- yesterday
Sometimes a casting change just can't be overcome. We're looking at those jarring actor swaps and character replacements that upset the chemistry and tone of beloved series. From sitcoms to superhero shows, these recastings left fans longing for what once was. Did one of your favorites make the list? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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00:00Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times when actors left
00:13shows and the new actor or entirely new character created in their place just didn't measure up.
00:30Number 10, Colleen Cooper, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
00:34You're a real doctor.
00:36That's right.
00:37You went to college and everything?
00:39And everything.
00:40Set in the Wild West era, British actress Jane Seymour stars as a pioneering doctor who is suddenly thrust into the role of a mother to three orphans.
00:48Her dynamic with the Cooper children is an integral part of the show.
00:52When Dr. Quinn started, Erika Flores originated the role of Colleen Cooper, a teenage girl to whom Dr. Quinn acts as a mother.
01:00I don't know. I just can't know for so long.
01:05Flores left the show midway through the season. Rather than write the character off, the creators decided to recast.
01:11Jessica Bowman was brought on to play Colleen in her place.
01:14Unfortunately, Bowman's characterization wasn't as strong or spunky.
01:17The character went from being interesting and suited to the Western surroundings to being a bit more proper and stuck up.
01:24I got proof. Sully's been the best part we ever had.
01:27Sit down, miss. You're out of order.
01:29But I want to talk.
01:30Number 9. Mandy Baxter. Last Man Standing.
01:33Dad, Terrence is a freshman at DU and he's very well read.
01:37Oh, and he also plays the piano, but not in that Coldplay way that you hate.
01:42Tim Allen's spiritual sequel sitcom, Two Home Improvement, was marred by a network change mid-run and the exits of two of his three on-screen kids.
01:51While one of these took place early enough into the series that it didn't spoil as much, the switch from original cast member, Molly Ephraim, to Molly McCook was hard for fans to swallow.
02:00Come on, come on. This is really weird, but I got lost upstairs.
02:04McCook is a good performer, but her Mandy was just not the same character. Fans were already fatigued by the show's many changes. Having a completely different vibe to a beloved character was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
02:17You guys are so sweet.
02:20Number 8. Kate Kane. Batwoman.
02:23I needed to catch Gotham's most dangerous thief.
02:25Batcave to Batwoman.
02:27How long have you waited to say that?
02:29Honestly, it just came to me two seconds ago.
02:30What do you want?
02:31Original star Ruby Rose's time on the DC series was not the easiest. Her casting was controversial from the start.
02:37But once she made her debut as Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, she won some fans over.
02:43If I'm going to embrace the bat, then I'm going to have to embrace hiding a part of myself from the outside world.
02:49And then between the first and second seasons, she suddenly departed the series entirely.
02:53The reasons for Rose's departure has been a source of contention ever since.
02:57Batwoman's creators didn't just recast her, they moved Kane out of the lead character spot.
03:02Javicia Leslie would join the show as Ryan Wilder, a new Batwoman.
03:07And Wallace Day would play Katie on a recurring basis.
03:11This robbed the show of much of the tension and character dynamics it had built over its first year.
03:16I'm locked in a room.
03:17What room?
03:19A basement. A cell.
03:24I can smell from out of height.
03:26Number 7. Alexis Carrington and Crystal Carrington.
03:29Dynasty.
03:29Well, not the same place, because I'm heading in for my first day as COO of Carrington Atlantic, and you're...
03:36Do you even have an office yet?
03:38The CW reboot had the potential to bring 80s-tastic catfights and backstabbing billionaires into the 21st century.
03:45However, a series of rotating cast exits dogged it from its second season.
03:50First, it lost one of its main protagonists in Natalie Kelly as Crystal Carrington.
03:54The character would be played by two more actresses before its fifth and final season.
03:59Star Elizabeth Gillies was, at one time, doing double duty as two characters.
04:04When Alexis Carrington actress Nicolette Sheridan left halfway through the second season,
04:09Gillies was pulling double duty playing her original role and her on-screen mother.
04:13You are the one on the right, in case you're confused.
04:16And if you think a pair of sunglasses and a dark lip will be enough for me to let this go,
04:19then your face isn't the problem, mother.
04:21Your brain is.
04:22Alexis' final performer, Elaine Hendricks, would have been an incredible choice from the start.
04:27Unfortunately, a constantly shifting ensemble made it hard to become too attached to some major characters.
04:33It's burnt.
04:35The champagne was obviously frozen in the bottle at some point.
04:39Number 6.
04:40Harriet Winslow.
04:41Family Matters.
04:42Treating you like a child?
04:44I'll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like a child.
04:47Now go to bed.
04:48You're grounded for a month.
04:49In its final season, the show switched networks and saw a major cast shake-up.
04:54This quintessentially 90s sitcom saw a lot of overhauls, even from its early years.
04:59People don't always remember that it was originally devised as a perfect Strangers spin-off
05:03about Jo Marie Payton's character, Harriet Winslow.
05:06But after years of the show becoming overtaken by Steve Urkel and star Jaleel White,
05:11tension between the two finally boiled over.
05:13Reports that the two nearly came to blows in the final stretch of episodes
05:16led to Payton quitting mid-season.
05:19He didn't have the etiquette that maybe I and some others had.
05:22There was one time he actually wanted to physically fight me.
05:24I was going to whip his behind.
05:26I was going to whip his behind.
05:28Her role was taken over by actress Judy and Elder.
05:31With only a few episodes left, viewers had no time to grow accustomed to Elder,
05:35and Family Matters ended its run with an awkward fizzle.
05:38Greetings, I'm greetings!
05:40Steve, everybody's talking about you.
05:43You're a hero!
05:45Oh, for sure, for sure.
