BTG: First-ever role recast!

[Soapsuds]

Thanks!!

[Alan]

KP has always been my gold standard for worst recast, especially following the magnificent Aubrey Dollar. I remember fans roasting her when said in an interview that she watched GL from its beginning, haha.

[Liberty City]

That's two different mediums of production; the American daytime soap genre is vastly different from the Australian/British genre of production, so to compare the two is an unfair one because they'll never be the same. And there have been times where there's been a gap of air between one recast to another, and vice versa.

[ranger1rg]

He did not come across as kind of fey.

[NothinButAttitude]

Brittany Underwood or Kelly Missal would be my choices for Ashley recast.

For Derek, Tyler Johnson, who played Theo on Y&R wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't mind Darin Brooks. Or Robert Gorrie. Or Matt Atkinson. 

Edited March 22 by NothinButAttitude

[Liberty City]

No. Major downgrades. MAJOR!

[Alan]

What factors do you think make US soaps more likely to quickly recast than to give characters played by exiting actors some time away from the story?

In the case of Ted, he is still needed to finish out the current storyline, and will probably continue to play a major role beyond the Leslie story. It leads me to believe that there were special circumstances surrounding the recast.

In other circumstances, when you know months in advance that an actor is leaving and you have the opportunity to write an exit story, I think the better choice is let the character go, at least for a while. It's less likely to incur viewer backlash from an inferior recast and with time, the actor may decide to come back. That's why I prefer the UK approach.

[NothinButAttitude]

Well, I beg to differ. 

Brittany was solid on OLTL from start to end, and Kelly carried OLTL 2.0. 

Those two actresses can add that much-needed flame to Ashley, who is a drip of a character. 

[Liberty City]

Again, we don't know why this recast took place, but it's very obvious he isn't needed to finish out the current storyline; it's a different ballpark on American soaps in comparison to international ones. It just is. It's much more commonplace to recast in American soaps, which admittedly, is likely part of why the genre gets its poor reputation.

But we don't know if the actor chose to leave (whether in advance or not) or if it was a production decision at the conclusion of a 13-week contract cycle. All we know is that a casting switch has taken place, which we'll see on screens come the month of May (due to the soap's taping schedule). Again, international soaps are more likely to rest a character over American soaps. Again, it's a different beast entirely. It always has been and it always will be, unfortunately.

Underwood sucks; Missal was good based on the horridness of OLTL 2.0 that I endured (and I did not watch OLTL 1.0 as I did not like that soap at all), but she'd be wrong for the role of Ashley, which I don't see requiring a recast at all.

[NothinButAttitude]

Again... your opinion. 

[Vee]

Now I've got to see her.

Kelley Missal was excellent on OLTL 2.0 and carried the show even while a lot of the youth set material meandered. She was a force of nature in the show's great tradition of fiery heroines going from Melissa Archer to Susan Haskell to Jessica Tuck, Andrea Evans, Fiona Hutchison or Judith Light, etc. But I wouldn't want her stuck playing Ashley on BTG, which is to me a pretty thankless role at present. Brittany Underwood could do it well IMO - she's talented but can play a B-player support part without seeming totally stifled. I find both vastly superior to Jen Jacob, sorry. So far she's the most colorless heroine I've seen since someone like Willow or Sasha on GH, and frankly they've both got more presence (and in the case of Willow recently, some edge).

Edited March 22 by Vee

[Alan]

We are talking about Ted, the character right? Not the actor? I think the character is absolutely needed to finish up the Leslie story. Otherwise the emotional impact of Eva being revealed as his daughter would be muted. Nicole, Martin, Kat, and the rest of the family would have no reason to interact with Leslie and Eva if Ted is absent.

In other words when to recast is a question of local convention rather than medium. Which was my original point. I think the comparison is fair.

[Vee]

Just kill him. But I'd dump both characters tbh and bring on new ones. Lord knows soap operas aren't lacking for potential white people!

[John]

Maybe Maurice found the shooting a soap difficult 

Edited March 22 by John

[Soapsuds]

Good choices!!