How did Denise Cosby help or hurt her career by leaving TNG??

[Keith1701]

Question: Did Denise Crosby, help or hurt her career by leaving STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION after the first season?

I have been rewatching Star Trek TNG on DVD starting with Season 1, and on the last disc it had some information about how Denise got the part of Tar Yar and her decision to leave the series after she didn't think that her role was big enough.

 

[Sindatur]

Question: Did Denise Crosby, help or hurt her career by leaving STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION after the first season?

I have been rewatching Star Trek TNG on DVD starting with Season 1, and on the last disc it had some information about how Denise got the part of Tar Yar and her decision to leave the series after she didn't think that her role was big enough.

Not sure what Tar Yar is, but, leaving TNG didn't make her career boom, so, it certainly doesn't appear to have helped, though, no one seems to have become a Big Movie Star after Trek, so, I don't think you can really make a case that it necessarily hurt her career either (Though I imagine 6 more years of Paychecks or experience on a weekly show, wouldn't have hurt her acting talent or finances)

 

[Alrik]

^
[cough] Patrick Stewart [/cough]

 

[Mojochi]

Let's examine, shall we?

How leaving TNG hurt her career

She was no longer on TNG, which she may have had second thoughts about, given that it became successful after she left, & she spent 5 of the next 6 years trying to worm her way back on the show

She pissed away a steadily paying, high profile gig, because she thought she had better options, which frankly she didn't because she's not that good of an actress, & the show was better without her

Much like Wil Wheaton & Levar Burton can attest to, (Who were the most recognizable actors to be cast at that time) having been on a show like TNG carries with it a stigma that ties you to that character throughout the rest of your career, in some cases making it exceedingly difficult to find good work. Even having only been on the show for part of the first season, & random guest appearances afterward, she has still managed to be trapped up by that stigma, so much so that her imdb profile picture is a photo of.... you guessed it.... Tasha Tapdancing Yar, whereas everyone else has a current photo. Kind of makes you wonder if she wants it that way (Probably unrelated)


How leaving TNG helped her career

She can still work the conventions despite the fact she left

She was able to clear her schedule to make room for her cinematic breakout role in Pet Sematary, which paved the way for her other big screen performances, such as "That Mom" in Deep Impact, or "Uncredited Public Defender" in Jackie Brown

Otherwise, she spent the next two decades fumbling about in whatever tv show she could manage to get cast on, my favorite of which being "That Evil Nurse" On Dexter

Truth be known, she's really no better or worse off for having been on the show or left it. It's likely her career wasn't going to do any better than it did anyhow. However, if she had really intended to make a go at being in major motion pictures, then her mistake wasn't leaving TNG, but rather signing up in the 1st place, which was a concern that Patrick Stewart even considered, at the very beginning, & that guy is a brilliant actor, a far cry from being the actress who's biggest claim to fame prior to TNG was being "Sleazy Girlfriend or... Prostitute?" (I can't remember) in 48 Hours

 

[SchwEnt]

From what I've read of her own recent comments, it's not that staying on TNG was hurting her career by inhibiting other projects. She just didn't like what she was getting for her role in the series, so she wanted out. Not that there was something better, not that she wanted to do other things--her problem seemed to be with the Yar role as it was being written per Season One. She didn't like it, so good for her for walking out. Whatever floats her boat.

 

[M-Red]

& she spent 5 of the next 6 years trying to worm her way back on the show

This.

And they let her (!) return periodically in some of the most important moments, just in time to torpedo some of the most potentially great episodes by creating asinine new ways for her to appear just so she could be thrown a bone.

It worked just fine in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "AGT," but RDM and others have since commented what a mistake the character of Sela ended up being, and they regretted creating it. It blows my mind they allowed that character to appear in both "Unification" and "Redemption." It's not even so much Denise, it's that character.

She did indeed realize she made a mistake by leaving (and by the way she left....), but I wish it could have been handled differently.

because she's not that good of an actress, & the show was better without her

Agreed. In retrospect, actually one of my most important episodes of Season 1 is "Skin of Evil."

I know that's not popular, but I think it added a much needed dose of realism to TNG early on, and it ended up benefiting the series. Also, her holodeck memorial is a criminally underrated scene, and it's perhaps her best work on the show.

