According to an Ilya Salkind interview, he was fired because he wanted more money after the series took off in the ratings.
This contradicts what was said on the Superman Documentary that the series' got good ratings only after Haymes was replaced.
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Wrong. I worked on the show. It was what the first guy said. He wanted more money, and the critics were unkind. The speeding ticket excuse is lame. Why would the star of a successful show be let go because he got a few speeding tickets. He did get them, but that's not why he was replaced. I was there.
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When he was replaced, a lot of people asked why. The speeding ticket problem was in the newspapers prior to this announcement and was information available to the public. Because the details of contract negotiations are not usually public, people just assumed that it was because he liked to drive fast.
There are many stars of TV shows that do a lot worse then getting a few speeding tickets and they keep their jobs. He bought a new red corvette and was having fun. He didn't get into accidents, and didn't hurt anybody. People that actually think that this is the reason they let go of their lead actor in a show aren't very smart. If that's all the trouble he caused...driving fast...they would have kept him around.
Tell me, when did speeding become a major crime? And when did it become so embarrassing that employers would fire somebody over it...let alone a star of a successful TV show? Think people.
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Even though I wasn't a part of the decision to replace John and didn't hear the discussions first hand...the general impression around the Production Office was that John was getting very cocky. He had kind of an attitude. It wasn't horrible. I've seen a lot worse. But the attitude he had was that he was a star of a very successful show. It was successful, but it was a syndicated show and he didn't have the clout to have an attitude like he had. Some of his cocky attitude was showcased with his speeding (on and off the backlot of Disney MGM Studios - where it was filmed during his episodes). Then the reviews were not very kind at all to the show for the first season. The writing was pretty bad, the directing was so so, and John also got a lot "wooden performance" comments in the reviews.
So when second season came around, they had to make some changes. One change was to bring in young fresh directors right out of school, they started listening to the DC comic book people a little more (Mike Carlin & Andy Helfer wrote one of the better episodes that first season). Then when John started asking for more money...my assumption was...well, he isn't getting a lot of great reviews about his acting, and he's kind of cocky and that could lead to more trouble...let's go ahead and start fresh and get a new Superboy along with the other changes we are going to make. They even changed the official title of the show to "The Adventures of Superboy" instead of just "Superboy". Season 2 started with new directors, a whole new cast except except for Lana, the new title, and they moved the whole operation to a new studio (Disney MGM to Universal in Orlando)
They wanted to start fresh, and as you might have read in reviews of the show overall, it really started to get good after the second season.
None of these changes were made because of a speeding ticket or two.
BTW, Julie McCullough was very sweet. I still have my picture with her.
Thank you Mr. Sitcom for helping set the record straight. Some people can't handle the truth. I saw Iyla Salkind say at a speaking engagement that Newton was fired because the show became a success as Season 1 went along and he wanted more money. But, people would rather think that he was fired due to poor ratings, so Gerard Christopher was brought in. If Season 1's ratings were so bad as to require the firing of the lead, then the show would have simply been cancelled.
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From what I heard about Gerard Christopher, I can understand him starting the propaganda that he made Superboy what it was. Everything he's do since (including selling pirated DVD's of the show) has been self-serving to a fault and I think his carreer suffered for it. Maybe he fell to the Superman curse.
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