In fact, she was free to do basically anything she wanted when it came to how a majority of things went, such as the script and actors.
She’d made it perfectly clear to him that she would rather die than do a sitcom, and at this point, she was probably starting to feel less bad about him suddenly dying, and more so about how he’d completely betrayed her before he did.
Fortunately, she took her power back when she and her own lawyer made changes to the contract that ensured her ultimate success. They also tried to make it as painless as possible on the actress.
Although Martin Melcher had signed Day up for the show without her knowledge and consent, he was still given the credit of “executive producer” for season one. But after the first season, Day gained a bit more control over what went on.
It was in those years that everyone wanted to see more daring and dangerous female characters, and were starting to get tired of seeing the same old type of “man marries woman, has child and works until he dies, rinse and repeat” type of deal.