The most vicious behind-the-scenes feuds in TV history (2024)

Actors on successful television shows are trained to always give the right answers in interviews, and shift the focus away from any drama that might be going on behind the scenes.

But sometimes the friction among cast members, writers and production staff reaches such a point that rumors begin to leak and the shows become more infamous for backstage bickering than what’s happening on screen.

Fans of “The Good Wife” were shocked when it was revealed that animosity between Julianna Margulies and the actor who played her best friend, Archie Panjabi, had become so bad that producers of the show were forced to use a split screen to film a scene.

The truth is that off-screen feuds are nothing new in Hollywood — and sometimes even the most popular shows with the most seemingly cohesive casts have some skeletons in the closet.

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

Known as “the little show that could,” “Buffy” went from a mid-season replacement on a fledgling network to a cult hit franchise with millions of fans across the globe.

It launched the careers of Sarah Michelle Gellar, who starred as the titular Buffy, and Alyson Hannigan, who played her best friend Willow.

The pair seemed like good friends at first, giving shout-outs to each other in interviews and attending functions together. When Gellar hosted “Saturday Night Live,” she held up a sign saying “I miss you Aly” at the end of the show.

But things seemed to shift around Season 3 as the actors and their film careers took off, with Gellar starring in a string of hits and Hannigan appearing in “American Pie.”

Their feud reached fever pitch when Gellar announced that Season 7 of “Buffy” would be her last on the front cover of Entertainment Weekly.

In an interview, Hannigan slammed Gellar for making a public announcement before telling the cast and crew. But the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, quickly defended Gellar, saying it was his responsibility to notify the production team and that it was clear from the show’s storyline that it would end that year.

“There was a whole thing about it being in Entertainment Weekly and the crew wasn’t informed and everybody was unhappy, and I was just like, ‘There was somebody who didn’t know?’ Some of the actors were upset and I said, ‘You guys I’ve talked to specifically about this,’” Joss said in an interview with Chud.com.

Gellar’s husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., also weighed in, telling Zap2It that she was leaving the show because of the “nonsense” she had to deal with.

“She’s a very strong woman, because she deals with a lot of nonsense, and instead of that nonsense, she should be thanked — and she’s not. That’s the reason she won’t be coming back,” he said.

Most thought the end of the show would have put a stake in the feud, but when Hannigan was asked in a 2013 interview which cast member had been the most annoyed about being on the show, she named Gellar.

“She had a big career going, it was a lot of work,” Hannigan said.

When asked which season of the show Gellar started hating doing “Buffy,” Hannigan quickly answered: “Three.”

Gellar surprisingly agreed with Hannigan, and explained that the show was a lot of hard work.

“Vampires come out at night, so you’re working these crazy hours when everyone else is sleeping … It’s physical, I was constantly getting injured … You hit this wall of ‘Oh my God’ … They turned me into a rat [for an episode, just] so I could get a break …”

It seems as though the two have now buried the hatchet, with Gellar recently attending a birthday party for Hannigan’s daughter.

‘Beverly Hills, 90210’

The only thing that came close to matching the high-octane drama featured in storylines of “Beverly Hills, 90210” was the theatrics that erupted behind the scenes.

Most of the drama revolved around the show’s two female leads, Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth.

When talking about the feud in an interview in 2014, Garth said it was expected considering they were locked in the sound stage for 14 to 16 hours every day.

“There were times when we loved each other and there were times when we wanted to claw each other’s eyes out,” she said.

But Tori Spelling revealed this week that she was the one responsible for Doherty’s axing.

Spelling recalled a number of incidents that led to the decision, including one occasion when the male cast members were forced to break up a “fistfight” between Doherty and Garth.

It’s not clear what the final straw was, but Spelling admitted that she had asked her father, Aaron Spelling — the producer of the show — to remove Doherty from the cast.

“I felt like I was a part of something … a movement … that cost someone their livelihood,” Spelling said.

“Was she a horrible person? No — she was one of the best friends I ever had.”

