Of all the cringe-inducing, if not time-tested, tropes that the American situational comedy has bestowed upon We the People, one of the universally loathed has to be the fourth-wall transcending cliche of carrying on business as usual when the main star has left. Sure, no genre or medium is immune to casting departures (i.e. the Bourne-less “Bourne Legacy”) but the sitcom is among the phenomenon’s most constant victims.
The result almost never tops its predecessor and the episodes sans said star are often skipped by viewers in syndication or streaming. Even shows with historically stellar supporting casts that got to take center stage upon the retooling (i.