In light of Rocsi, Terrence J, Tia Mowry and Pooch Hall recently being thrown in front of the BET firing squad, I’d like to remind them of something: keep your head in the game! It takes no time to become forgettable and despite what you might think, just about everyone is replaceable in Hollywood. They seem to all have different opportunities ahead of them but just in case they don’t, I’d like to remind them of a few people we’ve seen little to nothing from since they were fired from their show or once the show was canceled. (Rocsi, girl you are really going to need to step it up.)
Janet Hubert
Season four of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was the beginning of the end. Why? Because Janet Hubert was no longer playing Aunt Viv and the show wasn’t the same. Sadly, we never saw Janet on television or in films on a regular basis after her run on the show. In more recent years, she revealed that her departure from the show had a very bitter ending and there’s been talked that perhaps she was blackballed. In any case, she wrote a book about her life on television.
Charnele Brown
It definitely was “a different world” after the show ended. Although A Different World had a great run and most of the actors were good, Charnele was one of the people who did not benefit from the show by getting future roles. It was more than 10 years before I saw her again and that was in one episode of Living Single. I’d bet that she had hopes that more opportunities would come her way but it just never happened for her.
Erika Alexander
Why hasn’t “Maxine Shaw” had more work?! Yes, she was hilarious on Living Single but it was also her timing that made her so good. On the slightly “up” side, she’s popped up randomly in television shows and movies over the years but Erika never got her feet cemented in another series or a string of roles. I’m still hoping that we’ll see more of her.
Deon Richmond
Ahhh, the gift and the curse of being a child actor. We knew him as “Bud” on The Cosby Show until the show ended and then a few years later as Tamera’s boyfriend “Jordan” on Sister, Sister. But few child stars are able to sustain that career forever. He’s still young (only 33) so I definitely think we have a chance to see more of him.
Sicily Sewell
Do you remember Sicily as “Spirit” on One on One with Kyla Pratt? Well, she was fired from the show for reasons unknown and because she may have still been fairly unknown in the film and television industry, it probably became a little harder to obtain work. Since being on the show she’s gotten married and had children, so clearly part of her direction has changed. Here today and gone tomorrow…and Hollywood’s on to the next actress.
Isaiah Washington
Yeah I know, he did it to himself. As we all know by now, Isaiah made some offensive comments and not only was he fired from Grey’s Anatomy but he was also pretty much blackballed by a part of Hollywood. The talented actor is still engaged in his philanthropy work and still is fully engaged in acting projects, but the level of visibility and fame he had with Grey’s Anatomy is a thing of the past…for now.
Rachel True
First of all, let’s discuss how young, fresh and fab Rachel looks for 45 years old! I could go on and on about that but I don’t think that’s the point. Rachel had a really good string of success in the 90s in cheesy yet entertaining teen movies and also played “Mona Thorne” for five years on Half & Half. The show was abruptly canceled and you guessed it, we haven’t really seen Rachel since then. It can’t be the “age thing” because she doesn’t look 45 and she’s beautiful so it can’t be for lack of looks. This just seems like a case of when one door closes another one…locks. For shame, for shame.
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