One of the fun games to play when it comes to TV shows is "What If." What if Mickey Rooney had been cast as Archie Bunker on All in the Family? What would have happened to the show (and to Rooney)? That's one of interesting revelations (though that one has been known for quite some time) in the new book Mickey Rooney as Archie Bunker and Other TV Almosts by Eila Mell. It lists a bunch of actors and actresses who almost got roles we know and love. For example, Jenna Fischer (The Office) tried out for the role of Sydney Bristow on Alias, but was deemed not sexy enough for the part (as we told you about before). Whitney Houston didn't want the role of Bill Cosby's daughter on The Cosby Show so the role went to Lisa Bonet. And Leonardo DiCaprio almost played David Hasselhoff's son on Baywatch (the role went to Brandon Call and later Jeremy Jackson). That one isn't surprising at all, considering DiCaprio did work on Growing Pains and other shows.
It's easy to sit here and say this actor or this actress would have been terrible in a role, but hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and who knows how they would have done in such a role. Nancy McKeon as Monica on Friends? Why not? Rosie O'Donnell as Elaine on Seinfeld?
Well, OK, that one sounds weird.
Press Kits Unwrapped: The Prisoner
Ask TV Squad: Eureka, The Prisoner and more!
TV Squad Ten: Cartoon women who should have Playboy centerfolds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-18-2008 @ 3:12PM
Vijay said...
The semi-reverse question: What if Michael J. Fox could not work out a deal with his Family Ties producers to do Back to the Future?
Reply
8-19-2008 @ 1:12PM
JT said...
According to an wikipedia entry (which, to be fair, needs some citations) Corey Hart of Sunglasses at Night fame supposedly turned down the Marty McFly role. Believe it or not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Hart
8-18-2008 @ 3:27PM
Jake said...
Jenna is very sexy, but I definitely think she would have been wrong for Alias. Besides, didn't JJ Abrams have Jen Garner in mind for the role from the start?
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 4:30PM
DrZibbs said...
I agree, she's not sexy at all. Now I would like to see who tried out for the part of the Fonz
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 4:22PM
scotty said...
@Vijay
Then the movie would have starred Eric Stoltz and bombed at the box office.
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 4:35PM
Christian H. said...
It's not TV per se, but I believe Tom Selleck was originally supposed to be "Indiana Jones" and did not do it because he preferred his TV gig. It's really strange to picture him and his mustache as Indy :)
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 9:55PM
Chris said...
Selleck did want to do the movie but they wouldn't let him have the time off to film the movie since, at the time, Magnum was a top 5 show.
Abrams has said previously that he wrote the part of Sidney Bristow with Garner in mind. I believe that he has stated he wanted her to play the role Evangaline Lilly has on Lost right now but ABC brought back Alias for that last year and messed that up for him.
Have to hand it to Abrams, he definately has a type.
8-18-2008 @ 5:17PM
Boomstick said...
@Christian
Then you should check out Richard Chamberlain in the Indy ripoff titled King Solomon's Mines. A very Indiana Jones character is played by Richard Chamberlain, who is a very Tom Selleck like actor (beard rather than mustache).
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 5:20PM
Boomstick said...
Or should it be Indy ripped off H. Rider Haggard?
8-18-2008 @ 6:04PM
Midnight13 said...
And yet just a season prior to "Alias" Jennifer Garner was playing the mousy best friend to vivacoue Jennifer Love Hewitt on "Time of Your Life", kind of like that "Not Another Teen Movie Joke, want to mouse up a girl, put on some big glasses and a ponytail and some baggy clothes, then to vamp her up just take out the ponytail, remove the glasses and put her in a dress. Instant babe.
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 6:19PM
Europa said...
"Rosie O'Donnell as Elaine on Seinfeld?
Well, OK, that one sounds weird."
But I think only because like you said, hindsight is 20/20. Back when Seinfeld started I doubt if the public at large knew she was gay and as "angry at the world" as she seems today. Heck, if people had known her then as they do now I doubt she would have even got a *day time* talk show.
Reply
8-18-2008 @ 11:18PM
khamel said...
i'm going to go out on a limb and say its weird for reasons entirely devoid of the fact that she is gay. like the fact that shes ... just not elaine. i dont know, its weird. seinfeld is one of those shows that i can't imagine casting any differently (for the main roles - not ones like jerry's dad).
8-19-2008 @ 12:19AM
eugene said...
I've always hated rosie, never thought she was funny or charismatic. She always seemed fake to me and now that she's finally showing her true colors as a reactionary hate filled blow hard, my hatred of her is justified.
8-19-2008 @ 7:45AM
willy the impeached said...
I used to like Rosie. And the gay thing is irrelevant, its called acting for craps sake. But her decent into left wing ludite madness is sad. But really Seinfeld ended a decade ago, is Larry David any less left wing wacko than Rosie? We just didn't know it back then.
8-19-2008 @ 12:10PM
Ari said...
Jerry Seinfeld (the character, and maybe the person) would never have dated a fat chick. Not even "cute, lovable, 'I love Tom Cruise' from the Rosie Show" Rosie O'Donnell.
8-19-2008 @ 11:18PM
Tom said...
Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees auditioned for the role of Fonzie. Would not have been the same. I like the Monkees, but he would have provided a different take on the character.
Reply
8-19-2008 @ 12:38PM
Europa said...
I just want to be clear; I don't have anything against her being gay – be who you are and, yeah, acting should just be acting - but I just think back then many producers and certainly the suits at the top of the networks would have been really hesitant about even considering her *if* her sexuality had been widely known to the general public at that time. I don't know; just hunch/feeling on my part. I think people sometimes forget what a huge deal it was when Ellen Degeneres "official came out" and the some what negative impact it had on her career for a while. There was a point when she was having a really hard time finding a gig. It was like half of Hollywood didn’t know what to do with her and the other half was too afraid of the “moral majority” to just leave her personal life out of it and let her do her thing.
Reply
8-19-2008 @ 2:34PM
Tess Capra said...
The studio was hot to get Gene Hackman to play Mike Brady -- think how *that* would have impacted cinema in the sixties and seventies. Would Robert Reed have been up for Popeye Doyle?
Reply