History Main / RevolvingDoorCasting

!!Examples:

* ''[[SavedByTheBell Saved By The Bell: The New Class]]'' dropped three of its seven regulars at the end of its first year (including the main character). It did the same thing the following year, including a survivor of the first season. And so on, and so...

* ''DreamTeam'', the British soap opera set in a soccer club featured dozens of characters during its ten year run, the great majority lasting a year or so. And an ''absurdly'' high death toll for a soccer club.

* Any David E. Kelley show. Later seasons of both ''AllyMcBeal'' and ''ThePractice'' had older cast members being replaced by younger, sexier versions because either the actors would quit or Kelley would just get bored with their characters. ''BostonLegal'' and ''BostonPublic'' were the worst offenders as literally every season of both shows were littered with disposable characters that never gelled with the rest of the cast. Sometimes cast members would even get replaced mid-season.
* While the core group of interns in ''GreysAnatomy'' has remained constant until recently, there has been a constant parade of attending surgeons and new interns. In the later seasons so many new characters appear and then rapidly disappear that the show appears to be just throwing characters at the audience to see who sticks.

* ''{{Series/Heroes}}'' was meant to switch out most of its main cast every season, but this was changed. Instead, everyone from season 1 has immunity from death or bus trips ([[spoiler:Nikki]] died but [[spoiler:Ali Larter]] played a new character, [[spoiler:Nathan]] stuck around for half a season after [[spoiler:his]] death). Even recurring characters that weren't promoted, like the Haitian, gets this immunity. Meanwhile, every volume introduces at least a dozen characters that appear in most, sometimes all episodes and are all replaced with a new set of characters. The only one that stuck was, ironically, introduced as one of a few one-off villains in the early half of his first volume.
* Due to the circumstances surrounding its creation, this occurred with ''{{Robotech}}'', which changed casts whenever it began adapting a new anime and thus began a new cycle. Twenty-one years later, when ''[[RobotechTheShadowChronicles Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles]]'' was produced, it replaced the cast ''again'', combining a handful of characters taken from all three cycles with several new ones.

* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]''. Only Keifer Sutherland has appeared in every episode, with the runner-up (Mary Lynn Rajskub) lagging behind by about fifty episodes. Some get jettisoned between seasons (Day 4 and Day 7 ditched most of the main cast except for Jack Bauer), but for the most part, characters departed the show [[AnyoneCanDie by getting brutally killed off]]. Of the Main and Recurring characters from Day 1, only a tiny handful are still alive by the end of the series run, and only Jack Bauer is still actually ''in'' the show.

<<|CharactersAndCasting|>>

* ''BostonLegal'' ''revolves'' around this trope. No pun intended. The DVD interviews confirm this.

The actual way the old characters are written out can range from merely PutOnABus to BrotherChuck. Expect a lot of SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute style replacements. When a new regular conveniently shows up just as another is shown the door, that's WelcomeToTheLiberator.

* ''Damages'' tends to revolve around this trope with the appeal of the show generally being that most of the guest stars (and series lead Glenn Close) are film actors (William Hurt, Martin Short, John Goodman etc.) or other actors who normally don't do TV. In a given season these actors usually play the BigBad or other characters that are somehow tied up in the plaintiff's case. At the end of the season a case is usually resolved and most of the supporting cast are either killed off or [[PutOnABus put on buses indefinitely]]. It's also notable that of the original [[spoiler: six]] main characters so far only [[spoiler: two]] have not been killed off or sent to prison with only a few characters added since then getting any luckier. The luck of the guest cast is almost worse.

** Season 4: Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles join the cast. [[spoiler: Michael]] returned from his bus trip and died. [[spoiler:Claire]] wandered off into the jungle and vanished.

* {{Series/Heroes}} was meant to switch out most of its main cast every season, but this was changed. Instead, everyone from season 1 has immunity from death or bus trips ([[spoiler:Nikki]] died but [[spoiler:Ali Larter]] played a new character, [[spoiler:Nathan]] stuck around for half a season after [[spoiler:his]] death). Even recurring characters that weren't promoted, like the Haitian, gets this immunity. Meanwhile, every volume introduces at least a dozen characters that appear in most, sometimes all episodes and are all replaced with a new set of characters. The only one that stuck was, ironically, introduced as one of a few one-off villains in the early half of his first volume.

The actual way the old characters are written out can range from merely PutOnABus to BrotherChuck. Expect a lot of SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute style replacements.

* ''BostonLegal'' ''revolves'' around this Trope. No pun intended. The DVD interviews confirm this.

