----

* Many older kids shows, like ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' and ''Series/KidsIncorporated'', substituted the ''entire cast'', and ''Kids Incorporated'' did so repeatedly. Their reasoning is likely similar to why the Vienna Boys' Choir and Menudo boot their kids out at 13.

----

%%* The Season 2-4 recasting of ''Series/ThreeTwoOneContact'': Miguel=Marc, Robin=Trini, Kathy=Lisa.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** Season 7 introduces Janis Gold, a frumpy bespectacled computer technician, who is the FBI's version of Chloe. They bring Chloe back for a few episodes, and they don't get along.
** The character of Mandy is another example. If the producers couldn't get Mia Kirshner, the actress who played her, they created another sexy terrorist. Season 4's Nicole is a prime example because she behaves in EXACTLY the same way as Mandy would, [[spoiler: she has sex with a character to get him on side, then reveals her true colors. Mandy did more or less the same thing in the first episode]]. Which is amusing in itself considering Mandy actually ''did'' return at the very end of the fourth season.
** Olivia Taylor's only real existence on the show was to essentially play Sherri Palmer to her mother Allison's David: The former is a corrupt, manipulative bitch family member to the latter who is the President and very much a strong moral force for the country.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** Since the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] [[ExiledFromContinuity couldn't use]] any ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' characters or the term "{{mutant|s}}" at the time the show was airing, the writers used the generic term "Gifted" to describe people with superhuman abilities. This became significantly more pronounced when Comicbook/TheInhumans were introduced in the second season, with many viewers and critics noticing that their storylines seemed suspiciously similar to stuff from the X-Men mythos. These included plots about increasing public fear and paranoia regarding the Inhumans, Inhumans being forced to register with the government, and even some of the heroes becoming divided over a controversial "cure" for Inhuman powers, all of which had been done before in various X-Men media. Hive was even given a new backstory and set of motivations that made him very similar to [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]], one of the X-Men's recurring {{Big Bad}}s.
** Agent Antoine Triplett, who joins Coulson's team as a SixthRanger right around the time that Grant Ward [[spoiler: is revealed to be a HYDRA agent]]. Both Ward and Triplett are badass, manly agents (compared to the meek Fitz and TeamDad Coulson) who previously trained under John Garrett and serve as potential {{Romantic False Lead}}s for Fitz-Simmons.
** Averted with Sarge. While he looks identical to Coulson ([[spoiler:who was killed off at the end of Season 5]]) and is even played by [[Creator/ClarkGregg the same actor]], the two characters are nothing alike.
* Besides TheOtherDarrin, Roger Davis, ''Series/AliasSmithAndJones'' replaced the character Clementine "Clem" Hale with Georgette "George" Sinclair. Probably a case of the writers recycling scripts already written for the other character.
%%* ''{{Series/Alice|1976}}'' -- Jolene, for Flo.
%%* Mrs. Greenlaw for Mrs. Hall on ''Series/AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall''.
* When Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s variety show ''Series/AllThat'' began, Katrina Johnson was easily the youngest-looking cast member and was mostly used to play a variety of little girl characters. In Season 3, with Katrina looking too old to pull off these roles, Creator/AmandaBynes was added to the cast to fill the void. Katrina left the show entirely later in that season.
* Inverted on ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': The character of George Jefferson was expressly written for Creator/ShermanHemsley, who was unavailable at the time the show's early seasons were shot due to his appearance in a Broadway musical; the character of George's brother, Henry Jefferson, was devised as a placeholder until Helmsley became available in Season 4 (although George was "on" the show as an [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen offscreen character]] in the earlier seasons).
* The German soap opera ''AllesWasZahlt'' originally dealt with Diana Sommer, who was a plucky blonde delivery girl turned up-and-coming figure skater. In the first episode, Diana was sort of hit by a car... which led to the ''MeetCute'' introduction to her boyfriend Julian. After Julian [[spoiler: died]] and the actress playing Diana decided to leave the show, a new character was introduced: the plucky blonde circus performer turn up-and-coming figure skater, Stella. Upon arriving in town her car broke down, which meant she almost got rear-ended by her immediate love interest, Lars. It wouldn't be so bad if Stella and Lars were bearable, but unfortunately, they're not.
* ''Series/AlloAllo'':
** When Maria was PutOnABus thanks to Creator/FrancescaGonshaw getting sick of the role, René hired Mimi to take her place in the café. While Mimi was much feistier (being a Resistance member), she was just as short as Maria so the writers could continue the gag of Mimi/Maria having to get a stool to stand on to hug René.
** In Series 6, Monsieur Roger [=LeClerc=] was replaced by his twin brother Ernest after Creator/JackHaig died. Both brothers filled the same role in the plot - both were forgers, had a romance with Madame Fanny, and loved a good PaperThinDisguise. When Ernest's actor Creator/DerekRoyle died, he was [[TheOtherDarrin Other Darrined]] with Creator/RobinParkinson, probably to avoid claiming the [=LeClerc=] twins were actually triplets or something equally ludicrous.
** Also parodied in the series, when René's death was faked early in the first series, and he was forced to pose as his own Suspiciously Similar Substitute twin brother for the next eight:
--->'''René:''' I am ''also'' named René.
* Creator/EllenDeGeneres seemed to be this when she replaced Music/PaulaAbdul on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' except with zero knowledge of the music industry. She even managed to be less useful than TheScrappy Kara [=DioGuardi=].
* ''Creator/GeneRoddenberry's Series/{{Andromeda}}''.:
** The character of Tyr, a Nietzschean who could not be trusted was replaced by Rhade, a Nietzchean who could not be trusted. Tyr went on to become a complete wuss when the actor guest-starred in later episodes.
** The character of Doyle in the final season is also somewhat of a replacement for Lexa Doig's Andromeda when her role needed to be reduced due to the actress' pregnancy. Doyle provided a love target and protector for Harper, among other regular Rommie duties.
* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'':
** When Gomer Pyle left the series in 1964 for his own spin-off, ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'' (of "'PYYYYLE!'...'Shazam!'" fame), he was replaced by equally hayseed cousin Goober Pyle. Goober had originally been introduced as Goober ''Beasley'', and had been frequently referenced by Gomer; the two appeared together in precisely one episode as cousins. Once Gomer left the show, Goober Beasley became Goober Pyle and took over Gomer's job at the filling station and overall role in the series.
** New deputy Warren Ferguson, though he had his own distinct verbal tics, was very, very similar in terms of attitude and (barely marginal) competence to departed deputy Barney Fife. Unpopular with the fanbase, Warren was quickly Chuck Cunninghamed out of the show.
** Andy's steady girlfriend in the first season was pharmacist Ellie Walker; after she was written out of the show (apparently due to lack of chemistry between Andy Griffith and Elinor Donahue), Andy was given a couple of more temporary love interests (both nurses) before schoolteacher Helen Crump was finally introduced in season 3. All of Andy's girlfriends are somewhat similar, being smart working women with an independent attitude (for the era). Helen's strong jealous streak was perhaps more pronounced than in the others.
** When the show was retooled as ''Series/MayberryRFD'', Sam Jones and his son Mike essentially became the substitutes for Andy and Opie Taylor.
* ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'':
** Mr. Harmon, Old Mr. Grace, and Mr. Spooner replacing Mr. Mash, Young Mr. Grace, and Mr. Lucas respectively.
** Also Mr. Grainger, the head of menswear, was replaced by Tebbs, Goldberg, Klein, and Grossman before they eliminated role and made Mr. Humphries head of the department.
** When Mr. Lucas was replaced by Mr. Spooner. Mike Berry, who played Mr. Spooner, said that his first few scripts had "Lucas" crossed out and replaced by "Spooner" in pencil.
%%* Amy Amanda Allen was put on a bus and replaced for ten episodes by Tawnia Baker on ''Series/TheATeam''.
* After Creator/IanHendry quit his leading role as Dr. David Keel on ''Series/{{The Avengers|1960s}}'' after one season, the producers were left with a number of leftover scripts. Rather than retool them, a new character named Dr. Martin King was created for several of them, while others simply had the name "David Keel" crossed out and "Cathy Gale" pencilled in, creating a rare gender-swap substitute and setting Cathy up to become iconic.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Straczynski has stated that every major character on the show had an "escape hatch" for each season, to allow the actor to be replaced if necessary without affecting the overall story arc. While some new characters fill the same position but are unique characters, others are very similar to the character they replaced:
** Ivanova was a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Laurel Takashima from the PilotMovie ''Babylon 5: The Gathering''. According to JMS, that wasn't the original intention. The two characters were originally supposed to coexist until the end of the second season when Laurel would turn out to be TheMole and leave the show (written in because JMS knew Tamlyn Tomita wouldn't want to commit to five years) and Ivanova would become the executive officer... but then Tamlyn Tomita decided not to come back for the series at all. Susana also inherited Laurel's illicit coffee garden.
** Susan Ivanova and Elizabeth Lochley, however, are the same cynical XO with a messy personal history. The difference between the two changes and their effect on the show is marked, as was general reaction.
** Talia Winters replaced Lyta Alexander when the series began; in a recursive twist, though, when Andrea Thompson decided to leave the show, they brought back Lyta in a double-un-Suspiciously Similar Substitute maneuver.
** Stephen Franklin replaced Benjamin Kyle.
** Marcus the unlucky in love long-haired pompous English-sounding character who quoted Shakespeare was replaced in Season 5 by Byron the unlucky in love long-haired pompous English-sounding character who quoted Shakespeare.
** ''Babylon 5'' did this with alien species too. After the Shadows left the galaxy, a suspiciously similar race called the Drakh appeared, handwaved as the "dark servants" of the Shadows.
* The final season of ''Series/{{Ballykissangel}}'' introduced the elderly farmer and pub regular Louis Dargan (Mick Lally) after the death of Birdy Sweeney, who played elderly farmer and pub regular Eamon Byrne. Unlike Eamon, however, Louis was never important to the plot and never spoke an intelligible sentence.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' replaced Billy Keikeya with Tory Foster. This is actually the only Battlestar example. Given the improvisational nature of the series' writing, it's unclear if Billy would have followed a similar arc to Tory, had Paul Campbell remained on the show.
* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'':
** According to WordOfGod, Matt and Summer were created to replace Eddie and Shauni after their respective actors left the show at the beginning of Season 3. The writers weren't very subtle about this, even having Matt move into Eddie's old houseboat at one point.
** Season 5 introduced cocky Australian lifeguard Logan, who was basically a replacement for cocky Australian lifeguard Trevor from Season 1.
** Summer's initial love interest was Jimmy Slade, a blonde surfer who lived out his car, had an abusive dad and dreamed of going pro. During a period where Jimmy had been PutOnABus, Summer got a one-episode ReplacementGoldfish named Steve Thorn, a blonde kickboxer who lived out of his car, had an abusive dad, and dreamed of going pro.
* ''Series/BeakmansWorld'' substituted its lovely young female assistant not once, but ''twice''. Both were a result of the show's fate: The first switch happened as the show [[ChannelHop moved]] to CBS from syndication (and Alanna Ubach deciding to do movies instead), and the second happened after an [[UnCanceled Un-cancellation]] (and Eliza Schneider deciding to do stage shows instead).
* ''Series/{{Bedlam}}'' replaces Jed, [[ISeeDeadPeople a man who sees ghosts and works to put them at rest]] and investigating the house's mysteries, with Ellie, a girl who can see ghosts, investigating what happened to Jed.
* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'':
** Mitchell, a reformed vampire with a troubled past who's sworn off blood and lives alongside a werewolf and a ghost, was killed off at the end of Series 3. Series 4 replaces him with Hal... a reformed vampire with a troubled past who's sworn off blood and lives alongside a werewolf and a ghost.
** At the same time, George, the resident werewolf, also left. His role in the house was replaced by another werewolf who had almost nothing in common with George. The reason? Tom, his replacement, had been a recurring character since the start of the third series. Zero new characterization was required.
%%* ''Series/{{Benson}}'' -- Rene Auberjonois' Clayton Endicott III was a clone of his predecessor, Taylor (albeit with a more impressively pretentious name).
* Creator/TiffaniThiessen's Valerie Malone on ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''. Valerie was introduced after Creator/ShannenDoherty was fired from the show and was a brunette of similar temperament to Doherty's Brenda who lived in her room and slept with her ex-boyfriend. Her twist was that she was a pot-smoking 'naughty girl', as the characters in the show would constantly remind us.
* ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'': Marion Lorne, the actress who played Aunt Clara died in 1968 and rather than recast her (keep in mind this series is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for TheOtherDarrin) they retired the character. However, in 1969, the character of Esmeralda, the Stephens' witch housekeeper, was introduced. Not only did Esmeralda look like a younger version of Clara, [[IneptMage she also had problems controlling her powers and remembering spells]].
* To an extent, Creator/HughLaurie in the third and fourth series of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' seems to have filled this role (aristocratic fop) in replacement of Creator/TimMcInnerny from the first two series, after [=McInnerny=] left because he didn't want to be typecast. When [=McInnerny=] rejoined the regular cast in the fourth series, his character resembled that played by Stephen Fry (brown-nosing rival) in the second series, with Fry in turn now playing a character more akin to that of Creator/BrianBlessed and Creator/MirandaRichardson respectively (insane tyrant) in the first two series. This slightly convoluted game of "musical chairs" in regards to actors and characters appears however to have been of little detriment to the series.
* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', substitutes are always the same gender as the outgoing character, for no particular reason but to make up the numbers. [[spoiler:Jenna is replaced by Dayna, Blake is replaced by Tarrant, and Cally is replaced by Soolin.]] Slightly subverted in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E1Rescue Rescue]]", though, where the tough guy and the female pilot are replaced by a male pilot and a tough chick, respectively.
* In ''Series/BlueBloods'' Danny Reagan's partner Jackie Curatola [[PutOnABus left the series]] a third of the way into season three due to actress Creator/JenniferEsposito's illness. Danny had two partners that each lasted about five episodes each before finally ending up with Maria Baez as Jackie's permanent replacement. Both characters are Latina detectives from rough backgrounds, and with similar temperaments.
* Jeffrey Coho from ''Series/BostonLegal'' is an interesting example, in that he was the substitute for a character who was still on the show. Over the first two seasons, the main character Alan Shore transformed from being a rather-slimy-lawyer-with-a-deeply-buried-heart-of-gold type to a civil rights crusader. Jeffrey Coho was brought onto the show at the beginning of Season 3, and was identical in personality to Season 1 Alan, even down to his politics and his feuding with Brad Chase (except, mercifully, for the friendship with Denny Crane, which was only ever Alan's).
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'':
** Series 1 featured Angie, who was Brittas' Blonde-haired SassySecretary. She was replaced from Series 2 onwards by Julie, who like Angie was also Brittas' blonde-haired SassySecretary.
** After Laura, who fulfilled the role of the OnlySaneWoman to the staff, was PutOnABus after Series 5, she was briefly replaced by Penny, who fulfilled the same role, although she was much less liked in-universe.
* ''Series/TheBrokenwoodMysteries'': When young, good-looking Māori Jared is not around in Series 4, he is replaced by young, good-looking Māori Kahu, who just so happens to be Jared's cousin. They both work manual labor, know a lot of the town's goings-on, and have a handful of disparate plot-relevant hobbies.
* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'':
** ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
*** Although not as obvious as some other examples, the producers wrestled with who they could get to replace Cordelia's snarky truth-telling character (who had left for ''Series/{{Angel}}'', where she'd undergo a whack of CharacterDevelopment and change personalities anyway). At first, when getting wind of the popularity of Spike and deciding to keep him on, they'd thought to have him do it, but they later decided to use Anya, a previously one-episode appearance, to become a regular and take over Cordelia's role in the group.
*** Spike, the Vampire-fighting-for-good, is curiously similar to Angel. Eventually even the slightly-different motivation, the behavior-dampening hardware placed in his brain, is written out and he is given a soul just like his counterpart. And yeah, they both date Buffy. Their personalities are not remotely similar, though. The Scoobies occasionally seem to forget which of the two vampires they are dealing with, trusting Spike with information and roles appropriate to Angel, while he casually betrays them and frustratedly reminds them that he's 'evil, remember?'
---->'''Spike''': Okay, I think I know what to do. I'm gonna find this girl Faith...and tell her exactly where to find each and every one of you. (Cue shocked expressions from Xander and Giles. Spike sighs.) Will at least one of you bloody Scoobies try to remember that I ''hate'' you all! Just because I can't do the damage myself doesn't stop me from pointing a few loose cannons your way."
*** The trope was inverted with Kennedy, who was deliberately made very different from Willow's previous love interest Tara. Perhaps not the best idea, as Kennedy was pushy, arrogant, and abrasive where Tara was shy, gentle, and empathetic. [[TheScrappy She was not received well]].
*** Last seen as a paramilitary homosexual Slayer leader figure, fans ''hated'' Kennedy ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis No. Matter. What.]]'' It didn't matter what changes were made. So the character of Lake Stevens was made up, a paramilitary homosexual Slayer ally leader figure who has much of the traits the writers wanted from Kennedy, but better. Fan reaction thus far has been to wait and see what her intentions for Willow are.
** Meanwhile, in the spinoff ''Series/{{Angel}}:''
*** There's a textbook {{subver|tedTrope}}sion in season 1, after Angel loses Doyle. He complains that his link to the Powers That Be is gone, only to be told that "whenever a door closes, another opens." Enter a very Doyle-like character...who turns out, after a series of misdirections, to be the MonsterOfTheWeek, not the new sidekick. Cordelia [[DiscardAndDraw gains Doyle's powers and role]].
*** Doyle himself was a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Whistler, a character who appeared briefly in flashbacks in ''Buffy'''s second season finale and recruited Angel to the side of good. Both are sarcastic demons (half-demon, in Doyle's case) who work for the PowersThatBe. Doyle was originally intended to ''be'' Whistler, but the actor was unavailable when the show was greenlit, so they reworked him as newcomer Doyle. In "City of" Doyle even wears a hat similar to Whistler's iconic hat.
*** Creator/JossWhedon admits that after Cordelia went insane, fell into a coma, and was absent in the show's final season, the writers felt that the show had lost an important puzzle piece. Enter Harmony. Dim-witted, blonde, and completely peculiar vampire who seems to carry the personality of Cordelia circa Season 1. They even went as far as adding her as a main character in the opening credits for the final six episodes. Though since Harmony had been there since the very first episode of ''Buffy'' (and being one of the Cordettes) her character was already known and accepted. WordOfGod is that Harmony was supposed to be a recurring character once she arrived on Angel...but they forgot about her until the final season. Then, they ended up having her in every episode, so it was somewhat necessary to make her part of the main cast.
*** For Season Five, Eve served the part of Cordelia that was to play Angel's foil. Spike as in ''Buffy'' Season Four came on to give the much-needed sarcastic remarks. Illyria, later, became the one who provided conflict by always saying it like it is.
*** Eve also effectively replaced Lilah Morgan as the untrustworthy senior female at Wolfram & Hart, as she herself commented on in her first scene.
* ''Series/CharliesAngels''. At the end of Season 1 Creator/FarrahFawcett left the series and her character, Jill Munroe was replaced by her kid sister Kris. The show's ratings soared after that.
* This happened with Creator/ShannenDoherty again on ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''. When Doherty left she was [[RealLifeWritesThePlot written out of the show]] and her character, Prue, was [[KilledOffForReal killed by a demon]] which left a rather big hole in the show's premise of having three sister witches [[TheChosenOne prophesied]] to be the greatest force of good the world has ever had. WordOfGod says that they decided they needed another young, hot, brunette to fill the role of the third sister, so in steps Creator/RoseMcGowan as Paige the [[LongLostRelative unknown fourth Halliwell sister]] given up for adoption and happens to be Half-[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Whitelighter]] as a result of the sister's mother having an affair. (Bonus points for averting an AssPull in that the mother's affair with her Whitelighter was [[ArcWelding already established]].) In-universe the third sister also had to have [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] as Prue had so Paige was given the power to [[{{Teleportation}} teleport herself and other objects via her Whitelighter powers.]]
* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'':
** One episode featured Don Ramón's cousin Don Román. Román practically did and suffered like his cousin did in a similar episode.
** Also Doña Eduviges ''La loca de la escalera'' (the crazy woman from the stairs) had the same role as substitute from Doña Clotilde in one episode, they even dress alike.
** And Malicha, Don Ramon's goddaughter looks and acts suspiciously similar to La Chilindrina, she [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared after three episodes and was never mentioned again]].
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'':
** Averted: Rebecca Howe (a ruthless and hot corporate exec, who transmogrified over the years into an almost total wreck) was very distinct from her predecessor Diane Chambers (a bookish and pretty in a girl-next-door-way barmaid, whose main fault was her tendency to over-intellectualize everything).
** Semi-averted: The sweet-natured, dimwitted old bartender Coach was replaced by the sweet-natured, dimwitted young bartender Woody Boyd. Though similar in some ways, Woody's wide-eyed-young-rube-in-the-big-city vibe is markedly different from Coach's lovable-old-guy-who-took-too-many-baseballs-to-the-head vibe.
** Lampshaded: Al, the elderly man who sat at the opposite corner of the bar from Norm and occasionally made sarcastic comments, was gradually replaced by Phil, the elderly man who sat at the opposite corner of the bar from Norm and occasionally made sarcastic comments. In the ReunionShow episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Frasier says how good it is to see Al again, only to be told "[[LampshadeHanging I'm Phil! Al's been dead for fourteen years, you dumb son of a bitch!]]"
* Agent Shaw on ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' seems pretty similar to [[spoiler:Bryce]] from Seasons 1 and 2. They're both romantic rivals to the lead character, they both [[TheMentor mentor]] him on how to be a spy, and they both are super spies.
* ''Series/CitizenKhan'''s first series had a red-headed mosque manager named Dave who converted to Islam later in life. In Series 2, he's replaced by a red-headed mosque manager named Dave who converted to Islam later in life. These are distinct characters, not an example of The Other Darrin. One suspects that the writers had Series 2 almost completed when Kris Marshall decided to leave and only added a few lines introducing Matthew Cottle's version of Dave into Series 2 first episode to avoid having to go back and make more extensive changes.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'':
** The third season introduced an annoying gang of German foosball players led by a man named Juergen. When the group reappeared in Season 4, Juergen was replaced by his [[RememberTheNewGuy previously-unseen]] brother Reinhold, presumably because the creators couldn't get Creator/NickKroll to reprise his role.
** After Pierce's actor Creator/ChevyChase left the show, the writers introduced Professor Buzz Hickey, a GrumpyOldMan who has been at Greendale for a much longer time than the rest of the group, a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, a bit of an outsider and sort of a mentor to Jeff. He even takes Pierce's seat at the study room table.
** Then, when Creator/JonathanBanks left the show due to commitments to ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', Buzz was replaced with Elroy Patashnik, ''another'' GrumpyOldMan, this time played by Creator/KeithDavid. Despite some major differences (Elroy was a genius, black and not a prior Greendale student), it was clear the writers were using him to fill the same basic role. As Elroy joined the cast after both Creator/DonaldGlover and Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown had left the series as well, he also had to step in for Troy and Shirley as the group's new [[TokenMinority token black member]]. All this was actually {{lampshade|Hanging}}d at one point:
-->'''Chang:''' Is he black Pierce? Old Troy? Or Shirley without a giant purse?
* Phil in ''Series/CornerGas'' replacing Paul as the Cree with long hair and the four-letter name that starts with P and ends with L who works as the head bartender. The only difference apart from name is that Phil looks older and has a deeper, less enthusiastic voice.
* On ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', when Rudy got too old to be the Cute Little Kid, [[CousinOliver a step-granddaughter was written into the cast to fill the role.]] Unlike other examples, Rudy stayed. To quote Wyatt Cenac on ''Series/TheDailyShow'': "WHY WOULD YOU THROW RUDY UNDER THE BUS?! SHE'S STILL THE SAME RUDY!!"
%%* Oliver (for Jeff) on ''Series/{{Coupling}}''.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** Emily Prentiss and David Rossi were replacements for Elle Greenaway and Jason Gideon respectively. Both characters were initially hated by many fans, but gained pretty good fanbases the longer they remained on the show.
** The trope is played straight with Prentiss, but not Rossi. WordOfGod from creator Ed Bernero on the "About Face" commentary says they wanted to make him as least like Gideon as possible, so they made him an egotistical wannabe rock star of a profiler who doesn't really "do" teams, and the first thing he does is [[TakeThat shoot a bird]]. Jason Gideon was part ornithologist and part birdwatcher. Many times throughout Creator/MandyPatinkin's run you would hear and see references to his character's love for birds. A TakeThat indeed!
** After JJ's departure, another new character joined the team--meet Ashley Seaver, FBI cadet and [[spoiler: based on previews, the daughter of a serial killer]]. Yes, she does look like JJ superficially, but the majority of the fanbase disliked Seaver prompting the return of JJ (and Prentiss who left at the end of last season).
** Tough, dark-haired multilingual Elle Greenaway leaves after season 2, to be replaced with tough, dark-haired, multilingual Emily Prentiss. Emily Prentiss leaves the team at the end of season 7 and is replaced in season 8 with tough, dark-haired, at-least-bilingual (knows ASL) Alex Blake. There seems to be a trend here...
* The Kyoto Police Department in ''Series/CriminologistHimuraAndMysteryWriterArisugawa'' don't return for the 2019 specials (except for the coroner Yasoda), and instead the crimes takes place in Osaka where a trio of new detectives fill in the same roles as the old ones: Unabara replacing Komachi as the stern female detective; Shikata replacing Nabeshima as the more accepting senior detective; and Sokabe replacing Sakashita as the perky younger detective.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
** The show replaced two characters in the ninth season, with Ray Langston, and Riley Adams, though they seem to be the latter type, each having their own character traits.
** DB Russell is said to be a straighter version of this, because he has some similarities to Grissom, though not so close that it screams "Grissom Light".
* By comparison, ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' replaced Aiden Burn with another occasionally-sarcastic female character, who was even suggested to be in a relationship with the same character, at least until she was KilledOffForReal. Her other traits were added to a previously-existing background character, who occasionally takes Don Flack's place. Later, a new recurring female detective was brought into the series and appears to be a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for the original Suspiciously Similar Substitute. She even became Flack's new love interest. All three actresses looked similar as well, especially the last two.
* ''Series/DadsArmy'' introduced Private Cheeseman as a substitute after the sudden death of James Beck, who played Walker. The character fast became a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] and was written out after only one season.
* When the actor who played him died, ''Series/DennisTheMenace'' replaced George Wilson with a made-up "brother" named John; [[CanonForeigner there never was a John Wilson in the original comics]].
%%* ''Series/DesigningWomen'': Charlene was replaced by her sister Carlene, who was about as similar as you can get.
%%* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' had James Doakes replaced after [[spoiler: his death in Season 2]] with another detective named Joseph Quinn in Season 3.
* Dr. Jesse Travis replaced Dr. Jack Stewart in season 3 of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' although he was a very different character and it's generally regarded as a change for the better.
* ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'':
** After Edna Garrett's departure for her own spinoff (''Series/TheFactsOfLife''), she was replaced as the Drummonds' housekeeper with Adelaide Brubaker...who was substituted, in turn, by Pearl Gallagher.
** Mrs. Garrett was eventually substituted herself on ''The Facts of Life'' by her sister, Beverly Ann Stickle.
* An interesting exception can be found in ''Series/ADifferentWorld''. Originally it was a star vehicle created for Lisa Bonet by Creator/BillCosby's production house, but after Bonet's 1988 pregnancy forced her from the program after the first season, no substitute for her was cast. Instead, it became an ensemble show, and eventually two minor characters -- Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert -- evolved into its real stars and carried the show for five more years.
* ''Series/DocMartin'':
** Averted by PC Penhale for PC Mylow. Mylow was a quirky but competent constable. Penhale started out somewhat like this, only with more extreme quirks. Originally he had narcolepsy and agoraphobia as a result of a head injury, but both of these ended up fading, and he instead acted more like a small boy who was pretending to be a constable.
** Originally Pauline for Elaine, though since Pauline has run for three seasons now she has a rather well developed, unique character.
** When the anonymous black sheepdog disappears, Joan gets a dog that takes just as much an unwelcome liking to Martin.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The real offenders are the early companions.
*** Susan, Vicki, Dodo, Victoria and Zoe, while not identical in personality, all fit a "surrogate granddaughter" model in their youth, innocence, and relationship with the Doctor (with Dodo noticeably similar in appearance to Susan and in fact one of the actresses considered for the role, though the actress was not cast for this reason alone). From the point that Ian and Barbara were both replaced by Steven, the rest of the sixties saw a stable companion model of a young heroic male and attractive young female as counterparts to the older Hartnell and the slightly old Troughton.
*** In the main exception of the decade, Polly and Ben were a pair, and quickly were supplemented with Jamie, the new version of the young heroic male (due to Jamie's character being a last-minute addition). Polly and Ben left after Jamie's ADayInTheLimelight story. Jamie's last-minute addition did end up resulting in him briefly having to substitute for Ben in a few of his early scenes as a companion, most infamously the scene of him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slapping Polly]] out of a mental breakdown in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace "The Underwater Menace"]].
*** This also overlaps with CompositeCharacter — Ian and Barbara (Ian noble and snarky, Barbara clever, worry-prone and occasionally prickly) left and were "amalgamated" into Steven, an ActionHero like Ian but with a personality similar to Barbara's (in fact, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 "Galaxy 4"]] was originally written for Barbara and gives Steven her dialogue with only a few changes).
** In the second of the 1960s non-canon movies, ''Film/DaleksInvasionEarth2150AD'', Creator/BernardCribbins plays Special Constable Tom Campbell, who replaces the movieverse version of Ian Chesterton who appeared in the earlier movie ''Film/DrWhoAndTheDaleks''. In the same film, Louise, the Doctor's niece, is introduced as an almost identical replacement for movieverse Barbara.
** The Doctor's regeneration was designed specifically to avoid this. Originally there were no plans for him to regenerate — he wasn't even designated an alien. That only came about when Creator/WilliamHartnell had to leave the show due to health issues. A producer thought it would be a novel idea, and thus the Doctor as we know him was born.
