TV Stars who expressed some form of discontent once their co-star’s or sidekick’s characters took off, topping their popular

Topping their popularity*

I think a lot don't necessarily say anything publicly OP, but just act cunty on the set. Julianna Margolise in The Good Wife for example. She refused to appear with her fellow acres who's name I forget.

^actress - R2

Thomas on Miami Vice thought that he would be the breakout star... EG OT and all. David Hyde Pierce certainly trumped Kelsey Grammer in awards.

Oops, forgot you-know-who

Emmy winner Archi Panjabi, r2

Did Gabe Kaplan ever express resentment over Travolta's popularity?

Refusing to appear in the same scenes as her co-star is certainly a very marked form of expression, r2 - which is what OP wants. Not all is about the spoken word.

Every show starting Judd Hirsch has had a breakout star other than him. Any word on how he handles this?

Starring*

On a related but not qualifying note, how about those TV or pop stars who must be seething with resentment over similar equivalents achieving the movie stardom they so much desired, like Roseanne/Melissa McCarthy, MTM/Jennifer Aniston, or Madonna/Lady Gaga?

Thanks R6. Yoire right R8, I answered the OP pre-coffee, so I read it as expressing it publicly.

You're ^ R12

Joyce DeWitt

Thread closed

Marla Gibbs' attitude towards Jackée Harry on 227. It was supposed to be all about Marla's character's relationships with her family and neighbors, but Jackée and her character portrayal took over the whole show. Marla was upset and envious about it, especially since it was Jackée who won the only Emmy for 227.

Reginald VelJohnson was royally pissed about Jaleel White's Urkle character becoming the star of the show.

Guy Williams was not pleased that Jonathon Harris became the popular character on Lost In Space, refusing to talk to Harris for years after the show ended.

John Amos left Good Times because of Jimmie Walker's popularity.

Cindy Williams...Penny Marshall had a much bigger career.

John Mark Gosselaar...Mario Lopez won.

Bill Cosby was terrible to Lisa Bonet on The Cosby Show - but in retrospect, there may be other reasons besides her popularity that led to his disdain for her

Kate Jackson was supposedly pissed off that Farrah was the hit of the show.

Elderqueens ALERT.... OUR DEAR BEA ON THE GOLDEN GIRLS.

Oddly enough Johnny Depp wasn't happy at Richard Greico's popularity on 21 Jump Street. He needn't have worried.

LINDA LAVIN CAN KISS MAH GRITS

R19, Farrah only stayed for one season.

r23, I know but Farrah was a huge hit, and Kate was jealous.

Charlotte Rae?!

do we think Jean Stapleton left All In The Family after the great success of Danielle Brisbois?

Michele Lee was insecure when Knots Landing brought Nicolette Sheridan on.

What was it like when Heather Lockkear & Tiffani amber theissen showed up on MP/BH 90210? We're Courtney Thorne Smith & Jennie Garth in danger, gurl?

R28, everyone was cool with Heather because (1) she saved their jobs and (2) she was super nice.

Jeannie and Tori were cunts to Tiffani for seemingly no good reason. It's not like they were pissed at her for replacing Shannen Doherty.

Desperate Housewives - everyone v. Terri Hatcher

I'm willing to bet several cast members on "Happy Days" weren't all that pleased with Henry Winkler rising so quickly.

All six Brady kids when Cousin Oliver was introduced. They went on and had a cartoon and a variety show and never invited him to join in the fun, or residuals. And when it came time for the posing to have their images inscribed on the lunchbox, they told him the wrong date to show up.

How many best friends did Marlo Thomas go through on That Girl? Anytime an actress came on and was funnier than Marlo, she had them axed from the show.

Cybill Sheperd owns this thread.

r32

the Brady kids may have treated Cousin Oliver terribly - b/c that disdain did not stem from his skyrocketing popularity

Wayne Rogers - MASH

Thank you, r16 and r21!

R25 - Rae was not well when the show’s attention shifted from her to the girls (it took all of 6 episodes at most). She was out of there once her contract was up.

[quote]Marla was upset and envious about it,

Interesting attitude to assume given her character in The Jeffersons had done the same thing to Isabel Stanford a decade earlier.

The West Wing

Rob Lowe, reportedly wasn't happy when his character wasn't the central figure in the show and he left during season 4. He did come back for a couple of episodes during the last season.

You bitches forgot about me?

I hated the skinny little closet case from the first day I met him!

Yeah Janet, but the show WAS called “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and not “The Wacky Adventures of Aunt Viv.” So please vontinue to suck it, you bit player!

Brian Dunkleman v. Ryan Seacrest

Nobody was happy when the black midget stole "Diff'rent Strokes." I was so pissed off, I left to do "Fact of Life." Dixie Carter left to do Designing Women.

Lucy Liu became the breakout star of Ally McBeal but no idea how Calista felt

Imagine how Jeremy Miller felt on Growing Pains. When the Mike Seaver character grew up, producers wanted to repeat the formula of edgy, good-looking teen boy to lure in adolescent girl viewers. Jerry Miller was in his mid teens, and his character was being written more and more to remember the old Mike Seaver character. But, maybe the producers didn't feel he had enough of the "it" factor, because they hired Leonardo DiCaprio as a runaway who is adopted by the Seavers. Imagine being replaced by someone who is about the same age as you...but you haven't left.

Kate Jackson was less upset by Farrah's success than she was by the ease with which Cheryl Ladd took over for Farrah and the audience's immediate acceptance of her. 2Boobs2Teethier meant the dye was cast -- Kate was never going to be able to turn the show into the gritty-but-humane crime drama she'd envisioned.

I can't imagine Johnny Galecki being happy about being sidelined by Jim Parsons. But then again, if I were getting paid $1 million an episode regardless of my popularity, I'd probably not care.

I don't think Lisa Bonet was all that popular with audiences--I think the network and movie studios had big plans for her beacsue she was so beautiful and on a hit show, but she has zero charisma and acting ability, just an exceptionally lovely face. Cosby's problems with her had more to do with the fact she was a stoner and would not do as he said--not because her character was individually popular (in fact, Theo, Vanessa and Rudi all seemed to me more popular than Bonet's character was).

John Amos didn't leave Good Times...he was fired. The producers were tired of him bitching about the JJ character. They were keeping the character young and stupid--and fulfilling bad stereotypes--to leverage his popularity into ratings and merchandising. The show went on without Amos. Esther Rolle did leave for a season because she thought the character was too immature. After the writers matured the character, Esther Rolle returned. Jimmie Walker has said that he never fought with Amos or Rolle on the set; in fact he never talked with them at all. Perhaps they weren't on speaking terms, and/or he was probably holed up in his dressing room most of the time. What's hilarious is that Amos is only 7 years older than Walker. They seem to get along OK at Good Times reunion events now.

