Long running TV Shows that Changed Cast Members.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

With the talk of the Walking Dead preparing to do its biggest , drastic change this season ahead by losing Rick Grimes and Maggie Rhee , the shows 2 biggest stars are exiting. In their place the show will add new cast members as its been announced and the focus of the new Walking Dead will drift to Darrell Dixon. Who amazingly was considered a blank slate new character when he debuted way back in season #1.

Its caused a lot of Walking Dead fans to not be happy and complain that the long running show is losing it more and needs to end. But were gonna look at shows that did cast well. Or one that at 1st hit a comical spot when the star changed his mind and came back for one more year.



Bonanza : The Will Cartwright/Adam Cartwright .

Bonanza was a long running TV western and one of the 1st to go to color back in 1959. The show centered on Ben Cartwright and his 3 sons : Adam (the serious smart one) , Hoss (the good nature big guy) and Little Joe (ladies man). All 3 sons bickered , argued and had a love for each other. Plus all 3 had different mothers as each one died.

Lorne Greene (Ben) , Dan Blocker (Hoss) and Michael Landon (Joe) became close friends and in some cases family in a way. The 3 men recorded music together and toured fairs as the characters. They really loved the show and being around each other. Pernell Roberts (Adam) however clashed with the producers and didn't get along with Lorne Greene. This friction grew and by the 5th season , Roberts told the producers he wanted out of the hit series. He had a contract but he didn't wanna do the show anymore.

Producers scrambled with an idea , introduce a new Cartwright. This would be the nephew of Ben Cartwright and be named Will. They even got an impressive physical actor who was tall and carried himself well in Guy Williams. Who was coming off a run in Zorro and they felt he could replace Pernell Roberts. The storyline was written , Adam Cartwright would fall in love with Laura Dayton , marry her within a couple episodes and move back East to Boston becoming a lawyer. Will Cartwright would take his place.

Instead as the season got halfway , Pernell Roberts changed his mind and decided to return one more season. This forced them to write Will out since they didn't wanna create a problem. Also the fact that fans really weren't as sold on a new Cartwright suddenly appearing. So the storyline changed and this time Will ended up marrying Laura , and they moved to San Francisco.

But instead of staying again , all the producers did was kick the can down another season as Roberts again wanted out after season #6. This time they didn't really try and convince him to stay and decided ...not to add a Cartwright. They added someone that Ben would take to as a son. They added a ranch hand named Candy. Who bore a bit of a resemblance to a young Ben Cartwright. (People would say that perhaps Ben had , had an affair with Candy's mother and its why he got close to Candy).



Candy was a hit with fans. He wasn't a Cartwright but he clicked in the role as the new resident serious and at times hot head. The family even had him eat dinner at the table and he seemingly was an adopted son of Ben's. Producers replaced Pernell Roberts and they never looked back. Then the producers did a stupid move that would hurt the show . David Canary who had played Candy requested a raise since he was a prime character and literally a son on the show. Producers balked and Canary walked off the series in 1970 after 4 seasons.

Producers decided if Candy worked as not a Cartwright , why not try that again. This time they introduced Jamie Hunter who would appear in the series as the son of a rainmaker. The father dies and so does his other relative. Leaving Jamie an orphan who Ben adopts. Jamie was to take Joe's role as the new heart throb and transition Joe into middle son role. Instead audiences weren't really interested in Jamie and he really didn't do much for the couple seasons.

Candy was brought back in the final season at a pay raise due to Dan Blocker's death sadly. The show however could never recover even when they tried to introduce yet another male character to be a son type. Griff King was an ex-con and a new ranch hand they added. Producers hoped they'd strike Candy gold. But the series ended after 15 episodes , and King was only around the final 11 episodes.



Frank Burns/Henry Blake/Trapper John - Charles Winchester/Colonel Potter/BJ Hunnicutt.

M.A.S.H itself was a hit TV series for 11 seasons. The show itself was based off the hit film that arrived in 1968. 20th Century Fox was so impressed by the film success they quickly kept the sets around and decided on a TV series. And through a bumpy 1st season that was only saved by the CBS president's wife , the show would take off by the 2nd season.

The cast stayed nearly the same except for a couple changes as time went on. The biggest drawing point of the early seasons of M.A.S.H was the constant comedic clashes that Hawkeye Pierce/Trapper John and Frank Burns would have. Hawkeye & Trapper were the boozing , womanizing surgeons. Where as Frank Burns was the bible thumping , cowardly , rules following cheater. Mix in a in over his head Lt. Henry Blake who cared more about fishing and fooling around himself than anything army ; you had a funny cast.

The actors ; Larry Linville (Frank Burns) , McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) and Wayne Rogers (Trapper John) were a talented group who knew their roles. But of course friction began quick. Wayne Rogers originally was told he'd be equal to Alan Alda (Hawkeye) and watched as his character became more of a partner to Alda's charisma as Hawkeye. By the 3rd season Rogers became so frustrated by this he told producers he would not return for the 4th season. Rogers would detail he actually played the stock market better and made good money not having to be on a set.

McLean Stevenson decided he was tired of being a 2nd banana on a hit show and wanted to be the #1 guy. A fact he told Loretta Swit he knew he'd never find as big a show as M.A.S.H and may regret it , but he wanted to be the top star. So he informed producers he too wanted out after the 3rd season. His character was killed off which would make a return never happen sadly.

