Who knows, look at the rampant speculation with Tammin Sursok and Y&R, who people still believe had connections at Sony. Why would Sony dump her on Y&R, when they could on a TV show or movie they produce?

I thought there was a lot of speculation that Leon's firing was also due to weight gain, not just Sursok having a friend at Sony.

You never know why someone is cast, but with Disney owning ABC for 15 years now, I'd think we would have seen this type of thing happen more often on the ABC soaps.

We still have no clear answers what went down between Garrett and GH. All I know is the cast-members have overwhelmingly come out supporting him. I think they would have kept quiet and said nothing at all if he was trouble on set or screwed up in some way. I don't know if it's accurate to say he screwed up, since we have no clear information as to why it happened anyway, especially when he was in the role for a year and they could have easily replaced him when his first contract cycle came up.

Surely, some info on this matter would have leaked by now, but it hasn't...

This Disney thing is just one of many speculations thrown out there...

+1

This recast is an EPIC FAIL.

You never know why someone is cast, but with Disney owning ABC for 15 years now, I'd think we would have seen this type of thing happen more often on the ABC soaps.

Who knows, corporate interference seems to have gotten stronger over the past 5 years or so. Though, even with that, a lot of these "writers" and "producers" were hacks even before that effects of corporate interference set in.

If Disney wanted Chad Duell to happen, Chad Duell would have his own sitcom or TV movie in the works. At the very least, he would play leading man opposite the latest Miley/Selena/Demi type in a sitcom or TV movie.

Exactly. Apparently, all powerful Disney would choose to put its budding "STAR" in a two bit role on a network soap opera instead of placing him in his own series on one of their many other high profile cable networks or give him a starring role in a movie with one of their teen princesses. Disney is so powerful, but they let GH's cast director choose an unknown actor over their "STAR." I can't even imagine why their "STAR" has to audition in the first place. I am for indulging in soap gossip and rumor, but for goodness sake it should have some resemblance to logic.

Who said Duell was a "budding star?" A lot of actors, no matter unknown they are, have development deals with networks and production companies and sometimes have to start their way up from the bottom before they progress atop. I don't know whether that's the case with Duell, and I don't know when or if he auditioned originally for GH.

Has he talked about auditioning for GH? Was GH sending out feelers about recasting Michael weeks or months before it happened? It all seemed so sudden. Strange we never heard anything about it, when we did when Kelly Monaco was under tense contract negotiations and they sent out feelers to actresses to audition for the recast of the Sam character.

I think people assume he must be seen as a budding star if they would fire an established and popular actor just to give him a role, if the idea is that Drew Garrett was only fired to give Duell a job.

Edited April 20, 201015 yr by CarlD2

It's a fair assumption, but I also see people claiming Garett screwed up or caused trouble, hence why he was fired. But where is the proof in that?

I really don't think Maurice Benard, Laura Wright, Nancy Lee Grahn, Lexi Ainsworth, and Steve Burton had anything to gain by coming out and saying how shocked, and in Maurice's case, disappointed that Garrett was fired if he was indeed screwing up or causing trouble or had some type of bad reputation.

I'd like some info before I jump on the "Garett screwed up or caused trouble" bandwagon. But, again, we really know nothing about this situation, hence the rapid speculation.

Edited April 20, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

It's a fair assumption, but I also see people claiming Garett screwed up or caused trouble, hence why he was fired. But where is the proof in that?

I agree with you, but there are other backstage issues besides causing trouble. Guza and JFP have huge egos and you never know what will set them off. Since Guza and JFP came onboard, how many young actors have been fired from the show after only a year or two during their run? Or they may have recast Michael because they wanted to get away from the very nasty turn the character has taken.

I guess there could be a lot of reasons.

My theory is that it's possible that Duell and/or his people shoehorned him into the show, but to me, it seems more likely that TPTB at GH just had issues with Garrett that were out of his hands/not his fault.

But then I remember this is GH, a show that I've rarely given a damn about in my 10 years of watching soaps...so yeah.

Over the past 5-6 years, GH has dumped so many actors, or had weird hate for them that had nothing to do with anything they brought to the table (Greg Vaughan, Billy Warlock, Rick Hearst). Or among the younger men, there's Jesse, Coop, Logan, etc.

Edited April 20, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I don't see the "Disney star" stuff either. It's not like Frons has a history of pushing Disney actors into teen roles on soaps. If they were casting based on what would appeal to tweens than they'd have cast someone better looking than Drew, not as awkward looking. Maybe they just wanted to recast the role if they are changing Michael's personality or story around. I guess we'll see if the character continues to be a tic-laden, woman-hating sociopath.

EXACTLY!

Also, why on earth would Disney want their "star" of two movies to be on a lowly soap opera?" I swear, some soap fans have a totally unrealistic of how soap operas are viewed in the industry. If Disney so desperately want their "star" of two movies to be on a soap opera, they would made sure he got the job from the start. He was up for the role of Michael originally. Something clearly happened behind the scenes with Drew Garrett so he was fired.

Thank you. I agree.

Over the past 5-6 years, GH has dumped so many actors, or had weird hate for them that had nothing to do with anything they brought to the table (Greg Vaughan, Billy Warlock, Rick Hearst). Or among the younger men, there's Jesse, Coop, Logan, etc.

They did have issues with Josh Duhon tho.

Also, if there was an issue what makes people think it would leak? Plenty of things go on that we never here about. True, we do hear about A LOT, but im sure its far from everything.

This is making me laugh! Raven-Symone? Disney STAR! Zac Efron? Disney STAR! Chad Duell? Who?!

This is making me laugh! Raven-Symone? Disney STAR! Zac Efron? Disney STAR! Chad Duell? Who?!

LOL exactly.

Now if they got the Zach and Cody twins to share the role of Michael, then I think we'd have something...

LOL exactly.

Now if they got the Zach and Cody twins to share the role of Michael, then I think we'd have something...

YUCK!

But I love The Suite Life!