ATTEN: "Why Shannen left?" threads

[CharmedFan4Ever]

barmyoncharmed said:

It would've been better for Constance to turn around and say that Charmed would be no more after season 3. Since she still owned the whole show, she could've packed it all up and walked.

For me it was KERN who decimated Charmed, I would've preferred Constance and Shannen to have stayed and Kern to have been given the boot.

I agree. When Constance starting having problems with Kern, she should have insisted that Charmed end with her departure, that way we could have had the Original P3 for four good seasons. Then after she left, let Spelling use Kern and let him ruin the 5 remaining season (if they would have made it that long). And the final season what a joke. A terrible actress (Kaley Cuoco) and making her and her sister Christy (Marnette Patterson) the BIG BAD, was a ridiculous concept. And Billie's breakdown at the end of Season 8? Heck, my dog cries better than she did.

As for Paige, the potential to create her was there, as the girls knew Sam and Patty had been in love, and Victor always referenced it. So if Constance wanted to, she could have created Paige as an innocent they had to protect, upon orders from Leo, then finding out in the end, she was destined to be a whitelighter. What would even have been better would have been for Paige, when she came out of the accident that killed her adopted parents, for Leo to have known already who she was, and didn't want to tell the Charmed Ones, in order not to get them emotionally involved.

[christopher_panic!!]

It's so stupuid that Constance left the show. They should fired Kern instead! I mean, Constance created CHARMED, and who is he? Just a person without inspiration who ruined the show. I hate him so much, especially because he fired Shannen and he didn't even ask her to appear in the series finale!

[spiritsas]

I think the first posting by Original P3 and the follow up by Xenith say it all. Shannon was holding out signing up for a 4th season, while she made up her mind if she wanted to deal with the issues she noted in the interview xenith posted. I think the way it was handled surprised a lot of people, but I think there may have been one more element involved. SD may have also been holding out for more money, as the show, being a surprise hit and keeping the ratings up for three years, felt she was doing the star thing and could ask for more. That, plus the delay in her signing on worked against her and time ran out and Spelling, who had fired her once already from 90210, probably said "Enough" and found a replacement. With the way S3 ended, it was a perfect time to end her character.

Just my added thought, which is based on an interview I recently read that HMC and both BK's were quoted. One of them mentioned money, so I suspect it played a role in the drama SD so wanted to avoid.

[Winchester Witch]

I'm not exactly sure what this guest person was saying about poor Shannen, but I probably don't even want to know. I liked her performance very much, even though right now I've only seen season 1, and I did read in Entertainment Weekly about her wanting to leave "Charmed." Sounds to me like she was being treated unfairly; somehow I missed that part about her trying to make changes on the show and no one listening. If it were me in that position I'd probably be furious. I think it would've been cool to have all 4 sisters come back in season 4, but with the pink slip, guess that didn't happen.

[forevercharmed12]

i heard that she left because she was having problems with alyssa milano??

[noazmale]

Well, I do know that when Shannon left Charmed she didn't have many good things to say about it. And the rumors about trouble between her and Alyssa were all over the Internet when it happened. As for her leaving because Alyssa had a "poor work ethic", I doubt the producers, directors, etc. would have let Shannon go and kept Alyssa if Alyssa was the "slacker" that Shannon made Alyssa appear to be. In fact, it's been my experience that most employers will keep their harder workers and let the slackers go.

Also, I think that the "rumors" that Shannon has been fired from nearly every job she's ever had because she caused trouble and couldn't get along with some of her co-workers has to have something to do with it. I'm not bashing Shannon. I'm just saying that she seems to get a big head on most of her projects and end up alienating those people who have a say so over who stays and who goes.

Jerry

[p3xocharmedonexop3]

Shannen leaving may have had some part to with Allysa. But I doubt that is the whole reason she left. I have noticed that seasons 1-3 were a lot better than 4-8 and i wish Kern hadnt taken over. Prue would have most likelly been still on the show throughout the seasons. I do like Paige but the Charmed Ones arent the same without Prue.

