This is a follow up of sorts to a thread that I did about the worst sitcom casts (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=328320). Basically, this is concerning the nominal lead character/"star" actually being the show's weak link and in essence, "Scrappy" (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScrappy).

Everybody Loves Raymond

Alice

Family Ties

Family Ties

Michael J Fox?

' A Different World'- Lisa Bonet was supposed to be the protagonist but she did nothing to make Denise interesting and just sleepwalked through the entire year she 'starred' in this- and all the other cast members did the heavy lifting. Was it any surprise it actually improved (until the lame last season) once she left?

Seinfeld - I'd rank Jerry 3rd of the 4 main characters.

Family Ties

I don't like the "Alex P. Keaton" character either, but Michael J. Fox is a terrific actor.

Michael J Fox?Meredith Baxter was technically the lead actor, being billed first the whole show.

In the Saved by the Bell reboot on Peacock streaming, I don't care for the lead Latina actress who plays Daisy. I get that the writers want to do the opposite of the original series which had a white male lead, but she just isn't that interesting.

I prefer the original characters (Slater, Jessie, and guest Zack, Kelly and Lisa) that are more supporting in the new series, and the kids- Mac, Lexi and Jamie. The series is a little too woke with the main character, Daisy, and the two other kids of color who transferred into Bayside, but the supporting characters make it funny.

Wonder Years.

Kevin (Fred Savage) was kind of annoying and often not likeable.

But I liked Daniel Stern's narration, the musical score of each episode, Kevin's parents, Kevin's teachers and most of the environment around Kevin, over the character of Kevin or Fred Savage's portrayal as Kevin.

I recently watched the entire series again on Hulu. I couldn't watch the full last season, but most seasons had a mix of solid episodes and other episodes that were less desirable. The less desirable episodes were often solely focused on Kevin and Winnie, or worse Kevin and Becky Slater.

I heard the show was canceled because of allegations on Fred Savage and Jason Hervey. These allegations were later proved false, but I kind of wondered if they could have pivoted to make Winnie the focus of the show in her college years, although it'd likely end up being a spinoff at that point.

Dennis the Menace?

This is debatable, especially with a post-puberty Danny Pinaturo, but Who's the Boss? Or so says, AV Club (https://www.avclub.com/1980s-sitcoms-1798224359), who argued that Tony Danza kept the show from aspiring to be greater simply because he was unable to play his central character as anything other than a lummox.

Bonnie Franklin (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279121) on One Day at a Time (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=129286). It's very hard for me to fully explain unless you've actually seen the show (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031153728/http://www.jumptheshark.com/o/one_day_at_a_time.htm) but she could be a very hammy (datalounge.com/thread/16291775-why-did-all-the-actors-on-one-day-at-a-time-shout-their-lines-), shrill, and strident (https://www.quora.com/Why-did-all-the-actors-on-One-Day-at-A-Time-shout-their-lines) performer.

Kevin (Fred Savage) was kind of annoying and often not likeable.

But I liked Daniel Stern's narration, the musical score of each episode, Kevin's parents, Kevin's teachers and most of the environment around Kevin, over the character of Kevin or Fred Savage's portrayal as Kevin.

I recently watched the entire series again on Hulu. I couldn't watch the full last season, but most seasons had a mix of solid episodes and other episodes that were less desirable. The less desirable episodes were often solely focused on Kevin and Winnie, or worse Kevin and Becky Slater.

I rewatched all of it last year and found the narration to be completely obnoxious. Young Kevin was fine, but adult Kevin was full of ****.

I rewatched all of it last year and found the narration to be completely obnoxious. Young Kevin was fine, but adult Kevin was full of ****.

Thank you! As much as I like Mr. Stern as a person and (other than 'Wonder Years') as a performer, the narration quickly became downright intrusive and obnoxious. It got so that I dreaded it every time Kevin took a pause because it almost inevitably meant that we'd get ANOTHER Grown Kevin Editorial which often seemed quite contrary to what the Boy/Teen Kevin was 'really' thinking at the time. Too bad they didn't have it like on 'The Waltons' with just Kevin introducing/summing up the events from his past that got depicted!

Welcome Back, Kotter- I don't have anything against Gabriel Kaplan like I do Ray Romano and Billy Connolly. But the four main Sweathogs and Marcia Strassman were all better actors than Gabe.

Head of the Class season 5- worst lead actor replacement in TV history :barf:

Thank you! As much as I like Mr. Stern as a person and (other than 'Wonder Years') as a performer, the narration quickly became downright intrusive and obnoxious. It got so that I dreaded it every time Kevin took a pause because it almost inevitably meant that we'd get ANOTHER Grown Kevin Editorial which often seemed quite contrary to what the Boy/Teen Kevin was 'really' thinking at the time. Too bad they didn't have it like on 'The Waltons' with just Kevin introducing/summing up the events from his past that got depicted!

