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?