Yeah, I checked IMDB, too, for Dirk Benedict. Looks like he's still working. Maybe there just wasn't anything he wanted to do on the new show.
We started where aired Galactica left off, and had the Fleet leave Apollo behind as soon as possible. We gave the viper cadre to Starbuck, then, after many years, brought Apollo back to a cadre that had moved on, where Apollo had not grown or changed at all. Oh, the angst! Oh, the drama!
In fact, I took the characters I created and made up a different universe for them to hang out in.