# Bad Career Decisions - Shelley Long, Pernell Roberts ...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 5, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712 "2004-05-05T20:50:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/21 "2004-05-06T01:25:33Z")
I never watched the show but it _seemed_ that once Lisa Bonet left **A Different World** the show got better and she got worse- except the part for being married to Lenny Kravitz.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/22 "2004-05-06T01:28:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Can I ask one question, Steve Gutenburg had the world by the balls for a couple of years with those dingy police academy movies and a host of other fun little forgettable films. Except for the Simpson references, he seems to have dropped off the map.
He starred in a series of rather average Disney “meet cute” types of movies in the mid-90’s, then his career kind of stalled. He then made his directorial debut last year with _P.S. You Cat is Dead_ which was so [critically](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/PSYourCatisDead-1119627/reviews.php) [panned](http://www.theonionavclub.com/review.php?review_id=6128) and such a box office disaster that his career is now most definitely over.
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### Author:  [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/23 "2004-05-06T01:37:10Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> **What’s-hername that played Kes** leaving Voyager
Jennifer Lien. And I thought of another Trek example: Terry Farrell, who played Jadzia Dax. She left DS9 to be on _Becker_, of all things.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/24 "2004-05-06T02:16:43Z")
Just thought of another one:
Ken Wahl left “Wise Guy” and then made the movie - “The Taking Of Beverly Hills”
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### Author:  [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/25 "2004-05-06T02:22:24Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#):
>
> And I thought of another Trek example: Terry Farrell, who played Jadzia Dax. She left DS9 to be on _Becker_, of all things.
_Becker_ was a reasonably successful sitcom, as it lasted from 1998-2004, so 6 seasons I assume. According to the imdb Terry Farrell was only on the show for the first four years; I don’t watch it so I don’t know what the deal was there, if she left that show too, or if she was fired. Still, DS9 lasted what, one more season after she left? So leaving for _Becker_ kept her employed for longer than staying with DS9 would have.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/26 "2004-05-06T02:28:04Z")
Keith Larsen left “The Aquanauts” in the middle of the season for a movie career. I bet you’ve never even heard of him.
Or “The Aquanauts” aka “Malibu Run,” for that matter.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/27 "2004-05-06T02:36:37Z")
> [@Amok](#):
>
> _Becker_ was a reasonably successful sitcom, as it lasted from 1998-2004, so 6 seasons I assume. According to the imdb Terry Farrell was only on the show for the first four years; I don’t watch it so I don’t know what the deal was there, if she left that show too, or if she was fired. Still, DS9 lasted what, one more season after she left? So leaving for _Becker_ kept her employed for longer than staying with DS9 would have.
Terry Farrell was fired, for some unknown reason. She was much better than the girl who replaced her.
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### Author:  [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/28 "2004-05-06T03:08:12Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Terry Farrell was fired, for some unknown reason. She was much better than the girl who replaced her.
AFAIR, it was mutual, because according to unnamed sources, she was a total bitch. At least, that’s the impression I got from my reading at the time.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/29 "2004-05-06T04:15:49Z")
**RealityChuck**
Wow someone remembers the “Aquanauts” later renamed “Malibu Run” to give it a “hip” name. I sure as heck forgot all about Keith Larsen but I do remember Jeremy Slate being on that show. Maybe staying on that show helped him because it seems he has worked steadily (in minor supporting roles) on television and has had some success in movies “Born Losers” and “Lawnmower Man”.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/30 "2004-05-06T04:53:16Z")
Jeff Conway had a good supporting role on Babylon 5, post Taxi. I never even saw the latter, I knew and liked him from B5.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/31 "2004-05-06T05:05:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Conversely, you have to applaud the guys who stayed with their TV shows to the bitter end, even though they had loads of movie offers. Henry Winkler and Michael J. Fox come to mind. They were EXTREMELY popular, for a time, and both made several movies (in Fox’s case, some hit movies)… but both were smart enough to see the benefits of a steady gig on a hit sitcom.
I’m giving credit to Vanna White of all people for showing some intelligence. There was a time a few years back when she appeared to be on the verge of being a superstar. Movies, record deals, hit television series. Then it turned out she had no discernable talent. But she had made one smart decision; throughout her brush with fame, she never quit her day job on _Wheel of Fortune_.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/32 "2004-05-06T05:13:06Z")
**Jeff Conaway** left “Taxi” in 1981. He joined the cast of “Babylon 5” in 1995. Hmmm another 14 year gap. (See Pernell Roberts) Maybe this is some unwritten rule of television ?
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### Author:  [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/33 "2004-05-06T05:15:49Z")
I got an example of a bad career decision going the other way.
