TV Shows That Had Major Cast Shake-Ups During Their Runs
When you think of the main ensemble of your favorite TV series, how closely does the picture in your mind resemble what the cast looked like when it debuted? It is certainly not unusual for a hit TV show to say goodbye to one of its biggest stars or bring in someone new who makes a huge impact. The following are some of the most famous — or even infamous — examples of casting changes that shook things up.
The term “Cousin Oliver Syndrome” references when a sitcom’s youngest and cutest cast member grows up, prompting the writers to invent a new young, cute character to take their place. Its coinage comes from Robbie Rist’s clumsy character from The Brady Bunch, who was added late into Season 5 in 1974, only to last six episodes.
Alicia Goransan starred in Roseanne as Becky Conner for the first five seasons before leaving and later came back for the eighth season and the revival series. In the sixth, seventh, and ninth seasons, the role was given to future Scrubs and Rick and Morty star Sarah Chalke, who also appeared on The Conners in a separate recurring role. This back-and-forth dual casting was humorously addressed on a clip show episode.
In Season 6 of Diff’rent Strokes, Arnold (Gary Coleman) and Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges) gained a new younger brother named Sam McKinney, played by Danny Cooksey. Originally brought on as a recurring character, Cooksey joined the main cast and, until the series’ end, his role grew larger as Willis’ appearances became more scarce.
Near the end of the series’ second season, NBC’s Parks and Recreation cast grew with the addition of Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger and Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt. The mockumentary style political satire also experienced a major growth in popularity following their entrance and we find it hard to believe that is a mere coincidence.
An urban legend once suggested that the youngest Winslow child, Judy, walked upstairs one moment in the fourth season of Family Matters, never to come back down again. While that is not actually true (she last appeared in Season 4’s 19th episode, “Mama’s Wedding”), Jaimee Foxworth was written off the sitcom, due to increased attention on Jaleel White’s Steve Urkel and decreased budgeting, never to return to mainstream acting again.
It’s hard to believe that Frank Reynolds was not a part of “the Gang” since It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia debuted on FX in 2005. In truth, Academy Award nominee Danny DeVito was brought in during the second season, propelling the long-running dark comedy to greater heights of popularity
NBC’s The Office cast saw many changes throughout its nine-season run, such as bringing in Ed Helms as Andy Bernard and Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon. The most significant shake-up was when Steve Carell left his star-making role as Michael Scott in Season 7 and was briefly replaced by Emmy winner James Spader as Robert California.
One of the best character actors of all time, Joe Pantoliano, joined HBO’s The Sopranos cast for two seasons as Ralph Cifaretto. His performance as the capo for the Soprano crime family resulted in one of his most acclaimed roles, earning him a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award.
In Daphne Maxwell Reid’s first episode on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (the Season 4 premiere), it is cheekily acknowledged that she had replaced Janet Hubert as Vivienne Banks — following on-set tension with star Will Smith — when Jazz (DJ Jazzy Jeff) says there is “something different about” her. Both actors — who each had different takes on the role — were brought together for the sitcom’s reunion special on Max.
If not for the publicity surrounding it, Family Guy fans might not have been able to notice that Mike Henry stepped down as the voice of Cleveland Brown in 2020 because of how perfectly Arif Zahir matches the character’s distinct voice. It is much more noticeable, however, to watch the adult animated series’ first two seasons and hear Lacey Chabert voicing Meg instead of Mila Kunis, who has played the Griffin’s oldest child ever since.
Adam West’s Batman faced off against two iconic iterations of Catwoman on his 1960s-era TV show, played by Julie Newmar for the first two seasons and Earth Kitt in the third and final run. That’s not even counting Lee Meriwether’s portrayal in the feature-length spin-off.
The medical diagnostics team led by Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) originally consisted of Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison). By the medical drama’s fourth season, he needed a whole new crew, recruiting Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson), Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn), and Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde). The House cast would only continue to change from there — most notably with Penn leaving by the end of Season 5 and stars Amber Tamblyn, Charlene Yi, and Odette Annable coming in near the end.
Heather Locklear is famous for shaking things up on a few different series by joining the main ensemble and one of the most notable examples is Melrose Place. She was cast on the Beverly Hills 90210 spin-off late into its first season in a recurring role as Amanda Woodward, who would become one the primetime soap’s most iconic characters when she was made a series regular the following year.
Following her success on Rhoda, Valerie Harper starred on a family sitcom from the 1980s in the title role of Valerie, until she was fired after two seasons. Her character was killed off and replaced with Sandy Duncan as a stepmother, leading to the show’s retitling as Valerie’s Family: The Hogans and, later, The Hogan Family.
