The Greatest "side characters" of TV series.

[JOSweetHeart]

One of my most favorite sidekicks went forward just last year. I love watching actor Clarence Gilyard Jr. give us Ranger James Trivette from Walker, Texas Ranger.

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

 

[22lcidw]

Agent 99

Barbara Feldon from Get Smart

The glue and sanity of that show.

 

[Auld Phart]

 

[Auld Phart]

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Could not possibly leave out Jason Alexander as George Costanza...

 

[Concerned American]

Tonto

Jay Silverheels

 

[martybegan]

Many shows were taken over by side characters

Fonzie in Happy Days
Alex Keaton in Family Ties
Urkle in Family Matters

The thing is they became "breakthrough characters", which overtook the series.

I think the OP is looking more for constant side characters that drew attention.

So Ron Swanson was the breakthrough character, but I always found Ben in Parks and recreation as a great side character.

And of course, he was the Architect. Someone needs to invent a real version of Cones of Dunshire, with like a 500 page rulebook.

 

[martybegan]

Kramer

Was Kramer a side character, or the breakthrough character that stole the show?

 

[martybegan]

Sheldon Cooper

Again to me the breakthrough character that stole the show, the side character to me was Wolowitz.

 

[toobfreak]

Again to me the breakthrough character that stole the show, the side character to me was Wolowitz.

Yes, the main (central) character was supposed to be Leonard, but Sheldon became the comic center of most of the stories due to his excellent portrayal of Sheldon's idiosyncrasies, while I suppose they actually intended and expected Penny to be the side-character.

Wolowitz and Rajish were written as support characters mainly.

So, Leonard was like the Jerry Seinfeld,
Sheldon became Kramer,
Penny was BBT's Elaine,
and various qualities of George were split up between Howard and Raj.

Same format as Seinfeld really.

Bernadette and Amy Farah Fowler were added to open up more story lines.

 

[Auld Phart]

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Was Kramer a side character, or the breakthrough character that stole the show?

A side character, if anyone was breakthrough, IMO it would be Costanza
In Season 1 Kramer's character was not nearly as present as Costanza.
Richards renegotiated his contract for higher pay etc. because his audience popularity was much higher than a character like Newman.
So after Seas 1 - Kramer became a main side character with increased appearances and even shows where the main story line was him.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

Would Sasha Mitchell of the 90s family sitcom named Step By Step be considered a side character? I loved watching him give us Cody on there.

God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

P.S. Sadly he was not a part of the show's last two seasons although he did return for one episode just before the show ended.

 

[Ralph Norton]

Never heard of him

Me neither.

 

[Missourian]

 

[toobfreak]

You reminded me--- now we are getting far away from the original idea of best side kick of all time, but if Jarrod or Victoria Barkley were the leads and stars of The Big Valley, then I'd say that Peter Breck (Nick Barkley) was an outstanding side character along with Lee Majors.

 

[BothWings]

Grady Wilson

 

[task0778]

I thought Ted Knight's character on the MTM show was brilliant. Ted Baxter was funny as hell.

 

[toobfreak]

Grady Wilson

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No, THELMA!

 

[BothWings]

No, THELMA!

Don't you mean Aunt Esther?