Why must they use extras as regular actors? Grrrr

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Major pet peeve (I know, the title didn't make sense). I hate it when shows use an actor for an extra or a bit part and then that person becomes part of the cast. No, not as the same character, but a completely different person :|. It can't stand it. Like last night on ST:TNG that big fat guy's daughter was on there. Did anyone notice who it was? It was the girl who became a yellow shirt person as a regular cast member (can't remember her name, she was the romulan who picard didn't chase after. she wanted to defect and held riker at phaser-point (haha!) and beamed off the shuttle craft).

Do they think people don't notice this or remember? Another example was in Adam-12 (leave me alone, I like the show. something similar happened in CHiPs also) when a bad guy was stealing radios out of cars. Well they catch him, end of show. Next season the guy is on the show as a cop. I mean what the hell? Do they expect us not to remember who the guy was? And it wasn't like he "reformed" himself and went to the police academy. It's a completely different character.

Whew, I'm done.

 

[Balt]

I never really found it that annoying, but I know what you are talking about. Law & Order has done this at least twice that I know of. The police chief lady was a mother of a gunshot victim in an early episode, and the old white police guy was a lawyer in another early episode.

It's really not THAT important, though, is it?

 

[Electric Amish]

I have no idea what your first paragraph is talking about.

amish

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Yeah that and the title were very incoherent.

Example:
Show has cop1 as a main character.
Show introduces bad guy 1 as an extra
Cop1 kills bad guy 1.

Next season bad guy 1 is the new police chief as a full time character or extra

 

[Rallispec]

<< I have no idea what your first paragraph is talking about.

amish >>



i'm not sure either--- but i think it is this- Shows spmetimes use the same people over and over as extras... like on day this guy will play a doctor, in the next episode he'll be a brand new character- like a lawyer or something, or a long lost cousin-- and that makes BrunoPuntzJones upset.

 

[notfred]

I always liked how they did that on TNG. Tasha comes back as that romulan chick, um... damn, there's more examples, but I can't remember them. I also liked Kelsey Grammer as the Captain of that ship caught in that time warp thing. (dammit, my memory is bad today)

 

[Haircut]

Yeah, I know what you mean.
One example that sticks out to me is in one of the earlier Bond films. Some guy plays an agent who is killed by Bond and has a fairly substantial part in the movie.
Next Bond film that same guy turns up playing Blofeld. WTF is going on there?

 

[Electric Amish]

I was just trying to figure out which episode of TNG you are talking about.

amish

 

[Maetryx]

Have you ever seen Pop Up Videos on VH1? Someone (maybe Nickelodeon) was doing a similar thing to an old Brady Bunch episode. One of their extras was used over and over too. They popped up picture-in-picture-style little snippets where this one guy was like a travelling salesman in one episode, the school principal in another, and one other thing (don't remember). Same actor.

But it's not like he became a regular cast member later, so it doesn't quite fit BrunoPuntzJones' scenario.

And I think Law & Order is awesome, even if occasionally they recycle an extra. They've even had badguys recur with later offenses! That guy that kills his wife and gets away with it? He does it again to his next wife and *almost* gets away with it (I think). He's so evil :|.