Most shocking recast....

[Nancy]

Turgeon came across more as a schoolteacher or adjunct professor.

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

Ha! Me either!  (heading towards the mirror to look for any resemblance to Turgeon).

Nancy

[Joeytrom]

DS isn't the only show to recast a character so soon before hie is killed off.

I remember in 1989, Geoffrey Scott played the role of David McAllistar on General Hospital for several months.  About two weeks before the character is murdered, Patrick Strong takes over the role.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Geoffrey Scott played the role of David McAllistar on General Hospital for several months.  About two weeks before the character is murdered, Patrick Strong takes over the role.

And why do I suspect that GH fans probably would have preferred seeing Scott get killed off? 

[IluvBarnabas]

The reason I didn't put Diana Walker as one of the choices was she was a one-shot deal. She was on the show for just one episode, a couple of episodes later we had the Carolyn we knew and loved right back with us. Not so with the characters of Burke, Vicki and Dr. Woodard.

[MagnusTrask]

I wish they'd replaced Carolyn with, I don't know, a sumo wrestler or something, just for one episode.   And when they replaced Woodard it should have been during the death scene, just as he was sitting down to the table.   We'd certainly be talking about that one 40 years later!

[BuzzH]

I wish they'd replaced Carolyn with, I don't know, a sumo wrestler or something, just for one episode.   And when they replaced Woodard it should have been during the death scene, just as he was sitting down to the table.   We'd certainly be talking about that one 40 years later!

Woodard was recast because Robert Gerringer was fired when he refused to cross the picket line during a strike.  Same goes for Peter Turgein.  So them recasting during the death scene wasn't really an issue. 

[MagnusTrask]

I wish they'd replaced Carolyn with, I don't know, a sumo wrestler or something, just for one episode.   And when they replaced Woodard it should have been during the death scene, just as he was sitting down to the table.   We'd certainly be talking about that one 40 years later!

Woodard was recast because Robert Gerringer was fired when he refused to cross the picket line during a strike.  Same goes for Peter Turgein.  So them recasting during the death scene wasn't really an issue. 

Just kidding!    Good going Gerringer though!    

[michael c]

perhaps the diana walker recast for carolyn was unavoidable.

the scripts had been written and the episode might have even gotten to the rehearsal stage before nancy barrett became temporarily unavailable.

but the recast was nonetheless odd.she was obviously wearing a wig and one of those hard plastic headbands which was something carolyn never wore.

i've speculated before that perhaps ms.walker understudied for all of the "ingenue" characters(with a black wig for vicki,red for maggie,and blond for carolyn).

alas this was her only chance to get onscreen(the main cast missed performances with remarkable infrequency).

[michael c]

i'm shocked that the colleen kelly to carol crist recast for collinsport inn waitress "susie" wasn't included.

both actresses brought such remarkable subtlty and distinction to the role.

after this recast the show was never really the same for me.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   You are too much, mscbryk! 

[Joeytrom]

I wonder if viewers at the time thought Diana Walker would be a permanent replacement as Carolyn Stoddard.

This substitution was similar to Vince O'Brien playing Sheriff Patterson for an episode and Dana Elcar re-appearing the next day.  Though O'Brien filmed that episode after Dana Elcar filmed the next one.  Too bad Elcar didn't stay, he was the best sheriff.  Though post 1795, the character hardly ever appeared.

I did like the second Harry Johnson better then the first.  I couldn't take Craig Slocum's acting, it was terrible.

[IluvBarnabas]

This substitution was similar to Vince O'Brien playing Sheriff Patterson for an episode and Dana Elcar re-appearing the next day.  Though O'Brien filmed that episode after Dana Elcar filmed the next one.  Too bad Elcar didn't stay, he was the best sheriff.  Though post 1795, the character hardly ever appeared.

I did like the second Harry Johnson better then the first.  I couldn't take Craig Slocum's acting, it was terrible.

I too think Dana Elcar was the best out of all the Sheriff Pattersons, though I did get used to O'Brien in the role. Maybe it was just as well that Elcar left because as you say Patterson's appearances after 1795 were few and far between. The last we see of the character was during the werewolf storyline after [spoiler]Barnabas gives Chris an alibi after Donna's murder at the hands of the werewolf.[/spoiler] After that, we never hear even hear about Patterson (at least to my recollection) ever again.

As for Craig Slocum, I actually liked him in the 1795 storyline as Nathan's partner-in-crime Noah Gifford. But I always thought the character of Harry was just a waste of time. IMO he didn't really enhance any of the plots (except maybe the Adam story and even there he was very little used). I think the writers are more to blame for Harry's uselessness than Craig since they didn't seem to know what to do with him once they introduced him.

[Josette]

I don't remember any other Harry!  He wasn't in it that much as it was - any more details about what was happening in the episode?  Was it just one appearance?

[Para L. Time]

It was the episode when Harry was helping Mrs. Johnson clean the cottage so that Chris Jennings could move into it. Mrs. Johnson was frightened by Quentin's ghost. The actor who played Harry was also Ezra Braithwaite in 1897, also one episode. I thought he was cute. But then again, anyone would be after the first one. And, he seemed a little bit more like the type of son who had Mrs. Johnson for a mother, a sort of mom-and-gay son love-hate relationship. The first one was terrible.

[Brandon Collins]

I don't know. I kind of liked Craig Slocum in the role of Harry J. He was supposed to be a bad boy type who gets into trouble a lot, and Craig definitely played him with that edge and the smart-alick remarks a brewin'. I don't really see what the problem is with him. Is his acting that bad? Maybe I'm just not as good of a judge. If it's not as bad as Roger Davis was in most scenes, then I'd give them extra points.