** The original plans for Season 7 had Zoe as the Third Doctor's companion. However, Creator/WendyPadbury decided to leave the series alongside Creator/PatrickTroughton at the end of Season 6, resulting in the writing team creating Liz, a similar human scientist, as a replacement.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion The Invasion]]" is virtually a direct sequel to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]", but has sewer-dwelling Cybermen invading London substituting for Underground-dwelling Yeti invading London, and replaces Professor Travers and Miss Travers with a similar MadScientist and [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Beautiful Daughter]] pair. This was because the producer fell out with the creator of the Yeti and the Traverses and wanted to pay them as little as possible. The one returning character created by them is Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart because Creator/DouglasCamfield wanted Creator/NicholasCourtney back and having a Suspiciously Similar Substitute played by the ''same actor'' would just be begging for a lawsuit, and even he gets a promotion to [[TheBrigadier Brigadier]] and is mostly referred to by that rank from that point onward — not just in the serial, but the show as a whole, even in the few allusions to him in the Revival Series.
** The Nestene Consciousness which debuted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]" is one to the Great Intelligence of the Troughton Era. Both are (mostly) disembodied gestalts seeking to conquer Earth who rely on partly disguised robotic servants to operate, but the Nestenes use animated plastic dummies called Autons instead of robot yeti. Both the Autons and the yeti additionally use large, spherical objects as remote controls -- silver orbs for the yeti, and specialized meteorites for the Autons (though the Autons' control scheme is heavily simplified, only relying on the meteorites rather than a complex network of mobile spheres, chess pieces, and human vessels).
** Creator/NicholasCourtney was in the middle of a theatrical tour when [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion "The Android Invasion"]] was filmed, so while Sergeant Benton and Harry Sullivan appeared, the plot role of TheBrigadier is filled by one Colonel Faraday.
** Prop example — the Fourth Doctor started using a "secondary console room" at one point, designed to fit the [[GothicHorrorTropes gothic motif]] he was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn swiftly developing]], which had a chapel-like appearance complete with stained-glass windows and gorgeous real wood paneling on everything. However, the BBC stored the set poorly and the wood warped and cracked, forcing the Doctor to revert to the previous console room set, with a HandWave about him redecorating the secondary console room to look like his previous one. This also serendipitously coincided with the Doctor's characterisation going in a LighterAndSofter direction, the result of [[MoralGuardians Mary Whitehouse]] raising enough of a fuss about the show's increasingly DarkerAndEdgier direction that producer Creator/PhilipHinchcliffe got fired in favour of Creator/GrahamWilliams, whose work on the show was under constant orders to keep it kiddie.
** [[FacialHorror Facially deformed]] time-travelling DiabolicalMastermind Magnus Greel in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]" was originally supposed to be the heavily decayed incarnation of the Master from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]", as the story was planned as a direct sequel to it and was even written by the same man, Creator/RobertHolmes. However, since this was just three serials after "The Deadly Assassin", Holmes opted to replace the Master with Greel. Remnants of the original idea include both being hammy, vampiric serial killers on the run with a time machine, dying, and desperately looking for a way to cheat death. Greel even talks about "regeneration" a few times.
** Kamelion in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E6TheKingsDemons The King's Demons]]" was conceived as a successor to K-9, just not looking like a dog.
** The Toclafane — mutated, insane, OmnicidalManiac humanoids dependent on [[LittleGreenManInACan heavily-armed miniature tank cases]] to survive — were created as a substitute for the Daleks if [[CaptainErsatz the revival show could not get the rights to use them]], as the negotiations with Creator/TerryNation's estate were going badly. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]" (titled "Absence of the Daleks") would have revolved around the audience expecting to find a Dalek, but the creature instead being the last Toclafane, the race that wiped out the Time Lords. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf Bad Wolf]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]" would have been the conclusion of their StoryArc and revealed that they were in fact humans from the future. The final version of Series 1 did use Daleks in this role, but the Daleks encountered in that story were built from mutated humans like the Toclafane; while somewhat left-field to a viewer starting with Series 1, the twist is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks not without precedent]] in the Classic Series. The Toclofane later showed up in Series 3, with their plot twist still making it into the series but in an even dourer context.
** Howard Attfield, who played Donna Noble's father in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]", died during the filming of Series 4, having just finished his scenes for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime Partners in Crime]]". Rather than leave his one appearance there as-is and try to skirt around his absence for the rest of the season, the producers decided to have his scenes reshot with Wilfred Mott (Creator/BernardCribbins), who had been created as a one-off guest character in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]" and was promptly retconned as Donna's maternal grandfather. Incidentally, Cribbins previously played Tom Campbell in ''Film/DaleksInvasionEarth2150AD'', who himself was a substitute for the version of Ian Chesterton from ''Film/DrWhoAndTheDaleks''
** Early plans for Series 4 had a character called Penny Carter stepping in as the new companion, "as much like Donna Noble as I can get away with" according to writer Creator/RussellTDavies, due to his assumption that the actress who played Donna in a one-off appearance, Creator/CatherineTate, would not agree to return in a regular role on account of being quite popular and busy. When Tate actually agreed to do the show after all and Donna became the full-time companion, Penny Carter did appear as a minor character, spending almost all of her screen time complaining in Donna-like fashion.
** BBC ExecutiveMeddling really, ''really'' wanted Creator/MattSmith's Eleventh Doctor to be as much like Creator/DavidTennant's Tenth Doctor as possible, fearing a more unusual character would not be as relevant and popular; there had even been discussion of outright re-cancelling the show, this time for good. The original proposed outfit for the character even followed a similar "'90s indie kid" aesthetic by way of a pirate outfit, but Smith strongly disliked it. The eventual character was more similar to the Tenth Doctor than many other Doctors over the years had been to their predecessors — being also a young, romantic figure with a tendency to ramble and a lot of suppressed {{angst}} — but different enough to change the whole feel of the show. In particular, Smith's reinterpretation of the role took much more from Creator/PatrickTroughton's portrayal of the Doctor than any previous actor; most previous incarnations of the Doctor were made to directly contrast their immediate predecessor, and most portrayals of the role since 1982 were characterized in direct response to the popularity and omnipresence of Creator/TomBaker's incarnation. As if to acknowledge this, in stark contrast to most multi-Doctor crossovers where OtherMeAnnoysMe is in full force, Smith's and Tennant's Doctors are finishing each others' sentences in short order during [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]: Some people have wondered if the Dream Lord, an EnemyWithout of the Doctor, is one for the Valeyard, the main villain of season 23's "The Trial of a Time Lord" arc.
** River Song is one to prior Creator/StevenMoffat contribution Captain Jack Harkness. Both are reoccurring on-off companions who the Doctor has difficulty trusting, both are time travelers much like the Doctor and have used vortex manipulators, and both are paradoxical in nature (much like the Doctor). Captain Jack is immortal and is a living fixed point-in-time, while River is a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-Time Lord]] whose entire life is a StableTimeLoop. The names they are usually known by are both aliases, and both of them are {{Anti Hero}}es in their early (chronological) appearances before reforming after spending time with the Doctor, and both are ExtremeOmnisexual and have dated members of various species and genders.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]]" was supposed to include Captain Jack as part of the Doctor's army, but Creator/JohnBarrowman was unavailable and so the character of Vastra was created to take his role — possibly why it's only in that story that Vastra shows any sexual interest in men, being exclusively lesbian otherwise.
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]]: Tasha Lem is so similar to River Song that some fans speculate that she's a [[TheNthDoctor regeneration]] of her. However, dialogue in the episode — plus the fact that Tasha [[spoiler:technically dies in the episode, being replaced by a Dalek duplicate albeit with her memories and feelings for the Doctor retained, a complete contradiction of River's fate]] — tends to suggest otherwise.
** The web game ''The Doctor and the Dalek'' replaces the brain-damaged "good" Time War Dalek the Doctor cutely nicknames Rusty (from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek "Into the Dalek"]]) with the brain-damaged "good" Time War Dalek the Doctor cutely nicknames Lumpy. This is probably because fitting Rusty into the plot would be begging for problems.
** Ashildr/Me who debuts in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" is one for Captain Jack Harkness. Both are made TheAgeless due to "breaking the rules" and live on, with WhoWantsToLiveForever far-reaching consequences. (Not coincidental, then, that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived the second episode involving Ashildr]] invokes Jack directly.)
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld The Pyramid at the End of the World]]" features the Secretary-General of the UN and some soldiers from opposing armies take on the role normally reserved for UNIT. Kate Stewart (and presumably UNIT) was originally supposed to appear, but a scheduling conflict with her actress prevented it.
** The Monks from the "Monk Trilogy" are {{Reality Warper}}s that need someone to ask them to use them; their entire plan revolves around tricking someone into giving them this consent. This is very similar to the M.O. of the Trickster from [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures one of the spin-offs]]. They also shoot lightning, use religious imagery, can change memories and dress in Earth clothing, much like the Silence. In this case, however, it was less the result of unfulfilled intentions and more the result of Creator/StevenMoffat having to rush out the trilogy under the highly unusual, exceedingly tight, and horrifically tragic constraint of him having to care for his dying mother; at one point he was stuck writing the scripts for those episodes at her bedside.
** ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' did this in ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'' with Lois, who fills the role Martha was going to play had Creator/FreemaAgyeman been available. Subverted in the same miniseries when a character [[spoiler:who seems like he's being built up to be a substitute for Owen suddenly shoots Jack in the back, and then gets shot himself. RTD says this was intentional because he thinks it's a disservice to characters to outright replace them with a Suspiciously Similar Substitute]].
** ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' plays with this in-universe a few times:
*** Luke has a nightmare about being replaced in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E1E2TheNightmareMan The Nightmare Man]]". A season later in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS5E1E2Sky Sky]]", he actually would be replaced by another ArtificialHuman with NoSocialSkills - but that one would [[GenderFlip be a girl]].
*** In "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E11E12GoodbyeSarahJaneSmith Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith]]", Ruby villainously attempts to become this for Sarah Jane.
*** In the show's single, rather obscure, straight example, the [[EldritchAbomination Ancient Lights]] in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E5E6SecretsOfTheStars Secrets of the Stars]]" are a slightly-altered version of the Mandragora Helix from the 1970s ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora The Masque of Mandragora]]". Originally, they were intended to be the same entity, but it was decided that it would be too obscure a continuity reference even by ''Doctor Who'' universe standards.
* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', particularly in later seasons, seems to run on this trope:
** An ambitious redhead that doesn't want to stay in service but go out and make it big: Gwen, replacing Ethel. Although there are ''some'' differences: Gwen's ambition ran only to the much more realistic goal of becoming a secretary; Ethel wants to be a movie star. And Gwen actually works toward her goals (with some help from Lady Sybil), while Ethel seems to think she should just be handed them. In turn, the ends for each of their characters are also very different.
** After [[spoiler:Sybil's death]], Rose seems set to take her place as the upstairs "modern girl", although, in true ''Series/{{Mash}}'' fashion, there are clear differences between their characters [[spoiler:(Sybil was an idealistic reformer and Rose is a party girl)]].
** After William [[spoiler: is killed in World War I]], Season 3 brings us Alfred: tall, fair-haired, awkward, and a potential love interest for Daisy.
** It takes a while to determine who fits this role most closely, but by the end of Series 4, it appears that Charles Blake is turning out to be this regarding [[spoiler: Matthew]]. He and [[spoiler: Mary]] start out with an initially hostile relationship, then share a sweeter moment or two, and by the end of the season wants to marry her. Sound familiar?
** Sarah Bunting has strong opinions, particularly where politics and class are concerned, likes helping people, and is attracted to [[spoiler: Tom]], much like [[spoiler: the late Sybil]].
%%* Kellie replacing Kate on ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' after Christa Miller left for a recurring role on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''.
* ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey'' replaced Alex, the one sensible person in the Globelink office, with Helen, a virtually identical character, at the end of the second series. Both of them even had one-night stands with Dave (despite Helen being a lesbian).
* ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'':
** Loren's sister Olive [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappears between seasons without any explanation]] (although later, we learn she died of spotted fever during a cattle drive on the Goodnight-Loving Trail). In her place, his sister-in-law Dorothy (whom he was courting before she ran off with another man, leaving him to marry her sister) came to town, fleeing the abusive husband she had ditched Lauren for, and assumes the same role as Olive had as Mike's friend and confidante.
** Emma for Myra, as they're both cut from the same HookerWithAHeartOfGold mold. Both of them also wanted a career instead of being [[{{Housewife}} a housewife]] after they had stopped working as prostitutes.
** Cloud Dancing was not the first character Larry Sellers played. In the pilot, he played Black Hawk, named in the credits only. Because of the way the show got remodeled after the pilot and the fact he was not named onscreen, his character was essentially {{retcon}}ned into Cloud Dancing.
* ''Series/DueSouth'' did this surprisingly well, mixing in a bit of [[TheOtherDarrin Sister Becky]]. One character is sent away "under cover" while the main character is out of town. The replacement is introduced as someone pretending to be that character, in order to maintain his cover. The replacement is almost nothing like his predecessor, [[spoiler:with almost everybody except Fraser seeming to be unaware of this]].
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'':
** Coy and Vance replaced Bo and Luke Duke. They were such substitutes, they even had the same ''hair color''. The following season Bo and Luke were brought back, and Coy and Vance were [[PutOnABus never heard of again]].
** Deputy Cletus Hogg, although his initial appearance on the show preceded Enos' departure [[SpinOff for his own series]], and he was allowed to stay on even after Enos returned.
** Roscoe was also replaced briefly by two different sheriffs -- including TheOtherDarrin himself.
* Seen repeatedly in ''Creator/GeneRoddenberry's Series/EarthFinalConflict'', due to the show's unusually high cast turnover rate. In fact, the only character to last through all 5 seasons was series villain Agent Sandoval.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'':
** Many new medical students and interns were introduced in the plucky NaiveNewcomer mold of Carter—Lucy, Gallant, Neela, even Dr. Wise in the series finale. Justified given the series premise: medical students who’ve never encountered a busy urban ER before are likely to react the same, and given that County is a teaching hospital, it makes sense there would be a revolving door of them.
** After Doug Ross' departure, he was essentially replaced by ''three'' characters that harbored his best or best-known qualities. The obvious designated successor was Luka Kovac, a brooding hunk with allusions to a [[DarkerAndEdgier mysterious, tragic past]], a yearning for Carol, and an impulsive streak that [[HisOwnWorstEnemy turned self-destructive]] in subsequent seasons. But if that weren’t enough, the writers also added Cleo Finch, a skilled and dedicated pediatrician, to fill in for Doug as Designated Pediatrics Person, and Dave Malucci, a brash, reckless rule-breaking resident with a BerserkButton regarding child abuse, not to mention a [[NoodleIncident once-mentioned, but never explained]] kid and a hatred for Kerry Weaver.
*** After Kovac became ER chief and [[TookALevelInCheerfulness a steady presence in the ER]] instead of a self-destructive one, the writers introduced new characters to again fill the “brilliant Lothario” role in the ensemble. These characters also shared Ross’s well-known qualities: Tony Gates, a reckless paramedic-turned-intern with a penchant for rule-breaking (and also a kid), and later, Simon Brenner, a commitment-phobic womanizer.
