Shows That Declined in Quality Due to the Stars' Ego

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tmc_6882
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Shows That Declined in Quality Due to the Stars' Ego

Post by tmc_6882 » Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:15 pm

For example:
http://whatculture.com/tv/4-sci-fi-fran ... oted.php/2

Andromeda was a troubled show from the beginning. Conceived from a mishmash of notes from Gene Roddenberry and produced by a meddlesome production company at the tail end of the ’80s — ’00s syndication renaissance, it never had an uphill struggle to be competent, never mind good. However, it had former Star Trek: Deep Space 9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe as a head writer, who managed to get strong corps of writers on the show and create a fairly in-depth universe bible.

Unfortunately, star and co-producer Kevin Sorbo managed to get Wolfe off the show partway through the second season, which led to an insane decline in quality. Eventually the fifth season of the show, produced primarily to hit the ideal 100 episodes for syndication, had to eschew the title ship for a good chunk of episodes to save money. After a lackluster finale, the show passed into the annals of mediocre and forgotten scifi shows from that era.

The main problem with Andromeda was that kicking Wolfe off the show also took the show’s premise with it — Andromeda’s quest to rebuild the government that collapsed while the ship and her captain were trapped near the event horizon of a black hole. With Sorbo at the helm, Andromeda wound up being the equivalent of Star Trek V — a love letter to Sorbo’s character Dylan Hunt (who was pretty much a low rent Kirk clone in those final seasons) — and a generic Trek clone to anyone who discovered it after Wolfe’s final episodes aired.
This is a closer generalization of this point:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?di ... 700&page=0

"I'm Also The Producer": Lead actor of your show is getting a lot of acclaim. In order to keep him on board and not jump ship for a movie career or something, more and more creative control is given to the actor at each contract negotiation. Usually they become a producer of some kind and often also writer. Suddenly the focus of your show goes from an ensemble to focus almost entirely on the lead character. Said character suddenly becomes a paragon of virtue, practically a saint, and the other characters are reduced to being weak-willed or strawmen for the lead to triumph over. Often times an exodus of crew and supporting cast that wouldn't get with the program occurs. Examples: M*A*S*H=Alan Alda, Little House on the Prairie=Michael Landon, Andromeda=Kevin Sorbo

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