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Things don’t always work out as planned in Television Land. A snappy catchphrase, an adorable mannerism, a bodacious bust line…there’s no telling what might capture the audience’s attention. The problem is, it often comes at the expense of another actor.
1. The Fonz Upstages Opie
The idea for a sitcom set in the 1950s was inspired by a vignette on the 1970s anthology series Love, American Style. One year after “Love and the Happy Days” aired, Ron Howard starred in the blockbuster film American Graffiti, which solidified his ability to play a retro-teenager. Howard had previously played “Opie” on The Andy Griffith Show, and with his recent film triumph under his belt, it was clear that he was the intended star of Happy Days. But the producers were caught by surprise when Fonzie, portrayed by Henry Winkler, who was only an occasional character during the first season started getting a substantial amount of press. Suddenly “Ayyyy” was on everyone’s lips and you couldn’t walk past a storefront without seeing some sort of Fonz replica giving the ol’ thumbs up. The ABC brass even suggested changing the name of the show to Fonzie’s Happy Days, but Henry Winkler himself vehemently opposed such a change. In fact, Henry has always staunchly credited the success of Happy Days to the work of entire cast, particularly Ron Howard and Tom Bosley.
2. Alex P. Keaton’s Hostile Takeover
When Gary David Goldberg was casting Family Ties, a sitcom about liberal 60s-era parents raising 80s-era children, he envisioned Matthew Broderick for the role of Alex P. Keaton. But Broderick didn’t want to leave New York for a long-term project, so Goldberg was left at square one. At the urging of a casting director, he gave a young Canadian actor named Michael J. Fox a second screen test, and reluctantly hired him (his infamous comment at the time about Fox was “There’s a face you’ll never see on a lunch box.”) Much to everyone’s surprise, Michael J. Fox had that on-screen charisma that quickly made him an audience favorite; he could deliver the most extreme right-wing political rhetoric and make it palatable because he was so darned cute. 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. But teen magazine profiles and posters can have a unique impact on a celebrity’s “Q-factor,” and soon many of the show’s plots revolved around Alex. During the taping of the episode where Alex lost his virginity, the audience’s laughter went on so long that the show ran 12 minutes overtime. Goldberg was standing backstage with Baxter-Birney at the time and commented, “If you want to leave the show, I’ll understand.”
3. Jack Tripper Gets Bested by a Blonde
When Three’s Company was being cast, John Ritter was the only actor hired who any sort of name recognition, having played the Reverend Fordwick on The Waltons. Luckily, he also had a knack for slapstick comedy, and managed to make the most out of what was basically a one-joke role (a closet heterosexual living platonically with two beautiful young women). But even though Ritter was the acknowledged star of the show (and won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Jack Tripper), it was Suzanne Somers who got her picture on all the magazine covers and had her own mega-selling poster. Actually, as soon as Somers landed the role of Chrissy, she contacted powerhouse manager Jay Bernstein and begged him to take her on as a client. She wanted to be “bigger than Farrah,” and although (according to Somers) Bernstein questioned her looks and her talent, he was impressed by her passion, and agreed to manage her. Of course, it probably helped that Somers also pledged to give him every penny of her salary from the first six episodes of Three’s Company. Nevertheless, thanks to Bernstein’s savvy promotion, soon every episode of Three’s Company, no matter what the plot, focused heavily on Chrissy prancing around in tight T-shirts and short-shorts.
4. Yes, Urkel Did That
Family Matters was officially a spin-off of Perfect Strangers (Harriette Winslow was the elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle). The show was supposed to focus on the everyday trials and tribulations of a department store employee, her police officer husband, and their three children. Midway through Season One, their nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel (portrayed by Jaleel White) appeared, oversized glasses, suspenders, high-rise pants, squeaky voice and all. Urkel was originally intended as a one-episode character, but after White’s initial appearance, studio audiences started chanting “Urkel! Urkel!” during subsequent tapings. Several first-season episodes were hastily re-written in order to feature the whiny-voiced, clumsy character. Interestingly enough, Jaleel White had been acting (mostly in commercials) since the age of three, and just prior to being cast as Urkel had told his mother that he wanted to quit the business in order to play JV basketball when he entered high school the next fall.
