Murphy, the "foamated" comedy's star and executive producer, walked out on the series, upset that the network had relegated The PJs to midseason-replacement status. (This, despite Fox ordering up a full season's worth of time-consuming-to-produce PJs installments--22 of 'em.)
But after sitting out a couple of episodes, Murphy reportedly decided to return to work as the voice of building superintendent Thurgood Stubbs.
According to the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources at the show's producer, Imagine TV, executives at both Imagine and Fox made unspecified concessions to convince the comedic star to return.
Both the producers and the network wanted to soothe Murphy because of his star power--but not so much because he was irreplaceable.
See, Phil Morris, the actor who played Jackie Chiles (best known for representing Cosmo Kramer in numerous pesky civil cases on Seinfeld), had been doing a seamless job of filling in for the Bowfinger star as a voice actor.
Needing to keep pace with its hectic production schedule, Imagine turned to Morris--whose performance in Murphy's place, according to a Post source, has been so dead-on it's "unbelievable."
Whether it was the thought of someone taking his job that convinced Murphy to return, no one will say. So far, representatives for Fox, Imagine and Murphy haven't officially commented.