Dr. Woodard and others

[Nelson Collins]

I am gradually making my way through the dvd sets. I am on Set 4 now and Dr. Woodard has just died.  I was curious about why Dr. Woodard was recast, then I read in Robert Derringer's IMDB listing that he was recast because he refused to cross a picket line.  Does anyone have any other details about that?  I loved Robert Derringer and his character's struggles to wrap his head around the whole Barnabas/Maggie/Sarah/Willie/David supernatural vs. science problem, and while Peter Turgeon was competent in the role, Dave didn't last long enough for me to really warm to the new actor.

This kinda brings me to another question:  Who all was recast and why?  I know some of the answers.  The actor originally playing Willie was way to unsympathetic (he really creeped me out!), Mitchell Ryan (Burke 1) had a drinking problem IIRC and poor Sherrif Patterson! He must have been recast so often I have begun to think he was an early victim of the Michael Jackson syndrome (ie, addicted to plastic surgery )  With regard to Vickies 2 & 3 (I have yet to see any episodes with them), I seem to recall that they disappeared pretty quickly.  Were these attempts to see if the audience would accept someone else as Victoria, and audience reaction dictated that they wouldn't?

[michael c]

i only know that the actor who played the eagle hill cemetery caretaker was replaced for refusing to cross the same picket line.when both the re-cast actors appear together in an ep. where [spoiler]dr. woodard confronts the caretaker about barnabas collins it lacks impact because these were not the actors we were used to.for that reason also i think the ep. where barnabas and julia kill dr. woodard would have been better with r.geringer because he and g.hall had played so many scenes together,[/spoiler] it was hard to get emotionaly involved with an actor who only appered in a couple eps.

[Midnite]

I was curious about why Dr. Woodard was recast, then I read in Robert Derringer's IMDB listing that he was recast because he refused to cross a picket line.  Does anyone have any other details about that?

Nelson, you might find the following discussion topic about Robert Gerringer interesting, starting with this post:

Re: Dr. Woodard

[Nelson Collins]

Nelson, you might find the following discussion topic about Robert Gerringer interesting

Thanks very much!  Very interesing.

[Devlin66]

and lets not forget the benevolent Dr. Dave Woodard and his admirable bedside manner when Haskell and Sam came to the hospital to demand info on Maggies condition after her ordeal as Barn captive........he had just delivered twins in adjacent operating room but still managed to keep his cool.........just think......twins in collinsport......

[Nelson Collins]

I gonna post this here since, it's somewhat related.  I was just musing this morening on the mysterious Burke Devlin.  I know he was killed off in a plane crash near oh, what what the name of that city in Brazil?   But why?  To weed out some of the cast?  The viewers weren't taking to the Vicki Burke romance and/or Anthony George? To facilitate the progression of the Barnabas/Vicki/Josette plot?

Speaking of Burke (and veering a little off topic),It's almost a pity that Barnabas was just as surpised by Burke's plane going down as the rest of the family.  It would be very like him at that time to "arrange" a fatal accident to get Burke out of the way, even if it did kill a few others at the same time.

[Raineypark]

Speaking of Burke (and veering a little off topic),It's almost a pity that Barnabas was just as surpised by Burke's plane going down as the rest of the family.  It would be very like him at that time to "arrange" a fatal accident to get Burke out of the way, even if it did kill a few others at the same time.

"Arrange a fatal accident"?

This is Barnabas we're talking about here....not Tony Soprano.

Not that Barnabas was any less callous about rising body counts, come to think of it. 

[Julia99]

Dr W #2 and GH did have good chemistry that would've been particularly poignant had RG continued in the role.  RG was convincing in heralding Julia's brillance .. .and you felt he had affection for her as well and she him . .not so with Bunnie (Dr W #3).

[Patti Feinberg]

This is Barnabas we're talking about here....not Tony Soprano. 

lolololololLOLOLOLOL

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks RaineylololololROFL!!!!

[Heather]

Dr W #2 and GH did have good chemistry that would've been particularly poignant had RG continued in the role.  RG was convincing in heralding Julia's brillance .. .and you felt he had affection for her as well and she him . .not so with Bunnie (Dr W #3).

I agree with that wholeheartedly; in fact, I even wrote a scenerio where Dr. W is an integral part of Julia's mysterious backstory. Well, that's another subject for another day....

[michael c]

I gonna post this here since, it's somewhat related.  I was just musing this morening on the mysterious Burke Devlin.  I know he was killed off in a plane crash near oh, what what the name of that city in Brazil?   But why?  To weed out some of the cast?  The viewers weren't taking to the Vicki Burke romance and/or Anthony George? To facilitate the progression of the Barnabas/Vicki/Josette plot?

i believe the name of the city was belam .i've heard that anthony george wanted out of the show.also,it's sad to say that perhaps burke no longer served a purpose on the show.remember,he was originally the show's bad-ass,but when b. arrived the collins family had a new menace and the show went in a different direction.the barnabas/burke/vicki triangle was good but only could have lasted so long.but burke's body wasn't identified at the crash site so perhaps the writers were leaving an opening for him to  return at some point that never played out.

[Patti Feinberg]

perhaps burke no longer served a purpose on the show.remember,he was originally the show's bad-ass,but when b. arrived the collins family had a new menace and the show went in a different direction.the barnabas/burke/vicki triangle was good but only could have lasted so long.but burke's body wasn't identified at the crash site so perhaps the writers were leaving an opening for him to  return at some point that never played out.

mscbryk, what a good point of view; I hadn't thought of that.

What did A. George go onto next?

Patti

[Joeytrom]

I think Anthony George chose to leave DS while playing Jeremiah Collins.  They probably at the time were temporarily writing Burke out of the picture because they didn't know what to do with him anymore.

Had AG stayed, it would have been nice to see Burke return in the midst of the Cassandra/Nicholas/Adam story and how Burke would interacted with them.

[Misa]

I think it would have been better if they could have kept Burke. His character added so much to the stories. It is nice to read fan stories where Burke returns.

Misa

[Devlin66]

[spoiler]yes.....to have Burke come back and claim his son David---IMO------would of been an interesting turn......Roger never wanted him anyway---IMO[/spoiler]