Ensemble Darkhorse/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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[[File:spike3.jpg|link=Buffy the Vampire Slayer|frame|Oh, come on! Who doesn't love Spike? <ref> Besides Angel of course.</ref>]]

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

** Spike (pictured) went from single-season (originally intended to live five episodes) villain to main cast member eventually leading to full-fledged [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|spotlight stealing]]. In the final episode, he ends up [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificing himself to save the world]]. Then he came back in ''Angel'', which was still running, and started receiving just as much screen-time as the rest of the cast, if not more.

** Not to mention Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who, making his original appearance as Faith's Watcher in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', was intended to be killed off shortly after. In the words of actor Alexis Denisof, Wesley was supposed to "come in, irritate Giles and Buffy for a couple shows, and then be gloriously terminated". However, the writers grew fond of him and kept him around. When [[Joss Whedon]] added Wesley to the main cast of ''Angel'', he quickly became a fan favourite.

** Faith was originally supposed to be there for five episodes but managed to be such a fan favourite that she lasted right until the end. She would have even gotten her own show if Eliza Dushku hadn't declined in order to work on ''[[Tru Calling]]''.

** There are only two characters that have appeared in every season of 24 thus far. One is Jack Bauer, who is the main character. The other is Aaron Pierce, whose actor has been listed as a "guest star" rather than a member of the main cast in every episode he appears in (at 44 as of this troping, he averages a little over 6 episodes a season.) He is also probably one of the few characters who can rival Jack in terms of [[Badass]].

** And let's not forget Tony Almeida, who was pretty much Jack's antagonist in season one. Then he {{spoiler|is the one to recieve information that Jack's wife Teri is suffering from amnesia and is in trouble, and they milk the situation making the audience worry that Tony is the infiltrator at CTU and will let Teri die. He then shows up at the Bauer residence and shoots a man about to kill Teri,}} earning both the audience's love and Jack's trust. Since then Tony has been one of the most beloved characters on the show.

* Gaheris Rhade from [[Andromeda]] was killed off in the first episode. Then, he appeared in a few flashbacks... In the end, his [[Identical Grandson]] joined the crew, and it was revealed that [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] have intended him to be the main character at first.

* ''[[Angel]]'' had Skip, a [[Pop-Cultured Badass|a demon knowledgeable about recent movies]]. He was supposed to be just a one shot character, instead he was brought back for a few episodes and his role was expanded.

** A better example may be Cally. An extra in the loading bay, she got picked for a violent death after several scenes in the background. She was supposed to be raped then killed. Instead she bit off the attacker's ear and got promoted in status. Eventually she marries a main character.

*** Before {{spoiler|being murdered by ANOTHER (arguable) Ensemble Darkhorse}}

* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' was originally intended to revolve around a small, bemused nerd named Leonard Hofstadter. Then we met his egotistical, obsessive-compulsive, yet still strangely lovable roommate Sheldon Cooper, and the rest is history.

* On the remake of ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'', Katee Sackoff's Sarah Corvus, "the first bionic woman", ran so many rings around the supposed lead that many people watched the (dreadful) show for her alone.

* Richard Harrow in ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'' sports the killer trope combo of [[Iron Woobie]] and [[Handicapped Badass]], causing him to instantly become one of its most popular characters after his relatively late entrance into season one. As of season two, he's been [[Promoted to Opening Titles]].

** Another one is Chalky White, played by the same actor as the aforementioned Omar Little on ''[[The Wire]]''. Michael K. Williams has such a small, but memorable part in the pilot that fans latched onto him. He's back as a regular for season two, as well as getting a few episodes in the spotlight.

* Lanie Parish is becoming this in ''[[Castle]]''. She can most definitely hold her own against Castle and Beckett, and seems to get some of the best lines in an episode that aren't uttered by the two leads.

