Saturday Six – Characters Who Were Recast On “The Goldbergs”

Welcome to the Saturday Six, where each week I let you get to know me a bit better with the help of a list. Any idiot can do a Top 5 list, which is why I kicked it up a notch to a Top 6. This week’s topic: Characters Who Were Recast On “The Goldbergs”.

Being a nerd of a certain age, from the general Philadelphia region, I of course love The Goldbergs. Since I barely have cable, I watch it twice a day in over the air syndication. But watching it so often really highlights its fall from grace. While Adam F. was still involved, everything was based on his real life. But after he left after the sixth season, the Flanderization of everyone started in kind. Barry is a bully and treats the entire JTP like utter garbage and thinks entirely of himself and no one else while also dating Geoff’s sister for some reason. Erica mainly exists to treat Geoff like shit while he follows her around like a puppy doing everything she says and her only character growth is that she has bangs now for some reason. Adam is there for The Big Bang Theory style nerd references of “look at this old toy/movie!”. Beverly can’t stop herself from being a monster. Murray eventually becomes an actual monster. It’s a mess. Thankfully, the show has finally limped its way to an underwhelming finish line in one of the most lackluster finale episodes ever. But over the course of the show, there are a bunch of more major character changes than just a haircut they expected us all to just glance over: that several people got replaced with different actors, just like Darren in Bewitched.

1. J.C. Spink from Cooper Roth to Zayne Emory – This one I didn’t even notice until I sat down to write this list. I wasn’t aware this character had an actual name that was ever stated on screen. But mostly I didn’t realize the two actors were supposed to be the same person, since they look nothing alike. Roth only appeared in two episodes back to back near the end of season 1, but Emory is a constant background presence in 29 episodes from seasons 2 thru 9, including a large part in the Highlander Club and Dungeons and Dragons episodes.

 

2. Ben “Pop Pop” Goldberg from Paul Sorvino to Judd Hirsch – Much like how on “Seinfield” Jerry’s dad appeared once and then got recast, the same happened here with Pop Pop. Sorvino was in one second season episode and was basically just a harsh mean grump. The next time he came back, he was played by Hirch, with the meanness toned down and the Jewishness turned up. But this also I guess ups the show’s nerd cred, since Hirch also played Leonard’s father on The Big Bang Theory. So I guess Murray and Leonard are brothers . . ?

 


3. Jackie Geary from Rowan Blanchard to Alexis Zall – This one got lampshaded in the show, but this is the worst example and makes zero sense. Jackie went off to theatre camp at the end of season 5 and returned a totally different person, literally. Just look at the two of them up there. Besides the general same haircut, they could not be any more different. Blanchard and Sean Giambrone had some real actual chemisty and seemed like a good match, while with Zall in the 8 episodes she was in during season 6, they just didn’t feel right anymore. It seemed like Zall’s Geary was always angry to be seen with Goldberg, while Blanchard’s was cute and endearing towards their relationship. When Blanchard passed on renewing for another season to do more movies like A Wrinkle In Time, they should have just written her character out. But Goldberg wanted to stay true to his life, stating that in real life Jackie didn’t just vanish, so he didn’t feel he could do that on the show. Instead we got a fake ass Jackie for a few more appearances, then she graduates and is never mentioned again. Good choice!

 

4. Lauren “Ren” No Last Name Given from Kelli Berglund to Carrie Wampler back to Kelli Berglund – This one has the most clear Back to the Future 2 Claudia Wells / Elisabeth Shue as Jennifer Parker parallel, in that it’s entirely possible you won’t notice it, and it makes no difference whatsoever. This one was easy to miss, as Ren kinda showed up once, then got forgot about for 13 episodes before reappearing and becoming Barry’s love interest for four episodes. It wasn’t until a second watching later that I realized she had been introduced before as it had been so long since she was introduced as “Erica’s new friend who then isn’t seen for 4 months”. She then shows up for 3 more episodes in the beginning of the next season before dumping Barry for no real reason at all other than she liked her old boyfiend better, and who can blame her, Barry is a menace. But in this new season she was played by Carrie Wampler, since Berglund was commited to Heels on Starz. Ren showed up again for Erica’s batchlorette party in season 9 again played by Burglund, who was available at the time. In that case, I suppose she’s also like Lecy Goranson / Sarah Chalke as Becky Conner in Roseanne, in that the role bounced back and forth between them.

 

5. Jane Bales from Heather Moiseve to Leslie Grossman to Erinn Hayes – I of course love seeing a minor background character from Can’t Hardly Wait make good in anything, which is why this one was the most upsetting to me, (besides fack ass Jackie). When first introduced, she was a background character with zero lines. She then came back as Bev’s yenta nemesis when she tries to form a neighborhood watch and set Bill Lewis up. The following season, when Bill gets married, she’s now played by Hayes. They both play up the wild eyed crazy yenta, but I think Hayes has a more nuanced performance, even if she wasn’t in Can’t Hardly Wait.

 

6. Beverly’s publisher, Chris Parnell as Harrison Whitby to Paul Scheer as Garrison Whitby – I think this one was just laziness on the writers. In a season eight episode, Beverly wants to show that she could have been a lawyer by suing her cookbook publisher when it ends up in the bargin bin. There were a couple earlier episodes that focused on the cookbook where her publisher was named Harrison Whitby, and played by Chris Parnell. In the later episode, for no explained reason, he is instead named Garrison Whitby and played by Paul Scheer, and the difference is never mentioned at all. It’s clear since the names are so similar we’re supposed to infer they are related in some way, but how or why is never explained, it’s just handwaved away.

 

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook

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