I hate how all the characters disappear inexplicably

Me too.

Holly and Donny weren't even regular characters. I think they were in 4 episodes each, so to say they inexplicably disappear doesn't make sense. But I agree that all these characters did disappear quickly. I always said that this is a big law firm with hundreds of lawyers, so these characters are probably still with the firm. The writers could have easily fixed that by simply referring to them every once in a while - i.e. "I have Garrett working on a little research."

With Lori, it was mentioned in season 2 that she was deftly ushered out.

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"She flattened a Dear John with a John Deere." - Douglas Wambaugh

The Actor who played Garret died, thus why he was left out later. I think they felt mentionign him woudl perhaps upset the family of the actor.


That said, some of the uresolved issues, such as the Insane woman, were only there to build up suspence and throw the Audience off, because you'd think she did it. The reaosn it ws unresolved is ebcause in the course of the case It was Revealed that the Woman she was accused of murderign had Commited SUicide, and her Husband tried to cover this up to win the Insurance Money which is bnullified by such an act.


The Fury she felt was simply there to shwo that she was the likly killer.

So, I think that one was cropped when it was revealed she wasn't.

Also! That one season 3 girl in the yellow dress that lasted two or three episodes. Forgot her name.

I agree.

I absolutely agree. But these things happen, it's the name of the game.

Unfortunately the show never did amazing in the ratings, and when that happens the network needs to decide how to switch it up. Sometimes they use focus groups to decide which characters don't fit or are "weak."

Clearly the network thought it would be best to turn over the characters a bunch of times.. eventually it got kind of desperate and the show really falls off in Season 5 with many episodes just containing Denny and Alan.

It's a real shame though, I thought they had a very nice set of core characters. Definitely the wrong choice to try and boost ratings.

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They always did a bad job, a few times notwithstanding, of writing characters off of the show.

Lori was exceptionally offensive given how much she had contributed to the first season. She helped saved Denny's career in the middle of the season, thus when she turned on him it was wildly interesting. Seeing that get no development whatsoever in the second season was disappointing.

Garrett was more frustrating than Sara (who was beautiful, but little more than Sally Heap 2.0) in that with his more devious schemes came off as the new Alan Shore. One of his tricks was used late by Denny (editing videos into a montage to make a point). I thought there was more to his character.

Claire's disappearance really angered me, given how interesting I found her and Clarence's subplot. It was snubbed without an explanation and that's too bad. Clarence's disappearance was evident in the fourth season, as he was included in no more than 7 or 8 episodes. When he was gone, so anticlimactically, I almost stopped watching.

I can't remember Holly, Chelina I understood (she's getting famous), but Melissa, after all Alan had done of her, should not have been mysteriously dropped. And I cannot believe they took Lorraine off. I also thought Rachel would have more of an ultimate effect on Paul or Brad. I guess not.

I also didn't appreciate the ways that Paul, Brad, Denise, and Jeffery were taken off of the show. Considering Paul's importance since the pilot, they should have given him a proper write off. Brad as well, his new job should have come with an explanation. I personally thought they could've done off Jeffery Coho, during the "Lincoln" storyline, while he tried to save Shirley. Were they took his character was random and unnecessary.