With the death of Hannah Peale Call at the series finale of LD:TS, there were only four original of the original actors who returned to their roles in LD:TOY: Scott Bairstow, Eric McCormack, Paul LeMat, and Paul Johansson. Unfortunately, with the exception of McCormack, they might as well have been playing new characters.
The changes wrought to the LD:TOY characters were incredible, and possibly one of the major reasons why the spin-off was not as well-received as the original. Whereas you could sit down as a family and watch the original, the spin-off was not suitable for anyone under the age of 13. Where the original had both humor and an undertone of morality, the spin-off had only violence, death, and destruction.
During his two years away from Curtis Wells, Newt Call took up drinking, debauchery, and fierce bounty hunting. During their two years IN Curtis Wells after Hannah's death, brother Austin turned into a drunken, uncaring, and generally useless sheriff, and father Josiah was the mad mayor. Only Mosby was the same -- he controlled Curtis Wells with an iron fist. Sadly, it was Mosby who was the real hero of the series, being the only one of the three sane characters who was left with any sense of honor.
Although the series itself never succeeded, the same cannot be said of it's three main stars. Paul Johansson went on to star in another spin-off (Canada's "Highlander: The Raven", spin-off to the fabulously successful Canadian series "Highlander: The Series"), as well as some made-for-TV adaptations of a couple Ed McBain mysteries, and the horror films "Carnival of Souls" (1998 remake) and "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies". Scott Bairstow enjoyed a brief exposure to film with "Wild America", but America truly took notice of him in his brief stint on "Party of Five", and again now with his role on the Canadian-based Chris Carter series "Harsh Realm". It's Eric McCormack, though, who has experienced the most post-"Lonesome Dove" success -- after fairly unnoticeable spots in "Holy Man" and "Free Enterprise", McCormack hit the jackpot when he was cast as gay lawyer Will Truman in NBC's hit sitcom of 1998, "Will & Grace".
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