It has happened before. TV creators have been purposely harsh on their characters, sometimes for reasons probably more deeper then ratings or plot points. Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly has a similar trait.
He's a sadist to his characters, especially in Angel's show, you notice things always seem to get worse for certain characters more and more. Who knows whether or not this was an attack on Frankie or not, there's no way to know.
I don't think it was but I can certainly see a strong arguement that it could be. It happened in "Batman Beyond" and "Extreme Ghostbusters" and "Ranma 1/2", trust me it's happened.
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