Anthony Michael Hall had a a pretty good movie career going (Sixteen Candles, Weird Science) then he joined SNL on one of the really bad years and his career fizzled out. (Although he did show up in Edward Scissorhands)
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/34 "2004-05-06T05:37:01Z")
In interviews during the run of _Trapper John_, Pernell Roberts definitely regarded his departure from _Bonanza_ as a mistake. He left because he felt the script quality had gone downhill, plus he was extremely active in liberal politics in his private life and wanted some bizarre changes to the series (among other things he wanted Adam to marry a Native American character played by an African American actress- I wish I had a cite for that but I read it in a book on the series). Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon all counselled him about going away, Greene making a comment to the effect of “I wouldn’t wipe my ass with most of these scripts, but for $45,000 per episode I’m not going anywhere”.
It was a very long decade and a half of episodic guest appearances, dinner theater and occasional low budget movie roles before he hooked onto _TJ_, which he stayed with til the end. (His life has been hell in recent years due to the death of his only child and health problems, but he’s still alive and at least doesn’t have to add poverty to the rest.)
Regarding Jeff Conaway- does anybody have a clue what he (or Eddie Mekka for that matter) was doing in the ‘Child Stars’ video at the end of _Dickie Roberts_? (_Dickie Roberts_ movie: D- Child Stars video- A-) He was far from a child when he played Kenicky and in his 30s on Taxi. (Also a major cokehead, at least during his Taxi days.)
My pics:
Amanda Blake from **Gunsmoke** - her decision to sit out the last season cost her a fortune in residuals and salary due to an odd contract. She contracted AIDS from her bisexual third husband and lost most of her money in a private zoo business that flopped. She wasn’t indigent as in Ed Wood or Singing Nun, but when she died she was living in a middle class apartment and was saved from total financial ruin only by some well timed Gunsmoke reunion movies.
Esther Rolle from **Good Times** - she was a middle-aged not-particularly-attractive black woman of only _okay_ comic timing, so when she got a starring role on a hit comedy series (a spin-off of _Maude_ that was actually far more popular than its parent) it was almost the equivalent of winning the lottery twice by way of beating the odds. Nevertheless she left the show due to the departure of John Amos (she didn’t want to reinforce the stereotype of fatherless black families) and the shiftiness of JJ’s character (she felt he was a latter day Stepin Fetchit). The show flopped without her, her career went nowhere fast and her money ran fairly quickly as well. She returned to the show but by then it only had one more season of life left in it. She had a modestly successful career for the rest of her life, but nothing to compare with the mid 70s. (John Amos [who, like Sherman Hemsley, was 20 years younger than his TV wife] also had peaks and valleys in his solo career, but he’s been in enough recurring roles on hit-series and had enough really great post GT roles (the middle-aged Kunta Kinte, Cleo McDowell in _Coming to America_, etc.) that he never really nosedived.
Bloodworth/Thomasson- I’m using the producers rather than the star. Their high-profile writing out of Delta Burke caused Jean Smart to leave the show as well, which meant the two most talented and comedically gifted cast members from a show that owed most of its best moments to either Suzanne or Charlene became really mediocre really fast. The way underemployed Jan Hooks was decent, but Julia Duffy never helped any show she was on and Judith Ivey was too little too late to save a show that quickly devolved into "let’s see how many liberal screeds the once sassy but increasingly unlikeable Julia can go into while Anthony does nothing in particular and Alice Ghostley does what she can by singing 'Black Man! Black Man! " schlock. When they later made peace with Delta Burke and brought Suzanne back in her own series it was one of the worst spinoffs this side of _Checkin’ In_, with Suzanne suddenly having an adopted daughter, a seat in Congress, and a retarded brother never-before mentioned- they all should have known it wouldn’t work.
Burt Reynolds has had some “interesting” career decisions: he turned down the lead in _Die Hard_ in favor of _Rent-a-Cop_ (though in all fairness _Die Hard_ probably would have flopped also if hed’ starred in it), turned down the role of Rosemary’s husband in _Rosemary’s Baby_ for the long forgotten _Sam Whiskey_, and tried his best to get out of his contractual obligation for _Boogie Nights_ which turned out to be his only critically applauded role in well over a decade.
Mickey Rooney turned down the role of Archie Bunker (at least according to Mickey Rooney). Robert DeNiro auditioned for Mike Stivic but was never cast, though Rob Reiner’s real-life first wife Penny Marshall was strongly considered for Gloria.
Jerry Van Dyke turned down the lead in _Gilligan’s Island_ to do the series _My Mother the Car_, though whether that was a mistake is debatable since certainly the castaways never did much else.
Ed Asner turned down the role of Coach on _Cheers_ (though for good reasons- he had just finished playing Lou Grant in two series after 12 years and wanted a break, plus they didn’t want to pay anywhere near his salary demands [which after two long-running series were understandably high]). He’s had very few memorable projects in the past 20 years for somebody who works as much as he has.
Rod Steiger turned down lots of great roles in the 70s including _Patton_ and Popeye Doyle.