I think that a show like The Goldbergs (and maybe other more recent "coming of age"/period piece shows like Everybody Hates Chris and Young Sheldon) has the right idea in that the narration usually only comes during the transition of scenes instead of right in the middle. So there isn't that awkward pausing whenever the narrator has to intrusively make a point to the audience.

Narration on classic The Wonder Years was wonderful, part of what makes it so good.

Bonnie Franklin (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279121) on One Day at a Time (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=129286). It's very hard for me to fully explain unless you've actually seen the show (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031153728/http://www.jumptheshark.com/o/one_day_at_a_time.htm) but she could be a very hammy (datalounge.com/thread/16291775-why-did-all-the-actors-on-one-day-at-a-time-shout-their-lines-), shrill, and strident (https://www.quora.com/Why-did-all-the-actors-on-One-Day-at-A-Time-shout-their-lines) performer.

Bonnie Franklin was EXTREMELY LUCKY to get this show and how long it lasted because she wasnt a very good actress. She did nothing after the show was over and hopefully for her invested her money wisely which she probably did.

I rewatched all of it last year and found the narration to be completely obnoxious. Young Kevin was fine, but adult Kevin was full of ****.

Why would you re-watch all of it if you disliked the narration (completely obnoxious as you put it)? What did you like of the show for it to be watched?

I couldn't watch the last season in entirety or even half of it because of adult Kevin. They also changed the theme in the first few episodes like many 90 sitcoms. By the start of the 6th season, the kids were too grown up and adult Kevin was uninteresting.

I watched a few episodes of the beginning of the last season, and re-watched the finale just to see how it wrapped up again.

I found it interesting the story arc of Paul joining the basketball team, succeeding in it in season 4, and then it wasn't mentioned again. In season 5, they had another basketball episode of the high school team, "Hero", Paul wasn't on the team, but the episode had Jim Caviezel as a guest star.

Thank you! As much as I like Mr. Stern as a person and (other than 'Wonder Years') as a performer, the narration quickly became downright intrusive and obnoxious. It got so that I dreaded it every time Kevin took a pause because it almost inevitably meant that we'd get ANOTHER Grown Kevin Editorial which often seemed quite contrary to what the Boy/Teen Kevin was 'really' thinking at the time.

That is because the narration wasn't necessarily intended to project what Kevin was thinking at the time, but adult Kevin if he could get a review of that day as a reflection. If adult Kevin could articulate so well in his thoughts and the correct action as an adult, he likely wouldn't make so many mistakes.

An obvious example was Stern's narration of Kevin's pursuit of Winnie. He'd even reflect that he didn't understand why he pursued Winnie so much.

Tom Arnold (https://www.nathanrabin.com/happy-place/tag/Tom+Arnold) on The Jackie Thomas Show (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackie_Thomas_Show) - Basically, his then wife, Roseanne Barr used her clout to get ABC to broadcast this show (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125210/http://www.jumptheshark.com/j/jackiethomas.htm) right after hers, which was at the peak of its popularity at the time. And The Jackie Thomas Show admittedly, had great writers, a great cast, and a great production company. But it's also safe to argue (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/u4pux1/which_tv_show_would_suck_if_the_main_character/) that anyone else would have been better in the lead role than Tom Arnold.

Bonnie Franklin was EXTREMELY LUCKY to get this show and how long it lasted because she wasnt a very good actress. She did nothing after the show was over and hopefully for her invested her money wisely which she probably did.

:yousuck:

Ed.

Roseanne Barr who was infamously the main character on Roseanne. puke: I've never understood why anybody likes her. Remember she got so popular they tried to give her a movie career. She did one "comedy" movie The She-Devil, which thankfully bombed and she never worked in movies again.

Ed.

Hogan's Heroes

Another one, although a drama.

The Good Wife. Never cared for Alicia (Julianna Marguilles) but liked the show.

The spinoff The Good Fight focuses on Diane (Christine Baranski), who was the better actress but not the lead from the original. She is a lot more interesting, but they made the spinoff political and current event and times focused, and since it's streaming, very few episodes are produced per season and it became even more niche.

Given its short run, I wouldn't necessary classify it as out and out "good", but this video (https://youtu.be/JsVP-D2bmWg) suggests that Eisenhower & Lutz could've been a marginally better show had somebody other than Scott Bakula been cast as the lead. The problem with Bakula as the video argues, is that he just comes across as too much of an inherent good guy to be believable as a sleazy, amoral person.

