Do you think the "sidekick" or minor characters became overexposed as time went on?

[mets82]

I probably should have adddressed the title thread a little better but I was wondering about this. On tv shows, there have minor characters that became stars on there show. Look at The Fonz. I dont think he even talked in the pilot, the pilot of Happy Days, not Love, American Style. Look at Urkel. He was a minor character and by the shows end, he WAS the show. Hell, look at Monroe on Too Close for Comfort. He was a minor character but by the end he and Henrys interaction were a huge part of the show.

My point is do you think characters like The Fonz, Urkel, Monroe etc. became overexposed? Its like the mystique was gone by the time there respective series ended. By the time Happy Days ended, was the Fonz the same type of character he was in the beginning? What about Urkel? Were you sick of him by the end of the series with all his clumsy scenes he did and all his alter egos? Do you think it would have been better if these characters stayed minor characters and maybe at the end of there series, they would have been funnier?

[Zoneboy]

Happy Days would never have been as good as it was if Fonzie stayed a minor character.

[tv star collector]

It seems that, more often than not, supporting characters "steal the show."
Look at: Flo (Alice), Fish (Barney Miller), Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show), Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Fonzie (Happy Days), Phineas T. Bluster (Howdy Doody), Lenny and Squiggy (Laverne and Shirley), Schneider (One Day at a Time), Boris and Natasha (The Bullwinkle Show), Norton (The Honeymooners), etc., etc. I don't think it's usually planned that way necessarily, but the so-called "minor" characters in many
comedies (and dramas) are frequently more colorful than the leads.

[mets82]

I wonder what the plans were for these tv shows if the minor characters were not popular or pushed more. What would Happy Days be like if The Fonz was a minor character up until Richie left? The same goes for Family Matters. Urkel kind of took over the show toward the end. What would have happened if he was a minor character?

[biffbronson]

With Happy Days, the Fonz not only drove ratings but also became a merchandising phenomenon. One could argue that the character became overexposed in several ways, but the dollars were rolling in due to him.

Further, without the accelerated success of Happy Days due to Winkler's character, it's unclear as to whether any of the spinoff series would have been possible -- and 2 of 3 were pretty big successes in their own right. An empire was built on the back of a guy in a leather jacket. Aaaaaay!

[tiredmike59]

The Lone Ranger would have been boring without Tonto.
Him plenty good sidekick.

[robyrob]

i think any good show has to have a good cast overall with good characters - one star can NOT carry a show on his own.

[andress_jade]

On Frasier the show was about Frasier and his life but the minor characters became more and more prominent as the show progressed. Frasier's brother Niles became popular and sometimes out shined him, and was sometimes funnier. (All thanks to David Hyde Pierce.) Just as the characters Martin and Daphne and even Roz got their chance in the spotlight and they definitely stole the show more often when they were on.
The show wouldn't have been the same without them.

[comedyfreak]

No, I don't think the minor characters became overexposed at all. Sometimes they're better than the major character like in Alice, Flo was funnier than Alice.

[James]

Home Improvement was all about Tim, his family, and "Tool Time". Wilson the neighbor was on there way too much. Did we really need him in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE???

Coach was all about Hayden Fox and the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles (later the Orlando Breakers). Did ABC really think the audience would connect with those distractions Christine and Kelly? Or T. D. (Timothy David) in Orlando? Somehow I think that subconsciously caused me (who turns 40 next year, God willing) to never get married or have children.

[biffbronson]

I don't know about the audience connecting with Christine or Kelly, but from Episode 1 onward a big focus of the series was Hayden's relationships with them. I think you're right that the premise was the life of a college football coach, assistants, and his teams, but those characters (especially Christine) were pretty much essential.

Hayden was sort of a simple, straight-forward guy, and the women's more complex and delicate approaches to things created a counterpoint to his personna (and frustrated him many times over!).

[Rosslover]

but on "Will and Grace" Karen and Jack were the sidekicks but sometimes they were funnier than Will and Grace. They even made fun of this fact in the finale. on Entourage, the supporting players sometimes do out shine the boys especially Ari. On Hot in Cleveland, Elka was supposed to do only the pilot but ended up stealing the show.

[associate]

I think these characters were fine and funny when they played off the main characters. It's when they took away the show that it became to much. Happy Days is a perfect example. The show was originally about Richie. Ron Howard eventually leaves the show and it becomes about the Fonz and his interaction with Richie's family and friends.

[James]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I don't know about the audience connecting with Christine or Kelly, but from Episode 1 onward a big focus of the series was Hayden's relationships with them. I think you're right that the premise was the life of a college football coach, assistants, and his teams, but those characters (especially Christine) were pretty much essential.

Hayden was sort of a simple, straight-forward guy, and the women's more complex and delicate approaches to things created a counterpoint to his personna (and frustrated him many times over!).

I'm not sure about this, but if reality TV had been around as far back as the late 1980s they could have made Coach a reality show instead of a comedy show and focused solely on his coaching career with Luther and Dauber and the boys, thereby eliminating the need for counterparts like Christine.