5. Mr. Kotter’s Lukewarm Welcome (in comparison to John Travolta)
Veteran comic writer Alan Sacks had seen stand-up comic Gabe Kaplan’s act a few times and thought that there might be a viable sitcom to be mined out of Kaplan’s tales of his days in remedial high school classes. When previewing Welcome Back, Kotter in front of test audiences, network brass noted that John Travolta (whose character was then known as “Eddie Barbarina”) elicited unsolicited random squeals from the crowd and decided on the strength of a possible teen heartthrob plus Kaplan’s jokes to green light the series. Travolta, for his part, didn’t discourage the Tiger Beat aspect of his fame, but he also craved acceptance as a bona fide actor, and he spent much of his Kotter salary on a high-priced agent, who landed him progressively larger film roles, from The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, to Carrie, to Saturday Night Fever. By the fourth (and ultimately final) season of Welcome Back, Kotter, John Travolta was billed as a “special guest star” and appeared in less than half of that season’s episodes.
Comments (36)
Comment
For some reason, this article is breaking the front page for me.
posted by Ira on 6-4-2008 at 7:25 am
Fixed!
posted by Ira on 6-4-2008 at 7:49 am
Latka and Rev. Jim took over Taxi
posted by Hoo Hee on 6-4-2008 at 8:46 am
Here’s a modern upstaging of sorts - How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby is the Focus behind the story, but on many occasions, Barney Stinson upstages him in “Fonzie-esque” fashion.
posted by shane on 6-4-2008 at 8:54 am
LOL, Welcome back Kotter, Boy that brings back memories.
JJ
www.FireMe.To/Udi
posted by Jason Tremble on 6-4-2008 at 9:17 am
If we’re going for bit players who have grabber part of the show for themselves, Scrub’s Janitor was a first episode bit player, but he snuck in the line at the end of the episode about the penny and has been a mainstay of the show since then. It’s not on the level of Urkel or Fox though, I never knew about those two.
posted by Kinglink on 6-4-2008 at 10:01 am
And let’s not forget that The Simpsons was supposed to center around Bart, not Homer.
posted by Danny on 6-4-2008 at 10:09 am
Actually, the Simpsons itself was a filler from the Tracey Ullman show in Fox’s first season. 20 years later, it not only stole the show, but the voice actors make $400k/episode now!
posted by rotll on 6-4-2008 at 10:27 am
On “Lost in Space,” Dr. Smith was originally the bad guy. But actor Jonathan Harris apparently was a better hijacker than his character was. Please see link.
posted by David H. on 6-4-2008 at 10:47 am
no Mr. T ?
A - Team
posted by anonymouse on 6-4-2008 at 11:10 am
Kratts’ Creatures on PBS was later renamed Zooboomafoo, because people liked the lemur puppet more than the Kratts.
posted by Ira on 6-4-2008 at 11:34 am
On the Drew Carey Show, the Mimi Bobeck character was only scheduled to appear for one episode, but she tested so well she ended up becoming a main character.
posted by Tyler on 6-4-2008 at 12:14 pm
What about Joan Collins’ campy Alexis Carrington on Dynasty?
posted by AC on 6-4-2008 at 12:32 pm
Don’t forget that show Jack and Karen, which had those far less interesting co-stars, Will and Grace. Or was it the other way around?
posted by Gay on 6-4-2008 at 1:16 pm
Any list that doesn’t mention Andy Kaufman ’s turn as Latke Gravas on “Taxi” is incomplete.
posted by leron on 6-4-2008 at 1:39 pm
ben linus on LOST.
