Ensemble Darkhorse/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

They don't always take the lead on TV, but the fans [[Ensemble Darkhorse|love them anyway]].

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** Reportedly, both Tara and Joyce (Buffy's mom) were {{spoiler|supposed to die well before they did, but the writers kept putting it off because they were liked by the fans. Tara's death in particular is a cause of much [[Fan Disillusionment]] with the series}}. Oz, a character originally slated to die in the second season, managed to avoid death altogether because of fan support.

** 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]]''.

** 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.

** Renee Walker has become one too. Originally introduced in season seven as a foil and [[Morality Pet]] for Jack, she's gone on to become a ''bona fide'' [[Badass]] [[Knight in Sour Armour]], and one of the few people on the show capable of out ''Jack Bauering Jack Bauer''. It's little wonder her nickname in fan circles is "[[Fan Nickname|Jill Bauer]]".

* 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.

** 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. ''

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

** More of a fandom thing than anything else but D'Eartha (the seer) was only on for ten episodes and yet nearly everyone loved her. Mostly because she was always snarky, awesome and [[Evil Is Sexy|deliciously evil]] but partly because she had more chemistry with Cole AND the [[Les Yay|sisters]] than any of the proper pairings were supposed to have.

* Kristen Kreuk (known best for her role as Lana in ''Smallville'') makes a brief guest appearance as "Hannah" in Series 3 of ''[[Chuck]]'' as a potential romantic interest for the main character, altering the dynamic of his will-they/won't-they relationship with Sarah Walker {{spoiler|They do.}}. Her characterization ended up as being a much more likable, well-rounded, and interesting person than Sarah {{spoiler|but Chuck still dumps Hannah.}}

** It wasn't that she was more well rounded than Sarah, who was a well rounded character in her own right. It's more that she was cute and funny and had some chemistry with Chuck. However seeing as the majority of the shows fans are Sarah/Chuck fans, and the series up until that point had built up the relationship between them, the switch would not have gone down well.

*** Though they kind of got to have their cake and eat it too, as he's still the first major civilian character to learn about Chuck being a spy, and gets to help him quite a few times.

* Precious Little in ''[[Come Fly With Me]]'', A British Mockumentory, quickly became the most popular character due to her catchphrase and whacky attempts to get out of working (Example: sawing the pipes so the plumber would have to repair them.) To go shopping or some other activity.

** Abed takes the [[The Big Bang Theory|Sheldon]] approach.

** Annie is the viewer crush and romantic darkhorse, quite literally, as she gets in the way of the Britta/Jeff and Jeff/Slater ships in the finale. {{spoiler|She wins. For now at least}}.

* [[Stephen Colbert]] became this while he was on [[The Daily Show]], proving so popular that he was given [[The Colbert Report|his own spinoff]]

* [[Jensen Ackles|Alec]] on [[Dark Angel]] was very popular with fans, [[Mr. Fanservice|particularly female ones]], who often watched more for Alec character development than for the Familiars vs. Transgenics storyline.

* Josephine "Joey" Potter in ''Dawson's Creek'': as the series title suggests the series was meant to primarily revolve around main character Dawson plus his fellow group of friends but it didn't take long for Joey to replace him as the standout character - by the later seasons Joey would have an entire episode dedicated to her character, and finally culminating with her narrating the opening sequence of the final season. Joey was also the only character to feature in every single episode during the show's run.

** Given that her character is widely disliked by the fandom, Joey is not so much this trope but rather a [[Creator's Pet]] crossed with a [[Canon Sue]]. The true [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of Dawson's Creek would actually be Pacey Whitter, who was merely supposed to be Dawson's wise-cracking best friend but proved so popular that more storylines were built for him, culminating in him getting the girl at the end of the series over Dawson.

*** Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart became ''[[The Brigadier|Brigadier]]'' Lethbridge-Stewart, companion at one time or another to ''every single Doctor in the Classic Series'', longest-running companion in the show's history, even showing up on ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]''.

** River Song quickly gained in popularity in the late Tenth Doctor's venture despite appearing in just one two-parter, "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead". Cue rejoicing when she was revealed as a future recurring character in Series 5.

*** After seeing the episode ''Blink'', you'll actually hesitate to blink while looking at a statue...

** Jeff has appeared in one episode, and been mentioned in another, yet somehow has quite a large fanbase.

** 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.

* On ''[[Dollhouse]]'', there's Sierra, Topher and ''especially'' Victor.

