# Shows that were changed by executives. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170 "2020-03-10T00:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/41 "2020-03-11T01:43:00Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > “Blackadder” was a very different beast in series 1 compared to subsequent series. A lot of that was to do with a demand from the top of the BBC that in order to get recommissioned it had to be cheaper and better. It was, and it was. The enforced changes worked in its favour I think. I find the first season almost unwatchable. I love all the subsequent seasons. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/42 "2020-03-11T01:44:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > She was also excellent in _The Player_, where she was the only person in the film with a sense of proportion. Also very good in _Dead Like Me_ as George’s mother. But she never had a role that led to popular fame. Loved that show so much. I agree Cynthia Nixon was very good as George’s mother in that series. I’ve always liked her whenever I’ve seen her…a shame she never got a real break-out role. ---
**Author:** ![AlTraina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/altraina/32/50_2.png) [@AlTraina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlTraina)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/43 "2020-03-11T07:16:22Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > Let’s not forget that Newhart dumped two of its 5 original characters. Don’t know whose idea that was, but the replacements were a considerable improvement. Also, season 1 was shot on tape, while the rest of the show was shot on film. I don’t know why that makes a difference, but season 1 is visually jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/44 "2020-03-11T07:37:52Z")
My favorite example of a bizarre change is a little-known show called _I’m a Big Girl Now_ which was on one season (1980-1981). The main character of the show worked at a think tank, and her coworkers were a major part of the show. Suddenly from one episode to the next, her workplace changed to a newspaper. All her coworkers were still there but had also suddenly changed jobs with no explanation. I suppose it wasn’t a very good program, but that sudden change in the middle of the TV season was for me like walking from one room to another of your home when everything in the house suddenly changes in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/45 "2020-03-11T14:40:39Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > What a load of nonsense. The BBC was perfectly happy with the quality, the very expensive sets were unsustainable as was the outdoor scenes such as riding horses through the fields, which were, to be fair, unnecessary. > > The first series main writer was Rowan Aitkinson, along with Richard Curtis, and his historical parody worked well, and to some of us, is the best series of them all. > > The second series, where Richard Curtis took the main writer role, and Ben Elton also wrote, showed up the one trick pony of Elton’s writing, and it descended into fart jokes and cheap laughs. Because most people hadn’t seen the first series, they assumed this was the format, and rewrote history to claim they hated the first (despite the fact that they mostly hadn’t watched it). > > But to claim that anyone at the BBC was unhappy with the quality was nonsense. Don’t British TV shows sort of work under a different set of assumptions anyway? I mean, unlike American shows, where the typical lifecycle for a network show is that once it’s picked up, it runs continuous 22-ish episode seasons until it’s cancelled, a British show runs in “series”, which are a variable number of episodes, and non-continuous. So a show like Blackadder has 4 series of six episodes each, for a total of 24 episodes over about six years. Meanwhile, an American show that had 4 seasons would have 88 episodes over 4 years. As such, with the discontinuous nature of the British series, I’d imagine that producer meddling would be both greater and also less jarring, in that they don’t really have the same continuity within a season and across consecutive seasons that American shows have to maintain. For example, Blackadder series 1 took place in medieval England and was released in 1983, while series 2 took place in Elizabethan England, and aired in 1986. There’s a lot more room to potentially conceal producer meddling when your show jumps several hundred years than if you’re trying to maintain a fairly close continuity like American shows have to. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/46 "2020-03-11T15:01:33Z")
NBC thought the pointed ears on Spock made him look satanic. Roddenberry kept them anyway but I think he lied to NBC and said he was getting rid of them. Also Spock was the only character from the pilot who ended up in the series. The guy who played Capt Pike in the pilot , Jeffrey Hunter , was allegedly fired because his wife was always complaining to the producers. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/47 "2020-03-11T15:05:28Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Don’t British TV shows sort of work under a different set of assumptions anyway? I mean, unlike American shows, where the typical lifecycle for a network show is that once it’s picked up, it runs continuous 22-ish episode seasons until it’s cancelled, a British show runs in “series”, which are a variable number of episodes, and non-continuous. So a show like Blackadder has 4 series of six episodes each, for a total of 24 episodes over about six years. Meanwhile, an American show that had 4 seasons would have 88 episodes over 4 years. That’s changing somewhat in this new era of streaming services and 500+ shows available each year. Plenty of American shows have short series/seasons. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/48 "2020-03-11T15:55:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s changing somewhat in this new era of streaming services and 500+ shows available each year. Plenty of American shows have short series/seasons. I know- that’s why I said “network shows”. They’re still on the consecutive season, starting in the Fall, 22 episode model. Cable shows are not nearly so constrained- they’re shorter seasons and more or less discontinuous in many cases, although it’s rare for more than a year or two to elapse before the next season is shown. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/49 "2020-03-11T16:11:51Z")
The John Laroquette Show was the victim of this. John’s character was a recovering alcoholic in the 12 step program working as a night manager in a St. Louis bus terminal. In the second season, the references to his alcoholism were dropped, he was no longer night managers, he had a nicer apartment with a good looking neighbor, and the hooker with the heart of gold that hung around the bus terminal bought the bar and went legit. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/50 "2020-03-11T16:30:22Z")
The NBC hour-long drama _Tattinger’s_ was turned into the half-hour sitcom _Nick & Hillary_. I’m not entirely sure if this was “executive meddling” or “star meddling,” but on _The Redd Foxx Show_, originally Foxx played a diner owner with an adopted teenage daughter, but then she was written out and the show brought in a character to play his ex-wife, presumably trying to duplicate the Fred/Esther feud from _Sanford & Son_. I can think of a few others, but they’re mostly minor cast changes (example: on _Maude_, the actor who played Carol’s son was replaced with someone who looked nothing like him, as it was felt that the first actor was too tall to be believable as being young enough to be Carol’s son; something similar was done on the short-lived Fox sitcom _Back to You_, with the added “bonus” being that the first actress was one of the original fifth graders on _Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?_). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/51 "2020-03-12T00:33:07Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > NBC thought the pointed ears on Spock made him look satanic. Roddenberry kept them anyway but I think he lied to NBC and said he was getting rid of them. Also Spock was the only character from the pilot who ended up in the series. The guy who played Capt Pike in the pilot , Jeffrey Hunter , was allegedly fired because his wife was always complaining to the producers. According to Solow and Justman’s book, Mrs Hunter attended a screening of the first pilot and turned down the series on behalf of Jeff: “We don’t think it would be good for his career.” They also rejected a request to film some additional footage so that “The Menagerie” (the title had already been changed from “The Cage”) could be released theatrically. Roddenberry adamantly refused to change Spock’s appearance (or get rid of the character altogether). The network disliked Spock so much that his eyebrows and ears were airbrushed out of his photo when a promotional pamphlet was released. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/52 "2020-03-12T00:44:08Z")
Ironically Jeffrey Hunter died in May 1969 a few days before the last TOS episode aired in June 1969. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/53 "2020-03-12T17:57:45Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > **NBC thought the pointed ears on Spock made him look satanic. Roddenberry kept them anyway but I think he lied to NBC and said he was getting rid of them. Also Spock was the only character from the pilot who ended up in the series.** The guy who played Capt Pike in the pilot , Jeffrey Hunter , was allegedly fired because his wife was always complaining to the producers. > [@terentii](#): > > According to Solow and Justman’s book, Mrs Hunter attended a screening of the first pilot and turned down the series on behalf of Jeff: “We don’t think it would be good for his career.” They also rejected a request to film some additional footage so that “The Menagerie” (the title had already been changed from “The Cage”) could be released theatrically. > > Roddenberry adamantly refused to change Spock’s appearance (or get rid of the character altogether). **The network disliked Spock so much that his eyebrows and ears were airbrushed out of his photo when a promotional pamphlet was release** d. The (possibly apocryphal) coda to this story was, after Spock was revealed to be the breakout character of the show, how the network proclaimed to have been 110% supportive of Spock and Roddenberry. Harlan Ellison, not believing a word of it, invaded NBC’s corporate HQ in an effort to find out who okayed airbrushing Spock’s ears away. To a man, every executive denied it happened; when Harlan shoved the promo brochure in their face, they were shocked – SHOCKED!! – that such perfidy has been committed. The buck got passed down the chain until some poor slob in the Art Department, who had the misfortune of holding an airbrush at the exact moment Harlan and an executive walked in, was fired on the spot! