Erik's Rant is a 100% opinion piece. It does not reflect the views or opinions of any other administrator at TOPTv.
You dont recognize that character? How can you not? That's Ridge Forrester. Duh. Haven't you heard his name 150 times the first day back? What do you mean that's not Ridge. Of course it is, let's show you a flashback to 1996 but we'll retape it with the new actor to make you forget that other actor.
Recasts. We all hate them, but you have to live with them. Why? Because soaps would be dead without them.
Naming one character on a soap that hasn't been recasted is a hard task. Even some characters that you think haven't been recasted, you would be surprised to find out, were.
I'd love a soap world where when an actor/actress leave, their character leaves with them. No more hugging your mother on a Friday and on Monday when you pull away from the hug you have a different face. (Cough, cough, All My Children and it's Babe recast) Although, I'd love that, it's not possible. Some of the greatest characters in soap would cease to exist had that rule taken place because let's face it, sometimes the recast is better.
My main issue with recasts seems to only happen on ABC soaps. Which should be a surprise to no one considering top executives at ABC Daytime leave a lot to be desired in all sorts of topics, why would recasts be any different.
Let's take a trip down memory lane back to Thanksgiving 2006 when Rebecca Budig (Greenlee, AMC) decided to leave AMC for Primetime gigs. That's to be respected, she was on the show for almost a decade at that point and wanted to spread her wings. Cool. After a failed marriage to a former Bachelor contestant and a guest starring stink on a CBS comedy that never aired because the show was yanked, she was ready to return to the soap in 2008. There was just one problem. The role had been recast. Sabine Singh brought Greenlee back and had a lot of tough material to work with as she kidnapped her best friends son and got into a car wreck resulting in him going deaf.
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