Most importantly, TNG did improve after the cast was trimmed and reorganized.


It was also rumored that she lobbied to appear in the Romulan plot-line in Nemesis too, but they politely declined.

She does have her fans though. She helped the Trekkies documentary (and maybe the next one too?) and there's a certain segment that really likes her. I'm glad for her for that, but they finally cut her off at some point because Shinzon and B4 were already quite enough in the bizarro-unbelievable-clone department.

 

[Lt. LaForge]

It would be nice if you edited the title so that her name can read as Crosby as opposed to Cosby. I realise it was a typo.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I can understand why she left, her character was under-developed and some of the early work was a little hammy at moments (her just say no to drugs speech to Wesley), but then again the series was still untried and untested. She should have stuck in for at least another year, and if she still felt the same then left.

I do sometimes have to wonder if Ms Crosby kicks herself every so often after seeing how big TNG became. Granted it hasn't made movie stars out of the cast, but hey it was seven years of steady work and pay cheques.

Its just a shame that she liked her little scene with Worf at the beginning of Skin Of Evil, and if more like that had been written she would have stayed. But then again I kinda liked Yar.

 

[bbailey861]

^This is how I feel also. I don't believe that one season was enough to get a feel of where they were going. Had she stuck it out, once the characters developed, she may have found herself enjoying the role. I think in retrospect that even she thinks that it was too soon to make a properly informed decision, but what the hell.

 

[FordSVT]

It would be nice if you edited the title so that her name can read as Crosby as opposed to Cosby. I realise it was a typo.

What you talkin' bout? Denise Cosby will always be.... Tar Yar.

 

[Mojochi]

excellent post...

I recall her in 48 hours ....she was useless with that baseball bat

Thanks. Yeah, makes you wonder how she got cast as a tough highly battle trained security officer "I can kind of wave a bat around..."

 

[Sindatur]

^
[cough] Patrick Stewart [/cough]

He wasn't already at the same level of "Movie Star" when he left TNG as he is now?

 

[Keith1701]

Another question then: Was Star Trek The Next Generation Season Two and beyond better without Denise Crosby?

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Yes.

 

[Mojochi]

Another question then: Was Star Trek The Next Generation Season Two and beyond better without Denise Crosby?

All of TNG was better for her not being in it, including the episodes in season 1 that she's only in minimally. The scenes with her & Castillo flirting in Yesterday's Enterprise ruin the whole episode for me, which is otherwise extremely cool

Every time I see her blubbering in Hide & Q about being in the penalty box, I cringe. I physically cringe, as if someone were scraping fingernails on a chalkboard, & when Stewart delivers his following line about people in the penalty box being allow to cry on the bridge, I can just see in his eyes (as brilliantly as he tries to hide it) that he is praying that the show's writing will improve, & wondering how he got mixed up with a bunch or soap opera rejects

 

[Newton]

I think it certainly didn't help. Without looking it up, I don't know what she's been in since she left. I certainly haven't seen her in anything.

If she stayed she would have picked up a nice pay-check for seven years, then probably some even nicer pay-checks for the TNG movies. After this, she could have gone on the convention circuit. In my humble opinion it was not a good choice to leave.

 

[Worf'sParmach]

Another question then: Was Star Trek The Next Generation Season Two and beyond better without Denise Crosby?

IMO, yes. Crosby leaving allowed for Worf's character to go from being a back of the bridge nobody to being a prominent senior staff member. And that opened up some of TNG's best storylines. There wouldn't have been room for things like "Sins of the Father" or "Redemption" had Yar still been there.

Michael Dorn should send Denise Crosby a Thank You card every year

 

[Takeru]

If she had stayed they probably would have made Worf chief engineer and I think that would have beenb much more interesting than his security job.

 

[Mojochi]

If she had stayed they probably would have made Worf chief engineer and I think that would have beenb much more interesting than his security job.

Actually I think it more likely that he'd have ended up at the helm. I think they were wanting Geordi elsewhere even before they moved him there. His featuring at the helm & in command roles didn't seem to stick much

 

[BruntFCA]

I remember for years as a kid being a fan of TNG through reruns but somehow missing the early episodes so the first time seeing some of the first episodes was really strange and I remember wondering who the hell that woman was.