TV show re-casting that didn't work

And then when Lecy Goranson returned to the role in season 7 or 8, when she walked into the room Roseanne bellowed "And where the hell have you been?"

 

Most people won't know what I'm talking about, but Travis on Blake's 7. Different actors in series 1 and 2.

Good that they killed him off at the end of series 2. The storyline of the man who could never capture the titular heroes overstayed its welcome.

 

How so? I thought she was terribly miscast. I kept hoping the real Miss Ellie was going to re-emerge from a dream, but alas..

 

I guess you'd have to say this re-casting didn't work, since they ultimately brought back the original actor. Philip Bruns, Mary's father on 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,' was written out of the series for lengthy stretches on a couple occasions (Health issues? Other commitments?). On this occasion, his character fell into a vat of Rustoleum or something, and when the bandages eventually came off, Mary's reconstructed Dad was played by Tab Hunter for a while.

 

Sounds like they aren't going to replace him with another actor playing the character.

 

True but they played different characters but were for all intents and purposes the same characters

 

Which was ironic because he was up for the role along Duel.he eventually left acting and went into real estate.

 

Yes, she was like a completely different character. Goranson's Becky was tough and assertive, Chalke's was passive and wimpy. A lot of that was down to the writing, but it seems like to some degree Chalke played the character so differently they started writing her differently.

 

But Barbara Bel Geddes did return after that one season (which was unfortunately not the same season that turned out to be a dream — in fact that was the season where she returned).

 

Quoting myself from another thread:

When Sarah Chalke played the part, she was like a placeholder -- she supplied the physical presence of a blonde girl who was called Becky in the scenes, but they gave her almost no dialogue and nothing interesting to do (even though her husband was playing a fairly substantial role in the show). I suspect they realized she wasn't clicking after the first few episodes and just decided to minimize the problem. When Goranson returned to the role, Becky had a personality again, and then when Chalke played her she returned to being a blank. Chalke turned out to be a capable comic actress in Scrubs and other roles but on Roseanne she was a big nothing.

 

Tara King ( Linda Thorson ) replacing Emma Peel ( Diana Rigg ) on The Avengers.

 

Doggett & Reyes

 

She was quickly fired when Barbara Bel Geddes changed her mind and wanted to return to the series because she was jealous of Donna. I agree that Donna was not quite right for the role but she had a three year contract and certainly didn't deserve that disrespect.

 

What's your source for that claim? Bel Geddes initially retired due to cardiac issues, and I suspect once she'd recovered she simply started to feel like she was able to work again. The sense I get is that everyone felt the recast was not working and viewer reaction was negative. I've also seen it suggested that CBS pressured Lorimar to bring Bel Geddes back. Reed was paid her full salary for the three years she was contracted and (after a lawsuit) also awarded an additional million in damages.

 

The Miss Ellie recast happened eight seasons into Dallas! No matter how Donna Reed was, that’s way too late to do something like that. I think recasts really only have a chance of working early on, and only with minor characters.

 

I guess there could be a debate with Dr. Who since regeneration was established to keep the show going. To me, the only way a new Doctor wouldn't work is if they purposely tried to make him the same as another Doctor (although they did do this with The Tenth Doctor [The Eleventh Doctor said he regenerated but kept the same face]).

The only actual recasting (as in someone playing a role established by another) in the series is with The First Doctor. In The Five Doctors Richard Hurndall took over the role (since the original actor, William Hartnell, passed away). I'm not too familiar with The First Doctor but from that I know he seemed to play the role well.

 

That Karlen recasting made the show.

 

In soaps anything goes.

 

If we exclude recasting done between a pilot and the first “real” episode, I’m hard pressed to think of any recast that did work, in terms of the new actor being better than the original. What would be an example of a recast you think worked well?

 

Like someone already posted, Jerry and George's fathers on Seinfeld. I could not imagine any other actors in those roles, they were gold, Jerry, gold!

 

I am quite familiar with the First Doctor, so I can say that Hurndall didn't approach Hartnell's portrayal at all, in quality or similarity, and that's being kind.

 

That's not the only recasting in Doctor Who as the last minute of the last episode proved, along with the upcoming Christmas special.

And there was that really horrible recasting of K9's voice.

Jamie was recast too for one episode of The Mind Robber, but the story explained it in such a way that it was actually satisfying.

 

How about when David Lee Roth left Vanhalen and they got Bet Midler for a few seasons?

 

And she had been recast after Annette Funicello didn’t work out.

/ALTV

 

Exacerbated by the fact that the first Chris (Jeremy Gelbwaks) had brown hair, while the second Chris (Brian Forster) was blonde.



As to which one was better, that's been a major bone of contention amongst Partridge Family fans going on fifty years now.