8 TV Shows That Were Radically Changed Before Becoming Successful

There is a raft of iconic TV shows which changed hugely from their original incarnations. Imagine Seinfeld without Elaine? Or Ed O’Neill as Sam Malone in Cheers? Almost doesn’t bear thinking about…

21 Jump Street originally didn’t star Johnny Depp

It was the big break for Johnny Depp that nearly wasn’t. In the pilot show, the character of saxophone-playing undercover high school detective was played by Jeff Yagher, back in 1987. He’d played the part of Kyle Bates in the sci-fi horror series ‘V’, as well as small parts in shows like 'Magnum P.I.’ and 'Hotel’. But he failed to impress in the role, however, and Fox decided to recast. Josh Brolin was an option, but creator Patrick Hasburgh asked Johnny Depp to play the part for a second time, having already turned it down once. This time, he accepted. Yagher’s latter career was left successful, with bit parts in shows like 'Angel’, 'Six Feet Under’ and 'CSI’. What might have been.

Seinfeld originally didn’t have any lead female characters

The sitcom about nothing premiered in 1989, in markedly different style. First off, for its pilot, it was called 'The Seinfeld Chronicles’, but notably it featured no Elaine, the role played by Julia Louis-Drefyus. Instead there was a 'sassy’ waitress named Claire, played by Lee Garlington, who worked at a diner called Pete’s Lucheonette. By the time the show aired proper, it was renamed, Pete’s Luncheonette was gone (as was Claire), to be replaced by Monk’s Cafe and Louis-Dreyfus’s Elaine Benes. She’d beaten Rosie O'Donnell and 'Parks & Rec’ star Megan Mullaly to the role.

Big Bang Theory started out with an almost totally different cast

Considering its stars are now among the highest-paid on TV, geek comedy 'Big Bang Theory’ was originally not picked up for series. It’s pilot, made in 2006, was never aired and set up a different set of characters. Though it featured Johnny Galecki’s Leonard and Jim Parsons’ Sheldon, they were joined by Katie, 'a street-hardened, tough-as-nails woman with a vulnerable interior’, played by Canadian actress Amanda Walsh, and Iris Bahr as Gilda, a scientists colleague of Leonard and Sheldon. The test audiences didn’t warm to Katie (creator Chuck Lorre admitted the pilot show 'sucked’), and Kaley Cuoco’s Penny was drafted in instead. Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar’s Howard and Rajesh were written in, and it soon started firing on all cylinders, and viewers now top an average of 20 million.

Frasier almost starred 'Friends’ star Lisa Kudrow

'Frasier’ could have been so very different. Once 'Cheers’ was set to wrap up, Kelsey Grammer agreed to make a new show with its producers David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee. But because he didn’t want to have the new show compared to 'Cheers’, he was reluctant to play Dr. Frasier Crane again. So instead they devised a series about a paraplegic publishing magnate, running his empire from his apartment, with a 'street-smart’ hispanic nurse. Paramount hated it, and leaned on them to spin-off Frasier instead, originally choosing Denver as the location, before finally settling on Seattle. They cast producer Roz with future 'Friends’ star Lisa Kudrow. But after rehearsals, they realised she just wasn’t right, casting Peri Gilpin in the role instead.

Cheers originally had a different actor playing Sam

Talking of 'Cheers’, the show first auditioned three pairs of actors to play Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. They were 'Marathon Man’ star William Devane and Lisa Eichhorn, Fred Dryer and Julia Duffy, and Ted Danson and Shelley Long ('Modern Family’s Ed O'Neill was also in the frame). Dryer, a real-life former American Football player, was considered, playing Sam as a former wide receiver for the New England Patriots turned barkeep. But execs at NBC liked Malone for the role, and as he wasn’t the build for a football player, they made him an ex-relief pitcher for the Red Sox instead. Dryer did get an occasional role in the show, as sportscaster Dave Richards.

Game Of Thrones originally had a different actress playing Daenerys

When David Benioff and D.B. Weiss scooped the TV rights to George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novel series in 2009, they set up Tom McCarthy up to direct – the multi-talented Oscar-winning actor, writer and director behind movies like Pixar’s 'Up’ and recently, 'Spotlight’. But both Weiss and Benioff agreed he didn’t come up with the goods, and his pilot was never aired. 'Deadwood’ and 'Sopranos’ veteran Timothy Van Patten was drafted in, and the original Catelyn Stark (Jennifer Ehle) and Daenerys Targaryen ('Pride and Prejudice’ star Tamzin Merchant) were replaced by Michelle Fairley and Emilia Clarke, the revamped pilot airing in 2011.

Star Trek had a different Captain Kirk

Iconic as it is, the original iteration of 'Star Trek’ failed dismally to impress NBC in 1965, with its pilot episode 'The Cage’, made by Lucille Ball’s production company Desilu. The network thought it was 'too slow’ and 'too intellectual’. Such was Ball’s faith in its creator Gene Roddenberry, she secured him a second bite of the cherry, and persuaded them to see a second pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before’. Its protagonist Captain Christopher Pike was replaced by a dashing young whipper-snapper called William Shatner, the character renamed Captain James Tiberius Kirk. But they stuck with the other lead, some dude called Leonard Nimoy playing Spock, the only character who appeared in both pilots.

Blackadder originally had a different Baldrick

It’s almost as impossible to imagine 'Blackadder’ without Tony Robinson’s dim-witted Baldrick as it is to imagine it without Rowan Atkinson. But the very first pilot episode of the show – which was never aired – featured an interloper called Philip Fox in the role, these days known for roles in the likes of 'People Like Us’, 'I’m Alan Partridge’ and 'Midsomer Murders’. Baldrick’s character, taken over by Robinson by the first series, was notably less dim-witted too in that very first series, with Atkinson’s Edmund Blackadder more of a snivelling coward.

Image credits: NBC/ABC/HBO/WENN/Warner Bros/Fox