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Friday OT - Casting Changes

CycloneRulzzz

CycloneRulzzz

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Rulzzz here filling in for @Angie for the Friday OT. The topic for today is shows that went through a major change in the cast and your feelings regarding those changes.


A few weeks ago I got reacquainted the show Three's Company. That show went through 2 major changes. 1 being the change from Suzanne Somers (Chrissy) to Jenilee Harrison (Cindy) / Priscilla Barnes (Terri) and 2. Going from the Ropers as the landlord to Mr. Furley.

I still think the other girls brought good things to the show but in getting reacquainted with the show I can see that Suzanne brought something the other didn't.

The landlord change isn't even a debate. Furley was much better than the Ropers.
 
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The Fresh Prince change of Aunt Vivian was always fairly controversial. Can't say that I ever cared either way.

Dumbledore changed during Harry Potter due to the death of the actor. Probably did better as I couldn't see the original actor doing well in the later movies where there was more action.
 
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The Office went downhill hard after Carrell left, but it was trending down before he left anyway. I refused to watch later seasons of that show for years. Basically, once the "Sabre" storyline started, I would just go back to S1E1 and start over.

However, I have come to appreciate some of the later seasons as the years have gone by. I actually love the Robert California character and really enjoy those episodes.
 
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mj4cy said:
Not really a show, but was tough when Crispin Glover didn't return for Back to the Future Part II and III. He was our density!
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Best cast change with the BTTF series was switching from Eric Stoltz to Michael J. Fox. They had already filmed a huge chunk of BTTF 1 when they decided to make the switch and had to do a ton of work to re-shoot many of those scenes.

Hard to imagine BTTF having the same success without that move.
 
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throwittoblythe said:
The Office went downhill hard after Carrell left, but it was trending down before he left anyway. I refused to watch later seasons of that show for years. Basically, once the "Sabre" storyline started, I would just go back to S1E1 and start over.

However, I have come to appreciate some of the later seasons as the years have gone by. I actually love the Robert California character and really enjoy those episodes.
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This, exactly. I watch a ton of it on Comedy Central just to have something on and you can see how forced it got right around season 3.

Robert California was maybe the most interesting character while he was on there.

I thought the series finale was really good though.
 
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throwittoblythe said:
The Office went downhill hard after Carrell left, but it was trending down before he left anyway. I refused to watch later seasons of that show for years. Basically, once the "Sabre" storyline started, I would just go back to S1E1 and start over.

However, I have come to appreciate some of the later seasons as the years have gone by. I actually love the Robert California character and really enjoy those episodes.
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Most people I talk to, and myself included, feel like it’s just not worth watching after the seventh season. Michael Scott was so integral and it just felt like they forced too many new characters (and frankly a lot of them were straight up annoying/didn’t work with the center of the show) and storyline twists.

Andy Bernard becoming a complete tool, Jim and Pam contemplating an affair with a boom man and marriage struggles? Deangelo, Gabe, Nellie, and Robert California. All of the above just didn’t fit.
 
cycloner29 said:
The Coy and Vance cousins on the Dukes of Hazzard was really bad along with Enos going elsewhere and getting a new deputy. But Daisy could sure wear those shorts!!:oops:
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Totally agree with this!

I didn't realize it until now that Sonny Shroyer, who plays Enos, also played Bear Bryant in Forrest Gump.
 
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ISUAlum2002 said:
Best cast change with the BTTF series was switching from Eric Stoltz to Michael J. Fox. They had already filmed a huge chunk of BTTF 1 when they decided to make the switch and had to do a ton of work to re-shoot many of those scenes.

Hard to imagine BTTF having the same success without that move.
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Agree. Funny thing is that Stoltz is still in one scene. When it's the shot of Biff getting punched in the diner, it's actually Stoltz' fist.
 
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JHUNSY said:
Most people I talk to, and myself included, feel like it’s just not worth watching after the seventh season. Michael Scott was so integral and it just felt like they forced too many new characters (and frankly a lot of them were straight up annoying/didn’t work with the center of the show) and storyline twists.

Andy Bernard becoming a complete tool, Jim and Pam contemplating an affair with a boom man and marriage struggles? Deangelo, Gabe, Nellie, and Robert California. All of the above just didn’t fit.
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Agreed. I like Spader's portrayal of Robert California a lot, in a vacuum. It didn't fit in the show super well, but his performance is so great. He walks the line of insanity and brilliance. His speech about sales and sex kills me every time.

The real magic of the show was you had different storylines to keep a broad audience interested. Some tuned in to see Michael Scott's absurdity/comedy, while many tuned in to see the Jim/Pam love story. That was a big differentiator from the british version. I think the writer's struggled to keep that Jim/Pam magic alive once they got together and married. They just tried to re-hash the same concept with Dwight/Angela and Andy/Erin and then the Jim/Pam drama in later seasons. It was too forced.
 
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First thing that jumped to mind for me was when Miss Ellie on Dallas, who had been played by Barbara Bel Geddes for several seasons, was replaced by Donna Reed for a season. I believe the reason was that Geddes had bypass surgery. While Reed was certainly a capable actor, she just wasn't a good fit for the role. They might have been better off writing her character out of the show entirely for a year. Geddes did return to the role the next season.
 
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