One of those listicles covering characters who disappeared from TV shows without explanation. It’s an odd list as some of them I thought sufficient explanation was given, like Erica Hahn from Grey’s Anatomy. She was dumped and humiliated when she made her exit, so I’d figured she just wanted to get the heck out of Seattle. They got Denise Huxtable wrong, who wasn’t on The Cosby Show when Money got pregnant (she was on A Different World), as well as Tori from Saved By The Bell who actually alternated with (as opposed to replacing mid-season) Kelly and Jessie. Minkus from Boy Meets World gets an entry (but not Mr. Turner, limiting themselves to one per show I guess). Though I don’t typically mind switching out casts, one of the ones that drove me crazy was Nikki Faber from Spin City.

Faber, played by Connie Britton, was Michael J Fox’s character’s love interest for three seasons. It was pretty well done with a very good build-up. They actually got me to care about the answer to the “Will they? Won’t they?” question that writers are always wanting us to care about. They did!

Then the very next season, they signed Heather Locklear as a cast regular as Caitlin Moore, and Mike and Nikki broke up at the opening of the season to make room for Mike/Caitlin, which I never cared as much about. When Fox left the show due to his health, it became Charlie/Caitlin with Charlie Sheen’s character. Which actually worked better, as far as that goes. Nikki disappears at the end of that season.

Later on during Sheen’s run on the show, Fox returns for an episode where he is engaged to be married and he’s using his affiliation with the mayor to check out of the whole thing (too busy to focus on the wedding, that sort of thing). Anyhow, that would have been a perfect opportunity for old school viewers like myself if Mike and Nikki had ended up together after all. But no, it was some other character. Boo.

Perhaps Britton was busy or too expensive. But it would have been almost as cool as Minkus’s return to Boy Meets World.