History Expy / LiveACtionTV

* The character of Doyle on ''{{Angel}}'' is rather similar to Whistler, a character who appeared in the season 2 finale of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Both are Irish, both are demons, both help Angel out, both serve [[spoiler: {or served, in Doyle's case)]] as intermediaries for The PowersThatBe, both are frequently sarcastic... WordOfGod in fact says Whistler was originally intended as Angel's sidekick, but schedule conflicts with the actor caused them to use Doyle instead. Which creates a certain amount of overlap with SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.
** ... Whistler isn't Irish.

** then again this is part of Whedon's Signature style, Xander also filled a role similar to the above two. in fact whedon called Wash [[RecycledINSPACE the Space Xander]]

* For ''StarTrekVoyager'' the creators wanted to bring back Nicholas Locarno, a character from a TNG episode. However, the character had been created by the writer of that episode and not by TNG's creators or executive producers (as was the case for recurring characters such as O'Brien or Worf, which could be reused). Because of this, the creators of ''Voyager'' thought they'd have to pay royalties to the writer of that episode every time they used the character, and that led them to create a new character similar to Locarno's named Tom Paris with a similar back story and who would be played by the same actor. To cover the transparent change, the creators said that they decided Locarno was unredeemable due to his actions in the episode, but Tom Paris's actions (which were more like Wesley's in the original episode) were less culpable. [[hottip:*:However, the only difference between Locarno's actions and Paris's, as heard onscreen, is that ''three'' died in the Paris version instead of ''one'' as in the Locarno version!]] Interestingly, many years later a California court ruled that producers in a similar situation didn't have to pay royalties to a writer who created a character; had the producers of ''Voyager'' chosen to take the matter to court, they might have been cleared to use the character Locarno.
** B'Elanna was supposed to be Ro Laren. Apparently they wanted her to be on DS9 (later replaced with Kira) and then tried again with Voyager (later replaced with B'Elanna) but the actress kept saying no.

* The angel Castiel on ''{{Supernatural}}'' is an Expy of [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]]. The show's creator, Eric Kripke, said that he wanted to be able to bring Constantine in for a couple of episodes and work with the Winchester brothers on a case, but it seems that idea fell through, so he created Castiel instead. Castiel's actor, Misha Collins, has even admitted that the character is based on Constantine.

* Try watching iCarly side-by-side with Reba and tell me that Spencer dosen't resemble Van in the least. They look kind somewhat similar, they're voices sound virtually identical, both are loveable goodball characters who have similar strange interests and CloudCuckooLander moments, PLEASE tell me i'm not the only person who sees the similarities!

* For ''StarTrekVoyager'' the creators wanted to bring back Nicholas Locarno, a character from a TNG episode. However, the character had been created by the writer of that episode and not by TNG's creators or executive producers (as was the case for recurring characters such as O'Brien or Worf, which could be reused). Because of this, the creators of ''Voyager'' thought they'd have to pay royalties to the writer of that episode every time they used the character, and that led them to create a new character similar to Locarno's named Tom Paris with a similar back story and who would be played by the same actor. To cover the transparent change, the creators said that they decided Locarno was unredeemable due to his actions in the episode, but Tom Paris's actions (which were more like Wesley's in the original episode) were less culpable. Interestingly, many years later a California court ruled that producers in a similar situation didn't have to pay royalties to a writer who created a character; had the producers of ''Voyager'' chosen to take the matter to court, they might have been cleared to use the character Locarno.

* Malcolm Reynolds from ''{{Firefly}}'' is in many ways an {{Expy}} of Han Solo from ''{{Star Wars}}'', and many critics have noted the similarities. Both are LovableRouge / JerkWithAHeartOfGold smugglers who command [[WhatAPieceOfJunk old, rustbucket freighters]] and try to make a living beyond the reach of the law. As well, both are prone to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim ruthless pragmatism]], [[GoodOldFisticuffs brawling]] and [[ChaoticGood anti-authoritarian]]/StrawAtheist tendencies.

* Malcolm Reynolds from ''{{Firefly}}'' is in many ways an {{Expy}} of Han Solo from ''{{Star Wars}}'', and many critics have noted the similarities. Both are LovableRouge/JerkWithAHeartOfGold smugglers who command [[WhatAPieceOfJunk old, rustbucket freighters]] and try to make a living beyond the reach of the law. As well, both are prone to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim ruthless pragmatism]], [[GoodOldFisticuffs brawling]] and [[ChaoticGood anti-authoritarian]]/StrawAtheist tendencies.

* This is an odd one, because the original characters never actually made it to screen without substantial revisions, but reading Joss Whedon's first draft script of ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Alien Resurrection'' shows some definite parallels with the main characters of Whedon's later TV series ''{{Firefly}}''. Both feature a crew of smuggler outlaws on a small, sturdy old ship (the ''Betty'' in ''[[Film/{{Alien}} Alien Resurrection'', and ''Serenity'' in ''{{Firefly}}''), and some characters are written similarly as well: Johner and Jayne are quite similar even in the final film, Elgyn is written as quite similar to Mal, Zoe seems to be a composite of the original conceptions of Hillard and Christie, and a character from the script called Rane (apparently [[CompositeCharacter combined]] with Hillard in later drafts) is sort of similar to Wash.

* Controversial example from ''{{Farscape}}'': late-period recurring villain Mele-On Grayza was a very obvious Expy for Servalan, the BigBad of ''BlakesSeven''. Unfortunately, the concept of the Expy was based on the idea "what if Servalan actually was an airheaded tart whose sole talent was having sex with people, instead of just dressing like one so that people would underestimate her?". Hence the many ''Blakes Seven'' fans who are also into ''Farscape'' tend to have [[Understatement somewhat negative]] reactions to the character.

* Richard Armitage's portrayal of Guy of Gisbourne in the BBC's ''[[Series/RobinHood]]'': give him an eyepatch, and he'd ''be'' [[BlakesSeven Space Commander Travis]].