Slightly trickier meme this week. As you know, many shows last several seasons/series. Actors can get bored, get ill, have contract negotiation issues – or sadly they can die. In the case of pilots, they may not work at all well and might need to be gotten rid of.
In these cases, the producers can write them out or recast the character. Sometimes, this can actually be for the best, with the replacement actor turning out to be better than the original.
So meme of the week this week is
What's been your favourite piece of recasting?
There's a lot to choose from. Dynasty and Dallas did a whole lot of recasting – was Emma Samms a better Fallon than Pamela Sue Martin, who was also recast on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? Doctor Who recasts all the time. Bewitched recast the original Darren, and then reused all his scripts. Roseanne replaced Alicia Goranson with Sarah Chalke. The A-Team recast Face in between pilot and series. Ruby keeps dying in Supernatural and being replaced.
I'll open it up as well to US/UK remakes of shows, just in case you preferred Harvey Keitel (or even Colm Meaney) to Philip Glenister in Life on Mars. And I'll let you have movie series as well, just in case you think Robin Curtis was better than Kirstie Alley in Star Trek, for some reason.
As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.
July 1, 2009 | Reply
Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker - Baker's arrival on Who was like a massive blast of fresh air. He was such a contrast to the very straight laced portrayal that Pertwee brought.
July 1, 2009 | Reply
I think Neil Morrisey being recast in Men Behaving Badly was a great choice. I can't imagine it at all anymore with Harry Enfield.
Was unsure about the change from Guy Flanagan to Aidan Turner in Being Human, but having rewatched the pilot I think Aidan Turner ended up with and edgier performance. Was also disappointed that Andrea Riseborough didn't return as Annie, but in the end Lenora Critchlow won me round and I loved her interpretation of the role. But am very glad they kept Russell, as I think he made the show. Oh and also loved Jason Watkins' Herrick, and preferred it to Adrian Lester's. Was also utterly gobsmacked by discovering he was one of the gay wedding planners in Confetti. What a contrast!
And of course I have loved David Tennant taking over from Christopher Ecclestone as the Doctor (-: AM with Aaron on Tom Baker taking over from Jon Pertwee. Before DT he was MY doctor, but my husband and my best friend both a year older then me, disagree and prefer JP.
July 1, 2009 | Reply
Paige replacing Prue on Charmed.
I know I just destroyed any street cred that I may have had by admitting to watching that show... I have mentioned that I watch some bad things, haven't I?
I can't think of any others... Good call on Neil Morrisey, Jane.
Oh- I preferred Hattie Hayridge to Norman Lovett on Red Dwarf and everyone prefers Robert Llewellyn to David Ross as Kryten, right? But I didn't like the recasting of Kochanski. C P Grogan was better than Chloe Annett in my opinion.
July 1, 2009 | Reply
I'm not a fan of recasting; it takes me out of the show if a new actor shows up in a role previously played by somebody else. That's why I never saw any of the other Jack Ryan movies. I have no doubt Harrison Ford was probably better. But I liked "Hunt For Red October" and for me, Alec Baldwin is Jack Ryan.
There better be a damned good reason for recasting, or rather, a damned good explanation as to what happened within the show. Because I'm not buying everybody else in the cast hasn't noticed the change.
Darrin Stephens and Gladys Kravitz of 'Bewitched', and Tony Nelson of 'I Dream Of Jeannie' (from Larry Hagman to Wayne Rogers in the sequel tv movie) - all of them can be explained away with Sam's magic. Toby in 'Strange'? From Adam of 'Torchwood' replaced by the original Toby (a twin cousin to Connor of 'Primeval', perhaps?)
I much prefer just scrapping the character entirely and going in a new direction. Best examples - from Frank Burns to Charles Winchester and from Henry Blake to Sherman Potter, both in 'M*A*S*H'. From Coach Pantussi to Woody Boyd on 'Cheers'.
'Night Court' replaced Selma Diamond's bailiff with a new one played by Florence Halop, but it was basically the same role. Still, I was okay with that. When they brought in the black woman after Ms. Halop died, they finally took a gamble.
So my all-time favorite "recastaway", keeping the same role but with a new actor? George Schumway, father of 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'. He was played by the "schlump" Phil Bruns, but when George fell into a vat of chemicals, plastic surgery transformed him into Tab Hunter. (And eventually back again.) It was so outrageous, I had to tip my cap to them.
July 1, 2009 | Reply
Just thought of another show that recast constantly: Jeeves and Wooster. It's part of the kitsch appeal.
July 2, 2009 | Reply
Ah yes, Bob, and of course there are hundreds of Miss Marples/Poirots. Not sure which Miss M I favour, but I think David Suchet has eradicated Peter Ustinov, who was Poirot in my youth. And then you've got Sherlock Homes, Jeremy Brett v Basil Rathbone anyone? Hmm. Can't choose there. And what about Bond? My current favourite is Daniel Craig, who has beaten Sean Connery by a very very small margin.
It would have to be two brave men who took on Morse and Lewis though, wouldn't it? And yet if you read the books, they are nothing like the way Colin Dexter describes them.
July 2, 2009 | Reply
Don't know about favourite (Troughton to the mighty Pertwee perhaps?), but least favourite is the double whammy of swapping Dervla Kirwan and Michelle Holmes for Liz Carling and Emma Amos in 'Goodnight Sweetheart'.
July 2, 2009 | Reply
We have all eight seasons of Charmed on DVD. Worry ye not
July 2, 2009 | Reply
The recasting of Kryten. Spin my nipple nuts if that wasn't the best ever.. apart from the recasting of Broynwin (sp?) from Neighbors but that is another story.
July 3, 2009 | Reply
Zach Quinto as Spock has to be a recent recasting triumph - he nailed the character completely. The rest of the cast were also good (special tip of the hat to Karl Urban) but you had to look at them as characters you were seeing for the first time, whereas Spock was just... Spock.
No question of the best Sherlock Holmes. It's Jeremy Brett. It just is.
Jane's quite right about the Being Human recasting, especially Mitchell and Herrick.
Also, never mind the Doctor recastings, Romana I (Mary Tamm) to Romana II (Lalla Ward) was fab. Although the best bit of Doctor recasting was the first one, because it helped define the programme, and Patrick Troughton is still the best actor to play the Doctor (although DT and Eccles are very close behind).