http://whatculture.com/tv/10-tv-shows-with-major-behind-the-scenes-tension.php

Sometimes it's not just one big happy family behind the scenes.

Where's Three's Company, Growing Pains, ALF, just about any show that Shannen Doherty has worked on, Moonlighting, What's Happening!!, and most recently, Sam & Cat on this list (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TroubledProduction/LiveactionTV)?

There was also Cheers, which ultimately led to Shelly Long's departure.

I heard that everyone on the set (including the production crew) except Woody Harrelson and Nicholas Colasantos was either annoyed by her or couldn't stand her...

Bette Midler also confirmed how difficult she was to work with.

A few other shows:

*Bewitched - Elizabeth Montgomery couldn't stand Dick York, while Agnes Moorehead couldn't stand Dick Sargent.

*Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour - They had to drag Gene Rayburn kicking & screaming to host that show, as he absolutely hated Jon Bauman. That's part of the reason it had such a short run (besides the abysmal ratings).

*Golden Girls - According to Betty White, Bea Arthur "wasn't very fond" of her. She didn't go into details, but I remember hearing it had something to do with White's character being so much more popular on the show.

*Martin - Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence filmed the entire last season without appearing together in any one scene because Campbell alleged that Lawrence sexually assaulted her on the set. The lawsuit she filed was dropped and everything was settled out of court, but the show's fate was already sealed, as the chemistry was gone.

*The Cosby Show - A couple different things were going on here. The first being between Bill Cosby and Carl Payne, Jr. (Theo's best friend Cockroach). Cosby didn't approve of Payne's hair and basically gave him a ultimatum to either shape up or leave. As we all know, Payne chose the door, as we didn't see nor hear of Cockroach again in the later episodes. Then of course there was also the spat Bill Cosby had with Lisa Bonet and her appearing nude in that film.

*

On the daytime front, there's The Young and the Restless. Several years ago, lead actors Eric Braeden and Peter Bergman got into a fist fight on set, and Victoria Rowell accused former co-stars of being racist with a claim that one (I think it was Michelle Stafford) spat in her face.

The story about Bea Arthur disliking Betty White is absolutely true. Betty has said so in interviews, and said she didn't understand why.

The Elizabeth Montgomery/Dick York and Ted Danson/Shelley Long stories were not true, however. While both pairs were not best friends or socialized outside of work, they did not hate each other. They just viewed the other as a co-worker.

Designing Women:

We all know Delta Burke was fired from the series; but there has never (to my knowledge) been definite confirmation as to why. Just a lot of rumors about what happened; here are the popular theories:

---Delta Burke becoming the break-out star of the show (most popular w/fans, and earning two Emmy nominations) was using strong-arm tactics to renegotiate her contract and was displaying "diva-like" behavior on-set. She has claimed she was suffering from depression.

---Delta was fired because of her weight gain. Rumors are producers pressured Delta to lose the weight causing her great anguish and resulted in Delta being very unhappy and her behavior allegedly hostile or unprofessional. (She also claims this was a result of depression).

---Delta made unflattering comments about producers (Linda Bloodworth Thomason and Harry Thomason) and was fired from the show as retaliation.

I've always thought the truth was likely somewhere in the middle.


Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family:

Valerie Harper the original star of this 80's comedy was eventually fired after demanding stricter creative control and a larger salary, plus back-end profits of the series. She figured since it bore her name they couldn't fire her. In fact they did and an on-going lawsuit between Harper, her then-husband (and a co-producer on the show) and the studio ensued. She also sued NBC but that lawsuit was essentially thrown out of court.

I believe the suit was eventually settled, but I'm not sure.



Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed

Shannen Doherty was the culprit here. Rumors are that on both shows she was unprofessional and had feuds with co-stars. Rumors are she was fired from BH 90210 for constantly being late and for having a bad attitude. It is believed that co-stars banned together and begged Aaron Spelling and FOX to fire Shannen.

