Actors who were fired from the 1st or 2nd season of a hit show, even though they were good in it.

Submitted by Lili_Danube t3_10o54yc in television

Sasha Alexander in NCIS. To this day, I don't understand why she was fired. I thought she was excellent on the show, probably better than Mark Harmon, yet I was stunned when she was killed off at the end of Season 2. They brought in Cote de Pablo as her replacement but I always felt no female lead captured what Alexander brought to the show in the first 2 seasons.

I thought Amy Brenneman in NYPD Blue was great but she was pretty much doomed from the start because she was playing a dirty cop. Kim Delaney was good but Brenneman was a lot better than her.

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bhind45 t1_j6cmdwq wrote

Sasha Alexander wasn't fired, she asked them to terminate her contract because she couldn't handle the workload.

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BeefSupremeTA t1_j6mo23p wrote

Which I respect the hell out of, because while I loved Kate, to recognise you can't continue in a job that would bring you significant financial gain without it affecting your performance and exiting while also adding emotional depth with your characters depature is a noble thing.

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Weeksy77 t1_j6cp5mp wrote

Michael Pitt comes to mind - there was always rumours around how difficult he was to work with - killed off in S2 of Boardwalk Empire, and replaced after 1 season on Hannibal.

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Forester567 t1_j6cs257 wrote

I've heard Bryan Fuller is pretty accommodating to his cast, so to get him to replace you like that means he is likely a massive jerk.

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HopScotchyScotch t1_j6ctpz8 wrote

Yeah Pitt has this reputation of being tough. Too bad because he’s super talented

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cbbuntz t1_j6f0nir wrote

I was wondering why they killed him off so fast.

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byfuryattheheart t1_j6fcxuy wrote

Yeah definitely the biggest one for me personally. He was amazing as Jimmy.

Though I still loved the show after he was gone.

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_Dreamer_Deceiver_ t1_j6cn8ji wrote

The guy who played Riggs in the lethal weapon TV series

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turkeygiant t1_j6e7kxe wrote

The story as Clayne Crawford tells it was that Damon Wayans didn't want to be on the show. He took the job as part of a bigger deal to get his own project financed, but when Lethal Weapon turned out to actually be good he started phoning it in and being really difficult to work with because he was pissed that he was stuck on the project. Eventually it all came to a head with a huge fight between Crawford and Wayans on a difficult shooting location with Crafword getting the boot as he was the less known name attached to the show, but all that did was sink season 2 because Wayans was still there not giving a fuck.

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bros402 t1_j6dlm4o wrote

He was fired because of the batshit crazy stuff on set, didn't they have to bring in the Pinkertons or some private security service to keep the peace?

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kazh t1_j6e5jyv wrote

He was fired because Damon Wayans was a diva who still bailed on the show anyway because he couldn't be a professional and just do the work after he got his co star squeezed out.

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[deleted] t1_j6e3u1i wrote

The Pinkertons from RDR?

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bros402 t1_j6e72i8 wrote

Yes. They started as strikebreakers and private investigators, and now they are security services.

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_Dreamer_Deceiver_ t1_j6e66wb wrote

Doesn't matter why he was fired. This is a post about listing actors that left the show they were good on

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MonstersGrin t1_j6f5d9t wrote

Crawford was great on that show. It's Wayans who should've never been hired. I don't understand why they keep employing those Wayans guys. I don't recall any of them ever being funny.

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_Dreamer_Deceiver_ t1_j6f6dxx wrote

Yes he was definitely an actor that was good on that show and had to leave for some reason I don't really care about because it's not relevent to this post

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SomeKrazyGuyUKno_v2 t1_j6crjbs wrote

Debatably, Christopher Eccleston in Doctor Who.

He played the Ninth Doctor for one series, but by the second series he was already replaced with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant).

Christopher Eccleston stated that he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in" and that he did not want to do any more based on the experience.

We do not publicly know what specifically he was referring to, but he claims he chose not to come back. Though the BBC basically said he couldn't handle the workload and blacklisted him.

There's no clear-cut, definitive answers as to what truly occurred.

It's only just now, just over 15 years later, that Eccleston has returned to Doctor Who in the form of audio dramas.

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StephenHunterUK t1_j6cshd9 wrote

Eccleston's return to the Big Finish audio dramas was by his own admission financially motivated - the pandemic resulted in other projects being put on hold and he needed the money.

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DonnieDelaware t1_j6jnlxe wrote

I feel like all actors need to be told the same thing that many figured out: make all the money you can and star in everything you can because one day the phone will stop ringing.