** Abby Lockhart, twice over. First introduced as Carol's OB nurse during her labor, Abby shows up a few episodes later as a third-year medical student, [[ConvenientReplacementCharacter just in time for fourth year medical student Lucy Knight to get killed off.]] For the rest of that season, Abby fills the “designated medical student” role in the ensemble. Then, after Carol leaves, Abby becomes the main nurse character in the ER, picking right up where Carol left off: not only did she immediately start dating Luka, Carol's ex (and aforementioned Doug Ross replacement), but she was even given the aborted nurse-to-doctor storyline, complete with a speech about preferring nursing to medicine. That said, there were some differences in this plot: Carol had always been an RN but decided to study for and take her [=MCATs=] just to see if she could pass them. Although scenes were filmed with Carol starting medical school, actress Julianna Margulies was unhappy with the storyline as Carol had always been passionate about nursing and she felt it was out of character for her to switch careers. By contrast, Abby was introduced as a wannabe doc who took nursing shifts to pay for med school. She dropped out not long after her introduction due to lack of funds, but always intended to go back and finish, which she eventually did, becoming a fully-fledged doctor.
** Immediately after Abby returns to medical school, she’s replaced as ER nurse with Sam Taggart, another nurse with a messy personal life (who dates Luka for a season and a half to boot).
** After Peter Benton left, Greg Pratt was introduced as the next “arrogant resident who doesn’t think he has much to learn,” which was Benton’s role at the beginning of the series. CharacterDevelopment taught both that they did, in fact, have much to learn.
** In general, the show’s main ensemble hinged on six core roles: Moral Compass, Brilliant Lothario, Caring Female Doc, Stressed Nurse, Awkward Nice Guy, and Arrogant Doctor. (In order, the first season had Greene, Ross, Lewis, Carol, Carter, and Benton in those roles.) As the show went on and the ensemble became more crowded, some roles were split across multiple characters, and characters stayed on the show but swapped roles in the ensemble (e.g., after Greene's departure, Carter moved up from Awkward Nice Guy to Moral Compass, with the Awkward Nice Guy role going to Gallant for a while). Later seasons also added new roles into the mix: Newbie Medical Student/Intern, Plucky Female Surgeon (Corday, Neela), Stickler ER Chief (Weaver, Moretti, Banfield), and Doctor Nobody Really Respects (Malucci, pre-character development Morris).
* ''Series/{{Everwood}}'', for some extent at least: Linda and Amanda are both facing a tragedy of sorts, both feel uneasy around Nina (foreshadowing, much?) and both have a similar relationship with Andy: the rocky start, people against the affair, having a hard time fitting in Andy's family life, and finally breaking up over something directly related to the aforementioned tragedy. Amy's best friends, Laynie and Hannah (who never appeared simultaneously, although they'd be best friends themselves in ''Grey's Anatomy'', same actresses, different characters), also share some traits: tragedy again (the common denominator for everybody in the show), introverted, both have an older brother (one of them [[spoiler: dies]] and the other [[spoiler: has a strong chance of inheriting Huntington's]]), both are somewhat "dark" and both girls click with Ephram instantly (Laynie actually dates him, Hannah is more a best friend / neighbor / like sibling type). Last but not least, Stephanie is in many ways a short-lived Madison II (college-girl, very different from Ephram, great with Deliah, kind with Amy in spite of her (Amy's) jealousy).
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'':
** After Zhaan dies, she's replaced by Jool who fills the same role as TheSmartGuy but is purely scientific rather than spiritual and is much more abrasive in personality, while Stark tries to take over Zhaan's spiritual role (with mixed results.) When Jool leaves, her direct replacement Sikozu is a bit more similar in personality to her but much more competent and calculating. At the same time, Noranti is introduced as a replacement for Zhann and Stark's mystical/spiritual role, but more morally ambiguous than Zhaan was, sometimes being downright sinister. As well as replacing the missing Stark's allotment of [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome.]]
** One episode even featured a group of suspiciously similar substitutes. Escaped prisoners from Peacekeeper custody on a Leviathan transport pod, a Scarran strong guy (reflecting D'Argo's ProudWarriorRaceGuy), a Nebari androgyn (hermaphrodite, mirroring Chiana's nonconformist), a [[DistaffCounterpart female]] Hynerian, and a captured Peacekeeper tech (reflecting Aeryn's initial unwilling accompaniment of Moya's crew, as well as looking similar to Crichton and being in a similarly mistrusted position.)
* ''Series/FatherBrown'' has several variations:
** Lady Felicia, the well connected, wealthy, somewhat scandalous member of the peerage is replaced in season six with her niece Bunty, who, though much younger, is also a well connected, wealthy, somewhat scandalous member of the peerage, and serves Felicia's role as a foil to the scrupulous Mrs. [=McCarthy=].
** Every few years, the inspector of Father Brown's parish is replaced. Generally, the inspector starts out disliking or actively discouraging Fr. Brown from solving crime, but grudgingly grows to allow him his insights when it's proven that he finds the murderers. Usually at the end of a season or two, the inspector is replaced with another skeptical police chief and Fr. Brown has to prove himself all over again over the next season, enabling more conflict in the story.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': This trope is neatly deconstructed/lampshaded with Mel Karnofski, Niles' RomanticFalseLead between divorcing Maris and getting together with Daphne. Mel is a blatantly obvious slightly-milder carbon-copy of Maris (or rather, [[TheGhost Maris's actions and descriptions]] given a more subtle form and voice), paralleling her in everything from being a manipulative and domineering JerkAss to her hysterical, unstable, mood-swinging, and obsessively fussy and neurotic behavior -- and Niles is unable to see it. Frasier outright ''tells'' Niles that he's repeating a horrible pattern (Maris was quite emotionally abusive and generally had an adverse effect on Niles' mental state), and speculates that he's just jumping at the chance for someone comfortingly familiar because Daphne is getting engaged and he (apparently) no longer has a chance with her.
* In ''Series/{{Frontline}}'', each season features a new Executive Producer, all of whom are equally amoral but manipulate people in slightly different ways.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Missandei to the late Irri. In the books, Irri is still alive, but Missandei continues to act as an adviser as well as a handmaiden.
** In the series finale, Bronn [[spoiler:has essentially become the new Littlefinger. A Master of Coin who is also a corrupt, social-climbing, Nouveau Riche noble and an aspiring pimp who pointedly espouses a belief that the strong thrive over the weak. His sleaziness also disgusts the more morally principled of the Small Council such as Davos and Brienne]].
** Ser Davos becomes one to the late Ned Stark -- a Baratheon king's most trusted friend who acts as TheConsigliere and can be trusted to tell him what he doesn't want to hear. The key difference is Davos is about a million times more aware of the cutthroat climate of Westeros.
** Olyvar to Ros. After her death, he takes over the role of the show's main prostitute, provider of {{Fanservice}}, and receiver of {{Sexposition}}.
** After the first Lady Frey is killed at the Red Wedding, the new Lady Frey is another plain-looking teenage girl - seemingly younger than the previous one - who says or does absolutely nothing but idly stand next to her disturbingly old husband through her whole scene while looking quite miserable and scared. He ''did'' say he'd "get another one" right before his last wife's death...
%%** Kovarro to Rakharo. Kovarro only really steps up after Rakharo's death.
* In ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'', Carmen is replaced with Angie's niece Veronica Palmero because of creative differences between Carmen's actress, Masiela Lusha, and George Lopez. Veronica is the same as Carmen, only more shallow and with a sadder story.
* ''Series/GetShorty'': In the first season, Nathan Hill is a no-name actor who gets his big break on ''The Admiral's Mistress''. In season 2, Nathan is never seen again outside of movie footage from the first season, but we're introduced to David Oumou, a no-name actor who got his big break in a supporting role on ''The Admiral's Mistress''.
* ''Series/GetSmart'' (the original show) did this for the episode "Ice Station Siegfried." Creator/DonAdams had a root canal and couldn't be there for the shooting of one episode, so the writers created Agent Quigley, who acted exactly like Maxwell Smart and was also attracted to Agent 99, to replace him for one episode. He was never seen nor mentioned again. Incidentally, the script for "Ice Station Siegfried" was so bad that Adams purposely scheduled his dentist appointment so that he would miss the filming of it and not another Season 5 episode.
* In ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', when Creator/ChadMichaelMurray (Tristan [=DuGray=]) left for a slew of other WB projects (including ''Series/DawsonsCreek'', a failed ''Lone Ranger'' pilot and then eventually ''Series/OneTreeHill''). This left a void in the Rory/Dean/Other love/hate triangle. The void was soon filled by Jess Mariano (Creator/MiloVentimiglia).
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'':
** In season 3, many of the original cast (and the one with the largest, most vocal sub-fandoms) graduated and became recurring characters. In their place is a league of hip, young freshman replacements who suspiciously resemble the first generation of glee clubbers;
** Marley Rose is just like the original Rachel Berry; Heterosexual, Caucasian, skinny, pale brunette with a wailing Broadway voice is made the captain and lead singer of the ''New Directions''. She also has a crush on a member of the football team who seems to be completely out of her league and is dating a nasty blonde cheerleader who hates her, which causes ominous {{wangst}}. And despite her being unpopular the football player has a strange affinity for her, and Rachel is the main protagonist season 1-3 whilst Marley is the main protagonist in season 4.
** Kitty Wilde and Quinn Fabray's similarities are even lampshaded in the series; They're both (for at least a brief time) head cheerleaders, both Caucasian, heterosexual, and blonde with a strange, inconceivable hatred for the main heroine who has never done anything to them. They are both popular but implied that their "friends" don't ''really'' like them (Quinn's falling out with Santana/Kitty saying she really just wants friends). They're also dating the football player as an obvious RomanticFalseLead, but seem to be using them for popularity at the best of times and get jealous and possessive over them even talking to other females in a purely platonic sense. It isn't helped by the fact that Kitty ''worships'' Quinn and constantly gushes about how she wants to be just like her. Or the fact that Sue dubs Kitty "A young Quinn Fabray, except not pregnant, manically depressed and in/out of a wheelchair", which crossed the DudeNotFunny territory for some viewers with experiences of that nature. They both have high, wispy voices too.
** They don't even try and hide the similarities between Puck and Jake; Both from a broken home in which they didn't know their father, they both play/ed for the football team and have a big reputation as trouble makers and womanizers (To the point where Unique feels it necessary to break into an improv Britney Spears number to prove it). They both have strong, baritone voices and start off dissing the glee club and disputing it, before slowing warming up to the idea of singing and dancing on stage. They both are implied to see themselves as losers and both have a below-average IQ and are popular. Oh yeah, and [[spoiler: they're half brothers]]. This is later deconstructed when Jake says he doesn't just want to be seen as a failure because his brother was and that there's more to him than his genes. He's having a tough time proving it, though.
** Unique/Wade is a big fan of both Kurt and Mercedes, so it's a good job the fandom refers to her as their lovechild from the future. When it comes to Unique being like ''Mercedes'', they share body-shape and race, as well as having "Big belter" Whitney-esque voices and their main superlative being "Sassy diva". And being TheLancer to the main heroine of the series (Rachel/Marley). They both campaign for more solos throughout their airtime too, often claiming that their voices are neglected. When it comes to Unique being like ''Kurt'', they have both suffered prejudice and bullying over their sexual orientations (Kurt is gay and Unique is transgender), as well as auditioning for a big role in the annual Mckinley musical and for some reason or another not getting to do it. They also act as a PetHomosexual to Rachel/Marley. They both show explicit interest in fashion and style and are quite eloquently spoken for teenagers.
** Ryder Lynn takes the role of Finn. Finn is even the one who recruits him for the glee club. Both are football players, who are well meaning if a little dull. Ryder is even part of a love triangle involving Marley (the Rachel stand in) and Jake (the Puck stand in). He also borrows elements from Sam, as the two were both dyslexic. This is somewhat fitting considering that Sam was something of an {{Expy}} of Finn.
** Bree is a character introduced in season five and seems to take the role of Santana. Both are the TokenMinority on the cheer team and are both [[AlphaBitch Alpha Bitches]]. She's even outright called "the new Santana Lopez".
* ''Series/GoodEats'' has an episode about making substitutions in a recipe, whether it's because one of the diners is allergic to an ingredient, personal preference/RuleOfCool, or not having an ingredient on hand (and not wanting to make a trip to the supermarket). It's revealed at the end that the episode was narrated by A.B.'s EvilTwin, B.A.
* After Kalinda's departure from ''Series/TheGoodWife'' a new character is introduced right away; Lucca Quinn, aside from the somewhat physical similarity, she became Alicia's best friend and Cary's {{Love Interest|s}} in one season, roles previously held by Kalinda. She also becomes, as Kalinda was, TokenMinority.
* ''Series/HappyDays'', upon the leaving of Creator/RonHoward, brought in a family friend named Roger who replaced the "straight-man" tendencies of Richie.
* After Howard Hesseman left ''Series/HeadOfTheClass'' in 1990, Creator/BillyConnolly's character substituted him for the show's final season, but the two characters' personalities could not have been more different. Whereas Hesseman's Mr. Moore was a serious mentor for the kids, [[TheDanza Billy]] was a joker who often joined in on the kids' shenanigans, and even let the students call him by his first name.
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', West's relationship with Claire leaves him as little more than a straight version of Zach. The writers tried to cover this up by giving him the power of flight/levitation but his lines and role as a foil character made it obvious.
* Carried out with style by British fantasy show ''Series/{{Hex}}'', where new girl Ella, an experienced witch, shows up at the start of the second season and by the end of the second episode has [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext stabbed original lead witch Cassie]] and taken her place as the show's main character]]. She goes on to have an almost identical doomed relationship with [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys demon spawn Malachi]] that Cassie had with demon Azazeal in the first season. To round things off, Malachi is Cassie and Azazeal's [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome magically-aged]] son.
* The long-running Australian sitcom ''Series/HeyDad'' continued for a 13th and 14th season after the titular character left, with a family friend serving as an unofficial father figure. Over its long lifespan, the show had a nearly complete changeover of cast, with replacements alternating between thinly-disguised substitutes and unexplained [[TheOtherDarrin Other Darrins]].
* ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' -- When Michael Conrad died after Season 3, his Sgt Esterhaus was replaced with Robert Prosky's Sgt Jablonski. Each had {{catchphrase}} to close out the briefing at the top of each episode. However, where Esterhaus had been warm and fatherly ("Let's be careful out there"), Jablonski was much harder-edged ("Let's do it to them before they do it to us").
%%* Sandy Duncan's character on ''Series/TheHoganFamily'', who was ''Valerie'' before Valerie Harper quit.
* Sergeant Baker replaced Sergeant Kinchloe as 'radio operator who happens to be black' on ''Series/HogansHeroes'' in the final season. Unfortunately, unlike Kinchloe, Baker didn't have much characterization apart from 'radio operator who happens to be black' and wasn't the most satisfying of replacements.
* On ''Series/HomeImprovement'', Heidi replaced Lisa as the Tool Girl on the ShowWithinAShow ''Tool Time'' in season three. Lisa was a FlatCharacter and Heidi started out as one but she eventually had some CharacterDevelopment.
* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' had a rare example where a pre-existing character was retooled into a substitute. After Crosetti, the resident rambling conspiracy theorist PluckyComicRelief, was written out, the writers had Munch fill the void. Since Munch was already a rambling conspiracy theorist who was often played for comic relief already, it was easy for him to slip into the role.
* While the original ducklings still appear on ''Series/{{House}}'', their roles as, well, ducklings have been replaced. By Taub, Kutner, and Thirteen, who are superficially similar to the original three characters. Their exact personalities don't line up but House admitted that he hired them based on the same dynamic he had with the earlier team. Interestingly enough for the trope, the previous actors didn't leave the show, they just added more cast.
