Lethal Weapon - TV show

So I was right in post # 42. I was just guessing.

 

They had great on-screen chemistry.

Very sad...

 

Hilarie Burton, who guest starred on six episodes over Season 1 and 2, wrote in a statement posted on Twitter May 12, “The pace at which a show like lethal weapon shoots does not always allow for constructive criticism to be warm and fuzzy. But it’s my experience that Mr. Crawford genuinely cares about the well-being of every cast and crew member.”

HA! I knew I liked that girl! I still think Crawford got a raw deal. But he must have known he was getting permanently written out of the show when he shot that last episode, and he went ahead and did it anyway, like a professional.

Just another day in Hollywood, I guess.

 

'Lethal Weapon' replaces Clayne Crawford with Seann William Scott in first Season 3 promo

 

Well... I guess I'm not gonna watch this.

 

Saw the first ep. It was ok. I watched till the end and it was actually better than I thought it would be. Scott was better than I expected. But would've been but I sure did miss the presence of Clayne.

 

Me too!

 

I watched it and enjoyed it. I approached it like I did when I watched the very first episode. I went in skeptical but the show won me over both times. While I liked Clayne Crawford as Riggs, I think the show will be OK with SWS. I don’t like Lethal Weapon without the Martin Riggs character, but what can be done? Recasting would’ve probably opened a real can or worms!

I am curious to know if Wayans is now behaving himself with Crawford gone? Seems that both Wayans and Crawford were both out of line at times, but only Crawford paid the price.

I will stick with the show. Hopefully it won’t drive me away before the end of the season!

 

I give this show one more season with the cast change. It’s doomed.

 

I wonder if Richard Cabral will be back this season now that he’s one of the main characters on The Mayans MC.

 

So....I guess it's over?

Damon Wayans Shocks With Surprise Announcement He’s Quitting ‘Lethal Weapon’: ‘I’m Done’

Over the summer after all the controversy hit I decided to binge watch the previous two seasons and was impressed. I really enjoyed it despite not expecting or wanting to. I was willing to give the new guy a chance and I've liked the last two episodes and I liked SWS. I thought the show could continue but with this news today, i would say it's over unless they can successfully recast Murtaugh. It's bad enough to lose Riggs but if you lose the character of Murtaugh you also lose his family and thats basically the other two thirds of it all. I mean all you have left of the classic LW characters is Leo Getz! Thomas Lennon partnering with Sean Williams Scott? I don't think so...


(Wonder what Chris Tucker is doing these days?hmmm)

It looks like Clayne Crawford was right about Wayans being miserable, and if hes being truthful here it's easier to understand why. Personally after seeing Clayne Crawford's interview on a recent podcast and reading about all of the drama it sounds like that a lot of people, not just Crawford or Wayans acted unprofessionally and in some ways both actors got screwed because there was no captain steering the ship and the studio sort of mislead both actors coming into this.

I just wish that Damon went to the producers and the Network towards the middle of last season before the scandals hit critical mass, told them he wasn't happy and all just mutually decided he would leave ,keeping Crawford as Riggs and either have the show change settings with Riggs going back to Texas and have it now set in Dallas or Houston with Riggs teamed with a new partner or kept the LA setting and the season 2 finale could have killed or retire Murtaugh or just recast Murtaugh for Season 3. I think it could have survived or even thrived under those circumstances. Now...I just don't know.

Is it possible that they bring Crawford back? I mean, they "killed" Riggs, but remember we never saw a body after the fact and all we saw was the surgeon telling Murtaugh he was dead and then we jump ahead 6 months. I wonder if the writers intentionally vaguely kept the door ajar just in case Wayans left and they could potentially bring back Riggs out of necessity. After all Riggs' dad apparently ran with some bad people and his brother shot him. Maybe there's a bit of intrigue there that could potentially be used to "resurrect" the late Martin Riggs...Witness protection perhaps?

 

Riggs was fired for being a loose cannon, and Murtaugh quit because he’s too old for this ****.

 

Life imitating art?

 

Do you have a link to that podcast? I'd like to hear it.

I think if things had not got out of hand and Crawford had not lost his temper like he did, then, yeah that would've been a good way to continue the show; Murtaugh retires and they cast a new person either for LA or move the show to Houston or Dallas.

I don't think they'll be able to bring Crawford back. It would have to be some very exceptional circumstances considering how he behaved. Being miserable and grouchy is fine, but losing your temper and screaming at people is not. No judgement here, just pointing out what I had heard. There's a risk to the studio, so they could have to be careful about bringing him back, especially if he's going to be working with most the same crew as before.

Interesting that they only ordered 13 eps for Season 03 though. Doesn't sound like the network is banking on this show anyway. I think with his exit they'll kill the show after Season 3 and I wouldn't even be surprised if they decided not to do a Season 3 at this point.

 

Here's the podcast. Quite interesting.