The show in the 4th season was in a spot and they had to cast well. They cast Mike Farrell to play B.J Hunnicutt , who unlike Trapper would never cheat on his wife who he'd discuss frequently. A fact an episode had Hunnicutt's character weigh that as he was attracted to a female nurse but was honorable. He also would not drink as much as Trapper either. But B.J did take part more in jokes and even battled Hawkeye in prank war at times.

Replacing Stevenson was a bit tricker as the producers decided to gamble bigger on that one. They decided that the cast seemed to like Henry Morgan (Dragnet) when he did a guest spot in season 3 as a wacky general. So they made Colonel Sherman Potter. Unlike the in over his head Colonel Blake who also cheated on his wife and loved fishing , Potter was very faithful to his Mildred and had a photo of her on his desk. He also was more strict (but he allowed Hawkeye and BJ to be who they were basically lol) and his hobbies was horse back riding and painting.

But the biggest change was ahead in season #5 and #6. The movie and show itself launched on the whole romance of Frank Burns & Margaret Houlihan. The two characters spared with Hawkeye , Trapper and even BJ for seasons #1-4. But the 5th season turned everything into a whole new dynamic. Margaret met and fell in love with a hunky Army man named Donald and became engaged. Which threw Frank for a loop and that season saw him crack over losing her and struggling with that happening.

Larry Linville after season #5 when Margaret married ; decided his character really had nowhere else to go. So he was allowed to leave. Frank Burns leaving was a big OH DAMN spot as the shows 1st , 5 seasons was geared around those clashes. Now he was gone. But the show was morphing as they decided to bring in another solid casting choice in David Ogden Stiers. He would play a very good surgeon (unlike Frank) who knew his skills , loved classical music and was pretty arrogant at times in Charles Emerson Winchester III.

New clashes became in new ways as Winchester III was more of a match against the 2 than Burns ever was. His arrogance would also cost him too. Which is how he ended up at the 4077 in his debut.

The show should have died , losing 3 main characters within 2 seasons would be a major blow. But M.A.S.H cast well , created new dynamics and kept the series running on. They bumped one recurring cast member who created huge laughs from his silliness in Klinger to a main cast member after season 3 and it also helped too. In all ...M.A.S.H did well with recasting.

In the end long running shows will do this at times. Bonanza failed with Will Cartwright , Jamie and Griff King for sure. But they hit hold with Candy. Had they worked it better and Blocker not sadly died suddenly who knows if Griff would have been a long term cast member or if they'd went and worked things better. With M.A.S.H they showed they could replace 3 stars with good casting and kept rolling.

[Powerboy]

I don't even remember Will Cartwright though I remember Guy Williams, of course, who would go on to be John Robinson in "Lost in Space".

But Mash was the god of cast changes. It wasn't just that the audience accepted each cast change. It was that the new cast members were better than the characters they replaced and made the show even better and more popular.

[Gaastra]

Marilyn from the munsters.


Darrin from bewitched


Superboy from superboy


The pilot from airwolf


On the other hand you had troy and vance for the dukes of hazard. (that didn't work)

[Jokerz79]

Smallville changed their cast drastically by the end and while I loved Lex and Lana on the show I'm one of those weirdo's that likes the later seasons.

Oh Seaquest while not on long did major changed between season 1 and 2.

[Carabas]

Doctor Who switches out entire casts every few years.

Blakes 7kicked out Blake after two series and replaced him with a wet blanket.

[tkitna]

The most famous cast change ever,,,,,the two Darrens from Bewitched.

[tkitna]

Of course there was the Dukes Of Hazzard with Coy and Vance replacing Bo and Luke due to a money dispute,

[Osiris-Rex]

Becky on Rosanne. First played by Lecy Goranson and later by Sarah Chalke.

[Osiris-Rex]

Jimmy Olsen on Lois & Clark.

First Michael Landes


Then Justin Whalin

[Osiris-Rex]

Lois Lane on Adventures of Superman

First Phyllis Coates


Then Noel Neill

[Jokerz79]

The most famous cast change ever,,,,,the two Darrens from Bewitched.

Best TV land commercial I ever saw was them saying "Darren 1, Darren 2, we don't see the big deal they're both Dicks."

[Kusanagi]

Fresh Pince of Bel Air

"Does Aunt Viv look different to you?"



aunt-viv-1490781971-list-handheld-0.jpg

[DrNewGod]

I don't even remember Will Cartwright though I remember Guy Williams, of course, who would go on to be John Robinson in "Lost in Space".

But Mash was the god of cast changes. It wasn't just that the audience accepted each cast change. It was that the new cast members were better than the characters they replaced and made the show even better and more popular.

M*A*S*H had the good sense to actually replace characters instead of just having a different actor playing the same character under another name. There were a couple of stories regarding Winchester that made me wonder if the scripts had been inventory written for Burns, but on the whole, they let the new characters grow in their own direction, and most importantly, adapted the rest of the ensemble to the changes.

[Starter Set]

The most famous cast change ever,,,,,the two Darrens from Bewitched.

The Dicks.

[Powerboy]

The most famous cast change ever,,,,,the two Darrens from Bewitched.

I just bought the Bewitched series on DVD and still didn't think of that, maybe because it was such a smooth transition. It is amazing that people accepted it after York had played the role for, I think, five seasons. I'll bet the cast and crew thought it would be the end of the show but it ran three more seasons.

Speaking of smooth transitions, when they substituted Noel Neill for Phyllis Coates in the second season of "Adventures of Superman", I went some time after watching the first season and starting the second and it took me most of the season before I thought, "Hey, wait a minute."