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jblanch3 t1_j6kfkh7 wrote

I was reading an interview with Samuel L. Jackson once and he said that he says "Yes" to pretty much everything. I've seen his name on some direct-to-video stinkers over the years and was wondering why he, of all people, would sign on to shit like that? He said a similar thing in the interview, that before he finally made it big, there were many days where the phone didn't ring and he never forgot it, and doesn't take for granted that it won't happen again.

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square3481 t1_j6lf283 wrote

Christopher Walken has said more or less the same thing: that if he's not busy, he'll sign up for just about anything, as he enjoys what he does.

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StephenHunterUK t1_j6jr4iz wrote

Eccleston is still getting plenty of work in the UK though. He was an acclaimed actor before he started; all the Doctors since the 1996 TV movie bar the unknown Matt Smith had good track records before they were cast.

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googooachu t1_j6crmvu wrote

Glenn Quinn from Angel, he had a drug addiction. Really sad.

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trumpet_23 t1_j6euscr wrote

He was really great in that role, but it definitely seems like he deserved to be let go. Wish he could've stuck around, both on Angel and in life.

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_Middlefinger_ t1_j6eax9d wrote

Gates McFadden was fired from Star Trek:TNG after season 1. The reason was she was too vocal in her dislike for some sexist elements and a sexist producer, Maurice Hurley.

He took a dislike to her and she was forced out. After season 2 Hurley left the show and she was invited back. The rest is history and the show certainly seemed better for Hurleys departure.

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LandingStripPubes t1_j6gw2ug wrote

It’s a shame they just tossed Dr Pulaski the fuck away after Gates came back. I liked someone adding a little spice to everyone’s utopia. She was reminiscent of Bones

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_Middlefinger_ t1_j6gyvd5 wrote

I like her in hindsight. Pulaski seemed more real and relaxed, Crusher was a bit of a prude almost for a while.

Diane Muldaur didnt want to return for season 3 anyway, she wasn't up for a long running series a main character. The series did have quite a hard shooting schedule.

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Microharley t1_j6k43oc wrote

I am not sure that she was ever even in the main show credits, I am pretty sure she was credited as guest star for season 2

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_Middlefinger_ t1_j6kclij wrote

No, because she never intended to stay. If she had stayed she would have been.

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square3481 t1_j6lesuy wrote

They tried to make her like Bones, but the difference was that when Bones would argue/debate Spock, Spock gave as good as he received.

When Pulaski would argue with Data, Data didn't realize he was being insulted, so it just came across as bullying.

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have-a-go-merchant t1_j6clxea wrote

Just checked Wiki because I had a feeling Sasha Alexander left to pursue a movie that fell through, but I must be misremembering. Apparently in interviews she said she “felt the workload was too physically demanding for her.”

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Azza_77 t1_j6cn97s wrote

Interesting that you mentioned Kim Delaney as she was fired from CSI Miami after only 10 episodes because of 'a lack of chemistry' with David Caruso.

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turkeygiant t1_j6e7u4b wrote

Did David Caruso...takes off glasses...ever have chemistry with anybody on that show?

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che-che-chester t1_j6eayi6 wrote

Caruso was really good on NYPD Blue but was gone after the first season because he demanded more money. He left, the show was a massive success for a long time and his career was non-existent until he got CSI Miami. Few people get a second chance like that.

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01111000marksthespot t1_j6gwtfb wrote

> 'a lack of chemistry'

That's so funny. Nobody on that show has any chemistry with anyone else. Everyone is their own different flavour of slightly unhinged, acting past each other as they deliver their lines, epitomised by Caruso as lead. It's borderline avant garde.

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ex0thermist t1_j6hl8t9 wrote

Hmm... I've always liked CSI Miami, but I can't really say you're wrong about this. None of the characters ever really seemed to be anything more than acquaintances to each other, even the ones who worked closely. It's a fortunate thing that the show somehow has enough appeal from other aspects to sort of make up for it.

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davey_mann t1_j6h327u wrote

It's crazy that she actually played on a cop show with Caruso after she played Jimmy Smit's cop wife on NYPD Blue and Smits was Caruso's replacement when he left the series.

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MyPonyMeeko t1_j6d2mqo wrote

Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace from Lost. They could have done so much more with those characters.

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theslothening t1_j6egavo wrote

It happened in S3 rather than 1 or 2 but the producers of Monk fired Bitty Schram, who played Monk's assistant, in the middle of the season because she demanded a raise and IIRC to be billed as the co-lead of the show.

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yooohooo8 t1_j6fhk8x wrote

I might be the only person in the world that thinks this, but I really liked Paul Schneider / Mark Brendanawicz in Parks and Rec. He seemed more "real" to me than his replacements, who were more cartoonish.

Even though the show *in general* got better in season 2 onward, I always wondered what could have been if he had stayed...

