Why Jeff Conaway's Bobby Wheeler Left Taxi

Acting in an ensemble has its benefits, but for some sitcom stars, it can also feel a bit limiting. When you're one of many actors vying for screentime, there are bound to be moments where your character gets short shrift, but occasionally, it pushes actors to their breaking point. It seems that was at least part of the problem for "Taxi" star Jeff Conaway, who played aspiring actor Bobby Wheeler for the first three seasons of the classic sitcom. 

"Taxi" was created by the same team that would eventually go on to make the mega-hit sitcom "Cheers," and it followed the main crew of the fictional Sunshine Cab Company in Manhattan through the various trials of their working and personal lives. Running from 1978 to 1982, the show also featured a number of soon-to-be mega-stars, including Tony Danza as the wannabe boxer Tony Banta, Judd Hirsch as cynical everyman Alex Reiger, Marilu Henner as creative single mom Elaine Nardo, Christopher Lloyd as drugged-out airhead Jim Ignatowski, and Danny DeVito as their lecherous and abusive boss, Louie De Palma. After three seasons of "Taxi," though, Conaway bowed out of the series, returning for only one other episode in season 4. 

While working on the series definitely had its challenges (like dealing with the antics of comedian co-star Andy Kaufman and his alter-ego Tony Clifton), it really was a boon for most of its actors career-wise. Unlike some of his co-stars, however, Conaway had already tasted a bit of that mega-stardom from playing Kenickie in the 1978 hit movie musical "Grease." This also meant he had higher expectations for his work. So, when he kept having to deal with the same kind of material on the show over and over, he decided to leave "Taxi" in 1981 in search of, hopefully, greener pastures.

While Lloyd and DeVito had previously tackled supporting roles in the Best Picture Oscar-winning "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," that was very different from playing the best friend of John Travolta's character Danny Zuko in "Grease," so maybe Conaway felt like he had a bit more star power to throw around. Ultimately, he admitted to the Toronto Star (via the Los Angeles Times) in 1989 that he was dissatisfied with the "Taxi" scripts because he didn't "like the way [Bobby] was being written to represent actors," leaning into old stereotypes about their lack of intelligence and egotism. This, in turn, led to him leaving the show to pursue his movie career. As he explained to the outlet:

"In 'Taxi,' I kept doing the same scene for three years. I was underused. It's natural when there are seven people involved in a half-hour show."

It's hard to blame him for feeling a bit jilted, especially when total non-actors at the time like Tony Danza ended up getting more screentime and better stories, but there was probably a bit more to the story, too. Conaway's drug addiction problems were fairly well-known, and he even did a stint on the reality TV series "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" in 2008. Around that time, former "Taxi" writer Sam Simon called into Howard Stern's radio show and claimed that Conaway's drug problem had a lot to do with his leaving the show. In the end, Conaway's career never blew up like many of his former co-stars, though he did eventually snag a sizable role on the 1990s sci-fi series "Babylon 5."

Conaway died in 2011 at the age of 60, and it's really a shame this talented performer never quite got the career he deserved. Leaving "Taxi" probably wasn't the wisest move, but then again, neither was joining the zany series in the first place.