Five on-set feuds that almost derailed TV shows
TV shows are built on conflict. Characters falling out with each other, making friends, and then falling out again drive so much of the TV we love, possibly because we’re glad it isn’t us in these unfortunate situations. Sadly, sometimes, these feuds spill over into the real world.
In the high stakes world of television, where millions of dollars are gained and lost in seconds, tensions often run high. Actors, directors, and writers are notoriously fragile creatures and rivalries often grow between creative people, as these five famous shows all prove.
Clashing personalities, money, prominence, and good old-fashioned brawls are the order of the day. Most of the time, the parties involved were professional enough to work together, but on some occasions, these disagreements resulted in changes to the on-screen product.
Beware of flying fists, traded insults, and a whole lot of shouting.
Five on-set feuds that almost destroyed TV shows:
5. Jennie Garth vs Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills, 90210)
A tale of culture shock, teen drama, and a bunch of attractive people dating each other and then not dating each other, Beverly Hills, 90210 was escapist fiction at its finest and made stars out of pretty much all of its main cast members. The late Shannen Doherty, who played the main character, Brenda Walsh, was already pretty famous, but this show solidified her as a darling of American TV. Unfortunately, she wasn’t always the easiest to get along with.
Her inflated ego and bad behaviour made her an easy target for tabloid scorn and often landed her in the crosshairs of her fellow performers. Most notably, she got into a physical fight with co-star Jennie Garth, who played Kelly Taylor on the show. Apparently, this stemmed from Doherty yanking up Garth’s skirt as a prank, which she didn’t take too kindly to. The two managed to work things out, and Garth even spoke kindly of Doherty when news broke of her passing in 2024, but their rivalry threatened to overshadow any of the feuds that were playing out on screen.
4. Larry Hagman vs CBS (Dallas)
The question of ‘Who shot JR?’ dominated the summer of 1980. The notorious Dallas villain was gunned down in the finale of the show’s third season, leaving America to wonder which of his many enemies pulled the trigger. It was a genius bit of marketing and is still used as a byword for any TV cliffhanger, but it almost blew up spectacularly when the actor who played JR went into business for himself.
Larry Hagman noticed that his public profile had skyrocketed since this episode aired, so he decided to leverage his newfound fame. He went to the bigwigs at CBS and demanded a considerable pay rise, theorising that the network wouldn’t be able to pay off the storyline without him. The broadcaster initially held their nerve, beginning production on the fourth season without Hagman and planning to have his character undergo facial reconstruction surgery so they could replace the actor. In the end, CBS folded and agreed to Hagman’s insane demands of $100,000 an episode plus a cut of his character’s merchandise profits. A savvy businessman? Or a selfish narcissist who puts everyone else on the show at risk? You decide.
3. Jason Alexander vs Heidi Swedberg (Seinfeld)
One of the most beloved parts of the revolutionary sitcom Seinfeld was George Costanza, the down-on-his-luck layabout best buddy of the title character. Played by Jason Alexander, George appeared in every episode of the show except one, often with storylines revolving around his terrible love life. This is why it was such a shock when, in the show’s seventh season, he got engaged to NBC executive Susan Ross. Sadly, this union wouldn’t last, as Susan died after licking the toxic glue used in the envelopes of their wedding invitations. However, in reality, there were other reasons for her demise.
According to Alexander, Heidi Swedberg, the actor who played Susan, was a nightmare. “I couldn’t figure out how to play off of her,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, stating that while he had no personal vendetta against her, they simply had no acting chemistry. In the end, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss suggested that they kill Susan off, which writer Larry David thought was a genius idea. Swedberg landed on her feet, making appearances in shows like Bones, Gilmore Girls, and ER after this incident, but it’s interesting to think about where the show would have gone if Alexander had found her easier to work with.
2. Chevy Chase vs Dan Harmon (Community)
Chevy Chase is not an easy man to like. The notorious obtuse comedian has made many foes across his long career; he got into a literal fistfight with Bill Murray on the set of Saturday Night Live in 1978. His violent outbursts flared up multiple times during the production of Community, the show that relaunched Chase into the mainstream. Joel McHale, who played Jeff Winger, included a step-by-step guide in his autobiography on how to fight an ageing comedian based on an altercation with Chase on the set.
The biggest blow-up the star had while playing Pierce Hawthorne wasn’t with any of his fellow actors but rather with the series’ creator, Dan Harmon. The Caddyshack star would regularly leave set early, complaining that he didn’t understand certain scenes or didn’t like the direction in which his character was going. This led Harmon to lead the rest of the cast and crew in a chant of “Fuck you, Chevy” at a wrap party, which prompted him to storm out once and for all. Pierce was killed off in the show’s fifth season, and Community lost one of its best characters.
1. Blake Lively vs Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl)
Blake Lively’s ability to tick people off is seriously impressive. Mrs Ryan Reynolds was recently involved in a media storm over her movie It Ends With Us, accused of not treating the film’s topic of domestic violence seriously enough. She also had a long-running rivalry with Anna Kendrick and, during her time on the show Gossip Girl, reportedly made an enemy out of co-star Leighton Meester.
Lively and Meester, who played fictional rivals Serena van der Woosten and Blair Waldorf, respectively, were said to have barely interacted off-screen while making the show. The two apparently had very different personalities, which didn’t help, and Lively apparently took issue with Meester having a larger costume budget than she did. There have been numerous public interviews featuring the pair where Lively makes underhanded comments towards her colleague, including one where she compares acting with her to sharing the screen with a monkey. Nothing concrete has ever come out about these two, but from the evidence that does exist, the Gossip Girl set does not sound like it was a great place to work.
