Best and Worst Replacement Characters

[Mojochi]

Worst:
Warren Ferguson (Jack Burns) for Barney Fife (Don Knotts) on The Andy Griffith Show. Burns is a great comedic talent, but Don Knotts and his three in a row Emmy wins was going to be a tough act to follow.

Speaking of Don Knotts, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about his turn on Three's Company. I can't say it was bad, but I never warmed up to it as well as with the Ropers & I certainly didn't care for whoever that was that replaced Suzanne Somers. There were 2 subs weren't there? They kind of always struck me as the Shemp & Curly Joe equivalents

 

[Trekker4747]

Worst: Coy and Vance Duke. Brought in to replace Bo and Luke when John Schneider and Tom Wopat went on strike due to a dispute with them not getting royalties for "Dukes" merchandise using their likenesses.

So for about half a season they were off the show and replaced with two other Duke cousins, Coy and Vance. Or "ReallyPoorMan's Bo and Luke." They pretty much literally made carbon copies of Bo and Luke but didn't set the fidelity setting right on the machine and ended up with these lumps of skin.

The show runners felt the series was more about the car, The General Lee, and Daisy's legs than it was Bo and Luke so the show could go on fine without them. It didn't, and even though Bo and Luke returned after the issue was settled the show never really recovered.

Coy and Vance had precisely the same look as Bo and Luke, were equivalent ages to their kinsman counterparts and the same personalities. An enormous bungle by the show runners. In-story it was said Bo and Luke had gone of to go on the NASCAR circuit (er.... Boss Hogg let them off their probation... or something) Coy and Vance came in to help Uncle Jessie run the farm. Which mostly involved running from the police and jumping over ravines in a car.

As much as disliked them, I sort-of wish we got a full episode of them working with Bo and Luke in an episode's events. Instead when Bo and Luke return Coy and Vance just say, so-long, and take-off in their lame little car.

A good replacement?

On Cheers, I thought Woody worked well for a replacement for "Coach" when the actor passed away. The in-store explanation being that Woody and Coach were "pen-pals" (in that they had literally met once and traded pens.) He didn't have Coach's charming senility but his yokel back-woods dimness was almost as fun.

 

[Australis]

Surprised no one has yet mentioned:

Kes by Seven of Nine.

I thought this was a good thing. Not onloy was there a more fiery dynamic with Seven and all the other characters, Jeri Ryan is a much better actress than Jennifer Lien (check out Ryan in 'Leverage). Sure, there was the eye-candsy aspect, but realy, she just seemed to lift he show so much to me. Granted, some stories focused too hard on her (the Spock/Data problem), but the show was better with her.

 

[Greg Cox]

How about replacing Darren Stevens with Darren Stevens?

 

[the G-man]

How about replacing Darren Stevens with Darren Stevens?

Dick Sgt.
dick York
Sgt. York

 

[the G-man]

Anyway back on topic. Of more recent shows I would say two of the best replacements were Adam Scott and Rob Lowe for Paul Schneider on Parks and Recreation.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

For all the love that Doctor Who gets for good character replacements, and rightfully so, I think that The Prisoner deserves mention for the constantly changing cast in the role of Number Two.

 

[tomswift2002]

Worst: Due South - David Marciano had great chemistry with Paul Gross as his Chicago detective partner. When CBS pulled the plug, the show continued to be produced for Canada, however David Marciano left the show and was replaced with someone that was rather bland and ordinary and they never had the same chemistry. The show went on for another two seasons before it was cancelled for good. These final two seasons (3 & 4) are never part of the syndication package as they were treated as a new entity, and therefore largely forgotten in the spacetime continuum.

Yeah that was a terrible replacement. But the last two seasons are part of the syndication package, but in a number of areas they are just labelled as Season 3. Even the DVD releases in the US only had 3 seasons while there were 4 in Canada.

As for the Kes-Seven Of Nine replacement, I think dropping Kes was Voyager's "Jumping The Shark" moment. When Seven came aboard it was like the producers tried to make her be part of the ensemble in Season 4, but then decided to shove (except for Janeway and the Doctor) everyone to the "back of the bus" and just make it a three-star show (not to mention but the writing went seriously downhill and it felt like Voyager was coasting on the momentum it had built up during the Kes era).

 

[Mr Light]

<<Anyway back on topic. Of more recent shows I would say two of the best replacements were Adam Scott and Rob Lowe for Paul Schneider on Parks and Recreation. >>

Absolutely. I don't think the show got good until this happened. Mark was a dead weight on the show and I love Chris and Ben.

 

[Australis]

As for the Kes-Seven Of Nine replacement, I think dropping Kes was Voyager's "Jumping The Shark" moment.

Couldn't disagree more, but that's OK.

 

[J.T.B.]

Speaking of Don Knotts, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about his turn on Three's Company. I can't say it was bad, but I never warmed up to it as well as with the Ropers & I certainly didn't care for whoever that was that replaced Suzanne Somers.

I didn't care much for Mr. Furley, either. It seemed to take all the silly quirks of Barney and Knotts' movie roles, exaggerate them to the extreme, have him play it OTT, and that was the character. Not much of a real person there. Knotts was great with what they gave him, though.

There were 2 subs weren't there? They kind of always struck me as the Shemp & Curly Joe equivalents.