* In ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' KT came in after Nina had left (as Nathalia quit to focus on school work.) Many fans had this reaction at first, considering both of them are from the United States, were raised by a grandparent, and [[spoiler:have a destiny to do with Ancient Egyptian Mythology]]. Some of the ''characters'' even seemed to believe this at first.
* When Mickey left ''Series/{{Hustle}}'' after season 3, Billy was introduced as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for ''Danny'', with Danny taking up Mickey's role. In season 5, Mickey's back and the Danny/Billy role is taken by Sean, with his sister Emma as the new Stacie.
* ''Series/ICarly2021'': Creator/JennetteMcCurdy refused to reprise her role as Sam Puckett from the original ''Series/{{iCarly}}'', so the character was written out of the show. Two new characters were introduced to fill the void left by Sam as well as Gibby (Creator/NoahMunck also didn't return). One was Carly's new best friend Harper Bettencourt, who has little in common with Sam. The other is Freddie's stepdaughter Millicent Mitchell, who is every bit as sarcastic and manipulative as Sam was, including her hot and cold relationship with Freddie. The biggest differences between Sam and Millicent is that Millicent is younger, lacks Sam's gluttony and propensity towards violence and arguably has more redeeming qualities.
* In the second season of ''Series/InTreatment'' Luke and Bess, a couple whose divorce was harming their son, were clearly substitutes for Jake and Amy in the first season. This is because, in the Israeli series the show is based on, the corresponding couple's arc continued into the second season.
* There have been seven ''Series/{{Iron Chef}}s'': Chen Kenichi (Chinese), Hiroyuki Sakai (French), Masaharu Morimoto (Japanese), and Masahiko Kobe (Italian) are the ones American viewers are most familiar with. The dubbed version tried to push the idea that Morimoto was the direct successor to Rokusaburo Michiba, the original IC Japanese. In truth, Morimoto was a substitute to a substitute: Michiba's replacement was Koumei Nakamura (Who can be spotted behind Chairman Kaga in the opening credits, where Kaga is standing behind the pile of strawberries). There's also the original IC French, Yutaka Ishinabe (whose portrait can be spotted in the opening panorama).
* ''Series/{{Jeremiah}}'': In "The Long Road", a friendly blonde woman named Sarah who is reverently loyal to Markus handles a lot of the administrative work at Thunder Mountain (in a DeletedScene she calls herself a liaison between Markus and the council) and greeting new arrivals. She is never seen after the pilot, with the third episode introducing regular character Erin, who resembles Sarah and had the exact same duties and attitude toward Markus as her. Their names even have a couple of the same sounds.
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' was unable to use [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]], Jessica's best friend from the comics, because the character was tied up in ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}''. To replace her, the writers brought in [[Comicbook/PatsyWalker Trish Walker]] to serve as Jessica's best friend. Additionally, instead of being a redhead, Trish now has long blond hair as Carol did in the comics.
* Carla Borrego for Maddie Magellan in ''Series/JonathanCreek''. And then Joey Ross for Carla. All female investigative journalists (of a sort; Carla presents a ''Crimewatch''-style TV show and Joey runs a paranormal website) who march into situations and take charge, leaving Jonathan to fade into the background, and are eternally exasperated with him. The main difference with Joey is that her relationship with Jonathan isn't based on {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST.
* In ''Series/JudgingAmy'', Dan Futterman played Vincent Gray, Amy's highly intelligent younger brother, in episodes 1 through 51, when he left the show. He was soon substituted by Kevin Rahm in the role of Kyle [=McCarty=], Amy and Vincent's highly intelligent second cousin who had much of the same intelligence and mannerisms as Vincent. With Kyle's introduction, it was explained that Vincent and Kyle had been roommates and spent much of their younger years together. Vincent returned to the show in episode 100, and effectively reverse-substituted for Kyle who left the show in episode 118. Vincent remained for the rest of the show's run.
* ''Series/KamenRider'':
** The original series was forced to do this with Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1 after Creator/HiroshiFujioka broke his leg while attempting a stunt. Unlike many examples of this trope, however, the replacement character (Hayato Ichimonji/Kamen Rider 2) is remembered fondly by the fanbase[[note]]In fact, a lot of the iconic tropes of the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise, like invoking the transformation by posing and shouting "Henshin!", began during Ichimonji's tenure[[/note]] and has become just as much a fixture of the franchise as his predecessor, and when the former returned to the show, the two are often paired under the nickname "Double Riders."
** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' did this to most of the cast of the shows they visited, using the conceit of {{Alternate Universe}}s. However, while most of the characters got substitutes, several of the original actors gladly returned to reprise their roles (even if they were alternate universe versions). The most stand-out example is ''Series/KamenRiderHibiki'', where most of the secondary cast came back, but the actors who played the show's two stars (Hibiki and Asumu) didn't.
** The old-school Riders had a recurring, cross-seasonal ally named Tobei Tachibana. He started out as Hongo's friend who ran the motorbike racing club but got more and more involved with things Rider-related just due to being close to the guys trouble followed most, becoming something of a BadassNormal. When PowersThatBe decided to bring the character back in ''Series/KamenRiderSkyrider'' but the actor declined, the Tachibana role in that and [[Series/KamenRiderSuper1 the following]] series went to the nigh-identical Genjiro Tani. His personality and role were exactly Tachibana's, and sometimes past Riders talked to Tani as if they knew him ''much'' better than they did as if scripts with Tachibana in mind had already been written. They really shoulda gone the MagicPlasticSurgery route.
* ''Series/KnightRider'' replaced WrenchWench Bonnie Barstow with April Curtis for the second season, then brought back Bonnie the next year.
* ''Series/KnotsLanding'': In Seasons Ten to Twelve, Valene's aunt Virginia "Ginny" Bullock is one for her own sister Lilimae, who left in Season Nine.
* Done by necessity quite a lot on gentle old dears' British comedy ''Series/LastOfTheSummerWine'', as elderly cast members die off with inconvenient regularity. (The last member of the original regular cast, Creator/PeterSallis, died in 2017 at the age of ninety-six, seven years after the show was finally cancelled.)
* ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' has always had six main characters: two detectives, their chief, the DA, the executive assistant DA, and a regular assistant DA. Given that the series [[LongRunners lasted for 20 seasons]], all six roles have been substituted as actors move on, some of them several times over. It also helps that the show is heavily story-based, and not too dependent on characterizations.
** The earliest example occurred in the first episode of Season 2. No sooner was Season 1's Max Greevey (Creator/GeorgeDzundza) [[spoiler: gunned down]] that the credits start and we see Paul Sorvino's name in the credits. Sorvino's character, Phil Cerreta was a similarly overweight, older detective whose sense of values conflicted with Logan's more reckless tendencies, especially in this episode.
** The ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "All In" was supposed to be a sequel to an earlier episode, "Cruise to Nowhere", with Goren having to investigate the now-grown kid he helped in that episode, but actor Lou Taylor Pucci was unavailable, so his character Joey Frost was replaced with similarly-named Josh Snow, played by Creator/AaronStanford.
** ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' has seen this a few times; while actress Creator/MariskaHargitay was away due to pregnancy, her character Olivia Benson was briefly replaced by Dani Beck, who spoke fluent French, physically assaulted perps without consequence, was famous for her effectiveness in fighting crime, had a cool personal PDA/GPS system that she flashed around a few times, and had the romantic affair with Elliot that fans wanted him to have with Olivia. In general, the fandom doesn't miss her.
** The ADA's in SVU get replaced. Most people didn't mind the Alex Cabot replacement by Casey Novak (they have very different personalities), but the ADA who replaced Novak for Season 10 was a mediocre blend of both of them, with a dash of InformedAbility to boot. "They used to call me the Crusader." Fan backlash led to them bringing back Alex.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' subverted this, with DS Matt Devlin's replacement Sam Casey being young and good-looking like he was, as well as having an absent/abusive father, but being far more hot-tempered (Matt's temper was generally limited to certain issues, Sam had a short fuse about ''everything''), and rebuffing Ronnie's efforts at mentoring and friendship, in stark contrast to Matt, who clearly cherished the surrogate father that he had in Ronnie. ''His'' replacement Joe Hawkins fell somewhere in between.
* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'':
** Jefferson "Jax" Jackson was created to replace Ronnie Raymond as Comicbook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}} after contractual issues made it impossible for Creator/RobbieAmell to reprise his role from ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}''.
** The writers planned to have Comicbook/{{Vixen}} from ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' join the cast in Season 2, but when Creator/MegalynEchikunwoke was unable to reprise her role due to scheduling issues, a new Vixen named Amaya (the grandmother of ''Arrow'''s Vixen) was created to replace her.
* On ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', Creator/GinaBellman's pregnancy required a hasty write-off of Sophie before she started showing, so she was replaced for half a season by Tara Cole (played by Creator/JeriRyan).
* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' couldn't get the actress who played Wist back, so they created a second gorgeous blonde [[ToServeMan predator]] with a childlike demeanor in Lyekka.
* Nancy Oleson on ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' is a replacement for long-time nemesis, Nellie Oleson. This is lampshaded in the episode where the Olesons adopt her, as Harriet mentions how she looks "just like Nellie" while Nels later ruefully acknowledges that she acts just like Nellie, too.
* ''Series/LivingSingle'' purposely lampshades this when Regine moves into a new apartment complex after fighting with her old friends and housemates. In place of Khadijah, Khadijah's cousin Synclaire ("Woo, woo, woo"), Overton, Kyle, and Max, her housewarming party guests include Lakeisha, Lakeisha's cousin Polly ("Hush, hush, hush"), Orville, Karl, and Sam. While all of the other established characters are competitive with their substitutes, Maxine encourages Sam's equally voracious appetite.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** In season 3 'the Others' chief tough guy, Danny Pickett, was replaced by Ryan Pryce a few episodes after the former's death.
** Bram first appears in the same episode in which Ceaser dies (the actor didn't want to stay in Hawaii) and takes over his role, which was promised to be important at least for the season.
* ''Series/TheLoveBoat'' replaced Julie [=McCoy=] with her sister Judy as "Your Cruise Director," following actress Lauren Tewes' departure from the show due to cocaine addiction.
* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'' is notorious for this.
** In season 2, Nixie and Lyla are replaced with Mimmi and Ondina, the former two having left the show. Ondina is clearly the substitute for Lyla, both being prickly, impatient and headstrong (and blonde). Interestingly enough, Mimmi takes Sirena’s spot as the compassionate and naive {{Nice Girl}}. Because of this, Sirena gets a slight personality change and takes Nixie’s spot, now being a lot more competitive and confident than she was in season 1.
** In season 3, Sirena leaves the show and is replaced with Weilan, who is a lot more similar to Nixie than Sirena was.
* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': The title Mandalorian is a mysterious Mandalorian warrior who never takes off his armor, works as a bounty hunter, and has a DarkAndTroubledPast due to being orphaned at a young age. He is a very clear stand-in for Boba Fett, the most famous Mandalorian from the films. The most immediate difference between the two is that Boba is a Mandalorian by birth but has little to do with the culture, while the Mandalorian was adopted by the Mandalorians and much more closely connected with their culture.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Usually managed to invert this trope.
** Trapper was replaced as Hawkeye's bunkmate and partner-in-crime by BJ. Though there are similarities between the characters, BJ was noticeably more laid back than Trapper -- and was also a devoted family man, whereas Trapper was routinely (and guiltlessly) unfaithful to his wife. Trapper and BJ also had very different ethical standards when it came to certain medical issues. [[spoiler: In one of his last appearances, Trapper cheerfully helps Hawkeye perform an unnecessary appendectomy on Col. Flagg in order to protect a life-saving supply of penicillin. In a later episode, Hawkeye goes to perform a similar unnecessary appendectomy on another colonel, to keep this colonel from leading a bone-headed strategic manoeveur that will pointlessly send troops to their deaths. BJ objects strenuously, and will have no part in the operation, arguing that it's mutilation and a violation of medical ethics.]]
** Col. Blake was replaced by Col. Potter, which was a major subversion. Blake was spacey, had no army background, and lacked real authority. Potter, meanwhile, was army through and through -- a stern yet fatherly leader who had a firm grip on command.
** When the snotty, arrogant Frank Burns left, he was immediately replaced by snotty, arrogant Charles Winchester. However, the two characters were ''extremely'' different. Burns was an incompetent doctor, a charmless nitwit, and a cowardly hypocrite who was easily outfoxed and impossible to respect. Winchester, by contrast, was a first-rate surgeon with a very firm code of ethics. While Winchester's smug demeanour could be off-putting, he was able to be charming when he had to be. He was also very well-educated, smart, and very much a potentially formidable opponent.
** Not ''always'' inverted, though. Particularly very early in the show, some very minor characters (who would only last a few episodes, and never got much CharacterDevelopment as a result) are replaced with similarly undeveloped minor characters. This is particularly true of various early-season nurses (who are all basically treated as interchangeable dates for Hawkeye and Trapper) and commanding generals (who are more-or-less interchangeable out-of-touch authority figures.)
** One could argue that Sgt. Luther Rizzo (crafty Louisiana goldbricker) is a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Sgt. Zelmo Zale (crafty Brooklyn goldbricker).
* ''Series/{{Maverick}}'' introduced a Suspiciously Similar Substitute ''before'' the star left, in the form of Bret Maverick's brother, Bart. This was principally done in order to accelerate the show's shooting schedule since they could shoot a Bret episode and a Bart episode at the same time. Reportedly, the show's writers had no idea whether a given episode would be a Bret episode or a Bart episode when they wrote it. By the show's end, there were two other Mavericks in rotation, one of them played by Creator/RogerMoore. The most suspiciously similar of them all was Brent Maverick, who was introduced shortly after James Garner (who played Bret Maverick) left the show. Not only was Brent's name just one letter off from Bret's, but he was played by Robert Colbert, who bears a remarkable likeness to Garner. When Colbert discovered the producers' plan for him, he rebelled against them, reportedly begging them to, "Put me in a dress and call me Brenda! ANYTHING but this!"
** ''Maverick'' also did this with recurring roles, noticeably bringing in "Gentleman Jack" Darby to fulfill the same type of competitive friend/adversary function as "Dandy Jim" Buckley. Then Buckley was replaced by "Nobby Ned" Wyngate. All three were essentially the same character: a very sharp-dressing, outwardly smooth gambler who had a long history with the Mavericks, and who would work with (or sometimes against) the Mavericks on their latest scheme -- but who would cheerfully switch sides on a moment's notice if the money was right.
* Neil Morrissey as Tony Smart from series 2 of ''Series/MenBehavingBadly'', replacing Harry Enfield as Dermot Povey. Since this happened on Creator/{{ITV}}, and the show only became popular after the third series was taken up by Creator/TheBBC, most viewers have only the vaguest idea there ever ''was'' a Dermot Povey. (In one ClipShow, a single scene from series 1 is shown, prompting Tony to ask "Who was that?")
* The late '80s-early '90s incarnation of ''Series/TheMickeyMouseClub'' turned over its cast a few times. Notables in the mix include Creator/KeriRussell (as part of the first rotation of new blood) and Music/BritneySpears (as part of one of the last rotations).
* In ''Series/MidsomerMurders'', DCI Barnaby was replaced by... DCI Barnaby (his cousin, who had the same rank and personality, but was played by a different actor). Also, he had already changed his sidekick twice. In fairness, in a number of countries, the series is called "Inspector Barnaby" so the change makes sense.