* On ''[[Casualty]]'', a blonde nurse, only ever referred to as "Cath" or "Kath", seems to be popular with the fans, yet never really gets '''any''' storylines (not even a major one). She's not a [[One-Shot Character]] or a [[Ghost Extras|Ghost Extra]] by any means, but she rarely speaks. But, amazingly, she is ''never credited on-screen. ''

** By contrast, the [[Spin-Off]] known as ''[[Holby City]]'', also has another who fits this trope; except she is an [[Ascended Extra]] who is occasionally used in storylines and is more than a [[Living Prop]] or [[Ghost Extras|Ghost Extra]]. The show has a ginger-haired nurse called Marie-Claire, who speaks with an Irish accent, making an appearance. Her accent is genuine Northern Irish, and no [[Oireland]] stereotypes are used here.

** Both nurses live up to this trope, and (shamefully) don't get many major plotlines.

** Wilfred Mott. Initially intended as one-shot newspaper vendor called Stan, rewritten as Donna's grandfather before becoming the Doctor's companion. Also {{spoiler|the Tenth Doctor ultimately dies saving his life}}

** While we're on the subject of companions, Rory Williams is either one of these, or a blatant example of the writers deliberately manipulating a character to make them go in this direction: from someone who looked like he was going to be a dorky Mickey Smith clone, to a character with far more appeal (right before killing him), to a [[Badass]] and [[Unbroken Vigil]].

** And the episode “A Good Man Goes To War” brings us Jenny and Madame Vastra. What’s so awesome about them? Well, Madame Vastra is a female Silurian. Living in Victorian London. In a mansion. And she works for Scotland Yard, hunting down criminals. [[I'm a Humanitarian|And eating them.]] She’s in a lesbian/inter-species relationship with her kick-ass maid-servant Jenny, both of whom wield katanas. They’re simply amazing, and we didn’t even get to see how they met the Doctor, and it’s doubtful we ever will. Spinoff, please?

** The [[Elite Mook|Special Weapons Dalek]] only appeared in one serial in the classic series, but is very popular due to being so damn cool.

** In the 5th season, Carol Hathaway has a short scene with Nurse Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney), credited at the end of the episode. Tierney then becomes a main actor in the 6th season and slowly moves up the credit order (as other actors leave) to become top credited in the first half of season 16 (until she leaves) and the central character of the series for several seasons leading up to that.

** Dr. Doug Ross (played by [[George Clooney]]) also.

* Alex Keaton of ''[[Family Ties]]''. The [[Dom Com]] was designed as a star vehicle for Meredith Baxter-Birney, formerly one of the daughters on the drama series ''Family''. However, Michael J. Fox's performance, as the over-the-top Republican [[Foil]] to his former hippie parents, won over the audience such that most of the plots soon centered around him.

* ''[[Farscape]]'''s Chiana was originally planned as a one-episode character - {{spoiler|she is injured in her first episode when a Pulse Pistol blast skims her arm, but the writers originally envisioned the shot killing her}}. Not long after, she became a cast regular.

* While River Tam appears in every episode of ''[[Firefly]]'', she usually plays a fairly small role, but is still considered ''the'' main character by many of the shows' fans. It is partially helped by the fact that she gets ''three'' of the fourteen episodes of the series focusing on her, plays a major role in two more, and is one of the two main characters in [[The Movie|the Big Damn Movie]].

** Point of fact: While River did appear in every episode, she often got far fewer lines then the other characters and in the case of ''Our Mrs Reynolds'' none at all. And she is STILL considered the main female character.

** His planned death was actually rewritten to keep him alive due to this.

* Murray Hewitt in ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]''.

** And then there's Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper -- she's Don's barely there daughter in season one, but as the actress has gotten older and proven her chops, she has gotten more and more screentime and better and better storylines. (Bobby continues to barely exist.)

* An example of a successful [[Retool]] which made an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] into a [[Breakout Character]]: The original premise for ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' had Napoleon Solo working alone, with Ilya Kuryakin intended to be only a minor recurring character. Kuryakin struck such a chord with the show's fans, however, that he was raised to one of the leads.

** At least Klinger stopped wearing dresses.

** Sidney Freedman was almost meant for a one-shot appearance, but was brought back on several occasions.

* Old Gregg from ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' is one of their best known characters, and one of the most often imitated. He only has probably about a page's worth of dialogue, but more than a few fans of the show could recite the entirety of it.

