Basic Trope: A character seen in the pilot who is clearly meant to be part of the main cast is replaced in the second episode by a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
- Straight: In the pilot of the TV show TIS: Trope Investigation Squad, Bob is a forensic scientist from Cleveland who specializes in skeletal structures. In the second episode of TIS and for the rest of the series, Bob has transferred departments and in his place there's Rob, a forensic scientist from Pittsburgh who specializes in muscular structures.
- Exaggerated: In between the first and second episodes of TIS, the entire cast has been replaced.
- Downplayed: Alice, the rarely seen secretary is replaced.
- Justified: Bob died at the end of the pilot.
- Inverted: The penultimate episode of TIS has Bob leaving the department and the series finale has Rob introduced as his replacement.
- Subverted: Bob is replaced in the second episode by Rob, but as it turns out Rob kidnapped Bob and faked his credentials to infiltrate the TIS department!
- Double Subverted: The ordeal leaves Bob scarred and in the third episode he is replaced by Mike, a forensic scientist from Chicago who specializes in bacteria.
- Parodied:
- Bob is replaced in the second episode by his identical twin brother, another forensic scientist from Cleveland who specializes in skeletal structures. He prefers to be called "Bob."
- Bob quits at the end of the pilot and is replaced in the second episode by Rob. Rob quits at the end of the second episode and is replaced in the third episode by Bob. Bob quits at the end of the third episode and is replaced by Rob in the fourth...
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Bob remains with the show all the way to the end of the series.
- Bob is missing from the second episode but no one fills his job in subsequent episodes.
- Enforced:
- Charles, Bob's actor, committed armed robbery and murder and was given a long jail sentence while the second episode was being written, so the writers have a very short time to fill his void.
- Bob's actor died after the pilot was filmed.
- The creators wanted to establish Rob as the new guy, so they created Bob (and the first episode) to let the audience know what the team's original make up was from the get go.
- By the time the series proper was greenlit, Charles already had other (better paying) commitments.
- Lampshaded:Tim: What? You mean Bob quit after only one case?
Alice: Yeah. He transferred back to Cleveland.
Tim: That sucks. He was a good forensic scientist. Where are we going to find another like him?
Alice: Apparently, Pittsburgh. Tim, meet Rob. - Invoked: Bob messes up royally in the first episode, so the chief fires him and immediately hires Rob right in front of him.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob's storyline in the first episode has him fighting off every attempt to replace him.
- Discussed: "???"
- Conversed: ???
- Plotted A Good Waste: Bob's shown to be a very key part of the TIS team in the pilot, and in-series he was a pretty integral part of the team's dynamics. The writers get good mileage out of Rob's struggles to fill in the hole made by Bob's departure.
Unfortunately Second Episode Substitute transferred to a new wiki. However, Post-Pilot Character Replacement is somewhat similar to that page.