[Flame]

p3xocharmedonexop3 said:

Shannen leaving may have had some part to with Allysa. But I doubt that is the whole reason she left. I have noticed that seasons 1-3 were a lot better than 4-8 and i wish Kern hadnt taken over. Prue would have most likelly been still on the show throughout the seasons. I do like Paige but the Charmed Ones arent the same without Prue.

Thats my basic opinion to .

[bryony]

i so never knew that was the reason for her leaving ... im pretty sure i heard, when she left , that she was sacked... so i was really anoyed because i loved prue...

oxox

[foxfire]

I'm really confused. Why did they keep Alyssa on the show? It just really makes me wonder. Shannen was the perfectionist and she was very professional. She was serious and poured her heart in soul into her character. SD was the major star power that attracted a lot of people to the show.

Spelling had experience with both AM and SD (from Melrose and 90210 respectively), although I think SD had the slight disadvantage because of her age when she got fired from 90210.

[Esmeralda]

I would GUESS that Alyssa agreed with what The WB and Kern wanted (turning the show into a magical Sex and the City), while Shannen didn't. Hence, get rid of Shannen and keep Alyssa. The changes in Phoebe from Phoebs into Freebie once Kern took over suggests that to me. I doubt if Shannen would want Prue turned into another sl*t, nor can I see her wanting Prue married--the only time a sister wasn't a sl*t--not while she felt she still had to take care of the younger two. She would've been the last to be married, no doubt.

[foxfire]

I don't doubt a Prue wedding. If you rewatch "Secrets and Guys" you'll see that by the end she admits to wanting to be a mom. Then in "Bride and Gloom" she admits feeling a bit of something because Piper's getting married before she is.

So it was all there. You know, the material for Prue to get married.

[noazmale]

Okay, I just noticed this thread. I'm not necessarily a Shannen fan but I don't dislike her either. I've read the posts here and there are a couple of points that I haven't noticed being mentioned. One was that I remember reading that in an interview Shannen said she had some specific goals when she signed on to do Charmed. I don't remember exactly what they were but I do remember she mentioned 3 or 4 specific things she wanted to do on/with the show (one of which I do remember was that she wanted to direct). She said that when she accomplished those goals she felt it was time to move on to something else.

As for whether she was canned, let go, or allowed to leave, I'm not sure we'll ever know the actual reason. At one time she did have some very unflattering things to say about Charmed (like the only people who could enjoy it were 12 year old girls), and I think it's possible there some tensions between her and other cast member. It's also possible that in the years since those tensions have eased and she's now friends with those people.

It's true she has a "bad girl" rep. Let's face it. It wouldn't be the first time she was "let go" from a show where she didn't get along with a co-star. And some of her troubles off camera have been very publicized in the media. But she isn't the only one. There are other "stars" whose off camera antics have been far worse than what she reportedly did. And she wouldn't be the first star to be fired because she didn't get along with a co-star or because she felt she was more important than she was. (I'm not saying that's what happened here only that stars have been fired for some very stupid reasons.)

Anyway, whether you liked "Prue" or not (the character, not the actor), Charmed just wouldn't have been the same without her. Personally, I prefer Paige to Prue but I also think Prue was a necessary part of the show and without her I don't think it would have lasted beyond the first season. I was sorry they didn't bring her back for the grand finale. (For that matter, I'm sorry they didn't bring back Cole, either.) And I think Brad Kern did a terrible disservice to the fans in that respect.

But as for what actually happened that caused Shannen to leave, it's something we may never truly know for sure. As a Catholic friend of mine used to say, "it's one of those mysteries we aren't meant to understand". ;D

Jerry

[Esmeralda]

foxfire said:

I don't doubt a Prue wedding. If you rewatch "Secrets and Guys" you'll see that by the end she admits to wanting to be a mom. Then in "Bride and Gloom" she admits feeling a bit of something because Piper's getting married before she is.