Lisa Bonet was very popular, R49, which is why NBC gave her a spin-off instead of just firing her from The Cosby Show when it turned out that she and Bill didn't get along. Why on earth would they give a spin-off to a semi-problematic actress who was also unpopular?

Some shows did not have a huge problem with a smaller character becoming a break-out character. Henry Winkler is considered one of the nicest actors in Hollywood, so the Happy days cast was not resentful of him at all from what I've read.

I think it's harder when a show is built around an actor but someone else becomes a break-out character as is the cast with Jaleel White on "Family Matters." The show was originally a spin-off of "Perfect Strangers" built around Jo-Marie Payton's character Harriete Winslow, and was also meant to be a starring vehicle for Reginald VelJohnson as her husband; Jaleel White's Urkel was only supposed to appear once, but the reaction to him was so huge they brought him back and the show became all about him (and became increasingly surreal). Apparently Payton and especially VelJohnson were very resentful of this at first, but it had more to do with the change in tone of the show than White himself (though at the time he felt very personally put upon). Apparently they all have since buried the hatchet.

With Cybill Shepherd, it has more to do with the fact that she's just an amazingly entitled bitch who is deluded into thinking she has amazing talent. Audiences like her, for some reason, and so they can build shows around her, and Bruce Willis's stardom that emerged from "Moonlighting" was a bit of a surprise and she was very envious of him. With "Cybill" it was a different matter: I think everyone but her knew the limitations of her comic talents at this point, and so they cast Christine Baranski knowing she would be a breakout character. From everything I've read, Baranski was quite professional with Shepherd but just did not warm to her, and so Shepherd's comments about her in "Cybill Disobedience" are generally, vaguely bitchy but she can complain of no specific instance of bad behavior (other than the fact that Baranski did not live in LA and would fly back to her home city--Chicago?--when shooting would finish each week). Alicia Witt and then Peter Krause (who dated Witt at the time) were much nastier to Shepherd, mostly because Shepherd is by all accounts such an incredibly needy, manipulative, controlling, narcissistic bitch, and so she has many more specific things to complain about them for in "Cybill Disobedience."

I've read that Larry Wilcox had resentments towards Erik Estrada's popularity on CHiPs, because he thought he was going to be the main star and that Estrada would just be his sidekick. They did not get along and Wilcox eventually left the show.

[quote]John Amos left Good Times because of Jimmie Walker's popularity.

It was more complicated than that. Amos felt that that the emphasis on Walker had ruined the direction of the show and was playing into the age old "bug-eyed buffoon" stereotype. I understand where he was coming from because to this day, I still cringe when I think about the show and can't watch it, even though I liked Jimmie Walker. He and other blacks wanted Good Times to be funny yet portray the struggling black family with dignity, but it kept getting more cartoony and stereotypical as it went along.

[quote] Why on earth would they give a spin-off to a semi-problematic actress who was also unpopular?

I did not once say "unpopular." You're putting words in my mouth. I said other characters on the show were more popular than hers, which is the truth (I was alive then and I remember it well).

They built a show around her for the reasons I said: she was beautiful, and so they thought they could make her into a star, and carry over the "Cosby Show"'s built-in popularity. But her lack of charisma and ambition were a problem, and prevented her from becoming a movie star; her fights with Bill Cosby meant she left her own show, which did fine (if not spectacularly) without her.

I don't know if Kate Mulgrew has ever said anything publicly but Jeri Ryan has made constant references to the fact that Mulgrew was royally pissed over the Seven of Nine character. It made sense. Star Trek: Voyager was supposed to be this pioneering show in which a female captain was helming a ship all on her own without the help of Starfleet. Then all of a sudden, a sexpot was added to the series and wound up completely overshadowing her and the rest of the ensemble cast, except for The Doctor. To make matters worse, the sexpot was the one always saving the day with her "superior" Borg technology. (Ouch.)

r39, your buggin if you don't think Lisa Bonet had charisma. I'm not saying she was the next M. but she was beautiful and audiences loved her. Thats exactly why the network gave her, her own spinoff tv show. why rewrite history. Lisa was just more concerned about living a bohemian lifestyle than becoming A hollywood megastar.

I meant r49.

HAVE YOU BITCHES FORGOTTEN ME AND OLD WHISKEY/CIGARETTE BREATH ????

People forget that the breakout star can oftentimes be the problem as well.

The second Moonlighting became a hit and he started getting noticed, Bruce Willis thought he was better than the show and treated it with disdain. He HATED being known as just a TV Actor. When he had that hit action movie, he became insufferable on the set.

Jackee herself admitted that she became a prima donna after she won the Emmy . She said she got a serious reality check after she left 227 and had trouble getting work for a few years. Marla Gibbs and her made up years ago and are very close (as is the entire cast of 227).

As for Designing Women, no one was really upset with Delta becoming a breakout star, it was more Delta's issues and Gerald MacRaney trying to call shots with the Thomasons that was the big problem. And the Dixie and Delta feuded, and that's when it became very difficult on the set. That fifth season was practically a warzone.

When Donna Summer guest starred on Family Matter, TV Guide talked about Jaleel White got pissed because she got better treatment than he did. He was also dismissive of her singing saying she was no Boyz 2 Men.

Tyler Posey on MTV's Teen Wolf bitched about the fans being obsessed with "Sterek" (Dylan O'Brien & Tyler Hoechlin) . Came off as petty and jealous and the fans liked him even less after that. From day one Dylan O'Brien overshadowed Tyler Posey's scenes and acting.

Doesn't fit exactly. Max Wright HATED working on Alf, because the puppet was the star. Don't know why he agreed to do the show in the first place though since it that was clear from day one.

R55, I was alive then, too, and Lisa Bonet got more press coverage than any of those kids. Malcolm Jamal Warner was also popular, but none of the other kids got anywhere near that kind of attention. Keshia got attention for being cute and young, but that didn't translate into covers of magazines, etc. And if you're trying to convince me that Tempest Bledsoe was America's Sweetheart, then all I can say to you is nice to meet you, Miss Bledsoe -- I'm a huge fan!

Guy Marks was abruptly fired from the Joey Bishop show because he was upstaging Bishop. Marks was replaced by the more boring Corbett Monica, who couldn’t possibly upstage Bishop due to his lack of talent.

r63, who?

