Cariou was originally cast as Alan. The believability of the family in terms of physical appearance and chemistry, however, created a need to recast the role. Judd Hirsch was cast as Alan in the second pilot. Reception Early reception of Alan varied according to the audience in question. Some people believed that venturing into the personal life of law enforcement was unrealistic. In an interview with IGN.com’s Travis Fickett, creator/executive producer Cheryl Heuton said that, during the first season of the show, she told people that law enforcement officials having a home life is more realistic than constantly working on the crime. CBS executive Nina Tassler, however, liked the brothers going home to Alan. Critically, the reception of Alan was mixed. Melanie McFarland, TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, stated that Alan was not an individual character. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, said that Hirsch’s presence, although not having a large role in the pilot, “adds value”. Robert Bianco of USA Today stated that Alan was “a subdued, funnier version of his [Hirsch’s] meddling dad from Independence Day”. References Fictional engineers Numbers (TV series) characters Fictional American Jews Television characters introduced in 2005