4 Actor Recastings That Hurt Iconic Sitcoms (And 16 That Saved Them)

[TMC]

https://screenrant.com/iconic-sitcom...rs-hurt-saved/

Recasting actors happens due to a myriad of reasons: a storyline isn’t working so the writers and producers have to change the character; an actor urgently requires personal time off, salary and contract disputes, or an actor is not jibing with the rest of the cast and crew.

With the television machine having to plough on ahead regardless of circumstances, switching things up on the fly is hardly ever elegant or gracefully done. At best, a character will make a flippant, nearly fourth-wall breaking comment and then that’ll be that. However, these are the breaks for regularly scheduled entertainment.

So, for whatever the reasons for a recast to occur, it’s bound to have an irrevocable impact on the show, be it positively or negatively. It’s undoubtedly a seismic shift.

Even recastings for the low-stress and easy-viewing genre of the sitcom, perhaps the most enduring television genre, can provoke strong responses.

This is most particularly the case in later seasons, when viewers consider certain characters to almost be like a weekly friend. Changing this up can be the end for a sitcom or its salvation.

[TV Guy]

Many of the “recasts” on this list are not actually recasts. For example, Ashton Kutcher was not a recast on Two and A Half Men. He played a new character.

And some of them are just downright false. Fred Dryer was never cast as Sam Malone in “Cheers”. He was a finalist for the role (as was Julia Duffy for Diane) but he never got the part.

And then there’s the Lisa Kudrow/Frasier issue. While it’s true that Kudrow played Roz for the first few days of rehearsal, she never played the part in a finished episode. And the author of this story writes as if he has seen her play the role.

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

Many of the “recasts” on this list are not actually recasts. For example, Ashton Kutcher was not a recast on Two and A Half Men. He played a new character.

And some of them are just downright false. Fred Dryer was never cast as Sam Malone in “Cheers”. He was a finalist for the role (as was Julia Duffy for Diane) but he never got the part.

And then there’s the Lisa Kudrow/Frasier issue. While it’s true that Kudrow played Roz for the first few days of rehearsal, she never played the part in a finished episode. And the author of this story writes as if he has seen her play the role.

Yeah, everything you say is true. But not only that, the article also gets the name of Jackie Gleason's character in The Honeymooners wrong. Everybody knows it's not Ralph Camden but Ralph Kramden!

Ed.

[stevea]

I don't click on links, but I imagine they referred to numerous re-castings of the Alice role. Since The Honeymooners only ran one season, any re-castings of Alice would have been for sketches within The Jackie Gleason Show or specials.

As for Two and A Half Men, not only was it not a re-cast, it didn't really hurt the show (IMO it WAS tailor-made for Sheen, and I didn't like the "reinvented" show, but that's only me)--it went on for four more seasons and continued to get great ratings.