I think you mean Guy Fawkes. Hmmm that's a great name for a generic porn actor.

Tina Louise thought she was to be the star of Gilligan's Island. When she found out that she had signed up for a camp sitcom starring dopey Bob Denver, she started trouble. She would only be filmed from a certain angle and if her blocking in the shot didn't include her in that position, she would position herself so that her best side was displayed, regardless of if it made sense in the scene.

R52 Cybill Shepherd (who I admire) has never got it through her L’Orealed head that her gift is playing the [italic]straight man [/italic]in a comedy team.

She’s a bit thick, that way.

Joe Flynn, who later played Captain Binghamton on McHale’s Navy was also fired from the Joey Bishop Show for getting too many laughs. Flynn was so pissed he dropped the Joey Bishop Show from his resumè even though he was a regular for an entire season.

R56, to make matters even worse, Jeri Ryan was dating the show runner. Sex pot in a skimpy outfit who is dating the boss. Uh huh. I actually loved the character, though. They would have solved a lot of the problem if they had put her in a uniform and kept Kes around. They were supposed to get rid of Harry Kim because he sucked but he was voted sexiest Asian actor or something around that time so they couldn't and got rid of Jennifer Lien instead. If they had put Seven in a uniform and kept Kes on in a counselor role to help Seven acclimate, instead of leaving it up to the skeevy doctor, it would have been an entirely different tone and stayed with the original woman-centric feel of the show.

Didn't John Ritter hate Suzanne Somers because the Chrissy character took off?

[quote]Tyler Posey on MTV's Teen Wolf bitched about the fans being obsessed with "Sterek" (Dylan O'Brien & Tyler Hoechlin)

I just realized I have thought for years that Tyler Posey and Tyler Hoechlin were the same person. (I've never watched Teen Wolf.)

Tina Louise thought GILLIGAN’S ISLAND was going to be about her movie star character.

The creator said, “Didn’t you read the TITLE??”

Pretty much everyone on set detested her.

No, R70. He hated her because she tried to force the show into giving her more money, creating a very public scandal that could have destroyed the show and ruined his (and others') meal ticket. I once saw her on a talk. This was back in the old days (early 90s?) when audience members got to ask the guests questions. Someone asked if there'd every be a "Three's Company" reunion, and Suzanne replied, "I once saw someone ask John Ritter that question and he responded that the only way that Chrissy would be back on the show is if Jack and Janet were attending Chrissy's funeral." Apparently he disliked her for years, and his wife pushed them to renew their friendship when they ended up at the same event by coincidence. After his death, she was all over the media, acting like his best friend ever, and as she talked about her relationship with him, she started every sentence with the word "I". Her feud with Joyce DeWitt went on much longer, with them disagreeing about what happened, Joyce gently implying that Suzanne was lying. They did have a reunion about 10 years ago, where they put it past them.

TRIVIA: Ginger’s clothes on the show were done by Nolan Miller, who went on to do DYNASTY.

I know Jeri Ryan has a lot of fans here, but I have to agree with Kate Mulgrew that the Seven of Nine character was sexist and regressive and terrible. Ryan's attitude about the situation since then has also really turned me off. I didn't watch the show all that much back when it was on, but what I've seen since then as far as interviews makes me understand why Mulgrew was irritated with her.

Joe Flynn was difficult on McHale's Navy and didn't get along with Ernest Borgnine. I suspect the real problem was with him.

Joe Flynn never quite came across as a warm and fuzzy guy.

"The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour," which eventually turned into "Cher."

Apparently Chris Hemsworth was very butt hurt that Tom Hiddleston is the more popular one and not Thor. He wanted Toms character to die so he can get the spotlight.

Allegedly him and that New Zealand Director were mean to Tom during the shooting of the last Thor movie, and picked on him.

A lot of Stranger Things fans have criticized the parents of the leading female child star on Stranger Things. Apparently, at the show's events, they're scheduling photo ops for her apart from the other kids who mostly do group shots together. The parents have always been desperate to make her happen, and the kid seems to have a really ambitious personality by nature.

Was Joe Flynn gay ?

Roseanne when Sara Gilbert took over her show.

Or for that matter, Ernest Borgnine ?

[quote]Joe Flynn was difficult on McHale's Navy and didn't get along with Ernest Borgnine. I suspect the real problem was with him.

That Merman dame came right in the middle of McHale's Navy, so maybe that was the trouble. Ernie wasn't getting enough Borging before or after that incident.

Long before the world was introduced to Heather Tom, Joe Flynn was America's most notorious sufferer from PSS (Pinched Sphincter Syndrome).

[R81]

I think he was a human porcupine.

R85 For a second I thought you meant Lauren Tom (JOY LUCK CLUB, FRIENDS etc.)

SHE is a [italic]doll.

No, r87. Not even a second. I remember Lauren Tom as a character who slept in a coffin in an episode of HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET. Bayliss was dating her.

Kate Mulgrew got the last laugh by stealing the show on Orange is the New Black. She chews scenery, but I love her character.

R72-R74 - I thought the Ginger character in Gilliam’s island only ever had the one outfit? So when you say Nolan Miller designer her clothes - you mean basically that one dress?

And the earlier Star Trek Voyager poster - I thought one of the reasons the Kes character was canned was that the actress who played her had some substance abuse issues that were beginning to impact her work?

Speaking of Trek - do you think Shatner ever got annoyed that Nimoy’s character was the breakout with a cult following? Or has his ego always been so huge that he just didn’t notice it?

Caroline Rhea has a show on the Game Show Network, basically America's Funniest Home Videos but done even cheaper and lamer, if you imagine. I saw it while visiting my mother recently. Jim J. Bullock and Jackee were the guests on the one I saw. You can probably imagine how it was. All three of them are as big as a house.

[R90]

Shatner did get irritated at Nimoy and other actors becoming popular. In Star Trek books, cast members have talked about Shatner demanding script changes to give him good lines assigned to other characters.

When Patti LuPone realized she was being upstaged by a Downs Syndrome actor, she demanded more singing time on the show.

[quote]R90 I thought the Ginger character in Gilliam’s island only ever had the one outfit? So when you say Nolan Miller designer her clothes - you mean basically that one dress?

You need to turn in your gay card, and I mean RIGHT fuckin’ NOW!

For gowns, Ginger had a beige sheath in crepe with a silver beaded top (maybe the most iconic of her outfits), an orange spangly thing I cared a bit less for, and a one-shouldered leapord print dress.

Then there were other various odds and ends IIRC...but those were the biggies.

