This reminds me of David Letterman's departure from NBC, when he had to leave behind the dim-witted character named Larry "Bud" Melman as "intellectual" property of NBC.<p>Of course, the actor moved to CBS with Letterman, under his own name: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert_DeForest#Work_with_David_Letterman" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert_DeForest#Work_with_Davi...</a>