Work anywhere long enough and you’re bound to start some fires. In the case of Grey’s Anatomy, which starts its 19th (!) season next month, several actors have left the show or been fired since it began in 2005 because of behind-the-scenes drama. While Katherine Heigl and Isaiah Washington walked away with their characters still alive, the same can’t be said for T.R. Knight’s George O’Malley and Patrick Dempsey’s Derek Shepherd. Knight has said he wanted to exit Greys because of communication problems with creator Shonda Rhimes, and Dempsey also had off-screen drama with the cast and crew. Their departure changed the shape of Grey’s permanently. But hey, all’s well that ends well because both of them returned in season 17—so what if it was as part of Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) Covid-19 coma-induced dream? If Heigl’s Izzy can have ghost sex, we can have this. [Saloni Gajjar]

On Community, Chevy Chase made his mark as Franklin Pierce, the token old white guy who was out of touch with the youths and would say staggeringly racist things. Behind the scenes, though, the tension was even more present. Reports emerged of a feud with series creator Dan Harmon, who gave a “fuck Chevy Chase speech,” per Deadline, at the season three wrap party in front of the comedian’s wife and daughter. Chase was also reportedly sick of playing a bigot, culminating in an on-set tirade wherein the once-beloved comedian dropped the N-word. His character was killed off and, in his final scene, Chase appeared as a hologram, which prevented him from being on set with his costars one final time. [Drew Gillis]

It was the legendary sitcom comeback that studios dream of … until, of course, it wasn’t. The 2018 Roseanne revival was supposed to be a star re-maker for titular comedian Roseanne Barr. But after Barr shared a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, who served as an advisor to President Obama, ABC pulled the series–and brought the curtains down on Roseanne’s character altogether. Within weeks of the tweet, ABC greenlit a spin-off, The Conners, where Barr’s character dies offscreen from an opioid overdose. Since then, the scandal has given inspiration to (definitely) Steven Levitan’s new Hulu series Reboot and (maybe) Roseanne’s upcoming Fox News comedy special. (God, that was a painful four words to combine.) [Hattie Lindert]

If you were alive and had an internet connection in 2011, you’re already well aware of Charlie Sheen’s antics. He had tiger blood and he wasn’t bi-polar, he was bi-winning. (An artifact of its time, Sheen’s infamous interview received an “Auto-Tune The News” rendition.) Despite the early internet meme, the actor’s drug use was becoming a genuine problem, not just for his family but for the show. After an appearance on The Alex Jones Show—an appearance which has aged even worse than anyone could have imagined—wherein Sheen said he had been “converting tin cans into pure gold” on Two and a Half Men, CBS suspended production of the show. When the series returned, Ashton Kutcher had taken the place of Sheen’s Charlie Harper, who had unceremoniously died off-screen by falling in front of a train. [Drew Gillis]

The fact that Netflix even made a sixth season of House Of Cards is stunning in retrospect, and it’s a real testament to just how important the prestige drama was to the streaming service. Rather than drop the show after main star Kevin Spacey was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager, Netflix decided to make one final season—if only out of respect to the cast and crew who otherwise would’ve lost their jobs. Spacey’s Frank Underwood was poisoned to death offscreen, but in an attempt to tell a story without him, they ended up making a story that was all about him.

It turns out that sitcom wives aren’t easily disposable—to audiences, at least. Case in point: the surprising and unceremonious firing of Kevin Can Wait’s lead actress, Erinn Hayes, which was met with ire by fans. Hayes was let go after only one season on the Kevin James-led CBS sitcom, presumably so KCW could bring in James’ King Of Queens co-star Leah Remini as the female lead. Hayes’ character, Donna Gable, was written off without any explanation. The incident partly inspired AMC’s Kevin Can F**K Himself, which is an infinitely better viewing experience that dissects sitcom tropes. Hayes herself is set to make a cameo in KCFH season two. [Saloni Gajjar]

At the end of Charmed’s third season, sisters Prue and Piper Halliwell were both critically injured by a demon called Shax—and when the show returned for the fourth season, only one sister had survived the blow. That’s because star Shannen Doherty, who had gained a reputation for being difficult to work with after an early exit from Beverly Hills 90210, announced between seasons that she wouldn’t be returning to the series. Per People, Doherty attributed the exit to on-set “drama;” years later, co-star Alyssa Milano admitted to feeling competitive with her television sister, which contributed to the tension. Doherty was replaced by a new Halliwell sister, Paige (Rose McGowan), and the show ran another five seasons—clearly, the sisters learned to play nice. [Mary Kate Carr]

When Maude Flanders’ voice actor Maggie Roswell—who had been with The Simpsons since the beginning and moved with her family to Colorado in the ’90s—was denied a raise that would help cover the cost of commuting back to Los Angeles for recording sessions, she decided to quit the show. Choosing to make weirdly dark and arguably mean-spirited lemonade from those lemons, the show killed off Maude by having her get shot by a T-shirt cannon and then falling to her death. Roswell has since returned a few times, primarily as Helen “Won’t someone please think of the children” Lovejoy. [Sam Barsanti]