“I really don’t know who that fellow is. He’s a guy who stars in that series,” Braeden told EW, laughing. “It’s very unfortunate. First of all, I came back from hip surgery. I was off for three weeks. I’ve doubled my work, 30 to 50 pages a day for me, alone. Everyone knows that I’m exhausted. I was not about appear on a show for two lines, because that’s what it amounted to.”
The reason for his so-called bailing? Braeden said he only learned about the size of his part the day before the taping, which he considered unreasonable. (He believes he should have been given the scripts weeks in advance).
Braeden originally agreed to take the gig because he enjoyed his first appearance on the CBS comedy in November 2008. “I truly enjoyed working there last time,” Braeden said. “The cast and crew and producers couldn’t have been nicer.”
As for Harris, “His choice of words bothered me,” Braeden added. “It seems to me like a young whippersnapper, having seen himself on a few covers, who’s received a few awards, is now suddenly suffering from the first signs of hubris. I’ve been in the business for 50 years. I’ve seen people come and go and I’m still here.”
Braeden ultimately laughed of the whole situation. “If he is a worthy adversary, he’d better not cross my path. I will let bygones be bygones.”
