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When creating a sitcom, casting can be just as important as a strong script. The right cast can elevate good writing into something special, while the wrong choice can sink a show before it ever airs. And sometimes, even when creators believe they’ve assembled the perfect ensemble, circumstances force an unexpected pivot.
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No, no, my sister's line of press on nails was a hobby
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This is more than a hobby. Um, try Eva Longoria, I wore my nails to the Daytime Emmys
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This is Schitt's Creek, or at least it was, technically. This is actually the unaired Schitt's Creek pilot
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which Dan Levy and his father, comedic icon Eugene Levy, shopped around the networks in the early 2010s
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If you know anything about what the show would ultimately look like, then you probably recognize a couple familiar faces
0:25
Dan Levy's playing David. His sister Sarah is playing a bizarro version of Twyla
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But this is not Alexis. So what happened here? It's this long, boring story involving a yacht and a famous soccer player and, like, a ton of mushrooms
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When Canadian sitcom Schitt's Creek first aired in January of 2015, audiences quickly became enamored with The Roses
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a fictional family based on various not-so-fictional ultra-wealthy socialites from the early 2000s
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2000s, having been recently stripped of all their earthly possessions, the Roses found themselves
0:56
living in a dirty motel in a tiny town called Schitt's Creek. Is this the real sign or the joke
1:02
sign? What do you mean? It's very popular. People come from all over to take a picture with it. I'll
1:06
bet they do. But it wasn't just the jokes that caught people's attention. There was a real heart
1:11
and sense of fun to Schitt's Creek. Even back during those early episodes, its identity took
1:16
time to develop, but the core of the show always remained consistent. The small town was full of
1:21
lively characters that the Roses would eventually grow fond of, and the family themselves were somehow
1:35
both insufferable and lovable all at once. That was, of course, by design
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Having sex is not just about making children so they can grow up and make you feel bad about having sex
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Oh my god, can you stop this, please? Shame on you. Shame on you for attempting that position at 8 o'clock in the morning
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But the design wasn't easy to pull off. When Dan Levy first conceived the show, he understood just how precarious of a balancing act it would be to endear audiences to these rich weirdos
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And while you could write the most nuanced and heartfelt script in the world it wouldn really matter if the delivery was off The success or failure of the idea would lean almost entirely on casting And while that isn a problem exclusive to Schitt Creek it certainly was important to it
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With Dan Levy playing David, his father Eugene playing his father Johnny
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and longtime collaborator Catherine O'Hara playing the incomparable Moira, Your middle name is Emma
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Is it? I'm sorry. No, Hannah. I'm embarrassed for you. Well, that's that then
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It's Elspeth. No, I think it's Elspeth. It isn't. there was only one Rose left to tend to, Alexis
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the self-absorbed, Harris-Hilton-type sister with a surprisingly soft center. You'd think that the obvious pick for his fictional sister would be Dan's real-life sister, Sarah Levy
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but after writing the pilot script, it was clear to both Dan and Eugene
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that the other Levy sibling was destined for the part of Twyla, and those instincts were spot on
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I'm well-versed in family conflict. I'm sure you are. Not only was she a highlight of Schitt's Creek
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but Sarah also stole the show in the unaired version of the pilot, even when playing opposite Alexis, who's usually the star of every scene
3:06
As Alexis herself would say, I'm a Lamborghini. I'm a Hollywood star
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But that version of Alexis, the one fans would come to know and adore over the course of several years and six seasons, was played by Annie Murphy
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And the version in the unaired pilot was someone else entirely, namely Abby Elliott
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At the time the original pilot was cast, Elliott was best known as an SNL cast member
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meaning she definitely had the comedic experience this burgeoning sitcom required as well as the chops to hold her own against the incredible talents of Levy and O'Hara
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And as we've seen more recently with her role as Sugar on The Bear, she's more than capable of pulling off a convincing dramatic performance too
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Those skills would have come in handy as Schitt's Creek progressed into its more sentimental plot developments
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Plus, she's the daughter of Chris Elliott, who plays Roland Schitt in the show and is good friends with Eugene Levy
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Elliott seemed to be the perfect choice for Alexis. And yet, well, it's not fair to say that Elliott was terrible in the role of Alexis
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We only have a handful of clips to go off of, and she has a single line in them
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That was an overreaction. That was uncalled for. There's a pharmacy worth of drugs wearing off on most of us right now
