Bare Essence

"Bare Essence," the mini-series, was a ratings success for CBS, but when CBS passed on turning it into a weekly series, NBC jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, there were numerous cast changes from the mini-series to the weekly series. Linda Evans (Lady Bobbi), Donna Mills (Barbara), Bruce Boxleitner (Chase) and Joel Higgins (Matt) were all committed to their own TV series at the time. Lee Grant (Ava), for unknown reasons, did not reprise her role in the series as well. Thus, Jennifer O'Neill replaced Linda Evans in the role of Lady Bobbi, Jaime Lyn Bauer replaced Donna Mills in the role of Barbara and Jessica Walter replaced Lee Grant in the role of Ava. The only female lead from the mini-series who remained was Genie Francis, who played the starring role of Tyger. In this pilot episode, Al Corley replaced Bruce Boxleinter as Chase, but was killed off in the series premiere. The role of Matt played by Joel Higgins in the mini-series was not recast or mentioned in the series.