History Main / SecondEpisodeSubstitute

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': A rare InUniverse example (of sorts) occurs on an episode ([[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E13HomerToTheMax "Homer To The Max"]]), where a ShowWithinAShow called "''Police Cops''" has a character called Homer Simpson, which gives Homer some fame within the town. The episode right after the pilot keeps the Homer character in name only, changing him from an apparent {{Expy}} of [[Series/MiamiVice "Sonny" Crockett]] into an utterly incompetent Creator/ChrisFarley-esque idiot. The ridicule of people afterwards is so bad that Homer decides to change his name to "[[AwesomeMcCoolname Max Power]]".

** Lee Garlington, who played Claire, was apparently let go because of her criticisms of Larry David's writing.

* ''Series/NewsRadio'' featured an oddball maintenance man character named Rick(played by Greg Lee best known for ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'') who gets replaced in the second episode with the younger and hunkier Creator/JoeRogan.

* Sam Casey's boss Driscoll was originally played by Creator/RichardDysart in the pilot episode short-lived TV show ''Series/GeminiMan'' before he was replaced by William Sylvester (of ''Film/2001ASpaceOdyssey'' fame) for the series proper. The TV movie ''Riding With Death'', which consisted of edited footage from various episodes of the show, featured both actors in the role.

* ''Series/NewsRadio'' featured an oddball maintenance man character named Rick(played by Greg Lee best known for WhereinTheWorldisCarmenSandiego) who gets replaced in the second episode with the younger and hunkier Creator/JoeRogan.

* ''Series/{{Constantine}}'', after Liv Aberdine was written out after the pilot, the second episode brings Zed Martin who also has psychic abilities. She also has a cameo at the end of the reshoot pilot.

* The ''Series/LawAndOrder'' first-season episode "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" was filmed in 1988, two years before the series aired, and featured Roy Thinnes as District Attorney Alfred Wentworth. When the show finally got picked up, Thinnes wasn't available, so Steven Hill was cast as District Attorney Adam Schiff, and the Wentworth character appeared only in that single episode. What makes this case particularly striking is that for some reason, producers chose to air "Everybody's Favorite Bagman" in the ''middle'' of the season rather than as the pilot, so from the audience perspective, Wentworth randomly replaces Schiff as DA for a single episode, with no explanation given.

* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' Kelsey, a female school chum character in the first episode is replaced by Clyde, a male school chum character in the second.
** It helps that both are Black, snarky, initially obnoxious and the SecretKeeper.

* ''Series/NewsRadio'' featured an oddball maintenance man character who gets replaced in the second episode with the younger and hunkier Creator/JoeRogan.

* In ''{{Series/Space1999}}'', black computer expert Ben Ouma is replaced by black computer expert David Kano after the first episode.

This often happens because pilots are often produced well before the full series is picked up; episode two is prime time for characters to get dropped, recast, or replaced... sometimes even [[NonIndicativeFirstEpisode big chunks of the premise and/or tone]] don't make it to the regular series.

** Dr. [=McCoy=] is an interesting example in that he is basically this trope in reverse: Gene Roddenberry always wanted DeForestKelley for the Doctor, all the way back to the first pilot, but was overruled by each pilot's director (Robert Butler favoured John Hoyt as Dr. Boyce, and James Goldstone preferred Paul Fix as Dr. Piper). Only when the show went to series could Roddenberry cast Kelley without interference.

* It happened again for ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' - Special Agent Macey was introduced as the head of the LA branch in the two-parter pilot on ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. Come the series proper, Macey's been replaced by Hetty.

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision]]

* ''Series/{{Sirens US}}'' Theresa's new partner in the pilot gets transferred pretty quickly and is replaced with Billy in episode two.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': A rare InUniverse example (of sorts) occurs on an episode ([[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E13HomerToTheMax "Homer To The Max"]], where a ShowWithinAShow called "''Police Cops''" has a character called Homer Simpson, which gives Homer some fame within the town. The episode right after the pilot keeps the Homer character in name only, changing him from an apparent {{Expy}} of [[Series/MiamiVice "Sonny" Crockett]] into an utterly incompetent Creator/ChrisFarley-esque idiot. The ridicule of people afterwards is so bad that Homer decides to change his name to "[[AwesomeMcCoolname Max Power]]".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': A rare InUniverse example (of sorts) occurs on an episode, where a ShowWithinAShow called "''Police Cops''" has a character called Homer Simpson, which gives Homer some fame within the town. The episode right after the pilot keeps the Homer character in name only, changing him from an apparent {{Expy}} of [[Series/MiamiVice "Sonny" Crockett]] into an utterly incompetent Creator/ChrisFarley-esque idiot. The ridicule of people afterwards is so bad that Homer decides to change his name to "[[AwesomeMcCoolname Max Power]]".

* The {{Pilot}} of ''Series/NewGirl'' had Coach as the third roommate to Nick and Schmidt. However his actor Damon Wayans Jr. was already committed to another TV show on a different network, ABC's ''Series/HappyEndings'', so the second episode of ''New Girl'' had him replaced with Winston. After Happy Endings was cancelled, Wayans returned to the show as Coach in Season 4.

* In the pilot for ''Series/TheWizard'', the caretaker is a woman named Darcy Stafford, played by Gates [=McFadden=]. Come episode 2, she's inexplicably replaced by Tillie Russell, played by Fran Ryan.

* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' Kelsey, a female school chum character in the first episode is repalced by Clyde, a male school chum character in the second.

* In the original ''Series/{{CSI}}'' the AudienceSurrogate character, Holly Gribbs was quickly replaced with the eerily similar Sara Sidle because she was generally hated by test audiences... the creators had anticipated as much. As a result, they decided for Holly to die (rather than recover) in the second episode.

** The chief surgeon, Doctor Kyle, was replaced by Doctor Franklin.

* ''Series/{{Sirens}}'' Theresa's new partner in the pilot gets transferred pretty quickly and is replaced with Billy in episode two.