Victoria deserved every dollar that Patrick got, if not more. But the producers didn’t value women. And they weren’t alone. Look at Three’s Company, which initially made over a half billion dollars in syndication. Suzanne Somers had the nerve to ask for a piece of that. And the producers, by many accounts, enjoyed belittling her and punishing her by writing her part down to almost nothing before firing her. And the press went along with it, depicting her as the villain. Somers was not innocent and made a lot of missteps while negotiating. But the misogyny was clear to me: how dare this woman ask to share in the profits of a show where she was a significant player?
Somers lied left and right, which is why DeWitt and Ritter didn't speak to her for decades.
Among other things, she requested a six figure salary after only three years on THREE'S COMPANY (unheard of at the time for such a brief tenure -- except for Larry Hagman that same year, but that was during 'Who Shot J.R.?', a global phenomenon).
To make it sound like an act of feminism, Somers would gush (for years after) that "I just wanted what the boys were getting!." intentionally misleading fans and the press to think she was just after financial parity with John Ritter. When what she really meant was parity with Carrol O'Connor and Alan Alda who were getting six figures for their iconic sitcoms which had been on for nearly a decade.
As Somers' reputation was damaged, she eventually wrote her memoir detailing the alcoholic family she grew up in, made the talk show circuit, and started fessing up to some of her sins and disingenuous posturing.
Once that was successful in rehabilitating her image, she began drifting back to her original lies to try them out on a new generation to see if they'd stick this time around.
So it's not always about misogyny. Lots of men have been screwed-over to in Hollywood.
Don't feel sorry for Somers. She's a creep. Duffy was married to her, too, on TV, strangely enough.
