Most shocking recast....

[IluvBarnabas]

I am curious, which change of actors did you have the hardest time getting adjusted to?

Personally all three came as a shock to me but for me it had to be the change from Roger Gerringer to Peter Turgeon as Dave Woodard.

[David]

How about Diana Walker as Carolyn?

David N

[BuzzH]

Didn't like the other two recasts listed either, or when they recast the Old Caretaker either, from Daniel Keyes to Peter Murphy(?) was it?

[MagnusTrask]

I only recently became aware that VW was recast.   That seems insane.    Woodard was surreal though, especially if you know what's going to happen to him.   And the actor looked completely different.    Imagine a relative in the hospital, then you go in one day and she'd been recast.  Someone else was in bed with tubes and everything, thanking you for coming to visit.    You know?    You want to care but can't help but be disoriented or mad, or something.

[Gothick]

I personally felt the Woodard recast did the most damage because Peter Turgeon, no doubt through no fault of his own, just did not capture the audience's sympathy in the way Robert Gerringer did in that role.  Gerringer was perfect as the family MD (those of you who are over 45 may recall that now mythical being of once-upon-a-time) way out of his depth determined to find out the truth.  Turgeon came across more as a schoolteacher or adjunct professor.

If Gerringer had been able to play out the ending of the Woodard story, I think this would have been recalled as the most shocking moment in DS history.  It would have been on a par with[spoiler]Barnabas attacking Carolyn in the throes of his accelerated aging, which as it stands must be the most horrifying scene in the show's history.[/spoiler]

G.

[BuzzH]

Turgeon came across more as a schoolteacher or adjunct professor.

OMG!  Yes!!  That's EXACTLY how he seemed!  Spot on G!  

[MsCriseyde]

Turgeon came across more as a schoolteacher or adjunct professor.

I hope to hell I'm not that big of a dork.

[BuzzH]

Turgeon came across more as a schoolteacher or adjunct professor.

I hope to hell I'm not that big of a dork.

Well...now that you mention it....<psych!  just kidding!>    Hell, we're ALL dorks!  We watch DS, LOL! 

[Nelson Collins]

I voted for the Gerringer/Turgeon recast mainly because that is the one I am most familiar with. I have seen very little of the first Burke and haven't seen Betsy at all yet.

Mainly, though, I loved Woodard and it jars so much to suddenly have this person I didn't know suddenly in the role, especially at the end of the character's arc.

[spoiler]It really greatly lessened the impact of his murder.  There was just something in my head that could not reconcile the Woodard that Barn forced Julia to murder and the Woodard chatting with his old friend in the study at Collinwood, saying he knew why she was lingering there (because of her feelings for Barnabas).[/spoiler]

[Brandon Collins]

I would have to agree with the one episode (or however many it is) recast of Carolyn. Don't know what that stand-in for Nancy's name was, but GOD she was awful! Nancy is Carolyn, Carolyn is Nancy. That would be like getting Farrah Fawcett or some absurdity to stand in for Lara Parker as Angelique for one episode. Sorry, you may as well just cut her parts from the script...

You know, now that I think about it, that's not a bad idea. Wouldn't it have been uproarously funny if Roger Davis had've played both Carolyn AND Jeff (isn't that who was in the scene with her during that ep? maybe it was Tony Peterson) whoever it was, it still would've been funny.

[BuzzH]

[spoiler]There was just something in my head that could not reconcile the Woodard that Barn forced Julia to murder[/spoiler]

Actually, it was [spoiler]Barnabas who *actually* stuck the needle in Woodard.  Julia, in the end, couldn't do it.  And when he did it he gave one of the best lines ever.  Woodard had thrown Sarah in his face and when he sticks the needle in him, after Woodard says he'd rather die than become something loathsome & evil like Barnabas, Barnabas retorts, "Loathsome I am, and evil!  But leave my pain alone![/spoiler]

[MagnusTrask]

That is a good line.

First time he ever materialized onscreen, wasn't it?

That Carolyn thing sounds too bizarre to believe, almost.   What did NB have to do that day?  Someone must have asked over the years.

[BuzzH]

What did NB have to do that day?  Someone must have asked over the years.

Think she'd had an accident or something, when she returned her arm was in a sling, wasn't it?  Been a while since I viewed those eps, but I think that's what it was.

[Midnite]

Think she'd had an accident or something, when she returned her arm was in a sling, wasn't it?  Been a while since I viewed those eps, but I think that's what it was.

Diana Walker appeared in #578, which taped 8/30/68, so over a year had passed since we saw Nancy in the sling.  Fans have speculated that the replacement was due to an illness, which would have given NB a few days to recover before her next appearance.  And actually, since several eps were filmed out of sequence around then, NB didn't participate in any taping between 7/26 and 9/3, so any type of personal leave was possible.

[BuzzH]

Think she'd had an accident or something, when she returned her arm was in a sling, wasn't it?  Been a while since I viewed those eps, but I think that's what it was.

Diana Walker appeared in #578, which taped 8/30/68, so over a year had passed since we saw Nancy in the sling.  

Ah, you're right, now I remember.  It was around the time she [spoiler]was carousing around town w/my Buzz!  They said Carolyn had been in an accident and then Liz had to go to the jail to get her, that being her 2nd time of the estate in 18 years (the first being when she was briefly hospitalized pre-Barnabas.[/spoiler]