History Main / StarDerailingRole

* Creator/JennetteMcCurdy's acting career was derailed by ''Series/SamAndCat'', a {{Crossover}} SpinOff of both ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}''. This show was meant to be a vehicle for Jennette, but she instead found herself in the shadow of her co-star Music/ArianaGrande, who was making waves in the pop industry. Jennette began to publicly butt heads with Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Ariana, which led to ''Sam & Cat'' being cancelled after only one season. Following the show's cancellation, Ariana's music career took off while Jennette's acting career took an immediate nosedive, with Nick and Ariana being MisBlamed by Jennette further worsening things for her. Viewing her acting career as an embarrassment and revealing that she was never interested in acting in the first place (she was forced into acting by her StageMom), Jennette would quit acting in favor of writing and directing and didn't reprise her role as Sam Puckett in the ''iCarly'' [[Series/ICarly2021 revival]] on Creator/ParamountPlus.

As it turns out, the studio [[NotScreenedForCritics didn't allow advance screening of the film for critics]], and for good reason. Very few of them are giving the movie a positive review. Word of mouth is even worse. And as they say in Hollywood, you're only as good as your last role. Perhaps the role wasn't the right fit, or maybe the person's lack of actual acting skill has finally caught up to them. Regardless, the star's time on the A-List (or possibly even the B-List) has come to an end. If they're lucky, they [[CareerResurrection may find]] another StarMakingRole, but more often than not, the fallen star gets trapped in a permanent NeverLiveItDown and ends up fading into obscurity, never to reclaim the glory they once had. Tabloid fodder could also [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion cause the adoring media to turn against them]], often dismissing their latest project out of hand. If they have an out-of-control private life it makes it worse for the actors in question. This can also be subverted if the actors are CriticProof and/or have a ControversyProofImage.

* Creator/RobinWilliams returned to television after his film career was reduced to roles in the ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'' and the ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'' franchise. Unfortunately, he chose to star in ''Series/TheCrazyOnes'' opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar (also listed below in Actresses). The show's cancellation after one season in 2014 broke Williams and is assumed to have played a part in his tragic suicide later that year.

* Creator/JennetteMcCurdy's acting career was derailed by ''Series/SamAndCat'', a {{Crossover}} SpinOff of both ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}''. This show was meant to be a vehicle for Jennette, but she instead found herself in the shadow of her co-star Music/ArianaGrande, who was making waves in the pop industry. Jennette began to publicly butt heads with Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} over salary disputes, which led to ''Sam & Cat'' being cancelled after only one season. Following the show's cancellation, Ariana's music career took off while Jennette's acting career took an immediate nosedive, with Nick and Ariana being MisBlamed by Jennette further worsening things for her. Viewing her acting career as an embarrassment and revealing that she only got into acting in order to financially support her family, Jennette would quit acting in favor of writing and directing and didn't reprise her role as Sam Puckett in the ''iCarly'' [[Series/ICarly2021 revival]] on Creator/ParamountPlus.

* When the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' series ''bombed'' in Latin-America due to subpar dubbing and ExecutiveMeddling, the budding career of Nagisa's VA Romina Marroquín Payró almost took a nosedive. [[CareerResurrection She managed to recover a while later]] when she took up roles like [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Princess Anna]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}} Judy Hopps]], however.

* Steve Whitmire's career as a Muppet performer ended following the failure of ''Series/TheMuppets'' in 2016; he was told as early as October of that year that his days as a puppeteer were numbered, and his roles were finally [[TheOtherDarrin replaced by other Muppet performers]] after his departure the following July.

* The failure of the ''Series/CharliesAngels2011'' remake nearly extinguished the careers of its three leading ladies: Creator/AnnieIlonzeh, Creator/MinkaKelly, and Creator/RachaelTaylor. Luckily, each of them rebounded by the end of the decade in various TV series: Ilonzeh on ''Series/ChicagoFire'', Kelly on ''[[Series/Titans2018 Titans]]'', and Taylor on ''Series/JessicaJones''.

* The expensive failure of ''Series/LipstickJungle'' ended Creator/BrookeShields' moving-image acting career more than two decades after ''Sahara'' crippled her film career. After the show ended after two seasons and 20 episodes, Shields focused mostly on her family and on Broadway.