* ''Series/MIHigh'':
** Season three replaced Daisy, Blaine, and their boss. A number of minor characters are also gone as well. In fact, the only characters who have been carried over from the last season are Rose, [[BigBad The Grand Master]], and the school headmaster.
** The third series replaced Lenny Bicknall with Frank London, both retired superspies posing as a high school caretaker.
* Forms a major plot point in ''Series/Millennium1996'', "Dead Letters". Frank Black liaised with Jim Horn, a potential Millennium agent. He was almost a near-duplicate of Frank's character type, except he was a bit too much of a CowboyCop for the Group's liking. Needless to say, he didn't make the cut.
* After Danny gets DemotedToExtra in ''Series/TheMindyProject'''s fourth season, Jody (his replacement at the ob/gyn practice) becomes this. Both Jody and Danny are fairly conservative men with some stereotypical traits (Danny is an Italian from Brooklyn, Jody is from the South) [[spoiler: that are also romantic interests for Mindy]].
* In ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', all main characters from the first two series have been replaced over the course of series 3 and 4 by characters who occupy similar roles in the ensemble, but have different enough personalities.
** Nathan left after Series 2 and was replaced by Rudy, an equally mouthy character who, like Nathan, has the habit of saying outrageous things. Subverted slightly in that Rudy is a more complex character with multiple facets (made literal different people by the Storm).
** Simon, Alisha, and Kelly left after Series 3. Series 4 introduced Finn (another socially awkward guy with hidden depths), Abby (another promiscuous party girl with hidden depths), and Jess (Another no-nonsense, rude girl). Note that despite being Kelly's Spiritual Successor, Jess takes Alisha's place romance-wise, and, just like Alisha, starts dating the handsome/athletic guy in the gang (Curtis and Alex, respectively), before ending up with the apparently weirder one (Simon and Rudy, respectively).
** Series 4 introduced Alex, the handsome barman, and then killed off Curtis the athletic barman. Alex joined the gang full-time for series 5.
* ''Series/MissionImpossible'':
** After season 1, team leader Dan Briggs was replaced by Jim Phelps. After season 3, Rollin Hand was replaced by "The Great Paris." Replacements were seamless, since the characters were constantly playing roles within the show, and were purposely written to show a minimum of personality outside their jobs.
** In principle, the leader (Briggs or Phelps) chose the team members for each mission from a large dossier of agents. In practice, especially in the early episodes, it was mostly the same team.
** TheHeart in the FiveManBand started out as Cinnamon, who was replaced by a parade of guest stars in Season 4, Dana in Season 5, and Casey in Seasons 6-7 (with Mimi briefly serving as a TemporarySubstitute). Averted somewhat with Casey, who was not just the femme fatale but also replaced Rollin and Paris as the team's makeup master, since budget cuts required reducing the cast size. The show also attempted to replace Willy with a doctor named Doug, but Willy was SavedByTheFans.
* In ''Series/MonarchOfTheGlen'', the character of Paul Bowman was introduced in Season 4, and subsequently revealed to be the illegitimate half-brother of the main character, Archie [=MacDonald=], Laird of Glenbogle. Two seasons later, Archie gets PutOnABus to New Zealand, Paul Bowman-[=MacDonald=] is made the new laird, and the series carries on as before, including Paul having {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST with Archie's ''wife''. (Although it doesn't go anywhere.)
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' did this when Creator/TraylorHoward was introduced as Natalie Teeger, replacing Creator/BittySchram's character Sharona Fleming as Monk's assistant midway through season 3. The next few episodes were very obviously written for Sharona, with the only real difference in the characters being Natalie calls him "Mr. Monk" instead of "Adrian." (Well, almost all of the time) This gets especially weird when she states that she's never seen Monk's feet like that's a big deal, despite having only taken the job in the previous episode. The point at which the writers ran out of their previous scripts and were able to start creating material specifically for Natalie (mostly involving her dead husband at first) is very, very clear, and happens some time around "Mr. Monk and the Election" or "Mr. Monk and the Kid". Lastly, due to the death of Creator/StanleyKamel (Dr. Kroger), Hector Elizondo has taken on the role of a new psychiatrist for Adrian Monk.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' is an interesting case.
** All characters other than the robots had been replaced by the show's end, yet the writers took care to make the replacement (and their interaction with the rest of the cast) different from the departing character. Consequently, there's no real consensus among the fans whether any given replacement was better or worse than the original. It also helps that each replacement actor was either behind the scenes since the start, or with the team for ages before they got in front of the camera, so none of them were really "new."
** Joel was a father figure to the bots. His replacement, Mike, interacted with the bots as their equal (at best) and tended to be more overtly sarcastic. The {{flame war}}s over which of the two was better are notorious. While the bots see Joel as a father figure, they see Mike as a brother figure and thus are more inclined to mess around with Mike and prank him relentlessly than they would Joel.
** TV's Frank was Dr. Clayton Forrester's minion and punching bag; when he departed, he was replaced by Pearl Forrester, Clayton's mom and one of the few people capable of cowing her son into submission. After Clayton departed, Pearl took over as the head Mad and gained her own minions, Bobo and Observer.
** TV's Frank himself was a replacement for Dr. Erhardt, who [[HandWave "went missing"]] after the first season. When watching ''Earth vs. The Spider'' and seeing a character who looked a lot like Dr. Erhardt be eaten, Joel was thus inspired to say, "So THAT'S what happened to him!"
** The 2017 revival features Kinga Forrester (Pearl's granddaughter) as the new main MAD, with her henchmen, Max (TV's Son of TV's Frank), and Jonah as the new captive forced to watch bad movies.
* On ''Series/MythBusters'', Kari Byron went on maternity leave and was replaced by Jessi Combs for a few months. The original Build Team was Kari, Tori, and ''Scotty'' (WrenchWench) who left the show under "personal reasons" and was replaced by the now better-known Grant. And there is also Christine, a "Mythtern" before the Build Team came into play, who directly assisted Jamie and Adam and had a certain resemblance to Scotty.
%%* ''Series/MyThreeSons'' did this a lot. They replaced grandpa Bub with Uncle Charlie. Later the oldest son left so the dad adopted the youngest son's friend.
* Arden replaced Chelsea as the AlphaBitch for seasons two and three of ''Series/NaturallySadie''.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' did this on several occasions.
** At the end of Season 2, NCIS agent Kate Todd is shot and killed by Ari Haswari, a Hamas terrorist working undercover within Mossad. Then at the beginning of Season 3, Mossad agent Ziva David, Ari's sister, joins the NCIS team as a Liaison Officer. Ziva resembles Kate physically- both are slim, brown-eyed brunettes. And Ziva quickly picks up Kate's habit of engaging in rivalry, banter, and UnresolvedSexualTension with NCIS agent Tony [=DiNozzo=]. Otherwise, Kate and Ziva are quite different characters, but this is not a case of TheOtherDarrin.
** The fifth season ends on a {{cliffhanger}} which implies that Tony, Ziva, ''and'' [=McGee=] will all be substituted, and, indeed, the sixth season premiere shows Gibbs leading a new team, with establishing shots helpfully indicating which of the previous characters' niches the new agents fit into. Interestingly, the new team has most of the worst qualities of the characters they're replacing--Langer is a meaner Tony, Keating is a wimpier [=McGee=], etc. The trope is then fairly quickly subverted and by the end of the second episode of the season, the team is reunited and back in business.
** Subverted in the 7th season opener when the team interviews replacements for Ziva. Two don't live up to their hype, and one came in at the wrong time. [[spoiler: Ziva returns at the end, at least physically.]]
** Also subverted when Ziva leaves for good at the beginning of Season 11; her replacement, Ellie Bishop, is nothing like Ziva or Kate.
* Subverted in ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''. Originally the team was to be headed by agent Lara Macy, played by Louise Lombard, but after apparently she didn't test well with audiences in the pilot, she was replaced by Hetty Lange, played by Linda Hunt. They are nothing alike.
* A few from ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', though the straightest examples may be Tom Ramsay replacing his brother Max, and Oliver Barnes being hastily written in to replace his brother Will/Sebastian, even taking over his whole character arc.
* On Fox's ''Series/NewGirl,'' the character of "Coach" (Damon Wayans, Jr.) appears only in the pilot. By the time the second episode rolls around, we instead have "Winston," (Creator/LamorneMorris) another young, handsome, goateed, athletic African-American roommate. The switch is given something of a HandWave, with the explanation that Winston is the "real" roommate, and that Coach was just subletting while Winston was off playing pro basketball in a Latvian league. The actual reason for the switch is that Wayans shot the pilot while his ABC show ''Happy Endings'' was on the cancellation bubble, and between the pilot being shot and the show being picked up as a full series, ABC decided to renew ''Happy Endings''...Which did the same for Wayans' contract. (However, after ''Happy Endings'' ended for real, Coach returned and both characters lived in the loft.)
* A rather tragic example occurred in the final season of ''Series/NewsRadio'' (and the only example in the whole series- the other character who left was simply PutOnABus and never replaced). Max was brought in to take over the role that had been filled by Creator/PhilHartman as the over-egotistical Bill [=McNeil=]. Unfortunately, shortly after the completion of season 4, Hartman was the victim of a MurderSuicide by his own wife, and for the final season, Creator/JonLovitz joined the cast in a similar role as Max. Incidentally, Lovitz had been close to Hartman and joined the cast because he wanted to pay homage to his friend. (This is given a nod in-universe: Dave ultimately chooses Max -- out of a broad pool of applicants -- because he was a close friend of Bill's.)
* Flo replacing the deceased Selma on ''Series/NightCourt''. Flo then also died a year later, leading to the younger Roz. (Also on this show, Lana was replaced by Mac, and Liz was replaced by Billie, then Christine).
%%* Phil Capra (for Joel Fleischman) on ''Series/NorthernExposure''.
%%* Lucy replaced Kate in ''Series/NotGoingOut''.
* ''Series/NYPDBlue'' is the master of this trope, having replaced Andy Sipowicz's partner ''three times''. Creator/JimmySmits replaced Creator/DavidCaruso when the latter decided he was too big to do the show. Creator/RickSchroder replaced Smits. Creator/MarkPaulGosselaar replaced Schroeder. Gosselaar and Schroeder are the best examples here, both having similar physical make-ups and similar character personalities (and even similar histories as respected former teen stars who'd played blond, comic extroverts, then turned to darker drama as mature actors).
* Downplayed in ''Series/OddSquad''. Agents Olive and Otto are replaced with Otis and Olympia, respectively. They have differences, but they are superficial at best. Otis and Olympia are then replaced with Opal, Omar, Oswald, and Orla, who also have stark differences to the previous casts but also have personality traits from them mixed into their current ones, such as Opal's need for perfectionism and Omar's goofy carefree nature.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'':
** The series did this in its final season with Pete (Creator/JakeLacy) and Clark (Creator/ClarkDuke) being immediately {{lampshade|Hanging}}d as the "new Jim and Dwight", due to their resemblance to younger versions of both characters. They did this despite both Jim ''and'' Dwight still being around.
** D'Angelo Vickers was a very clear "New Michael", and when Andy ended up in the full-time role of regional manager, he, too, started acting a lot like Michael. The crazed superior went from Jan (not the CEO, but the VP of Sales and Michael's immediate superior) to Jo to Robert (with the final CEO, David, being a subversion, but he also had already been seen in the more sane role of COO). The young self-important jackass became Gabe once Ryan left the show, though there, Ryan didn't really develop that persona until replacing Jan as VP of Sales, then kept it even when busted back down to intern, while Gabe's main quirk was that he was technically Jo's liaison to the office, enforcing her will, but had no actual power.
* In ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland'', Anastasia the Red Queen is a suspiciously similar substitute for Cora[=/=]the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen of Hearts]], who was KilledOffForReal in Season 3 of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' and not available to play her traditional role as the BigBad of an ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' adaptation. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when it's revealed that Anastasia had deliberately modelled herself on Cora.
* Uncle Albert for Grandad on ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. More blatant in his first few appearances, in which he was just filling the role that Grandad would have filled if not for Creator/LennardPearce dying, but he soon started to be portrayed as being more physically capable and less of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} than Grandad, along with his navy background playing a more important part in episodes.
* ''Series/TheOrville'': Talla, who replaces Alara as chief security officer, is very similar to her. Not only are they both the same species and gender, but their personalities aren't that different either. So far the only significant difference is that Talla is taller, older and lacks the family prejudice against the military. After just 2 episodes the new character is best friends with the rest of the crew and is sharing relationship advice with them, just like the old one.
* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'':
** Stretch Snodgrass was substituted with his brother Bones in several first and second season episodes of the TV Series. The actor who played Stretch, Leonard Smith, wasn't available.
** Mrs. Winona Nestor was replaced by her sister, Mrs. Ruth Nestor in the fourth season of the TV series. The actress playing Winona, Nana Bryant, left the show after only a couple of appearances.
** The temporary replacement of Mrs. Davis, with her sister Angela, for a few episodes in the third season of the TV series and contemporaneous radio program. Jane Morgan, the actress who played Mrs. Davis, had suffered a stroke (fortunately, she made a quick and full recovery).
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': Prisoner 98843, the protagonist of "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E7TheCamp The Camp]]", is replaced by Rebecca in the sequel episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S4E21PromisedLand Promised Land]]". Prisoner 98843 is said to have died between the events of the two episodes.
* Really head-spinning example from ''Series/ThePaperChase1978'': When the study group is formed during the pilot episode, one woman is included. In the very second episode, that character's place in the study group, with no explanation, has been taken by another woman, Logan, who remains a major character throughout the series.
* Put-upon straight man, oftentimes OnlySaneEmployee, and Leslie's original love interest Mark Brendanawicz leaves ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' at the end of Season 2. Joining around the same time was straight man, OnlySaneEmployee, and Leslie's new love interest Ben Wyatt. However, there ''are'' differences; most notably, Mark is a somewhat smug and self-involved serial womanizer, and often treats Leslie as a dimly-remembered disposable conquest from the distant past. By contrast, Ben is clearly very much into Leslie, and while he can be self-confident, he's ''never'' smug.
* ''Series/PeepShow'':
** According to WordOfGod, Michelle from Series 3 was created to replace Toni after Toni's actress, Elizabeth Marmur, declined to return to the show.
** Sophie's cousin Barney in the fifth series is a fairly obvious replacement for her brother Jamie from series four; they look similar, are both musicians, both obsessed with Jeremy, and Barney even hangs around with Sophie's father for no explained reason.
* After the death of Bea Benederet, the mother and hotel manager from ''Series/PetticoatJunction'', June Lockhart was cast as a new town doctor who took up residence in the hotel. Although she was clearly not the girls' mother, and the girls were all well into adulthood by that point, she carried on Benederet's function as motherly advisor and the town's most sensible resident.
* ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' has not one, but ''several'' identical one-shot replacements for Inspector Japp, [[RememberTheNewGuy a lot being introduced as old friends of Poirot]]. They all share his mustache and IconicOutfit, and some also have his accent.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** Before the series adopted its [[Franchise/SuperSentai Japanese counterpart's]] format of each season essentially being a standalone show, ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' did have some cast changes, always preserving the number of TokenMinority characters. The second Pink Ranger, Katherine Hillard, is an especially egregious example, not being much like [[TheDitz her predecessor]] before becoming a Ranger, but then rapidly becoming her clone. ({{Dark Action Girl}}s take heed: GoodIsDumb).
