Recasts on shows: good, bad, in between

[danfling]

Two good recasts were the late Ed Zimmerman as Dr. Joe Werner on The Guiding Light and the late Bibi Besch as Iris Donnelly Garrison on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

[te.]

I'd guess Tudi Wiggins as Meg on Love of Life might make the best list? I've watched her on Strange Paradise and she plays devious very well and it makes me curious about how she did on Love of Life as it sounds like a good role for her.

[Liberty City]

They really did; following List's time, it seems like TPTB just brought Lucy back as a pawn for story purposes, when she really should have stuck around.

[Chris 2]

I don’t get why Ann Gillespie left but I really loved Sarah Felder, so it was hard for me to see someone else in the role.

ABC wanted Mary Carney to go. RH actually handled her recast as well as possible. Carney was physically right for the role, and after she showed up, Mary went on the back burner for six months. Smart. The new Mary wasn’t shoved down our throats and viewers were given some time to adjust. But when Claire Labine was ready to bring Mary back to the front burner, ABC got nervous that Carney wasn’t “glamorous” enough and ordered the recast. Too bad, because I think she could have really grown into that role. Her immediate successor, Kathleen Tolan, is one of the worst recasts of all time. She wasn’t particularly attractive or charismatic, and worse, she could barely get her lines out without stumbling over them.

[John]

I agree on all of this. What was your take on Nicolette Goulet as Mary #4? She lasted the longest of all the recasts

[Chris 2]

I thought Nicolette Goulet was a striking-looking woman, just ultimately dull on RH. Certainly better than Kathleen Tolan but not nearly as good as Kate Mulgrew or even Mary Carney. She had no spark. And Mary Ryan was supposed to be a spark plug.

[amybrickwallace]

I agree. ABC never gave Mary Carney a chance. I would have liked to see what she could have done with meatier material.

[DemetriKane]

BEST

GH

Jen Lilly as Maxie Jones. I never been a diehard watcher of GH, but I was a regular viewer during this time. So I was aware of the previous actress and her popularity I just never got it. When Jen walked on the scene I fall in love with that character. Jen was just charismatic to me and just so hard to ignore. I was heartbroken when it was her time to go!

OLTL

Trever St. John as Todd Manning: His performance was my first view of Todd and first impressions are everything! This is his role, Periodt. People have bragged about the originator performance many times to me, I finally took a peek and wasn’t impressed. Once he returned and I still was underwhelmed.

AMC

Christina Bennett Lind as Bianca Montgomery: One of thee best recast I have ever witnessed. I didn’t miss Minnie Mouse one bit! CB played her so much more complex than Eden ever did. She felt older, mature and tougher. I liked all her major interactions with Kendall, Jr, Greens, etc. She fit right in as if she was always meant to be there and she was the missing piece if you ask me. I would kill to see her redo all Biancas major storylines I.e. the rape and Babyswitch.

in-between 

AMC

Sabine Singh as Greenlee Smythe: In my opinion she was doing a decent job in the role and unfairly let go when she finally found her groove. I know to most this wasn’t greenlee, but to me it was, somewhere along the way Greenlee became a heroine. Making her so baby obsessed and on/off with her supposedly true love is ingenue behavior IMHO.for the first time since Leo death I cared tay and had sympathy for the character. For years I found Rebecca to be overrated. She’s very cold, looks super mean and came  off like a cheap Paige mattheson.

[danfling]

I disagree with Chris 2 and AmyBrickWallace.     I loved Mary Carney, as they did.   However, after she was dismissed from the cast, I LOVED Kathleen Ryan Tolan as Mary #3.   She later became one of the writers of Loving.

[Xanthe]

The recast I remember being most disappointed by was Justin Chambers being replaced by Kevin McClatchy as Nick on Another World. And my favorite recast was Christine Tucci replacing Sandra Ferguson as Amanda Cory. 

[DemetriKane]

Worst

AMC

Sandra Quarterman as Angie Hubbard: She could never fill Debbi Morgan’s shoes. Very uninspired portrayal imo.

[vetsoapfan]

Mary Carney was both lovely and a good actress. It's a shame she was replaced. Kathleen Tolan, who was neither attractive nor a good actress. It was painful watching her constantly flubbing and stumbling over her lines. She had no chemistry with anyone. She probably lasted as long as she did because the show did not want to admit their mistake in hiring her. Of all the recasts among the main Ryan-family characters, KT was the worst.

[DRW50]

I think someone in the RH thread once said that Helen Gallagher recommended  Kathleen. If so that may be why she stayed as long as she did. I can still remember how bad she was at getting her words out, Nicolette Goulet also had that problem at times, although nowhere near as much. Still, it confused me because Mary was established as a very witty woman who cherished every word out of her mouth. Going from Kate Mulgrew to some women who could barely be heard was...odd.

[vetsoapfan]

Exactly. Then the show's going for a THIRD replacement, after Tolan, was ludicrous. They should have offered Mulgrew the MOON to return, even for a handful of episodes, and let her be the one who played the role upon Mary's death.

[DRW50]

The sad thing is I think Kate offered them that possibility at one point too.