The Greatest Breakout Characters in TV History

Ranker ^ | no date given | no author given

[Leaning Right]

When a television show first starts, the writers of the program already have the star in mind. They write for the characters they think the audience will relate to and like the most and design the show around those characters. However, once the show hits the airwaves, the viewers don’t always agree. Sometimes the true star of the show is the unlikeliest candidate. The breakout character is usually a character who was introduced as part of the supporting cast, but for one reason or another became a fan favorite.

[Albion Wilde]

Kimball Cho from The Mentalist, played by Tim Kang. What a great character! His interrogations of suspects, his stakeouts with partners, and his character in general—always totally, totally deadpan to the point of hilarity for the viewer. The first time I saw a photo of Tim Kang smiling at a Hollywood event, it blew me away—so different from his super-intense California Bureau of Investigation Agent Kimball Cho character. One of the most handsome men on tv, and I wish there were more Asian-American male characters just being Americans, like Kimball/Tim.

[fella]

Larry was pretty good as the mayor in “Deadwood”.

[ssaftler]

You might say Trapper John from M.A. S. H. too

From MASH, I was thinking either Radar O'Reilly or Margaret Houlihan. Or even Max Klinger, originally a one-episode throw-in who became a major member of the team.

[Alas Babylon!]

Long before us young kids knew what homosexuality was, we called Dr. Smith a queer and a fag.

[Alas Babylon!]

That’s the night that they hung an innocent man....

[IronJack]

Radar and Hot Lips (played by Sally Kellerman) were both characters in the original MASH movie, albeit Radar was a fairly minor one. So was Klinger. (Who, by the way, had to ditch the cross-dresser schtick because the homo crowd took offense and the show became more and more PC).

[mad_as_he$$]

True. It is interesting that his career basically died after a coupla movies.

[CaliforniaCraftBeer]

[rrrod]

FESTUS!!!

[wrcase]

Yep, when the show started it was supposed to revolve around the parents with the kids being props. You can say the same with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on the early Saturday Night Live. It was originally about the guest host, the musical act and the various video submissions. There was one early episode where they were not even on. The 2nd show with Simon and Garfunkel I believe.

[TomGuy]

They missed 2 that came to mind immediately:

Jeanette Nolan in Dirty Sally, a short-lived Gunsmoke spin-off.

Vickie Lawrence in Mama’s Family, the Carol Burnett comedy hour spin-off.

[mountn man]

Mary Ann Summers

[mountn man]

I was thinking Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

[dfwgator]

Exactly right about Fonzie in Happy Days there is no other character that even comes close.

Correctamundo!

[mountn man]

Bewitched “Tabitha”

[dfwgator]

Happy Days “Ted what’s his name”

Same guy that played Jefferson D'Arcy on Married With Children. Steve was much better.

[newfreep]

Never was a fan of NYPD Blues, but Dennis Franz was excellent as an angel who "fell" to earth in the wildly underrated "City of Angels" with the lovely Meg Ryan...before her facial change.

[dfwgator]

Archie Bunker should get an asterisk.... Norman Lear wanted Archie to be disliked, and an example of the kind of person to NOT be... and instead, Archie was beloved for being who he was.

George Jefferson got his own show.

[dfwgator]

“Poochie’s Dead!!!”

[newfreep]

Jeanette Nolan played the favorite "loose party girl" at the senior citizens' home in a very funny Night Court episode.