By Kelsea Stahler, Hollywood.com Staff

The full truth behind Ann Curry's sudden removal from NBC's Today may not make itself known, but her teary farewell today and her assertion that she was leaving before she was able to ""carry the ball across the finish line"" certainly signals that her exit wasn't of her choosing. It was one of those famous, palpably awkward moments in which we realize someone we've come to know in her usual spot on our handy dandy television sets won't be there next time we click our remotes.

It's not an uncommon sensation. Television, being the medium of stories cast over many seasons, is prone to lose familiar faces when the long-term circumstances become muddled, inconvenient, or, in extreme cases, controversial.

Naturally, we couldn't help but recount these sometimes glorious and more often uneasy television exits. It happens more often than you'd think.

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Follow Kelsea on Twitter @KelseaStahler.

[Image: Wenn]

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