** Not to mention Bennett, even though she only appeared for three episodes. (Well, she is played by [[Summer Glau]], duh!)

*** Have you seen the fandom for Adelle DeWitt? Half of the fandom can't seem to decide whether they want to do her or be her. [[Screw Yourself|Or both, which is a bit more possible in this show's setting than others...]].

** 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.

** Similarly, Scorpius was just supposed to be a one-episode villain: however, impressed by the results, the producers decided to make him the [[Big Bad]] for the show- and actually made it work for two seasons without [[Villain Decay]] setting in!

** 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]]''.

* Chuck Bass on "[[Gossip Girl]]" could be the poster boy for this trope. In the books that the show is based off of, the character is a sociopathic, bisexual rapist who no one likes. On the show he was originally supposed to be a supporting character appearing only a few times during the first season, and started off his run on the show by attempting to rape ''two'' out of three female leads in the pilot episode. It only took a few episodes for him to be bumped up to main character, and he's now been transformed into the Tortured Anti-Hero and gained a rabid following among fans. The creator of the show admitted to redirecting the focus towards the relationship between Chuck and one of the female leads (the one he didn't try to rape), stating "we know the Chuck and Blair thing works for people." As 'Chair' (Chuck and Blair) he is now one half of the show's central relationship (the producers of the show have called Chuck and Blair the king and queen of ''[[Gossip Girl]]''.)

* Originally intended to protest against government requirements for "Identifiable Canadian Content" on ''[[SCTV]]'', [[Dave Thomas]] and [[Rick Moranis]] came up with Bob and Doug McKenzie, two half-wit brothers who talk about various things on ''The Great White North'', while they drink beer. However, despite the McKenzie Bros. being incredibly stereotypical characters, this all worked too well and made them really popular with the audience. There was even [[Strange Brew|a movie]] that was released after the show ended.

** Addison was so popular that she ended up getting her own show, despite originally intended to be a 5-episode appearance.

* Perhaps the living definition of this trope is Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli, who went from a minor sub-character (he has only a few lines in the pilot of ''[[Happy Days]]''), to a major part of most episodes, then to a co-headliner, [[Breakout Character|and finally to the main star of the show]] once Ron Howard left the series.

** For that matter, what about Hiro himself? He was added as an afterthought when the creator's wife pointed out that no character created so far actually liked having powers, and it's partly this very love of being superpowered that has made him easily one of the most (if not ''the'' most) popular characters.

** Claude and Sylar don't just have fans--they each have a legion of [[Fan Girl|Fan Girls]], and some of them overlap into each group. Anyone who's watched volume five can easily see that Sylar has become the main star of the show.

** The Bennet family's son Lyle and dog Mr. Muggles also qualifies, and has become more of an in-fandom [[Memetic Mutation|meme]].

* Archie Kennedy, in the A&E ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' adaptations. He was originally intended only to appear in the first episode, but worked so well as a more extroverted foil to the withdrawn protagonist that he appeared in five out of the first six TV movies. The fact that he's [[The Woobie]], and that he and Horatio are [[Moe Couplet|very cute]] [[Ho Yay|together]] probably helps his popularity with the fanbase.

** His cause probably wasn't hurt by the fact the first four movies were based off the book Midshipman Hornblower, set before Hornblower's canon sidekick Lt Bush turns up. Indeed the fifth and sixth movies have both characters as very different styles of companion for Hornblower before {{spoiler|Kennedy dies and Bush takes over for the rest of the series, as fits the books.}}

* [[How I Met Your Mother]] has Barney Stinson, who is arguably the reason for the show's success. His character even got two spin-off books, and is the feature of many commercials. To people not familiar with the show, Barney is often believed to be the main character.

** Wendy was a mostly semi-recurring [[Mister Exposition]] character, who gained enough popularity to start being shipped with the main characters. Wendy was [[Brother Chuck|Brother Chucked]] at the end of Season 2, roughly the same time Gibby started to be used more frequently.

** Gibby started to become more involved in the jokes and storylines, and in Season 4 became a full part of the main cast.

** Three, one of which is part of a larger series.

* Crown Prince Jack Benjamin on ''[[Kings]]''. When your daddy's played by Ian McShane, and you're ''still'' stealing scenes, it's safe to say the fans are going to adore you. It helps that Sebastian Stan is fairly well known for his role on ''Gossip Girl'' and is really rather attractive.