** Don't forget the Hitcher either, despite the fact he's a psychopath who would rape Howard behind the counter if he were female.

** During the first season of ''Mission: Impossible'', Martin Landau, though crucial to virtually every episode, was not listed as a regular cast character but rather noted at the end of the cast listing as a "Special Guest Star", as if he was a last minute write-in. After the first season, when Steven Hill left as the team leader to be replaced by Peter Graves as Mr. Phelps, Landau became an official cast member.

* Exidor on ''[[Mork and Mindy]]''. He started out as the leader of the cult "Friends Of Venus" (the other members of which were figments of his imagination) in the episode "Mork Runs Away". By the end of that episode it was clear the audience loved him almost as much as they loved Mork. He returned in the episode "Mork The Gullible" to rapturous applause, and after that he became a recurring character who was greeted by the audience with cheers throughout all four seasons. Interesting side note: His first two appearances concluded with him being disappointed with Mork for his lack of belief in Exidor's "religions". They eventually ended up as close friends ([[Ho Yay|sometimes they seemed]] '''[[Ho Yay|very]]''' [[Ho Yay|close]]).

* In the first season of ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', everyone thought Frank Oz's main character would be Fozzie Bear. Miss Piggy was a supporting character, so far down the list she didn't even have a consistant performer (Richard Hunt performed her for half the episodes she appeared in). Then Oz was operating her when she was supposed to slap Kermit, and decided to go for a karate chop instead, and something clicked. Oz would later describe her as his only [[Rounded Character|three-dimensional character]], saying [[Flat Character|Fozzie had two dimensions, and Animal zero]].

** Need we mention those old hecklers, [[Statler and Waldorf]]?

* From ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'''s [[Manos: The Hands of Fate|worst movie]] came its most enduring guest character -- Torgo, the stammering, swollen-kneed, scruffy-bearded, ratty-clothed, thoroughly creepy yet ineffectual henchman to The Master. Not only does he make numerous appearances and cameos in the host segments over the next couple seasons, he's even given an epic fate as he becomes Torgo the White.

* April Tuna, of ''[[Popular]]''. The sexually aggressive nerd was the weirdest and often best part of the show.

* Bulk and Skull from ''[[Power Rangers]]''. While present in numerous episodes as the comedy relief, on rare occasions they showed a noble side. [[Power Rangers in Space|Most notably and successfully]], they led the entire town of Angel Grove in an [[I Am Spartacus]], presenting themselves as Power Rangers.

** Don't forget about Tommy Oliver, [[Fan Nickname|Jeebus]] himself. ''[[Power Rangers]]'' wasn't cool until he showed up, he was made into the star, and they brought him back for both the tenth anniversary [[Reunion Show]] and an entire encore season. He might be the franchise's original [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]].

*** And he wasn't even a Red Ranger to begin with.

* [[Super Sentai]] has many popular characters, but in recent years, Marika "Jasmine" Reimon from [[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger]] is deeply loved by the fandom. One of most beautiful and snarky Sentai heroes in recent years, she's proved to be very popular.

** Rapidly chasing the title is Gosei Knight, the [[Sixth Ranger]] from [[Tensou Sentai Goseiger]], simply because of [[Katsuyuki Konishi|his]] [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|seiyuu]]. Per that, his inclusion is sometimes noted as a time when Goseiger's quality increases.

** And of course, ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' has one darkhorse, [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Luka Millfy]], as if succeeding Jasmine in darkhorse department. She has a really antiheroic attitude for a girl, atypical of even the most snarkiest Sentai girl ever, as well as her looks and her tough girl attitude, it helps a lot. <ref>We'd like to call Captain Marvelous another darkhorse, but he's the main character, so he's just a really shiny awesome horse, not a darkhorse</ref>