I think the substance abuse problems came later, R90. She was supposed to stay and Harry Kim was supposed to be killed off but then Garrett Wang was named to some sexiest tv star list (yuck!) and they thought they couldn't get rid of him. I think Mulgrew was pretty close to Lien, which caused even more problems since Seven was essentially replacing Kes. I often wished Kes would have been on the show as Seven's friend and mentor. It would have been nice to have a female friendship and Kes was a very warm, feeling-based character...the only one on the show.

Beverly Archer (from Mama's Family and Major Dad) was in a series called "We've Got Each Other" in the 70s. TV Guide interviewed her...and to her surprise, put her on the cover, which she didn't know until it was published. Anyhow, her co-star, Oliver Clark, was furious and thought they both should have been on the cover. She said he completely stopped speaking to her unless it was dialogue in the show.

Do you know details R79?

[quote] Joe Flynn was difficult on McHale's Navy and didn't get along with Ernest Borgnine. I suspect the real problem was with him.

Link?

It was well known that Bishop had him fired for getting too many laughs the same way Bishop got Marks fired. At any rate, Flynn had a pretty extensive career for someone who was “difficult.” He went on to do two McHales Navy films after the show ended, one of which did not have Ernest Borgnine in it. He was a regular on the Tim Conway Show and he made a shitload of movies for Disney.

He was a member of a group of SAG actors who were trying to get a more equitable distribution of residuals for actors in syndicated tv series when he died. He was only 49 when he died, which is kind of funny because he looked 49 for most of his career.

In the show's initial season, Ginger was generally in that white dress for most of the episodes but when the show went to color in season 2, she suddenly had a wardrobe. Mary Anne, too although to a lesser extent. Only Gilligan, Skipper and the Professor remained in the same clothes throughout the series' run. Man, the air on that island must have been ripe.

Beverly Archer should play Allison Janney’s mom.

This sort of thing has probably existed since man first set foot on a stage. I'll bet in Shakespeare's time, people settled things with a sword.

But I digress. One of the most famous and public examples came in the 50s on Arthur Godfrey's show. After singer Julius LaRosa began to eclipse Godfrey's popularity, he "fired" him on-air and when the backlash started, justified his actions by claiming LaRosa lacked humility.

Riffing on R91, apparently Ted Knight wasn't happy that JM J. Bullock's Munroe character became so popular on The Ted Knight Show.

Monroe was popular?? That's terrifying.

That's true about Ted Knight -- he was jealous about Jm J's popularity -- but it just goes to show you how little pull Knight had on his own show. When they retooled it, besides Muriel, Monroe was the only other character brought back -- and it made zero sense, story-wise. Can't imagine ol' Teddy was happy about that.

Ted was the weak link on his own show. Fact. I would have much rather watched a re-tool after he died, with the mom, daughters and Monroe continuing on without him in SF, and they could have made Selma Diamond and Jayne Meadows regulars, too. Now THAT'S a show!

The cast of Canadian show This Hour Has 22 Minutes when Rick Mercer became really popular. He eventually left the show and every now and then they'd parody him or make some snide comment about his career.

Interesting, r96. Didn’t Vicki Lawrence also resent Archer’s popularity as Iola on Mama’s Family? I though I recalled reading that and there were definitely some awkward, passive-aggressive comments exchanged on Vicki Lawrence’s 90s talk show when they did the Mama’s Family cast reunion.

[quote]He was only 49 when he died, which is kind of funny because he looked 49 for most of his career.

I had also heard he died at age 49, but I don't believe it for a second. I think either he lied or that there was a screw up on his birth certificate. It has nothing to do with his looks or anything; the dead giveaway are his mannerisms and way of dressing and speaking. He acted way too much like a member of an older generation, like he'd grown up in a different era from his contemporaries. (For comparison: Dick Van Dyke, Brett Somers, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman born either the same year or the year before). I'm not saying he was wayyy older than his stated age (maybe five or six years older than reported). But 49? No. I could be wrong but my gut instinct says that his birth date was fudged.

His IMDB bio makes his stated age even more suspect:

[QUOTE]Flynn began his entertainment career as a ventriloquist and as a radio performer. During World War II, he served in the Army's Special Services Branch (formerly the Morale Branch) entertaining the troops in the United States.

If he was born in 1924, he was already a ventriloquist, radio performer and entertainer for the troops in WW2 by the age of 20?

And below is a still from him in 1956, when he was supposedly 32? C'mon...

When he was alive, Joe Flynn reminded me of my grandmother. I found that really disturbing.

Wasn't Meredith Baxter Birney pissy about Michael J. Fox's popularity on Family Ties?

I always wondered if the twin actresses who played Carrie Ingalls were upset when Little House on the Prairie kept adding more and more new kids to the show rather than giving her more to do. She was so bad it wasn’t surprising they went that way. Still it had to sting.

OP that's because all gay men think all hetero women are bitchy, jealous and nasty. That and you think with your dick so NO MAN could ever be this way. TOPHER GRACE. That 70s show centered around his character.....until Neanderthal looking pretty boy Ashton Kutcher's character TOOK OFF. He tested as the favorite. Then wouldn't you know girls loved him, he was everywhere and then he got more screen time. Topher wasn't keen on that.

R51 she wasn't problematic....Bill was. He wanted her to be a saint so when "Angel Heart" came up he told her not to make that movie. She did make it. After that the Denise character was yanked from "It's a different world". Did you not think it odd that when Denise came back from Africa she was married to the most conservative whitest sounding black guy (in the Navy I believe)? Cosby wanted Denise to be normal.....but no way a conservative black guy like Martin (the character) would marry Denise.....a woman with long dreds, colorful clothes and piercings. Remember Cosby is a sociopath, he's about LOOKS, image. He was bothered that Lisa Bonet's parents came to the set one time (she was 16 at the time). He wanted PERFECT images from his child actors.

Catherine O'Hara's batshit insane character on Six Feet Under was basically Cybill Shepard. Alan Ball was a writer on Cybill sitcom and HATED her.

r69 Jennifer Lien was fired from Voyager because of her drug problem. They couldn't keep her on the show anymore because she was becoming impossible.

Leave It To Beaver is an interesting case. When the show premiered, cute-as-a-button Jerry Mathers was the undisputed star of the show. As Mathers grew, he became decidedly less cute, and the focus shifted to the suddenly-studly Tony Dow as Wally. (Although Tony may have gotten the same treatment with the popularity of the sniveling Eddie Haskell character).