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unitedfan6191 t1_j6jv73i wrote

Then the characters who worked with him and “knew” him don’t ever mention his name ever again, not even one single time, like he never existed. The only thing I was turned off by on this otherwise great show.

I could accept that he was a cold, womanizing, occasionally obliviously jerky guy who was like a less refined Jim Halpert who most people didn’t miss, but to erase him from existence just seemed unrealistic to expect the audience to just forget he was ever a character. I mean, who are we talking about again? 😉

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MurielHorseflesh t1_j6cufi3 wrote

Melinda Culea played Amy on the 80’s hit show The A-Team for the first season and half of the second. She was unceremoniously kicked off the show due to the fact that the main star George Peppard didn’t want a woman on the team and that with their being four guy’s on the team already, they found they had very little for her to do.

She tried to claw at keeping her job by suggesting that she become to comic relief in the show but they already had Murdock for that.

She had no way to keep her place so they got rid of her.

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Lili_Danube OP t1_j6cyu6n wrote

And she was pretty good on that show, reminded me of Stephanie Zimbalist. But she kept getting downgraded. In the Pilot TV Movie, she was a co-lead, then a supporting character and then an extended cameo.

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Knightboat17 t1_j6ckvef wrote

Michelle Hurd in Law and Order SVU - I read that there was some issue between her and Richard Belzer which led to her being axed, I liked her character and wished she stayed around or would make a return at some point

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bhind45 t1_j6cmbvf wrote

She left to do another show (which was cancelled after 1 season) because SVU wasn't doing anything with her character,

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ashella t1_j6faoa1 wrote

Lee Norris as Minkus on Boy Meets World. He is such a fantastic actor, was on par with Ben Savage as far as talented kid actors go. He was let go after the first season because they wanted to age up the series a bit (he was the smallest and youngest).

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BjornBeetleBorg t1_j6gydfa wrote

He popped up every once in a while. honestly it wasn't a bad choice

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LandingStripPubes t1_j6gw9f6 wrote

And they brought him back for the sequel show and even gave his characters kid a main role.

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drelos t1_j6crytr wrote

Nikki and Paulo, Lost

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Lili_Danube OP t1_j6cyo1p wrote

Those two were such a mistake they were killed off quicker than a sandstorm. Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were also fired but because of the vehicle accident they were involved in.

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royalewithcheesecake t1_j6d1wxf wrote

Pretty much the whole new cast from season 2 (except Desmond) had to be killed off for various reasons, wild to think how different the show might have been if not for all of that.

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Premislaus t1_j6dixpu wrote

I believe the plan was always for Michelle Rodriguez to leave after 1 season

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[deleted] t1_j6ire3g wrote

[deleted]

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Premislaus t1_j6ixy0a wrote

I mean her one full season when she was in the main cast. She signed with understanding that it would only be for a year.

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DCAbloob t1_j6d65ut wrote

Most of the regular cast of Mork & Mindy after season 1 when ABC forcibly revamped the already successful show to try to attract more younger viewers, a revamp that very badly backfired. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr as Mindy's father and grandmother respectively were eventually brought back.

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r3n1 t1_j6dvn8j wrote

I was like WTF? When I started Babylon 5's S2.

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_Middlefinger_ t1_j6ea8mb wrote

Michael O'Hare wasnt really fired, he had mental health issues and stepped aside because it was a problem.

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davidreiss666 t1_j6ezjhy wrote

That was only made public after O'Hare passed away. So it was more than a decade after B5 wrapped up that the full story was made public. And so, a lot of people don't know unless they read online news about B5 years after it ended.

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TheElusiveFox t1_j6fz3c9 wrote

That being said fans must have known (at least I assumed) the decision was amicable, because he does appear in a handful of very late episodes IIRC, or maybe it was the movies?

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Marischka77 t1_j6hc2jq wrote

JMS, the writer always stated that the parting was amicable. Sinclair appeared in a cameo in S2 and in the two-part episode War Without End in S3, which closed Sinclair's story arc. In real life, the cameo for S2 was recorded before the actor got hospitalized to start treatment for his symptoms which were as severe as something alike schizophrenia and the two-parter was shot when his condition was stable enough for filming again, but the side effects of his meds were not all too obvious yet, although the viewers could feel something was wrong, he had some odd blinking at some scenes.

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Marischka77 t1_j6hcbob wrote

He was not fired per se but got ill and was not able to continue. A very strange and very sad story. It was kept secret up until his death, then made public for his request. "I'll take the secret to my grave. - No, take it to MY grave..." :( https://youtu.be/AwyAo_YjtdM

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TapedeckNinja t1_j6fls14 wrote

Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath in TWD.