* After the 2001 BoxOfficeBomb ''Summer Catch'', Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr's brief comeback from playing Fred in ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'' and [[Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed its sequel]] ended when he headlined his own eponymous sitcom ''Freddie''. Inspired by his upbringing, the series was negatively received and lasted only one season before getting cancelled.

** Creator/JessicaCalvello's career was derailed for a long time (11 years to be exact) after what happened behind the scenes during the dubbing of ''Anime/ExcelSaga''. Because of the strain the character of Excel put on her voice, her contract with Creator/ADVFilms required a 4-month break between volumes. When they didn't follow up on this, Jessica's voice was injured and she ended up leaving the show (and was replaced with Creator/LarissaWolcott). When she recovered, she moved to New York, where she found a decent amount of work, but nothing compared to the roles she had at ADV Films. She never appeared in another dub for Creator/ADVFilms ever again (ADV shut down in 2009, 4 years before Jessica moved back to Texas), and didn't appear in another Texas-based dub for well over a decade. Fortunately, she's getting a decent amount of work now that the Excel incident is long behind her, such as her roles as Saori Takebe from ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', Kanako Miyame in ''Manga/MariaHolic'', and Hange Zoe in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''.

* ''The Creator/PaulReiser Show'' promptly bombed as soon as it aired, and NBC canceled it after two episodes. Considering he has done nothing noteworthy since ''Series/MadAboutYou'' came to an end over a decade ago, this appeared to signal the end of Paul Reiser's on-screen career. However, he seems to have quietly regained some viability as a supporting actor in various movie projects, appearing in ''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'', ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', and ''Film/{{Concussion}}''. Additionally, a recurring role in the TV Show ''Married'' earned some critical acclaim for him particularly. His lead role as Sam Owens in the second season of ''Series/StrangerThings'' has certainly helped his case quite a bit.

* Bob Denver could not follow the success of ''Series/GilligansIsland'', and ''Dusty's Trail'' - an out-west carbon copy of ''Gilligan'' in which he played the title role - prevented him from making another primetime series thereafter. (He did find work on Saturday morning shows well into TheEighties, with two animated versions of ''Gilligan's Island'' and ''Far Out Space Nuts''.)

* Creator/RobSchneider of all people (known best for playing bit parts in Happy Madison movies and/or leading in ridiculous ripe-for-parody comedies ([[WesternAnimation/SouthPark "Rob Schneider is:]] ''[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark A Carrot!"]]'')) headlined a sitcom for CBS aptly titled ''Rob'', where he played a milquetoast white guy married to a SpicyLatina stereotype (and both lived with her family). It didn't last a full season and ''no one'' from the show (except for Creator/EugenioDerbez, who would go on to star in the sleeper hit ''Film/InstructionsNotIncluded'' which is still iconic in his native Mexico) has been seen since. Schneider later dug himself deeper with 2016's animated bomb ''WesternAnimation/NormOfTheNorth'' and his infamous Website/{{Twitter}} tirades.

* ''Series/SexAndDrugsAndRockAndRoll'' seems to have killed the career of Creator/DenisLeary, in addition to other shows he produced that didn't do well like ''Sirens'' and ''Benders''. Since that show's cancellation, as well as ''[[WesternAnimation/IceAge Ice Age: Collision Course]]'' bombing at the box office, he doesn't have any projects slated for the future, when it comes to either acting or producing.

* For Creator/KevinSorbo, it was ''{{Series/Andromeda}}''. Sorbo was cast as Captain Dylan Hunt due to his success playing the title character on ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''. Even an aneurysm that caused four strokes didn't have a negative impact on his career. However, when ShowRunner Robert Hewitt Wolfe departed in season two (allegedly due to [[HostilityOnTheSet backstage feuds]] with Sorbo over the show's creative direction, a charge that Sorbo denies), he [[WagTheDirector took over the production]] and made what had been an ensemble piece center far more around his character, which meshed well with [[ExecutiveMeddling studio demands]] that the show be more action-heavy and episodic in order to make it friendlier for UsefulNotes/{{syndication}}. Unfortunately for Sorbo, several members of the core cast found him increasingly difficult to work with in his capacity as both star and producer, and quickly bailed out. Around this time, Sorbo also became a Christian fundamentalist. After the series ended in 2005, Sorbo's career has been restricted mostly to independent Christian[=/=]DirectToVideo films, as well as minor roles such as Crusher in the ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' franchise and portraying King Lar Gand in ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}''.

