I find it interesting that Grant Goodeve always received billing in the opening credits, while the other siblings didn't receive billing until the third season.
He didn't have many television credits prior to EIE, so it seems odd that he would have been billed over the other cast members. I'm wondering if the character of David was intended to be featured more prominently than the other siblings or if he just had a really good agent.
I'm guessing it had more to do with the character than it did with Goodeve. Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) played David in the pilot episode and he, like Goodeve, is the only Bradford kid to have billing in the opening credits.
shareI think you're right. In the pilot, David seemed like he was intended to be the third lead on the show. And Mark Hamill had quite a few TV credits prior to the show, and you could see his David playing a major role on the show. When Grant Goodeve took over, David faded into the background. He didn't even appear in every episode.
shareYes, this seems exactly right. Mark Hammill's David had a major role in the pilot. The character just didn't keep evolving that way once Grant Goodeve took over. He didn't seem as complex or as temperamental.
shareAlso, I think the show envisioned that the role of David would be similar to the role of John Boy on The Waltons. Remember Lorimar was the production company for both The Waltons and Eight is Enough. I think the character of David was popular (Grant Goodeve was certainly good looking) but he certainly did not merit having a bigger billing than the other kids. I would say that David's screen time was probably the least of all the Bradford kids unlike JohnBoy who got the majority of the screen time for the Walton kids.
Also, I think kid-wise, the roles of Tommy & Nicholas got more meaty as time went on as the charisma of Willie Aames and Adam Rich came through. They got more airtime as the show went on. The character of David often seemed like an afterthought and sometimes he would just have a few lines in one episode. I think I heard Grant Goodeve joke once that he was the highest paid "extra" in Hollywood. That sort of sums it up.
They had to recast the role very quickly. Mark Hamill was set to do the series, even though he tried to get released after filming Star Wars following shooting the pilot. ABC and Lorimar wouldn't let him out of his contract, but he had a bad car accident just a few weeks before production for the regular series began and that forced the recast. Perhaps if they had had a little more time, they could have found someone who could have played the role as originally conceived.
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