Great Cameos that Never Were

[LPeerson]

Ok...for one reason or another, Buffy didn't really use many celebrity cameos. John Ritter showed up as Robo-Stepdad, but his career wasn't much at that point, so he sort of slid by. Lindsay Whats-her-name ran the initiative, but unless you are a David Mamet fan you don't know who she is anyway.
That kid from 'Roswell' was pretty good as a vamp wannabe, and Nathan Fillion is just the shizzle so it was fun seeing him as evil priest face guy.
I like that they didn't pull in celebrity after celebrity, it would have ruined the low budget feel of the show. Unfortunately that left a lot of interesting characters being played by talentless WB pretty-face-of-the-week people.
Who would you guys like to have seen on the show?
I am giving you a prime example to get things rolling...and I can't BELIEVE no one on the show thought of doing this...Bruce Campbell should have shown up as Xander's wacky 'Uncle Harris.'
Think about it, those two look almost identical anyway. Bruce fits directly with the tone of the show, and it would have given Xander a family member he could look up to, or even aspire to be. Plus, can you imagine the comedy exchanges they would have had between Xander and Bruce Campell? That's B-Movie gold, babies!
Any thoughts?

[NileQT87]

actually, the biggest celebrities, imo, besides john ritter, were mark metcalf (the master a.k.a. douglas c. neidermeyer from national lampoon's animal house--one of the most memorable villains ever), vincent schiavelli (uncle enyos--ghost, amadeus, fast times at ridgemont high, batman returns, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, the frisco kid, tomorrow never dies, man on the moon, a little princess, etc...) and rance howard (marcus roscoe--the old man who body-swaps with angel--the guy is ron howard's father).

i'd actually argue the biggest name (probably him and mark metcalf) was vincent schiavelli... or it might be because of how many of my favorite movies have his very memorable face in them (he had marfan's syndrome). he's a character actor, though--being that his roles were things like the circus organ grinder (batman returns), the angry subway ghost who pep-talks sam and shows him how to move things (ghost), salieri's valet with the pastries who finds salieri suicidal with his bloody throat (amadeus), etc... his role in ghost is particularly memorable. "GET OFF MY TRAIN!" he died in 2005.

and of course, he appeared in surprise and innocence as jenny's gypsy uncle, enyos.



and i always liked that btvs/ats had very few celebrity guests--and the ones who were, were older character actors. very few flavor-of-the-weeks. in fact, btvs/ats always made great use of older character actors. they gave the shows a lot of weight that similar shows do not have. tony head, harry groener, keith szarabajka, sam anderson, mark metcalf, joel grey, etc... all gave the shows a lot of weight.

[Skippcomet]

Besides, Jason Behr, the "guy from Roswell," actually appeared on the show two seasons before Roswell made its debut on the WB, so until then, he was more or less one of those "talentless WB pretty-face-of-the-week people."

I am giving you a prime example to get things rolling...and I can't BELIEVE no one on the show thought of doing this...Bruce Campbell should have shown up as Xander's wacky 'Uncle Harris.'
Think about it, those two look almost identical anyway. Bruce fits directly with the tone of the show, and it would have given Xander a family member he could look up to, or even aspire to be. Plus, can you imagine the comedy exchanges they would have had between Xander and Bruce Campell? That's B-Movie gold, babies!
Any thoughts?

You're assuming that Bruce Campbell would have been playing "a family member [Xander] could look up to, or even aspire to be" merely because he's Bruce Campbell. I think the writers thought up what kind of person they wanted the Scoobies' relatives to be before they thought about casting them -- and it seems from the few mentions of Uncle Rory and his one appearance in Hell's Bells that the writers never envisioned him as anything more than a pathetic alcoholic. I don't think they would have changed their idea of Uncle Rory no matter who they cast for it, not even Bruce Campbell. If anything, the change in actors who portrayed Xander's dad bears this out -- the one who played him in Restless, a character actor who made appearances on many TV shows and movies (he made several guest appearances in NYPD Blue, for example, and played the husband of Marg Helgenberger's character in Erin Brokovich), certainly resembled NB more closely, but the one who appeared in Hell's Bells, who had played a more likeable and sympathetic character in the sitcom Grace Under Fire, was apparently more able to play/portray what ME wanted Xander's dad to be like.

