Valerie Harper was hired to play the role of a family matriarch on the NBC sitcom Valeria, and was fired two seasons later.
On this day, September 16th, in 1988 Valerie Harper pockets $1.4 million dollars after winning her lawsuit against Lorimar Television. The lawsuit could have been prevented if Lorimar agreed to Harper’s request for a salary increase after the show was doing substantially well. The request was rejected and in protest, Harper refrained from going into work. Immediately, Harper’s character was killed in a car crash and another actress was hired to play the role of the “sister-in-law.” Harper took Lorimar directly to court for breaching her contract, and not only did she win a lump sum of money, but also received 12.5 percent of the show’s profits.
Valerie continued to air on NBC, but was renamed The Hogan Family, until its expulsion in 1990.