** In ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' they replaced the African-American yellow ranger Aisha with a girl in Africa who she was apparently SwitchedAtBirth with.
** Justin from ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' serves as one to two characters. He is one to [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Billy's]] taking over the role as the nerdy Blue Ranger though this is a downplayed example due to the difference in age. He also fills the role of [[Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie Fred]], serving as a KidAppealCharacter introduced in a movie, though unlike Fred, Justin actually does become a Ranger and sticks around for the series.
** They did manage a successful change in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', where actress Valerie Vernon had to leave due to being diagnosed with leukemia. Originally they were going to take the previous pink ranger and bring her in as a replacement, but when that deal fell through, they took [[Series/PowerRangersInSpace the previous season's]] reformed BigBad, Karone, and made her the replacement. In this case, the character was vastly different because she had aspects of TheAtoner.
** Another successful change was [[Creator/JohnnyYongBosch Adam Park]], the second Black Ranger. While Zack was fun-loving and energetic, Adam was fairly quiet and thoughtful. Early on, this was all his character had to him, but an ad-lib in TheMovie ([[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway his dejected "I'm a frog..."]] when finding out what his spirit animal is) gave him some Woobie points and being the second-longest serving ranger gave him fairly decent character development. He's one of the most popular characters in the series now and the only pre-Disney buyout ranger to appear in the 15th anniversary ReunionShow.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'':
** Sarah Page [[spoiler: was killed because her actress couldn't continue acting for the show]], and was replaced by Jess Parker. However, their roles are very different; Sarah was an expert in mythology and ancient cultures, while Jess is a techie and team coordinator.
** Sarah in turn replaced Jenny Lewis, who was an alternate-timeline duplicate of Claudia Brown, played by the same actress but with a completely different personality and role, an inversion of the typical Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
** The series has also been through three different leading men and two different tough-guy supporting men. Only three cast members have stayed with the show through its entire run. The leading men are a particularly interesting example of this. With the first switch, the authors went for a genuine attempt to not make the substitute suspiciously similar, and in fact, the character changed the entire tone of the series. When this second leader was in turn switched out they brought in a replacement that was suspiciously similar to leading man number one, up to and including his accent. The tone of the series also switched back, becoming particularly obvious when number two reappeared for one more episode.
%%* For the final season of ''Series/{{Profiler}}'', exit Ally Walker, enter Jamie Luner, exit off-screen nemesis Jack, enter off-screen nemesis Damian Kennasas.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** Kochanski was this for Rimmer. Others thought Kochanski replaced ''Kryten'', while the latter became Rimmer's replacement.
** Also inverted -- Rimmer is killed off in the first episode and replaced by a hologram, portrayed by the same actor. Hologram Rimmer was written out of the story in Series VII after Chris Barrie chose to leave the show. He returned in Series VIII to play the revived original Rimmer.
** Subverted with Pree, who is obviously set up to be a replacement for Holly, only to turn into the MonsterOfTheWeek.
* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow''. The marina owner changed from the reasonably-built but lazy Glen Brachston to the overweight and ''lazier'' Dwight Cardiff.
* Creator/TheBBC version of ''Series/RobinHood'':
** The series appeared to be about to replace Robin as ''Robin of Sherwood'' had. Season 3, episode 10 invented a backstory for Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne that created a mutual half-brother for the characters. Both Jonas Armstrong (Robin) and Creator/RichardArmitage (Guy) were expected to leave the show at the end of the third season, presumably to be replaced by their brother Archer. Then the show was cancelled.
** The character of Marian was replaced with Kate...who had the same personality as her predecessor, only blonde and poor (and shrill). The result was cringe-inducing considering that Kate was written as arrogant, impetuous, and initially antagonistic toward Robin, just as Marian was. What the writers failed to realize was that such traits are understandable and endearing in a privileged noblewoman who had been jilted by Robin, but completely nonsensical in a peasant girl who had no reason to be any of these things.
* ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'':
** The show inspiredly replaced Michael Praed's Robin of Locksley with Jason Connery's Robert of Huntingdon, exploring both of the two contradictory versions of Robin Hood in the legends - either a salt-of-the-earth yeoman (a free-born smallholder) or a socially-conscientious aristocrat rebelling against the corruption of his class - by making "the Hooded Man" a LegacyCharacter.
* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' originally had Jenny as her MuggleBestFriend, only to replace her with Valerie in season 2. Season four then replaced Valerie with Dreama, though at least here it was different, as she's a witch too. Season four also replaced Libby, the former {{Trope Namer|s}} for AlphaBitch, with Brad as Sabrina's school nemesis.
* Ashley's ultimate demise in ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' was particularly predictable because in the two episodes preceding it, they were already gearing up her replacement.
* Oddly played on ''Series/SavedByTheBell''. After losing Jesse and Kelly the producers introduced biker chick Tori who picked up Kelly's role as Zach's love interest. That still left a gap though, so rather than introduce new characters they transferred Jesse's brains and Kelly's popularity to Lisa who overnight leapt from average intelligence and popularity to straight A-student and homecoming queen. More so on ''Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass,'' most blatantly in their first season. The new youngsters were virtual carbon copies of their old-class counterparts: Scott for Zack (even breaking the Fourth Wall in the same way), Weasel for Screech, Tommy D for Slater, Linday for Kelly, and Megan for Lisa and Jessie (due to her being Weasel's unrequited crush, as well as the smart one in the group).
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** The character of Laverne was killed off, due to the writers being under the impression the 6th season would be the last. It wasn't. Cue Nurse Shirley, who is ''played by the same actress that played Laverne''! This is lampshaded when JD nicknames her "Laverneagain." The hospital's [[LoggingOntoTheFourthWall fake website]] uses the exact same picture for both nurses' profiles. It's actually a subversion, since what little personality the writers had a chance to give to her dialogue, and a good deal of the acting Aloma Wright did, was meant to create the impression of an anti-Laverne. [[ShoutOut Laverne and Shirley]]?
** For the last season, the main character is JD and Elliot combined (narrator, daydreaming delusions, blonde, crazy, likes horses, bullied by Dr. Cox...) and Denise is also given some more obvious JD traits after he leaves. Denise and Drew sort of become the new Jordan and Dr. Cox.
%%* ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'':
%%** Capt. Oliver Hudson
%%** Lonnie Henderson, going so far as to step in as Ford's love interest in season 2 to replace Katie Hitchcock.
* ''Series/SilentWitness'' replaced Harry (handsome, cocky, quick-witted, plenty of UST with Nikki) with Jack Hodgson (handsome, cocky, quick-witted, plenty of UST with Nikki.) Jack did have the differentiation of being Irish and having his sideline as a cage-fighter worked into the storyline.
* ''Series/SiliconValley'': After the actor who played Peter Gregory died, his character was killed in the show and his job was filled by Laurie, a new character who is also a brilliant tech investor with NoSocialSkills.
* The German police drama ''Siska'' did this when they replaced the eponymous lead character with his never-before-mentioned brother after he was killed off.
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' was rife with substituting toward the end, though most weren't very similar to those they replaced. However, Quinn got substituted when actor Creator/JerryOConnell left, by way of TheNthDoctor by being "fused" with 'Mallory' (his non-identical counterpart from a parallel universe), at the same time Colin was PutOnABus. But with a different personality and face, Quinn Mallory's substitute ''isn't'' the other Quinn Mallory. Scientist Diana Davis takes his role as the scientific brains on the team. A certain segment of the fanbase believes that [[EpilepticTrees Arturo was substituted by]] ''his own alternate''. The episode that this happens in allows for that interpretation as [[TheProfessor Arturo's]] villainous duplicate tries to replace him so he can escape his own world and just before they slide they are having a classic "which is the real one?" battle, and after the slide, the [[TheProfessor Arturo]] who was left behind gives a quiet, "Oh, my God." Worse yet, Series creator TracyTorme has tormented fans by saying that he knows which Arturo made the jump, but will never reveal it.
%%* Ida Mae Brindle on ''Series/SmallWonder''.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** The series consciously gave [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] many of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]]'s traits because they didn't have the television rights to ''Batman'' characters (making the ''Smallville'' universe's Queen both a CompositeCharacter and a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute). He shares his birthplace, M.O., and basic background with the Green Arrow's comic book incarnation, but he's also the primary founder of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}, the world's most well-known [[BadassNormal non-powered superhero]], and Clark Kent's closest ally in the superhero community.
** [[TheBaroness Tess]] came off as an example when she was first introduced, seeming like not much more than a DistaffCounterpart to the recently-departed Lex, but she pretty quickly gained her own personality and motivations. It's very likely that her status as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute is intentional in-universe, as she seems to hero-worship Lex and is likely emulating him as much as she can. In season ten, her similarities to Lex become even more reasonable when it's revealed that they're siblings.
** After [[spoiler:[[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]]]] dies, we discover that he has a little brother who [[OneSteveLimit even goes by the same nickname]]. Admittedly, the kid doesn't take his dead brother's role in the show, but the DistantFinale confirms that he will play that part in the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' mythos eventually.
* Annie replaced Fi as the protagonist in the final season of ''Series/SoWeird''. Like Fi, Annie had paranormal encounters that she posted on a website. The "twist" was that she was a [[IdolSinger singer]].
* ''Series/TheSopranos'' killed off the character of Richie Aprile in the twelfth episode of the second season. In the second episode of the third season, Ralphie is introduced. Although you could never mistake them for each other, they occupy very similar places in the show's universe, being HateSink mobsters with [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor very crude jokes]], some relationship to the late Jackie (Richie being Jackie's older brother, and Ralphie dating Jackie's widow briefly), [TheFriendNobodyLikes intense ire from the other mafiosos]], both end up causing trouble for Tony due to their violent, loose cannon tendencies, and an incident involving their son leads to their downfall; both characters even end up dating Janice.
* One of the world's few substitute ''anticipations'' happened in the kids' series ''Series/SpaceCases''. With Creator/JewelStaite having ''Series/FlashForward1996'' hanging in the balance, her character, Catalina, was given an "imaginary friend" named Suzee, who was really a person living in AnotherDimension that Catalina could communicate with. When the other series required Ms. Staite's services, a little AppliedPhlebotinum switched Suzee to the real world (as played by Rebecca Herbst) and Catalina to the "imaginary" world.
* The ''Series/MetalHeroes'' series ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'' has Gavan's {{Bridge Bunn|ies}}y Mimi leave to see to her ill mother for the last 3rd or so of the series, and replaced with a character called Marin who was the exact same character minus the {{Love Interest|s}} part (since Mimi was only leaving for a short while so her and Gavan were still technically in a relationship). Unlike most examples, though, Marin was already an established character on the show as a Bridge Bunny to Gavan's MissionControl and was specifically called in to fill in for Mimi.
* Charlie Crawford replaced Mike Flaherty as the Deputy Mayor on ''Series/SpinCity''. The key difference was that Charlie was a HandsomeLech and Mike wasn't. Charlie Crawford was played by Creator/CharlieSheen, who also played Charlie Harper in ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''. Sheen ended up getting fired from the show due to his drug problems and for making derogatory remarks about the show's creator and executive producer. Harper was killed off and replaced by Walden Schmidt, played by Creator/AshtonKutcher. Both characters are immature womanizers.
* In the {{retool}} of ''Series/SquareOneTV'', Kate Monday was replaced by Pat Tuesday on the ShowWithinAShow ''Mathnet''.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** Jonas Quinn was sort of like Daniel Jackson... but from another planet! However, after Michael Shanks decided to return as a regular, Jonas Quinn was abruptly and permanently written out of the series at the beginning of the seventh season.
** Despite being the {{Trope Namer|s}} for a while, Jonas Quinn wasn't even the best example of this trope on this show. Cam Mitchell, an Air Force colonel with a snarky sense of humor and a tendency to make pop culture references (like the actor Browder's character in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'') replaced Richard Dean Anderson's character, Jack O'Neill, when he started CommutingOnABus to spend more time with his family. This somewhat falls under the "military role" exception but is more likely due to a desire to have a new leading man, particularly one with a built-in audience. In addition, the "military role" exception doesn't explain their sufficiently similar personalities; Mitchell hadn't SeenItAll like O'Neill, had a lower rank, and lacks the Ancient gene, but other than that they could have delivered the same lines.
** When [[spoiler:Dr. Frasier]] was KilledOffForReal, a new doctor, [[spoiler:Dr. Lam]], came in to replace her in season 9. The replacement was not immediate and the character was not as well developed.
** This trope received its LampshadeHanging (along with about a hundred others) in "200," when an actor backs out from playing the lead in the ShowWithinAShow based on the SG team's adventures, leading to the quote on the main page. And at the end, we find out the "Colonel Danning" character from ''Wormhole X-Treme!'' was substituted. "Dr. Levant" is not indicated to have had a Suspiciously Similar Substitute when he left the show, but much like the ''real'' ''Stargate SG-1'', they may have resolved to never speak of it. And there's the humorous scene where other characters suggested that Cam was O'Neill's son from the time travel episode in Season 1.
** One episode after the ''[[CoolShip Prometheus]]'' was destroyed, we get a new one called the ''Odyssey'', which bears a resemblance to ''Prometheus'' aside from having larger docking bays and the Asgard systems built into it instead of being tacked on after the fact.
** Jewel Staite's Dr. Keller also replaced Dr. Beckett on ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' as the caring and sometimes out of his/her element doctor, despite having appeared on the series previously as a different character (as an alien with heavy prosthetics, but still).
** The Goa'uld Tanith was abruptly killed off midway through series five due to scheduling conflicts, despite his somewhat important role as a herald to the ominous Anubis. For the "Summit"/"Last Stand" two-parter when Anubis finally announced himself to the other System Lords, he was suddenly being represented by Zipacna, a Goa'uld from two seasons prior who had until then seemed to be a one-off character.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The series used this with ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' and ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' -- though for different reasons. ENT was intentionally a merging of the holy trinity of Kirk, Spock, and Bones with the "new generation" Trek tropes. Conversely, VOY germinated as an [[PostScriptSeason unaired eighth season]] of TNG before being retooled into a spinoff.
** The characters of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' were based on the characters originally conceived for the rejected pilot "The Cage", with Pike becoming Kirk, Boyce becoming Bones, Smith becoming Rand, etc.. This practice is extremely commonplace when a Pilot turns into a green-lighted series. Similarly, the characters of TNG were based on the characters of the abandoned "Star Trek: Phase II" series: Will Decker became the similarly-named Will Riker; Decker's old flame, the empathic Deltan Ilia, became Riker's old flame, the empathic Betazed Troi; and Xon, the Vulcan struggling to understand humanity, became Data, the android struggling to understand humanity. A writer's strike proved to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for TNG: they just dusted off some old "Phase II" scripts and went to work (though only one script ended up being used for the strike-shortened second season; another was pushed back to season four).
*** Chekov started out as a suspiciously similar substitute of Sulu, due to Creator/GeorgeTakei's absence during much of season 2, before attaining his own niche as a character.
** Following the success of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', a pattern began to emerge in the crew's makeup. There will always be an overeager, wet behind the ears kid for the young audience to relate to (see Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko, Naomi Wildman); an inexperienced recruit (Dr. Bashir, Harry Kim, Travis Mayweather); a comic relief hustler with gross alien habits (see Quark, Neelix, and Dr. Phlox). Sometimes the characters were just obvious stand-ins for a more famous predecessor: Tuvok, the gruff, socially-awkward Vulcan security officer, was substituted for Worf, the gruff, socially awkward Klingon security officer for instance.
