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Blake Shelton’s Replacement on The Voice Revealed — They Were Originally Offered His Spot on Season 1
Monday, May 15th, 2023
Since he announced his retirement as a coach after 23 seasons, fans have had one question: Who is replacing Blake Shelton on The Voice? Well, the answer is finally hear, and Shelton’s replacement were originally offered his spot in Season 1.
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The Voice is NBC’s reality TV singing competition, in which four celebrity coaches form teams of contestants through blind auditions — where the judges can hear the singers but not see them — and compete against each other until there’s one winner. The series, which is based on The Voice Holland, premiered in 2011 with coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and CeeLo Green. Green left in Season 5; Aguilera left in Season 10; while Levine left in Season 16. Shelton was the last original coach to leave, announcing his exit in 2022 after 23 seasons.
“I think I was close to calling it a day right when COVID hit,” Shelton said of his decision to leave The Voice in an interview with Today in February 2023. “And then, because of COVID, I didn’t want to walk away from the show and leave everybody in a bind. I mean, this show changed my life. I’ll stay here until the world kind of gets back to normal again.”
Shelton also told Today about how The Voice — during which he met his wife, Gwen Stefani — has changed his life. “I met my wife on this show,” he said. “It’s changed my life in every way it possibly can, from personal standpoint.” He continued, “When I came on as a coach on this show, I mean, everything in my life was turned upside down. And in a good way, you know? This has been incredible, but it’s time, you know. It’s time for not even what’s next. A little bit of nothing would be nice.”
Now that he’s officially leaving, who will replace Blake Shelton on The Voice? Read on for who Blake Shelton’s replacement on The Voice will be. (Hint: They’ve been on the show before.)
Who will replace Blake Shelton on The Voice?
Who will replace Blake Shelton on The Voice? NBC announced at its Upfronts on May 15, 2023, that Reba McEntire will replace Shelton after he leaves The Voice at the end of Season 23. Reba will be one of four judges for Season 24, along with Niall Horan, John Legend and Shelton’s wife, Gwen Stefani. Reba performed her 1991 song “Fancy” at the NBC Upfronts after her announcement.
Season 23 isn’t the first time Reba has been on The Voice. She first appeared in Season 1 in 2011 as a Battle Advisor to Team Blake. She returned in Season 23 in 2023 as a Mega-Mentor to the contestants. In an interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2020, Reba revealed that she was asked to be a judge on Season 1 but turned it down, with her spot later going to Shelton. “It is very true,” Reba said. “It was a very popular show in Holland, I’m pretty sure, and I watched the tape, and I said, ‘No, I’m going to pass on that,’ because I don’t think I could ever be able to tell somebody that they’re terrible or go find another job or hope you like your nighttime job. I couldn’t do that day in and day out. I just couldn’t do it. So I did pass on it.”
Reba also admitted on Watch What Happens Live that she regretted her decision. “I mean, after you see a very successful show that’s been running, what, 15 years? Uh, yeah!” she said. “I’m like shoot, I should have done that.”
Why is Blake Shelton leaving The Voice?
Why is Blake Shelton leaving The Voice? Shelton announced he was leaving The Voice after 23 seasons in an Instagram post in October 2022. “I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from ‘The Voice’ after the next season,” he wrote. “This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me. and it will always feel like home to me. It’s been a hell of a ride over these 12 years of chair turns and I want to thank everyone at The Voice from NBC, every producer, the writers, musicians, crew and catering people, you are the best. It takes a lot of work, passion, and adult beverages (Ha!) to pull off a live show twice a week.”
In an interview with People in December 2022, Shelton hinted that he decided to leave The Voice to focus on his family, which includes his wife, Gwen Stefani, and his three stepsons — Kingston, Apollo and Zuma — from Stefani’s marriage to ex-husband, Gavin Rossdale. “Gwen and I have done so much traveling and touring and work the first half of our lives that now we’re like, ‘Hey, I’m good to put my sweatpants on at 6 p.m. and watch Ozark eight times,'” he said. “That’s our life now, and we love it.”
Shelton also told People about how becoming a stepfather changed how he viewed his career. “If I walked away from my career at this time, the only thing that I run the risk of is having regrets that I’m missing out on some more important things in life. For now, that’s our kids. This isn’t about me anymore and never will be again,” he said. He continued, “Even though I’m a stepparent, I take that job very seriously. The kids see me as a very important person in their life. When they ask,] ‘Why isn’t Blake here?’ I take that stuff to heart. I’ve made plenty of money, but you can’t buy time back. I don’t want any regrets.”
