Classic Examples: TV show stars upstaged by supporting characters

[Garden Kitty]

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I loved the show Valerie, too bad it didn't work out with Valerie Harper but Jason Bateman made it work and I stayed with it through its incarnations as Valerie's Family and then The Hogan Family (didn't Cloris Leachman come in at that point?).

Was it Sandy Duncan?

[Cyn]

What about the show What's Happening? IIRC, Roger's younger sister, Dee, was quite the little wisecracking scene-stealer.

[caseyedwards]

Has J.J. from "Good Times" been mentioned yet? I think his "Dyno-MITE!" schtick took on a life of its own (although in a rather way), and the actors playing the parents weren't happy about it.

Also, the TV show "Webster" was originally supposed to focus on the parents (and it wasn't supposed to be called Webster either), but Emmanuel Lewis stole the show, and his "parents" weren't happy about that either!

Yes and that did lead to a quitting from Rolle

[essence_of_soy]

Of these examples - which ones actually caused jealousy and/or rift between the cast members due to this shift in attention/popularity?

Maybe it's just me, but in some episodes of Family Ties you can really see the fury on Meredeth Baxter's face when Michael J. Fox got all of the good lines and plot developments.

[ilovesalchows]

Maybe it's just me, but in some episodes of Family Ties you can really see the fury on Meredeth Baxter's face when Michael J. Fox got all of the good lines and plot developments.

And girls

[IceKween]

I was about 11 when the show started and I always thought Jason Bateman was so much cuter than Ricky "the Ricker" Shroeder. I was also an avid viewer of Jason's short lived 'It's Your Move' sitcom post Silver Spoons.

Jason Bateman was basically kicked off Silver Spoons because Ricky was jealous that Jason was becoming more popular with his character Derek. I was a Derek fan. He then had his own tv show, one of my favorites ever, called It's Your Move (I still love the Dregs of Humanity two-parter).

[berthesghost]

Sally Field totally stole Bros&Sis from Calista Flockhart

[Seerek]

Sally Field totally stole Bros&Sis from Calista Flockhart

Sally did win a Best Lead Actress Emmy for B&S 3 years ago, plus I think she's first in the credits - I think she's the lead of the series.

Maybe it's just me, but in some episodes of Family Ties you can really see the fury on Meredeth Baxter's face when Michael J. Fox got all of the good lines and plot developments.

Yeah, very likely...

Meredith Baxter-Birney was miffed, because her understanding when she signed on for Family Ties was that the parents would be the focus of the series. .... Goldberg was standing backstage with Baxter-Birney at the time and commented, “If you want to leave the show, I’ll understand.”

Yes and that did lead to a quitting from Rolle

yes, that's right, but interestingly, Rolle did come back for the 6th and final season.

I loved the show Valerie, too bad it didn't work out with Valerie Harper but Jason Bateman made it work and I stayed with it through its incarnations as Valerie's Family and then The Hogan Family (didn't Cloris Leachman come in at that point?).

Yeah, people do mix up Cloris Leachman and Sandy Duncan often because I believe they entered sitcoms around the same time - Cloris Leachman replacing Charlotte Rae in "The Facts of Life" and Sandy Duncan replacing Valerie Harper on "The Hogan Family"

[kwanette]

David McCallum, who now portrays Dr. Mallard (Duckie), the Forensics/M.E. guru on NCIS - he was quite the when he was on Man from U.N.C.L.E. - for a guy in his 60's he's still looking pretty good .

(I have no idea who the actual star on MFU was - I only remember - from reruns - Ilya as he was um, a rather nice piece of eye candy.

Robert Vaughn..you watched it in reruns? I watched it in "first runs"..

[gingercrush]

Sally Field totally stole Bros&Sis from Calista Flockhart

And the show is all the worse for it. Mind you who the hell would want to be a part of that family. I certainly wouldn't. I shouldn't even watch the show since its so inherently stupid yet I keep watching it.

The big example for me is Charmed where Alyssa Milano's character became more important to the show than Shannon Moore. The same happened with Beverly Hills 90210 where Brenda and Brandon were overshadowed by Kelly and Luke Perry's character whose name I've forgotten.

