Casting Couch: Pilots to Recast Several Series Regulars

For those of you who are looking forward to this fall's Brothers & Sisters, my advice is: don't get too attached to Jonathan LaPaglia... or Betty Buckley for that matter, as both actors are being recast.

It's a process that happens every year. As networks pick up pilots and make the move from ordering shows to actual production on them, there are bound to be some tweaks, including a few nips and tucks in the casting department. As to the whys, that's anybody's guess. But it's a fact of life in the TV biz that not everyone in the pilot will make it to the series intact.

Today's issue of The Hollywood Reporter details some of these changes, including the recasting the two actors above, who played Kevin Walker and matriarch Iva Walker respectively on ABC's new fall drama Brothers & Sisters (reviewed here).

Additionally, THR is reporting that the role of Kimberly in the ABC drama Traveler will be recast as well. In the pilot, Kimberly was played by Gillian Jacobs. Over on CBS, Kathleen Rose Perkins was removed from the mid-season sitcom Rules of Engagement. And news that FOX drama The Wedding Album was looking for a new lead to replace outgoing star Bruno Campos leaked before the announcement of a series order even came in.

NBC's The Single Table will recast the role of Georgia, one of the five series regulars, to replace outbound Pascale Hutton. Likewise with CW's Girlfriends spinoff The Game, which will recast one of the football player's wives, Kelly Parker. That role had been played by Jennifer Baxter in the pilot. And CBS' comedy The Big Bang Theory, has received an order for a new pilot altogether and is now looking for a replacement for the series' female lead, which had been played by Amanda Walsh.

In other casting news, several returning shows are looking to hire additional actors as well. Law & Order will replace Annie Parisse, who recently left the drama, with another actress to fill the role of the assistant district attorney. Additionally, Close to Home, Old Christine, Ghost Whisperer and Prison Break are all expected to add new characters next season as they return for sophomore seasons. THR reports that the producers of Prison Break are seeking an actor to play a new nemesis for Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), while Ghost Whisperer's producers are looking for an actress to "fill the void left by the departure of Aisha Tyler, whose character died in the season finale."

More interesting, however, is the news that the producers of Lost are looking for two new actresses to join the cast, following the dramatic deaths of series regulars Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros). Interesting... Could these new female characters be members of the mysterious Others? Or fellow survivors of another island stranding? Only time will tell...