George Segal turned down the lead in _10_ after signing the contract, the same role making Dudley Moore an international star. When Moore’s inability to memorize his lines on the set of _Mirror Has Two Faces_ led Streisand to think he was drinking or doing drugs he was fired and replaced with George Segal.
While he didn’t turn down the role, Bud Cort made a really bad career decision when he signed to do _Harold & Maude_. _H&M_ was low budget with an unknown director- what budget he did have went to Ruth Gordon, who was very hot off of her Oscar win in _Rosemary’s Baby_. Higgins really wanted Cort for the role but Brewster McLoud had made his salary go up, so he offered him a small salary (something like $25,000) and a percentage of the movie. Cort told him he couldn’t work for less than (I want to say $100,000- I believe that’s the figure I’ve read), so ultimately Higgins was able to get some extra money to secure Cort but retracted the points he’d offered him in the movie. Had Cort taken the 25K + % he would have earned million more over the past 30 years.
(_Harold & Maude_ trivia: Ellen Geer [daughter of the bisexual folksinging Communist and horticulturalist Will “Grandpa Walton” Geer], who played Sunshine Dorè [Harold’s last computer date- the actress] in the film, has played the role of Maude in a travelling stage production and at her father’s outdoor theater [Theatricum Botanicum] in northern California.)
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/35 "2004-05-06T09:53:27Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#):
>
> I got an example of a bad career decision going the other way.
>
> Anthony Michael Hall had a a pretty good movie career going (Sixteen Candles, Weird Science) then he joined SNL on one of the really bad years and his career fizzled out. (Although he did show up in Edward Scissorhands)
And is now the star of The Dead Zone, one of the few new genre shows to be renewed.
**ftg** - Rob Lowe quit The West Wing because he wanted the same pay as Martin Sheen and they wouldn’t give it to him.
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### Author:  [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/36 "2004-05-06T10:17:29Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first to post this, at least not around here – **Claudia Christianson** ’s (Ivanova) decision to leave _Babylon 5_. Has she done anything since? I caught her in an episode of _Murder, She Wrote_ while visiting my parents once, but I’ve no idea when it was originally shown.
CJ
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/37 "2004-05-06T13:18:33Z")
George Clooney not only left **ER** , but also **Facts of Life** and **Roseanne.**. He must hold a record for leaving hit shows.
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### Author:  [@Brendan\_Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brendan_Donovan)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/38 "2004-05-06T13:47:08Z")
Molly Ringwald turned down the role played by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/39 "2004-05-06T14:53:42Z")
While he was never exactly a household name, [Michael Stoyanov](http://imdb.com/name/nm0832989/) left his role as the title character’s recovering addict brother in _Blossom_ to be a writer on Conan O’Brien’s show for a much lower salary. He lost that job soon after and said he never should have left the show due to the financial independence it would have afforded. (On the other hand Joey Lawrence stayed with the show and isn’t exactly the new Douglas Fairbanks.)
Harvey Korman left the _Carol Burnett Show_, which everyone remembers, to star in _The Harvey Korman Show_, which nobody remembers. He was good as part of an ensemble but couldn’t carry a show to save his life.
Don Knotts left _The Andy Griffith Show_ at the height of its success and was never really as big a star again (though he continued to work in minor films and most of his money actually came from _Three’s Company_ due to residuals and higher salary scales). Andy Griffith himself has expressed regret over leaving the show- he was offered an ungodly contract for another season but felt he’d done all he could with it (which he had) and he wanted to have a movie career (which never took off).
Of course there are too many soap opera actors who left only to fall fast and hard to list; I’ll mention Tony Geary as one of the many who left with a flash and crawled back with a whimper.
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-career-decisions-shelley-long-pernell-roberts/243712/40 "2004-05-06T15:19:02Z")
> [@Siege](#):
>
> I can’t believe I’m the first to post this, at least not around here – **Claudia Christianson** ’s (Ivanova) decision to leave _Babylon 5_. Has she done anything since? I caught her in an episode of _Murder, She Wrote_ while visiting my parents once, but I’ve no idea when it was originally shown.
>
> CJ
> **[Claudia Christian - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0160004/)**
>
> Claudia Christian, Actress: Babylon 5. Claudia Christian was born in Glendale, California. Her family moved to Connecticut some afterwards. At age five, she was bitten by the acting bug when she played a Native American in a school play. After her...
She’s been busy in minor stuff. Her most significant work since leaving B5 was VO for Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
However, Claudia Christian doesn’t deserve to be on this list as she left B5 for the possibility of a lead role in her own series. She was shortlisted for the “female immortal” spinoff from Highlander, and she had to confirm she was available by a set date to be in with a chance. Because of the switch from WB to TNT and the general dicking around at the end of S4, she didn’t know if B5 was going to get a fifth year when she had to decide what she was going to do.
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