* Creator/BetteMidler in ''Bette'', the spectacular failure of which effectively ended her entire acting career after ''For the Boys'' crippled her film career. She's since focused mostly on Broadway, and won a Tony Award in 2017 for the title role in a revival of ''Hello, Dolly!''.
* Although Creator/GeenaDavis was still stinging from ''Film/CutthroatIsland'', ''The Geena Davis Show'' didn't help matters. One telling clue: usually when a show is named after its star, [[TheDanza they keep that name in the show]] - Emeril played himself in ''Emeril'' and Bette played herself in ''Bette'', for example - with Creator/BillCosby being among the more notable exceptions (''The Bill Cosby Show,'' ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', ''The Cosby Mysteries'', ''Cosby'' and, of course, ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'' - in none of those is his character called Bill). Despite being ''The GEENA DAVIS Show'', Geena Davis's character was named "Teddie". Davis' career was then really thrown off the rails when ''Series/CommanderInChief'' failed. It was supposed to be Davis' comeback and initially started strong, including an Emmy win for her, but ratings declined throughout the year before it was ultimately canceled after 18 episodes. Davis has forged a new career focusing on researching women in film and bringing awareness to the plight of sexism within the entertainment industry, which has been met with critical acclaim. She still does acting roles here and there, including voicing the mother in the Creator/StudioGhibli film ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere''.

* Creator/AmberHeard had a lot of buzz about her movie career, reaching its height when she beat actresses like Creator/ScarlettJohansson and Creator/KeiraKnightley for the role of Creator/JohnnyDepp's LoveInterest in ''Film/TheRumDiary'', which flopped at the box office. Then she starred in the dreadful flop TV show ''Series/ThePlayboyClub'', and her buzz was all but killed overnight. Heard's next few films like ''Film/{{Paranoia|2013}}'' and ''Film/ThreeDaysToKill'' were critical and box office letdowns, and paired with her messy divorce from Depp, it seems most likely that her career won't reach new heights after that. However, she has joined the DCEU as Mera in ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'', but even that's looking like a dead cat bounce in her career, as allegations of Heard being both physically and emotionally abusive to Depp have been met with demands for Mera to be recast or at the very least cut from the ''Aquaman'' sequel, with an online petition that had already surpassed 4 million signatures by mid-2022.
* Creator/JoanRivers's career took a major hit in TheEighties when she agreed to do a talk show for the then-new Creator/{{Fox}} network after it became clear she wasn't going to be tapped to replace Creator/JohnnyCarson on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson'' despite being its regular guest host by then. Carson refused to speak to her after she did this, and after she was fired from ''The Late Show'' she was blacklisted from Hollywood for years.
* Creator/NikkiCox became an instant sex symbol in her role as the teenage daughter Tiffany Malloy on Creator/TheWB sitcom (one of the earliest shows aired on the network back in early 1995) ''Series/UnhappilyEverAfter''. When ''Unhappily'' ended its run after 100 episodes in 1999, Cox starred in her own sitcom for The WB called ''Nikki'', which lasted for two years. However, sometime after leaving the Creator/{{NBC}} series ''Series/LasVegas'', Cox reemerged (after having had some ill-advised plastic surgery) in a guest appearance on the Creator/{{CBS}} series ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' alongside her real-life husband Jay Mohr. Since that time, Cox's most notable acting role has been voicing Silver Sable on ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''.
* Pink Lady's popularity in Japan had peaked in 1978, and by 1980 they had been rocked by a few scandals that had pushed their Japanese record sales into decline. So they shifted their focus to the United States and ultimately gambled on ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff'' [[CareerResurrection reviving their careers]]. Except it didn't work out, and they disbanded a year later.

