The Absolute WORST Direct Replacement TV Character

The second Gladys Kravitz, I'm sorry to say.

Jan Hooks' Carlene as a replacement for Jean Smart's Charlene on Designing Women. Jan sunk the show.

The second Lionel was far too gay to play the role. Lionel was definitely a straight guy and the second Lionel was in real life gay, which made him too effeminate to be convincing.

Becky 2 was a bore on the original Roseanne, though I thought Sarah Chalke outshone Lecy in the re-boot. She became a better actress with age and experience.

Leigh Taylor Young was not in Mia Farrow's league on Peyton Place

The word you're looking for, OP, is "recast."

I'll confine mine to daytime soaps. Gordon Thompson replacing Lane Davies as Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara. Robin Christopher replacing Alicia Coppola on Another World.

The second Lionel was GORGEOUS.

Ahem

The second Gladys on "Bewitched" was just kind of mean and vindictive and nosy, whereas Alice Pearce's Gladys was just nosy and hiliarious, but without any meanness in her.

Graham Winton as Caleb Snyder on ATWT. Admittedly, Michael David Morrison's shorts would have been hard for any actor to fill, but Winton just made me miss Morrison more.

I loved the first Aunt Vivian on THE FRESH PRINCE. Daphne Maxwell was too bougie and bland. I know Janet Hubert Whitten is all cray cray and bitter over her ousting from the show, but her Aunt Vivian had fire and music!

Has anyone seen the "Burns and Allen" episode where George actually addresses the audience and explains that Harry Morton is being played by Larry Keating instead of Fred Clark? I truly groundbreaking and bizarre television moment, especially for the early '50s! (Start around 8:35.)

Very interesting, though I must say I think Larry Keating was terrific!

Jack Coleman replacing Al Corley as Steven Carringron on Dynasty. Al Corley brought a sensitivity and life to Steven that really resonated. Jack Coleman was as wooden as a post.

And r14, who can explain the new Fallon's bizarre British accent on Dynasty? Emma Sams was the exact opposite of Pamela Sue Martin in every way. Maybe it had to do with being abducted by aliens.

Seriously? Dynasty had a character abducted by space aliens and people kept watching? And some have the nerve to make fun of daytime soaps.

[quote] Seriously? Dynasty had a character abducted by space aliens and people kept watching?

Not only that but as mentioned when the aliens brought her back, the part had been recast with someone who looked and sounded nothing like the original to the point of suddenly having a British accent.

As an eight year old gayling, I was mortified when Dixie Carter was replaced by Mary Ann Mobley on Diff’rent Strokes.

"In tonight's episode, the part of Constance McKenzie will be played by Lola Albright."

All of the Lucys on Neighbours.

Oddly, Joan Collins taking over the role of Alex Spaulding on Guiding Light without hiding her accent in the least actually worked!

I really liked the Michael Mouse of Tales of the City.

The replacement actor in both More and Further Tales - not so much

When Bea Benaderet died and she was replaced as the voice of Betty Rubble on THE FLINTSTONES. The second actress, Gerry Lee Johnson, had no personality to her voice like Bea did. Damn Bea for being a heavy cigarette smoker!!!!

Nobody's mentioned sixty something year old Joan replacing Christina playing a 24 year old on The Secret Storm.

[quote]Robin Christopher replacing Alicia Coppola on Another World.

And Robin Christopher replacing Taylor Miller on All My Children.

Joseph Kearns who played George Wilson, the irascible next-door neighbour of Dennis (the Menace), died and was replaced by his "brother" John Wilson played by Gale Gordon. Kearns was perfect in the role so Gordon could only suffer by comparison. George Wilson was a paper tiger but I always thought that John Wilson could do some real damage to this annoying kid.

I agree with R22 that D'Amico was much more appealing as Mouse.

The non-entity who replaced Lisa Robin Kelly as Laurie Forman, Eric Forman's sister on That 70's Show.

Have Dixie Carter and Gary Coleman patched things up in heaven?

When William Demarest replaced his "brother" Bill Frawley (aka, Fred Mertz) on "My Three Sons."

Not very believable.

Fake Jan on the Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

Melody Anderson as Natalie 2 on AMC.

Christopher  Plummer replacing Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, the male interns on the set seem to lose their spunk after that.

