TV Show Actors Who Have Publically Stated They Hate Their Own Work

[icecream]

There is a thread about movie actors on the movie board, now there is one for TV actors here. Sitcoms and dramas only, no reality shows.

Howard Hesseman left Head of the Class, he did not appreciate how good he was there.

[Merry24]

Marc Paul Gosselar said he can’t watch any of his shows because he’s too critical of himself he has said.

[jimpickens]

Don't know his opinion on the show in general but Max Bear was at one time very critical of how Jethro never really evolved.

[Christopher]

Sarah Michelle Gellar was very vocal about the sixth season of Buffy. She hated how her character was depressed and was against a lot of the things Buffy did that year with another character. Nothing was ever confirmed, but it is speculated that that is why she quit the show the following year to avoid doing more work like that on Buffy. She felt her character should be a strong role model for the younger viewers like it was in the early years.

Alfre Woodard hated her role on Desperate Housewives along with the actor who played her son on the show, Mehcad Brooks. They both criticized the show after their one season stunt. They were written badly that year and shoved into the background hardly ever used. A lot of their scenes were cut. It was ridiculous. It was because of them that the writers learned their mistakes and did better in future seasons when having a one season character mystery.

I don't think Nancy McKeon ever said anything official, but she seemed to resent The Facts of Life by avoiding it during every mention in the 90's and 2000's. She even wanted her character killed off in the reunion movie in 2001. She thought it would be great for the girls to get together for her funeral. Molly Ringwald is another actress who hates The Facts of Life. This little show helped them get a start in Hollywood. They're both very selfish IMO.

Rue McClanahan said in an interview she hated working on Mama's Family. Her character was originally going to be like Naomi's but because they had already created Naomi, they rewrote Rue's character to be weak and have her get pushed around by Mama. Rue said she was happy when the show was canceled. I side with Rue on this. Fran was a bland character. It's a shame they didn't let her be feisty and a thorn in Mama's side like she was originally going to be.

[JamesG]

Robert Reed frequently clashed w/ Sherwood Schwartz over his material on "The Brady Bunch". I believe he found some of the plots to be "ridiculous" and he refused to appear in the episode that wound up being its series finale w/ Greg coloring his hair orange.

He stood around for all of the Brady spin-offs (Variety Show, Brady Brides, The Brady's) because he loved working with Florence Henderson and the "kids".

[JamesG]

Mandy Patinkin has said in various interviews, after he left the series in 2007, that he "never should have done" "Criminal Minds".

“The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do 'Criminal Minds' in the first place. I thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality. After that, I didn’t think I would get to work in television again.”

[JamesG]

Angus T. Jones said that he was a “paid hypocrite” on CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men".

He “wasn’t OK” with being “part of something that was making light of topics in our world where there are really problems for a lot of people.”

[jimpickens]

But yet he was there until the eight and was happy to cash those checks sort of reminds me of Katy Segal and her alleged disdain for Married With Children.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by jimpickens

But yet he was there until the eight and was happy to cash those checks sort of reminds me of Katy Segal and her alleged disdain for Married With Children.

They are not the same situations. Katey Sagal was an adult who chose to star in Married with Children. Angus didn't have a choice since he was underage when Two and a Half Men started.

[jimpickens]

His parents must've thought since John Cryer was on the show that it would be family friendly or they were unfamiliar with the premises of the show.

[TMC]

TV Tropes has a page about this called "Old Shame". I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Tina Louise and Gilligan's Island yet.

[jimpickens]

And she was in the right here she went from a promising film career to b-movies and breif stint on Dallas and guest roles on sitcoms later in her career.

[Yong Fang]

I read once online that Larry Hagman didn’t like doing I Dream of Jeannie. Supposedly he drank a lot (also smoked pot, can’t picture the Major or JR doing true same).

Ron Pallilo who played Horseshack on Welcome Back Kotter has been critical of the show because he felt (with justification) that the character badly typecast him which prevented him to get work after the show was over. I don’t think Gave Kaolin liked acting that much, quit his high rated show and just dropped out of show business to be a “professional” poker player.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by Merry24

Marc Paul Gosselar said he can’t watch any of his shows because he’s too critical of himself he has said.

That makes two of us!


The ones that I'm aware of are Tina Louise and Robert Reed, as mentioned above, as well as both Susan Dey and David Cassidy of "The Partridge Family". Both hated their work on the show and refused to participate in any future projects, like reunion specials or potential reboots. Which is too bad because the show was one of the biggest hits among kids and teens of the early 70s like myself as well as "The Brady Bunch" but through the years it has never achieved the same level of cult-like status or nostalgic fondness among viewers today that the Bradys have. Susan and David's attitude towards their roles along with Danny Bonaduce's constant troubles with the law may have had a lot to do with that. It still doesn't seem fair to me.

Another actor that I know that wasn't happy with his early TV work was Gavin MacLeod. He has always been proud, and rightfully so, of being part of the cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Love Boat" but he didn't like being on "McHale's Navy" because he had very little to do so he left after one season to take on various roles until his big break came many years later.

You can also add Warren Beatty and Tuesday Weld to this group. Both appeared in the first season of "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis" as Milton Armitage and Thalia Menninger but soon left the show to achieve Hollywood stardom. They weren't happy with the show and its characters and didn't get along with the rest of the cast. They were perceived as rude and difficult to work with, a reputation that followed them throughout their movie careers.

[JamesG]

"Sherlock's" Martin Freeman (Watson) told The Telegraph that the show “wasn't fun anymore” for him.

He said that by the fourth season, making "Sherlock" has become “kind of impossible” as fan expectations for the show got unrealistically high.

It never got to a 5th season.