Garth, who is now good friends with Doherty despite their infamously tempestuous relationship, described their personalities as being like “gasoline and a match” in her 2014 memoir “Deep Thoughts From A Hollywood Blonde.”

“Without warning, she was gone. There was no goodbye, no nothing. One day she just wasn’t on the call sheet,” she wrote about Doherty’s departure.

Jason Priestley also wrote about the debacle in his memoir, saying Doherty “really and truly did not give a s–t.”

In response, Doherty said Priestley “has brain damage” after he died momentarily in a car accident.

‘Charmed’

Nobody expected hotshot producer Aaron Spelling to ever work with Shannen Doherty again after he fired her from “Beverly Hills, 90210” — so the announcement that she would lead his latest production took most by surprise.

Doherty suggested her best friend Holly Marie Combs to play her sister Piper, but the part of the youngest sibling, Phoebe, was much harder to fill.

The original actor left the series after shooting the pilot episode and was ultimately replaced by “Who’s The Boss” star Alyssa Milano, who had previously worked with Spelling on “Melrose Place.”

It seemed like smooth sailing at first, with Doherty and Combs even serving as bridesmaids in Milano’s 1999 wedding.

Combs told TV Guide that the trio were “very close for the first couple of years.”

But tensions had become noticeable by the time the series entered its third season.

Combs explained that they were becoming frustrated with feeling like they were doing the same episode over and over, and Doherty “wanted to make the show bigger and better and stretch her boundaries.”

Paramount, the studio that produced the series, sent a mediator to the set, but it only made things worse.

“The problems we had weren’t things some big company mediator could fix,” Combs told TV Guide.

Doherty was eventually fired, which she believes happened after Milano gave the producers an ultimatum. But Milano denies the accusation.

Combs said Doherty had actually asked to be let go from her contract originally but the studio refused.

“[She] was like, ‘This is getting too problematic. Just let me go,’” Combs said.

‘Community’

Unlike a lot of television shows, the drama behind the scenes of “Community” was not covered up, with its stars and creator speaking to the media on a semi-regular basis.

Comedy legend Chevy Chase seemed to be at the center of most of the drama, with the show’s creator, Dan Harmon, often butting heads with the star.

It all turned nuclear when Harmon played one of Chase’s expletive-filled voicemail messages, which included the actor calling the show a “f–king mediocre sitcom.”

“I want people to laugh and this isn’t funny,” Chase said.

“It ain’t funny to me because I’m 67 years old and I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been making a lot of people laugh — a lot better than this.”

Then at a wrap party for the show, Harmon allegedly ripped into Chase in a speech and even attempted to lead the crowd to chant “F–k you Chevy.”

Harmon was eventually fired, but Chase continued his rampage. While protesting his character’s developing racist streak, Chase dropped the N-word. It was then announced he would leave the show for good.

Harmon eventually returned to the series for its fifth season.

Alison Brie, who stars on the show, said she thought the whole situation got blown out of proportion in the media but admitted that she was not at the infamous wrap party.

Series star Joel McHale also weighed in on Chase not wanting to be on the show.

“He just didn’t want to be there,” McHale said.

“When I would try [to talk to him about his attitude], he would just try to fight me … He physically wanted to fight me.”

‘Golden Girls’

Everybody remembers the iconic opening lines of the “Golden Girls” theme song: “Thank you for being a friend …”

But the truth is, the cast of the hit television show were not always friends. In fact, as Betty White revealed while promoting her memoirs, Bea Arthur was not her biggest fan.

“She was not that fond of me. She found me a pain in the neck sometimes,” White said.

“It was my positive attitude — and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she’d be furious!”

Rue McClanahan, who played the flirty Southern belle Blanche, said a drunk Arthur once called White a “c–t” at a lifetime achievement award ceremony.

She also admitted to a rocky relationship with Arthur.

“Bea and I didn’t have a lot of relationship going on,” McClanahan said.

“Bea is a very, very eccentric woman.”

‘Grey’s Anatomy’

In the decade since it first started, the hospital drama has been a breeding ground for drama, with a number of its main cast members departing under questionable circ*mstances.