05:46Number 5, Chrissy Snow, Three's Company.
05:49It's the carpet, it's ringing!
05:51No, it's not, it's the telephone!
05:55John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, and Suzanne Somers were a dream team when it came to comedy mishaps.
06:01Ritter was the goofy playboy, DeWitt was the clever brunette,
06:04and Somers was the archetypal dumb blonde.
06:07But Contracted Disputes saw Somers shoved out after the hit show's fifth season.
06:11She was replaced by Jenna Lee Harrison, who played Chrissy's cousin, Cindy.
06:16Boy, everybody thinks I'm a klutz, but I'm not.
06:19I took these down, vacuumed them, and put them back up again without a hitch.
06:22Unfortunately, it really became apparent just how savvy and gifted a performer you have to be
06:27to play a believably naive character like that.
06:30Harrison didn't last long, and while Priscilla Barnes was a good replacement for the show's last few seasons,
06:36none of them could compete with Chrissy or the TV icon who played her.
06:39How'd you get your clothes on so fast?
06:42What?
06:42Another innocent.
06:44I know what you were doing.
06:46Putting up a shower curtain?
06:47That's right.
06:48Number 4.
06:49Becky Connor, Roseanne
06:50Is this supposed to be dinner?
06:53No, this is the cocktail hour before dinner.
06:56These beams are totally lifeless, Mother.
06:58The Connors were always believable as a working-class Midwestern family.
07:02The three children represented totally different responses to that upbringing,
07:05with Becky Connor being the gifted eldest sibling destined to achieve great things despite her background.
07:11Original star Lisey Goranson also played the character's dissatisfaction with her life in a credibly bratty way.
07:18But Sarah Shork replaced Goranson in Roseanne's sixth season.
07:22No.
07:23I got half a plain one over here.
07:26Okay.
07:28Thanks, Dad.
07:29Cheer up, honey.
07:30Shork would be great on Scrubs a few years later,
07:36but her Becky doesn't have the same bite or resentment.
07:39Goranson would return to the role once the show was rebooted in 2018.
07:43And I can see why you picked me.
07:46I mean, look at us.
07:47We could be the same person.
07:50Oh, my God.
07:51I mean, it is like looking in the mirror before I put my makeup on.
07:54Number 3.
07:54Charlie Harper, Two and a Half Men
07:56How did you cook the meatloaf?
07:58In the oven.
07:59Aha!
08:00My oven.
08:01What's your point?
08:02My point?
08:04Uh...
08:04Star Charlie Sheen left the long-running sitcom amid a series of controversial statements
08:10and incidents of bizarre behavior.
08:12Rather than recast the role that was written for him,
08:14his spot on the show was replaced and completely overhauled.
08:17But I think we can all agree that Charlie lived life to its fullest and gave it everything he had.
08:24Gave me herpes.
08:25Ashton Kutcher debuted as Walden Schmidt in the ninth season premiere.
08:31The fallout with Sheen and the introduction of a new star gave Two and a Half Men a brief boost in viewers.
08:36But within two years, the show had plummeted in ratings.
08:39Kutcher was probably the best attempt at getting close to Sheen's particular brand of madcap manliness.
08:44Suffice it to say, it was simply impossible to recreate.
08:48I don't want to marry somebody just to marry somebody.
08:51It's got to be the right person.
08:52Or Mila Kunis.
08:55Number two, Laurie Foreman.
08:57That 70s show.
08:58Why?
08:59Aren't you a little cold?
09:01No.
09:02In fact, I'm hot.
09:03Oh, well then why don't you go upstairs?
09:06It was hard to love Laurie a lot of the time.
09:08She was a whirlwind of drama and chaos that often destabilized the core group of characters we'd grown to care about.
09:15But the late Lisa Robin Kelly gave Eric Foreman's troubled older sister some humanity.
09:20She made a challenging character a genuine delight to watch.
09:23So Michael, when you come over for dinner tonight, don't wear that stupid unicorn tie.
09:28Oh, I'm sorry Jackie, was that a gift?
09:34Kelly left the show in its third season, made one more appearance, and then was recast for Laurie's season six return.
09:41Christina Moore's Laurie didn't make us see her as a real person, and fans generally thought that the character was mishandled by the writers.
09:48It was just one of the many disappointments in the show's final seasons.
09:52It's from Billy Snyder down at the hardware store.
09:54He's had a crush on me ever since I went ladder shopping in that mini skirt.
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10:16Number 1. Darren Stevens.
10:18Bewitched.
10:19I have yet to see a table letter that works.
10:21Just once, I would like to see.
10:26Suburban witch Samantha Stevens cast plenty of spells over the show's eight seasons.
10:31But the second Darren is the kind of witchcraft fans just couldn't accept.
10:35The way people talk about this recasting, you'd think it gave an entire generation of TV viewers trust issues.
10:41In fact, Darren Stevens might just be the Rosetta Stone of recastings gone wrong.
10:45You know why they call him a better half, don't you?
10:47When they ask you for shopping money, you better have it.
10:51That's what a wife is.
10:52Someone to spend with the rest of your life.
10:54Original actor Dick York injured his back, taking prescription painkillers and becoming physically unable to keep up the demands of a network television schedule.
11:04York left behind Bewitched in his sixth season, and Dick Sargent took his place.
11:08Sargent was a good actor in his own right, but his approach to Darren was too subtle, where York was more animated.
11:14Darren just became a lot less fun.
11:17Psychiatrist? Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.
11:22You were right, Darren. You're sick.
11:25What TV recasting completely ruined a show for you? Let us know in the comments.
11:29I'll talk to your father and see how he feels about extending your curfew to...
11:33...12.30.
11:34Thanks, Ma.
11:36applause
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