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| This articte is the the Examiner's side of new sister replacement story. | |
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Winning a battle of TV witches, Alyssa Milano has uncorked enough star magic to make Charmed co-star shannen Doherty disappear from the cast - poof! Producers couldn't stop tales of behind-the-scenes toil and trouble from bubbling out. And they haven't explained how suddenly in season No. 4, Alyssa, 28, and co-star Holly Marie Combs, 27, will carry on the show's story line, which revolves around THREE witch sisters who battle evil with magic. "Doherty wouldn't speak to her two co-stars unless the words came out of their characters' mounts," reports the New York Daily News. "Milano went to producers weeks ago and gave them an ultimatum: either Doherty goes or she would. Doherty apparently found out about the meeting and, though she directed the season's final episode... she thought her own interests would be served if she bailed." The report confirms stories about the long-standing catfight between the two actresses. A source says Alyssa was fed up with Shannen's demands for script changes to make herself look good, hogging the hotter clothes from wardrobe, making everyone else wait after showing up on the set unprepared and wooin staffers with expensive lunches. "Alyssa felt Shannen had all the power and that she was being ignored," says an insider. "She was convinced that Shannen was producers Aaron Spelling's pet." A source close to the show reveals: "Shannen has been a nightmare to work with since the show began, and this season has been the worst. She has been demanding and rude, yelling at people on the set. Most people couldn't wait for her to leave. Now the show is hunting for a replacement for her." Honchos with the hit WB network series say the departure was a 'mutual decision' - possibly even all Shannen's idea. "We have had a long and prosperous relationship with Shannen and didn't want to hold her back from what she wanted to do," says a spokesman for the show's producers in a statement made weeks before Shannen, 30, was to be sentenced on June 12 on charges related to an embarrassing drunken-driving arrest. "We wish her all the best and much continued success." The tempest in a TV cauldron is almost a rerun of the controversy surrounding Shannen's exit from another popular series created by Spelling, Beverly Hills, 90210. "I was an a-hole," admits Shannen of her split from 90210. "I can't honestly say Aaron and I always got along. I was growing up on TV. My personal life wasn't personal. I just couldn't take it anymore. And I don't think Aaron knew how to deal with it." Shannen's less-than-charmed personal life has included: marrying George Hamiliton's son Ashley after a two-week courtship and then divorcing seven months later, having an ex-fiance file for a restraining order after accusing her of trying to run him down with a car, throwing a beer bottle in a fit of rage and ending up in a court-ordered class on anger management. Still Spelling defends the former child star. "Do you think I would have used her in Charmed if she was mean on the set?" he asks. "I would have to be an idiot." | |
