Of course, it could have been just a case of egos clashing - I mean, I've read stories about "Rhoda" rehearsals being tense at times (unlike rehearsals at "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which were reportedly congenial) - but I do think it's telling how Valerie Harper, an Emmy winner with two other, successful* series under her belt, might have been the only leading actor not to have the greatest working relationship with Miller/Boyett, despite the insistence from others (Suzanne Somers and Telma Hopkins being two off the top of my head) that they were fabulous to work for. I mean, can you really think of any other actor with a similar track record who went anywhere near M/B, let alone worked successfully with them? Maybe Sandy Duncan, but that's about it. Everyone else who worked with them were B/C-level actors, people who weren't known for doing comedies, or people who just weren't known before their shows.
And even though VH wasn't the first to leave an M/B under less-than-ideal circumstances, I don't think M/B went out of their way to trash a departing actor's reputation as much as they went out of their way to trash hers - to the point where, according to Harper herself, she and her husband had Carol Burnett (!) watch some footage of their show for the arbitrator and testify that, contrary to M/B's claims, Valerie couldn't have been intoxicated or some-such while rehearsing on the set.
(*Okay, "Rhoda" imploded after S2, but it managed to run for 101 episodes nevertheless.)
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Khan ·
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