Getting fired can be an embarrassing thing. Imagine if you're fired in a hugely public way where everyone knows it happened? It happens in the world of television more often than you'd think.
In the 1970's, ABC was firing on all cylinders. Happy Days, Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, Laverne and Shirley and many other hits made people forget about how ABC had begun life as a third wheel also-ran to the biggies. One of its biggest hits was Three's Company, a jiggle fest featuring two hot young ladies "shacking up" with a young man. The biggest star to come from the show was Suzanne Somers, who provided plenty of eye candy and the jiggliest jiggles.
Despite signing a contract, Ms. Somers began to feel that she was owed a lot more than ABC was paying her. She staged a sick out to prove how important she was to the show. Rather than reward her by giving into her demands, ABC decided to make an example of her. When Suzanne returned, she was relegated to being away, only seen as calling in from time to time. Eventually she was released from her contract, replaced with a new blonde. The situation was deadly for Ms. Somers' career. She would eventually apologize to ABC for her behavior, though that might have been because she wanted a role on the network's TGIF sitcom Step By Step.
