Money isn't the real reason why Valerie was fired. Yes, she & her husband met with the producers and wanted more creative input and had asked for a substantial increase in salary & ownership. The producers refused and both she & her husband informed them that they were not returning to work for shooting the first episode of Season 3.
Season 3's first episode (which eventually became Sandy's 2nd episode entitled "Liars and Other Strangers") was shot without her with the explanation that Valerie Hogan was back East visiting her folks. A week later, an agreement was reached where Valerie & hubby were given what they asked for in ownership, creative control and a 15% raise increase (which was not what they asked for, but that's how negotiations work in Hollywood). She came back to work and the episode was re-shot to include her in it.
The following week, while preparing for the 2nd episode, Valerie was in a wardrobe fitting, trying out clothes for what she'd be wearing for Season 3, and she received word that her services to the show were no longer needed and that she was to consider herself fired. This was recently substantiated by Edie McClurg in an interview (email me if interested in hearing a clip where she mentions this) for she received a call from Valerie that very same day. All involved (cast & crew alike) were shocked and could not understand why, after everything was worked out contract-wise, that Valerie would be fired.
It turns out that the producers had buyer's remorse. While the negotiations were going on with Valerie and the producers, someone mentioned Sandy Duncan as a possible replacement. Sandy was recently signed on by NBC and was owed a series & pilot deal. She had shot a pilot called "Act II" but it didn't test well with the focus groups so NBC passed on it (although it did air during the summer of 1987). When no new show for Sandy came up, someone figured they could make good on their obligation to Sandy by passing her onto the "Valerie" TV show and sacking Valerie Harper instead.
The problem was that things had been worked out with Valerie so reasons had to be created to justify her dismissal. Then came the charges of her being disruptive and combative during her one episode return to the show. When the case finally went to court, Valerie had tapes of her one episode (not just the episode but of the whole night) brought to the court and all involved could see that she was anything but combative. She was seen laughing and hanging around with her TV sons whom she affectionately referred to as "her boys". A jury as well as professionals in the industry (one being Carol Burnett) viewed the tapes of that night and all involved concurred that the charges of Valerie "being crazy" were erroneous. In the end she had to win for the case made against her was fictitious.
I'm thrilled she won but I feel her dismissal tainted the show somewhat. Nothing against Sandy, but the writing was dumbed down after it lost Valerie and it was only a pale shadow of what it once was. My only hang-up was that the mother, Valerie Hogan, remained deceased. I felt her being killed off was bad enough but the family acted as if she hardly existed. Kind of ironic when this was during the time it was called "Valerie's Family". The handling of her death came off very blasé and unrealistic. That alone demonstrated the degree of realism it had lost that was present during the "Valerie" era. The family lost a lot of their "truth" with that and were, in some ways, almost unrecognizable. It felt like a totally different show. Pity...
Ed
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