ABC planning ‘cast from the past’ week

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ABC is bringing back popular cast members from both classic and more recent shows for appearance in its current lineup of programming.

• Starting Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, “Dancing with the Stars” will feature past contestant Leah Remini as a guest judge starting at 8 p.m. eastern.
• Later that night, Robert Sean Leonard, former star of “House,” will appear on an episode of “The Good Doctor” as a patient. “House” originally aired on Fox and was produced by NBCUniversal, but it shares a creator in David Shore. The episode starts at 10:01 p.m.
• Dan Aykroyd will appear on “The Connors” Oct. 8 at 8 p.m.
• Later that night, “Bless This Mess” will feature Michael Ian Black at 8:30.
• Next, Golden Brooks, Jill Marie Jones and Persia White will appear on “Blackish” at 9:30.
• On Wednesday, Oct. 9, former “Cheers” stars Kirstie Alley, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt will appear on “The Goldbergs” at 8 p.m.
• “Single Parents” will feature star Leighton Meester’s real life husband Adam Brody, who also starred on “Life Partners” and “The Oranges” at 9:31.
• Thursday’s lineup will feature “Charmed” stars Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs starting at 8 p.m. on “Grey’s Anatomy.“
• Jerry Ferrara is reunited with “Think Like a Man” castmate Romany Malco on “A Million Little Things” at 9:01.
• On “American Housewife” at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, reunites Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles and Kathy Kinney with Diedrich Bader.
• Next up, Ken Jeong returns to “Fresh Off the Boat” at 8:30 p.m.
• “The Rookie,” which moved to Sunday this season, will have “Castle” alumns Seamus Deaver and Jon Huertas join Nathan Fillion, who headlined the series.

So, why aren’t many of the actors playing their original characters?

• When planning this week, it could have been tempting to want to include all of the actors playing a character they’re well known for rather than a role that’s been created for a single appearance.
• However, having characters appear on other shows can lead to issues with intellectual property.
• Typically the creator of the show or production company owns the “rights” to the character and using them in another show would require an agreement between the two and, in some case, a fee for using the character’s name and personality.
• This is sometimes simpler to handle if the shows share a production company and network, but it’s also not always clear cut.
• Besides the legal issues, casting actors known for a certain role in something completely opposite can often providing very entertainment results — not mention to get them to show their flexibility as a performer.