BEING DEAD IS ALL THE RAGE ON TV

March 17, 2006

TV is a vicious place these days. Just ask Edgar Stiles, "24"'s lovable loser/computer whiz who died horribly last week when a canister of poisonous gas was released into the headquarters of the show's Counter Terrorism Unit.

Stiles' death came as a shock, even on a show that routinely kills members of its cast. Remember, not one but two "24" full-timers - ex-President David Palmer and former CTU agent Michelle Dessler - found themselves on the less tangible side of the ethereal plane within the first 20 minutes of January's season five premiere.

And even Edgar's passing didn't get the death total quite where "24" producers wanted it, so the next week they also killed government brown-noser Lynn McGill (who was felled by the same gas, but at least went out heroically) and possibly even Tony Almeida, Jack Bauer's best buddy who's been around since the show first started. On Monday, the show went to black with Tony seemingly dying in Jack's arms (and the character is already listed on the official Fox website as deceased), but I hold out hope that this is all a ruse by the "24" producers to push our buttons. Tony can't be dead. He just can't!

Alas, sadly, he can. (We'll find out next week.) TV death isn't what it used to be, a malady that only affected bit players and extras. Consider the "Star Trek" "red shirts," nameless crew members who only earned screen time when it was time for them to step in front of Kirk and get blasted by a phaser gun. The demise of a major cast member was a rare tragedy that often occurred only when an actor wanted out of his or her contract. Otherwise, TV characters were miraculously immune to death, regardless of the on-screen dangers. I'm pretty sure more bullets were fired at the four members of The A-Team than during both World Wars, but the early '80s freedom fighters always remained unscathed.

Things are different today when TV writers know that the well-timed death of a key character can creatively jolt a show and push the drama off in exciting new directions. Think about "Six Feet Under," which surprisingly killed off its main character with several episodes left to go in its last season, or Buffy's mom succumbing not to vampires or monsters but a simple brain aneurysm a few years back on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The death of a major character on "Lost," like this season's killing of Shannon, is preceded by nervous whispers of a possible casualty and followed by a national day of mourning for fans of the character. It seems death can now come as randomly and suddenly on TV as it does in real life. Who knows who's next?

Perhaps Tony Soprano, who spent the final moments of Sunday's long-time-coming season premiere gasping, desperately trying to call 911, while a bullet ravaged the insides of his stomach. Well, okay, probably not Tony. At least, not yet. No show has used the death of major characters to its advantage as much as "The Sopranos." So with the HBO mob drama back for its final season, expect a slew of familiar faces to suddenly end up "missing," much like poor Adriana (another great recent TV death).

The trade-off is a good one. Sure, this proliferation of meaningful death means we will occasionally have to say goodbye to characters we enjoy having in our lives for an hour every week. But it also prevents us from ever feeling too comfortable with the status quo, a dramatic hazard that can take the life out of a series. That's why, when it comes to TV, that codger from the Stephen King flick "Pet Sematary" was right: Sometimes dead is better.