Recasts on shows: good, bad, in between

[vetsoapfan]

Mulgrew did return years later, as a "ghost" during the years Yasmine Bleeth played her daughter. KM agreed to participate in the show's finale as well. The idea of reprising the role temporarily must not have been distasteful to her. I guess we'll never know for sure if TPTB approached her about coming back for Mary's death storyline, but it would have been so much more meaningful and effective if an actress we knew and loved in the role had been playing her in that end. With NG, I felt no loss when Mary Ryan passed. (And I might have cheered if the character had died while KT was there, LOL!)

 

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Edited August 1, 2021 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

I remembered now - she had suggested they kill Mary off when she left. I guess they decided not to as they had successfully recast some other key roles, but they should have taken her up on it. 

It was very classy of her to maintain such a good opinion of the show that she returned so many times (I think she also returned for some scenes in 1982 or 1983).

I know it shouldn't have been funny, but the show returning to flashbacks of her very, very soon after Mary was killed - even though she had left the role 2 years earlier - said it all.

[vetsoapfan]

Ryan's Hope's recasts were a mixed bag. Some were great, but certain others were dreadful. I thought Daniel Hugh Kelly was excellent as Frank, but John Blazo just creeped me out as Pat Ryan.

Anyway, TPTB using flashbacks of Mulgrew after Mary died was the right decision. It helped cement her as "the real Mary" in the Ryan's Hope universe. (Which, of course, she was!)

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[danfling]

Ryan's Hope had some very unsuccessful re-casts.

 

However, I did like John Blazo as Dr. Pat Ryan #2.     I liked all of the Pats, I think.   I guess I just liked the character.

[Chris 2]

Pat was originally supposed to be the quiet, introspective Ryan brother, in contrast to his charismatic politician brother Frank. The problem was: the original Frank was a block of wood. And Malcolm Groome, as Pat, was more happy-go-lucky. So they wrote the roles to Groome’s strengths.

By the time Groome left, they actually had the charismatic Frank they always wanted, so they went back to the original concept of a more introspective Pat when they hired John Blazo. But it was too jarring, to go from Groome’s version to Blazo’s.

 

I think they had more misses (Andrew Robinson, Carrell Myers, Ann Gillespie, John Blazo, Robert Finnocolli. Patrick James Clarke, Kathleen Tolan, Nicolette Goulet) than hits (Daniel Hugh Kelly, Geoff Pierson, John Sanderford, Marg Helgenberger) when it came to recasting the Ryan children. There were several successful Franks and a couple of Siobhans, while Pat and Mary were never successfully recast. I did think that Barbara Blackburn, the final Siobhan, had a lot of potential but the show ended before she could realize that potential.

Clearly done to wash the bad taste of the awful Mary recasts out of our mouths.

[DRW50]

I liked John Blazo (I thought he had dreamlike qualities that fit the part and he had believable chemistry with his family members, especially Sarah Felder), but even though Groome's Pat was subdued by the time he left, I do think it was jarring. What really hurt was how poor most of the stories were. I'm still bewildered by the scenes where he and Nana Visitor were in bed talking about how they looked like brother and sister. 

[vetsoapfan]

After all the painful recasts of Alice Frame on Another World, I was relieved that when the character returned for her final three stints (1984-5, the show's 25th anniversary and then for Mac's funeral), the part was played by Jacqueline Courtney. And when Mickey Horton and Bill Horton died on DAYS, the flashbacks used were of John Clarke and Edward Mallory. It all helped wash the bad taste of poor recasts out of the audience's mouth. Just like, as you say, with Mary Ryan. And having Kate Mulgrew participate in Ryan's Hope's final episode was a special treat for fans. 

[safe]

In one of Kate Mulgrew's books-  she said she knew soap opera work wasn't going to fulfill her. She said that the show wouldn't  give her time off to do other projects. This was hard to understand since they gave Nancy Addison time off the film the Dain's Curse and Helen Gallagher  got  time off to take a working vacation on an Oriental cruise.

Helen and Kathleen had portrayed mother and daughter in a play together and she had brought Kathleen in to read for the role of Siobhan. Instead, they cast her as Mary.

In a 2008 blogtalkradio interview, Malcolm Groome said that several months after the show began they changed Pat closer to Malcolm's personality when they changed Pat from a "love 'em and leave 'em " playboy to a nice guy type.

On the old Soapnet forum, it was interesting to hear from people who started watching the show after Pat was sent to Texas. Patrick James Clarke was their first Pat and they liked him and were sorry to see him go.  They came to like Malcolm, too, of course. Some press reports also felt that PJC was really starting to make Pat his own when he was replaced.