Sure, Jan.

Robin Christopher was a recast Skye on AMC, not Nina.

Donna Reed replacing Barbara Bel Geddes on Dallas.

Strudel replacing Chambo on Days.

Chambo replacing Strudel on DOOL.

The second Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

Sarah Chalke was a terrible recast as Becky on "Roseanne." She was basically just given lines that were a way to move the scene along. When I saw her on "Scrubs," she'd grown so much as an actress and comedian that it was almost a different person.

IIRC, Reed was hired as a permanent replacement for Bel Geddes when she had her medical emergency but the producers and Hagman in particular were so unhappy with Reed's work that Hagman went to Bel Geddes and begged her to come back as soon as she recovered. Bel Geddes eventually agreed but Reed was hurt and furious. She eventually sued the show and received a full payout on her entire contract, even though she wasn't being used.

That Wyndham cunt.

Fran Ryan as Doris Ziffel on Green Acres after Barbara Pepper died. Just no.

While Dick York WAS Darrin Stephens, I did like that after five seasons, Sargent's take was to no longer act so damn scared of Endora anymore. Sargent's sarcastic and bitchy Darrin going against Endora was kind of fun.

Richard Deacon replacing Roger C. Carmel on the Mother's In Law.

You bitches are slipping.

With the exception of a lot of soaps, many of these actors were replaced due to death or chronic illness - or in Lecy Goranson's case, a major hush up. The incoming actors knew they had major shoes to fill.

Donna Reed was too glam as Miss Ellie. Barbara Bel Geddes' Miss Ellie was swimming in money but was so down to earth -still that girl from the country- you'd never know to look at her.

R45 This isn't about WHY they were replaced but that they sucked.

Bah, you all took my good answers!

So I'll reiterate what everyone said. The absolute worst recast in all of history was Sarah Chalke as Becky on Roseanne. The second worst was Lionel on The Jeffersons. The third worst was Gale Gordon as Mr. Wilson's brother on Dennis the Menace. Ironic about Gordon, because he looked more like the comic book version than Joseph Kearns but Kearns was so good in the role he made it his own.

I do not agree about Bewitched, incidentally. I thought Dick Sargeant was the better Darren because he seemed liked more of an equal partner in his marriage with Samantha and could hold his own against her obnoxious family. Dick York was more comedic, but he always came across to me as a pathetic doormat who was at the mercy of everyone, including Samantha.

R47, I think tangents happen from time to time. Please embrace them.

Why was replacing L Goranson hushed up?

R49 Please stay on topic.

Alias Smith and Jones was never the same after the lovely Pete Duel died. Roger Davis was meh.

When Lucille Ball was replaced by Esther Rolle as Florida in GOOD TIMES.

Pat Priest and Beverly Owen on "The Munsters." Was it a lateral, an up or a down move? I say lateral.

Ahem...

When Stephanie Cameron stepped in for Melissa Reeves on Days as Jennifer Horton (who had left the show to save her marriage after being caught sucking her hot hung costar's dick). Missy returned years later and I found myself wanting Stephanie back when Missy got all cunty and rallied for Chick-fil-A during the Prop 8 debacle. As my mother always says, "never trust a lady with hairy arms."

She was mentioned, r56. No video of her episodes survive but the audio does at youtube. She occasionally sounds a bit sauced.

I was in the small minority who preferred Donna Reed to bel geddes as miss Ellie, bel geddes was so drab and vaguely butch.

Hated Sara chalke on Roseanne, but as others said, I enjoyed her on scrubs

I'm in the minority I assume, but I thought Jennie Lee Harrison was the perfect replacement for Suzanne Somers, and her slapstik paired great with John Ritter's. Priscilla Barnes on the other hand was boring and terribly unfunny.

Replacing the beautiful but wooden Clayton Norcross in "The Bold and the Beautiful" with the unappealing Jeff Trachta was a big disappointment for me as a young gayling. I was crushed when he was no longer on the show, and I absolutely despised Trachta because of it.

Many of you are giving examples that are NOT "recasts." The OP requested examples where a different actor is playing the SAME CHARACTER, not a replacement character.

Karen Cellini was not a bad replacement on Dynasty. She bit into that role and was lively and fun--only to be written out twelve episodes into her turn. She replaced one of the worst actresses to ever appear on Dynasty--and considering the cast included Miss Gordon Thompson, that's saying alot.