* The short-run of Creator/{{FOX}} sitcom ''Series/{{Stacked}}'' marked the end (as Chris "Rowdy C" Moore further explained in his WebVideo/TVTrash review) of Creator/PamelaAnderson's career as a television star.

* After the 2001 BoxOfficeBomb ''Summer Catch'', Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr's brief CareerResurrection from playing Fred in ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'' and [[Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed its sequel]] ended when he headlined his own eponymous sitcom ''Freddie''. Inspired by his upbringing, the series was negatively received and lasted only one season before getting cancelled.

* Creator/AmberHeard had a lot of buzz about her movie career, reaching its height when she beat actresses like Creator/ScarlettJohansson and Creator/KeiraKnightley for the role of Creator/JohnnyDepp's LoveInterest in ''Film/TheRumDiary'', which flopped at the box office. Then she starred in the dreadful flop TV show ''Series/ThePlayboyClub'', and her buzz was all but killed overnight. Heard's next few films like ''Film/{{Paranoia|2013}}'' and ''Film/ThreeDaysToKill'' were critical and box office letdowns, and paired with her messy divorce from Depp, it seems most likely that her career won't reach new heights after that. However, she has joined the DCEU as Mera in ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}''.

* After killing his film career with ''Summer Catch'', Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr erased the minimal credibility he regained by playing Fred in ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'' and [[Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed its sequel]] when he headlined his own eponymous sitcom ''Freddie''. Inspired by his upbringing, the series was negatively received as a shoddily made VanityProject that lasted only one season before getting cancelled.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:Creator/MikeMyers: From [[Film/WaynesWorld rockin' guy]] to [[Film/AustinPowers groovy spy]] to [[Film/TheLoveGuru why...just, why?!]]]]-]

* Creator/JayMohr was billed as a rising star in the late '90s, playing memorable roles in movies such as ''Film/JerryMaguire'' and ''Film/PicturePerfect'', as well as having a recurring role on Series/TheJeffFoxworthyShow. ''Series/{{Action}}'' was meant to be his ultimate catalyst into fame, but it was panned by critics and burned out after one season. Since then, he's only managed supporting roles and TV shows that either were low-rated or short-lived.

* The failure of the 2011 remake of ''Series/CharliesAngels'' seems to have ended Creator/MinkaKelly's career as a leading lady, as her career has mostly been quiet since (outside of a small role in ''Film/TheButler'').

* Creator/LauraDern's career hit a bit of a speed bump after she appeared in the controversial two-part ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' "Puppy Episode", in which Creator/EllenDeGeneres came out both in-character and in real life, as Ellen's lesbian partner. She started to made a comeback in 2008, with five Golden Globes and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress to her name.

* Creator/LauraDern's career hit a bit of a speed bump after she appeared in the controversial two-part ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' "Puppy Episode", in which Creator/EllenDeGeneres came out both in-character and in real life, as Ellen's lesbian partner. Hollywood would touch her only sparingly for some time after until her CareerResurrection in TheNewTens.

* Creator/LauraDern's career hit a bit of a speedbump after she appeared in the controversial two-part ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' episode, in which Creator/EllenDeGeneres came out both in-character and in real life, as Ellen's lesbian partner. Hollywood would touch her only sparingly for some time after.

* Creator/LauraDern's career hit a bit of a speedbump after she appeared in the controversial two-part ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' episode, in which Creator/EllenDegeneres came out both in-character and in real life, as Ellen's lesbian partner. Hollywood would touch her only sparingly for some time after.

* Creator/CharismaCarpenter struggled to land any major roles after ''{{Series/Angel}}'' ended and seems to have been relegated mostly to guest appearances and TV movies. Her starring role in a {{Mockbuster}} version of ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' called ''[[Film/Bound2015 Bound]]'' hasn’t helped matters.

* Although he still maintains a steady film career to this day, ''Bram and Alice'', yanked by Creator/{{CBS}} after a measly four weeks, made it very unlikely for Creator/AlfredMolina to appear on TV again.

* Creator/MichaelRichards in ''The Michael Richards Show'', the first post-''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' project that established the "''Seinfeld'' curse". Since it flopped in 2000, he's only done voice-over work (including in his old co-star's ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'') and played himself in ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm''. His career was buried in 2006 by deciding to deal with a heckler at one of his stand-up comedy shows by screeching racial epithets at him. The incident was captured and released online by TMZ, ensuring that it would live on forever.

