You have questions. I have some answers.

Q: Can you tell me why they killed off Bobby on “9-1-1”? He and his wife made that show. Everyone says it’s a shame.

A: Bobby Nash, played by Peter Krause, was a key part of the show along with his wife, Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett). And his death on the show was certainly heroic, as Bobby gave up the only dose of an antidote he needed so one of his colleagues could have it instead.

Showrunner Tim Minear told Variety that it was entirely a creative decision (no contract dispute, in other words). “I still think people grip their seats and are excited when Athena lands a plane on the freeway or a ship capsizes — but after eight years, it just felt like, if we have any hope of creating stories going forward that have actual stakes, then someone’s got to die. …

“It needed to be Bobby for a lot of reasons. The first reason is that it made sense. It didn’t feel arbitrary, because if you track the tragic arc of his character, of where he started, and how he came to LA looking for atonement, it just makes a kind of tragic sense for his character in a way it wouldn’t for another character.” (Krause himself said in a statement that Bobby “was written in sacrifice, and he was built for this. First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day. His story arc honors them.”

Minear added: “I just didn’t want to go small. Not that any of the characters are small, but Bobby’s death affects every single character’s story in a way that really no other character death would.”

And speaking of TV deaths….

Q: I am wondering why the main female character on “Alert: Missing Persons Unit” was killed off.

A: Nikki Batista, played by Dania Ramirez, ran afoul of the show’s need to stay “fresh and surprising,” showrunner Carla Kettner told TV Insider. “We had kind of played out the love triangle dynamic between Nikki, Jason (Scott Caan], and Mike (Ryan Broussard], which was such a great part of Seasons 1 and 2. So the question became: What circumstance would most challenge our MPU team? Losing the person they all most depended on — Nikki — was the answer. We had planted the seeds very early on with our exploration of Nikki’s relationship with Irish mob boss Charlie McGannon. Making Charlie responsible for Nikki’s ultimate death, and having Nikki still get him in the end, was the best way to honor Nikki’s heroism.”

Q: I used to watch a TV show called, I believe, “The Greatest American Hero.” William Katt played the hero, but I can’t remember any other characters in the show. Why can’t I find the show on TV, or could I buy the series? I loved that show.

A: “The Greatest American Hero” originally aired on ABC from 1981 to 1983. William Katt played Ralph Hinkley, a high-school teacher who acquired powers from a special suit given to him by extraterrestrials. Robert Culp co-starred as an FBI agent working with Ralph, and Connie Sellecca played Ralph’s girlfriend. Michael Pare and Faye Grant were among the actors playing Ralph’s students. The show’s theme song, known as “Believe It or Not,” was a big hit for Joey Scarbury.

There are DVD sets of the series, which I have seen for sale on Amazon.com. Amazon Prime Video also has the series, as do Tubi, Peacock and other streaming services.

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