Although that's a bit off topic as DeMunn wanted to quit and demanded his character be killed off, so he wasn't technically fired.

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HPmoni t1_j6g44an wrote

Lois and Clark fired the first Jimmy Olsen because he looked too much like Clark Kent.

Like, wtf did you hire him?

Gotham fired Clare Foley because they wanted someone hot. So they made a thirteen year old into a 20 year old. This raises some sex problems. Gotham was such a bizarre show that it needs to be watched. Go watch it.

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pharmorjac t1_j6glm8k wrote

On the west wing - Josh had a girl he flirted with named Mandy pretty consistently. Season 2 and she was gone and never spoken about again.

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jblanch3 t1_j6kg2n8 wrote

I'm surprised this wasn't further up. There's even a term for characters who are written out of a show early in its run: They're being sent to "Mandyville."

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davey_mann t1_j6h37fj wrote

Yeah, Moira Kelly was actually 2nd billed in Season 1 behind Rob Lowe, then just disappeared. I always thought Mandy was meant to be a major player. I guess the writers didn't know what to do with her.

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Mik_May t1_j6hwnci wrote

Moira Kelly did seem like an outsider even though he was 2nd billed.

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AFakeHero t1_j6cmxip wrote

Emily Rios on Snowfall. Lucia Villanueva was such a good character. It's a shame we didn't get to see more of her.

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Lili_Danube OP t1_j6cn46b wrote

karina lombard in the l word. marina was a fan favorite and everyone was shocked she was let go. apparently, the actress was difficult to work with.

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jersace t1_j6eamcw wrote

Jake T. Austin in The Fosters

Butttt Noah Centineo grew into the role and ended up miles better

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Tamizander t1_j6f8ci2 wrote

I believe Jake left/fired after his DUI and hit and run scandal.

However Noah jerked off on the internet and he was allowed to stay so... 🤷🏻‍♂️

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anasui1 t1_j6djqzu wrote

Fauda introduces like a trillion new characters, some of which very interesting, every season and they all get killed by the end, including main players. Probably the biggest show turnover I've seen, lol

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sciflare t1_j6f5asg wrote

John Haymes Newton, who played the Boy of Steel in S1 of the syndicated Superboy show, was let go by the showrunners for S2 and replaced by Gerard Christopher.

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Slithering_Cobra25 t1_j6ftjdu wrote

Dont know if this counts but Hartley Sawer from The Flash. Now, his tweets were messed up but, he was a good character.

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yodimboi t1_j6iwfb6 wrote

Weren’t his tweets some stupid frat boy shit though from almost 10 years ago? Like they weren’t exactly great things to say, but I feel like it was overkill to fire him over that. Although I might be misremembering. From what I remember it was sth along the lines of “BOOBS BOOBS BOOBS I LIKE BOOBS”

Edit: Well they were signing worse than I thought, but from what I’ve seen, this looks like your average idiot who like American Psycho a lil too much.

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listyraesder t1_j6kz1fs wrote

Nah he was talking about cannibalism as fetish.

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yodimboi t1_j6m4rhn wrote

Sounds like something book Patrick Bateman would do

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davey_mann t1_j6h2vvv wrote

Ironic you brought up NYPD Blue because the first actor that came to mind when I read the title was David Caruso. He was great in Season 1, won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama and seemed a lock to win the Lead Actor Emmy, but decided he wanted a movie career and apparently was a problematic actor behind the scenes. Ended up losing the Emmy to his co-star Dennis Franz, then left the show after the first 4 episodes of Season 2. Not really fired, but seems like things weren't going to work out with Caruso had he stayed on the series.

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uses_irony_correctly t1_j6i0ncm wrote

OP can't wrap their head around actors leaving a show on their own volition lol

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MUCHO2000 t1_j6l1s0x wrote

Not a TV show but "Tank" from the Matrix.

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singleguy79 t1_j6ikgci wrote

Anyone remember the show The Hogan Family? Started of as Valerie, Valerie Harper tried to get a pay increase and failed. She left and Sandy Duncan came in

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ThunderRage t1_j6ly5nc wrote

Burke Devlin in "Dark Shadows". Mitch Ryan's drinking addiction got him fired but he was perfect as Burke. The guy they recasted as Burke just didn't have much of a personality.

Not a popular opinion, but I don't like killing/putting a character off screen just because the actor/actress screwed up something off show. Recasting gives another actor/actress a shot at depicting a character their way. Of course my example above didn't pay off. I think it worked on "Bewitched" though.

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sweetpeapickle t1_j6ogv67 wrote

Why would you automatically think she was fired? She wasn't. The schedule was too much for her because at that time they were working 17-20 hour days. She left of her own accord.

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