As for why he decided to stay on The Voice for so long, Shelton told People that he remained on the series for more than a decade because of how much it’s done for his career. “The holdup over the years has been that it’s a hard thing for me to let go of. I’ve been here literally since the first minute,” he said. “When I started on The Voice, that was 10 years into my career as a country artist. I never really made it to the A-level of country artists until I became a coach. The show did a hell of a lot more for me than I brought to the table at the time. I’ve far exceeded anything I thought I could ever accomplish in the entertainment world.”
Shelton also told People that he wanted to leave the series to pursue other career opportunities, such as his USA Network game show Barmageddeon, which he produces with The Voice host Carson Daly. “In all the time I’ve been working in television, I’ve really just been a guy the network or producers say, ‘Hey, go over here and then go over here and be funny,'” he said. “I never really got to understand what goes on behind the scenes.” He continued, “I’ve been media trained, but I wasn’t cut from that cloth ever, and Carson is so good at capturing that personality of being in the moment. He was the perfect guy for me to do this thing with and learn from.”
Still, despite his new career opportunities — which also includes his clothing line with Lands’ End — Shelton told People that he was looking forward the most to relaxing. “I’ve had people say, ‘Man, come on. You’re not quitting The Voice [to do] nothing!’ But I really am. Please, I’m accepting ideas,” he said. “I have Barmageddon — we can do a whole season in a couple weeks, and it’s a blast for me — and my Lands’ End clothing line. It’s time to push some of this [work] stuff out and let more family and personal life in.”
The Voice airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
For more on primetime shows, check out our photo gallery on the best nighttime soaps ranked.
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Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> If little else, the 1991 primetime reboot of ABC’s supernatural daytime soap nailed the spooktastic atmosphere that had always surrounded the cursed Collins family. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The life’s blood that Lysette Anthony injected into the show when she debuted as witchy Angelique Bouchard. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Despite the series’ failure to hypnotize viewers, two more primetime resurrections of <em>Dark Shadows</em> were planned but, like a smart vampire, never saw the light of day.</p> <p> </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Late in the game, primetime’s answer to <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> brought in Emma Samms as a glam scheme queen who, given the chance, could have made the Season 2 we never got must-watch TV. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The never-to-be-resolved 1995 cliffhanger involving kidnapping, attempted murder and a wedding. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Farrah Fawcett was originally considered for the part which eventually went to <em>Dallas</em>’ Linda Gray. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The 1984 series about the fashion industry was every bit as superficial and glossy as the Joan Collins TV movie that inspired it. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The first pairing of Morgan Fairchild, who replaced Collins, and daytime legend Roscoe Born; they’d be re-teamed years later on ABC’s <em>Loving</em> spinoff, <em>The City.</em> <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The song that accompanied the series’ opening credits was composed by Mark Snow, who’d go on to write the <em>X-Files</em> theme.</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Existing in the same universe as the original series, the Beverly Hills teens of 2008 skipped those innocent years we saw Brandon and Brenda go through in favor of diving headfirst into drug addiction, pregnancy and mental-health issues. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Raj Kher, newly diagnosed with terminal cancer, reacting to the prom theme being “The Future Is Ours.” <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Tori Spelling refused to do the show after finding out fellow OGs Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty were receiving far bigger paychecks. </p>
Image: Warner Bros./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> A whiff of intrigue never failed to surround <em>General Hospital</em> star Genie Francis’ 1983 NBC series based on her 1982 CBS miniseries about a young widow making “scents” among a fragrance dynasty’s stinkers. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The reveal that mousy Muffin Marshall was the most ruthless conniver of them all. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 1988, Francis married castmate Jonathan Frakes, who played shifty Marcus Marshall (and with whom she’d appeared in ABC’s <em>North and South</em>).</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> To be honest, because we really, really wanted to go back to the small screen’s most complicated apartment complex. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The way Laura Leighton’s Sydney Andrews, killed off on the mothership way back when, was resurrected, only to be rubbed out yet again. Rude! <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Eh, maybe not fun. But even adding Heather Locklear to the mix as Amanda Woodward didn’t save the reboot from cancellation after a single season.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC poured buckets of money into its doomed 1985-87 <em>Dynasty</em> spinoff to hire movie stars and fill closets with designer clothes, but all it really needed to hold our attention was Stephanie Beacham as slinky Sable Colby. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 cliffhanger that found Fallon Carrington being abducted by aliens. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Legend has it that Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn turned down the roles that went to Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on a Joan Crawford movie that was based on a Robert Wilder novel, the 1980-82 serial was as steamy as a summer night in Truro, the deceptively sleepy Florida town where the scandals ran as deep as the wealthy Weldon family’s pockets. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Morgan Fairchild vamping it up as supervixen Constance Weldon, No. 16 on E!’s 2016 list of primetime’s wickedest women. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> A daytime version of the show was planned for 1982 but never came to pass.</p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> <em>The O.C.</em> vet Rachel Bilson played the fish-out-of-water story of would-be cardiologist Zoe Hart’s relocation from New York to Podunk, Ala., altogether enchantingly in The CW’s 2011-15 romantic dramedy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> How torn we wound up being between the doc’s destiny, Wade Kinsella, and his antithesis, George Tucker. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nancy Travis would’ve kept playing secretary Mrs. H beyond her first two episodes, had she not been contracted to star in the Fox sitcom <em>Last Man Standing.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> If there’s one thing Tyler Perry’s primetime soaps know how to do, it’s shock and scandalize. Wait, that’s two things. But both were true when it came to this show, a more-diverse, less-comedic <em>Desperate Housewives</em>. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The stunning finale in which bad guys Randall Holmes and Eddie Willis each were murdered by their former wives. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The show’s 2014 premiere was the highest-rated in OWN’s history, beating previous record holder <em>The Haves and the Have Nots</em>, another of Perry’s productions.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Is there anything more relatable than a group of friends who lean on one another during hard times? With the upcoming fifth season set to be its last, we’re already bracing for the tough task of saying farewell to the gang. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The opening-episode shocker which set everything in motion as Jon Dixon, whose life seemed perfect from the outside, died by suicide. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Grace Park, who plays Katherine Saville, was reportedly once a member of the infamous NXIVM cult but left before the arrests which would later rock the group.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Mindy Kaling’s Netflix dramedy gives us the kind of intense feels that we haven’t experienced since… well… since we were as young as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s Devi Vishwakumar and her friends. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Our realization in Season 1 that we were rooting equally for both of Devi’s love interests, high-school hottie Paxton Hall-Yoshida and academic rival Ben Gross. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Yes, that’s really testy tennis great John McEnroe narrating most episodes.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 52 episodes, the Masterpiece Classic exponentially classed up the screen with its saga of early-20th-century aristocrats and their servants. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 1 shocker that found viperish Miss O’Brien weaponizing a bar of soap to ensure that Lady Grantham would miscarry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2013, <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> called Julian Fellowes’ period piece “the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.”</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> There’s nothing subtle about Netflix’s wildly over-the-top Spanish drama. The antics of the gorgeous, oversexed teens of Las Encinas would make the wildest West Beverly Hills High student blush. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 1’s jaw-dropping reveal of who really killed Marina Osuna. Fun Fact: Original cast member Danna Paola (Lucrecia) nearly missed out on the chance to audition when the e-mailed info went to her spam folder! </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Much like the great daytime soaps of yore, the Louisiana-set, Oprah Winfrey-backed drama dealt with issues others dared not, including racial profiling and transgender rights. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The series-capping twist which allowed the Bordelons to reign victorious over Sam Landry. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Bianca Lawson, who played Darla, is the stepsister of Beyoncé thanks to her dad’s marriage to the singer’s mom. </p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved it:</strong> What started as a simple misconception story in which our heroine accidentally became artificially inseminated (hey, it happens!) soon blossomed into a comedic telenovela willing to go anywhere and do anything to keep us entertained. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 3 death of Jane Villanueva’s true love, good guy Michael Cordero. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In the final episode, it was revealed that the omniscient narrator was, in fact, Jane and babydaddy Rafael Solano’s son, Mateo. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Decades before NBC gave us <em>This Is Us</em>’ Big Three, it introduced the four Reeds siblings. Well, five if you count the eventual introduction of Sheila Kelley’s Charlotte. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> A shotgun-toting Frankie bursting in to try and stop her ex-husband from marrying her sis, Frankie. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> During the first two seasons, each episode began with the women chatting in a sauna. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Alice Oseman’s Netflix dramedy about English schoolkids figuring their, and one another’s, sexuality is sweet, swoon-worthy and a heaping helping of lovely in a world that too often is anything but. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Future boyfriends Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring’s first kiss in Season 1. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series marks the first-ever television role, never mind the first-ever television <em>lead</em> role, for Charlie’s portrayer, newcomer Joe Locke, who was 17 during Season 1’s filming. </p>
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Image: Showtime Networks Inc./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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28/56
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> From illicit affairs to demonic possessions, the ABC sitcom lovingly mocked our favorite genre while creating such an uproar that its 1977 launch was protested by religious organizations, sight unseen. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The hilarious introduction of Robert Urich’s Peter to his extended family… several members of which he’d already seduced! <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> ABC wanted the writers to change the last name of Burt Campbell to avoid any negative association with potential sponsor Campbell’s Soup.</p>
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30/56
