Asa Buchanan - Casting

Casting

Actor Philip Carey portrayed patriarch Asa as a contract player for over 27 years from the character's on-screen inception in December 1979, after-which he turned down the show's offer to play the character in a supporting capacity in 2007; he made his final regular appearance as Asa on the episode first-run April 26, 2007. The character subsequently died offscreen in August 2007, coinciding with the series' 10,000th episode celebration, which brought back characters from the show's past to attend the funeral. In November 2007, Carey briefly reprised the role for three episodes in Asa's videotaped will, airing November 9 to November 13, 2007. On July 16, 2008, Carey appeared as Asa's ghost, and also returned on July 21, 2008 for the series' 40th anniversary, as character Viki Davidson visits Heaven. Beginning in the same episode, Robert S. Woods appears as a young Asa in a storyline in which the characters Bo and Rex find themselves in 1968. Carey returned on August 19, 2008 as Asa's ghost, who appears to Bo. Brian Victor Johnson took over the role of the young Asa from August 22, 2008 to August 25, 2008 after Bo is transported back to 2008. Carey appeared yet again on December 29, 2008, in a videotaped message recorded by Asa before his death.