Edited August 2, 2021 by safe

[Marissa Gallant]

To me, it's a tie between Jed Allan and Judith McConnell. If either of them had been different, it would have failed.

Worst SB was anyone except Lane Davies. Mason was Davies, the rest were posers.

All time Great recast- Victoria Wyndham as Rachel. Also LOVE Robert Hogan as Vince. And I liked all of the Vicky's and Marleys. 

And I stopped watching Days decades ago, but it still bothers me that Chris Kostichek is running around pretending to be Roman Brady and no one has said anything about it. 

I did think Drake Hogesten(spelling is wrong) as Roman was a great choice. But then he became John, so not sure if that counts as a recast or not? Days history gets very confusing.  Lol

[j swift]

Let's discuss Trevor St John as a recast Todd.  First it was such an interesting move to recast the role.  There was that podcast recently that discussed the phenomenon of Todd, including Roger Howarth's dilemma of having a distaste for the role while being financially dependent to OLTL to help raise his young family.  Obviously Blair could have been written to find many other loves, and as I recall, Tea had already left the show.  So, there was no need to recast the role, especially given that plots about his retcon status as a Lord heir could have been given to Tina, or even David (also I never understood the soapy logic that heirs found after the death and the probate are entitled to any money).

I never liked Trevor as Todd.  He was handsome and wore clothes very well, yet brooding was one of the only emotions that he could play.  In the Wiki someone referred to him as a "young Brando", but Trevor only mimicked Brando yelling as Stanley in Streetcar and never showed any range.   I thought his acting during Star's teen-aged pregnancy was awful, the angry outbursts through gritted teeth were far too over the top for a story that was trying to be socially conscience.  His rape by Margret was not only terribly concieved, but also totally unbelievably portrayed, given his lack of any vulnerability or sincerity.

It goes without saying that the writing in both the "rapemance" with Marty and Walker Laurence plots were egregious.  However, I would argue that the writing alone was not at fault for the failure of those stories, because Trevor did not do enough to sell emotions of Todd in order for the audience to understand his motives.   

However, I would forgive all of that for the writing around the return of Roger/Todd, which I still think was one of the most creative plots on OLTL.  The "meta" nature of Todd's disbelief that his loved one's accepted Victor Jr's story was almost revolutionary.  Finally, a soap character was remarking on the idea of how ludicrous soap stories can be and how quickly people in soap towns move on from trauma and upheaval.  I think the St John years were worth it for those few scenes that I still remember fondly.

Edited August 6, 2021 by j swift

[Wendy]

I respectfully disagree. Lane Davies wanted out. I LOVED his Mason most of all, but I really think, for the time, Gordon Thomson did a good job. (Terry Lester was...okay, but he was involved in a lot of wacky hijinx during his brief time, and he looked more like Sophia's son than Pamela's.)

I did really like how GT's Mason reacted to Eden's "death" after she fell from that cliff and went after the shrink (same shrink involved with the Julia/Dash mess) at The Oasis. And GT's Mason was all about Julia, which I loved. Even when with Cassie. Had Julia crooked her finger, Mason would have dropped Cassie like a hot potato - which is exactly what happened.

LD's Mason and Julia were SCORCHING. It was that version that got me so into them! But LD's Mason always seemed to have a foot in the past with Mary, so I liked that, with GT, Julia was his one and only.

And when Eden/Lisa was coming apart, I remember the scene at the Capwell mansion when Eden passionately defended Mason to CC, and even ripped CC for it. It was never explicitly said, but I think, by that time, Eden probably knew Mason understood her plight, both because of Pamela and his own DID with Sonny, etc.

[Marissa Gallant]

And you are allowed to disagree. I honestly don't know as much about the recasts because by 88, I was in college and had no tv. (And FAR too many credits) And by the time summer of 89 rolled in, I didn't recognize anything.

But I will defend Judith McConnell against anyone.

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Edited August 7, 2021 by Marissa Gallant
Spelling

[Liberty City]

While I love Judith McConnell, I do wonder how Rosemary Forsyth would've faired as Sophia out of the Dominic disguise.

These two were GOLDEN recasts, and I completely agree re: Christina Bennett Lind. She matured Bianca and actually made me like the character. She was marvelously cast in the role and her chemistry with the entire cast was excellent. These scenes proved Lind could've handled some of Eden Riegel's previous material, and I would have loved to have seen some actual reenacting of those scenes.

[Soaplovers]

Mary C channeled Kate Mulgrew's mannerisms and had similar looks.  That helped the audience..and just as she started making the character her own..as well as developing her own rapport with Michael Levin, she was dropped.  She vs Siobhan would have been interesting..imho.

 

[Marissa Gallant]

We will never know. And to me JM is pure perfection in her chemistry with the whole cast. And of course, even better once they finally got CC right.