** This might have happened to David Moo after he voiced Sanji in Creator/FourKidsEntertainment's (in)famous English dub of ''Manga/OnePiece''. His exaggerated and unfitting Brooklyn accent became the laughingstock of even non-fans of the series and became something of a symbol of the dub's poorly done voice acting, strange treatment of the characters, or even 4Kids and bad dubbing in general. This is most likely to blame on Toei forcing 4Kids to dub it against their will, causing even popular voice actors like Creator/VeronicaTaylor to also turn in bad performances. Moo supposedly even disagreed with how he was asked to voice Sanji. He eventually retired from voice acting to become a co-owner of the Brooklyn-based Quarter Bar, which has been ranked one of the top 18 bars in the US by [[https://bklyner.com/quarter-bar-named-one-esquires-18-best-bars-america-parkslopestoop/ at least one publication]]. He was also [[TheOtherDarrin the only main voice actor not to return for]] ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Revolution'' and ''Slayers Evolution-R'', where he had originally voiced Xellos. An interview with the ''Slayers'' voice director (Creator/MichaelSinterniklaas, who also took over the role) suggests that it was a decision made by the powers-that-be and not a case of Moo leaving on his own. However, everyone else in the old ''One Piece'' dub still has at least some sort of career. The divisive reception to his take on Xellos didn't help.

* ''Almost'' happened to [[Creator/{{Yukana}} Yukana Nogami]] when she played Four Murasame in the ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' movies. First, Four's original seiyuu Creator/SaekoShimazu wasn't cast despite still being active, so the fans immediately pegged Yukana as a ReplacementScrappy. Second, sound director Sadayoshi Fujino ''and'' voice actress Kayoko Fujii were going through a ''scandalous'' divorce related to the guy's womanizing, and Yukana was apparently involved with him in the past. As a result, Yukana was accused of pulling CastingCouch and took the brunt of the fandom's fury, which put her whole career at serious risk; it wouldn't recover until [[CareerResurrection she was cast as C.C. in]] ''Anime/CodeGeass''.
* Surprisingly ''averted like hell'' in the Mexican Spanish dub of ''Manga/LoveHina'', if you take into account how awful that dub was, albeit some actors went into voicing secondary roles afterwards, but others, like Keitaro's (Ricardo Bautista) managed to improve a lot, being his more outstanding performance was as Ayato Sakamaki in the Mexican dub of ''VisualNovel/DiabolikLovers'', Michelangelo in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and Ty Rux in ''WesternAnimation/DinoTrux''. It helped a lot the series never was re-run ever again after its first run in Latin America, and the fact the series was broadcasted at late hours, limiting the damage on the voice actors' reputations.

* ''The Paul Reiser Show'' promptly bombed as soon as it aired, and NBC canceled it after two episodes. Considering he has done nothing noteworthy since ''Series/MadAboutYou'' came to an end over a decade ago, this appeared to signal the end of Paul Reiser's on-screen career. However, he seems to have quietly regained some viability as a supporting actor in various movie projects, appearing in ''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'', ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'', and ''Film/{{Concussion}}''. Additionally, a recurring role in the TV Show ''Married'' earned some critical acclaim for him particularly. His lead role as Sam Owens in the second season of ''Series/StrangerThings'' has certainly helped his case quite a bit.

* Dan Fogler's attempt to jump into television after his film career died started with the Creator/{{ABC}} sitcom ''Man Up!'', in which he served as a co-star. Only eight episodes of the series were aired, and his TV pilot ''Prairie Dogs'', produced the following year, did not go forward and was received negatively by those who saw it.

