History ReplacementScrappy / LiveActionTV

*** Jo gets an unusual amount of Replacement Scrappy from certain fans due to the off-screen circumstances of her replacement of Liz: Barry Letts and Creator/TerranceDicks thought that Liz's IceQueen overtones made her too unsympathetic and that her scientific background made her too knowledgeable to act as TheWatson. (Fortunately, Caroline John had independently decided to leave, not knowing that she was about to be sacked.) The blatantly sexist overtones of Letts' and Dicks' commentary on the matter cause some fans to react against Jo and heavily exaggerate her ditziness.

** Plenty of people have commented on the disappointment and sense of loss felt around a regeneration from one Doctor to another; even though it's basically the same character, the changing actors makes it easy to feel that "your" Doctor is gone and has been replaced by some interloper instead. Fortunately for the show, for the most part each Doctor has managed to put their own stamp on the show and maintain the fans of the previous Doctor (or at least pick up some new ones). Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison and Creator/MattSmith in particular all suffered from powerful groups in fandom that hated them for not being Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker and Creator/DavidTennant respectively. There are letters pages in newspapers from the 1960s in which members of the public express outrage at Creator/PatrickTroughton for taking over as the Doctor from the beloved Creator/WilliamHartnell, ruining the show forever; the public outcry over Hartnell's leaving got so extreme that Michael Craze and Creator/AnnekeWills (who played the First/Second Doctor's companions Ben and Polly), as a PracticalJoke, came to work wearing printed t-shirts that read "BRING BACK BILL HARTNELL." Apparently, Patrick Troughton didn't see the funny side and was just hurt by it, making Anneke feel awful.

*** Vicki, SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Susan (so much so that Sydney Newman had even wanted Maureen O'Brien to cut her hair and dye it black to look like Carol Ann Ford), is generally seen as an improvement on Susan due to the writers having a [[DependingOnTheWriter more consistent]] idea of what they [[NightmareFetishist wanted to do]] [[PluckyGirl with her]], William Hartnell's obvious fondness for the actress, and the fact that making her a ''friend'' of the Doctor rather than a ''relative'' goes a long way towards making the same basic character archetype work.

*** In the "Hidden Hinchcliffe" segment on the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E2PlanetOfEvil "Planet of Evil"]] DVD, Philip Hinchcliffe (who produced an era often considered to be the highest point of the Classic series) complains that every single time he got an audience report, while Tom Baker's performance was generally praised or criticised for sensible reasons, there would always be a tiny minority who would bash everything he did because "Creator/JonPertwee was better".

* Happened in the fourth season of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' with "New" New Directions. After half of the original kids graduated at the end of Season 3, five new students were introduced. However, none of them caught on with viewers as much as the originals, mostly because they filled the same roles as the kids who left: [[TheIngenue Marley]] was literally declared "The New Rachel", [[LovableRogue Jake]] was Puck's younger brother, [[DoggedNiceGuy Ryder]] was Finn in all but name, [[AlphaBitch Kitty]] idolized Quinn, and [[{{Transgender}} Unique]] even described herself as the lovechild of [[CampGay Kurt]] and [[SassyBlackWoman Mercedes]] (it didn't help that the new kids even looked like the ones they were copying). Some argue that due to ''Glee'' having LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters by this point, the new kids never had a chance to shine. Others were simply more interested in the grads who moved to New York City. Eventually the show dropped the Lima-based characters altogether to move the story to New York full time.

** Plenty of people have commented on the disappointment and sense of loss felt around a regeneration from one Doctor to another; even though it's basically the same character, the changing actors makes it easy to feel that "your" Doctor is gone and has been replaced by some interloper instead. Fortunately for the show, for the most part each Doctor has managed to put their own stamp on the show and maintain the fans of the previous Doctor (or at least pick up some new ones). Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison and Creator/MattSmith in particular all suffered from powerful groups in fandom that hated them for not being Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker and Creator/DavidTennant respectively. There are letters pages in newspapers from the 1960s in which members of the public express outrage at Creator/PatrickTroughton for taking over as the Doctor from the beloved Creator/WilliamHartnell, ruining the show forever; the public outcry over Hartnell's leaving got so extreme that Michael Craze and Anneke Wills (who played the First/Second Doctor's companions Ben and Polly), as a PracticalJoke, came to work wearing printed t-shirts that read "BRING BACK BILL HARTNELL." Apparently, Patrick Troughton didn't see the funny side and was just hurt by it, making Anneke feel awful.