The first high-profile feud was sparked after Isaiah Washington called T.R Knight a “f–got,” which prompted the actor to come out.

Washington took the opportunity in the Golden Globe press room to clear the air, stating he never called Knight the hom*ophobic slur.

“Never happened,” he claimed.

Washington’s outburst angered the cast and production staff. In response, Knight’s good friend and “Grey’s” co-star Katherine Heigl said Washington should not speak in public.

Washington agreed to undergo counseling but was eventually let go from the show.

It didn’t stop Knight from leaving a few years later, saying the character had run its course.

The next big drama erupted after Heigl suspended contract talks with the show until she was offered a raise, but the show’s network, ABC, hit back and issued a statement that said it had already offered “to raise her compensation significantly above the terms of her contract.”

Heigl said she felt disrespected by the statement.

Then, a few months later, when Heigl was asked why she did not submit a nomination for the Golden Globes, she said she was not “given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination.”

The show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes, told Oprah Winfrey that Heigl’s comments stung.

“On some level, I was not surprised. When people show you who they are, believe them,” she said.

When Heigl gave an interview saying she was open to returning to the show to wrap up her character’s story, Rhimes hit back with: “I don’t put up with bulls–t or nasty people. I don’t have time for it.”

The show’s main star, Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith Grey, recently opened up about the Heigl situation.

“You could understand why she wanted to go — when you’re offered $12 million a movie and you’re only 26,” Pompeo told the New York Post.

“But Katie’s problem is that she should not have renewed her contract. She re-upped, took a big raise and then tried to get off the show. And then her movie career did not take off.” Ouch.

The next casualty in the “Grey’s Anatomy” wars was Grey’s love interest, played by Patrick Dempsey.

His character, best known as McDreamy, was killed off after multiple run-ins with Rhimes.

‘Two and a Half Men’

It was well known that Charlie Sheen was a troublemaker, entering rehabilitation three times in 2010 alone.

But the turmoil behind the scenes of the popular sitcom was kept relatively well guarded until Sheen challenged the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre, to a fight, which forced the series into an early hiatus.

“I violently hate Chaim Levine (Chuck Lorre). He’s a stupid, stupid little man and a p–sy punk that I’d never want to be like. And that’s me being polite,” Sheen said.

“That piece of s–t [Lorre] took money out of my pocket, my family’s pocket, and, most importantly, my second family — my crew’s pocket. You can tell him [Lorre] one thing. I own him.”

Sheen continued to attack Lorre in the media, which forced the writer to create a new start for the show without Sheen’s character. Ashton Kutcher was eventually cast as his replacement.

Before the show finished its final season, Lorre extended an olive branch and offered Sheen a chance to appear in the finale. His character would have been squashed by a falling piano.

When asked why Sheen refused to return, Lorre said: “I just have to assume that he didn’t see the humor in it, which is all right.”

The show’s other lead, Jon Cryer, said the situation with Sheen had erupted out of nowhere when Lorre tried to help Sheen with his battle with addiction.

“It wasn’t a case of him just rampaging around the set and breaking stuff and knocking stuff over,” he said.

’30 Rock’

Alec Baldwin has a reputation for making outlandish statements and attacking people in the press, yet people were surprised when rumors surfaced of a tempestuous working relationship with the show’s creator and star, Tina Fey.

Although the stars never openly spoke about the feud, Baldwin did admit that he was ready to leave the show after its fifth season because he felt it was at its low point.

“Though even anemic ’30 Rock’ writing is still better than everybody else’s writing, I go, ‘I’m going to get the f–k out of here, I’m done,’ because I’m an employee, I don’t have any say.”

It seems Baldwin’s lack of power was the main problem.

Baldwin told the Guardian that it was a struggle working on a show that he had no say in as creator or producer.

“They never came to me and said, ‘What storyline do you want?’ There was a period when I said to myself, ‘What else could I be doing?’ It’s Tina’s show. I want to do my own show, which says what I want to say and about things I believe in,” he said.

It was also rumored that during a photoshoot with Fey, Baldwin told the photographer to “get ready to do a lot of airbrushing.”