And I agree that it was a good think the show didn't engage in a lot of stunt-casting. I think the closest they came was with both John Ritter and Joel Grey (Doc), but both played their characters so well I don't regard either as stunt-casting. It's long been rumored that Britney Spears was supposed to play April the Robot, though -- and Ashanti's appearance in season 7 was definitely stunt casting of the worst kind.

[LPeerson]

I forgot about Xander's uncle Rory. I wasn't thinking so much of using Campbell as an established part of Xander's family...more like what I would have liked to see if they were to engage in 'stunt casting.' And I'm not one of those rabid 'Evil Dead' fans either, who think campbell is god...it's Just the physical similarities of the two actors and the stylistic similarities of their bodies of work seemed like someone at the Buffy offices at some point must have considered it.
Who knows? It could have been a crap episode. But c'mon...Ash in Buffy would have got geek pulses racing.

Oh, and good point with Vincent Schiavelli. I forgot about him.

[NileQT87]

oh, yeah. forgot about ashanti. probably the worst case of stunt casting on either show. possibly only saved by making her a fugly demon underneath.

john ritter probably got kinda close to stunt casting, but he was past his prime and not likely to bring in teeny-boppers, so he squeaked by. joel grey (he was in cabaret) is somebody i'd put right in with the list of older weighty character actors.

kay panabaker and j.p. manoux are both frequently on the disney channel--but kay panabaker always tends to play creepy little too-smart-for-her-age characters (mesektet--the little girl in the white room--being that her most famous role on the disney channel was an evil little girl robot nemesis, i think she's okay--though, i'm strangely a mesektet fan) and j.p. manoux was the bellhop in are you now, or have you ever been?--and imo, one of the creepiest and most memorable side-characters on ats.

[Matt]

I agree with what has been said, especially the Ashanti thing.

I remember there being a rumour that Holly Valance was supposed to be taking over playing Buffy and Joss was like "Holly who?" But she would have completely ruined the show, not to mention she can't really act that well.
Also, Freddie Prinze Jr was supposed to play Dracula, which would've been a complete bad thing, I liked the guy who played him the way he was.

[RuFio]

Britney Spears was supposed to play April the robot in season fives "I was made to love you". I think she would've been so good in the role (she couldn't have had that hard a time playing a robot!), but she couldn't fit it in her schedule. I always wished she had been on buffy, instead of ASHANTI! Ugh, she was just unnecessary. B.Spears is much more iconic and it would've just been so much better. :/

[Weredog]

The only cameo that never was that I would've liked to see was one that was almost to be: Joss as Whistler. I think he would've been great in that role, simply because I think Joss is wise as hell. He and Boreanaz interacting would've been great to watch. That being said, Max Perlich (is that his name?) did great work as Whistler.

And how come I keep reading people give such crap to Ashanti? I know she's a singer, but she's not a superstar. Hell, I wouldn't even say she's a star. Maybe she's just not big here in Canada, so the fact that I know close to nothing about her didn't affect her performance in "First Date." Not that it was an Emmy worthy performance -- I mean the role itself wasn't exactly the series' most original creation.

[kudagirl]

Also, Freddie Prinze Jr was supposed to play Dracula, which would've been a complete bad thing, I liked the guy who played him the way he was.

Rudolf Martin played Dracula in Buffy. He and Sarah were a couple on All My Children. He also played Dracula in a movie, Dracula: The Dark Prince. He also was in Moonlight, the tv show, as Christian Ellis in the episode of No Such Thing As Vampires.

[sueworld]

Well, I remember reading an interview where Marti Noxon said that she'd love to have Eddy Ezzard on Buffy if she could find a guest role for him. Now imagine what that would have been like!

[Hekate]

Joss!!! He had an absolutely hilarious cameo in Veronica Mars where he worked at a car rental place, and I can watch it all day long. He could have been a really lame demon or some customer at the Doublemeat Palace. It seems like he likes to make fun of himself.

[KingofCretins]

Lindsey Crouse is probably the most notable name they've had in a reasonably long term role. Haris Yulin is another, although he was only in, what, three episodes?