This blog post (http://comforttv.blogspot.com/2021/04/terrible-shows-i-like-eisenhower-and.html) also argued that Eisenhower & Lutz would've been a better show had somebody other than Scott Bakula been the main character. Maybe somebody like Jay Thomas or Steven Weber could've worked better as charming, kind of likable scumbag than Scott Bakula would've. Dabney Coleman was apparently, the first choice but he turned it down because he felt that the character had too many clear redeeming qualities.

Maybe somebody like Jay Thomas or Steven Weber could've worked better as charming, kind of likable scumbag then Scott Bakula would've.Jay Thomas has no appeal whatsoever as an actor, even more so if he were to be the lead. Mork and Mindy started going downhill when Jay was cast as a regular in season 2.

Jay Thomas has no appeal whatsoever as an actor, even more so if he were to be the lead. Mork and Mindy started going downhill when Jay was cast as a regular in season 2.
Totally agree. Jay Thomas had no talent whatsoever.

Joey Bishop - The Joey Bishop Show.
Louise Lasser - Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Jerry Seinfeld. Not that he was a horrible actor but he was a stand up comedian who hit Powerball with this TV show. Seinfeld to be was the straight man to the other performers mostly. Jason Alexander was an actor and Julia Louis Dreyfus was also. The dude who played Kramer was funny but one dimensional, played one character and didn’t have much range. Not that this was a bad thing, Don Knotts built a whole career basically playing slightly different versions of one person.

Jerry Mathers during the last few seasons of Leave it to Beaver.

Will and Grace

It should have been the Jack & Karen show...

How about Meredith Baxter-Birney on Family Ties? Michael J. Fox and Michael Gross were clearly, the MVPs of the show, so it isn't that surprising that focus of the show quickly shifted from her to MJF. And where MJF and Michael Gross were skilled comic actors, with great timing, Meredith always came across as either overly flat or overly emotional.

Bonnie Franklin (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=279121) on One Day at a Time (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=129286). It's very hard for me to fully explain unless you've actually seen the show (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031153728/http://www.jumptheshark.com/o/one_day_at_a_time.htm) but she could be a very hammy (datalounge.com/thread/16291775-why-did-all-the-actors-on-one-day-at-a-time-shout-their-lines-), shrill, and strident (https://www.quora.com/Why-did-all-the-actors-on-One-Day-at-A-Time-shout-their-lines) performer.

Bonnie Franklin was never in another show after this. Hopefully she saved her money (and she should have made a lot of money) because after the show she did off Broadway and dinner theater.

Heya. I had to register just because I couldn't believe this thread had gone for three pages without anyone mentioning How I Met Your Mother. Josh Radnor as Ted isn't bad, technically, he's just incredibly bland and uninteresting compared to Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, etc. Even future Ted, narrated by Bob Saget (RIP) is way better than the ostensible star of the show.

Bonnie Franklin was never in another show after this. Hopefully she saved her money (and she should have made a lot of money) because after the show she did off Broadway and dinner theater.

A good observation that I recently read about Bonnie Franklin is that she often came off as smug and strident on ODAAT instead of likable and warm like you could argue that Linda Lavin was able to achieve on Alice.

' A Different World'- Lisa Bonet was supposed to be the protagonist but she did nothing to make Denise interesting and just sleepwalked through the entire year she 'starred' in this- and all the other cast members did the heavy lifting. Was it any surprise it actually improved (until the lame last season) once she left?

A Different World was one of those occurrences in which the lead actor/actress had no presence whatsoever. Therefore and consequently, the rest of the cast overshadowed her. Plus, Lisa Bonet's character was probably too passive and too much of a hippy to work well as the main star.

Ozzy Osbourne， Ozzy and Harriet.

Unpopular opinion time: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not a bad performer, not at all, but of the main cast, the only one she was better than was Nicholas Brendon (Xander).

Not entirely her fault, as her character was written into a corner and they couldn't do anything else with it/her.

Having said that, I believe that Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles) was the most talented member of the cast and that Emma Caulfield (Anya) was the most versatile/skilled.

Hogan's Heroes
Bob Crane was twice nominated for an Emmy.

Jerrod Carmichael on The Carmichael Show (https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/31018-the-carmichael-show/page/3/) - The show (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/628344-carmichael-show-nbc-series-thread.html) arguably (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/the-80th-annual-golden-globes-red-carpet-watch-thread.5136025/post-89012459) only really worked because of Loretta Devine and David Alan Grier, who played his parents. Those two again, depending on who you ask, saved that show.