I know if I was in a show and I noticed my coworker was getting more laughs and he was funnier or she was funnier , I would just take the backseat and get my paycheck. There's always gonna be somebody more talented , and we have to realize that. I've been in school plays before where the same thing happened, and I just congratulated my costar and did my best
a funny side note is they originally wanted Dick Sargent to play the role of Darren but he couldn't because of a previous commitment. I always liked Dick York better than Dick Sargent anyway.
The Fox/Wilson tale is not exactly accurate. SS & All in the family were the top rated shows of the season. In S5 of AITF, O'CONNOR was written out of 3 episodes b/c he refused to return to the set until his salary demands were met. Ultimately his pay was increased to $50k per episode.
During S3 of SS, Fox pulled the same stunt. He was written out of the final 6 episodes of the season.
He wanted the same money as OConnor and he wanted it in CASH. Ultimately the studio agreed & each week a studio man arrived on the set with a brief case that contained $50k in cash!!
Fast fwd to the Wilson tale. When Fox walked away from SS, it was still strong in the ratings. So NBC attempted to continue a spin off w/o Fox. Wilson refused to sign on unless he was given TOP pay. Wilson and NBC could not come to terms, so Wilson declined. The spin flopped!!
Fox's show on ABC was a ratings disaster and cancelled!! Fox approached NBC about a SS reboot and they agreed.
Wilson refused to return unless he was given equal billing/pay as Fox. NBC balked, Wilson declined, NBC moved ahead w/o Wilson. The show flopped in the ratings. NBC retooled the show for it's 2nd season, dumped the Rolo and Cal characters, but the ratings never improved and the show was ultimately cancelled 6 episodes into the 2nd season.
Wilson & Fox eventually had a falling out and never spoke again but it had nothing to do with SS (Wilson told the tale during an interview that's here on UT but I can't recall the details enough to repeat them)!