** Female blue rangers are usually really well-received. [[Choujuu Sentai Liveman|Megumi Misaki]], [[Choujin Sentai Jetman|Ako Hayasaka]] and [[Mahou Sentai Magiranger|Urara Ozu]] receive quite a lot of warm welcome from the fans. However, the one who's truly the female blue ranger [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of epic proportions would be [[Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger|Nanami Nono]] who combines her gorgeous look, cheery personality and some [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] that makes her near-guaranteed that she'd be one of the favorite blue rangers ever amongst fans (although sometimes there are some men that could surpass her at times). Hell, Nanami herself appeared in not just one, but TWO (or three) anniversary-dedicated episodes ([[Go Go Sentai Boukenger|Boukenger vs Super Sentai]] or ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' during the Hurricaneger tribute episode)

* The mild-mannered ventriloquist Chuck and his absolute [[Jerkass]] dummy Bob on ''[[Soap]]''. Chuck was originally intended to be guilty of killing his brother Peter (the murder mystery around which the first season was based). But Chuck and Bob became so popular the producers realized they couldn't send the characters to jail/mental hospital. So they completely [[Retool|retooled]] the ending of the season, changed the murderer to someone else, and Bob got to live out the remainder of the series being a hilariously offensive jerk to everyone in sight.

* Vala Mal Doran of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' was initially intended to be only a one-shot character for one episode in the middle of season eight, but had such a strong fan reaction that she earned a recurring role in season nine and a regular role in season ten.

*** And then, in 200, after ''ten seasons'', [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|he finally gets to go through the gate!]]

** Similarly, Siler, the much-beleaguered gate technician, has gained quite a following from fans who like to see him get electrocuted, knocked out, and tossed back by an explosion every few episodes.

** The best example from ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' would probably be recurring Andorian character Shran, who, had there been a 5th season, would have been promoted to main character status due largely to his popularity. It helped that he was played by Trek Veteran actor Jeffrey Combs.

** Another [[Star Trek: Enterprise]] example is Charles "Trip" Tucker III - so much so that when {{spoiler|his character dies in the [[Series Finale]] "These Are the Voyages"}}, it was [[Retcon|retconned]] in the [[Expanded Universe]] novel, "The Good That Men Do".

* This might be the reason for Bobby's longevity on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''.

** Castiel was only supposed to appear in six episodes in Season 4, but he made such a good impression on the fans that they've made him a regular for Season 5. The fact that he's extremely attractive probably doesn't do his popularity any harm, either. The actor that plays him, [[Misha Collins]], got his own [[Day in The Limelight]] with the Season 4 episode "The Rapture", though not playing Castiel in most of it.

** Towards the end a lot of people were most invested in Mary, largely due to Sarah Bolger's strong performance. The fact that Mary wasn't villainized (as she often is in stories about Queen Elizabeth) also helped.

* To a much, much lesser extent of the trope, "Pick Boy" of ''U-Pick Live'', one of [[Nickelodeon]]'s afternoon in-between-shows programs. Pick Boy is a egotistical yet naive "[[Superhero]]", whose <s> main job</s> [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|super-power]] is to "pick" people from the studio audience to participate in games. Pick Boy became a prominent character, and target of many polls at [http://www.nick.com nick.com], such as "What kind of hairstyle should Pick Boy have?" Despite his popularity, Pick Boy was kicked-off the show when he was voted the most in a poll asking "Who should be kicked off from the show forever?", but was brought back next season. Even after ''U-pick Live'' ended over two years ago, his character is constantly used, and has made many appearances in ads, in the 2006 and 2007 [[Award Show|Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards]], and even the show that succeeded ''U-pick Live'', ''Me TV''.

** Made even better by the fact that Pick Boy is going to appear during the Rush Zone Premiere Movie Event.

* In [[Veronica Mars]], Logan Echolls was supposed to have a much smaller role than he did, but proved to be the most popular character on the show and thus his role was increased.

* Spike and Lou seemed to serve this role through the first two seasons of ''Flashpoint'' as we really don't see anything of their personal lives and they are never the focus of an episode. This changed in the series 3 premiere when Lou {{spoiler|sadly dies}} and Spike has to {{spoiler|deal with the aftermath}}. Perhaps this gave the writers a chance to see that Sergio Di Zio can do angst just as well as he can do goofy and snarky, because it seemed like Spike got a whole lot more to work with, story-wise, after this.

 

{{reflist}}