Random Behind The Scenes Feuds That Changed The Direction Of TV Shows (14 items)

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  (#1) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

  • Will Smith, James Avery, Daphne Maxwell-Reid, Alfonso Ribeiro, Janet Hubert, Joseph Marcell, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Ross Bagley

  Though the character of Will Smith got along fine with his aunt on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith the actor didn't see eye-to-eye with the actress who played Vivian. Smith and Janet Hubert did not get along and were known for having an ongoing feud that underscored much of the behind-the-scenes action during the first three seasons of the sitcom.

  Eventually, the feuding became too much and Hubert left the show. She was replaced by Daphne Reid.
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  (#2) Game of Thrones

  • Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Christopher Catesby Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, John Bradley, Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jerome Flynn, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Conleth Hill, Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Murray, Carice van Houten, Indira Varma, Rory McCann, Joe Dempsie, Jacob Anderson, Pilou Asbæk

  If it wasn't for some criticism between friends, Game Of Thrones might never have made it to air. The original pilot (which featured different cast members) was reportedly so terrible that screenwriter friends of showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff begged them to throw the episode away and reshoot the whole thing.

  “Watching them watch that original pilot was one of the most painful experiences of my life,” Weiss said. “As soon as it finished, [one friend] said, ‘You guys have a massive problem.’”

  Weiss and Benioff overhauled nearly all of the pilot, and the rest is Westeros history.
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  (#3) Community

  • Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash, Yvette Nicole Brown, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover

  The NBC sitcom Community had some very tense dynamics on the set. The show's creator, Dan Harmon, and the notoriously difficult Chevy Chase had a very difficult working relationship.

  Harmon said Chase had a tendency to walk off the set, but when Chase refused to act in the final shot of Season 3, Harmon became enraged and tore into Chase in front of his wife and daughter. That prompted Chase to leave a profanity-laced voicemail for Harmon that made its way online.

  Eventually, Chase opted out of the series and Harmon was fired for other reasons. However, Harmon did return after just one season away.
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  (#4) Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

  • Ben Stein, Nancy Cartwright, Rob Paulsen, Cree Summer, Maurice LaMarche

  Pinky and the Brain worked just fine as an animated comedy duo. But the network executives behind Pinky And The Brain thought three characters would be better than two and demanded that writers add another main character: the Elmer Fudd-inspired Elmyra Duff (voiced by Cree Summer).

  But the showrunners vehemently disagreed with the decision and didn't hide their anger.

  You can hear it in the theme song for Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain when the chorus sings, "It's what the network wants. Why bother to complain?" Even Brain admits at the end of the song: "I deeply resent this."
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  (#5) Power Rangers

  • Richard Steven Horvitz, David Yost, David J. Fielding

  David Yost, who played the Blue Ranger in more than 200 episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, said derogatory statements about his homosexuality led to his departure from the show in 1996. Yost claims he endured so much harassment from writers, producers, and directors, that he walked off the set and never returned.

  "Basically, I just felt like I was continually being told I was not worthy of being where I am because I'm a gay person," he said. "And I'm not supposed to be an actor. And I'm not a superhero."
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  (#6) Grey's Anatomy

  • Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens, Kevin McKidd, Caterina Scorsone, Camilla Luddington, Kelly McCreary, Kim Raver, Chris Carmack, Jake Borelli, Richard Flood, Anthony Hill, Scott Speedman, Alexis Floyd, Niko Terho, Midori Francis, Greg Germann, Jesse Williams, Giacomo Gianniotti, Justin Chambers, Jessica Capshaw, Sarah Drew, Jason George, Martin Henderson, Jerrika Hinton

  The actor behind the popular Grey's Anatomy character Dr. Preston Burke was reportedly very difficult to work with. Producers fired Isaiah Washington in 2007 after he reportedly used a homophobic slur during an argument with co-star T.R. Knight, who is gay. Washington then used the term again at the Golden Globes.

  Although Washington later apologized and entered rehab, his character was written off the show before Season 4.
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  (#7) Two and a Half Men

  • Jon Cryer, Charlie Sheen, Ashton Kutcher, Conchata Ferrell, Angus T. Jones, Holland Taylor, Marin Hinkle, Melanie Lynskey

  It can't be easy working with people in the middle of a prolonged and very public manic episode. Take a look at what happened with Two And A Half Men.

  While Charlie Sheen was making bold declarations to the media about having tiger blood, he reportedly grew his ego on the set of the sitcom. Sheen demanded a substantial raise (despite being the highest-paid actor on TV at the time) and became increasingly unreliable. Instead, producers fired him and replaced him with Ashton Kutcher. 

  Sheen had ruined his relationship with the show so badly that writers killed his character twice. First, he was hit by a train, and then in the series finale, it's revealed he's actually alive, but then crushed by a falling piano. Winning?
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  (#8) Castle

  • Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Jon Huertas, Molly C. Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Dever, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Penny Johnson, Toks Olagundoye

  Sometimes when TV stars act like they're in love, they're really acting. That's what happened with Castle co-stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic.