* ''Damages'' tends to revolve around this trope with the appeal of show generally being that most of the guest stars (and series lead Glenn Close) are film actors (William Hurt, Martin Short, John Goodman etc.) or other actors who normally don't do tv. In a given season these actors usually play the BigBad or other characters that are somehow tied up in the plaintiff's case. At the end of the season a case is usually resolved and most of the supporting cast are either killed off or [[PutOnABus put on buses indefinitely]]. It's also notable that of the original [[spoiler: six]] main characters so far only [[spoiler: two]] have not been killed off or sent to prison with only a few characters added since then getting any luckier. The luck of the guest cast is almost worse.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Originally Blake, five other humans and a computer. By the fourth series it was no Blake, five humans, only two of whom were in the first series, and two different computers.
** Cally wasn't human, she was just [[HumanAliens ridiculously human]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. The new series loses at least two companions every single year. [[spoiler: Three]] have "died" in some definition of the word but are clearly not dead. It's complicated.
** Series 1: Jack and Adam [[hottip:who?:Adam Mitchell, introduced in "Dalek" was deliberately written out after two episodes]]. Nine regenerates. (Rose remains)
** Series 2: Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah Jane [[hottip:*:(regular companion in TheSeventies appearing for one episode and [[TheSarahJaneAdventures starring in a later spinoff]])]]
** Series 3: Donna [[hottip:*:becomes a main cast member in Series 4]], Martha, Jack (again)
** Series 4 (including 2009 and 2010 specials): Donna and Wilf. Though also [[spoiler:Rose, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane, Jack, Martha]] for a two episode appearance in "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" [[spoiler:as well as the ending scenes of ''The End of Time'']]. Ten regenerates.
** In the 1960s, there were fairly frequent cast changes in calendar terms, though so many stories were done per year early on that short-term companions stayed through a significant number of episodes. Sara Kingdom and Katerina were both regulars for part of only one story, ''The Dalek Master Plan''.

* Due to the circumstances surrounding its creation, this occured with ''{{Robotech}}'', which changed casts whenever it began adapting a new anime and thus began a new cycle. Twenty-one years later, when ''[[RobotechTheShadowChronicles Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles]]'' was produced, it replaced the cast ''again'', combining a handful of characters taken from all three cycles with several new ones.

* ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' is a fairly mild case; only two main characters lasted to the end but most other characters stayed on the show for two to three years.

* {{Skins}} switches out its entire cast every two seasons.
* {{Farscape}}: Following [[spoiler: Zhaan's]] departure in Season 3, at least one character was replaced with a new character each season.

* "Farscape": Following [[spoiler: Zhaan's]] departure in Season 3, at least one character was replaced with a new character each season.

* {{Farscape}}: Following [[spoiler: Zhaan's]] departure in Season 3, at least one character was replaced with a new character each season.

* Following [[spoiler: Zhaan's]] departure in Season 3, at least one character was replaced with a new character each season.

* ''DoctorWho''. The new series loses at least two companions every single year. [[spoiler: Three]] have "died" in some definition of the word but are clearly not dead. It's complicated.

* ''BlakesSeven''. Originally Blake, five other humans and a computer. By the fourth series it was no Blake, five humans, only two of whom were in the first series, and two different computers.

* ''Damages'' tends to revolve around this trope with the appeal of show generally being that most of the guest stars (and series lead Glenn Close) are film actors (William Hurt, Martin Short, John Goodman etc.) or other actors who normally don't do tv. In a given season these actors usually play the BigBad or other characters that are somehow tied up in the plaintiff's case. At the end of the season a case is usually resolved and most of the supporting cast are either killed off or [[PutOnABus put on buses indefinitely]]. It's also notable that of the original [[spoiler: five]] main characters so far only [[spoiler: two]] have not been killed off or sent to prison with only a few characters added since then getting any luckier. The luck of the guest cast is almost worse.

** Season 6: Recurrers from previous seasons [[spoiler:Frank, Richard and Ilana]] join the main cast, [[spoiler:Juliet]] dies, and [[spoiler:Claire]] returns. [[spoiler:Locke, the Oceanic Six and various other characters]] also appear [[spoiler:as alternate timeline selves]].

*** Season 5: Between seasons 4 and 5 (The Turbo Movie), Justin replaces Rocky as Blue Ranger. Midway into season 5, Tommy, Adam, Tanya, and Katherine are ALL replaces with TJ, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie, respectively.
*** Season 6: Andros replaces Justin at the beginning of season 6, and then they begin replacing the ENTIRE cast each year.

* The TV series ''Mission: Impossible'' (1966-73) was one of the earliest examples of this; only Barney (Greg Morris) was a regular character for the entire show's run.

* Although it's an RPG and some turnover is to be expected, this troper's Dawn of Defiance game has experienced a lot of it. We're currently just about to begin the 8th (of 10) modules in it and only one of the original players is still around. I began late in the first module. As for characters, both of us are on our second and they joined around the same time (yes, it was related). Another player who recently left the group also played two characters. In all, the group's gone through seven or eight players and 10 or so characters.

* ''Dream Team'', the British soap opera set in a soccer club featured dozens of characters during its ten year run, the great majority lasting a year or so. And an ''absurdly'' high death toll for a soccer club.

***For season 2, Weasel, Vicki and Scott were dropped and replaced with Screech, Brian, Bobby and Rachel.