Now, in terms of best guest appearances they never had -- we never did see Ira Rosenberg! In my mind's eye, he is played by Peter Jacobson, a brilliant and ubiquitous character actor currently playing Dr. Taub on "House", with notable other roles including appearances in "Transformers" and a recurring role as whimsical defense attorney Randy Dworkin on "Law & Order". I even think he could be Alyson Hannigan's imaginary Jewish father, to look at him.

Hekate, point of interest about Joss -- he wrote the role of Whistler ("Becoming") for himself, but opted to hire a professional actor, Max Perlich, before shooting. He also appeared on "Angel" as Numfar. And, in the movie "Serenity", he ADR'd the old guy's line about Mal and Zoe being browncoats.

[Hekate]

Now that I think about it, he did do the breathing for the Bangel sex scene in Surprise. That's kind of a cameo, right?

[NileQT87]

he was too embarrassed to ask db and smg to do it, so joss and i-forget-who did it. yep. the innocence breathing is among his cameos (the most famous of which is numfar).

david fury had probably the biggest cameos of the writers (marti noxon also). he was the mustard man, one of the reprise sacrifice guys and gregor framkin.

the girl (persia white) who played cordelia's friend aura (the one who found the dead boy in her locker and called cordelia on the phone in rm w/ a vu) was also the same actress who played agnes belfleur in pylea (the demon woman who keeps calling cordy a cow slave).

[Revan]

I think It would have been awesome to have Wesley Snipes as a vampire.
( Like Blade but Bad )

[vampmogs]

Joss was also the voice on the radio in 'I Robot You Jane' if you want to count that as a cameo, along with his sexy breathing haha.

The woman who played Xander's mother is often on a lot of TV shows but I don't remember her name whatosever.

[kudagirl]

Joss Whedon supplies the voice of the Mutant Enemy mascot which says "Grrr ... Arrgh" heard at the end of almost every episode.

[Raven]

Kay Panabaker was in Angel? I didn't realize that. Kewlness. Anyways, I wish the Lalaine (Chloe, season 7) would have had a more...important role. She was slated to, but Lalaine's then taking off music career prevented her from filming the other episodes, so she was written out of the episodes between "Showtime" and "Get It Done." She would have had a more important role, as a slayer who would slowly build confidence until Kennedy tore her down (The original scene was to show a small confrontation between the two). She wasn't supposed to commit suicide originally, she was to be killed in "Dirty Girls." This is all according to Lalaine herself. I used to be a member of her message boards on her official site when it was still up, and we chatted a bit about BTVS and what she was originally supposed to do...

[Wolfie Gilmore]

Well, I remember reading an interview where Marti Noxon said that she'd love to have Eddy Ezzard on Buffy if she could find a guest role for him. Now imagine what that would have been like!

Awww, so sad it didn't happen! I would've liked him to be on the show very much. Maybe as Giles's younger brother - Mycroft to Giles's Holmes? Or was Mycroft older, I forget?

As Ira Rosenberg...I just had a momentary flash of "Hee, Woody Allen"! But that's partly because all we know about him is that he's very Jewish. But also Woody Allen cos, with Willow's nervous babbling/neurotic obsessive tendencies. Though he'd be more her grandad's age. Then again, he does like the younger ladies.

Oh and in terms of slebs playing themselves (isn't that an actual cameo? i'm never sure)...maybe Billy idol doing a set at the Bronze and getting into a fight with Spike. Or perhaps have Spike just going off screen when he leaves the stage as if he's off to clearly bite his ass for stealing the look?

[sueworld]

Oh and in terms of slebs playing themselves (isn't that an actual cameo? i'm never sure)...maybe Billy idol doing a set at the Bronze and getting into a fight with Spike. Or perhaps have Spike just going off screen when he leaves the stage as if he's off to clearly bite his ass for stealing the look?

Oh I'd liked to have seen that!

Of course Joss was also the automated voice on the phone to Angel in episode one of season 5 of AtS. When Angel tries out his new office in Wolfram & Hart. For "ritual sacrifice press just press goats" or something along those lines.