So it was all there. You know, the material for Prue to get married.

Oh, I agree that she would *want* to be a mom. And eventually she would've become a good one, the best of the three. But not until the others were married--they were her responsibility, right behind innocents. And unlike the others (well, except Paige and her charges), Prue took her responsibilites VERY seriously.

[foxfire]

You know, it really was a shame that we didn't get to have more Prue. I mean, "Just Harried" really gave us something to look forward to. Season three opened up a lot of new doors for Prue and instead they showed Shannen Doherty the door.

[mizzdoherty]

i heard it was shannon who was gettin all the attantion and alyssia got annoyed so they were always fightin from then on if one of them was in the centre of al the photo's or if someone got seen more in an episode [glow=red,2,300]....but thats just wat i heard i don't know wat ta think !!!!!!!!!![/glow]

[The Original P3]

princessdoherty - I suggest you read through the thread and that will shed better light on the situation. Going by tabloid gossip only sets us farther back.

[demonangel180]

All that i've heard about prue leaving is that she thought she needed more money and that she was more important i heard this from my dad

[spiritsas]

I'm not usually on this thread, but I just read the last page of posts and thought to toss in my two cents. I think TOP3 has some good points, mostly being that we on the outside don't really know all that went down on the inside. We only know the results and few other details.

Now I'm not saying that X is totally incorrect either, given the interviews SD gave about the situation. However, consider this. If SD was making a lot of noise about wanting some time off and bugging the suits about it when those on the set (say Kern for example) would not listen or at least not do anything to help her, it is not inconceivable that this complaining (which is how it might have been taken) lead to her dismissal. It has always seemed odd to me that of all the main stars only SD directed any of the episodes (and stop me if that was not a correct statement) and she directed four of them, including her last. Whether she wanted off the show or not, taking on directing duties, on top of the acting, is not a sign that she wasn't invested in the show.

I think SD, whatever time off she wanted (and stars often want some time off to pursue other roles for a short break or the money, or they just love the role), might have been arranged, but perhaps she just went about it the wrong way and pissed off the wrong people. Even if there was some back stage difficulties, whatever the reason, it's very risking to kill off a main character, especially one with the fan pull of SD at the time and expect the show to survive. They got lucky with Rose M. and with HMC really stepping up to pick up the slack, but the show did change dramatically without SD there.

Also, whatever truly lead to SD's dismissal, you have to acknowledge two things. One, it must have been bad for it to allow the next five years to go by and never once did she ask or was asked to come back in a guest role, which would have been huge to the show's ratings. The second thing, which is about the interviews X posted. Not to write them off, but public figures often have to do damage control and spin the rumors and stories so they don't look bad. I mean how many stars would get up there and say, after being fired, "oh yeah, it was my fault, at least partially, for acting out or pissing people off". No, I don't think so. They're going to tell the story their way, from their point of view and not accept a lot of blame in the process.

I'm not saying SD was difficult to work with or even was her own worst enemy in that situation, but something or things were done and said enough for those in power to pink slip her and not in the nicest way. That is something to think about.

Now TOP3 notes that SD and AM have made up over whatever it is they were angry about. I can't say I know that they're best buds or even call each other on birthdays and holidays, but then again, I don't travel in their social circles. I had heard that they discretely avoid each other at social event or awards dinners. If that is not true, then someone needs to post a pic of the two of them side by side at some event, chatting and making nice. I've not seen that, but I haven't seen everything or claim to know everything. But if they are friendly again, well Hollywood is a small town so they would have opportunity to be at the same parties, clubs etc. How about some friendly pics like the ones we sometimes see of SD with her friend HMC? That would support the statement that they are friendly. Just playing a little devils advocate here, but in a nice way.

[forevercharmed1]

I THINK SHANNEN SHOULD HAVE NOT LEFT I WAS RELLY SAD THAT SHE LEFT AND I THINK SHE SHOULD COME BACK FOR A NINTH SEASON !!!!!!