I prefer the portly Kravitz

M replacing yours truly.

Camilla Bowles Parker as Princess of Wales. Lady Diana was far more believable and likable as the Princess.

George Peppard was originally hired as Blake Carrington but after that hit a wall, they recast the role with John Forsythe. If he played the character as a latter day Jonas Cord (The Carpetbaggers) it would have been so delicious.

John Forsythe was a delightful guy but I never ever bought him as Blake Charrington. He never ever made the character believable.

Sandy Duncan replacing Isabel Sanford as Louise Jefferson..

This isn't a worse than case but anyone remember when Philip Bruns played George Shumway on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman? The show eventually morphed into Fernwood Tonight and after his character fell into a vat of Rustoleum, the character came out with Tab Hunter in the role!

"The second Lionel was GORGEOUS."

No, he wasn't. Mike Evans, the original Lionel was much more attractive. For some reason Damon Evans (no relationship to Mike Evans) always reminded me of Stepin Fetchit.

Lots of great choices, but only one winner.

Dick Sargent was the absolute worst recast ever. He played Darrin like Samantha's bitchy queen brother, certainly not her husband.

John Randolph was the original Frank Costanza; he was replaced by Jerry Stiller, who owned the role.

And for R70: Phil Bruns was the original Morty Seinfeld; he was replaced by Barney Martin.

R61 Thanks for introducing my to Clayton Norcross. From what I can tell he's still a stunning creature. To add to his appeal for me, he is an active conservationist and a supporter of the World Wildlife Fund.

I watched Bewitched as reruns and not from start to finish so I didn’t have an aversion to Darren #2 that others might. I preferred Dick Sargent because I thought bug eyed Dick York was so unusual looking.

Tom Ellis from "Lucifer" played Robin Hood early on in "Once Upon A Time." They brought in Sean Maguire to take over the role later. It wasn't that he was necessarily bad in the part, but he didn't have the same arch, mischievous quality that Ellis did. I would've loved to have seen Ellis opposite Lana Parrilla.

R70 I remember that and it was absurdly hilarious. Especially when horn dog daughter Cathy falls in love with her now sexy father!

Another vote for Aunt Vivian on Fresh Prince.

They didn’t just change the actress (and to someone who didn’t even resemble the original actress at all), but basically changed the entire character. They went from an interesting personality with charisma and a career to a bland housewife that was hardly part of the plot any longer.

[quote]lose their spunk after that.

Isn't it ironic?

Philece Sampler as Donna Love on "Another World" was no Anna Stuart. Good thing Stuart came back.

Jacob Young taking over Lucky Spencer on GH.

[quote]This isn't a worse than case but anyone remember when Philip Bruns played George Shumway on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman? The show eventually morphed into Fernwood Tonight and after his character fell into a vat of Rustoleum, the character came out with Tab Hunter in the role!

Actually, R70, "Fernwood Tonight" was the talk show parody with Martin Mull and Fred Willard. "Mary Hartman" morphed into "Forever Fernwood." That aside, Phil Bruns later returned to the role of George Shumway, and it was explained that he looked like his old self again because, when he was played by Tab Hunter, he had fallen into the vat a second time.

I also preferred Donna Reed to Barbara Bel Geddes on Dallas. BBG was so dowdy, and would have been as a young girl, that I never knew how she would have attracted Jock. Young Donna Reed would have dazzled him.

Bruce Vilanch replacing Paul Lynde as funny gay guy on Hollywood Squares.

R83 Oh, I wouldn't say so. What one looks like in their golden years often doesn't indicate what they looked like when they were young.

Bar was billed as a ‘movie legend’?

Another vote for fake Jan.

None of the actresses who replaced Helen Lawson each time she left her various series to spend more time with her family or to recover from exhaustion could hold a candle to her. As I recall, she did return to show once, but she only stated for two episodes which were never broadcast for some reason.

MASH had three bad replacements:

Col. Potter over LT Col Henry Blake

Charles Emerson Winchester III over Frank Burns

B. J. Hunnicutt over Trapper John McIntyre

All bad replacements that made it the preachy horrible show it became.

^^^^^ Those were character replacements not actors but I agree the fun got sucked right out.