* For Creator/KevinSorbo, it was ''{{Series/Andromeda}}''. Sorbo was cast as Captain Dylan Hunt due to his success playing the title character on ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''. Even an aneurysm that caused four strokes didn't have a negative impact on his career. However, when ShowRunner Robert Hewitt Wolfe departed in season two (allegedly due to [[HostilityOnTheSet backstage feuds]] with Sorbo over the show's creative direction, a charge that Sorbo denies), he [[WagTheDirector took over the production]] and made what had been an ensemble piece center far more around his character, which meshed well with [[ExecutiveMeddling studio demands]] that the show be more action-heavy and episodic in order to make it friendlier for UsefulNotes/{{syndication}}. Unfortunately for Sorbo, several members of the core cast found him increasingly difficult to work with in his capacity as both star and producer, and quickly bailed out. Around this time, Sorbo also became a Christian fundamentalist. After the series ended in 2005, Sorbo's career has been restricted mostly to independent Christian[=/=]DirectToVideo films, as well as minor roles such as Crusher in the ''Skylanders'' franchise and portraying King Lar Gand in ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}''.
* Although he still maintains a steady film career to this day, ''Bram and Alice'', yanked by CBS after a measly four weeks, made it very unlikely for Creator/AlfredMolina to appear on TV again.
* Although they seldom happen, {{One Episode Wonder}}s are not immune to this. This was what ''South of Sunset'' and ''Lawless'' respectively did to Eagles lead singer Glenn Frey and football player Brian Bosworth.

* Although Creator/GeenaDavis was still stinging from ''Film/CutthroatIsland'', ''The Geena Davis Show'' didn't help matters. One telling clue: usually when a show is named after its star, [[TheDanza they keep that name in the show]] - Emeril played himself in ''Emeril'' and Bette played herself in ''Bette'', for example - with Creator/BillCosby being among the more notable exceptions (''The Bill Cosby Show,'' ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', ''The Cosby Mysteries'', ''Cosby'' and, of course, ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'' - in none of those is his character called Bill). Despite being ''The GEENA DAVIS Show'', Geena Davis's character was named "Teddie". Davis' career was then really thrown off the rails when ''Series/CommanderInChief'' failed. It was supposed to be Davis' comeback and initially started strong, including an Emmy win for her, but ratings declined throughout the year before it was ultimately canceled after 18 episodes. Davis has forged a new career focusing on researching women in film and bringing awareness to the plight of sexism within the entertainment industry, which has been met with critical acclaim. She still does acting roles here and there, including voicing the mother in the Studio Ghibli film ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere''.
* Creator/LucilleBall in ''Life with Lucy''; in 1986, after noticing how NBC had [[CareerResurrection resurrected]] the careers of Bill Cosby and Creator/BeaArthur with ''The Cosby Show'' and ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', Creator/{{ABC}} decided to see if they could do the same with Lucille Ball of ''Series/ILoveLucy'' fame. Given her past television successes through the '60s and '70s, even after the end of her most famous show, Ball was given complete creative control over the series and proceeded to bring in actors, writers, and crew members who had worked on her previous works. The resulting series (about a widow who works at a hardware store she had inherited partial ownership of) was painfully unfunny and cringe-inducing to watch. One big reason was that Lucy was trying to duplicate her famous slapstick comedy, which didn't work nearly as well for the then-75-year-old Ball (watching a senior citizen do pratfalls makes you want to check her hip, not laugh). The show flopped on arrival, and its failure made Ball stop working on any more projects, as she died three years later.
* Wanda Sykes's once-strong career as a comedienne and actress fell apart after the failure of her talk show ''The Wanda Sykes Show''. It was said that her openness about her lesbianism and her inability to appeal to Middle America blackballed her from ever heading a major production again. Her post-cancellation work has been mostly in smaller theatrical projects, although she's recently bounced back a bit with a recurring role on ''Series/{{Blackish}}''.
* Creator/AmberHeard had a lot of buzz about her movie career, reaching its height when she beat actresses like Creator/ScarlettJohansson and Creator/KeiraKnightley for the role of Johnny Depp's LoveInterest in ''Film/TheRumDiary'', which flopped at the box office. Then she starred in the dreadful flop TV show ''Series/ThePlayboyClub'', and her buzz was all but killed overnight. Heard's next few films like ''Film/{{Paranoia|2013}}'' and ''Film/ThreeDaysToKill'' were critical and box office letdowns, and paired with her messy divorce from Depp, it seems most likely that her career won't reach new heights after that. However, she has joined the DCEU as Mera in ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}''.
* Creator/JoanRivers's career took a major hit in TheEighties when she agreed to do a talk show for the then-new Fox network after it became clear she wasn't going to be tapped to replace Creator/JohnnyCarson on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson'' despite being its regular guest host by then. Carson refused to speak to her after she did this, and after she was fired from ''The Late Show'' she was blacklisted from Hollywood for years.
* Nikki Cox became an instant sex symbol in her role as the teenage daughter Tiffany Malloy on Creator/TheWB sitcom (one of the earliest shows aired on the network back in early 1995) ''Series/UnhappilyEverAfter''. When ''Unhappily'' ended its run after 100 episodes in 1999, Cox starred in her own sitcom for the WB called ''Nikki'', which lasted for two years. However, sometime after leaving the Creator/{{NBC}} series ''Series/LasVegas'', Cox reemerged (after having had some ill-advised plastic surgery) in a guest appearance on the Creator/{{CBS}} series ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' alongside her real-life husband Jay Mohr. Since that time, Cox's most notable acting role has been voicing Silver Sable on ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''.