Every single one of the main Cheers characters is memorable, even those who joined the ensemble later. Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane started off as a recurring character in Season 3, Woody Harrelson’s Woody Boyd was hired in Coach’s place after he and the actor who played him (Nicholas Colasanto) passed away, and, following Shelley Long’s exit, Kirstie Alley was cast as Rebecca Howe.
When a series lasts as long as Grey’s Anatomy, cast changes are to be expected. Some of the most notable include the exits of Isaiah Washington (following an alleged on-set controversy involving co-star T.R. Knight), Emmy winner Katherine Heigl after six seasons, and Patrick Dempsey, by way of killing off Derek Shepherd.
Following a special appearance in That ‘70s Show Season 5, Lisa Robin Kelly was officially replaced by Christina Moore as Laurie Forman for the first half of the following season. Season 7 would be the last for Topher Grace as central character Eric Forman and the series’ biggest breakthrough star, Ashton Kutcher, officially left early in Season 8.
Only a handful of the original Law & Order cast — which included Chris Noth and Michael Moriarity— lasted more than four or five seasons before mainstays like S. Epatha Merkerson and Sam Waterston entered the mix. Fun fact: one of the crime procedural’s most beloved stars, Jerry Orbach, first appeared in a Season 2 guest spot in an entirely different role before he joined the main cast as Lennie Brisco the following year.
For years, Kaley Cuoco was the only female main actor in CBS’ The Big Bang Theory cast. That was until 2009 when Melissa Rauch joined the cast as Bernadette Rostenkowski, who went on to marry Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), and Mayim Bialik joined the following year as Amy Farrah Fowler, who became Sheldon Cooper’s (Jim Parsons) wife.
With the notable exceptions of Harry Anderson, John Larroquette, and Richard Moll, the original Night Court cast in its later years bore little resemblance to the Season One ensemble, which also included Karen Austin and Paula Kelly. The late Selma Diamond was the first of three actors to play the second bailiff (including Florence Halop and Marsha Warfield) and Charles Robinson and Markie Post were cast in Season 2 and stayed to the end.
John Ritter’s Jack and Joyce DeWitt’s Janet famously had a rotation of three blonde roommates on Three’s Company — starting with Suzanne Somers as Chrissy before Jenilee Harrison stepped in temporarily as Chrissy’s cousin Cindy and, lastly, Priscilla Barnes was brought in as Terri Alden. Additionally, Norman Fell and Audra Lindley left in Season 3 to star in a spin-off called The Ropers and were replaced with Don Knotts as the trio’s landlord, Mr. Furley.
The only original Charlie’s Angels cast members to last all five seasons were Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett, David Doyle as John Bosley, and John Forsyth as the voice of Charlie. Farrah Fawcett was only a series regular for the premiere season (replaced by Cheryl Ladd) and, following Kate Jackson’s exit after Season 3, Shelley Hack and, later, Tanya Roberts filled in for the remaining seasons.
The Game of Thrones cast would lose main characters regularly but also featured a few well-known actor replacements. Most notably, Michiel Huisman succeeded Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis. Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane was played by three different actors: Conan Stevens in Season 1, Ian Whyte the following season, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson for the remaining seasons.
Like any other long-running medical drama, creator Michael Crichton’s ER saw cast members coming and going regularly throughout its 15 seasons. For instance, George Clooney was a regular for the first five years, Ming-Na Wen was on from Season 6 to Season 11, and the final year featured two-time Oscar nominee Angela Bassett in the main cast.
The first of the two Darrins on Bewitched was Dick York, who was replaced after five seasons when a back injury had long-term, debilitating effects on the Emmy nominee. Filling in as the husband of the witchy Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) for the final three seasons was Dick Sargent, who was actually the original choice for the role, but was committed to another series at the time.
Following a public meltdown, Charlie Sheen was let go from Two and a Half Men, in which his character, Charlie Harper, was killed off and replaced with Ashton Kutcher in a new role. Furthermore, Angus T. Jones’ disparaging comments about the CBS sitcom’s racy subject matter led to his exit after Season 10, which resulted in multiple attempts to fill the “Half Man” role with the likes of Amber Tamblyn and Edan Alexander.
Something looks different about these characters...
When you think of the main ensemble of your favorite TV series, how closely does the picture in your mind resemble what the cast looked like when it debuted? It is certainly not unusual for a hit TV show to say goodbye to one of its biggest stars or bring in someone new who makes a huge impact. The following are some of the most famous — or even infamous — examples of casting changes that shook things up.
Casting changes that shooks things up on your favorite TV shows.
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