As the story goes, Fey asked, “Something wrong with my face?,” to which Baldwin replied that it was her entire body that was the problem.

But representatives for the actors and the show denied the interaction.

Fey has kept relatively quiet about the feud, but did once say that she uses techniques she learned working with Baldwin to control her child.

“It’s like, I’m gonna present the idea that we might leave now, but make [her] think it’s her idea. It would work better with Alec than with the baby,” Fey said.

The working relationship between Fey and Tracey Morgan also reportedly became strained after he went on a hom*ophobic rant during a stand-up appearance, and Fey was forced to apologize.

Circ*mstances surrounding the incident were eventually adapted into an episode of the series.

‘Star Trek’

Everybody hated William Shatner. At least, that’s what stories from behind the scenes of “Star Trek” would have you believe.

Most surprisingly was the ongoing feud between Shatner and the actor who portrayed his on-screen best friend, Leonard Nimoy.

The feud reportedly started when Shatner became jealous of Nimoy’s burgeoning popularity with fans, and Nimoy’s character, Spock, solving the problems in every episode.

“Bill was worried that Kirk would seem unintelligent by contrast. And so lines of dialogue that had logically been Spock’s soon became Kirk’s,” Nimoy said.

The bad blood between the pair became even worse after Nimoy demanded equal pay with Shatner, which the producers refused.

Many of the cast members reported Shatner blatantly stealing their dialogue.

George Takei once said that Shatner would not be satisfied “until we’re all gone and he gets to do our parts.”

Cast member James Doohan admitted that he had “wanted to thump him on more than one occasion.”

He also revealed that Shatner and Nimoy became embroiled in a fight after a photographer from Life magazine was sent to the “Star Trek” set to photograph Nimoy having his Vulcan ears attached.

Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt. Uhura, almost quit the series because she was sick of Shatner “bossing around and intimidating the directors and guest stars, cutting other actors’ lines and scenes and generally taking enough control to disrupt the sense of family we had shared.”

‘Desperate Housewives’

The drama between the lead actors on “Desperate Housewives” was well-publicized during its tenure, with many media outlets casting Teri Hatcher as the antagonist.

Possibly the most infamous incident was on the set of a Vanity Fair photoshoot, when several members of the cast became furious after Hatcher was placed in the center of the photo despite requests that the cast members be treated as equals.

Marcia Cross, who previously played fiery redhead Dr. Kimberley in “Melrose Place,” reportedly “lost it” and screamed at the publicist to “do your bleeping job.”

Eva Longoria dismissed the claims as being the result of having just finished a 16-hour day.

“When someone’s tweaking every little hair, it’s like, ‘Stop touching us, just shoot the picture,’” she said.

Hatcher has refused to comment on the drama, and said she will never “disclose the true and complicated journey of us all, but I wish everyone on the show well.”

When the show finally wrapped, the main cast bought the crew a parting gift — but left Hatcher off the gift tag.

Hatcher said the crew knows she’d jump “in front of a bus for them at any moment” and that she was “beyond generous throughout those eight years and any crew members will tell you that.”

The most shocking revelations came when Nicollette Sheridan sued the show’s creator, Marc Cherry, for killing off her character after he allegedly hit her.

Cherry claimed it was just a light tap on the head.

The case was eventually dismissed, but Sheridan is still attempting to bring it back to trial.

A number of snippets about the feud did come out in the original trial: Sheridan had once told Cherry that Hatcher was the “meanest woman in the world,” the writers had considered writing Hatcher out of the show in Season 5, and both Cross and Longoria had threatened to walk off the Vanity Fair cover shoot.

‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’

The show was an overnight sensation, but things behind the scenes were not as simple for the cast.

The actors were reportedly underpaid and worked long hours. But it was the treatment of David Yost, who played Billy the Blue Ranger, that shocked many fans.

Yost told a Power Rangers fansite that he walked off the set one day during lunch and never returned. But why? Because he was the target of hom*ophobic workplace bullying.

“The reason I walked off was because I was called f–got one too many times,” he said.

