I'm starting this thread because until I got the season one DVD for "Designing Women", I had thought the character of Anthony Bouvier (played by Meshach Taylor) was in the whole show. True, he was in the first season as a guest star, but I always thought he was with the show from the very first episode on.

Usually I'm good about knowing these kinds of cast changes. This one, however, slipped right by me.

How about you? Who are some characters you didn't know weren't in the whole series (but eventually found out, obviously)?

One that comes to mind is Urkel from Family Matters. Everyone remembers the show because of him but he was never intended to be anything but a guest star and he took off. The original premise was about the Winslow family.

When I first started watching Perfect Strangers as a kid Mary Anne and Jennifer where already in it. To my surprise. When I watched from the beginning as an adult. I was shocked to find out they were not introduced until the 2nd season.

When I first started to watch Married...with Children, it was the Jefferson episodes (I think late season 5 or early season 6). I remember watching the pilot episode in a rerun with my dad and being surprised to see Marcy with a different husband. It was then my dad told me about Steve Rhoades, how he was Marcy's first husband.

I also assumed Al Lewis was in all the episodes of Car 54, Where Are You? but I learned in recent years that he came in the middle of season one.

I read that Betty White was only supposed to be in the pilot episode of "Hot In Cleveland" but that she was made a regular. I don't think the series would be nearly as good or hilarious without her!

Kerri Weaver on ER. As a kid I assumed she was a original cast member, but later I found out she was only added in season 2.

I'm sorry if we should only mention sitcoms, but I guess this is interesting enough:

It was only in recent years that I found out that Danno wasn't on all of "Hawaii 5-0" (He left right after the next-to-last year), or that Chin Ho ("Kam Fong as Chin Ho") was killed off on an episode with 2 years left to go, or especially that "Zulu as Kono" was fired after just the first 4 years!!

I never knew there was a character named Thad on Gunsmoke. I always just assumed that when a young character was needed on the show, that Newly OBrien was introduced. Who was Thad? How long was he on? Why didn't he last?:

I bet a lot of people were surprised to find out that Victoria Barkley had four sons, not three on The Big Valley.

I also didn't know that Spanky and Alfalfa (as well as other characters) weren't in "The Little Rascals" ("Our Gang") until later on in the series. Now, I'm not sure that any of the ones with Miss Crabtree had either Spanky or Alfalfa!

Not until I was looking at IMDB.com for info on Olivia d'Abo did I realize that she played sister Karen on The Wonder Years from 1988 to 1992--not 1993!!!.

Little did I know when I saw that she was moving to Alaska after she married Michael that it was ABC's way of writing her out--in my world that didn't happen since I expected the actors to stay with the show from Day 1 until the end, even retirement age. I had thought the producers were saying to themselves, "Hey, we forgot to give lines to Olivia!"

The Facts of Life - Up until the late '90s or so, I never knew that Jo wasn't in the 1st nor did I know that the 1st season was a bit different, too.

CHiPs - I didn't know Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox) was only in 5 of the 6 seasons of this show, until I found out on the old Jump the Shark website and had beef w/ Erik Estrada for awhile.

Kerri Weaver on ER. As a kid I assumed she was a original cast member, but later I found out she was only added in season 2.
And wasn't added to the main cast until the third year of the series. What a character!

The Facts of Life - Up until the late '90s or so, I never knew that Jo wasn't in the 1st nor did I know that the 1st season was a bit different, too.
YES! The same exact thing happened to me, in the late '90s as well. I was only able to watch the show from reruns from local syndication and episodes taped from syndication. I doubt the episodes without the core four were too popular in reruns, so they must have always skipped them. I'm not sure if Nick at Nite aired the first season too much in 2000-2001 either.

And wasn't added to the main cast until the third year of the series. What a character!

That is a character that has stuck with me all these years later. She was something to watch. Laura Innes just became Kerri Weaver.

All That:

Until recently, i didn't know that Amanda Bynes didn't join the show until the 3rd season.

Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show

When I was a kid, I assumed Woody Boyd (played by Woody Harrelson, of course) was in all 11 seasons of Cheers. I knew there was an older guy in the early seasons named Coach but I didn't know Woody was his replacement. I just thought they were on the show together. Also, as a kid I thought Woody sang the theme song, lol.

^That's funny! I just got the complete series set of "Cheers" today!

I didn't know Diane wasn't in the whole show, either. I thought she was.

Amy and Bernadette for Big Bang Theory. I mean, I knew they weren't there at the beginning, but they seem irreplaceable now.

Amy and Bernadette for Big Bang Theory. I mean, I knew they weren't there at the beginning, but they seem irreplaceable now.I couldn't stand Amy. She's a large part of why I dropped the show.