Her 5 year contract was up, and she wanted to try movies, and failed. Now when someone leaves a show and fails, they cal
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Bigredhunk — 16 years ago(December 11, 2009 09:41 PM)
The Golden Girls "curse" epi is on Hallmark right now.
I thought I'd read once that she left because she was jealous of Kelsey Grammer getting more and more writing111c/good lines (to the point that it was detracting from her character). -
Moon_and_New_York_City — 16 years ago(December 22, 2009 06:07 AM)
I think the conventional wisdom is she left to pursue a movie career, I think it is also true she did not get along with the cast.
For every Jennifer Aniston or John Travolta who successfully make the transition from TV to the big screen, there are dozens of Shelley Longs, Jimmy Smits, David Carusos, Ellen Degeneres, etc. who never do.
"the best that you can do is fall in love" -
Rand-M-Hero — 15 years ago(May 10, 2010 01:46 AM)
'For every Jennifer Aniston or John Travolta who successfully make the transition from TV to the big screen, there are dozens of Shelley Longs, Jimmy Smits, David Carusos, Ellen Degeneres, etc. who never do.'
Well, Ellen's movie career didn't take off, but in her defense her talk show is a pretty big hit. -
marvelass — 15 years ago(June 19, 2010 12:12 PM)
George Clooney is another who made the successful transition from TV to movies. He spent his twenties starring in failed sitcoms and pilots (and a stint on THE FACTS OF LIFE and ROSEANNE) until he landed his most successful role to date on ER at age 33. Then within a few short years he started making movies. Some winners (FROM DAWN TO DUSK) and some turkeys (BATMAN & ROBIN), but he manged to ride the storm. And now he's an Oscar winner (twice nominated) and still a bankable movie star 11 years after he left ER.
Shelley should've done what he did and made movies while still on CHEERS. That way she would've had a safety net if her movie aspirations floundered. But leaving one for the other left her with nothing in the end. -
Maegnas — 15 years ago(June 27, 2010 07:05 PM)
Well, if you watch the 200th episode, she pretty much says it
"Coach was the only friend Diane had"
After Colasanto died she felt "alone" there and just endured the final 2 years of her contract. If that was a wise choice professionally or a necessary choice for her personally could not be decided at the moment, she just had to change environments and perhaps try her luck in the big screen. The fact that she failed cannot be counted as a factor to her decision, she couldn't have known that, could she?
Sex is a woman's price for marriage, marriage is a man's price for sex -
HaroldCarter — 13 years ago(October 11, 2012 01:50 PM)
"Shelley should've done what he did and made movies while still on CHEERS. That way she would've had a safety net if her movie aspirations floundered."
She did do that, while on Cheers, she made Irreconcilable Differences and The Money Pit. She also didn't do what David Caruso did, demand to be let out of her contract, she honored her five year contract, and then left, which is also what Clooney did. Granted, she didn't become a huge movie star, but she gave it a shot, and doesn't have to ask herself "what if." Staying with the show for five years was her safety net, she got all that syndication money, so it wasn't really a financial risk. -
dwarol — 13 years ago(August 26, 2012 01:24 AM)
Her movie career didn't make her the big comedy movie star she thought she would be, but she had steady work. Even today in her early 60s she's still doing steady TV movie work. Most actresses in their 60s never get cast for anything. By Hollywood standards, you would have to call it a very successful career.
"Cheers" was a bit unique as a series, since many of the actors in it (e.g., Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson) went on to very successful careers after the series ended. But on most iconic TV series, the lead actors are often typecast and can't find work afterwards. Certainly Shelley Long's career was more successful than Kirstie Alley's after "Cheers" ended. -
fillypa — 15 years ago(November 30, 2010 08:19 AM)
Unfortunately, she was under the influence of the two most incompetent, worthless personal managers in the history of show biz: Marty Mikelson and Sandy Littman. They are personally responsible for her and their own demise.
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mjgarrett — 15 years ago(March 27, 2011 09:20 PM)
I think the main reason for the cast animosity is the syndication money is so astronomical that actors want to cash in as much and long as possible, quality be damned. See Alyson Hannigan's unwarranted hissy fit on Sarah Michelle Gellar.