Does Shatner now hold the record?

[The Borgified Corpse]

I was thinking about actors that have played regulars on multiple TV shows over the years. With many TV actors, it seems difficult to get more than a couple series under their belt without many of them being spin-offs where the reprise their established characters.

So it seems all the more remarkable that William Shatner has now been a regular on 5 different TV shows:
1. Of course, he started as Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek.
2. Next he played the title role on the cop drama T.J. Hooker.
3. He hosted the non-fiction series Rescue 911 for several years.
4. In the 2000s, he reinvented himself as comically senile attorney Denny Crane on Boston Legal.
5. Now he's on the CBS sitcom Shit My Dad Says.
Maybe he's even up to 6 now, since he also did the reality hoax series Invasion Iowa.

That's a hell of a lot of regular TV work. So then who comes 2nd?

My guess would be Enrico Colantoni.
1. He was Gloria's ex-husband on the short-lived NBC sitcom Hope & Gloria.
2. He played the photographer Elliott on Just Shoot Me.
3. He spent 3 years as Veronica's father, private investigator Keith Mars on Veronica Mars.
4. Now he's on the CBS cop series Flashpoint.

Who else has piled up such an impressive TV resume?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Shatner was also the lead in a one-season show in the 70s called Barbary Coast, plus he had a regular part in TekWar and he was the narrator in A Twist in the Tale.

 

[Aragorn]

Hasn't Robert Urich starred in the most TV shows? Mainly because most of them never saw a second season.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Who else has piled up such an impressive TV resume?

UK television will skew things wildly, as their shows run for only a year or two in most cases.

Doctor Who actor Peter Davison, for instance, starred in a lead role in All Creatures Great and Small, Sink or Swim, Doctor Who, A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, At Home with the Braithwaites, Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, The Last Detective, and Fear, Stress, and Anger.

In American television, Ted Danson has had a pretty varied career as a lead. Cheers and Becker both ran for a long time, but he's had several one-season wonders since then.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

UK television will skew things wildly, as their shows run for only a year or two in most cases.

Good point. Maybe I should have begun the thread by qualifying "American TV."

In American television, Ted Danson has had a pretty varied career as a lead. Cheers and Becker both ran for a long time, but he's had several one-season wonders since then.

In that same camp, Kelsey Grammer played Frasier Crane for 20 years-- 9 on Cheers & 11 on Frasier. After that, he starred on 2 short-lived sitcoms-- Back to You & Hank. And in between Frasier & Back to You, he was a regular cast member (though not a particularly prominent one) on The Sketch Show.

 

[bigdaddy]

Denny Crane is a spinoff in a way, but that's his best work.

And what no Betty White?!?! She has done tons in regular characters and recurring.

 

[Owain Taggart]

If we're looking at hours in front of the camera, then the record goes to Regis Philbin according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and he's been beating his own record each year. I'm not sure however, if it's purely marketing.

 

[Data Holmes]

Shatner was also the lead in a one-season show in the 70s called Barbary Coast, plus he had a regular part in TekWar and he was the narrator in A Twist in the Tale.

Everyone forgets about TekWar. Good catch.

 

[Neroon]

And don't forget his recurring appearance as The Big, Giant Head in "3rd Rock From the Sun".

 

[barnaclelapse]

Who else has piled up such an impressive TV resume?

UK television will skew things wildly, as their shows run for only a year or two in most cases.

Doctor Who actor Peter Davison, for instance, starred in a lead role in All Creatures Great and Small, Sink or Swim, Doctor Who, A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, At Home with the Braithwaites, Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, The Last Detective, and Fear, Stress, and Anger.

In American television, Ted Danson has had a pretty varied career as a lead. Cheers and Becker both ran for a long time, but he's had several one-season wonders since then.

Although he has since found success appearing on three different shows (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Damages and Bored to Death). His career has been pretty consistently successful for almost thirty years now.