 

Wow what a mess. Thanks for posting that.

 

I really feel bad for the rest of the cast and especially kids who play Murtaugh's Son and daughter. I'm sure Wayans abrupt announcement was not cleared by the studio or the network. Otherwise there would have been an official press release accompanying this interview.An already chaotic environment just got worse. For all intents and purposes, Wayans may have just put the actress that plays his wife and the family out of work if not the whole cast without any warning. Even if ratings hold and stays steady through these 13 episodes and it gets a renewal or a 9 episode extention there will be a huge overhaul and turn over.

I know Crawford acted like a dick in that incident with the assistant director, and probably has some anger issues, but i can guarantee you he was fired primarily to please Wayans and try to keep him. Now that he's out, I can imagine the producers and the network are regretting outright firing Crawford knowing what they know now. Perhaps Wayans should have been the one to go at the end of Season 2. A recast of one lead is preferable to the loss of both on such short notice.

 

Yeah the way he did it wasn't very professional.

Crawford being fired - I think what really drove it was that they felt he was expendable and since he wasn't playing ball e.g. he mentions the changes they wanted to make to the character in the podcast, they weren't exactly looking to placate the situation. I think it just helped that Wayans didn't care if he was gone. If the studio didn't care for Wayans they'd have fired both of them lol

If they regret their decision it'll be because of ratings more than anything else but ultimately I don't think they'll regret their decision even if ratings fail. I think they wanted him gone anyway by the sounds of it. He comments in the podcast that they now have the show they want with the new Riggs being more like the Riggs they wanted from him. I think if the studio and Crawford were in agreement with respect to the direction of the show and Riggs they'd have done more to fix the situation.

 

Did you guys read the Vanity fair article where an arguement between Crawford and Wayans was leaked follwed by Crawford losing it because of ambient noise during a scene he was directing? I mean, they may both be at fault in some ways but calling someone a p**** after getting a head injury and then asking "how does it feel to only be in the game because of your brothers"? I mean, I'd have fought to have the guy fired too. There's no excuse for that level of unprofessionalism. I don't care how mad you are with someone; you're there to do a job, not to put them down both personally and professionally. Like Wayans said in the piece about his quitting, he's 56 years old, diabetic and working 16 hour days on set. Like Murtaugh, he's "getting too old for this sh**".

 

Well thats a good point about the studio wanting Riggs to be more like the character SWS is playing now, right down to the short hair and 5 o clock shadow. Essentially what we are seeing with the new character Weasley Cole is basically what the original vision Matt Miller and all had of Riggs. More of your generic wise ass bad ass who cracks jokes and kicks ass. The Riggs Clayne played was his own creation more or less. He fought to add in the pathos and the darkness of the character as Mel Gibson played him in the first two films but with a bit of his own personality thrown in.The studio saw this as the Damon Wayans vehicle with a goofy side kick and the Lethal Weapon IP slapped on it. Crawford seemed to be the only one who really wanted to do a real honest to God authentic take on Lethal Weapon. Thus the clash.

It's a shame. The show wasn't high brow entertainment, but it was a decent and entertaining show with two characters with great chemistry. Its amazing it was as good as it was with all of the behind the scenes stuff that went on.

 

Have a listen to the podcast David Campbell posted. Crawford mentions that rant and he says it was even longer than that and worse. They cut off the worst of it. He says some of what else he said.

 

Yup, they were great together on screen and I think it surprised a lot of people. Although, during Season 2, I remember thinking that Crawford and Wayans seem to have less scenes together. Couldn't put my finger on it but it felt like something was odd about it. Kind of makes sense now based on Crawford talking about how he was doing re-writes in the podcast.

I agree with Crawford's approach rather than the studios even though at times I thought he might be a bit over the top with it. But it was easier to deal with that as it was relatively minor in my eyes. Overall he was great in it and I'm sure he would've fine tuned the character more over the series.

I think you're on the money, it was meant to be a Wayans vehicle and he did go to them with an idea for his own show and was then pitched Lethal Weapon. They probably figured they would just give in to Crawfords demands and then eventually get him to do what they wanted, which is a stupid approach. They should've just said, sorry not for us if they wanted him to capitulate. I've seen stuff like that in the non-Hollywood world a few times. I generally sit there thinking, "Well this is going to turn into a s**t show" and that's what usually happens.

 

I don't think I'm invested in the situation enough to sit through an hour and 15 minute podcast on the subject. Thanks though, I'm sure it's interesting.

 

Wayans deliberately destroyed a sketch on SNL when he decided he'd had enough and wanted out He seems to be a tad impulsive. I wish I could quit my job because I don't feel like working hard.

 

Definitely not cool but that was 32 years ago! I'd hope he's grown up a little since then (56 vs. 24). I know I've changed a lot since my early 20s.

I should have added to my earlier post; Crawford is 40 and should know better than to yell at crew and personally and professionally insult his co-star.