Nikki Snelson no longer attached to The CW's VALENTINE

Poor Nikki. I say we boycott the CW and write strongly-worded letters to her "managers" at "ACL".

It's just not cool the way they did it to her.

How does a producer make it "go away"?

If she had an out written into her contract to let her do the TV, then she would have been able to leave. Isn't that how it's done?

I'm confused.

I saw her comment...I feel bad too.

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Oh man. I feel so bad for her!

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She was being held to her contract - a contract that does NOT have an out! Which is ****ty in and of itself.

The CW offered John Breglio much more money than he would have had to pay her for the rest of her contract, and he said no...

She even offered to come back after the show finished taping and he also said no.

She was going to leave, and John Breglio threatened to sue the CW, and they didnt want the bad press, and took the offer back...

what horse ****, John Breglio is the new David Merrik....

i would also to have watched nikki on tv every week, and now i cant. i am sorry for her and she has alot of talent. so depressed about this news.

by the way leslie kritzer also feels down for nikki.
leslie kritzer facebook status: is sad for nikki and thinks this business is a big bag of bull**** sometimes.

This is ridiculous. Yes, people sign contracts, and yes Breglio is within his legal right to hold her to it. But just because you're legally entitled to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

He has now alienated an actress by stopping an opportunity for no reason other than power. The show would go on just fine, financially he would be in a better place, and he could have always negotiated a deal where Snelson would come back to the show and play out her contracted performances after having gotten national TV exposure, which would seem to me the better business deal all around.

I can't imagine the atmosphere backstage right now - things like this can totally torpedo the morale of the company. The fact that they're doing a show about their hopes and dreams in the industry knowing that they're working for a man who will crush them must not be a nice feeling. He's just alienated an entire company of his show. I see no positive result, other than keeping an actress for a little bit who will no longer want to be there.

So, yes. She can be held to the contract, but I don't see how it serves anyone. Adam Epstein was a big enough guy to let Andrew Call out of "Cry Baby" to do "Glory Days", for example. Things like this happen all the time, and TV series are not things that fall out of the sky. This is potentially a life-changing opportunity that may never come again. They don't always come at the perfect time. Most people in the industry are pleased to see others succeed - it's the petty ones who stand in peoples' way that help make this industry the ugly place it so often is.

I really don't have too much sympathy for Ms. Snelson. She had an obligation, a contract - and that contract didn't allow her to leave early. Did she miss an opportunity? Sure. And so did many other actresses who didn't go after a job they knew they weren't available for. (I have friends that work in casting. They call agents to get actors' availability. What am I missing here?)

Yes, there are things that really suck about the theater biz, but you can say the same about life. As a man once said, "You can't always get what you want."

As sad as this is for her, the one way she could have avoided all of this and the ass raped feeling, is if she simply declined the audition to begin with *knowing* she had no way of getting out to do it.

This reminds me (sort of) when David Merrick wouldn't let Stephen Collins out of his contract when he was touring in 40 Carats (i think) to make Love Story.
It's just mean. Couldn't they get Elizabeth Berkley or one of the other Saved By The Bell girls to step in?

Does nobody read the fine print?

Think of it this way: the tv show probably would have failed anyway. Then she'd be out of 2 jobs.

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 09:41 AM

but isn't threatening The CW to make another role go away a bit much? Like, it would've been nice if ACL let her out. But, if they didn't want to let her out it would've been expected that if she left the tour the ACL folks would then sue her for breaking her contract. But threatening to sue The CW? People get out of contracts all the time- whether by lawsuit, by paying, etc., and involving threating to sue The CW in it just seems to be a bit much.