Edited sentence: He was also aware Rettig wanted to leave the show and Clayton wished to return to musical theater.Her film and theater friends told her she was wasting her time.Hugh Reilly and June Lockhart were hired as Paul and Ruth Martin and debuted in the first episode of the fifth season (1958).I can’t say I miss the dog.In 1957, during his first year at the helm, Lassie owner Jack Wrather was forced to make quick decisions about the show's future when George Cleveland died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 15, 1957.In February 1958, with the fourth season’s filming concluded and the show's ratings plummeting, Wrather summarily fired Leachman and Shepodd.In addition, Leachman and Shepodd colored their characterizations as husband and wife with an on-screen intimacy that was forward thinking for the day, but considered inappropriate in a children's program.It was decided to write Cleveland's death into the episode, "Transition" (December 1957), as the motivation for Ellen and Jeff selling the farm to young husband and wife, Paul and Ruth Martin and moving to the city.Leachman and Chandler, however, did not like each other and engaged in on-set feuding that attracted the press.Leachman, however, was accustomed to playing leads and wasn't content cast as a supporting player to a boy and a dog, nor appearing in episode after episode as a tired and disheveled farm woman.Ratings dropped.She refused to sign a contract and declined doing publicity for the show or the show’s sponsor, telling Campbell’s she didn’t eat their soup but made her own.The Miller years of the show were sold into world-wide syndication as Jeff's Collie while decades would pass before the Leachman episodes would see reruns in the United States.Wanting to protect his $3,000,000 investment, Wrather hired veteran character actor George Chandler to fill the grandfatherly role once occupied by Cleveland in an attempt to recreate the warmth and wholesomeness of the Miller years.We were never that close.With Rettig and Clayton dropped from the cast, Broadway and television actress Cloris Leachman was quickly hired to play Ruth Martin with Hollywood newcomer Jon Shepodd portraying her husband Paul Martin.Years after her Lassie experience, Leachman told The Saturday Evening Post, "They had to find reasons for us to be morons so the dog could outsmart us