I wonder how the cast of Dark Shadows (including screen star Joan Bennett) felt when Jonathan Frid became the focal point of the show as vampire Barnabas Collins?

Does anyone know if Sada Thompson was pissed when Kristy McNicol became the breakout on Family?

r106 I guess we'll find out if and when Archer ever shows up on "The Cool Kids."

[quote]and they could have made Selma Diamond and Jayne Meadows regulars, too.

That was AUDREY Meadows, you nimrod!

Since "The Joey Bishop Show" has been mentioned more than once ... in addition to the changes noted above, the entire first season's cast (and premise) was jettisoned. Including DL fave (and the executive producer's daughter) Marlo Thomas, as well as DL fave Madge Blake. They played Joey's sister and mother, respectively. Also gone was Warren Berlinger (Milton Berle's real-life nephew).

Another interesting tidbit -- it might be the only show that went from black & white to color and back to black & white when it changed networks.

R114, that's not what happened. I think you are conflating her leaving Voyager with where she ended up a good decade later. She even came back for another episode later in Voyager's run. Drugs had nothing to do with her leaving Voyager.

Yes r109, she was in OP’s original list.

"Hazel" was given a new family and a new network for its final season.

SJP was mad Samantha was a more loved character than Carrie on Sex and the City so she took it out on Kim Cattrall.

Whoa. Just looked up Jennifer Lien and she is my exact age and was born about three miles from me. Weird.

Jeri Ryan was married to a pervert who she ultimately divorced but got a great big mansion in Encino out of it. House used to have these tacky clear columns that were fish tanks. Aside from that, nice house. She ended up marrying a chef.

[quote] When Donna Summer guest starred on Family Matter, TV Guide talked about Jaleel White got pissed because she got better treatment than he did. He was also dismissive of her singing saying she was no Boyz 2 Men.

Well... she wasn't.

r120 Lien had a drug problem during Voyager. It started even before that.

R112 Bonet was a problem on the Cosby show. I think it was the E True Hollywood Story, and the actress who played Bill's mother said Lisa was always late and acted like she didn't give a damn about whether she was on the show or not.

R127, do you have something to back up your opinion because nothing I've read anywhere in Trekdom over the years and nothing on the internet now agrees with you.

I knew someone who worked production on Voyager, r129.

BTW, Garret Wang was also a big partier, he would come onto the set late, obviously hungover, and not know his lines. He would also not come in at all. That's why he almost got shitcanned. People magazine saved his ass when they named him one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. If it hadn't been for that, he would've been out the door.

[quote]Lien had a drug problem during Voyager. It started even before that.

I definitely believe that Lien might've had a problem. If you watch the progression of the character of Kes, you can sense that in the beginning, the writers were completely enchanted with Lien but then something happened where they didn't seem to enjoy writing for her character anymore. Kes was also written to become increasingly erratic and angry, when early on, she had been the resident sweetheart and voice of compassion.

Rob Lowe and every show he's ever been on.

[quote] Pretty much everyone on set detested her.

The stage hands may have been the only ones to love Tina Louise. In an episode she would the bamboo shower she chose to do it actually nude. Sherwood Swartcz wrote they had better then forty of the crew in the rafters enjoying the view

Regarding Joe Flynn I once caught an old Highway Patrol episode with him as a psycho killer on the run. I was surprised how tough he looked. You'd never guess a couple years later he would be totally typecast as a comedian.

Jennifer Lien had to be written out of Voyager regardless of her junkie problems. The character's species only had a lifespan of 5 or 6 years.

I don't know if they ever expressed it but Robert Vaughn and Robert Culp HAD to have resented their costars greater popularity. David Mccallum with his "intellectual Beatle" look and Bill Cosby with his three Emmys.

R127, why are there exactly zero stories from then or now if that's the case? Even with her later issues, Lien's illegal actions weren't drug based. She's got mental health issues. The Wang situation and the fact that his boring ass was supposed to be killed off until he was named to some sexy man list is pretty common knowledge in Trek circles.

Ensemble casts might be difficult to manage. You could just imagine people getting the episode script and all the actors would be counting the lines. On "Taxi" Jeff Conaway was upset he wasn't the breakout star and the buzz was about Tony Danza. Conaway wanted to be the next John Travolta, and he ended up being lost in the shuffle. Things weren't helped by the strong characters played by Andy Kaufman, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd.

I always wondered how Gavin MacLeod felt about his two male co-stars always getting Emmys and nominations and he got nothing in the MTM years. Peter Scolari always seemed to be good-natured and somewhat amused about his "Bosom Buddies" co-star becoming Hollywood royalty.

Does anyone have any behind the scenes info about "The Yellow Rose" (1983-1984).

Good cast: Sam Elliiott, David Soul, Cybil Shepherd, Susan Anspach, Ken Curtis, Noah Beery Jr., Chuck Connors, Deborah Shelton, Will Sampson.

And to top it off Jane Russell showed up for 3 episodes playing Sam Elliot's long lost mother.

Susan Anspach left suddenly after only 9 episodes.

I watched it when it originally aired and liked it a lot. Was sad to see it end.

Anyone know why Anspach left?

Or any other stories?

[quote]Ted was the weak link on his own show. Fact. I would have much rather watched a re-tool after he died, with the mom, daughters and Monroe continuing on without him

You might have had your wish granted if Nancy Dussault had her way.

Right after Ted passed away from his heart attack she begged the producers to keep the show going.

She even went as far to offer up potential "comedic" storylines like her now being possessed by Ted's ghost and continuing his work at the paper.

When that didn't fly she even went as far as to suggest Muriel entering into a lesbian relationship with the Pat Carroll character.

Granted, it's been over 30 years so my memory is a little rusty, but my memory aligns with R49's.

People are misremembering Lisa Bonet's claim to fame. She was not "extremely popular" while on The Cosby Show, nor did her character ever break out. She was just one of the exalted cast members, like everyone else was at the time.

After she did Angel Heart, that's when she started getting a lot of buzz and attention, but more for her notoriety and carving a niche for herself as a cool boho chick who did her own thing than her work on The Cosby Show. But a breakout star because of the show? No.

[quote] Thats exactly why the network gave her, her own spinoff tv show.

She wasn't given her own spinoff show because she was extremely popular. It was for the same reason all spinoff shows are created. When there's an extremely popular show, the networks will milk it for all it's worth by spinning it off however they can. Sometimes networks are so desperate, TV show writers will whip up brand new characters out of thin air on a preexisting sitcom and create what's known as a "backdoor pilot" in the hopes of creating a successful spinoff. For example, on Married With Children, the writers wrote an episode called "Top of the Heap" with Matt LeBlanc and Joe Bologna.