[cygnus]

David McCallum, who now portrays Dr. Mallard (Duckie), the Forensics/M.E. guru on NCIS - he was quite the when he was on Man from U.N.C.L.E. - for a guy in his 60's he's still looking pretty good .

(I have no idea who the actual star on MFU was - I only remember - from reruns - Ilya as he was um, a rather nice piece of eye candy.

60s? Try 76 (born 1933).

[skatingfan5]

60s? Try 76 (born 1933).

Then I'd say he's looking way beyond "pretty good" if he's only 4 years short of 4 score!

[Lucy25]

Jason Bateman was basically kicked off Silver Spoons because Ricky was jealous that Jason was becoming more popular with his character Derek. I was a Derek fan. He then had his own tv show, one of my favorites ever, called It's Your Move (I still love the Dregs of Humanity two-parter).

Loved (still do!) Jason Bateman and especially It's Your Move. The Dregs of Humanity

How about The Big Bang Theory now? This season it has been all about Sheldon and Penny as foils. These two are getting all the funny plots, where I think the character of Leonard was supposed to be one of the main characters.

*Edited to say that I should have read the Wikipedia entry before I posted this! I wasn't expecting to see my example on its list.

[skatingfan5]

How about The Big Bang Theory now? This season it has been all about Sheldon and Penny as foils. These two are getting all the funny plots, where I think the character of Leonard was supposed to be one of the main characters.

I thought that Sheldon was in the spotlight from the start -- at least his character was the one who made me tune in to see the program on more than one occasion. Sheldon and his Meemaw and his obsession with revenge on Wil Wheaton are often a antidote for a stressful day. Sheldon attempting to teach Penny all about physics, beginning in ancient Greece was .

[FunnyBut]

Farrah Fawcett for Charlie's Angels. Well, she wasn't a supporting character, but she upstaged her equals. It was a comedy at times, too, especially when you watch now

[Kasey]

What about the show What's Happening? IIRC, Roger's younger sister, Dee, was quite the little wisecracking scene-stealer.

I thought that show got stolen more by Rerun....

[screech]

My apologies if it was mentioned, but the most obvious current examples of character who has overshadowed the originally intended leads are Barney on How I Met Your Mother and Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. (Depending on what happens with the direction that Glee takes next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kurt begin to overshadow Cory and Rachel, plus there is Sue.)

In dramas, I would toss out as breakout characters Eric on TrueBlood and Ben and Desmond on Lost, but I don't think they upstage the main cast, since the shows are ensembles to begin with.

I agree with Barney (absolutely) but I think that Sheldon and Leonard are co-leads on BBT - Jim Parsons (Sheldon) was nominated in the lead actor category at the Emmys last year, meaning he's in a leading role.

Definitely agree with Alexander Skarsgard as Eric on True Blood - especially after season 1. He was in 4 episodes of season 1 and was already a favourite. I wouldn't say he's upstaged Anna Paquin's Sookie, but I'd definitely say Eric has surpassed Bill, Sam and Jason to be the fan favourite/breakthrough male on the show. However, it's kind of debatable because many fans of the show are fans of the books it's based off of, and know what the character of Eric is like in the books and things that happen and that could be really helping with the love for Eric on the show (since they aren't quite making him as likeable as in the books...) Plus, there's no debating that Alex is the media/paparazzi favourite from the show...

Also, must go with Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester on Glee (who I think must have the same stylist as Eric Northman, with their penchant for tracksuits).

I'm going to add Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls in Veronica Mars - he was a small character at first (and lower in the opening credits) who came to be the main male love interest and moved up in the credits and completely took over - IIRC, it wasn't intended that Logan become the main guy, but it just started to work out that way as the show progressed because of the love. He never overpassed Kristen Bell's Veronica, but he passed the other males on the show.

Niles on The Nanny often overshadowed the other characters with his sarcastic wit.

[Cyn]

60s? Try 76 (born 1933).

76?!?! Duckie is looking damn good for being 76