* After Chrissy Snow left ''Series/ThreesCompany'', she was replaced by her cousin, Cindy. Cindy was not particularly well-liked by fans as she was nearly a carbon copy of her cousin -- a sweet, naive, DumbBlonde. She ''was'' given one distictive trait ... extreme clumisness. It was meant to be funny and lead to slapstick situations, but with world- class physical comedian John Ritter already in the cast, a second nowhere-near-as-good-at-it "clumsy" roommate didn't lead to the intended guffaws. Cindy never really gelled as part of the cast, and departed as a roomate after half a season. She was replaced with Terri, who was still a knockout blonde like the first two -- but was also actually smart, savvy and a bit of a DeadpanSnarker, subverting the DumbBlonde trope the series had previously worked with. Terri was a ''much'' better recieved character, and the series lasted another three seasons with her.

** Bailey was this for Maddie at first. While Maddie was very smart and nice, she still had a ton of flaws. For example, where she excelled academically, she failed physically (often failing gym). She was a good student, but thanks to London, Maddie's homeroom teacher thought bitter of her. Maddie was very sarcastic, has shown on various occasions that she is easy to bribe with money and although smart, wasn't nearly as accelerated as Cody. Bailey, on the other hand,rivals Cody in academics, and unlike Cody's ex, Barbara, she wasn't prone to jealousy, nor was she a priss. All of the teachers and staff loved her, she was physically fit, and was too moral to fall for bribes. She got better as the show went on, though, as she developed some flaws and became more of a ButtMonkey.

* ''Series/AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' went through this when Bob Saget was replaced with John Fugelsang in 1998 and an assistant, Daisy Fuentes, was added for little more than [[LovelyAssistant eye candy]]. Most fans of the series consider the Fugelsang era the show's nadir. The show then limped along for a while as a "special" set of episodes with rotating hosts, before Tom Bergeron joined in 2001 and the show became watchable again.

* After Chrissy Snow left ''Series/ThreesCompany'', she was replaced by her cousin, Cindy. Cindy was not particularly well liked by fans as she was nearly a carbon copy of her cousin. Eventually, she left and was replaced with Terri, who while still blonde like the first two, was actually smart, subverting the DumbBlonde trope of her predecessors and was a little better received. However, by this point, the series had long been in SeasonalRot and she wasn't enough to save the show.

*** Leela was criticised by many reviewers and fans in the 70s for being an inferior replacement to the extremely popular and definitive companion Sarah Jane Smith. A lot of the hate she got was due to her being dramatically HotterAndSexier than her predecessor and a bloodthirsty PsychoSidekick, leading people to assume her addition showed the show was derailing into WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids, DarknessInducedAudienceApathy and shallow ParentService. A lot more of the hate she got was due to great audience attachment to Sarah, meaning many fans simply didn't want to see the Doctor pick up another girl at all (the Doctor/companion relationship was seen in the 70s as being [[ImpliedLoveInterest pseudoromantic]], so DieForOurShip is the mindset here). Creator/TomBaker was well known to have hated the character for both of the above reasons, and he can often be seen attempting to upstage and annoy the actress on screen. The character is much more popular today, and is often considered one of the very best Classic companions.

* In the third season of ''Series/RedDwarf'', the actor playing Holly was replaced with an actress playing Holly. The in-show explanation was that Holly got a face-sex change. The new Holly was never as funny or pleasant to watch as the old Holly, and the show began to feature Holly less and less.

** Additionally, Kochanski in one of the later seasons replaced Rimmer. Apart from the fact that she replaced the best character in the show, Kochanski herself wasn't funny or interesting at all. The fact that Kochanski had been fairly popular as a guest character, but was now a regular played by TheOtherDarrin didn't help.

** The season six cast. The first episode's ColdOpen had the new castmembers introduce themselves to the audience by comparing themselves to previous castmembers. Gail Matthius described herself as a cross betweeen Creator/GildaRadner and Creator/JaneCurtin, Charles Rocket described himself as a cross between Creator/ChevyChase and Creator/BillMurray, and Creator/GilbertGottfried described himself as a cross between Creator/JohnBelushi and "and that guy from last year who did Creator/RodSerling, and no one can remember his name" (Creator/HarryShearer). This did nothing to endear them to the audience and by the end of the season, everyone was given the boot except Joe Piscopo and Creator/EddieMurphy.
** Lampshaded by Colin Quinn on the first episode in which he replaced Creator/NormMacDonald in the Weekend Update sketches: "You know how you go to your favorite bar, and your local bartender isn't there? You ask, 'Where's Jeff?' 'Jeff no longer works here, I'm Steve.' Then you're thinking, hey, who's this idiot? I like Jeff. But you still want your drink. And even though Steve doesn't mix your drink the same way you're used to, like Jeff, you still like the bar. You don't want to have to go to a different bar. And even Steve might feel kinda bad because Jeff trained him. Jeff showed him how to work the cash register, where the tonic was on the soda gun, who tips, who doesn't. Well, I'm Steve. What can I get you?" Although he was not considered a replacement scrappy, he still was not very popular and didn't last long in the position before being replaced himself.

