# Same character played by the same actor on different shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2012, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585 "2012-01-15T09:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/41 "2012-01-16T21:06:18Z")
I was also going to say Belzer/Munch, but it’s weird little connections you like, I suggest exploring the [tommyverse](http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html). ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/42 "2012-01-16T21:07:41Z")
Alan Rosenberg and Debi Mazar of _Civil Wars_ played the same roles as lawyer Eli Levinson and secretary Denise Iannello on _L.A. Law_ after \*Civil Wars \* [was cancelled.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Wars_%28TV_series%29#Cast) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/43 "2012-01-17T08:33:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I was also going to say Belzer/Munch, but it’s weird little connections you like, I suggest exploring the [tommyverse](http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html). I’ve always found the “Tommy Westphall Universe” stuff to be pretty fascinating. As far as television show crossovers go, the greatest has to be the Magnum P.I./Simon & Simon crossover episodes. (At least it was when I was 14). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/44 "2012-01-17T08:54:45Z")
Kramer once appeared on Mad About You. Paul goes back to his old apartment, to get some of his stuff that he left there with his buddy who took over the lease, and discovers that Kramer has taken over the lease from his buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/45 "2012-01-17T08:56:10Z")
Bob Newhart played Bob Hartley on _The Bob Newhart Show_, in the final episode of _Newhart_, and in an episode of _Murphy Brown_. Jack Riley played Hartley’s patient Elliot Carlin on _The Bob Newhart Show_, _Newhart_, and _St. Elsewhere_. One of the weirdest crossover appearances ever done was by Enos Straight (Sonny Shroyer) and Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) appeared on an episode of _Alice_. Boss had some scheme to take over Mel’s Diner. (Why a millionaire businessman from small town Georgia would have the most remote desire for a two bit greasy spoon in Phoenix, Arizona I have no idea, but I’m sure it was explained on the episode.) Shroyer also had a _Dukes_ spinoff, thus he played Enos on at least three series. _Roseanne_ had several “fantasy episode” guest stars: one featured Jennifer Saunders and Joanne Lumley played Edina and Patsy from _Absolutely Fabulous_, another featured Ed Asner as Lou Grant, and perhaps the most famous was all of the then-surviving cast members of _Gilligan’s Island_- Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, Tina Louise, and Russell Johnson, though they didn’t reprise their G.I. roles but played the cast members of _Roseanne_ who had played their roles in a dream sequence (hard to explain if you didn’t see it, but [here’s the clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Dgpwu0q1U)- I don’t think anybody in the studio audience recognized Tina Louise). Carol Burnett and Vicky Lawrence appeared as Eunice Higgins and Thelma “Mama” Harper on _The Carol Burnett Show_, _Mama’s Family_, in a 1982 comedy-drama movie of the week, and the gameshow _Password_ (on which they appeared in character). Not quite what the OP asked for, but… one 1987 episode of _Murder She Wrote_ was a sequel to a 1949 B movie, [Strange Bargain](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0653638/), and featured Harry Morgan and several other actors as their characters from that movie. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/46 "2012-01-17T14:19:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Not quite what the OP asked for, but… one 1987 episode of _Murder She Wrote_ was a sequel to a 1949 B movie, [Strange Bargain](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0653638/), and featured Harry Morgan and several other actors as their characters from that movie. Coming back around, though, Jessica Fletcher and Thomas Magnum took turns guesting on each other’s shows. (Selleck also showed up in THE FALL GUY, but only as _“Tom Selleck, the guy who’s about to film a scene for MAGNUM PI”_; I mention this because Lou Ferrigno went a step further in that same two-parter, as we see the Hulk crash through a wall to beat the hell out of a gun-toting Lee Majors for a while before the director yells cut and we see it’s just our favorite stuntman earning a paycheck on the set as usual; Ferrigno then casually walks over to talk with his agent about that role he’s up for as a deaf cowboy…) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/47 "2012-01-17T15:42:12Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Michael Dorn’s situation was unique. He played Worf on TNG and later on DS9 as regular recurring roles. But he wasn’t spin off into his own starring sequel series. > > I can’t think of another situation like this except General Hammond in the various Stargate shows and his role was never as prominent as Worfs. Most of the posts here refer to rare guest appearances on other shows. Or sequel spinoffs of a character. A couple characters flipped from Buffy to Angel after the latter series started: Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) and Spike (James Marsters); Wesley swapped shows in the middle of Angel’s first season and didn’t appear on Buffy after Angel had been spun off, so maybe would still be considered a spinoff character, but Spike had several seasons in Buffy before swapping to Angel for that show’s final season. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/48 "2012-01-17T15:58:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Roseanne_ had several “fantasy episode” guest stars: one featured Jennifer Saunders and Joanne Lumley played Edina and Patsy from _Absolutely Fabulous_, another featured Ed Asner as Lou Grant, and perhaps the most famous was all of the then-surviving cast members of _Gilligan’s Island_- Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, Tina Louise, and Russell Johnson, though they didn’t reprise their G.I. roles but played the cast members of _Roseanne_ who had played their roles in a dream sequence (hard to explain if you didn’t see it, but [here’s the clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Dgpwu0q1U)- I don’t think anybody in the studio audience recognized Tina Louise). I also remember an episode of a series called [Day by Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_by_Day_%28TV_series%29) that featured much of The Brady Bunch cast. And per [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brady_Bunch#Specials.2C_documentaries.2C_and_other_revivals), Robert Reed and Florence Henderson appeared as their characters in a couple of other shows, including The Love Boat, along with a long list of Brady-related shows. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/49 "2012-01-17T20:09:55Z")
