Pilot Re-Cast Alert

Oh, the inevitable re-cast. Once pilots are picked up and its stars excited at the prospect of network tv stardom looming around the corner, the networks jump in and rip the magic carpet out from underneath them. Oh, its not all tragedy... sometimes its the stars themselves that want out and other times the actor just wasn't right for the role or the role is being reworked so its best for the rest of us if someone new takes their place. Still, you can't help but feel sorry for the ones that don't make the cut. I mean, they are just people afterall. Now that my sympathies are expressed, I'm gonna be completely hypocritical and judge them. Yes, judge them against their shiny new replacements. See below:

"The Bionic Woman" (NBC)
Mae Whitman replaced by
Lucy Hale
I already talked about this below. I love love Mae and thought she was great, but I'm happy for Lucy to have the opportunity. I'm hearing rumors that the character is being completely reworked to be no longer deaf and have amazing computer hacking abilities. Hopefully it was Mae walking away from the series herself to go on to do bigger and better things.

"Private Practice" (Grey's Anatomy Spinoff)(ABC)
Merrin Dungey replaced by
Audra McDonald
I like Merrin, but I have to agree with ABC here that she brought a disconnect to the budding series. I just didn't buy her and Kate Walsh as bff's. The chemistry just wasn't there. Besides, Audra has won like 4 Tony Awards...clearly the better choice :)

"Reaper" (The CW)
Nikki Reed replaced by
Missy Peregrym
So I wasn't in love with Nikki at all in the pilot, and I definitely felt like she was the weak link. That being said, I've never been all that sold on Missy either. I felt like her character in "Heroes" this past season fell kinda flat. I guess she's the prettier choice. Hopefully she can pull it out for this Kevin Smith series.

"Aliens in America" (The CW)
Patrick Breen replaced by
Scott Patterson
Boo. I don't really support this decision. I think Patrick is a solid comedic actor and was happy with the dynamic he brought to the series. While I am a fan of Scott's, I am not pleased at the prospect of sexy-ing the dad up, which places more of a focus on him and away from the kids. Changes the series completely. Oh well.

"8 Days a Week" (The CW)
Johnny Lewis replaced by
Justin Hartley
I still can't believe this series got picked up...I mean Mario Lopez is a series regular. Anyway, they definitely sexed the role up like 5 notches with Justin. Yes please, I'll take 2. Johnny was sweet, but not really star material. Still, I've heard Justin a pretty horrific actor. I guess we'll see how it all comes to together. I love how the CW's solution to everything is "More Sexy." Fabulous.

"Cavemen" (ABC)
Dash Mihok replaced by
Sam Huntington
Perhaps Dash realized this show was career suicide, I'm not sure, but he's out and adorable Sam is in. As long as fellow caveman Nick Kroll sticks with it, I'll give this show a few more episodes...he's hilarious. Hopefully Sam can add some more depth to his caveman...what am I saying here? I mean, this show is based on a Geiko commercial for crying out loud...its gonna die a fiery death.

"Moonlight" (CBS)--PILOT OVERHAUL
Rade Serbedzija replaced by Jason Dohring, Amber Valletta replaced by Shannyn Sossamon, Shannon Lucio replaced by Sophia Myles
Clearly they're going in a different direction since they dropped about 50 years off of the character Josef b/w Rade and Jason. Both Amber and Shannon are cute, but that's about where their talents ended here. I'm a huge Shannyn fan, so I'm stoked to see her as an ass-kicking vampire, I think. I'm not familiar with Sophia at all, but she has a strong vampire movie background, so I'm sure she had a kickass reel for this. The real question is, why didn't they recast Alex O'Loughlin in the title role...wasn't a big fan.

Other recastings include the parents on The CW's "Life is Wild" (Brett Cullen and Judith Hoag) being replaced by D.W. Moffet and Stephanie Niznik. Jessica St. Clair's character on NBC's comedy "The IT Crowd" is also rumored to have a replacement in the works.

Also, Victoria Pratt (the lip-purser who I hated from Dirty Sexy Money) is being left out of announcements for the show...I hope this means there's a re-cast in her future...