Why Were Some Characters Recast, While Others Were Replaced?

[Adamantium]

This is more of a case by case basis and not a generalization. But the examples I'm giving are just for starters. I'd like to discuss as many recasts as possible on here.

I've read online that the reason Gladys Kravitz was recast after the passing of Alice Pierce during the second season of Bewitched was so they could keep George Tobias as Abner. As much as I liked him, I'd have been fine with them getting rid of both of the Kravitzes and bringing in a new set of neighbors. For example both Mister Ed and Dennis the Menace did that. On Mister Ed, when Larry Keating passed, they kept his TV wife, Edna Skinner, on for a few more episodes and then replaced her with the Kirkwoods. On Dennis the Menace, after Joseph Kearns died, they kept Sylvia Field for the remainder of the third season, even though they introduced Gale Gordon as John Wilson, George's brother. But for the fourth (and what turned out to be the final season), they replaced Sylvia Field with a new Mrs. Wilson. So why were they willing to fire both Edna Skinner and Sylvia Field, but not George Tobias?

[Adamantium]

On Bewitched, I thought Dick York did such a great job with Darrin that it feels like an insult to recast the role. Yet, I understand replacing him altogether would have totally changed the premise of the series. However, I feel the show was getting tired by that point anyway, and really should have just ended, but it was still a ratings hit, so of course the network wasn't about to cancel it just because an actor left, lol.

[stevea]

Kid character recast: Jeremy Gelbwaks/Brian Forster, role of Chris on The Partridge Family.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by stevea

Kid character recast: Jeremy Gelbwaks/Brian Forster, role of Chris on The Partridge Family.

Yea but he had so little to do on the show I barely noticed. lol

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Adamantium

This is more of a case by case basis and not a generalization. But the examples I'm giving are just for starters. I'd like to discuss as many recasts as possible on here.

I've read online that the reason Gladys Kravitz was recast after the passing of Alice Pierce during the second season of Bewitched was so they could keep George Tobias as Abner. As much as I liked him, I'd have been fine with them getting rid of both of the Kravitzes and bringing in a new set of neighbors. For example both Mister Ed and Dennis the Menace did that. On Mister Ed, when Larry Keating passed, they kept his TV wife, Edna Skinner, on for a few more episodes and then replaced her with the Kirkwoods. On Dennis the Menace, after Joseph Kearns died, they kept Sylvia Field for the remainder of the third season, even though they introduced Gale Gordon as John Wilson, George's brother. But for the fourth (and what turned out to be the final season), they replaced Sylvia Field with a new Mrs. Wilson. So why were they willing to fire both Edna Skinner and Sylvia Field, but not George Tobias?

I would not have wanted George Tobias fired. Abner was one of the best parts of the show, even with his wife getting recast by a worse actress. Casting Sandra Gould was the big mistake there, while Alice Pearce dying was unavoidable they surely could have found a better replacement. As for Dennis the Menace, I haven't seen it that much but didn't even know Mrs. Wilson was recast until I saw this post. The effect there was probably minimal like the different Louise Tates. Was the new Mrs. Wilson married to Gale Gordon's version instead of the late Joseph Kearns? In that case they definitely wouldn't want to keep the same actress. I just looked it up on epguides.com, and it looks like the new Mrs. Wilson was indeed married to the replacement brother. Sylvia Field's first name was Martha when Joseph Kearns' George Wilson was alive. Gale Gordon's John Wilson was married to Eloise Wilson. She was played by Sara Seeger who replaced Sylvia Field, but not as the same character but sister-in-law. Mister Ed I haven't seen much of either, but the important parts there are the horse and Wilbur. Recasting Wilbur would have been a disaster if that was attempted. but some of the lesser characters it probably didn't matter as much. As for your comment on Bewitched wouldn't have cancelled because it was a hit even with the lead actor leaving, while that was true for Dick York, Elizabeth Montgomery was the star and the show wouldn't have continued if she left. I think I have read that ABC wanted a 9th season because it still did well, but Elizabeth was done with the show so Bewitched ended.

[Adamantium]

Originally Posted by catsrule

I would not have wanted George Tobias fired. Abner was one of the best parts of the show, even with his wife getting recast by a worse actress. Casting Sandra Gould was the big mistake there, while Alice Pearce dying was unavoidable they surely could have found a better replacement. As for Dennis the Menace, I haven't seen it that much but didn't even know Mrs. Wilson was recast until I saw this post. The effect there was probably minimal like the different Louise Tates. Was the new Mrs. Wilson married to Gale Gordon's version instead of the late Joseph Kearns? In that case they definitely wouldn't want to keep the same actress. I just looked it up on epguides.com, and it looks like the new Mrs. Wilson was indeed married to the replacement brother. Sylvia Field's first name was Martha when Joseph Kearns' George Wilson was alive. Gale Gordon's John Wilson was married to Eloise Wilson. She was played by Sara Seeger who replaced Sylvia Field, but not as the same character but sister-in-law. Mister Ed I haven't seen much of either, but the important parts there are the horse and Wilbur. Recasting Wilbur would have been a disaster if that was attempted. but some of the lesser characters it probably didn't matter as much. As for your comment on Bewitched wouldn't have cancelled because it was a hit even with the lead actor leaving, while that was true for Dick York, Elizabeth Montgomery was the star and the show wouldn't have continued if she left. I think I have read that ABC wanted a 9th season because it still did well, but Elizabeth was done with the show so Bewitched ended.

