TV Shows That Declined in Quality Due in Part to the Stars' Ego/More Direct Influence

[TMC]

For example:

http://whatculture.com/tv/4-sci-fi-f...rebooted.php/2

Andromeda was a troubled show from the beginning. Conceived from a mishmash of notes from Gene Roddenberry and produced by a meddlesome production company at the tail end of the ’80s – ’00s syndication renaissance, it never had an uphill struggle to be competent, never mind good. However, it had former Star Trek: Deep Space 9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe as a head writer, who managed to get strong corps of writers on the show and create a fairly in-depth universe bible.

Unfortunately, star and co-producer Kevin Sorbo managed to get Wolfe off the show partway through the second season, which led to an insane decline in quality. Eventually the fifth season of the show, produced primarily to hit the ideal 100 episodes for syndication, had to eschew the title ship for a good chunk of episodes to save money. After a lackluster finale, the show passed into the annals of mediocre and forgotten scifi shows from that era.

The main problem with Andromeda was that kicking Wolfe off the show also took the show’s premise with it – Andromeda’s quest to rebuild the government that collapsed while the ship and her captain were trapped near the event horizon of a black hole. With Sorbo at the helm, Andromeda wound up being the equivalent of Star Trek V – a love letter to Sorbo’s character Dylan Hunt (who was pretty much a low rent Kirk clone in those final seasons) – and a generic Trek clone to anyone who discovered it after Wolfe’s final episodes aired.

This is a closer generalization of this point:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php...0019700&page=0

"I'm Also The Producer": Lead actor of your show is getting a lot of acclaim. In order to keep him on board and not jump ship for a movie career or something, more and more creative control is given to the actor at each contract negotiation. Usually they become a producer of some kind and often also writer. Suddenly the focus of your show goes from an ensemble to focus almost entirely on the lead character. Said character suddenly becomes a paragon of virtue, practically a saint, and the other characters are reduced to being weak-willed or strawmen for the lead to triumph over. Often times an exodus of crew and supporting cast that wouldn't get with the program occurs. Examples: M*A*S*H=Alan Alda, Little House on the Prairie=Michael Landon, Andromeda=Kevin Sorbo

[cleverfun3000]

Two words; ARSENIO

[70s show watcher]

gohst whisperer when jennifer love hewitt started bringing in her boyfriends of the month to play roles on the show and insisted on making stupid changes in the storyline it went from a great show to an unwatchable piece of garbage

[treky]

ELLEN-when Ellen DeGeneres "came out of the closet" her character Ellen Morgan also did and suddenly a very funny sitcom switched gears and every episode focused on the fact that she's gay. They made it seem like it's her obsession or something.

MASH-someone made a BIIIG mistake by letting Alan Alda take over a lot of the writing & direction and turning a lot of the later episodes into "the Alan Alda show"

[TMC]

*Growing Pains when Kirk Cameron became a born again Christian and started demanding changes to the scripts/storylines (e.g. getting his on-screen girlfriend played by Julie McCullough fired because she posed for Playboy)/his character (who was previously established as being mischievous and irresponsible) that fit closer to his strict moral code.

*Last Man Standing when Tim Allen decided that he wanted to turn his show from being Home Improvement if Tim Taylor had all daughters and worked in an outdoorsman shop into a modern day All in the Family w/ his character as a "lovable" bigot.

*Moesha when Brandy and her mother got Vida Spears removed as the showrunner during Season 5. It was during this time that Ray-J (Brandy's brother and ultimately, "illegitimate half-brother" in the show's "jump the shark" moment") became a regular fixture (Dorian was pretty much the "Cousin Oliver" of the show) and Moesha morphed into a melodramatic soap opera w/ some comedic elements.

*Three's Company when Suzanne Somers started making those ridiculous demands (since she and her husband from my understanding felt that she was the main reason why the show was such a hit), which ultimately got her run out of the show (and "blackballed" from TV until She's the Sheriff).

*Any one of Cybill Shephard's TV shows based on the stories that I've heard about her allegedly being a huge female dog to work with.

[UMFaninMD]

Roseanne. I much prefer the earlier seasons before she got more and more creative control. The last few seasons save for a handful of episodes became a giant train wreck.

[TMC]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...n/LiveActionTV

Sliders exemplifies the former Sci-Fi Channel's penchant for production problems, along with hubris and arrogance on the cast's part, despite it being the channel's top-rated program at the time. Simply put, everyone on the cast or crew got screwed over at one time or another:
The first two seasons were fraught with behind-the-scenes battles between the Fox network and the production team. Fox wanted more episodes that had a greater emphasis on action and less continuity (so they could show them in any order they wanted), even putting the show on hiatus after the ninth episode of season 1. The production crew responded by forcing a cliffhanger at the end of said episode, to Fox's dismay. Later on, Fox canceled the series at the end of season 2, and it was only saved by a massive fan campaign.

Fox brass continually hounded co-creator Tracy Tormé throughout his tenure on the show. They tried to derail his plan to resolve the first-season cliffhanger, his input in season three was ignored by the production team when the series moved primary filming to Los Angeles, and he eventually left the show at the end of the third season.

John Rhys-Davies' controversial death in "Exodus" (via having his brains sucked out, being shot and then left to die on an exploding planet) was caused by behind-the-scenes issues. Rhys-Davies allegedly insulted then-producer David Peckinpah (while drunk) at a party hosted by Fox brass when the series first began. Later on, when Peckinpah was promoted and gained control of the series, he used this leverage to convince the network to fire the actor (via the release of his episode contract), and gave him the fate he endured in the episode.