  Although their characters married in Season 6, the actors reportedly disliked each other so much that they wouldn't speak unless being told to. After eight seasons, Katic couldn't take it anymore and she walked away. 
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  (#9) Beverly Hills, 90210

  • Ian Ziering, Jennie Garth, Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, Jason Priestley, Joe E. Tata, Luke Perry, Gabrielle Carteris, Carol Potter, James Eckhouse, Tiffani Thiessen, Shannen Doherty, Kathleen Robertson, Vincent Young, Lindsay Price, Daniel Cosgrove, Mark Damon Espinoza, Jamie Walters, Vanessa Marcil, Jason Wiles, Christine Elise

  Shannen Doherty has a reputation for being something of a diva, and she only poured fuel on the fire during her time on Beverly Hills, 90210.  Cast and crew tell stories about her constant bickering on the set, but producer Larry Mollin said Doherty was fired after Season 4 because she cut her hair halfway through the season finale without asking. 
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  (#10) Growing Pains

  • Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, Jeremy Miller, Ashley Johnson, Andrew Koenig, K.C. Martel, Lisa Capps, Rachel Jacobs, Bill Kirchenbauer, Jane Powell, Robert Rockwell, Gordon Jump, Betty McGuire, Julie McCullough, Chelsea Noble, Jamie Abbott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kristen Dohring, Kelsey Dohring

  Although Kirk Cameron played a ladies' man on the sitcom Growing Pains, he's got some firm Christian beliefs in real life. 

  That caused tension on the set when his co-star Julie McCullough posed for Playboy. Cameron reportedly demanded she be fired, which caused a rift with some of the producers. McCullough ended up only appearing in eight episodes before she was fired in 1990.
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  (#11) Gossip Girl

  • Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Kaylee Defer, Kelly Rutherford, Matthew Settle, Jessica Szohr, Taylor Momsen

  If you're of a certain age or musical taste, you probably know Taylor Momsen as the frontwoman of The Pretty Reckless. But Momsen also played a pivotal role in the early seasons of Gossip Girl.

  That changed when she reportedly began skipping out on production to focus on her band, and rumor has it that producers didn't like the revealing outfits and provocative nature of her onstage persona. They downgraded her on the show. 

  Meanwhile, Jessica Szohr, who played Vanessa, also saw her role diminished due to reported drama on the set. Writers sent her character to live abroad, effectively removing her from the show.
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  (#12) Desperate Housewives

  • Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, Vanessa Williams, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Doug Savant, Jonathan Cake, Charles Mesure, Madison De La Garza, Brenda Strong, James Denton, Kathryn Joosten, Kevin Rahm, Tuc Watkins, Mark Moses, Charlie Carver, Joshua Moore, Darcy Rose Byrnes, Mason Vale Cotton, Max Carver, Kyle MacLachlan, Kendall Applegate, Dana Delany, Drea de Matteo

  There was so much drama behind the scenes of Desperate Housewives that it's difficult to pinpoint which creative decisions are the result of it. It very well could've been every creative decision.

  The lead actors reportedly hated each other and endlessly bickered about screen time, trailers, and magazine covers. But they allegedly had one thing in common: they weren't fond of showrunner Marc Cherry, and the feeling was mutual.

  When writers decided to kill off Nicollette Sheridan's character, the actress sued Cherry and the producers for $20 million. A judge eventually dismissed the lawsuit. 
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  (#13) Moonlighting

  • Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Allyce Beasley, Curtis Armstrong

  Before Bruce Willis became an action movie star, he was on the TV series Moonlighting, a self-aware hit show that helped pave the way for today's dramedy genre. So why was it canceled after just four seasons? It had a lot to do with the bad blood between Willis and co-star Cybill Shepherd. 

  The duo reportedly hated each another and fought nonstop. Things allegedly got so bad that Willis and Shepherd screamed at each other after every take.

  But a show executive said Willis became especially frustrated when Shepherd took a half-year maternity leave and he wanted to focus on movies. It all came to a head when Willis threw a tantrum when shooting for the show got in the way of an afternoon off.
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  (#14) Criminal Minds

  • Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, Paget Brewster, Matthew Gray Gubler, Daniel Henney, Damon Gupton, Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore, Mandy Patinkin, Lola Glaudini, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Rachel Nichols

  Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson was fired after 11 seasons on the show as a result of a feud with one of the show's writers. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson was directing an episode and got into a violent argument with the writer over creative choices. The spat escalated to Gibson kicking the writer and storming off. 

  At first, Gibson was suspended for two episodes, with his character to be written out of just those stories. However, a few days after news of his suspension broke, it was announced Gibson was fired, and his character to be written off the show completely. 

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