<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> When Showtime’s take on the British original hit in 2005, it was the first time many American LGBTQ+ viewers saw their lives — warts and all — presented in a big, dramatic, serialized way. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The final image of BFFs Brian Kinney and Michael Novotny dancing in the bombed-out remains of the club in which much of the action took place. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Although set in Pittsburgh, the show was largely filmed in Toronto. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Yeah, yeah, the vampires and fairies, werewolves and witches were cool and all. But what made Alan Ball’s 2008-14 supernatural serial hot was the sex. So. Much. Sex. (And so many <em>kinds</em>, too. Damn!) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 4 episode in which the Bill/Sookie/Eric triangle was “resolved” by throwing them together in a lusty threesome. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Series leads Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who played Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, wed in 2010.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> It’s somehow appropriate that the WB series lasted only four seasons, given that it so perfectly captured the college experience. We all wanted Keri Russell’s alter ego to be our best friend… if only so we could talk some sense into her. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The haircut. Enough said. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Thanks to copyright issues, the music you’ll hear on DVDs or when watching syndicated reruns is largely different from the original tracks. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> From 2016-20, the OWN drama kept us singing its praises by revealing the sinful side of its high-and-mighty titular family and the Memphis megachurch from which its fortune was made. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The thrilling sermon that installed Lady Mae as her late husband’s successor. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Well, maybe less fun than factual. When the show wrapped in 2020, plans were underway for a spinoff… for which we’re still praying. (<a href="https://tvline.com/2020/08/11/greenleaf-last-episode-spinoff-spoilers-craig-wright-interview/" target="_blank">Read all about it here.</a>)</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> <em>Scream</em> writer Kevin Williamson’s 1998-2003 WB drama treated teenagers not only as living, breathing and lusting but as thinking, struggling and persevering. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Soap vet Kerr Smith’s coming-out as Jack McPhee, who went on to have TV’s first gay-male kiss on screen. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> James Van Der Beek won the role of Dawson over competition that included <em>Sons of Anarchy</em>’s Charlie Hunnam and <em>Felicity</em>’s Scott Speedman.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> We fell in love with Kate Walsh’s Dr. Addison Montgomery pretty much the moment she strutted onto <em>Grey’s Anatomy</em>, so how could we not be obsessed with a spinoff built around the character? <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The time a patient tired to steal a baby out of the womb of Addison’s co-worker. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Only a few months before joining <em>Grey’s</em> as Dr. April Kepner, Sarah Drew guested on <em>Private Practice</em> as a pregnant law student looking to give her baby up for adoption.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> What started as a pretty typical CW show about basketball-playing half siblings eventually morphed into something much bigger, especially after a Season 5 time jump saw the gang dealing with post-college life. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Lucas Scott going into full cardiac arrest only moments after wife Haley was run down by a car left us breathless. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The title was explained via a Season 1 line of dialogue in which Lucas’ mom told him, “There is only one Tree Hill, and it’s your home.” </p>
Image: CW Network/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The younger, hipper sibling of Brit sudsers <em>EastEnders</em> and <em>Coronation Street</em> routinely tackles issues those shows — never mind American soaps — wouldn’t go near. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Bitch goddess Mercedes McQueen being shot by not one but two of her enemies while dancing in an empty nightclub. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Nick Pickard has played Tony Hutchinson since the first episode back in 1995! </p>
Image: Warner Bros./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Set in Orange County, Calif., Josh Schwartz’s teen drama made us with that, like Ben McKenzie’s Ryan Atwood, we, too, could be adopted by the Cohens, a family with even more love than money. And they had a <em>lot</em> of money. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Five words — “Welcome to the O.C., bitch.” <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Chrismukkah, the holiday invented by Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen to merge both of his parents’ religions, became so popular, it even got a mention on <em>Grey’s Anatomy.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes that she served as viperish vintner Angela Channing kept us coming back for refills of the CBS soap from 1981-90 no matter <em>how</em> (hic) intoxicated she left us. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Who’s Who of silver-screen stars that passed through the series, among them Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Robert Foxworth, who played halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of devilish J.R. Ewing on <em>Dallas</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The foul-mouthed Roy family proves that the only way in which the rich are truly different is that their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locales. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Beaten-down hubby Tom Wamsbgans telling wife Shiv, “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Ouch. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The HBO hit’s bombastic patriarch, Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) originally was set to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In 1990, the supernova that was ABC’s short-lived David Lynch series was something altogether new, a traditional soap on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish acid trip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode that revealed that Laura Palmer had been killed by her possessed father. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2017’s Showtime revival, Lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper was always dictating messages.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network Western pulls no punches, and neither do any of the members of the rough-and-tumble Dutton family. Well, maybe Jamie. (But he’s adopted.) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The outta-control Season 4 finale that gunned down John, took aim at Kayce and blew up Beth. Or <em>tried</em> to, anyway. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> As of Season 5, Sheridan has written or co-written every episode of the series, which has thus far spawned two prequels, <em>1883</em> and <em>1932</em>.