3 Actors Who Hate Their Own TV Shows

While there are plenty of actors who love their job, and their previous jobs, there are others who weren’t very fond of a show they were on. Whether it went on too long, they weren’t passionate about it anymore, or the environment was just not one they liked, there have been a decent amount of actors that have publicly spoken about their dislike or hatred over a project.

Chevy Chase, Katherine Heigl, and Robert Reed are just some of the actors who have gone on record to reveal what it was really like working on their respective shows. And how much they despised it. Not every job can be perfect, but that isn’t stopping these actors from still sharing their experiences. And it ain’t pretty.

Chevy Chase

The former Saturday Night Live cast member starred on the NBC and Yahoo! sitcom Community as Pierce Hawthorne, also guest starring in the fifth season. Chase has been vocal in the past about what he really thinks about Community, sharing on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast in 2023 that he felt “constrained” on the show and he “honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately.”

His co-star Joel McHale hit back at his comments, telling PEOPLE that Chase “stopped hurting my feelings in 2009” and “That’s Chevy being Chevy.” Additionally, Chase will seemingly be the only original cast member not returning for the highly-anticipated upcoming Community movie on Peacock, which is not so surprising.

Katherine Heigl

As one of the original members of “MAGIC,” Heigl portrayed Dr. Izzie Stevens on the first six seasons of Grey’s Anatomy before departing at the end of Season 6. Throughout her time on the ABC medical drama, the actress spoke out about disagreements with her character’s direction and was displeased with previous seasons, even asking for a lighter work schedule.

In 2009, she opened up on Late Show with David Letterman via Today that when she returned to work for a new season, it was a 17-hour day, “which I think is cruel and mean.” She also gave her take on the Izzie and George storyline, saying it was “a ratings ploy. It was absolutely something that shocked people – it wasn’t predictable, and people didn’t see it coming. It’s our fourth season; there’s not a lot of spontaneity left.”

Robert Reed

The Brady Bunch may have depicted a mostly loving blended family, but Robert Reed wasn’t feeling the love all that much. The late actor, who played Mike Brady on the beloved late ‘60s and early ‘70s ABC sitcom, evidently sent off “pages-long memos comparing what he deemed poorly written Brady episodes with A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Citizen Kane,” Greg Brady actor Barry Williams wrote in his 1992 book, Growing Up Brady.

Via Screen Crush, Reed said in a 1983 interview that he and producers “fought over the scripts” and claimed if he didn’t “protest,” the show would have “turned into Gilligan’s Island… just gag lines.” Reportedly, Reed was written out of The Brady Bunch’s last episode after the tension between him and the producers got so out of hand, having protested a storyline about a bottle of hair tonic.