Joel Bobbendrier

In today's era of "peak television," the possibility of favorite and major characters getting killed off is one of the main points of tension and discussion. Some track the first major character death in a television show to "The Danny Thomas Show," which was in the midst of being rebranded from "Make Room for Daddy." Actress Jean Hagen left the show due to her dissatisfaction with her character's direction; writing her off as having a divorce from the main character would have been taboo, so the writers decided to kill her off instead.

"One Day at a Time" became the first primetime, multi-camera sitcom to film episodes without a studio audience due to the coronavirus pandemic to ensure the safety of the cast and crew. The series joined other shows that temporarily went audience-free, including Comedy Central's "Lights Out with David Spade" and "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah."

To depict the ballroom voguing scene of the late 1980s and the early 1990s, "Pose" creator Ryan Murphy assembled an authentically queer and transgender cast that includes Emmy winner Billy Porter and trans performers Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, and Indya Moore.

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The Showtime program "Billions" represented growing acceptance for the singular "they/them/theirs" pronoun. Nonbinary actor Asia Kate Dillon portrays Taylor Mason, a nonbinary character who starts as an intern but proves their brilliance to the rest of the characters. Asia Kate Dillon's presence in the show has helped to spark more conversations about modern attitudes toward gender identity.