Yeah, Cindy was Chrissy's cousin. She wasn't supposed to be as much dumb and ditzy as naive and clumsy, but still IIRC she seemed to do basically Chrissy material. She didn't last too long, then was replaced by Terri who was smart and wasn't as interchangeable as the first two.

One thing that seems to cause a problem is when a new actor is cast in a similar role but they basically don't change the material from the previous character. Richard Hatch was an example on The Streets of San Francisco. He was supposed to be learning the ropes, like Michael Douglas was in the early seasons, but was pretty much plugged into stories for the more experienced Steve Keller and never given a chance to grow into the role and more naturally build a relationship with Karl Malden.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah that was a terrible replacement. But the last two seasons are part of the syndication package, but in a number of areas they are just labelled as Season 3. Even the DVD releases in the US only had 3 seasons while there were 4 in Canada.

That would have only been after the 4th season had ended, though, wouldn't it? Even so, I think some networks choose not to show a full syndication run. I remember watching through the series years ago, I think it was on Showcase, and when season 2 ended, they went right back to season 1, and that's a Canadian network. That might be because people are simply more familiar with Fraser & Vecchio as a team. It's also what made me think that perhaps season 3 is treated as a separate entity, giving syndicators the option to air it, that go along with a new set of licensing. It seems to me they air it very rarely.

 

[Admiral2]

Worst:
Roger (A.K.A. Ted McGinley) Happy Days

Jefferson D'Arcy (A.K.A. Ted McGinley) Married With Children (I know he lasted longer. I don't care)

"Ace" Covington (A.K.A. Ted McGinley) The Love Boat

Seriously, if your series was thinking about bringing in Ted McGinley... you just needed to stop

Bull. Why would I turn down Ted McGinley?

Happy Days with TM lasted four more years.

Love Boat with TM lasted four more years.

Hope and Faith starring TM lasted four years.

Married With Children with TM lasted eight more friggin' years.

Why would I not sign on an actor that would guarantee my show at least four years of run time, and possibly eight?

For my best I'm picking "Any character played by Ted McGinley."

For worst: Ezri "Disney's Star Trek" Dax.

 

[Silvercrest]

Not the worst, but deserve a shout-out:

Replacing Rick with Uncle Jack.
Replacing Bonnie with April.

I don't need to name the shows. You know who I mean.

And not the best, but again:
Replacing April with Bonnie again!

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Anyway back on topic. Of more recent shows I would say two of the best replacements were Adam Scott and Rob Lowe for Paul Schneider on Parks and Recreation.

^Absolutely.

Other good replacements:

Sarah Chalke for the original Becky on Roseanne.

I liked Browder and Black filling out the SG-1 team on Stargate.

Reyes on the X-Files.

Morgan and Peter on the Mindy Project.

Lois for Lana on Smallville.

Wesley for the Irish guy on Angel.

Bill Corbett for original Crow on MST3000.



Bad replacements:

Sandy Duncan on the Hogan Family.

Ezri for Jadzia on DS9.

Doggett on the X-Files.

James Spader on the Office.

 

[Relayer1]

Best: Sheridan in Babylon 5

I'm sorry, but Boxleitner best ?

Then again, in a show cursed by a dreadful cast, I suppose he did fit in...

 

[Random_Spock]

Anyway back on topic. Of more recent shows I would say two of the best replacements were Adam Scott and Rob Lowe for Paul Schneider on Parks and Recreation.

^Absolutely.

Other good replacements:

Sarah Chalke for the original Becky on Roseanne.

I liked Browder and Black filling out the SG-1 team on Stargate.

Reyes on the X-Files.

Morgan and Peter on the Mindy Project.

Lois for Lana on Smallville.

Wesley for the Irish guy on Angel.

Bill Corbett for original Crow on MST3000.



Bad replacements:

Sandy Duncan on the Hogan Family.

Ezri for Jadzia on DS9.

Doggett on the X-Files.

James Spader on the Office.

Disagree on that one. I thought he did as good of a job as he could given the circumstances.

 

[Mojochi]

Bull. Why would I turn down Ted McGinley?

Happy Days with TM lasted four more years.

Love Boat with TM lasted four more years.

Hope and Faith starring TM lasted four years.

Married With Children with TM lasted eight more friggin' years.

Why would I not sign on an actor that would guarantee my show at least four years of run time, and possibly eight?

because there's no correlation between his presence and the production duration of any of those shows. In the case of Happy Days & Love Boat, it's just as likely they lasted those final 4 years on momentum alone

Look, don't take my post the wrong way. I'm not trying to indicate that the awful myth that's been attributed to him, of being a "Sitcom curse" has any validation whatsoever

Personally I don't think that's true. The curse of Happy Days, for example, is that Ron Howard left, not that Ted joined. That stigma that's been dumped on him is unfair. However, he nevertheless was given some of the worst replacement characters in tv history, & that was the principle behind this thread

I might be being too hard on him in regards to Married With Children, which is probably the most success he's ever had on tv. I just never cared for him on it

As for the other two, his characters were the most superficially crap move I've ever seen on tv. "Pay no attention to the lovable character being gone... Pretty boy is smiling"

 

[blueziggy]

replacing Buffy on WB with Buffy on UPN....

.....

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Does it count when the actor is replaced, but the character is supposed to be the same? À la "the other Darrin"? Because I don't dig TPTB casting a diffferent Daario for Game of Thrones. Didn't mind a different Mountain, though, or the fact that they cast Marten Lannister as Tommen Lannister in season 4.