** ''Series/StargateSG1''

*** Eventually Seven of Nine turned out to be a [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap fan favorite]], because of her [[TheStoic interesting character]], and Creator/JeriRyan [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct can act]]. Seven and [[ProjectedMan The Doctor]] became the SpotlightStealingSquad of the show. On set, however, it had been reported that the rest of the cast treated Ryan as the Replacement Scrappy, and despite their great on-screen chemistry, Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) was alleged to be particularly harsh towards Ryan due to her close friendship with Jennifer Lien (Kes) as well as perceived spotlight stealing as MsFanservice.
* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody''

* After Jeremy Clarkson was acrimoniously sacked from ''Series/TopGear'', and co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May left with him, Creator/TheBBC {{Retool}}ed the show. Radio/ChrisEvans, Creator/MattLeblanc and Chris Harris were brought in as replacements, with Rory Reid, [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne Eddie Jordan]], and [[BadassDriver Sabine]] [[DrivesLikeCrazy Schmitz]] as occasional guest presenters. Schmitz was well-liked from her appearances on the Clarkson-era show and avoided this trope entirely, but the other five immediately attracted criticism purely for not being [[VitriolicBestBuds Clarkson, Hammond, and May]]. Evans and Jordan in particular were ''loathed'' by fans - Evans for being an annoying LargeHam who made a bad first impression by throwing up during one of his earliest segments, and Jordan for just being annoying. Both were sacked after one series, with Reid becoming the third main presenter, and fans have since begun slowly warming up to him, Leblanc, and Harris, as their chemistry develops and the new format slowly [[GrowingTheBeard grows its beard]].

*** [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]], the GrandFinale to the Capaldi era, similarly works overtime to ease the transition from him to Creator/JodieWhittaker, the first canonical female Doctor. Misogynistic complaints about her casting are mocked via the ''First'' Doctor, who is presented as a StrawMisogynist (a downplayed {{Flanderization}} of his original portrayal in TheSixties that also pokes fun at actual ValuesDissonance regarding women's roles in the franchise then) whom the Twelfth is embarrassed by, all of which is PlayedForLaughs. Moreover, while both Doctors are extremely reluctant to regenerate, each ultimately decides to FaceDeathWithDignity for a greater good. Twelve's FinalSpeech is directed to Thirteen, telling her what she must do to "get it right" and be the Doctor, and ends with a deliberate counterpoint to Ten's final words: "Doctor, I let you go." Unfortunately, this did not stop social media misogynists from continuing to abuse her vitriolically throughout the season.

* At the beginning of Season 5 of ''Series/{{Becker}}'', Reggie (played by Terry Farrell) suddenly left and the diner was taken over by Chris (Nancy Travis).

*** Many fans disliked Elizabeth Weir being killed off to make room for Creator/AmandaTapping, as Col. Sam Carter, to hop series when [=SG1=] concluded. Most fans liked Carter -- it was, after all, ''Samantha Carter'', one of the most beloved characters in the entire franchise -- but felt that killing Weir off was unnecessary and killed the cast chemistry which made Atlantis enjoyable. To add insult to injury, Carter's character was much weaker on Atlantis than she'd been on [=SG1=], as the writers tried to make her fill Weir's role instead of having her be herself. Amanda Tapping only remained on the show one season before leaving to focus on ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'', and was in turn replaced by Robert Picardo, which worked out a little better, but was still not an adequate replacement for what Torri Higginson brought to the show.

* Tara King (Creator/LindaThorson) replacing Emma Peel (Creator/DianaRigg) - who ''herself'' replaced Cathy Gale (Creator/HonorBlackman), let us not forget, in ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had Ezri Dax, replacing Jadzia Dax. While the Dax symbiont was still technically there, the Ezri character was a clearly different woman from Jadzia, and many fans preferred Jadzia.