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/54 "2020-03-12T23:27:40Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to recall that _Terra Nova_ reportedly suffered from executive meddling, but now I can’t find anything supporting that online. [Kelly Marcel: Yeah. There was a British producer called Alison Owen who came to me in England and I had just left a TV show that I created called Terra Nova because they wanted to put dinosaurs in it and I didn’t want them to. [laughs] And so she was like, “Oh, you wrote the dinosaur show. You should write this thing about Mary Poppins.”](https://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-115-scriptnotes-back-to-austin-with-rian-johnson-and-kelly-marcel-transcript) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/55 "2020-03-13T00:29:16Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > The (possibly apocryphal) coda to this story was, after Spock was revealed to be the breakout character of the show, how the network proclaimed to have been 110% supportive of Spock and Roddenberry. Harlan Ellison, not believing a word of it, invaded NBC’s corporate HQ in an effort to find out who okayed airbrushing Spock’s ears away. To a man, every executive denied it happened; when Harlan shoved the promo brochure in their face, they were shocked – SHOCKED!! – that such perfidy has been committed. The buck got passed down the chain until some poor slob in the Art Department, who had the misfortune of holding an airbrush at the exact moment Harlan and an executive walked in, was fired on the spot! Speaking of Harlan Ellison and Star Trek it reminds of the troubled history behind the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” which Elllison originally wrote. More info here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_City\_on\_the\_Edge\_of\_Forever#Writing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever#Writing) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/56 "2020-03-13T00:40:50Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Speaking of Harlan Ellison and Star Trek it reminds of the troubled history behind the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” which Elllison originally wrote. More info here: > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_City\_on\_the\_Edge\_of\_Forever#Writing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever#Writing) If you like that, you should read his essay about the horror that was **The Starlost**. It appears as the introduction to the novel **Phoenix Without Ashes** , which Ed Bryant wrote based on Ellison’s original script.\* Executive meddling on a galactic scale, and Ellison’s vitriolic teardown of the “suits” is a joy to read. \*The script was subsequently published in the anthology **Faster than Light** , edited by Jack Dann and George Zebrowski. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/57 "2020-03-13T01:11:49Z")
Then read Ben Bova’s [The Starcrossed](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VELE758/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/58 "2020-03-13T01:12:20Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > The (possibly apocryphal) coda to this story was, after Spock was revealed to be the breakout character of the show, how the network proclaimed to have been 110% supportive of Spock and Roddenberry. Harlan Ellison, not believing a word of it, invaded NBC’s corporate HQ in an effort to find out who okayed airbrushing Spock’s ears away. To a man, every executive denied it happened; when Harlan shoved the promo brochure in their face, they were shocked – SHOCKED!! – that such perfidy has been committed. The buck got passed down the chain until some poor slob in the Art Department, who had the misfortune of holding an airbrush at the exact moment Harlan and an executive walked in, was fired on the spot! I think I read that in David Gerrold’s “The World of Star Trek” ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/59 "2020-03-13T01:39:15Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > Let’s not forget that Newhart dumped two of its 5 original characters. Don’t know whose idea that was, but the replacements were a considerable improvement. > [@AlTraina](#): > > Also, season 1 was shot on tape, while the rest of the show was shot on film. I don’t know why that makes a difference, but season 1 is visually jarring. Newhart is one of my favorite shows of all time. I’ve watched the first season many times through, and I’ve watched the rest of the series a lot as well. I have three strong opinions about the show that put me in the minority. I much prefer the earlier episodes with Kirk and Leslie. Kirk was really funny. The Leslie character may have been a bit flat, but she was likable. They were IMO much better characters than Michael and Stephanie. I also prefer the look of season 1, shot on video, to the later seasons, but that’s true for most shows. I just like the clean look of it. And I know I’m in a small minority here, but I HATE the way the series ended. I feel like it undermined the whole show. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170/60 "2020-03-13T03:12:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to see Nielsen as anything other than a comic actor. But for most of his career, he played very serious roles, and even heavies. He could be very nasty indeed when the part called for it. > > But I’m sure you know all this. And don’t call me Shirley! 😃 > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > He played a villainous husband who kills his wife and her lover in _Creepshow_. And a psycho john that callgirl Barbara Streisand had to kill in self-defense in [Nuts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_(1987_film)). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-that-were-changed-by-executives/849170.md?page=4)