieMcGuire'', and Lizzie always had some excuse for her not being there (Usually, she said Miranda was on vacation in Mexico). And then TheMovie came out... without Miranda... Poor girl missed her own middle school graduation.

* Tracy Morgan was absent from a few episodes of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' as he was undergoing a kidney transplant. In-universe, Tracy Jordan went on a fake trip to Africa (ItMakesSenseInContext... well, kinda).

** Similarly, in SisterSister, one episode had Tia and Tamera being absent for most of the episode because they were out of state. They returned in the last few moments of the episode in question, when Tyreke and Jordan were waiting for them at the airport, but they learned from an announcement that the twins flight had been redirected (or so they thought), so they decided to wait out for them... only for the twins to come off shortly after they left.

* Two different examples from Series/{{Numb3rs}} (the first one is wonderfully clever, the 2nd...not so much): When Peter Nichols took a temporary leave of absence during the second season to be in Series/{{24}} his character, Larry Fleinhardt, (a professor of Cosmology) spent six months on the International Space Station. Since the show runners knew about it well in advance, they wrote in a several-episode build-up to the launch. In the second example(s), due to budgetary concerns the secondary characters were written out in increasingly flimsy excuses. In fact, in the last two seasons, the secondary characters rotated in and out literally once character per episode. To the point that one of the (once-again) absent characters lampshades it in a phone conversation with his partner, saying that his misses him.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Lightspeed", the titular heros are nowhere to be seen. The replacement squad, Titans East, had "Returned to Steel City" so the villainous H.I.V.E. five thought they could have free run of the city. A hero does show up later, but he's apparently not affiliated with the Titans... yet.

A character who should be here ''isn't'' here, and the extent of acknowledgment of the absence is limited to a few lines in the dialog, as if to say, "Yeah, we know s/he's not here, so here's an explanation and let's move on." (Well, ''usually'' we get some sort of explanation for the absence...)

** The episode "For Sidekicks Only" explains why Spike doesn't appear in "Games Ponies Play", the episode that aired immediately after.