Jerry O'Connell was originally planned to star in several episodes of the fifth season, but held up production for months while he tried to negotiate for an Executive Producer credit. While the network had already given him more perks than any of the other cast members, O'Connell wouldn't budge, and after hearing that his brother Charlie wouldn't be able to appear in all 18 episodes (as Charlie's character, Colin, was contingent on Jerry's character, Quinn), the brothers walked away from the table. Things got worse when the production team attempted to figure out a way to explain Quinn and Colin's absence from the show - Jerry wouldn't give up the use of his image or voice from the prior seasons, meaning that the producers had to make do with a pair of stunt doubles and a voice that is clearly not O'Connell's.

Kari Wuhrer's presence on the show in the third season caused massive friction between herself and Sabrina Lloyd. During a script-reading, Wuhrer made snide comments about Lloyd's engagmeent to one of the crew members, which caused Lloyd to break down and cry in her trailer, thus holding up production for hours. David Peckinpah (who first approached Wuhrer to star on the show) used this incident to spread lies about Sabrina costing the network money, and eventually told her point-blank that he would support Wuhrer and not her (prompting her to leave the series). Even worse, Peckinpah later twisted the knife by condemning Lloyd's character, Wade, to being raped in a Kromagg breeding camp - the only reason it didn't come off looking even worse is because the production staff led a Writer Revolt to change the plot to something more meaningful (via the introduction of the Humaggs).

Peckinpah himself was demoted to a consultant by the network out of spite because he had taken on a concurrent job as executive producer with another Universal Studios production called Turks. However, he often visited the Sliders set and ended up influencing the direction of the fifth season just as much as the previous ones.

While renewal rumors were still up in the air at the end of season five, Sci-Fi discovered that they didn't have the cash necessary to pay the actors' contracts for another season, and when fans emailed the company asking for information, Sci-Fi representatives emailed back that the show was cancelled because the actors wouldn't sign back on, conveniently ignoring the monetary issue.

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

Growing Pains: Kurt Cameron kinda ruined the show for everyone else when he decided his religion should rule what goes on in the show.

Roseanne: The last 2 seasons saw the decline out of the top 5 shows of the year. I believe this was because Roseanne got even more control of the show.

Ellen: I love the show even the last season. Personally after watching all the other season I was convinced that her character was straight and just had bad luck with men. I wish her character would have stayed straight just because it really changed what the character was.

[James]

Originally Posted by TMC

*Growing Pains when Kirk Cameron became a born again Christian and started demanding changes to the scripts/storylines (e.g. getting his on-screen girlfriend played by Julie McCullough fired because she posed for Playboy)/his character (who was previously established as being mischievous and irresponsible) that fit closer to his strict moral code.

Originally Posted by Will and Grace Fanatic

Growing Pains: Kurt Cameron kinda ruined the show for everyone else when he decided his religion should rule what goes on in the show.

Uh, no.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by James

Uh, no.

And you apparently disagree w/ this notion regarding Kirk Cameron because...?

[icecream]

Originally Posted by TMC

And you apparently disagree w/ this notion regarding Kirk Cameron because...?

There's nothing wrong with Kirk Cameron. It's refreshing to see someone in Hollywood with morals...
And Growing Pains is a great show from start to finish.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by catsrule

There's nothing wrong with Kirk Cameron. It's refreshing to see someone in Hollywood with morals...
And Growing Pains is a great show from start to finish.

I think the problem w/ Kirk Cameron is that he really and heavily (perhaps too heavily) wore his morals on his sleeve. In return, he started to wreck havoc on the production of Growing Pains (at the expense of his colleagues like Julie McCullough for example) over even the most minute details if he found it to be remotely against his morals. He really started to confuse the difference between Kirk Cameron and Mike Seaver. Let's put it this way, just because for example, Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter, doesn't necessarily mean that his really a serial killer (he was acting).

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by TMC

I think the problem w/ Kirk Cameron is that he really and heavily (perhaps too heavily) wore his morals on his sleeve. In return, he started to wreck havoc on the production of Growing Pains (at the expense of his colleagues like Julie McCullough for example) over even the most minute details if he found it to be remotely against his morals. He really started to confuse the difference between Kirk Cameron and Mike Seaver. Let's put it this way, just because for example, Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter, doesn't necessarily mean that his really a serial killer (he was acting).

Eventually, Kirk Cameron wasn't acting anymore since he abandoned playing the role of MIKE SEAVER. Suddenly, everything had to fit into KIRK CAMERON'S so called morals. He was unprofessional.

[James]

Originally Posted by TMC

And you apparently disagree w/ this notion regarding Kirk Cameron because...?

Are you targeting Kirk Cameron because of his beliefs? I think he had every right to influence his coworkers and shows with them. Hollywood needs more people like him.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by James

Are you targeting Kirk Cameron because of his beliefs? I think he had every right to influence his coworkers and shows with them. Hollywood needs more people like him.

I'll try to be as careful w/ this as possible. I'm not targeting Kirk Cameron for simply being a born again Christian. What, I'm trying to say is that Kirk went way, way too far in regards to subjecting his personal point of view or morals during the production of Growing Pains (to the point where it came off as sabatoge). The way Kirk went about it made him extremely militant, narrow-minded and self-aggrandizing.

As I said before, Kirk starting confusing his real life w/ the character that he was playing on TV. Kirk forgot that he was an entertainer first and an evangelist or moral guardian in his personal life.