posted by x34460 on 6-4-2008 at 1:40 pm
Ashton Kutcher as Kelso on That 70s Show.
posted by Frank on 6-4-2008 at 2:17 pm
Cheese on Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends.
posted by BlueBombardier on 6-4-2008 at 2:56 pm
Oh come on, nobody mentioned Kelsey Grammar as Dr. Frasier Crane? He took over the show and went on to have his own… classic
posted by Mark on 6-4-2008 at 3:12 pm
Don’t forget Tina Louise of Gilligan’s Island. She thought she should be the focus of the show — despite the show’s title.
posted by Alisa on 6-4-2008 at 3:45 pm
I never knew that Family Matters was a spinoff of Perfect Strangers…
posted by DYMongoose on 6-4-2008 at 4:10 pm
Originally, Spike on Buffy was going to be a throw-away character. He did so well, that they brought him back and made him a major part of the show. Even outlived BTVS by continuing on Angel after BTVS ended.
posted by Nat X on 6-4-2008 at 4:49 pm
Kramer on Seinfeld
posted by JC on 6-4-2008 at 5:22 pm
I don’t know if I’d say he totally hijacked the show from Veronica, but Logan Echolls made quite an impression.
posted by Melissa on 6-4-2008 at 6:14 pm
Hawkeye on M*A*S*H. There, I said it.
For the record, I think that character is great and Alan Alda did an amazing job BUT it was not /supposed/ to be “Alan Alda/Hawkeye’s Vietnam Analogy Show”
Still the best character ever though.
posted by byrc on 6-4-2008 at 6:48 pm
You guys need to see Omar from The Wire. Best show ever!
posted by fungus on 6-4-2008 at 6:55 pm
Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) from Lost. And I definitely agree about the suggestion for Omar for the Wire
posted by chris on 6-4-2008 at 11:31 pm
Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing on Dallas.
posted by Tdave on 6-5-2008 at 3:59 am
Bayley Quarters on WKRP totally stole the show from Jennifer.
posted by grumpyoldman on 6-5-2008 at 7:50 am
Nice article! The character John Travolta played in “Welcome Back Kotter” was called Vinnie Barbarino, not Eddie Barbarina.
posted by Valerie on 6-8-2008 at 11:20 pm
Originally, The West Wing was supposed to focus solely on the White House staffers. The President was going to make only rare appearances. That went out the window from the start and is one of the reasons that Rob Lowe (the Meredith Baxter of the series) left early.
posted by Michael Rebain on 6-9-2008 at 1:57 pm
OK, I’m a nerd: on the original Star Trek, the very wooden Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock frequently upstaged the shirtless ham… well, you know. Old dude on Boston Legal.
;)
posted by Theo on 6-10-2008 at 1:58 pm
How about Matthew Fox (Jack) from Lost?? Everyone seems to forget that he was supposed to be DEAD by episode two or three.
And, Tahmoh Penikett (Helo/Karl Agathon) from Battlestar Galactica? He was only supposed to appear on “Cylon-Occupied Caprica” and get killed off.
posted by Jamie on 6-17-2008 at 4:37 pm
Methos from Highlander. Another “bit” or one/two ep character who was supposed to be killed off, but who ended up having a much more central role in later plot arcs. kudos to the actor, Peter Wingfield who brought so much (after)life to a minor/throwaway character, as well as the writers & producers who recognized what they had started.
posted by Lisa on 6-18-2008 at 3:39 pm
Valerie beat me to it…it was Vinnie not Eddie Barbarino…
posted by Tony on 6-23-2008 at 8:02 am
Valerie (& Tony), in the original pilot script (and the pilot episode filmed) the character’s name was, in fact, Eddie Barbarina (I’ve got a clip of John Travolta’s screen test where he introduces himself by that name). It was changed to Vinnie Barbarino when the show was picked up.
posted by Kara on 6-23-2008 at 11:16 am