First NCIS.
Then NCIS LA.
Then Blue Bloods.
Now Designated Survivor.
What is going on???
My husband noticed the same thing…what are they thinking?
And Major Crimes - the wife of a main character as well as being a main character in her own right. I know it’s the last season, but still.
For Blue Bloods, Amy Carlson wanted out.
Try being a mother to a Disney character - no hope of you making it through the first scene if you even make it into the movie: Bambi, Frozen mothers lost in the first part of the movie.
I think it’s that the show producers think that the best show “formula” is to have romantic “tension” in the show in addition to the show’s plot or situation. Some of these shows just didn’t have that in the cast - the romantic relationships between the characters were getting stale, or were pretty stale to begin with. I think they got rid of the wives so they could introduce new “more exciting” characters that would add a bit of spark to the show.
IMO, many of the most successful shows have long, ongoing, romantic relationships that are either on again-off again, or just never quite “happily ever after” so there’s always anticipation about what’s next. (Bones, Castle, The Mentalist, etc). When that gets played out the series is pretty much doomed.
I don’t know what happened with NCIS as I stopped watching after Ziva quit (lost interest because that relationship was quashed - that was one of my favorite TV show relationships). But IMO, the wife in Blue Bloods was always a very minor character that didn’t add much to the show - so I’m sure they’re going to add some new character to help Danny get over his “loss.”
I didn’t know about Major Crimes either. What an unsatisfying ending.
On Designated Survivor, Natascha McElhone left to pursue a lead role on another show. It was announced months ago, and I figured as soon as it was announced that her character would be killed off.
What about the new Kevin James show, where they killed off his wife so Leah Remini could come back?
I hadn’t known Natasha McElhone was leaving, so I was shocked at the season ender. I really like Designated Survivor for a reason that is TMI.
Well, Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in the Crown, is a pretty strong wife.
And Claire Underwood isn’t going anywhere on House of Cards, nor is Elizabeth McCord on Madam Secretary. Then there are shows like Sons of Anarchy that kill off wives left and right!
Never say never as Valerie Harper and The Hogan Family can attest. If Téa Leoni demands $1MM per episode, we’ll be looking at Kate Burton reprising her role as Maureen McCord-Ryan and becoming the new Secretary of State or else the unexplained presence of Meredith Baxter as Elizabeth McCord. 
Glad to hear that Natasha McElhone left voluntarily; I hadn’t heard.
And yes, I know it’s not EVERY show that kills off the wife, but there’ve been enough recently to feel like a pattern.
Sansa Stark on GoT has outlived a number of husbands and potential husbands. (Except Tyrion, who I hope makes it.) Cersei and Daenerys have also outlived husbands, intentionally or not.
Disney mothers are what immediately sprang to my mind. 
I don’t think it’s all that unusual. Many shows kill off characters, both male and female, as the seasons progress and many actors make the choice to move on to other opportunities.
@LeastComplicated I believe there are still a few more episodes of Major Crimes left. This was just a short break and it picks up again in January. So the unsatisfying ending wasn’t really the ending, thank goodness!
I don’t watch any of those shows. But I think I know the answer.
Misogyny.
It’s what happens when men control the studios and the creative process.
Not to hijack this thread, but since Designated Survivor was mentioned, I have a question. Was anyone else surprised the death was revealed during the episode, instead of leaving it as a cliffhanger? I just assumed we would have to wait to see what happened at the hospital, or who was there.
If you want something to restore the balance of the universe, you can watch Godless. It involves a town where, shortly before the principal action of the series begins (there are lots of flashbacks), all but three or four of the men in town died in a mining accident (and none of the male survivors is currently married). With the sole exceptions of an ex-prostitute and a fugitive battered woman, every female with a speaking role is a widow. The lead female character has been widowed twice (and you get to see both deaths in flashback).
There is, to be sure, a wife who died in childbirth in the past of one of the main male characters, but that makes the ratio of dead husbands to dead wives about 85-1. The series has a very high mortality rate for characters of both sexes, but it’s definitely higher for men than for women. And that isn’t because the women don’t get involved in violence.
At some point, I thought Disney had stopped killing or demonizing its lead characters’ mothers. I guess Frozen revived the practice.
So instead having attractive women marry fat guys they now have them killed off instead?