Currie Graham is Mark on House and Lynnette’s boss on Desperate Housewives. It causes a bit of a disconnect seeing the same guy on two shows at the same time. It’s like he’s leading separate lives or something. In one show he’s healthy and in the other he’s in a wheelchair.
Is this unusual? Actors being regulars on concurrent shows? I can’t think of any others, and if I was in charge of casting, I’d want to avoid it. What do you think?
The Closer’s Chief Pope looks awfully similar to Dr. Emil Skoda in New York, in the Law and Order franchise shows. And he was in that role when he played Vern Schillinger in Oz. Actually, Oz had a number of Law and Order:SVU vets: Chris Meloni and B.D. Wong were doing their time in Oz, so to speak, while simultaneously fighting crime at SVU.
Heather Locklear was the first to do it as a regular cast member of two series: She was on “Dynasty” and “TJ Hooker” simultaneously. I remember reading how unusual it was thought at the time.
If schedules allow, I don’t see how it isn’t doable from an acting standpoint (if both roles aren’t major).
Lisa Kudrow was of course her twin sister Ursella on “Mad About You” as well as Phoebe on “Friends.”
I’m sure there are a few other examples, but they don’t come immediately to mind.
IIRC, William Daniels was Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere and the voice of KITT on Knightrider at the same time. Would that count even if the one role was strictly voice-work?
Mark Valley plays one of the lawyers on Boston Legal and I’ve seen promos for another series he’s either already in or will be once the series starts. Can’t remember the name of the new series.
Wayne Knight was on Seinfeld and Third Rock at the same time, but he wasn’t a regular cast member on either show.
What’s probably as troubling to me is to see an actor I’ve associated with a particular character show up as an almost similar character in other shows (or movies).
The most disturbing instance I can think of involves Tony Sirico who plays Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos. Years (it seems) before I saw the first episode of The Sopranos I saw a movie called (I think) The Big Bang which was presented as though it were a documentary. Sirico was identified as “The Gangster” and his “character” was presented as a real life hoodlum, mobbed-up and having served some prison time.
When I recognized Sirico in The Sopranos I did enough searching first to be sure it was the same guy and that Sirico had actually done some time. So that movie wasn’t a total sham, but the character he “played” in the movie was obviously more scripted than just having Sirico tell yarns from his own life.
That’s beyond “type casting” I should think. 
I’d say Wayne Knight would qualify as a “regular”, just not a star, of both shows.
He was in 46 of about 216 episodes of Seinfeld. Does that qualify as regular? Technically, I suppose it depends on his contract, which I know nothing about.
I guess it depends on the definition of regular. I always thought of regular as someone who appears on a regular basis, but not every episode.
I would say in the last few seasons, while he was on Third Rock, he went from being a recurring character to a regular.
In the final season, he was in 10 of the 22 episodes.
The the penultimate season, he was in 7 of 22.
Same as the season before that.
I think Nancy Walker on “Rhoda” and “Blansky’s Beauties” (both overlapping in 1977) predates Heather Locklear as having two simultaneous roles.
And it wasn’t that long ago. I should have remembered. :wally me.
Personally, I think of a regular as someone who is in every episode, with rare exceptions. In this, Seinfeld has only four.
But I wonder if there’s some legal or industry definition for it. It would be interesting to know the difference between Knight’s contract and, say, Jason Alexander’s. And Danny Woodburn’s.
And Richard Anderson beat 'em both by doing double duty on “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” as early as 1976.
Sir Rhosis
If you go to Otto’s thread, you’ll see that it has been going on since around 1950, so Heather, Nancy and Richard are really late-comers to doing double duty.
Sir Rhosis
The interesting thing about this one is that he played the same character, but on two different networks. (Six Million Dollar Man on ABC and Bionic Woman on NBC)
^^^If memory serves, Bionic Woman started on ABC, then went to NBC for seasons two and three, or was it the other way 'round.
Sir Rhosis
And he was beaten by Jim Backus (“Gilligan’s Island” and “The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo,” both in 1964-65, and for part of the season, both in the same time slot), and Goldie Hawn (“Good Morning World” and “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” for a time in early 1968).
Bea Benederet was in “The Flintstones” and “Petticoat Junction” for a year in 1963.
The bald black dude that was on Spin City and Arliss.