How soon they forget: Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma & Greg on the season opener of 2 and a Half Men. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/50 "2012-01-17T20:48:20Z")
John Houseman, who won an Oscar playing snooty law professor Charles Kingsfield in the movie The Paper Chase later played Kingsfield in… 1. The TV series _ **The Paper Chase** _ 2. An episode of the short-lived sitcom _ **The Associates** _ (starring the young Martin Short) 3. An episode of the sitcom _ **227** _, in which he’d been hired by Jackee Harry to sue her friends for a share of royalties to a song they’d written. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/51 "2012-01-17T20:54:37Z")
I remember an episode of _ **St. Elsewhere on which several of the doctors stopped to get a few drinks at a local Boston bar… which turned out to be Cheers** _. Rhea Perlman waited on them, and George Wendt was one of the doctor’s accountant. As William Daniels left the bar, he pointed at Rhea and said, “Stiff her- but good.” As I recall, the crossover fell flat. It seemed like an inspired idea, but it just didn’t work at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/52 "2012-01-17T21:17:42Z")
I think the _ER_ doctors were on _Friends_, too, weren’t they — Greene and George Clooney? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/53 "2012-01-17T21:23:09Z")
George Clooney and Noah Wyle played ER doctors on _Friends_, but I don’t think they played their characters from _ER_. Probably b/c the writers couldn’t come up with why two ER doctors from Chicago were working in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/54 "2012-01-17T21:24:47Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I think the _ER_ doctors were on _Friends_, too, weren’t they — Greene and George Clooney? George Clooney and Noah Wyle did play two ER doctors on an early _Friends_ episode. They were not, however, Doctors Ross and Carter. I see I got ninja’d on that, but here’s the episode [cast list](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0583569/). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/55 "2012-01-17T21:35:12Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > How soon they forget: Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma & Greg on the season opener of 2 and a Half Men. In a similar vein, when the Banks family sold their mansion on _Fresh Prince of Bel Air_ two of the interested buyers were Philip and Arnold Drummond from _Diff’rent Strokes_. The house sold to George and Louise Jefferson (still with Florence in tow) from _The Jeffersons_, which was actually the second FPoBA episode to feature Hemsley and Sanford as _The Jeffersons_. (They were seen in a marriage counselor’s office in the previous one; Louise was furious at George by calling her Wheezy now that she had asthma.) So, shows the Jeffersons appeared on: _All in the Family_ _The Jeffersons_ _Checking In_ (a very brief spin-off revolving around Florence) _Fresh Prince of Bel Air_ Hemsley and Sanford were also in a series of commercials for, I think, Denny’s (or Ihop?) and for Old Navy, but were never identified as the Jeffersons (though it was an assumption). # Gary Coleman appeared as Arnold Jackson-Drummond on _Diff’rent Strokes_, _Facts of Life_, _Silver Spoons_ (a double crossover- Ricky Schroder appeared on Diff.Str. in a two part caper episode), and _Fresh Prince_. A funny non-reprisal of characters was when Jean Stapleton and Carroll O’Connor [appeared on](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D3BU1LbjE) _Donny & Marie_, their first talk show together in the 20+ years since Stapleton left the show (and O’Connor’s last talk show appearance). D&M ask them if they can please do their character voices one more time and Stapleton says, politely but firmly, “No”. She had no interest in it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/56 "2012-01-17T21:50:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > A couple characters flipped from Buffy to Angel after the latter series started: Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) and Spike (James Marsters); Wesley swapped shows in the middle of Angel’s first season and didn’t appear on Buffy after Angel had been spun off, so maybe would still be considered a spinoff character, but Spike had several seasons in Buffy before swapping to Angel for that show’s final season. Also Cordelia, and, obviously, Angel, plus several other main Buffy characters in guest roles. But it’s not surprising for a spin-off to include some of the main characters of the parent show. While TNG and DS9 are set in the same fictional universe, they’re not spin-offs of each other. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/57 "2012-01-17T21:54:25Z")
Don’t really see the distinction there; I’d definitely call DS9 a TNG spin-off. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/58 "2012-01-17T22:36:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Don’t really see the distinction there; I’d definitely call DS9 a TNG spin-off. Do you consider all the Star Trek shows to be spin-offs of the original series? To me it seems like there’s too little crossover, in terms of plot and characters, for them to be spin-offs. Worf and O’Brien were the only characters to cross over as regulars; I’m not sure if there were even any guest appearances from other characters, but I’m sure someone else here knows. Spin-offs are usually taking one character (or occasionally a family) from a show and basing a whole new series around them. The NCIS and CSI spin-offs don’t do that, but they’re exactly the same as the parent shows in plot types and atmosphere as well as being the same organisation. (Law and Order perhaps too, but I haven’t seen any of that). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/59 "2012-01-17T22:53:12Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Worf and O’Brien were the only characters to cross over as regulars; I’m not sure if there were even any guest appearances from other characters, but I’m sure someone else here knows. Picard’s in the first episode! ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585/60 "2012-01-17T22:59:07Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > Ed Asner played the same character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Lou Grant”. …and I think this should get an asterisk in its own rite as one was a comedy and one was a drama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-character-played-by-the-same-actor-on-different-shows/609585.md?page=4)