** During season 2 of TNG, Dr. Katherine Pulaski (played by Creator/DianaMuldaur, who'd appeared twice as different characters in the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]]) replaced Dr. Beverly Crusher as ship's doctor. Pulaski was ''doubly'' a Suspiciously Similar Substitute since her abrasive tics were explicitly based on Bones [=McCoy=].
** In a case falling halfway between Suspiciously Similar Substitute and TheNthDoctor, ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' replaced Jadzia Dax with Ezri Dax in the final season: different hosts, same symbiote, and a Trill's personality is a blend of the host and symbiote.
** In the early production of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Kira Nerys was actually a replacement character for Ro Laren, because Creator/MichelleForbes, who played Ro in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', declined the offer to star in ''Deep Space Nine''. The trope was mostly averted as Kira was developed into a very different character than Ro; most notably, Kira wasn't a Starfleet officer and as such related to those who were differently, especially in the beginning.
** The exact same thing happened in the early production of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': B'Elanna Torres was also a replacement character for Ro Laren because Forbes again refused to commit to a seven-year show.
*** The character Tom Paris from ''Voyager'' was originally slated to be Nicolas Locarno (a single-episode character from TNG) but the producers did not want to get into a situation where they could have been forced to pay royalties to the original writer of the TNG episode, so they changed the name of the character. They then turned this trope [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] as both characters were played by the same actor, and they have a nearly identical backstory. Some producers have mentioned that they also believed that Nicolas Locarno was irredeemable. They wanted a character that was a little rough around the edges, but ultimately redeemable. However, this may just be an official reason given to the press to cover the fact that they didn't want to pay royalties.
*** Taurik, a Vulcan Ensign who appeared in a single episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', became a recurring crew member in ''Voyager'', where he was called Vorik, for the same reason that Locarno became Paris and T'Pau became T'Pol. Jeri Taylor, a producer on ''Voyager'' and the mother of the actor (Alexander Enberg) who played Taurik and Vorik, once quipped that the rhymedly named Vulcan Ensigns were identical twin brothers. This is stated as fact in the video game ''VideoGame/StarTrekStarshipCreator''.
** T'Pol of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' was originally written to be T'Pau, a Vulcan priestess who appeared in the Original Series. But since it was thought at the time that reusing a character would force them to pay royalties to the writer who created the original T'Pau, the character was changed. T'Pau did appear in the fourth season during a story arc on Vulcan. It was some years later that a judge in California ruled that such a reuse would ''not'' force a producer to pay royalties to the original writer.
* ''Series/StepByStep'' replaced Cody ([[RoleEndingMisdemeanor upon actor Sasha Mitchell's run-in with the law]]) with Bronson Pinchot's character, who, despite being French, was essentially the wacky roommate Cody was in every way. They also had the character of Flash, so nicknamed because he was an adult with the hyperactivity of a four-year-old. He was essentially another Cody given a justification.
%%* ''Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco'' -- Dan Robbins, for Steve Keller.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Fans have pointed out that whenever Sam or Dean get separated from each-other for a length of time, either brother tends to latch onto substitutes with a similarity to the other. For Dean it's been Cass, a siren and most prominently Benny; for Sam it's been Ruby and other female partners with a vague resemblance to Dean.
** Ruby's character could be summed up as "Meg plus HeelFaceTurn," which caused some speculation that she really was Meg in disguise, conning the boys for some nefarious purpose. It was possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E01SympathyForTheDevil Sympathy for the Devil]]" when Dean confuses Meg for Ruby despite [[spoiler:having personally killed the latter]] only one episode ago. Revealed in the official third season companion guide to be deliberate when Creator/EricKripke even explained that the writers were trying to recreate the magic they made with Meg when they invented Ruby. Ironically, Meg ended up ripping off of Ruby upon her return to the series, bringing things full-circle.
** The blonde, morally-grey, sarcastic, mischievous angel Balthazar was very, very similar to the blonde, morally-grey, sarcastic, mischievous ''dead'' angel Gabriel (except taller, blonder, and with a hot British accent). Balthazar was eventually also killed, and was not immediately replaced, but Gabriel was brought back several seasons later.
** Some fans commented at the time that the character "Frank" seemed like an unnecessary replacement for Bobby, who was taken away from the leads to supposedly "strip the show back down to just the brothers." However, Frank only outlasted Bobby by a handful of episodes.
** When he was first introduced, many fans feared that Benny would replace Castiel as Dean's gravel-voiced, coat-wearing, non-human BFF. It was revealed that, in fact, [[spoiler:Benny helped Dean find Castiel in Purgatory, and the two were reluctant allies while trying to escape]]. Castiel, of course, outlasted Benny by seven seasons.
** When the characters found an alternate universe containing many of the same people as their own universe, the alternate versions of several characters who had died at some point in the series were brought over to the main universe, including [[spoiler:Bobby Singer and Charlie Bradbury]]. It became clear, however, that because these people were from a universe where they'd been fighting for their lives during an ongoing apocalypse for years, their personalities were not entirely the same as Sam and Dean's friends from their own universe. Some fans felt it was a cheap way to "bring back" these characters without actually bringing back the original characters they loved.
** Jack Kline is ultimately very similar to [[AntiAntichrist Jesse]], a single-episode character in Season 5 who has proven to be an EnsembleDarkhorse among the fandom but hasn't gotten a reappearance since. Both Jack and Jesse are [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]] who are extremely powerful, both are thought to be evil by nature, both are ultimately an AntiAntichrist, and both hold a significant connection to Lucifer (Jesse is a half-demon who was prophesized to become the biblical Antichrist, whereas Jack is Lucifer's biological half-archangel son).
** While all Princes of Hell besides Azazel were said to have lost faith in Lucifer and Dagon was expressly the only Prince who had an interest in Jack in Season 12, Asmodeus is introduced the following season wanting to serve Lucifer and to locate and use Jack, replacing Dagon's role in the narrative after she was KilledOffForReal.
** Much like Charlie, Alice in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E08TheScorpionAndTheFrog The Scorpion and the Frog]]" is a quirky girl of slim build with specialized skills who helps the boys pull a caper.
** Deliberately invoked by Kipling who intentionally plays himself up as another "flouncy" Crowley-like character in the [[Recap/SupernaturalS14E01StrangerInAStrangeLand Season 14 premiere]]. When called out on it though he admits that it doesn't suit him and drops the act.
** Inverted in Season 15, when Jack dies and his body is almost immediately possessed by a demon, Belphegor. Belphegor, while played by the same actor, could not be more different from Jack in terms of personality; even his voice sounds different. But the main characters are forced to work with him for several episodes to get out of their situation, despite the fact that every time they look at him they see their dead son. He is clearly not meant as a "replacement" for Jack in the show, but they must let him take Jack's place in their lives, at least temporarily.
* ''Series/SWAT2017'': Zoe replaces Chris, who like her is a [[TwoferTokenMinority woman of color]], with a similar appearance (black hair, olive skin), and slim athletic build. They differ more in personality though, as Zoe is a CowboyCop whereas Chris stuck with protocol. She's revealed to also be a Latina, as Chris was.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'':
** Cora is this for Erica, the only female werewolf in Derek's pack. From being the one seen trapped in the vault with Boyd (when many wondered if Gage Golightly may have made a surprise return) to her relationship with Stiles, which is similarly part snarky and part flirtatious, she's just too similar to Erica for viewers to overlook. Since Adelaide Kane (the actress playing as Cora) eventually left the show, she was ''in turn'' replaced by Malia Tate.
** After Allison's death, Kira appears to be her substitute as Scott's love interest.
** Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in Season 4, which saw the addition of Mason, a gay male high school freshman who's a POC, star athlete on the lacrosse team, best friends with blond jock Liam, and isn't aware of the supernatural events going on around him. Sounds great until you realize that that almost ''word for word'' describes Danny Mahealani, who was mysteriously cut from Season 4, has had minimal CharacterDevelopment since Jackson's departure two seasons ago and was an EnsembleDarkhorse amongst the fandom and casual viewers.
* ''Series/That70sShow'' replaced Eric and Kelso with Randy, who had similar personality traits of both other characters.
* In ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' series three has a new Minister For Social Affairs -- Nicola Murray replacing Hugh Abbot. Her only points of difference with her predecessor are that she's a woman and that she's not best friends with her main ministerial advisor. This is entirely justified, as the premise of the show is that all politicians are the same.
* On ''Series/TheThinBlueLine'' Kray was replaced with Boyle for series two. The general opinion is that Boyle was a lot funnier.
* Creator/Channel4's {{Mockumentary}} series ''Series/ThisIsDavidLander'' changed its title to ''This is David Harper'' when Creator/StephenFry was replaced by Creator/TonySlattery. In turn, Stephen Fry was supposed to be the second regular on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', but backed out at the last minute (he didn't actually like doing improv that much). He was replaced by...Tony Slattery.
* ''Series/ThreesCompany'': After Suzanne Somers left the show, DumbBlonde Chrissy was replaced by her cousin, DumbBlonde Cindy, then later by an unrelated blonde nurse named Terri.
* ''Series/TheTick2001'' suffered from a number of poor copies meant to be substitutes when Fox failed to get the rights for any characters besides The Tick and Arthur. But given that it was Fox, no one was really surprised as the show's days were numbered from day one. Though, to give credit where credit is due, Bat Manuel is one of the funniest television characters ever. Even better the actor who played Bat Manuel in the live-action version of The Tick played the Mayor in the Franchise/{{Batman}} movie ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
* ''Series/TheTransmart'':
** After Cessa gets the ChuckCunninghamSyndrome, the show introduces Ella who quickly fills the-dumb-one spot in the cast.
** An intern named Cimol is introduced after Mamet exits the show. Soon, it becomes clear that Cimol's real job in the show is to be everyone's ButtMonkey exactly like Mamet.
* Played with on ''Film/{{Tremors}}: The Series'' when Michael Gross was unavailable for shooting. The female scientist who appeared in the episode was given a personality Suspiciously Similar to Gross's Burt Gummer, a similarity which was lampshaded by the other characters, although she didn't perform his usual in-universe functions of shooting or blowing up monsters.
* ''Series/TheTribe'': Bray/Jay and Amber/Danni/Amber.
* Leonard Rossiter's final role on UK television was as a supermarket manager in the dreadful sitcom ''Tripper's Day''. After his death, he was replaced by Creator/BruceForsyth and the show was renamed ''Slinger's Day''. This was (not surprisingly, given the new protagonist) even worse than the original but was somehow renewed for a second (six-episode) season and crossed the Atlantic to become ''Check It Out''.
* On ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'', Creator/ClarkDuke looks so much like a younger Creator/AngusTJones that a casual observer might think they are brothers. In fact, in one episode everyone, even Alan, confuses Walden's new intern Barry for Jake.
* ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'' replaced Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard and Lady Marjorie Bellamy, with Georgina, the daughter of a couple killed in the Titanic disaster alongside Lady Marjorie. The changeover wasn't immediate, and demure, idealistic Elizabeth had a very different character to the louche Georgina, but Georgina filled the same role, so it may count. Lady Marjorie's role went through two changes as well, with Hazel and then Virginia Bellamy taking over the position of mistress of the house. Downstairs, after Emily's [[spoiler:suicide]], the show also went through a handful of identikit kitchenmaids before settling on the hapless Ruby.
* In the final season of ''Series/WaitingForGod'', Jane's [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] grandfather, Jamie, came in, after the actor playing [[DirtyOldMan Basil]] died.
* In ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'', as Creator/JohnTravolta -- who played Vinnie Barbarino -- became a celebrity, he left the show (returning every so often as a "special guest star"). His "replacement" was Steven Shortridge as Beau, a transfer student from New Orleans.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'':
** Will Bailey seems to have begun as one for Sam Seaborn (right down to ''several'' "passing the torch" incidents in which Sam encouraged Toby to accept Will's help with the Inauguration speech, Will was semi-formally inducted into Sam's old position, etc.), but the writing of the show shifted after Creator/AaronSorkin's departure, and within a year Will's character had shifted jobs into the Vice-President's office and was portrayed more as a cynical political operative than as an idealist. Joshua Malina (Will) has even described himself as a worse-looking, less-expensive Rob Lowe (Sam). Which you have to admit has a grain of truth to it.
** Joe Quincy (Creator/MatthewPerry), who was hired to fill a position opened by Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter), a [[BlondeRepublicanSexKitten "blonde, leggy Republican."]] Yeah, he was a Republican too. Josh doesn't like that the similarities end there.
--->'''Josh:''' If you're a Republican, you damn well better look like Ainsley Hayes!\\
'''Donna:''' He does!\\
''[Joe and Josh stare]''\\
'''Donna:''' I mean... he will to other people!
** The show seems to be unable to hang on to the actor playing the White House Counsel, and so the feeling of similarity is probably due to the fact that the dialogue the new guy is sprouting was actually written for the previous guy. The scene that introduces Counsel Oliver Babish (the one with the oversized gavel and dictaphone) was pretty obviously written with Lionel Tribbey (his predecessor) in mind.
* ''Series/WhiteCollar'' introduced FBI agent Diana Barrigan in the pilot, but when the actress had other commitments, she was replaced without explanation by the character Lauren Cruz. (Who was subsequently re-replaced without explanation by Barrigan in season 2.) Diana took a job in Washington, DC because it's where her girlfriend was from and decided to come back to New York. Lauren left with no explanation.
* The UK kids' show ''Series/WhyDontYou'' (short for the surprising suggestion "Why don't you just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead?") is another example, but it had one notable exception in its later years: Ben, the Welsh MadScientist, was evidently considered un-substitutable, so he continued past the typical age, eventually playing a [[Series/RedDwarf Holly]]-style computer program based on the original Ben so that the disparity between his age and the rest of the cast wasn't an issue.
* In the Australian teen series ''Series/WickedScience'', the girl in Toby's group, Dina, was replaced by Toby's cousin Sasha in Season 2.
* ''The Wild House'' replaced Serena with her cousin Georgina, who was the same age and had the same personality traits; being boy-crazy and clashing often with Natalie. The main difference between them was that Georgina was supposed to be more rebellious and demanding, but this didn't really come across in any major way other than dress sense and an ongoing subplot where Georgina had various misadventures whilst learning to drive.
* Reviews of ''Series/TheXFactor'''s new judges Kelly Rowland, Tulisa, and Gary Barlow recall up their respective predecessors, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Cole, and Simon Cowell. Some reviewers even noted that Tulisa even physically resembled Cheryl in terms of looks and personality.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** Agents Doggett and Reyes are an interesting case. When Creator/DavidDuchovny left, it was a Scully who'd by now SeenItAll who played AgentMulder for newcomer Doggett's AgentScully. Of course, when ''she'' went away for a while, Doggett was more seasoned, and here comes a new partner for him in the form of Reyes...
** Also the various informants, starting with Deep Throat, coming into X, and finishing with Marita Covarrubias.
** One case was forced: "Travelers" and "Agua Mala" featured Arthur Dales, the first FBI agent to deal with X-Files. Dales' actor Darren [=McGavin=] suffered a stroke filming "The Unnatural", leading him to be replaced with M. Emmet Walsh playing brother Arthur Dales, a former police officer (who lampshades his parents didn't have much creativity with names). To make it worse, both Dales were played in flashbacks by the same actor.

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