In The Cosby Show's case, the networks clearly wanted a spinoff, and using Bonet was the easiest solution and made the most sense. Her character was of college age, so...why not have a spinoff of a Cosby kid going to college? That's all there was to it.

Had it been due to her popularity, wouldn’t it have been called Denise! or The Lisa Bonet Show?

As described in the linked article, both Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were a little miffed by the popularity of Arnold Ziffel on "Green Acres."

[quote]As for the series stars, who were upstaged by Arnold, both Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor had been around long enough to recognize when they couldn't compete. "I'm not Eddie Albert," Albert said. "I'm that fellow on television with the pig!" Gabor, always preferring to be the center of attention, was fully aware that she wasn't. "Nobody cares if I've powdered my nose," she said. "When the pig is ready, we shoot!"

It does seem like pretty good-natured discontent, though.

[quote]R138 Dussault even went as far to offer up potential "comedic" storylines like her now being possessed by Ted's ghost...she even went as far as to suggest Muriel entering into a lesbian relationship with the Pat Carroll character.

Dear god, the DESPERATION...!

Susan Clark and Alex Karras bitterly resented becoming second bananas on "Webster," since they had produced the show -- but what did they think would happen? The show was named after the damn kid.

To my dying day, I could have sworn that script said Ginger's Island.

Women can’t work together, seems to be the takeaway.

Well, then you're an idiot R145.

[quote]your buggin if you don't think Lisa Bonet had charisma. I'm not saying she was the next M. but she was beautiful and audiences loved her.

I agree. She was the best thing in Little Big Lies and Girls.

Top Her, Grace hated Ashton Kutcher. He was supposed to be the star, not his sidekick friends. The cast all hung out together except for him.

[quote] The cast all hung out together except for him.

I wouldn't want to hang out with Danny Masterson, recruiter for Scientology. Didn't he drag Laura Prepon into the cult?

Carol O’Connor had James Cromwell fired from All in The Family because his character Stretch Cunningham was getting too many laughs.

*Carroll

James Cromwell the Brit from Babe?

You know this thread reminds me of the time Downtown Julie Brown said, "WUBBA WUBBA WUBBA!! Coming up is the latest from Ho-Jo! But first these commercial breaks."

And I said to her, "Look, lady, I already told you I didn't have lose change."

No one expected David Cassidy to become such a huge phenomenon out of a tiny singing family show, least of all him, who was still commanding a $700/week Keith Partridge salary while touring the world with the number one song. That got fixed soon enough thanks to a contract management snafu (his parents hadn’t signed and he was a minor).

Then to top it all off, middle brother Danny Partridge becomes comedy gold. All this couldn’t have sat completely well with the show’s matriarch and only previously famous star, Oscar winner Shirley Jones. But she put on a nice front because it involved her stepson.

Who was her stepson?

Shirley Jones was married to Jack Cassidy, David’s father.

All I see when I read the headline in the right column is "TV Stars who expressed some form of disco."

How does one express different forms of disco? By dancing about co-stars.

[quote] Who was her stepson?

David Madden, Rose.

Was he her stepson on the show or in real life? Greg was Carol’s stepson too.

Joe Flynn? I had to Google him.

Ginger's gowns

Please. Lisa Bonet was enormously popular - as we all were reminded THIS WEEK, Lisa got the cover of Rolling Stone when that actually meant something. Plus she starred with DeNiro prior to making his one billion paycheck movies.

So is it fair to say other than Archie Panjabi and Julianna Marguiles (whose recent comeback show was both ignored and cancelled), these feuds are now over? The complete collapse of the networks and their seasonal requirements of 30+ episodes, now barely 18 weekly epidodes for a show like This Is Us, mean the strife is over?

[quote]—Brought to you by the Billing in the Towering Inferno

Was it Steve McQueen who was the little pussy bitch about it (MISOGYNY ALERT) counting script words and demanding top billing?

Where did his name finally land, bottom left or top right? This was the first time this panacea was employed, right?

Say what? R147. Hardly.

[Quote] Tyler Posey on MTV's Teen Wolf bitched about the fans being obsessed with "Sterek" (Dylan O'Brien & Tyler Hoechlin) . Came off as petty and jealous and the fans liked him even less after that. From day one Dylan O'Brien overshadowed Tyler Posey's scenes and acting.

Bitched? Way to exaggerate. All he said was he didn't get it and he wasn't the only one who felt that way. It's not like Hoechlin and Dylan were fans of that "relationship" either.

r152 James Cromwell is not British.

[quote]I agree. She was the best thing in Little Big Lies and Girls.

If you're referring to BIG LITTLE LIES, that was her daughter.

[quote]Please. Lisa Bonet was enormously popular - as we all were reminded THIS WEEK, Lisa got the cover of Rolling Stone when that actually meant something.

YOU BIG DUMMY. She appeared on Rolling Stone a year after appearing on Angel Heart, like I said in R139. She had also married up and coming rocker, Lenny Kravitz, the year before, and they were parading around like they were the 1980s John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This all happened AFTER the Cosby Show.

Are you her publicist or something? You seem really hell-bent on reinventing history.

[quote]Carol O’Connor had James Cromwell fired from All in The Family because his character Stretch Cunningham was getting too many laughs.

This never happened.

Linda Lavin hated Polly Holiday.

[quote][R152] James Cromwell is not British.

Not only that, he is an old school 1960s militant. The guy is badass.

I doubt either Jane Pauley or Katie Couric have spoken with Bryant Gumbel since their respective Today Show decouplings, but I've never heard that any of them speak ill of the others in public.

Gumbel is said to have been a true misogynist piece of work.

[quote] Bitched? Way to exaggerate. All he said was he didn't get it and he wasn't the only one who felt that way. It's not like Hoechlin and Dylan were fans of that "relationship" either.

Didn't he call it twisted or something? He definetely angered some fans with that comment.

Regis hated Kelly.

[Quote] Didn't he call it twisted or something? He definetely angered some fans with that comment.

Yes, he said it was weird, twisted and bizarre. And of course a certain section of fandom lost their shit over it. Some still complain about to this day lol.

Bill Cosby is the creator of "A Different World". She was not given a show to separate her from Cosby. He was still her boss.

Jane Wyman was not pleased when Lana Turner was added to the cast of "Falcon Crest" and had a hand in her dismissal.