* An almost literal example with Secretariat on [[The Late Late Show]] with [[Craig Ferguson]]. Initially just stock footage of some goofballs gadding about in a horse suit, the pantomime horse soon began to show up in the studio as a running gag and proved extremely popular with audiences, to the point where they've even had "Team Secretariat" T-shirts made and a whole sketch ("Secretariat in New York") was created around the character.

* Papa Lazarou only appears four times over the entirety of ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'''s run (including [[The Movie]]), and yet he's probably the show's most discussed, quoted, and beloved character.

* ''[[Leverage]]'' has Massachusetts State Police detective Patrick Bonanno. He made a few appearances in season 2, most importantly serving as the impetus for the events of the season 2 finale. The writers were really surprised at how happy viewers were to see him appear in "The Jailhouse Job," the season 3 premiere.

** It could also be argued that Hardison's rival hacker "Chaos" is an ensemble darkhorse; he is the only one to re-appear from "The Two Live Crew Job" (as of s3), and the fans were glad to see him again. This is particularly ironic when considering that he is played by ''[[Creator's Pet|Wil Wheaton]]''.

** Despite his placement on the far end of the [[Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness]], Martin Keamy enjoyed a substantial following for his short guest appearance due to both Kevin Durand's fabulous performance and for being one of the few ''[[Lost]]'' villains to be out and out evil.

** There's also Richard Alpert.

** And, of course, Libby. {{spoiler|And then she got shot by Michael without ever getting an episode focused on her.}}

* Joan Holloway on ''[[Mad Men]]''. When most non-watchers think of the show, they'll probably remember her first, though she's not the main focus of the show (what with it called ''Mad '''Men''''' and all...)

** 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.)

** At least Klinger stopped wearing dresses.

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

** Colonel Flagg was a very popular and memorable character despite appearing in only 7 episodes.

* 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]]?

** And let's not forget [[The Toblerone|Dablone]], the ''only'' enjoyable character on [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|MST3K]] subject ''Escape 2000''.

** [[Warrior of the Lost World|MEGAWEAPON!!]]

** Who dares deny the beer-swilling badassery that is Rowsdower?!

* Summer Roberts and Julie Cooper were not originally supposed to be main characters in ''[[The OC]]'', and their actors were listed as guest stars - even though Rachel Bilson (Summer) was in every episode of the first season, and Melinda Clarke (Julie) was only absent a couple of times. Taylor Townsend might be an even more striking example as she was introduced as a mere minor villain, but ended up not only surving her arc (and quickly switching over to the side of good) but becoming a main character at the beginning of the following season, and then romantic interest to the main character.

* Andy Bernard of ''[[The Office]]''. Notably, he's the only character to survive the merger from Stamford (other than Jim, of course) and is easily the most prominent character on the show, other than the main four, over all the people who've been there since season 1 (and even [[Out of Focus|Ryan]]).

** Ed Helms even got featured in the opening credits starting in Season 6.

* Super Hans in ''[[Peep Show]]'', Jeremy's techno nutter mate. He's a self centered fantasist but his often hilarious drug addiction and plain coolness have endeared him to many fans (He has a snake, for crying out loud).

* 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.

** Almost every season of Power Rangers has one, usually the [[Sixth Ranger]] but there are exceptions. First it was Tommy, but once Tommy became the White Ranger and promoted to team leader he still remained popular with the audience.

** [[Power Rangers SPD]] had Bridge, the Green Ranger. When a 15th anniversary reunion show was planned he was given an offscreen promotion to Red Ranger (already having the Mystic Force Green Ranger in play) simply to justify his inclusion.

* [[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.

** There were a lot of darkhorses in several other series though. Back in ''[[Dai Sentai Goggle Five]]'', the darkhorse seems to go to either Kanpei Kuroda/Goggle Black (for having a lot of [[Badass]] stunts and being played by Junichi Haruta), and Miki Momozono/Goggle Pink (probably due to her [[Plucky Girl]]-ness), and at ''[[Kagaku Sentai Dynaman]]'', the Black-Pink combination (Ryuu Hoshikawa/Dyna Black and Rei Tachibana/Dyna Pink) become the darkhorses as well (due to, again, Hoshikawa being played by Junichi Haruta, and Rei being played by Sayoko Hagiwara, both of them still resume acting afterwards). At ''[[Choudenshi Bioman]]'', it's not the heroes who's the darkhorse, but the villain Bio Hunter Silva who attains this status, despite his short screentime, he instilled fear to many audience with the possibility of how [[Anyone Can Die|any of the Bioman can die by him]], and his reappearance in ''Super Hero Taisen'' is received very warmly. And then, jumping on to ''[[Choushinsei Flashman]]'', Sara/Yellow Flash also gains a lot of attention due to her borderline [[Ms. Fanservice]] outfit and having a lot of drama to go at the end of the series {{spoiler|being revealed as Tokimura's daughter}}. And later on, in ''[[Ninja Sentai Kakuranger]]'', Tsuruhime/Ninja White is the one to attain this status, guaranteeing her to appear in many 'Top heroine list', and even could be attaining top spot against modern day heroines, probably due to her being the first technical female leader of the team.

