Here are the 3 TV charactrs who I feel didn't receive the credit they deserved


James Evans-Good Times

Larry Dallas-Three's Company

Lionel Jefferson-All in the Family

1. Joe Garrelli (Joe Rogan from NewsRadio)

2. Murray the Cop (Al Molinaro from The Odd Couple)

3. Willie Tanner (The Dad on ALF, Very funny character)

1. Lionel Jefferson (Mike Evans) - He was very funny and the way he dealt with George was great.

2. Janet Wood - Three's Company Great straight lady but was very underrated.

3. Jenny Preston - The New Dick Van Dyke Show. It seems like the writeres nor Carl Reiner did not bother to fully utilize d the comedy skills of Hope Lange. If you look at the show she always appear to be unhappy and she was with the limitations of her role.

Originally posted by TVAdam
3. Willie Tanner (The Dad on ALF, Very funny character)

I agree! He was hilarious. :lol:

Also...

Alex from Taxi
Carlton from Fresh Prince

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*
I agree! He was hilarious. :lol:

Also...

Alex from Taxi
Carlton from Fresh Prince


I would say Geoffery was the underrated character in Fresh Prince. I think the Carlton character was well recognized.

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
I would say Geoffery was the underrated character in Fresh Prince. I think the Carlton character was well recognized.

Good point.

My favorite underrated TV characters:


1. Sgt. Ernie Bilko --- Phil Silvers was a comic genius. His show doesn't get seen often enough for anyone to fully appreciate it.

2. Ed Norton --- Jackie Gleason got all the credit but it was Art Carney who made the "Honeymooners" funnier.

3. Lenny and Squiggy --- They were so funny that they deserved their own show. I'm surprised that, at a time when spinoffs were all the rage, their names never came up and that's just too bad.

1) Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz)
~ He was underrated on and off screen. He's an acting and directing/producing genius. Lucy earned all the credit she got, but he deserved more than he got

2) Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart)/Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery)
~ They got a lot of credit but they never won deserved emmys

3) Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorrell (Rose Marie/Morey Amsterdam)
~ DVD & MTM were awesome and received lots of credit but Rose Marie & Morey Amsterdam definately helped in the show being one of the most well crafted in history and they never got enough credit

1. Mr. Mooney ("The Lucy Show") and Harrison Otis Carter ("Here's Lucy") both played by Gale Gordon. Believe or not, but Gale Gordon really made these shows hilariously funny. Lucille Ball was really gifted to have Gale Gordon on her shows, because without him, they would have probably never lasted as long as they did nor be as funny as they are. In short, he didn't receive any of credit that he deserved. Like Desi Arnaz, the public paid no attention to his wonderful work.

I will have to go back to Small Wonder on this one.


The show itself is very underrated. Hence, it's not show in reruns today, and most of the actors have not been seen since the show ended in 1989.

1. Tiffany Brissette (Vicki the Robot) - very good actress but left network TV in 1991

2. Jerry Supiran (Jamie Lawson) - left network TV in 1989

3. Emily Schulman (Harriet Brindle) - left network TV in 1994

^"Small Wonder" overall is underrated, but I don't think the actors were great. Their acting skills were minimal.

Alex(Taxi)

Murray(The Odd Couple)

Cliff(Cheers)

Lots of good choices named so far...I'll try to throw a couple of new names into the mix..


Edward Platt (The Chief, from Get Smart)

Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter, from Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.)

(Platt and Sutton are my choices as the two most underrated comedy actors in TV history)

Eddie Albert...(Oliver Douglas, from Green Acres)


I realize Albert was the "star" of Green Acres, in terms of having top billing, but a lot of the supporting cast is much more remembered today (Mr. Kimbal, Mr. Haney, Mr. Ziffel, Eb Dawson, Lisa Douglas, Sam Drucker and of course, Arnold the Pig)..
But I always loved Oliver's reactions to the things that were going on around him...he was the only sane one in the bunch, and his reactions to the other characters were a big part of that show for me...


Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink, from Hogan's Heroes)... even though he won a couple of Emmys, I think he was still underrated in TV History...again, great reactions and great comic timing....

Of course, I'm partial to the older shows, and there actually is not a single sitcom that I watch regularly since "Seinfeld" went off the air...

Now, if you have a few hours, I could give you a list of comedy actors that I think are way OVER-rated :wave:

e.g. Clair Huxtable and Elyse Keaton, as attractive as they both were, are definitely the two worst sitcom Moms (in terms of acting ability) ever! but that's another topic for another board, I imagine...I'd better not get started...Good Night
:)

Originally posted by Sal
2. Ed Norton --- Jackie Gleason got all the credit but it was Art Carney who made the "Honeymooners" funnier.

I agree. I saw in a special on TV Land that:
Jackie Gleason knew how important Art Carney was to "The Honeymooners." When they were bringing them together for the color episods, Jackie did the show with two different actresses for the wives. But said he would not do the Honeymooners without Art Carney as Ed Norton.

What's his name in Green Acres, Mr Haney? The guy with the skip voice.

The only ones I can think of are from Wings.
I've never been a big fan of sitcoms. There have only been a few that I've watched, and some of those ended up being overrated in every way. LOL. and others I really wouldn't say their characters were underrated, because if you think about it, they're not the most interesting characters ever.
But I think Wings was a really underrated TV show, and the characters were too. It was full of very strong, 3-dimensional, funny, and interesting characters.

So yeah, here are my top 3 underrated sitcom characters:

Joe (Tim Daly)- Wings
Helen (Crystal Bernard)- Wngs
Antonio (Tony Shalhoub)- Wings

all 3 were very funny, very interesting characters, and the actors who played them did a wonderful job of giving these characters 3-dimensional personalities.
and I know Joe and Helen were lead characters on the show, but they were still underrated by the TV audience, if you ask me.
Although, I wasn't really paying attention to the show during its original run on NBC, you still never hear people talking about these characters like you hear people talk about Lucy... or Norm... or Fonzie, for example.

~Krista
:cow:

Here are three from the '70s:

Dietrich (Barney Miller)

Burt Campbell (Soap)

Herb Tarlek (WKRP in Cincinnati)

Kelly from season 5 of The Facts of Life. She is widely hated among the fandom but i thought that she was funny as hell and interesting. Plus i liked her scenes with Jo.