 When he was on the show, Stephen Markle (qv) portrayed Ted Loomis,  a corrupt cop who eventually became a serial murderer. Loomis killed  several other characters, and the fans loved him and wanted him to  keep killing even more characters. The producers became alarmed that  his evil, psychopathic character was becoming too popular. As a  result, it was decided to write out Loomis by killing the character.  Fans were shocked and outraged by this decision.