* The failure of the 2011 remake of ''Series/CharliesAngels'' seems to have ended Minka Kelly's career as a leading lady, as her career has mostly been quiet since (outside of a small role in ''Film/TheButler'').

* While ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' itself was a significant hit, the derailing came from Creator/ShannenDoherty's high-profile exit after the third season. Having been a respectable TV star in the '80s and '90s, she was notably dismissed from ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' at the end of the fourth season due to tension between her and other cast members. Similar stories surfaced on the ''Charmed'' set, with T. W. King leaving after Season 1 -- rumored to be because Doherty didn't like him (though other sources say he asked for more screentime and was just cut). Doherty herself left the show very publicly after a feud with co-star Alyssa Milano, to the point where she allegedly said "either she goes or I do". The fact that she had been fired from a second hit show after fighting with cast members earned her a reputation as a diva, as did her subsequent refusal to allow ''Charmed'' to use any archive footage or pictures of her -- which meant that [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes it took until 2005]] for the first three seasons to come out on DVD. She turned to RealityTV projects and TV movies, but never with the high profile she once enjoyed.
* Although Creator/MaryTylerMoore's career took a sharp downward turn after her hit series ended, it was not until ''New York News'' that she was finally knocked off. She did not enjoy the tyrannical role that she was given, and despite asking to be written out, the series' cancellation prevailed.
* Creator/JennetteMcCurdy's acting career was derailed by ''Series/SamAndCat'', a {{Crossover}} SpinOff of both ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}''. This show was meant to be a vehicle for Jennette, but she instead found herself in the shadow of her co-star Music/ArianaGrande, who was making waves in the pop industry. Jennette began to publicly butt heads with Nickelodeon over salary disputes, which led to ''Sam & Cat'' being cancelled after only one season. Following the show's cancellation, Ariana's music career took off while Jennette's acting career took an immediate nosedive, with Nick and Ariana being MisBlamed by Jennette further worsening things for her. Viewing her acting career as an embarrassment and revealing that she only got into acting in order to financially support her family, Jennette would quit acting in favor of writing and directing and didn't reprise her role as Sam Puckett in the ''iCarly'' [[Series/ICarly2021 revival]] on Creator/ParamountPlus.

* After concluding her six-year run on ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' in 1996, Karyn Parsons received the lead role alongside Lori Petty on the Creator/{{FOX}} sitcom ''Lush Life''[[note]]Which was pretty much in hindsight, [[TheNineties the late '90s]] version of ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls''[[/note]]. ''Lush Life'' however turned out to be a major flop, with it being canceled after four episodes and three others that were produced but never aired. After that, Parsons would never get such a high-profile role again, unless you count her stint among the ensemble cast of the short-lived Creator/{{ABC}} sitcom ''The Job'' with Creator/DenisLeary.

* When the ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' series ''bombed'' in Latin-America due to subpar dubbing and ExecutiveMeddling, the budding career of Nagisa's VA Romina Marroquín Payró almost took a nosedive. [[CareerResurrection She managed to recover a while later]] when she took up roles like [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Princess Anna]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}} Judy Hopps]], however.