Shows where a secondary character has become more popular than the Star???

I much preferred Kirstie Alley and her character. "Cheers" really took off for me when they got rid of the dull Sam/Diane storyline (and Diane's whiny voice:mad:) and started to develop the other characters.




Series one was essentially about Gavin and Stacey, series 2 more about Smiffy and Nessa and, I thought, series 3 (coming out of the brilliant Christmas episode) expanded and included a little more of the other characters - as in Pete and Dawn's 'wedding'.
 
Now this might sound stupid and may well be , but Friends

It seemed to change every series, I think it started to promote Monica, but ended up for Rachel, but all along my favourite was Joey.

Contentious I know, would be nice to hear other views :)
 
West Wing A show originally written around Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) but after the pilot and resulting focus group it became clear it was better to have President Bartlet as the main character.
 
I agree, she was brilliant, but only in the earlier eps. Later on, she fell prey to the 'Joey' syndrome of being made just too wacky to be beleivable any more.
 
Frasier- I would say Niles certainly had the majority of the best lines.
Edit- just saw another poster said the same. I think all the cast had some cracking one liners. A great ensemble cast.

I heard that Eddie the Jack Russell was more popular than Frasier and got the most fan mail!

I didn't have to go into work til a bit later today and saw the first ever ep of Frasier again on Channel 4. It was SO good compared to the last few series! :D

eg: Daphne was being interviewed by Frasier and Martin as Martin's "physical therapist". She has already made an unfavourable impression on Frasier with her 'kooky' psychic antics. She then familiarises herself with her terrestrial surroundings.

(From memory) Daphne (pointing at dog):" ...And who is this?"

Frasier (with disdain and Malice, looking at pooch stretched out comfortably, snoozing and shedding hairs on his sofa): "That...", he growls, " is Eddie."

Martin: "I call him 'Eddie Spaghetti'."

Daphne: "Why? Because he likes pasta?"

Martin: "No.... because he has worms!!" :D:D
 
I find that the stars who have an 'and...' in front of them during the opening credits/titles will usually steal the show;

These include, I believe;

Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock.

George Alexander in Seinfeld.

Jeffery Tambor in Arrested Development.

Martin Sheen in The West Wing.
 
NYPD Blue - main star David Caruso got too big for his boots and was rightly overtaken by the much more interesting Andy Sipowicz character (Denis Franz) after the first series.
 
Star Trek Voyager was obviously supposed to be about Janeway.

By the end - a large number of episodes focused on the relationship between Seven of Nine and The Doctor.
 
Desmond and Sayid were voted most popular in S5, I believe.

On the Frasier front, Niles wins it by a country mile, but an honourable mention must go to Maris, who didn't actually exist.
 
Not a sitcom, but Carol Vorderman on Countdown seemed to be making the programme her own in her later days having started out by only seen doing the sums.
 
According to legend, Fox's character Jack was originally supposed to die in the first episode, which would have made him a minor character for the series, so this was an example of the character taking over before the show was even broadcast.
 
Lost.
Matthew Fox was the lead and billed as the star and big name of the show, but it is generally thought that Josh Holloway was the breakout star of the show.

HIs face and image as Sawyer was used more times, after the first season, to promote Lost than any other character, and bosses admitted Sawyer was untouchable and if Josh ever quit it would be a disaster for them.

In the second season of Lost they held back a Sawyer episode, which was meant to be the first of the second season, so it he didn't over shadow Jack as lead even then.

Sawyer was voted the worst character and wanted killed off by viewers, when the bosses took a poll during the beginning of the first season, by the end of it, Sawyer was included in the most popular characters of the decade.

I know polls don't mean much these days but that was quite a big one.
 
Tony Hancock became convinced that Sid James - who was basically his feed - was more popular than he was and eventually had James ousted from his show.Hancock's career went downhill subsequently (he also fell out with his writers) and ended up in Australia where he died.
 
Family Ties: created as a starring show for Meredith Baxter, but soon became centered around the hitherto little known Michael J Fox
 
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