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see also: https://www.aiowiki.com/wiki/Adventures_in_Odyssey#The_.22Split.22_era for more details
The Controversy...[]
One of the most controversial decisions made on the show involved a character by the name of Officer David Harley, played by Will Ryan (who also voiced Eugene Meltsner). During the time Officer Harley lived in Odyssey, he appeared in more episodes than anyone else besides Whit.
He made his first appearance in the third AIO episode, #3: “Lights Out at Whit's End”. His final appearance was in #70 – #71: “The Return of Harley”.
His character was one of a local Police Officer who was not-too-bright, but with a good heart and good intentions. His appearance on the show generated some negative response from parents concerned about how his persona would send the wrong message about real police officers. Although the staff of Adventures in Odyssey didn't agree with the criticism, they ended up having the character move out of Odyssey where he would be seen less often. For the next few years, Officer Harley appeared in one 2-part episode and was referenced in several other episodes.
Officer Harley's permanent disappearance occurred shortly before the beginning of the Adventures in Odyssey video project. Because of the multiple ongoing projects, the team was in need of scripts for new radio episodes. To solve this problem, they decided to re-record several of the older Officer Harley episodes with other characters filling in for him. This allowed for several new episodes during this busy time, and also essentially removed Officer Harley from Odyssey continuity. The majority of the shows that Officer Harley appeared in were then re-recorded and re-aired under different titles with another character, such as Harlow Doyle or Eugene, filling in for Officer Harley. The Officer Harley Collection Once the older episodes were re-recorded, the original Odyssey album was discontinued, and replaced with "The Early Classics". It featured several of the original episodes with new wraparounds by Chris Anthony, along with the re-recorded versions of the Officer Harley episodes. Today only three episodes that include Officer Harley are still readily available, and the original albums containing other episodes are something of a collector's piece. In total, the number of unreleased Odyssey episodes containing Officer Harley amounted to twelve. Die-hard fans continually requested that the episodes be made available outside of a rare album, so in 2014, those twelve episodes were edited slightly (to remove references by Chris in the end of the episodes, revealing what next week's would be) and compiled into The Officer Harley Collection, available exclusively on the Adventures in Odyssey Club.
The whole affair concerning Harley was assurance that Focus on the Family listened to feedback by removing Officer Harley, but later bringing him back in the form of Harlow Doyle.