“From creators, producers, writers, directors … I know that my co-stars were called in a couple times to different producers’ offices and questioned about my sexuality, which is kind of a humiliating experience to hear that.”

Yost started to fear for his own stability and decided to quit when he started to contemplate suicide.

When producers started planning a Power Rangers reunion, Yost refused as he was “done with abusive relationships.”

A “Power Rangers” producer anonymously told TMZ that Yost was a “pain in the ass.”

‘Sex and the City’

Rumors of a rift between the show’s star, Sarah Jessica Parker, and arguably the show’s most popular actor, Kim Cattrall, have been rife since the earlier seasons.

Although the cast rarely comment on the rumors, Parker once admitted that there had been clashes.

“When you’re on set, you’re working 90-hour weeks, you’re never home, you’re exhausted. There are times when all of us have been sensitive and sometimes feelings get hurt,” Parker said.

Cynthia Nixon, who played the straightforward Miranda, said the show’s production was not always smooth sailing.

“But the idea that we’re somehow adversarial is ludicrous,” Nixon said.

Cattrall has always denied that there was a feud, but did admit that 19-hour workdays are stressful.

“But there’s a camaraderie that happened through all of that,” she said.

Cattrall also admitted to holding out on signing on to the first “Sex and the City” film because she thought she, as well as Nixon and Kristin Davis, deserved to make the same amount of money as Parker.

“But it became just my fight. And that’s [Davis and Nixon’s] choice, I don’t have a problem with people deciding what’s right for them, but it wasn’t right for me and I don’t think that’s a crime,” Cattrall said.

“To me it was about standing up for something I really believe in and saying, ‘I would like to be part of this in a way you have all been part of it on this hierarchy. You took from my life storylines and inspiration, you think that I’m brilliant, so please, allow me to have security for the rest of my life.’”

‘Moonlighting’

It took its stars’ careers to new heights, yet the behavior of Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd behind the scenes was anything but glimmering.

Producer Jay Daniel was the one who would be sent into “the lion’s den” when the pair would be having a disagreement, forced to act as referee.

“Everybody knows there was friction between the two of them on the stage,” Daniel said.

While Willis started out as a “guy’s guy,” Daniel said he quickly evolved when he realized he was going to be a big movie star.

“That sometimes made the set a very unpleasant place to be. Cybill — I got along with her very well at times, other times I’d have to be the one who said, ‘You have to come out of the trailer and go to work,’” Daniel said.

However, the show’s creator, Glenn Gordon Caron, targeted Shepherd for playing a part in the production problems.

“I don’t mean to paint her as the sole bearer of responsibility for the discord,” he said.

“[The hours] can be very difficult, it requires an amazing amount of stamina. It’s easier to do if you’re still reaching for the stars, it’s a lot tougher if you’re already a star, if you’ve already reached the top of the mountain.”

The feud seemed to explode when Shepherd gave birth to twins and Willis found success with “Die Hard,” but neither of the two has opened up about what really happened behind the scenes.

But Shepherd did recently admit that the pair almost slept together after a night drinking whiskey.

‘The X-Files’

The truth is out there … and the truth is Mulder and Scully didn’t always see eye to eye.

You could be forgiven for thinking the two were best friends after their much-loved run in the series and two subsequent films, but David Duchovny revealed the pair were sick of the sight of each other.

“Familiarity breeds contempt. It’s nothing to do with the other person. All that fades away and you’re just left with the appreciation and love for the people you’ve worked with for so long,” he said.

“We used to argue about nothing.”

Gillian Anderson agreed that there were “definitely periods when we hated each other.”

“We didn’t talk for long periods of time. It was intense, and we were both pains in the arse for the other at various times,” she said.

But “X-Files” fans can breathe a sigh of relief — Anderson said the pair are now closer than ever.

News that the infamous duo were once at each other’s throats might come as a surprise considering there had been rumors for years of an off-screen romance.

Anderson said they know each other too well to ever be romantic, but did admit that there is a spark.

“There is an attraction,” she said.

“There might even be more than an attraction, but it’s not going to happen. And it’s that frisson that has made it interesting in the series and continues to make it interesting.”