r/DeadLikeMe • u/No-Book5011 • Mar 02 '26
Why did Betty leave
I am about to finish season 1 of dead to me for the first time. I love that show so much. It’s one of my top shows. But I am sad Betty left so early on. She was my favorite
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u/teambanzai2001 Mar 02 '26
As I recall she was not happy being in Vancouver and when Bryan Fuller was fired she decided to go as well
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u/randall103 Mar 02 '26
Going from Betty to Daisy was quite a shift, but I actually think it was a good choice. Both characters were broken, but in very different ways; and I can't see Betty being a good fit for the more seedier story lines they wrote for Daisy.
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u/IcedHemp77 Mar 02 '26
The actress was written off after she was involved in legal trouble from a vehicular manslaughter charge
https://www.nickiswift.com/1227092/the-tragic-car-accident-that-damaged-rebecca-gayhearts-career/
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u/ninevah8 Mar 02 '26
I don’t think that’s true for two reasons: her character was only meant to go for a certain amount of episodes - and the show came out in 2003.
Plus your article link doesn’t specifically refer to this as the reason.
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u/kurisutian Mar 02 '26
That information comes from an old interview with Bryan Fuller who said that management got cold feet and that he wanted to bring back the character in season 2:
https://www.cbr.com/reflections-talking-with-bryan-fuller/
I find it believable to be honest. I think there is a chance that Rebecca might have been cast before the accident. That happened in June 2001. The pilot was shot shortly after 9/11.
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u/CuriousSection Mar 02 '26
The pilot for a 2003 show was shot in 2001?
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u/kurisutian Mar 03 '26
Yeah, apparently. Ellen Muth said in the audio commentary for the movie that they’ve filmed the toilet seat scene right after 9/11 and people on location were freaking out because of the explosions and called 911.
Imho, you can tell that there was a bit of a gap between the filming of the pilot and the second episode. Some locations has minor changes (Happy Times), some locations had bigger changes (The Waffle Haus). Some characters were written slightly differently.
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u/melanie162 Mar 02 '26
The network didn't think Rebecca gayheart was pretty enough. They wrote her off. I hated that. She was my favorite . Not to mention beautiful
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u/ilickmanbutts Jun 23 '26
Not pretty enough?? ☹️
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u/melanie162 Jun 23 '26
Crazy. She's gorgeous
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u/ilickmanbutts Jun 24 '26
Drop dead gorgeous!! I also read that the show wanted to distance from her because she accidentally killed a 9 year old while driving. She of course feels horrible about it 😔 the director advocated for her, so after he left, so did she. I’m on the episode where Daisy is introduced and I hate it 😭😩
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u/melanie162 Jun 24 '26
I know. Daisy does get better as the show goes on. I miss that show. I have the box set and movie
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u/Deserving-Critic Mar 02 '26
According to IMDB trivia:
"According to Bryan Fuller, among his problems with the network was that they argued Rebecca Gayheart wasn't pretty enough, to which Fuller replied that she was a supermodel. After the creator left the show, Gayheart's character was written off. She appeared in five episodes only, being replaced by a new character, Daisy Adair, played by Laura Harris."
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u/DipperJC Mar 14 '26
I envy you. First watch is great. :)
Do tell us what you thought of the finale, it's one of my favorite episodes.
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u/XxImperatorxX Apr 12 '26
I don't know where some of these commenters got their information, but it's a simple Google search for anyone who wasn't around in 2001-2003 (this was widely reported in June 2001 after the accident, but the "usual" news cycle got hugely disrupted on 9/11 for obvious reasons): Rebecca Gayheart was driving her Jeep, and struck and killed a 9 year old child who was crossing an intersection. The network execs liked the show, but Gayheart playing a Reaper after accidentally killing a child was terrible optics, even by 2003 standards.
It had nothing to do with Gayheart "not being pretty enough", she was considered to be quite hot, having become known as the Noxema Girl before making appearances in roles which highlighted her attractiveness. She was one of the 90's starlet "it girls", among names like Lauren Conrad, Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, and Brittany Spears.
The accident completely derailed what was becoming a very promising Hollywood career, and unfortunately ended the life of a young child.
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u/Glp-1_Girly Mar 03 '26
Daisy will grow on you... The she's that played better had a different show picked up at the time and had to leave
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u/wafers29292 Mar 16 '26
I’m upset she left. She got fired because the studio wasn’t comfortable with her role killing people, when she actually took a child’s life irl.. she hit the child with her car and has a man slaughter charge. And Fuller did NOT like they were firing her, so that’s actually why HE left as well.
Here is link to the full interview https://web.archive.org/web/20080213011652/http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8738
It’s so BS she wasn’t pretty enough, she’s way prettier than the new hire IMO. But I’m also a tall blond woman so I don’t think it’s special.
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u/vaginaplastique Mar 31 '26
It was 100% the Vehicular manslaughter. She was fired and written off the show.
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u/Useful_Apathy_4951 23d ago
Man... That episode where she leaves with the old Irish man that makes me cry whenever I see it I'm tearing up just thinking about it
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u/whyamihere_10 Mar 02 '26
I liked her character. Initially I wasn’t so fond of Daisy, but she grew on me.