The Riff Regan Awards

You remember Riff Regan, right? The original Willow Rosenberg on the unaired pilot of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer"? We can forgive your faulty memory, since she was recast before the series pickup with reed-thin redhead Alyson Hannigan, and the rest is band-camp history.

Each pilot season, actors compete desparately for a shot at a role on a pilot, then pray the pilot is picked up for the fall. The careful actor, however, should add a prayer that they stick with the show when it's picked up. Pity the actor who was fired from rehersals of the "NewsRadio" pilot and was eventually replaced by Joe Rogan, or the actress originally hired to play Roz on "Frasier," who also was fired, replaced in that case by Peri Gilpin. But don't pity them too much: The first was Ray Romano, the second Lisa Kudrow.

The new fall season brings us some new nominees for the "Riff Regan Award", our self-styled trivia consolation prize. Like Brian Haley, who didn't make the cut for "Brotherhood of Poland, N.H." but was replaced by Chris Penn [sub. required]. Or the unlucky threesome Melissa George, Breckin Meyer, and Emily Rutherford, replaced on the new "Coupling" by Rena Sofer, Christopher Moynihan, and Sonya Walger, respectively, for reasons of "chemistry," according to casting director Brett Goldstein. Some critics have noted an improvement from summer's pilot presentation, but others remain unimpressed [sub. required] by the rapport among the new cast. Maybe those three also-rans are the lucky ones.

We'll keep you posted with nominees for the Riff Regan Award throughout the fall and winter. No doubt some midseason shows will surface minus a few passengers.