I don’t think George Tobias was one of the best parts of the show. But that’s just where we have differing opinions. Obviously, the producers sided with you on that, which is why in order to keep him, they had to recast Gladys. I know they tried it with a few episodes having Abner’s sister there and it just didn’t work. Really it needed to be a married couple. But also, if it’s a different character who’s suddenly noticing how strange things are at the Stephens’ house, and not just Gladys, Abner should have taken notice and thought to himself “Maybe there IS something happening over there,” instead of just thinking his sister is crazy, too. I want to add that I liked George Tobias as Abner. I just didn’t consider him one of the best parts of the show. Gladys was. So was Dick York’s portrayal of Darrin. So was the wonderful, romantic chemistry between York and Montgomery as husband and wife. So was Endora. But Abner… not so much.

As for the great Darrin switch, taking Darrin out of the show when York left would have meant some serious changes to the plot of the series, as well as how you watch the reruns. For example, if Darrin died, it would be sad watching the episodes he’s in, knowing he’s going to die soon. If Samantha and Darrin got divorced, that would also add some sadness to the reruns. Plus there’d have to be some kind of build up to it, which there hadn’t been. Also, they didn’t do divorce back in those days. I mean, there may have been a divorced character (Vivian Bagley on The Lucy Show was divorced), but I’m sure they wouldn’t have had the two main leads get divorced during the run of the show. Since the TV shows of the sixties tended not to change so much, getting rid of Darrin would have been a big no-no. I agree with you, Catsrule, that they wouldn’t have just cancelled the show over York’s departure. I just meant creatively it was probably time to end it. Although if I’m being honest, I really only care about the first two seasons. Those were some really great episodes. The show became rather bland and mediocre (to me) after that. It became one of those shows where if you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all. Which is why as much as I love The Monkees and The Munsters, it’s probably for the best that those shows only lasted two seasons each.

As for this thread, I was really just asking the question (not that any of us have the answer, since we didn’t work on the shows) of why did George Tobias stay on Bewitched and they simply recast Gladys, whereas it was different for Mister Ed and Dennis the Menace?

On Dennis the Menace, Joseph Kearns played George Wilson, while Sylvia Field played his wife, Martha Wilson. But late in the third season, Kearns passed away. They brought in Gale Gordon to play George’s brother, John Wilson. Martha remained with the show for the rest of that season, but when the fourth season started, Martha was gone and Sara Seeger played John’s wife, Eloise. As a viewer, I prefer that to just recasting (like Bewitched did), even though it’s unfair to the actors. And I already knew Sylvia Field and Sara Seeger were playing two different characters. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. So I’m sorry about that.

On Mister Ed, Larry Keating played Roger Addison, while Edna Skinner played his wife, Kay Addison. Very early in the fourth season, Keating passed away, and after about nine or so episodes with just Kay as the Post’s neighbor, she was gone and the Kirkwoods arrived. The Addisons had a much bigger role on Mister Ed than the Kravitzes did on Bewitched. They were in just about all of the episodes they were cast members for, whereas the Kravitzes were just recurring characters. I’m not putting them down. Abner and Gladys (#1) were great, but they just were used here and there in the show. The Posts and Addisons kind of reminded me of the Ricardos and the Mertzes… but with a horse added to the mix. I don’t mind that they replaced the Addisons with the Kirkwoods. Like I say, I prefer it that way because I hate recasts. I was just thinking of why some characters gets recast while others get replaced altogether and thought it might make a good discussion.

Someone like Louise Tate had a small enough of a role (but important enough since she was the wife to one of the main characters), that I didn’t mind her getting recast. But Gladys… I had a problem with.

As for The Munsters, that was a gimmick show and one of the gimmicks was that while Herman, Lily, Grandpa and Eddie all looked like monsters, Marilyn looked “normal” to us but was considered the black sheep of the family. So obviously, when Beverley Owen left the role after just thirteen episodes, rather than have Marilyn move away and bring in another relative who looks “normal,” they recast because replacing would have missed the point of the character. The point being Marilyn is the only one in the family that’s like that. So I guess ultimately, I don’t mind that they recast the role. While I was never a fan of Pat Priest’s portrayal, she did a good enough job and it’s considered a successful cast change, since a lot of people don’t seem to even know there were two Marilyns! I found this out when I told some people at work that the first Marilyn had died and they were shocked to learn it wasn’t the same actress all along.

As for kids, I understand them recasting them because there’s not a lot of options for why a kid would leave the family. What I don’t like, however, is when they then recast the role with an older kid. For example, Grace Under Fire. I believe Quentin was around 12 or 13 when they switched actors and made him around 16. My Wife and Kids also had the replacement a bit older than her predecessor.

[icecream]

I definitely agree Bewitched would have been better off ending after five seasons when Dick York left. The Grace Under Fire son might have been aged up so it didn't look like they were tossing the original actor aside after leaving because of Brett Butler's misconduct , with a time jump there wouldn't be as much comparison between the two actors. Aging up a child would depend on the show, Growing Pains totally didn't need the older Chrissy (Ashley Johnson the regular, Simone from Head of the Class guest starring as rebellious teenage Chrissy was fun). The FOX version of Last Man Standing hasn't been great overall, Mandy recast was terrible but I like the aged up Boyd better than any of the other actors who have played him. Only problem is, there are several episodes the improved Boyd hasn't appeared in at all. Back to Dennis the Menace, I was surprised to find it only lasted 4 seasons, although 146 episodes would be several more seasons today. Dennis might have lasted 6 or 7 seasons if Joseph Kearns had stayed healthy, he was the best part of the show. Dennis was an annoying brat though, I like the boys on Leave it to Beaver a lot better.