*** Creator/DianeNeal as Casey Novak, replacing Stephanie March's beloved Alex Cabot, actually averted this. The fanbase generally warmed to Novak -- she's easily the second most-popular ADA the show has ever had (and the longest lasting), but then she was PutOnABus and replaced by Kim Greylek (Michaela [=McManus=]), who was so despised that the producers got rid of her before a full season was even up. They brought back March, to the delight of the fandom, particularly from the large section of the fandom who loved the Alex/Olivia LesYay.

*** In season five the simpering [[SmugSnake Eve]] replaced the vastly superior [[MagnificentBastard Lilah]], to much dismay from the fans. Her role is also completely superfluous, as she's supposed to be the intermediary between the protagonists and the Senior Partners.....a role already taken by the Conduit. She was quickly replaced by [[TheDragon Marcus Hamilton]], who made no attempt to act as an ersatz-Lilah. Cordelia lampshades this trope in "You're Welcome", referring to Eve as "Lilah Jr."

* Arthur Petrelli from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has a rather nasty backstory behind him. Originally a PosthumousCharacter, he was very suddenly brought in during Volume Three, revealed to have by far the most [[GameBreaker broken power]] in the series yet and personal designs on world domination. Further, the very first episodes introducing him were explicitly devoted to his killing off basically every non-Sylar villain the series had cultivated up to that point. Maury Parkman, the "Nightmare Man" sold in Season 2 as being [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil worse than Sylar]], met his end by Arthur, as did the immensely popular Adam Monroe, widely regarded as ''the'' MagnificentBastard to beat. The thing was, though, Maury and Adam were products of Season 2, which was plagued by a writer's strike. While the writers were on strike, replacements were brought in who built up Maury and Adam. The original writers, upon returning, immediately set out to dismantle the work of their replacements, who they [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19125 had a major grudge with]]. Thus, Arthur Petrelli was retooled as a Voldemort-esque GreaterScopeVillain. This didn't quite work the way the Volume 3 writers planned, due to Arthur being a [[InvincibleVillain Boring Invincible Villain]].

** Gale Boetticher is assigned to be Walt's partner while he working under Gus, due to Gus thinking Jesse is too unreliable. He's extremely nice and intelligent, but Walt can't control or abuse him in the same way that he could with Jesse. Ultimately, Walt decides to fire Gale so that he can get Jesse back.

*** ''Series/ChicagoJustice'' {{Transplant}} Peter Stone was introduced by prosecuting and ultimately replacing the popular previous ADA, Rafael Barba, which did not initially endear him to viewers who then had to sit through half a season heavily focused on his overwrought and unengaging personal life. This disproportionate screen time came at the expense of longstanding and better liked characters, including Olivia herself, earning him ire from all sides of the fandom.

* After Chrissy Snow left ''Series/ThreesCompany'', she was replaced by her cousin, Cindy. Cindy was not particularly well liked by fans as she was nearly a carbon copy of her cousin. Eventually, she left and was replaced with Terri, who while still blonde like the first two, was actually smart, subverting the DumbBlonde trope of her predecessors and was a little better received. However, by this point, the series had long been in SeasonalRot and she wasn't enough to save the show.

* With Scarlett en route to being redeemed on ''Series/{{Nashville}}'' [[spoiler: due to a) her drug use and b) having a mother who makes Juliette's late mom seem like Olivia Walton]], and fan non-favourite Teddy also not completely despised, Scarlett's BlackBestFriend and tedious storyline regular Zoey fills the vacant spot. Luke "[[InSeriesNickname Wheels Up]]" Wheeler is also not beloved by viewers, not least because he gets in the way of FanPreferredCouple Rayna and Deacon.

* Tara King (Creator/LindaThorson) replacing Emma Peel (Creator/DianaRigg) - who ''herself'' replaced Cathy Gale (Creator/HonorBlackman), let us not forget, in ''Series/TheAvengers''.

** In season 8, one of the biggest complaints of what is considered the most polarizing season of the show was the introduction of [[SatelliteLoveInterest Coop]], Phoebe's love interest and eventual husband, after literally putting Leo in Stasis to introduce him. The fact that Coop was introduced within 7 episodes to the end of the series, and their romance didn't start until at least his second episode after introduction, people found it rather hard to believe him as Phoebe's TrueLove after the wildly popular rollercoaster relationship she shared with Cole Turner. It especially became clear that the writers just wanted to have Phoebe married by the end of the series, when it had to be [[StrangledByTheRedString outright stated exposition]] that Coop was the love of her life.
** Paige's same love interest Henry was likewise introduced around the same time as Coop, but get a little less hate other than for Leo being PutOnABus to accommodate him (the network both demanded new faces and cut the budget, essentially forcing Leo to be written out for ten episodes). He and Paige get together very quick, but some are a little more receptive to it given the chemistry between Ivan Sergei and Creator/RoseMcGowan.

