# Same cast members in different series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666 "2015-01-13T00:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/1 "2015-01-13T00:22:00Z")
I noticed several of my favorite TV shows have shared quite a few cast members. I guess it’s because they shared a writer and\or creator. Like **The Shield** \*_Sons of Anarchy_\* (both written by the Kurt Sutter) where actors in recurring roles in both were Kurt Sutter, CCH Pounder, Walton Goggins, Jay Karnes, Benito Martinez, and Kenny Johnson. Likewise, **Sports Night** \*_The West Wing_\* (both written by Aaron Sorkin) which shared Felicity Huffman, Joshua Malina, Timothy Davis-Reed, Ron Ostrow, Ted McGinley, Teri Polo, Clark Gregg, Lisa Edelstein and Jeff Mooring. (We can’t count Nina Siesmaszko and Janel Moloney, as they had only 1 episode each in Sports Night) Other series that shared multiple cast members? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/2 "2015-01-13T00:42:24Z")
Also in The Shield\Sons of Anarchy is Emilio Rivera And in both The West Wing and The Shield, we have Ron Canada, John Diehl ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/3 "2015-01-13T01:02:29Z")
In the early days of FOX-TV, the same group of actors would end up in very similar roles in sitcoms. I can’t remember any names or titles without looking them up, so they obviously didn’t make much of an impression. But the sitcoms were all basic couples and groups type things. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/4 "2015-01-13T01:20:52Z")
Leo G Carroll as Alexander Waverly in both \*\*\*The Man \*\*\*and _ **The Girl from UNCLE** _. Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman in both _ **The Six Million Dollar Man** _ and _ **The Bionic Woman** _. Not multiple, but I believe they were the first to be featured in different series running concurrently. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/5 "2015-01-13T01:26:01Z")
Oz and Law and Order shared a lot of cast members. I think mostly because they were the only two ensemble shows that filmed in and around NYC at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/6 "2015-01-13T01:26:23Z")
Well, **Curb Your Enthusiasm** often had appearances from actors from **Seinfeld** , but the whole point was that they were the same people in “real life”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/7 "2015-01-13T01:28:52Z")
Claudia Black and Ben Browder from _Farscape_ both showed up again in the later _Stargate_ seasons. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/8 "2015-01-13T01:33:31Z")
Cast members from _ **Petticoat Junction** _ and _ **Green Acres** _ also crossed over on occasion, most notably Frank Cady as Sam Drucker. This was natural, since they were set in the same fictional locale (Hooterville). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/9 "2015-01-13T02:09:17Z")
Roseanne’ Johnny Galeki, Sara Gilbert, and Laurie Metcalf have all appeared on The Big Bang Theory. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/10 "2015-01-13T02:11:09Z")
Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, Corbin Bernsen, John Delancie, and Diana Muldar from ST:TNG appeared on L. A. Law’s run. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/11 "2015-01-13T02:23:05Z")
I’m not sure if you want to count this but Viva Variety had Kerri Kenny, Thomas Lennon and Michael Ian Black, all of which came from The State. The only reason I say you might not want to count it is because I believe those three may have been part of a troupe beforehand and VV was a spinoff of The State. Having said that, Kerri and Thomas went on to create and start in Reno 911! afterwards. If you do want to count that first example, in the early days of SNL many of their people were plucked from SCTV (or Second City in general). But I probably wouldn’t count that. It’s like asking how many actors were in theater in high school or how many major league [sport] played in college. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/12 "2015-01-13T02:24:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Cast members from _ **Petticoat Junction** _ and _ **Green Acres** _ also crossed over on occasion, most notably Frank Cady as Sam Drucker. This was natural, since they were set in the same fictional locale (Hooterville). Add The Beverly Hillbillies to this list ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/13 "2015-01-13T02:40:11Z")
From the black and white days, William Schallert and Jean Byron played Dobie’s teachers on _The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis_. A couple of years later they were Patty’s parents on _The Patty Duke Show_. Around the same time, Warner Brothers produced a bunch of detective shows that had similar formats. So similar, in fact, that when _Bourbon Street Beat_ was canceled, Richard Long’s character was transplanted to _77 Sunset Strip_ and Van Williams’ character went to _Surfside Six_. Tim Conway and Joe Flynn, who had been foils in _McHale’s Navy_, were teamed up as partners a few years later in _The Tim Conway Show_. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/14 "2015-01-13T02:52:13Z")
_The Closer_ / _Major Crimes_ on TNT. It’s [_almost_] the exact same series, with only the principal character changing when Kyra Segdwick left the former and was replaced by Mary McDonnell in the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/15 "2015-01-13T03:43:58Z")
I don’t think the OP means characters from one series popping up in another. There might be old episodes of _Gunsmoke_ or _Wagon Train_, for instance, that have William Shatner and DeForest Kelley working together years before they appeared on _Star Trek_ (I think that actually happened, but can’t think of specific instances). When Mary Tyler Moore had her own production company, she drew heavily on actors who had worked for Second City and Compass, live improv and sketch companies that launched careers for Valerie Harper, Peter Bonerz and Roger Bowen among many others, and these actors showed up in different permutations in _The Bob Newhart Show, Rhoda_, and numerous lesser-known MTM productions. Norman Lear and (as previously noted) Aaron Sorkin have drawn heavily and repeatedly from small pools of actors. Some married couples have turned up in lots of TV shows as paired items, like Richard Benjamin/Paula Prentiss, Stiller and Meara, Jill Eikenberry/Michael Tucker. Some comedy pairings like Burns & Schreiber, Penn & Teller, and Cheech & Chong have done so as well. Some _FRIENDS_ pairings have turned up post-_FRIENDS_; Jennifer Aniston turned up on one or two episodes of _Dirt_ (starring Courtney Cox) and possibly Cox’s _Cougar Town_ as well (or was that Lisa Kudrow?). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/16 "2015-01-13T03:54:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Oz and Law and Order shared a lot of cast members. I think mostly because they were the only two ensemble shows that filmed in and around NYC at the time. I never watched Oz, but when I was watching Dexter I seemed to recall people spotting Oz cast members showing up pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/17 "2015-01-13T04:04:50Z")
_The Sopranos_ and _Boardwalk Empire_ share Steve Buscemi, Greg Antonacci, Dominic Chianese, Tom Aldredge, and more than a dozen other actors. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/18 "2015-01-13T04:10:58Z")
Nurse Jackie and Sopranos have Edie Falco and Paul Schulze. In Nurse Jackie, Edie is having an affair with Paul. In the Sopranos, Paul is the priest that Carmella…I’m not going to spoil anything for people that haven’t watched it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/19 "2015-01-13T04:22:02Z")
Dragnet (1967), Emergency, and Adam-12 would reuse and share actors as subjects and the regular dope on the street. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666/20 "2015-01-13T04:29:04Z")
Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad starred together in two different shows. Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were in _Car 54, Where Are You?_ as officers Muldoon and Schnauzer, then on _The Munsters_ as Herman and Grandpa. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-cast-members-in-different-series/709666.md?page=2)