Sigh-Fi

However much I love James Spader I'm not sure the show would ever have been made if he was in the pilot.

Some of the scenes between Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson in the pilot seem like they are written for Spader based on how it's framed and performed. But I seriously think Spader would have made it too dour, and it wouldn't have made their interpersonal balance work as well. In the pilot Shanks is doing a little bit more of a Spader impersonation than he does later, but he is a lot more optimistic in how he speaks and presents the dialogue. Which changes the dynamic a a whole.