"Action News" Becomes "Back to You," Fires Two

Wowsers. What a difference a day can make.

Just a day after attending the audience run through on FOX's comedy pilot Action News (now being renamed with the less on-the-nose title of Back to You), I was shocked to learn that not one, but two actors had been replaced in the days leading up to Friday's scheduled taping of the Action News/Back to You pilot. (The series itself already has a 13-episode commitment on FOX for the fall.)

Paul Campbell (of Battlestar Galactica and Nobody's Watching) and Aimee Garcia (George Lopez), who played station news director Nate and weatherwoman Montana respectively, are both off the series and are being replaced by Josh Gad and Ayda Field.

Gad (21) will replace Paul Campbell as the young corporate news director; Field (Studio 60), who also appears in the untitled Gabe Sachs/Jeff Judah comedy pilot at ABC this season, will replace Aimee Garcia as the former child beauty pageant winner turned meteorologist.

Both Gad and Field will serve as guest stars in the pilot and could be later bumped to regulars on the series.

While I'm shocked that a recast would happen so quickly after a full run-through (and a day before shooting), stranger things have happened. I'll be curious to see how Gad and Field fare in the roles and whether Campbell manages to pop up on another project before pilot season ends. It would be tragic if nobody really was watching this talented actor.