A soap opera temporary recast can be the worst of both worlds. It’s not the original actor you fell in love with, but it’s not someone you should get attached to, either. And just when you’ve gotten comfortable with them — bam, they’re gone!
My own personal story involves having started watching One Life To Live when Erika Slezak was out on maternity leave. The Viki I was initially invested in was Christine Jones. Slezak never felt right to me, even after 20 years. And I was very confused when Jones returned years later as Asa’s secret island wife, Pamela.
But I’m not the only one with such a tragic temporary recast backstory. There were the fans who actually preferred Jen Lilley as Maxie on General Hospital, or Deborah Adair as Jill on The Young and the Restless.
(Adair was once the regular recast Jill, and so filled in for a couple of days when the original Jill who’d returned to her role, Brenda Dickson, was out. This was all before Jess Walton took over permanently. Soaps are complicated.)
But enough about me. How do you feel about temporary recasts? Over 12,000 viewers shared their opinions!
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby
If an actor is temporarily out, such as when The Bold and the Beautiful’s Linsey Godfrey (Caroline) was hit by a car in 2015, 52% of you prefer the show just write them out, rather then try to sneak in an impostor.
Make Me An Offer
Sometimes recasts aren’t so bad, muse a different 38%. For instance, there was Kevin Bernhardt, who filled in for GH’s Jack Wagner as Frisco in 1984.
He proved so popular that the show brought him back as yet another character that same year. It really depends.
The Show Must Go On!
Soap storylines stop for no one, insist a minority 10%. You want to know what happens next, and if the original actor isn’t available, then bring on Marj Dusay, daytime’s favorite go-to recast.
Or even 60-year-old movie star Joan Crawford who, in 1968, filled in for a week for her ruptured-appenidx-stricken daughter Christina on The Secret Storm. Christina was 27 at the time.
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