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The Greatest Breakout Characters in TV History
Ranker ^ | no date given | no author given

Posted on 01/13/2019 5:43:26 AM PST by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at ranker.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: breakout
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To: capydick
hated Maude’s politics but loved the back and forth with both.

Archie Bunker : [Maude refuses to get out of Archie's chair] Well, I got the secret weapon that can lay this little lady right away. Here we go. This country was ruined by Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

Cousin Maude : You're fat.

Archie Bunker : Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt...

Edith Bunker : Archie, you promised never to say that name again in front of Maude.

Archie Bunker : Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

Edith Bunker : [to Maude] He don't mean nothing. His whole family was for Roosevelt.

Archie Bunker : That was for two terms. But that was it. We didn't know the guy was going to hold on to the job like a pope!

161 posted on 01/13/2019 9:51:06 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Leaning Right

162 posted on 01/13/2019 9:51:27 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
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To: central_va
General Burkhalter and Col. Klink routine was awesome too.

Can you believe Leon Askin, who played Burkhalter, lived to the age of 98? He was also great in "One, Two, Three".

163 posted on 01/13/2019 9:52:43 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Larry Lucido

Scrappy Doo.


164 posted on 01/13/2019 9:54:57 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

165 posted on 01/13/2019 9:57:16 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Leaning Right

Knight Rider - The Car

Route 66 - The Car

My Mother the Car - The Car

Then Came Bronson - The Motorcycle

Mr. Ed - The Horse

Sex In The City - The Horse face


166 posted on 01/13/2019 9:57:42 AM PST by Kickass Conservative (Democracy, two Wolves and one Sheep deciding what's for Dinner.)
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To: Teacher317

Michael J Fox as Alex P. Keaton on “Family Ties” was the same - he was NOT suppose to be liked...


167 posted on 01/13/2019 10:04:47 AM PST by GOPJ (Replace furloughed government workers with illegals for ten bucks an hour. Show dems how it feels.)
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To: Leaning Right

The whole cast of Northern Exposure. They were all quirky and outstanding in their own way.


168 posted on 01/13/2019 10:08:01 AM PST by Polyxene (Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.)
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To: central_va

If you watched Hogan’s you also enjoyed Get Smart.
Barbara Feldon agent 99


169 posted on 01/13/2019 10:21:03 AM PST by perfect stranger
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To: central_va

If you watched Hogan’s you also enjoyed Get Smart.
Barbara Feldon agent 99


170 posted on 01/13/2019 10:21:13 AM PST by perfect stranger
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To: perfect stranger

I liked the guy in the trash can.


171 posted on 01/13/2019 10:21:40 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: Leaning Right
Lenny and Squiggy on "LaVerne and Shirley"

Vinny Barbarino on "Welcome Back Kotter"

Siegfried and Hymie on "Get Smart".

Worf on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

Foghorn Leghorn (originally created as a one-off foil for the less popular Henery Hawk) on "Loony Toons">

172 posted on 01/13/2019 10:25:32 AM PST by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: Flag_This

There is a clip of Jonathan Harris telling that story on YouTube. Basically, it is how Irwin Allen convinced him to be in the series. He wanted to get top billing in the credits, but that was already promised to the other actors (as part of their contract). So the compromise was to make him a “Special Guest Star” in the credits.

Not sure it was supposed to be a permanent arrangement. His character was supposed to get killed off after a few episodes, but got popular enough that those plans were changed. So, he just kept being a Special Guest Star.

In Hollywood, vanity is serious biz.


173 posted on 01/13/2019 10:25:39 AM PST by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: Albion Wilde

He was my favorite on the show! Do you know the backstory of that scene and what caused Tony’s hilarious reaction to Bobby’s hunting gear get-up?


174 posted on 01/13/2019 10:29:42 AM PST by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy Mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: rbg81

Thank you! I had no idea. I’ve been watching the series again on Roku, so the question was on my mind.


175 posted on 01/13/2019 10:31:34 AM PST by Flag_This (Liberals are locusts.)
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To: dfwgator

Maude: “That man (Roosevelt) had charisma!” Archie: “I don’t care if he was sick!” (All In The Family was the greatest TV sitcom ever in imho.)


176 posted on 01/13/2019 10:34:07 AM PST by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy Mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: Leaning Right

I have to confess even for a TV guy like me a number of these characters I have never seen or heard of.

Like anything else it’s a pretty subjective list weighted more on the last 25 years or so.

What about William Hopper as Paul Drake on “Perry Mason”?

How about James Spader as Alan Shore from “The Practice” & “Boston Legal”?

Stuart Margolin as Angel Martin on “The Rockford Files”.

If I had my TV almanac I could probably come up with a lot more


177 posted on 01/13/2019 10:43:01 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Chickensoup

No just Wayne Rogers played Trapper John in the TV Show. When Rogers left the show after season 3, Mike Farrell was brought in to play Trapper’s replacement, BJ Honeycutt. Trapper John got enough points to return to the USA and the character went away until Pernell Roberts played Trapper John in the short lived “Trapper John, MD” TV Show years later.

The only MASH TV Show character to my knowledge to have two different actors play them was Father Mulcahey. William Christopher played Father Mulcahey in all episodes except for the pilot episode in 1972 when another actor played him.

Christopher played him every episode after, including the short lived spinoff “After Mash” starring Christopher, Harry Morgan and Jamie Farr, that aired for one season after MASH ended before getting cancelled.


178 posted on 01/13/2019 10:45:09 AM PST by dsm69 (Boycott News Media/Hollywood Advertisers)
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To: ssaftler

Klinger was at best the 2 minute fun role in the series. When they moved to more TV time I could not stand him, or for that matter MASH in general after Col. Blake and Trapper John left. So basically I like the first three seasons and you can keep the rest. I got where I could not stand Alan Alda, did not like B.J., Col. Potter or Major Winchester.


179 posted on 01/13/2019 10:49:52 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
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Comment #180 Removed by Moderator


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