On Charmed, her comeback vehicle she claims she quit the series; but rumors are a feud with co-stars Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs got her fired. To her credit, Aaron Spelling claimed til his dying day that Shannen was not fired from Charmed, but numerous others dispute this.

Saved By The Bell

At least according to Dustin Diamond this shows set was a hotbed of romantic relationships and poor behavior from the cast. He claims he was constantly treated poorly by other members of the cast and crew and that numerous shady/unethical/illegal things occurred with the cast.

Of course, the rest of the cast has largely denied his claims, saying they are either false, lies or exaggerated.


Married... With Children

This hit FOX show had it's share of controversy in it's day, mostly stemming from a boycott some conservative housewife started when she saw an episode of the show and deemed it obscene. She started a protest to get the show thrown off the air. She wrote a book about it and I believe started a activist/conservative group "Americans for Responsible Television" .

She wrote to sponsors of the show and implored them to stop sponsoring the program. While the show did lose a few sponsors and was forced to tone down it's content somewhat, the boycott ended up not hurting the show and all the publicity (which was huge at the time) actually gave the show more attention than it ever would have gotten.


Moonlighting & Cybill

Tenson on "Moonlighting" can be traced to two sources:

First off the advanced production techniques used to film this show coupled with the long script lengths (nearly double that of an average 60-minuet series) often resulted in labrous and intense shooting days; scripts were often delivered late; changed at the last minute and basically it took forever to film.

Also, tension between stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis were well known and notorious. They basically HATED each other. Some claim Bruce simply tired of the show and its long hours when he realized he was becoming a massive movie star. Others claim Cybill was insanely jealous of his fame and that she wasn't the breakout success on the show. Some claim that Bruce winning the Emmy caused Cybill to become virtually insane.


Home Improvement

It has been said that the final few years of this show had some tension. Essentially Tim Allen became infuriated when other cast members starting complaining about wanting more money and more creative input. In particular Patricia Richardson and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

I don't know if any of this is true of the show, but I recall briefly reading something to that effect about HI.

The story about Bea Arthur disliking Betty White is absolutely true. Betty has said so in interviews, and said she didn't understand why.




Rue wrote in her book that while she and Bea were friendly, in all the years they worked together she was only invited to Bea's house one-time. And it is well known that the four girls rarely socialized off-set. I think Rue and Betty were slightly closer, but I could be wrong about that.

There was tension on the set of Sam & Cat resulting in the shows cancellation.

Lots of tension on the set of "Moesha". Brandy and Countess Vaughn hated each other for one; Sheryl Lee Ralph and William Allen Young were not pleased with some of the creative choices producers made; particularly the introduction of the Dorian character and the backstory of Frank having cheated on his late wife. Also, Brandy allegedly suffered from an eating disorder and passed out on-set.

The Elizabeth Montgomery/Dick York and Ted Danson/Shelley Long stories were not true, however. While both pairs were not best friends or socialized outside of work, they did not hate each other. They just viewed the other as a co-worker.

As far as Shelley Long, even if Ted Danson "tolerated" her, others on the set of "Cheers" still couldn't stand her, specifically Rhea Perlman. Ken Levine, a writer on Cheers, didn't even deny the allegation of the production crew writing Kelsey Grammer into the show and keeping him on just to irritate her. This is why Kelsey, to this day, goes around claiming he owes his success to Shelley Long...

http://www.classictvbeauties.com/shelleylong.html

...The book “Toasting Cheers” said Shelley “experienced tension and hostility from the cast. At times they treated her like she was going to die, and near the end she was treated like she was Diane.”

Crew members complained that she was difficult on the set. One insider said, “It wasn't Shelley versus Ted, it wasn't Shelley versus the cast, it wasn't Shelley versus the crew. It was Shelley versus everyone...

As far as Elizabeth Montgomery not getting along with Dick York, this was according to Biographer Herbie Pilato:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2237493/Tell-book-reveals-details-Bewitched-star-Elizabeth-Montgomerys-life.html

Bewitched was one of the Sixties' biggest hit TV comedies but behind the scenes lay a turbulent drama.