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But she physically present in every scene and it quite obvious that her take on the character isn offensively bad or anything It just different Through her styling and facial expressions you can see that
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Elliot's Alexis is your typical, cool, mean girl archetype with a standoffish personality
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and the same black and white aesthetic adopted by David and Moira. Really, she seems to be more of
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a copy-paste of David's character than anything resembling the colorful version of Alexis than
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Annie Murphy would become. Now that you're leaving, can you keep a secret
4:44
Depends on how dark it's going to get. Yes. That doesn't mean Elliot's version wouldn't have been likable eventually, just as David was
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But what it does mean is that if Schitt's Creek had continued in this direction past
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this unaired pilot, we likely would have seen a shift in how the broader plot unfolded and
5:00
just the overall tone of the show. I need that bed. Why? Because if someone were to break in here in the middle of the night wanting to murder us
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they would attack this bed first. So I need this bed. So you're saying that you want me to get murdered first
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Uh, sort of. That was the plan. If both David and Alexis has started off as reserved and unapproachable
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then the town's inhabitants would necessarily have to change. Their personalities would have to be bigger, more abrasive, and more intrusive
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to compensate for the sibling's lack of interest or engagement. And we can see evidence of that in the changes made to Twyla's character
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In Sarah Levy's own words, She was just sad. She didn't know she was sad, but she didn't have the warmth and energy that the Twyla that came to be had
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In the unaired pilot, Sarah played a significantly more depressed and ditzy version of Twyla
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She worked in her mother's nail salon rather than independently at the local cafe and was easily brought to tears
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She was starstruck by celebrity culture, and it ends up feeling closer to a mean-spirited caricature than an actual person
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Try Eva Longoria, Wore My Nails to the Daytime Emmys. Oh my god, she did. I love her
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Does she smell good? I always thought Eva Longoria would smell good. That approach would have seemingly bled into the entire population of Schitt's Creek
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implying some level of shame and self-loathing inherent to living in small or impoverished
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communities And that vibe just doesn fit the wholesome atmosphere that the show would later foster when it came to air One of the main reasons viewers liked Schitt Creek was because of its themes of optimism and the power of transformation And that town you passed through
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it's not called Schitt'sville. It's called Schitt's Creek. And it's where we live
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Alexis might be the character that best embodies them all by the end, so basically everything hinged on her
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I think that if I'm going to do this on my own, I need to do this on my own
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I respect that. Now, seeing as all of this ties back to Abby Elliott's portrayal of her character
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it's easy to see why she was replaced, right? Dan and Eugene probably saw the writing on the wall
7:03
and wanted to alter course to make sure their feel-good show felt as good as it could
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Well, no. After filming the pilot, the Levies had to take it to various networks
7:11
and drum up interest. When the show was eventually picked up by Pop TV
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Elliott simply couldn't commit due to scheduling conflicts. She already had another job lined up
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most likely Odd Mom Out, the 2015 family sitcom which ran for three seasons on Bravo
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and so the hunt for a new Alexis began. Dan Levy reportedly went through two days of casting for the part
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seeing countless actresses who had prepared for the part they saw on paper, a mindless, rich airhead
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But Annie Murphy was an immediate standout. According to Dan, She came in in like a kimono and a bun on her head
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and all the other girls were like in like pink dresses and their hair were done. Murphy brought that necessary likability to the role
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She wasn't a scoffing, eye-rolling mean girl as Elliot had been. She had a uniquely bright energy and a sharp wit that made her something totally new
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And there was just this like, I didn't know what I was watching at first
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and then it just, it all sort of fell into place. And that something evolved steadily over the course of the show
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as Dan and Eugene started writing the character specifically for Murphy. Alexis became a spoiled hippie party girl who dumbed herself down
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but possessed an admirable level of ambition and streetwise knowledge. Do I have to remind you of the time that I was taken hostage on David Geffen's yacht by Somali pirates for a week
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and nobody answered my text? It was a fresh take on an old trope
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It's impossible to know for sure whether a similar result would have been achieved if Abby Elliott had remained as part of the cast
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but the show would have certainly been changed on a fundamental level