** And of course, Tommy wouldn't be so popular if [[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Burai/Dragon Ranger]] wasn't so popular to begin with. He doesn't appear in the opening at all, yet he attains so much popularity for being a conflicted [[Badass]] and having strong drama with his brother Geki/Tyranno Ranger that he starts to become the [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] and when he died, fans protested to bring him back (without much success).

** In terms of season, [[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]] is hugely popular. While some may argue it has the deck unfairly stacked in its favor (it was the replacement 18th season of [[Power Rangers]] to many fans), it attracted much love. The fans who came from [[Power Rangers]] stuck with Super Sentai because of its well told stories, hamminess, and for not being afraid to break the standard Sentai mold.

* Tim Gunn on ''[[Project Runway]]''. Many fans maintain that he is 80% of the reason for watching the show.

* Jimmy Simpson became a fan favorite during his brief appearances as Inspector Mary Lightly on [[Psych]].

* CJ on ''Remember WENN'' was originally just the guy in the booth. By Season 3 he got an least one line per episode and was shown to harbor an unrequited crush on Betty.

* Carlton the Doorman on ''Rhoda'' was considered such a miniscule off-screen character that an executive producer provided his voice. The character's popularity propelled that producer -- Lorenzo Music -- into a new career of numerous voice acing roles, including [[Garfield|one particular fat cat]].

* Hooch is ''[[Scrubs]]''' most popular side-character. At first, he was just a background surgeon used to punctuate a joke about J.D. assuming "Hooch" was the name of a black guy in "Turner & Hooch" (for the record, it's the name of the dog in the Tom Hanks movie ''Turner and Hooch''). Towards the end of that episode, as he got more annoyed at people calling him "Hooch", he started displaying a charmingly [[Ax Crazy]] personality as he yelled at them to stop, prompting characters to say the sort-of [[Catch Phrase]] "Hooch is crazy!" Thanks to this, he became loved by many fans, especially for his many quotables, despite being in only four season four episodes. Because of this positive response, creator Bill Lawrence made sure to fit him into the season seven premiere. Unlike other shows, Scrubs is pretty good at making sure they don't overuse an Ensemble Darkhorse.

** Actually, they just make sure to use them well: The Janitor was originally not intended to have anywhere NEAR the amount of screentime he gets. [[Almighty Janitor|But hey...]]

** Series 3 & 4 has Emily, J.J., Naomi, and Katie for some.

** Series 5 has Alo & Rich.

** Lionel Luthor was originally supposed to appear in a few episodes in Season 1, but the fanbase couldn't get enough of the Magnificent You-Know-What, and he was made both a regular and the [[Big Bad]] in subsequent seasons.

* 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.

*** Sorry, not true. Whilst the fans did have a name for him, the Chucknician, Chuck gained his name in canon by actor Torri Higginson accidentally referring to actor Chuck Campbell by his name during a take which the producers decided to use. At least that's what Chuck Campbell said whilst on stage at a convention.

** Todd the Wraith is also up there in fan appreciation, probably due to being the only Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy with a sense of humor and utterly stealing any scene he's in. Originally just a random Wraith that cooperated with Sheppard to escape Genii confinement, he went on to aid Atlantis a few times against the Asurans and became a recurring character.

*** Andrew Robinson was even offered a promotion to main cast member (with his name in the opening titles) for the final season, but declined.

** Morn is an even better example. He began as an extra who could be seen doing nothing at Quark's Bar. He never even talked. But he became so popular that not only did the character get mentioned constantly (usually said to be [[Informed Attribute|a huge talker]]) and even got an entire episode dedicated to him, "Who Mourns for Morn?"

** Also Seven of Nine. Which is impressive, since at first [[Stripperiffic|glance]], she looks like [[Ms. Fanservice]] incarnate -- but lucky for her character, Jeri Ryan can ''[[Hidden Depths|act]]''.