'Elizabeth Montgomery didn't get along with Dick York, who played her husband Darrin Stephens,' says biographer Herbie Pilato.

'He was in love with her but she was married to the show's producer and it became very uncomfortable for her.

'He was addicted to painkillers and kept missing episodes until finally they had to replace him with Dick Sargent.

'Elizabeth also had great battles with Hollywood veteran Agnes Moorehead, who played her mother. Agnes was very fond of Dick York and didn't want to see him go. She reduced his replacement to tears on occasion.

Lots of tension on the set of "Moesha". Brandy and Countess Vaughn hated each other for one; Sheryl Lee Ralph and William Allen Young were not pleased with some of the creative choices producers made; particularly the introduction of the Dorian character and the backstory of Frank having cheated on his late wife. Also, Brandy allegedly suffered from an eating disorder and passed out on-set.

From what I heard, it was Brandy and Ray J's mother who caused much of the drama on the set, between enabling Brandy's diva attitude and forcing the producers to add Ray J to the show. Brandy even got into it with Sheryl Lee Ralph (Sheryl of course is an old-skool black woman, and she wasn't taking Brandy's mess).

In fact, Sophia (Brandy and Ray J's mother) got one of the co-creators (Vida Spears) fired because she didn't want to go along with the Dorian storyline.

The Price Is Right - Everyone knows about the drama with "Barker's Beauties." However, Bob Barker also got into it with Rod Roddy when they were taping the primetime specials back in the late 1990s. Basically, Roddy was upset because he was being paid an entry-level salary to announce for those tapings and he got into a huge argument with Barker about it (Barker by this time was the Executive Producer). Roddy did ultimately get the salary he wanted, but in retaliation, Barker eliminated most of his camera time on the show until he passed away in 2003.

Match Game - Part of the reason Mark Goodson and Bill Todman chose Richard Dawson to host "Family Feud" when it was first launched is because he was getting increasingly bored on "Match Game." Then also, the other regular celebrities on "Match Game" were becoming increasingly irritated by the fact that contestants would only pick him during the Super Match. That's why the wheel was introduced during Dawson's last season, so that the other celebrities would get a chance to play.

On the daytime front, there's The Young and the Restless. Several years ago, lead actors Eric Braeden and Peter Bergman got into a fist fight on set, and Victoria Rowell accused former co-stars of being racist with a claim that one (I think it was Michelle Stafford) spat in her face.


Oh, that was decades ago back in like 1989 or 1990. They've since made-up. (Breaden and Bergman I mean).

From what I heard, it was Brandy and Ray J's mother who caused much of the drama on the set, between enabling Brandy's diva attitude and forcing the producers to add Ray J to the show. Brandy even got into it with Sheryl Lee Ralph (Sheryl of course is an old-skool black woman, and she wasn't taking Brandy's mess).

In fact, Sophia (Brandy and Ray J's mother) got one of the co-creators (Vida Spears) fired because she didn't want to go along with the Dorian storyline.


That makes a lot of sense. I imagine that Brandy's mother (who btw, is actually named Sonja) did cause much drama.

A more recent one happened on FX's "Anger Management".

Charlie Sheen, also being exec. producer, got word that Selma Blair was complaining about his on-set antics; mainly about him being hours late for work.

Sheen let her go and Laura Bell Bundy was brought on the show. Blair reportedly filed a wrongful termination suit, but I don't know the outcome of that.





Another I know of that may not be that well known was Elizabeth Gracen and Paul Johansson on the set of "Highlander: The Raven".

What is said to have happened was that Elizabeth believed that the producers wanted Paul to be the actual lead of the series and she didn't like it. Paul thought that he wasn't getting enough material to work with and demanded more from the writing staff.

Due to a combo. of tension and bickering on the set between the stars, budget problems, and low ratings / poor fan reception "Highlander: The Raven" was canned after one season.

Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen and him getting himself fired and replaced with Ashton Kushner.