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy Everett of the Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> As much as we may hate actually going to see the doctor, we can’t get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, this long-running NBC series featured George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode in which Ross saved a child trapped in a storm drain left us breathless and helped propel Clooney to superstardom. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us <em>Jurassic Park. </em></p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> There was no “there” to which Tyler Perry’s OWN soap wouldn’t go. Yet neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic Mommie Dearest in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is <strong>What We’ll Never Forget:</strong> That would be Crystal R. Fox’s fierce portrayal of long-suffering Hanna Young. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, tied the knot with co-star Nicholas James, aka off-kilter Officer Justin Lewis.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 2016-22 run, the creators of the NBC series proved master manipulators where our emotional well-being was concerned. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The unbreakable bond between the Big Three — the Pearson siblings. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> So upset were fans upon learning that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson’s death that the makers of the responsible appliance posted a Facebook message addressing the incident. “We love [Jack], and we love you, too. Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.” </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Unlike its American brethren, the British sudser makes a big deal of the “little people.” In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a “have” amongst the “have-nots” who populate Albert Square and hang at its beloved Queen Vic pub. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton recorded an episode-long farewell monologue to former hubby Jim. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> For 28 years running, June Brown’s Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day. </p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Productions/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In a way, we grew up with the characters on Aaron Spelling’s 1990-2000 Fox hit, which originated as the fish-out-of-water story of sheltered Minnesota twins transferred to schmancy West Beverly High. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The heated debates that erupted over Season 3’s Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Since the network wasn’t initially as sold on Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP at first paid the future teen idol’s salary himself.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While we could wax poetic about the shocking plot twists which befell the Lyon family as they fought for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is, what we <em>really</em> loved was Taraji P. Henson’s trash-talking Cookie. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Sadly, the show will likely be most remembered for star Jussie Smollett staging a fake attack against himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Henson darn near got a spinoff focused on her character, but that Cookie crumbled before the proposed show could launch.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Nineteen seasons in, Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama never forgets that sometimes all it takes to get a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">patient</span> series off life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 5’s finale, which kept us waiting till the last second to learn whether Izzie Stevens or George O’Malley died. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Original cast member Ellen Pompeo was TV’s highest-paid actress — to the tune of $20M/year — when she stepped away from her role of Meredith Grey in 2022.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The suburbs-set 2004-12 series beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of Wisteria Lane’s residents… as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor! <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Early in Season 1, Gabrielle Solis mowed her lawn in a full-length evening gown to prevent her hubby from finding out their hunky young gardener had been too busy tending to her needs to do the chore himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Said gardener was played by none other than a post-<em>Passions</em>, pre-<em>Chesapeake Shores</em> Jesse Metcalfe.</p>
Image: Fox/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> After Aaron Spelling spiked his <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em> spinoff with <em>Dynasty</em> vet Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 scene in which a back-from-the-dead Kimberly Shaw ripped off her wig to reveal her scarred head. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former leading man Jack Wagner, who’d played her love/hate interest, Dr. Peter Burns.</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC’s answer to <em>Dallas</em> was heavy on the glitz and glamour and even heavier on the catfights and spectacles. (Moldavian massacre, anyone?) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Joan Collins’ Season 2 debut as Blake Carrington’s ex, Alexis, who elevated bitchcraft to an art form and moved the series out of Dullsville. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The role of the scheme queen was originally supposed to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also pursued, Collins told <em>W</em> in 2018. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on Grace Metalious’ novel, ABC’s 1964-69 serial about a small town with big secrets was so addictive that at one point, three new episodes aired every week. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Lee Grant’s stunning turn as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The exit of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only killed the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Parkins’ characters, it began the series’ slide toward the primetime graveyard.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Only one thing ran deeper than the oil wells on CBS’ 1978-91 smash, and that was the grudges onto which the Ewing and Barnes families held with a viselike grip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 9 finale, in which the “late” Bobby Ewing stepped out of sometime wife Pamela’s shower and erased Season 8. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The Season 4 episode that resolved the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger is the second-highest-rated primetime telecast ever. (FYI, Kristin Shepard did it.)</p>
Image: CBS/Getty Images
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