** Worf is probably the earliest case in the franchise. The character was an afterthought, not even appearing in the original series [[Universe Bible|bible]]. Michael Dorn was cast in the pilot for what was conceived as a recurring role as Worf, but he played the part so well that he was immediately, before the show even aired, bumped up to regular status. Dorn played the character for 11 seasons (7 of ''TNG'' and 4 of ''Deep Space Nine'') and 4 films, becoming, after Captain Picard, arguably the most recognizable character in the modern incarnation of Trek.

** Spock had an even smaller role in the original pilot, "The Cage", but ended up being the only character to survive the recasting.

*** And the [[Sour Supporter|grumpy]], compassionate Dr. [[The McCoy|McCoy]], played by the charismatic DeForest Kelley, found himself a spot in fans' hearts as well, providing the [[The McCoy|third aspect]] of the [[Power Trio]] and earning himself a [[Promotion to Opening Titles]] in the second season.

** Death. Despite his very limited appearances, he has very devoted fans. Might have something to do with his promise to [[Badass|reap God]].

** To some extent, Dean can be considered this as well. Although he was always a major part of the show, the first two seasons have him seemingly only loosely tied to the mytharc and the hero of the story seems to be Sam. Then instead of Sam, the revenge driven brother, killing the YED, Dean does it. He moves from being mainly Sam's protector to having his own solid position in the mytharc by season 4, with motivations that are much more sympathetic than his brother's.

** Hendricksen and Gordon Walker both had quite a small number of appearances despite being quite popular.

* A first-season ''[[Taxi]]'' episode had Latka [[Citizenship Marriage|marrying a call girl]] so he could remain in the US. The "minister" who presided over the ceremony, Reverend Jim Ignatowski, proved such a hit that he became a cast regular the following season.

* Jamie in [[The Thick of It]] has only been in three episodes, but is one of the most popular characters.

* [[Top Gear]]'s The Stig, originally a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] of the first Stig and only around to drive the cars around the track, became a surprisingly popular character, to the point where he participated in some of the other stunts [[Top Gear]] did (all while wearing his trademark helmet and jumpsuit).

* In ''[[True Blood]]'', [[Camp Gay]] character Lafayette Reynolds was supposed {{spoiler|to get killed at the first season ending. Up to season 3, he's still alive because fandom liked him toomuch}}.

* Anne Boleyn, and arguably Thomas Cromwell, in ''[[The Tudors]]''. In nearly every single telling of what happened during the reign of Henry VIII, Cromwell is depicted as a heartless, evil villain. James Frain's Cromwell however is a well-liked character among the fans, because of the actor's ability to give him heart and soul. Anne Boleyn is also often depicted as a villain, and in the beginning of the series most fans thought she was quite the bitch. Though as the series progressed she became one of the most popular characters in the entire show and a lot of fans considered abandoning the show after Natalie Dormer's departure.

** 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.

** 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.

**** {{spoiler|Another point they could be making with Omar's death: Legends about people like Omar will always carry on long after their deaths. Despite Omar being gunned down by a kid, despite the pathologist being so uncaring that he even puts Omar in the wrong body bag, the final time Omar is mentioned in the series is in the finale: a group of kids exchange different versions of how they'd heard Omar died, each story far grander than what really happened.}}

* WWE frequently has problems [[Heel Face Turn|turning popular heels]] due to their expectation that the wrestler in question then act like a "proper" face, which usually means [[Badass Decay|the removal of the personality traits]] which made them popular in the first place.

** As of the September/October 2010 they seem to be really coming along with this... In his first ever one on one match with [[Chris Jericho]], the now top-face in the company [[Randy Orton]] shows that he is just as heelish as ever, skull punting Jericho into unconciousness. Hell the week before he even had a conversation with [[Sheamus]] in which he said "I am not an honourable man. All those people I've punted? Some deserved it, some didn't. But I would RKO my own grandmother to keep this title."

* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' is one of the purest examples of an [[Ensemble Cast]], being that [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|no one character was ever featured over the others]] throughout its run and everyone got a good chance to shine. Still, ask any Brit old enough to know to quickly name one of the lads, and nine times out of ten they’ll say "Vyvyan" first.

** Then again, when you look at the pilot, Vyv is the last lad to be introduced and the one given the [[Dynamic Entry|most dramatic entrance,]] indicating that the creators probably figured he’d attain this status anyway.

* ''[[Sherlock]]'' fans love them some Mycroft Holmes. Oh, yes, they do. (It doesn't hurt that Mycroft is played by [[Mark Gatiss]]...)

* 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.

 

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