Has Behind-the-Scenes Drama Ever Ruined Your Enjoyment of a Series?

[JackPeyton]

BTS drama usually makes me enjoy a series more, lol.

[JackPeyton]

this is def one if the most public, openly talked about cases of BTS drama.

I liked Burke, but IW needed to be fired for his comments. I loved Izzy, but KH checked out and was desperate to get off the show but i think she was friendly with most until that final season she was on, and im sure her emmy comments turned off the other actress' who hadnt won - nor were given the stuff she was to play.

[Cat]

KH has a history of being cast as a supporting actress or as part of the ensemble -- and then immediately lobbying the writers and producers for a bigger part, for more exposure, and using other cast members to do so. She notoriously did it on Roswell, sleeping with the lead actor, getting the lead actress's time on the show reduced, etc. What is amazing is that the writers and show-runners acquiesced to her demands. When the show got ignominiously cancelled after a few seasons and a couple of poor SLing decision, KH quickly dumped the boyfriend and went onward and upward.

The issue at Grey's was really that Shonda Rimes wanted IW to be McDreamy (I don't blame her -- on looks alone, IW is way hotter then whiney-voiced PD) but Ellen Pompeo didn't want to be typecast as the actress who gets paired with AA actors just because she's married to one (wtf?), and ABC wasn't keen on a black male romantic lead. So IW was repositioned as part of the ensemble and while he is said to have got along well with Sandra Oh and enjoyed the pairing, it must have rankled with him that he was cast aside for Dempsey.

Added to that resentment was KH stirring the point, this time helped by her BFF on the set TR Knight. They went to Shonda and claimed that the fans really wanted to see more of Lizzie and George, ironic since at the time Lizzie was in a well-received flirtation with Alex. Now, whether IW is strongly anti-gay, I don't know for sure but he did use a homophobic slur in an on-set altercation with Patrick Dempsey. Given those rumors of PD being gay for pay in the early days of his career, there may have been that fuel added to the fire, too. Anyhoo, TR Knight took offence to it (as well he should) and Katherine Heigl leaked the whole thing to the press, therefore forcing Shonda's hand to eventually write out Burke at the end of the season.

That is the chain of events as told to me by somebody who worked there. KH was giving more interviews about the whole thing than even TR Knight or Patrick Dempsey, and she wasn't even directly involved so... that always rubbed me the wrong way.

[JackPeyton]

KH calling him out at an awards show was delicious though.

Greys doesnt seem to have that much drama tho aside from that. A kind of strong turnover, but with such an ensemble show i dont really find it surprising.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I wasn't even aware that she pulled this type of crap before (I'd stopped watching Roswell before this all occurred), but I'm not at all surprised at the lengths that she'd gone through to turn Shonda's show into Izzie's Anatomy. Needless to say, it is delicious karma to see that this shitstirring heifer is doing Nyquil commercials after Hollywood finally got hip to her and pulled her card.

[Chris B]

The Nicollette Sheridan/Marc Cherry stuff on Desperate Housewives really made me sad. I think she was a vital part of the show's success (just like the other four ladies), but he seemed to really resent that. I don't know if it was because her popularity was out of his control, but you could tell her didn't like her. In interviews he'd downplay her importance and say how it was about the four ladies and Edie was a supporting character. If he were smart, he would've probably developed her sooner, and kept her as part of the core early on. I stopped watching once she was killed off. When Marcia Cross went on maternity leave she did great work and then her final season they finally featured her in a frontburner story from beginning to end and Edie really came into her own. It was ridiculous to kill her off. Of course after this you had the lawsuit and I absolutely believe Nicollette, but I think other people were afraid to speak out since they didn't want to burn bridges.

[Vee]

I don't think the Roseanne situation is quite so simple. To the best of my knowledge, Matt Williams was pushed out in the first season. The show didn't really become the legend it was until its second or third year, IMO. Williams was surely a decent guy and a skilled maker of sitcom product, but he made shows like Home Improvement, etc. He wanted things on Roseanne to fill that basic sitcom mold more, with Roseanne more acquiescent to Dan, etc. Roseanne wasn't having that. It was her and the other writers and producers who hewed to her vision of things, IMO, that made that show what it became. And she used to go through every script and work it.

Granted, she regularly fired and replaced them all over and over and she's more than a little nuts. But it wasn't until Seasons 7 or 8 that things became really ridiculous, that her taste and perspective completely fell apart, and that led us to the lottery season. Had she not been stopped there, she had wanted to reboot the show again for a Season 10 in which the only remaining cast would be her and Michael Fishman, living in a trailer park or something. But until those last two or three years, I felt Roseanne and some key post-Williams stuff that she used and then ultimately dismissed - the Palladinos, Joss Whedon, even guys like Chuck Lorre - had made Roseanne.

[Ann_SS]

I will say that real life drama has never ruined my enjoyment of a series. I am good at distinguishing the characters from the actors and their real life drama.

By the end of Buffy, SMG had alienated just about everyone. It is not an accident that Joss Whedon has never involved her in any of his projects since Buffy. Btw, SMG and David Boreanaz had an affair during Buffy even though he had just gotten married. SMG did not keep her commitments to do Angel later in the series which apparently ended their "friendship."

I had no idea about this. I am not surprised though. He dumped his first wife when he got famous from Six Feet Under. It is all very Hollywood. He is an amazing actor. Too bad he never won an Emmy. I missed the last season of Dexter, but from what I heard it was crap.

[ChitHappens]

Why does this not surprise me with KH? She milked that incident THAT DID NOT INVOLVE HER for all it was worth and reaped the rewards until movie goers realized she was a POS on and off camera. Many have always said Katherine used TR Knight for her own cause, and I believe that with every fiber of my being! Can't stand her!

GA went into the crapper the moment Izzie took over the show. I tuned out when I saw Izzie lying on the bathroom floor depressed and everyone risking their careers to cover her criminal behavior because she was in love. I have never looked back!

I hear SMG was not much different on AMC. As for David Boreanaz, he can't keep his pants zipped to save his life. He was recently involved in another cheating scandal. Hopefully, the Mrs is in this for the cash!