The superior recast

[thomaswak]

Recasting is a real headache for fans (surely for producers too)

OG and NU Dynasty had their share of recasts and all the time, most fans feel (right or wrong) that the replacement version is never as good as the original one.

OG :
As lunch as I love Emma Samms, she is an inferior Fallon (even if she shinned in season 9). Same for Steven. He never reaches Al Corley's take on the character (sure the writing did not help).
Amanda & Adam recast were a joke or/and really forgettable.

NU :
Each new NU Cristal is less popular than the previous one.
And if many fans thinks Elaine Hendrix is doing ok to good with Alexis, the majority seems to prefer Nicollette Sheridan's bitchy acting.

Dallas :
Donna Reed's Miss Elie was really unpopular

My question is : do you have in mind, a recast that was better than the original one ? Or at least as good. By recast, I mean an actor taking over an established role. Not an actor taking over a 1 or 2 episodes role (like Jenna Wade or Gary Ewing in Dallas or Suzanne in Friends). And I also rule out Doctor Who...

 

[tommie]

I prefer both the current Cristal and Alexis to the old ones.

 

[thomaswak]

I equally like Nicollette & Elaine, and I tend to prefer Daniella than Ana Brenda
But that's not the point. I was talking about the majority, the mainstream audience. Not the soap freaks like me.

 

[DallasFanForever]

If we’re including daytime soaps then I would throw out there Peter Bergman taking over the role of Jack Abbott from Terry Lester on Y&R. At the time I don’t think many fans were too thrilled about it but I think the majority warmed up to Peter and now I’d say he’s synonymous with the role. Sadly I don’t think most people other than the older hardcore fans remember Terry Lester in the role, which is a shame cause he was a fine actor as well.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I really wish Ana Brenda would have stayed in the role of Cristal. Obviously I don't want her to stay if she doesn't want to, but she seemed to have that whole "Is she really being genuine, or is she scamming the whole family?" thing down pat. That said, Daniela Alonso has done just fine with the retooled version, where her motives/feelings are much more easily determined. I'm not sure they would have written A-BC's Cristal this way, so it is really like a new take on the character rather than a seamless recast. This "new take on the character" recast is so prevalent on daytime soaps that soaps actually will publicize the fact that the recast was done to re-set a character, not because the original actor left/died/whatever.

I will say I liked the Second Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched better. But not the second Darrin.

 

[Willie Oleson]

SoapLand - The Battle Of - The Recasts - The Results | Forums for television shows past and present (tellytalk.net)

 

[Grant Jennings]

Mary Crosby replacing Colleen Camp as Kristin on Dallas, she was so good in the role most people have forgotten Camp.

I think Ted Shackleford was as good as David Ackroyd. I imagine Ackroyd would probably have done well on Knots Landing.

Replacing Jamie Rose with Dana Sparks on Falcon Crest worked for me because I found her believable as Maggie's daughter. Her change in appearance worked for me in a "Sabrina Fairchild returns from Paris with a chic makeover" way.

Delores Cantu didn't have a chance to make a real impression as Melissa on Falcon Crest with only one episode.

 

[tommie]

I really wish Ana Brenda would have stayed in the role of Cristal. Obviously I don't want her to stay if she doesn't want to, but she seemed to have that whole "Is she really being genuine, or is she scamming the whole family?" thing down pat. That said, Daniela Alonso has done just fine with the retooled version, where her motives/feelings are much more easily determined. I'm not sure they would have written A-BC's Cristal this way, so it is really like a new take on the character rather than a seamless recast. This "new take on the character" recast is so prevalent on daytime soaps that soaps actually will publicize the fact that the recast was done to re-set a character, not because the original actor left/died/whatever.

I will say I liked the Second Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched better. But not the second Darrin.

I think I prefer Daniela at the moment because she just comes off as a bit more mature and suitable to be married to Grant Show. Both Nathalie and Ana-Brenda did come off as a bit too young despite Daniela not exactly being more than maybe four-five years older than them. I feel like despite Krystle also being significantly younger on OG Dynasty Linda also came off as mature and hence the age difference never felt that weird.

 

[Grant Jennings]

I liked Ana Brenda but I didn't really feel that she was "present", I don't feel that with Daniela. Since I've learned of Ana Brenda's health issues/exhaustion this makes sense. I like that Cristal is complicated; having her wish Alexis dead - and even try to carry out a plan to kill her - but it troubling her conscience makes more sense to me than simply whopping her ass and being done.

 

[thomaswak]

I think that Margaret Michaels did a great job, as "post burnt Pam", in one Dallas episode. But we"ll never know if she would have been a great Pam in the long run.

About this, I realize that MANY actors don't want to "copy" previous incarnations of their characters. Sometimes, they don't even want to watch how the originals actors played the characters. It's like they really want to make the characters their own. For the best or the worst.

Margaret Michaels did the opposite, and tried to be Pam (as we knew the character) as much as she could. When she returned to Dallas as Jean O'Brien, she was not playing Pam obviously. Her acting seemed different and if it was on purpose, I think she did great again.

 

[thomaswak]

Also, I think Elaine Hendrix did it both ways : making the character her own (she's not trying to impersonate Nicollette's version) but she kept some of her mannerism in her first episodes :

- She touched Fallon's chin the same way than Nicollette did.
- In the Lilly pound fight agains C3, she kinda "wiped" the water like Nicollette did after she emerged from the swimming pool (catfight with Fallon).

Not much but they are nice touches.

 

[Daniel Avery]

But man, the way Liz Gillies channeled Nicolette's Alexis during the Fallexis storyline was incredible. Love it or hate it, Gillies ought to be commended for those performances.

 

[thomaswak]

But man, the way Liz Gillies channeled Nicolette's Alexis during the Fallexis storyline was incredible. Love it or hate it, Gillies ought to be commended for those performances.

I agree, the voice especially was spot on. When we had the "reveal" of the new face", I really thought that Nicollette was doing the voice over (which would have been cool). But it was all Gillies. She nailed it.