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Actors Who Are In Two TV Series At Once
Most actors would kill just to have one professional gig on television. But there are a few who are in two shows at the same time.
The first one is Kaitlin Olson, who is the star of one of the biggest network TV series in years, ABC's "High Potential." But she's also a co-star on the cable show "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." And she's committed to doing both.
The second one has ties to this country. Not only is Canadian actor Stephen Amell the lead in Crave's "Borderline" - which debuted on CTV after the Super Bowl - but he's now been cast as a major player in an upcoming Fox remake of "Baywatch."
I realize there's time between the two - Borderline is already wrapped up and is just being seen now - but I can't help but wonder how they ever find the time to do both. TV production can often take months and how they manage to find the time to star in two shows at almost the same time seems almost impossible. No word so far on whether Borderline has been renewed for a second season, but if it does get the go-ahead, this is going to be one busy guy.
I can't think of any other actors who had main roles in two shows on at the same time. Are there any others or are these isolated cases?
Stephen Amell Cast As Hobie In Fox’s ‘Baywatch’ Reboot
- Lorne
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This reminded me of when Nancy Walker had significant roles on both McMillan & Wife and Rhoda, because I thought at the time that this was quite noteworthy. From her Wikipedia entry:
When the MTM spinoff series Rhoda premiered in 1974, Walker was a regular cast member in 41 episodes.
From 1971 to 1976, she was a regular on the successful Rock Hudson detective series McMillan & Wife, playing the McMillans' housekeeper, Mildred. During the first two years of Rhoda, Walker was not featured every week, so she was able to shuttle back and forth between the CBS sitcom and the NBC detective series. These two roles brought her seven Emmy Award nominations.
- Paul Jeffries
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Heather Locklear appeared on Dynasty and T.J. Hooker during the 1980s. IIRC, she had significant roles on both shows and there was a fair bit of overlap.
PJ
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- mic'em
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Kathleen Munroe of Law and Order Toronto appeared on Saint-Pierre earlier this season playing a character on the other side of the law. Also, Tamara Podemski plays a border agent in The Borderline, and a coroner in Saint-Pierre. Another non Canadian example is Jenna Elfman playing Tim Allen's love interest in ABC's Shifting Gears, and a FBI agent in AMC's Dark Winds.
Last edited by mic'em (February 17, 2026 7:00 am)
- Easily Amused
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Jared Keeso.
19-2 overlaps with Letterkenny during 2016-17.
Letterkenny overlaps with Shoresy during 2022-23.
I am unsure if there are any exclusionary conditions regarding the overlaps.
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RadioActive wrote:
Most actors would kill just to have one professional gig on television. But there are a few who are in two shows at the same time.
The first one is Kaitlin Olson, who is the star of one of the biggest network TV series in years, ABC's "High Potential." But she's also a co-star on the cable show "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." And she's committed to doing both.
The second one has ties to this country. Not only is Canadian actor Stephen Amell the lead in Crave's "Borderline" - which debuted on CTV after the Super Bowl - but he's now been cast as a major player in an upcoming Fox remake of "Baywatch."
I realize there's time between the two - Borderline is already wrapped up and is just being seen now - but I can't help but wonder how they ever find the time to do both. TV production can often take months and how they manage to find the time to star in two shows at almost the same time seems almost impossible. No word so far on whether Borderline has been renewed for a second season, but if it does get the go-ahead, this is going to be one busy guy.
I can't think of any other actors who had main roles in two shows on at the same time. Are there any others or are these isolated cases?
Stephen Amell Cast As Hobie In Fox’s ‘Baywatch’ Reboot
Kaitlin Olson is also on the HBO show 'Hacks'.
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William Daniels played Dr. Mark Craig on the NBC series St. Elsewhere from 1982-88. He was also the voice of KITT on Knight Rider from 1982-86 which also ran on NBC.
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While this is not two TV series at the same time, it is one series and a movie. Michael J. Fox was shooting his TV series "Family Ties" by day as well as filming the movie "Back To The Future" at night. THAT would be a grueling schedule.
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Here's a new one: Judy Reyes is one of the stars of ABC's "High Potential," one of the network's biggest recent hits. She plays the chief of the division where the main character works.
But she'll also be seen in another ABC series - the revival of "Scrubs," where she resurrects her former role as quick witted nurse Carla Espinosa.
She'll be seen in only some of the new shows and is not a "regular" per se, because of her commitment to "Potential." But it means she'll be on the same network twice a week, potentially on the same night.
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Thread Starter- Neumann Sennheiser
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On Broadway this sort of double-casting has happened on rare occasions with the physical logistics of live theater making it even more challenging and impressive.
In 1984, Cynthia Nixon appeared in two plays simultaneously, playing Donna in the 1st and 3rd acts of Hurlyburly at the Schoenfeld as Debbie in the 2nd act of The Real Thing at the Barrymore.
She walked the two blocks between the two nearby theaters; yes walked.
Her personal recollection was that it was never as tight that she had to run and still even had time for multiple costume changes.
I guess it helped that Mike Nichols was directing both shows.
Last edited by Neumann Sennheiser (February 22, 2026 9:28 pm)
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What's really amazing about the Judy Reyes thing mentioned above is that Kaitlin Olson, the star of "High Potential," is also doing two shows at once. I'm not sure if that's some kind of weird record - two people from the same program appearing at the same time in two other shows - but it's certainly unique.
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Thread Starter- Paul Jeffries
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While this is not two TV series at the same time, it is one series and a movie. Michael J. Fox was shooting his TV series "Family Ties" by day as well as filming the movie "Back To The Future" at night. THAT would be a grueling schedule.
He also managed to squeeze "Teen Wolf" in around the same time too, although most of the filming took place during a break in the taping of "Family Ties" due to co-star Meredith Baxter-Birney being pregnant at the time. Filming commenced in August 1984 and wrapped up quickly in December of the same year.
"Teen Wolf" became a surprise hit too, released about a month after "Back to the Future" in August 1985, where it debuted in the #2 spot in its opening weekend behind "Future". How many actors appeared in a starring role in more than one hit movie at the same time? I can't think of many others off the top of my head.
PJ
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