*** [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]] to ComicBook/WallyWest. Wally's fans say that the Ralph's slot could have been occupied by Wally, who could have had the CharacterDevelopment an usage he needed. Ralph is put as a temporary lead hero while [[spoiler:Barry is imprisoned]], despite being inexperienced.

** In season 8, one of the biggest complaints of what is considered the most polarizing season of the show was the introduction of [[SatelliteLoveInterest Coop]], Phoebe's love interest and eventual husband, after literally putting Leo in Stasis to introduce him. The fact that Coop was introduced within 7 episodes to the end of the series, and their romance didn't start until at least his second episode after introduction, people found it rather hard to believe him as Phoebe's TrueLove after the wildly popular rollercoaster relationship she shared with Cole Turner.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
** Subverted by Laurel Lance. Her younger sister Sara was popular in the role of The Canary for having a complex story and being true to the spirit of ComicBook/BlackCanary. When she is [[spoiler: killed early in Season 3]], Laurel took over the role in Sara’s honor. The change didn’t go over well at first because Laurel was a BaseBreakingCharacter at best to TheScrappy at worst in the previous two seasons for her poor characterization and her lack of fight experience didn’t help. However, Laurel’s character vastly improved since she became Black Canary. Becoming much warmer and showing more determination in the role. Fans began to warm up to Laurel in the role and found her growth in Season 3 to be a major bright spot in an otherwise mediocre season. So much so that come Season 4 which saw Laurel [[spoiler: killed by Damien Darhk]], the fans were completely outrage and took their rage to the internet on a near unseen level. The fans went from hating Laurel to begging her to return from the dead. In a funny sense, Laurel becoming a ReplacementScrappy actually helped her get RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.
** Season 5 sees all of the Team Arrow members apart from Oliver and Felicity being replaced with brand new people (Except for Curtis, who was introduced last season), which brought in many complaints that they are not as likeable as the original Team Arrow. It doesn't help that the writers basically threw away the [[TrueCompanions family dynamic]] that many fans like in favor of something you could compare to a pair of teachers and a misbehaving class.
** Tina Boland/Dinah Drake ''immediately'' became this after going against fan opinion [[spoiler: and ditching four iterations of the Black Canary, as well as ignoring the possibility of Laurel's actual Earth-2 Doppelganger, Black Siren being reformed into such, therefore giving Creator/KateCassidy the shaft once again]]. Tina has been seen as an inferior Black Canary in comparison to Laurel and Sara. It doesn't help that all the CharacterShilling she's received in her first two episodes alone could rival [[CreatorsPet Felicity's]]. Also not helping her case are: a.) [[ComicBook/{{Ragman}} Rory Regan]], the only popular of the above mentioned Season 5 recruits, getting the shaft once Tina is introduced, and b.) There's already an established Dinah Drake introduced since then first season (played by Creator/AlexKingston), meaning that this "Dinah" serves as an inferior replacement for not one, not two, but ''[[UpToEleven four characters]]''.

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** ComicBook/EobardThawne, also known as the Reverse Flash, was considered a very compelling villain due to his affinity for long-term strategy, ability to defeat TheHero multiple times over, and having enough room in his character for AlternativeCharacterInterpretation. He falls victim to a RetGone at the end of Season One, however, and is replaced as the BigBad by [[ComicBook/HunterZolomon Zoom]]. Zoom received a fraction of the praise Thawne got, [[spoiler: in part due to his mimicking Thawne's plan of posing as a mentor to the Flash and killing his family members.]]
** H.R. had a lukewarm reception at first for being merely an excuse to still have Tom Cavanagh on the series and being inferior to Harry Wells.
** The New Rogues, Mirror Master and the Top, to The Rogues, Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Golden Glider. The New Rogues are far less menacing and lack the charm of the Rogues.
** [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]] to ComicBook/WallyWest. Wally's fans say that the Ralph's slot could have been occupied by Wally, who could have had the CharacterDevelopment an usage he needed. Ralph is put as a temporary lead hero while [[spoiler:Barry is imprisoned]], despite being inexperienced.