[quote]The second Moonlighting became a hit and he started getting noticed, Bruce Willis thought he was better than the show and treated it with disdain. He HATED being known as just a TV Actor. When he had that hit action movie, he became insufferable on the set. x Slightly off-topic but the same thing happened to varying degrees with David Duchovny on The X Files (thought he was on the verge of movie superstardom and VF cover piece setting the stage), Matthew Fox on Lost seemed to think the same even though he has no discernible acting talent. Peter Krause on Six Feet Under also let the stardom get to his that he started trying to influence the way his character was written and publicly criticising the writing team. Little did he know that show was the highlight of his career and he was about to get stuck on banal shows made for fraus.

Lisa Bonet was so popular during the early years of "The Cosby Show" that she was on the cover of Time Magazine as Woman of the Year. America's teenagers would form special Lisa Bonet fan Clubs, and would stampede or faint in the street if they saw her in person. It was called at the time Lisamania, and it was all due to her extraordinary charisma and acting ability.

r179 So you're saying she was the Connie Francis of her time?

[quote] banal shows made for fraus

Oh, please tell me about it.

--The supremely wealthy Ted Danson, Alex Trebeck, and above all Tom Selleck. We don't burn our bridges but good Christ how boring we are

R168 is correct. Notoriety and popularity are not the same thing.

R180, you’re my hero!

Lisa Bonet was a horrible actress's on Cosby. She might have been popular but watch her in reruns. She always has a smirk on her face and says her lines like she's in a high school play. Cosby couldn't stand her. She made no secret of the fact that she didn't love it on the show. In an article I remember Lisa questioned the script and asked what Denise's motivation was. Cosby replied "oh so you're ACTING now dear"?He didn't want her on the show anymore and NBC wanted to keep her. So they created A Different World. She was so unreliable on there that she only lasted maybe a season.

[quote]Lisa Bonet was so popular during the early years of "The Cosby Show" that she was on the cover of Time Magazine as Woman of the Year.

I remember that, R179! Lisa Bonet was so popular when The Cosby Show first started that in 1984, when she was at the same charity benefit as Michael Jackson, all the paparazzi trampled him just to take pictures of her!

[quote]She was so unreliable on there that she only lasted maybe a season.

And look at what happened later. The show actually took off after her departure, LOL!

R184 If he didn't want her on the show, why did he let her come back after she bombed on A Different World (or got pregnant}.

For the record: I don't think Lisa Bonet was a particularly good actress. I'm just saying that networks don't spin off actors or characters who are unpopular. The very reason so many '70s and '80s spin-offs failed was because there was so little thought given to whether a specific character or scenario was actually viable for a series of their own; it was solely greed-based.

Who is popular enough so that we can grow the fortunes we've made off of the parent show? That is the question they ask themselves. I can guarantee you that network and production company execs don't say, "Who's so uncharismatic and so unlikeable and unpopular and unpleasant that we could bet $50 million dollars on, in the hopes of making extra hundreds of million?

It's a business decision; there are literally tens, hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. They test to see who has heat behind them and who people say they want to watch. Then they spin 'em off. If our old pal T Bledsoe had tested better than Bonet and was more popular, we would have seen a sitcom where Vanessa gets a scholarship to a private all-black girls school with a headmaster played by Sherman Helmsley. But we didn't get that show, did we, Miss Bledsoe.

Gauging from studio audience reactions last season, viewers were more enthusiastic about the character of self-styled Southern belle Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) than they ever were about Bonet"

So much for her overwhelming popularity.

You could have had someone reading the phone book after the Cosby show and it would have been a hit, which is what it amounted to with Bonet as the lead.

Someone really should let Bonet know she's trending on the DL. Just so she has something to do when Jason Momoa isn't slipping her the AquaDick.

It's just one determined troll who keeps arguing that audiences were mad, [italic]mad,[/italic] MAD for Lisa Bonet.

Marilyn Munster was driven to take pills and dope because of Grampa’s and Eddie’s fame and fortune.

You're right, R192, and I will never NEVER capitulate! Bend to my will and accept Lisa Bonet's '80s-era popularity as your personal savior or be damned to an eternity regretting it!!

Bonet was so boring and sleepy on that show. If they did not revamp it to center more around Whitley Gilbert and Co. the show would not have lasted like it did. Bonet never developed her acting chops. Her daughter is slowly getting better from being flat out terrible, but still needs alot of work. I always laugh when she does interviews bewildered as to why she does not get alot of good work. Pretty can only take you so far.

The Cosby Show cast must've been so pissed when the show was pulled from syndication, because god knows most of them must've depended on the residuals.

Howard Hesseman supposedly hated that the kids became big stars on Head of the Class. The show was originally supposed to focus on him with the kids being supporting.

This is what happened to Jennifer Lien. Poor Kes looks like a cave-woman in an anthropological museum diorama.

I can't believe no one has brought this up yet........ Stephanie Zimbalist & Pierce Brosnan, "Remington Steele". When originally conceived & cast, SZ already had some strong MOW/mini-series performances to her name, and PB was completely unknown. She was supposed to be the "star".....but PB was just SO handsome & charismatic, HE became the star of the show.

^^^^^^ Was she so wrapped up in herself that she didn't see the writing on the wall when that gorgeous slab of man-meat walked into the room?

[quote]Marilyn Munster was driven to take pills and dope because of Grampa’s and Eddie’s fame and fortune.

Which one?

Stephanie and Pierce did have chemistry,

Stephanie & Pierce had PHENOMENAL chemistry.......and basically hated each other....and that's "Okay"! It totally worked for that show.

I know someone who knows Pierce Brosnan and she says he's the nicest guy you could possibly meet. He's exactly the same whether you're a waiter or a star. SZ must be a prize cunt.

Well, yeah.....she's a hardcore Republican, and long-time contributor to whacko right-winger Dana Rohrabacher.

R96, Archer made her debut on "The Nancy Walker Show". They tried making her a star on the basis of "Rhoda" and it didn't go. Archer was brilliant and Walker wasn't jealous.

Betty White was reportedly not happy with Caren Kaye's scene stealing on her show after MTM.

Enough said, R205.

I remember when Jackee sashayed onto the screen in the first episode of 227 and it seemed ridiculous that they were trying to push the boring Alaina Reed Hall as the top supporting character.

Entire Rest of 1960s “Lost In Space” TV show supporting cast.

[quote]It was called at the time Lisamania, and it was all due to her extraordinary charisma and acting ability.

Sardi’s even named an entree after her - the Filet Bonet.

Jasmine Guy started a dance company and named it after her mentor - The Ballet Bonet

Bonet Day is still a huge event yearly on Hollywood Boulevard near the location of Lisa’s star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The cast of “A Different World” always kicks off the festivities, in honor of their career making guru and star.

