Original Actor vs. Recast.

[Cheap21]

me too. She was a bitch and she owned it, unlike LK's Theresa who they always tried to make sympathetic and justify her heinous actions

[DeeeDee]

...Seriously?

[quartermainefan]

I can always see the original actor, provided I saw them originally. I watched GH all these years and Jonathan Jackson was not Lucky, and then one day he was Lucky again and it took all of a half a second for me to see him as Lucky. I remember the same thing years ago on OLTL when Max was now played by this more genteel, effete guy. And then one day the old Max was back and not even a pause for me, he was Max. I love John Ingle as Edward Quartermaine, but if by magic David Lewis appeared alive and playing Edward, it wouldn't even take me a beat to adjust. I always give extra weight to the originals because they created the roles and always find it interesting when people say they can no longer see the original actor in the role they created. I guess Brenda Dickson is the classic example here. She created Jill on Y&R and people say they can no longer see her as Jill. I don't care one way or another, but if I were Brenda and they said this to my face I would say "you can't see me playing Jill? I AM Jill, who the hell are you? Without me there would be no Jill and you can't see me??? It is to laugh I say!"

I wish there were clips somewhere of Gillian Spencer as Viki on OLTL, that would be interesting to see.

[DeeeDee]

Terry Lester & Eileen Davidson.

Real Jack & Real Ashley.

[Jay]

You don't think?

[DeeeDee]

Jive? Davetta?

[SFK]

There's an episode of her at the Paley Center, I watched it a few years ago. She doesn't have an awful lot to do, her scenes concern Meredith. But it is cool to see Viki and alive-not-a-flashback Victor interacting. It's in color too, not a kinescope. I can only judge from that one ep, but she played Viki rather prim and composed, I can totally imagine her growing into the more laid back Viki we see Erika play today with that energy she brought to Daisy as recently as Palmer's memorial.

[SFK]

Jive ass motherfuckeress is what Davetta would call Christel.

[DRW50]

I love Jerry ver Dorn but I have rarely been able to buy that Clint Ritchie's Clint would have done most of what JvD's Clint has done, especially the deporting Langston, and the gun-waving-as-comic-relief, and everything with Dorian, Nora, and Kim. The only similarity I see is when he has scenes with his kids. Even then I can't see CR's Clint allowing Jessica to run around like a damn fool to play 16 Again.

Sometimes the original actor is meaningless if the material is not there. JJ's return -- Lucky is as pointless as he has been ever since 2000. Gina Tognoni's return -- Kelly is still a waste of space.

I couldn't imagine poor Jennifer Gatti or Paige Turco playing the material Moniz and Tognoni had as Dinah.

[Quent]

On ATWT, I don't see Margaret Colin playing Margo Hughes the way they write her now. She was fantastic in the role, but she was softer than the hard-boiled cop the character is now. However, I can easily see Hillary Smith playing the role, even though she wouldn't have the wonderful Ben Hendrickson (Hal) to bounce off of.

As for Lily, not only can I see her in the role today, I can see ONLY her in the role. It's a crime in these last few months that we won't see Martha in a scene with Jon Hensley and , especially, Elizabeth Hubbard.

[DaytimeFan]

Recasts are hit and miss. The big issue is that the best ones are few and far between and there hasn't been a great recast in at least a decade.

Jess Walton, as most will already know, is my choice Jill Abbott. Brenda Dickson isn't capable, as an actress, of taking Jill to the 2 Emmys that Jess did. Lauren Koslow, again, is my choice Kate Roberts. The reason for that is I am 100% convinced that if Adair had remained in the role Kate would have been written off the canvas ten years ago. Adair is a subtler actress, but subtle can be boring too. Koslow SELLS her material, she inexhaustible, she always looks like she's having a good time with Kate.

[Jay]

Compared to CK? Oh, yeah.

[SFK]

Moniz will always be "my" Dinah only because she coincides with when I watched the show the most, and while GT is great, there is something a little *studied* about her acting like wasn't quite as charming and natural as Wendy. I said this many moons ago and I've seen it repeated elsewhere, but Wendy was my choice for Kendall recast years before we even knew who Alicia Minshew was.

You know, I tend to think that I've accepted JvD as Clint, then I'll watch an old clip on YouTube and get so tickled watching CR giving Dorian hell or getting cranky with Pa, Viki, or the kids. He was just perfect. I have a harder time buying those ornery qualities from JvD who seems more like Clint's sophisticated cousin.

[DRW50]

I thought Wendy was a great bitch but when they tried to make her a tortured heroine I had to quit watching the show. Making her a bitch was one of the best things Rauch did.

I usually just see JvD's Clint as a new character, and focus on JvD's talent, not so much what Clint has become.

I thought Andrea Evans did a great job of returning Tina to what she once was, which was not easy, since Tina had been butchered beyond belief over the years and to make matters even more confusing, most of Andrea's return involved stories she was never involved in, like Cain Rogan. It's too bad she didn't get any credit for how seamlessly she managed to combine the various Tinas. Instead she was dumped

Cassie is another character who changed heavily based on the actor. Ava Haddad seems like a strong Cassie, whereas Holly Gagnier was written as more slutty, and Laura Koffman was more of a whiny and victimish Cassie.

Elaine Princi did a good job with some aspects of Dorian, the social climbing and the gloss. Then when they gave her the Blair and Addie story to bring back her demons, she did a great job. She never got a lot of credit for that.

GH seems to be one of those shows where characters are so often gutted through biased or poor writing, bringing back the original actor doesn't matter. JJ's return, Kristina Wagner's return, Tyler Christopher's return, Robyn Richards's return.

[DeeeDee]

Marie Osmond is jive compared to CK.

The weird thing is the more Cramer Women OLTL introduces the more she becomes the real rock of the family.