I can't take one more reference to this Lisa woman, whoever she was. Goodbye, thread.

I think the Bonet jokes are funny

You would, r212.

And you wouldn’t, r213

Well, duh, r214.

What about Arrow? Emily Beth Rickards and Katie Cassidy. Lucky for Katie Cassidy she is fucking one of the producers who kept tweaking roles for her until one clicked.

Just as trivial as your r213 comment, r215.

On Love Boat, Fred Grandy was so threatened by Ted McGinley’s appearance in white shorts that he put ground glass into the actor’s Evian.

Marion Ross, who knew McGinley from when he killed Happy Days, had to play peacekeeper.

Whatever happened to good old preemptive attacks? Just don’t let anyone bound to upstage you even come close to getting cast.

Anthony Edwards resented George Clooney’s success after he left ER. And I wonder if the other actresses on ER (Sherry Stringbean, Alex Kingston, Ming Na) resented Maura Tierney for getting all of the good storylines on the show.

There is actually very little behind the scenes ER gossip except for the nurse who offed herself this year.

Fiona Reid didn't like that Al Waxman's sidekicks on King of Kensington were so popular and he had more scenes with them than with her. She thought the show should be more about their home life.

And Rose Marie thought the DVDS was going to be more about his work life!

Was there trouble with the bitches on China Beach? Was someone a China Bitch?

R221, but the real mystery is why Rosemary Radcliffe only stayed one year. It was the best paying job she ever had!

Zoe Kravitz recently recreated her mother's Rolling Stone cover. Either she's got better abs than Mom, or she's better Photoshopped.

I was named after Lisa Bonet and look what happened to me!

That's a creepy fucked up pucture of Zoe Kravitz and her mom.

I wish I could plunge my tongue up Jason Momoa's anus to comfort myself.

[quote]Zoe Kravitz recently recreated her mother's Rolling Stone cover. Either she's got better abs than Mom, or she's better Photoshopped.

Her body is consistent with someone who regularly goes to the gym.

It's also how she's posed. Whoever posed her did a better job than the RS photographer. She's bent at the rib cage but LB is leaning back with her belly sticking out.

[Quote] What about Arrow? Emily Beth Rickards and Katie Cassidy. Lucky for Katie Cassidy she is fucking one of the producers who kept tweaking roles for her until one clicked.

Shouldn't be too hard for her to find another role. She's queen of the CW lol

Oh wow, Stephanie Zimbalist Jr - now there is an old name! I think I'll add her to my draft post for DL's upcoming 2019 death list thread!

Isn't Katie Cassidy still on Arrow? Saw her in the first three episodes of the latest season.

Jackie Gleason resented Art Carney's popularity on the Honeymooners and The Jackie Gleason Show. He wasn't supposed to be funnier than Gleason, but he stole every scene he appeared in.

Did Andy Griffith resent Don Knott's bug-eyed scene stealing and 5 time Emmy wins?

[Quote] Isn't Katie Cassidy still on Arrow? Saw her in the first three episodes of the latest season.

Yes she is.

R233 , Apparently not. They remained life long friends.

Valerie Harper was so pissed as me she quit her own series, of course she SAYS she DIDN'T but we all know what her word's worth

[quote] And Rose Marie thought the DVDS was going to be more about his work life!

I think originally it was, but the writers saw quickly Mary Tyler Moore was much funnier than she and Morey Amsterdam were, so the home life stuff became what the audience wanted and the writers began to pitch more to that.

If you think about what most people consider the funniest episodes--"Coast to Coast Big Mouth" (Laura goes on the game show) "It May Look Like a Walnut" (Rob dreams the Earth is being invaded by bodysnatching aliens), "All About Eavesdropping" (the Petries overhear the Halpers badmouthing them on Richie's walkie-talkie), "The Curious Thing About Women" (Rob chastises Laura for being too much of a snoop), and "Washington vs. the Bunny" (Rob has to decide whether to go to Washington for work or to see Richie sing "You're the Top" dressed as a bunny in his school play)--they all heavily involve Laura, not Buddy and Sally.

I personally never liked Morey Amsterdam that much (he was like a worn-out Borscht Belt comedian), but I did like Sally, who was agreeably rangy and good-natured.

According to the book on Don Knotts and Andy Griffith, Andy never congratulated Don on the Emmy's he won.

Yeah - Morey and Rose Marie we’re delivering old school schtick Vaudeville style, and Laura was everything that was new and progressive about the wife of the sixties - plus she was a babe, serving some serious Jackie K. The times, they were a-changing.

Rose Marie was not pleased, barely spoke to MTM, with whom she didn’t have that many scenes anyway.

Poor aunt bea died a reclusive cat lady

I wasn't having any Sondra on MY show!

R236 beat me to it in the nick of time. Valerie Harper was really pissed when Jason Bateman became a heartthrob and the stories started centering around him. The show was called VALERIE and was supposed to be about the trials and tribulations of motherhood; the father was a pilot who had a demanding work schedule, so he had a recurring role.

Incidentally, didn't a similar thing happened on SILVER SPOONS? Bateman was the best bud but proved to be more popular than Ricky so he was written out?

R242, I thought that Bateman chose to leave Silver Spoons because he got his own sitcom, "It's Your Move".

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, Meredith Baxter was annoyed that "Family Ties" began to center around Michael J Fox as his celebrity took off. However, by most accounts, he was no diva. Through the height of his film popularity, he stayed with the show until it ended, and he was polite and respectful to the cast and crew throughout.

Much later, he'd tell a sweet story about how he'd had a crush on Meredith who would pick him up at home to drive him to work at the studio.

Did Hayley Mills ever comment about Mark-Paul Gosselaar upstaging her on her show? GOOD MORNING, MISS BLISS was to be her comeback vehicle, but it only lasted 13 episodes and was canceled. However, the Zack Morris character proved to be popular, so the show was retooled as SAVED BY THE BELL with him as the protagonist and became a pop cultural phenomenon for the tween set. Lots and lots of merchandise was sold.

It wasn't series television, but Harry Reasoner really hated it when he was paired with Barbara Walters at ABC News.

Bonet has always fascinated me because she never seemed to give a shit about being famous. I think she could have had a huge career had she actually tried.

Her daughter seems to be a bit more ambitious.

The NBC Saturday morning teen show, "California Dreams" the lead actor/singer wasn't happy that the show wasn't all about him and focused on the teens music life. He left the show because of that.

Delightful article about the Green Acres' pigs at r141