 

[Christopher]

The question is which actor has been a regular cast member in the most TV series, not who has the most screen time. In that respect, Brian Keith has Shatner beat easily, though many of the following series were very short-lived:

Crusader
The Westerner
Family Affair
The Brian Keith Show
The Zoo Gang
Archer
Centennial (miniseries)
Hardcastle and McCormick
Pursuit of Happiness
Heartland
Walter & Emily

(Also worth noting that Keith was the lead actor in every one of those except Centennial and Pursuit of Happiness.)

I'm sure there are others (for instance, Bill Bixby was a regular in five series), but Keith's got the longest list I've found so far.

And of course, that's only in live action. If we threw in animation, there are countless voice actors who've had regular roles in literally dozens of different series.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

After checking IMDb, it seems that William Shatner had regular roles on the following TV shows:

- For the People (1965)
- Star Trek (1966-1969)
- Star Trek (voice, 1973-1974)
- Barbary Coast (1975-1976)
- T.J. Hooker (1982-1986)
- TekWar (1994-1996)
- A Twist in the Tale (1999)
- Boston Legal (2004-2008)
- $#*! My Dad Says (2010)


Recurring guest roles:
- 5 episodes as "Paul De Vinger" on 77-Sunset-Strip (1963)
- 5 episodes as "Dr. Carl Noyes" on Dr. Kildare (1966)
- 5 episodes as "The Big Giant Head" on 3rd Rock from the Sun (1999-2000)
- 5 episodes as "Denny Crane" on The Practice (2004)

(He likes to appear for five episodes, doesn't he? )

 

[Greg Cox]

Lucy Lawless hasn't beat Shatner yet, but she's making a good run at it . . . .

XENA
TARZAN
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
SPARTACUS

Plus, of course, recurring roles on HERCULES and X-FILES.

 

[Christopher]

Gerald McRaney has done a fair number of series:

Simon and Simon
Major Dad
C.P.W. (recurring)
Touched by an Angel (recurring)
Promised Land (spinoff of TbaA character)
Deadwood (final season)
Jericho
What If? (nonfiction, host)
Undercovers

Plus he was on The Incredible Hulk four times, but as four different characters.

 

[Greg Cox]

A bit of a digression, but did anyone else catch that bit on LIFE UNEXPECTED last night, when someone described the lead character, played by Shiri Appleby, as "pint-sized, big eyes, looks like that girl on ROSWELL . . . ."

Hah!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Hasn't Robert Urich starred in the most TV shows? Mainly because most of them never saw a second season.

I think he might hold the record:

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1973) - as "Bob Sanders"
S.W.A.T. (1975–76) - as "Officer Jim Street"
Soap (1977) - as "Peter Campbell"
Tabitha (1976–77) - as "Paul Thurston"
Vega$ (1978–1981) - as "Dan Tanna" (he also played "Tanna" in an episode of Charlie's Angels)
Gavilan (1982) - as "Robert Gavilan"
Princess Daisy (1983 mini-series) - as "Patrick Shannon"
Mistral's Daughter (1984 mini-series) - as "Jason Darcy"
National Geographic Explorer (1985–1995) - host
Amerika (1987 mini-series) - as "Peter Bradford"
Spenser: For Hire (1985–88, plus later TV movies) - as "Spenser"
Lonesome Dove (1989 TV miniseries) - as "Jake Spoon"
Blind Faith (1990 TV miniseries) - as "Rob Marshall"
American Dreamer (1990) - as "Tom Nash"
Crossroads (1992) - as "Johnny"
It Had to Be You (1993) - as "Mitch Quinn"
The Lazarus Man (1996–97) - as "Lazarus"
The Nanny (1997) - as "Judge Jerry Moran"
Vital Signs (1997) - host
The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998) - as "Capt. Jim Kennedy"
Emeril (2001) - as "Jerry"

 

[ToddPence]

Paul Burke had the following regular TV roles during his career:

Noah McCann on "Noah's Ark"
Jeff Kittridge on "Harbormaster"
Mr. Robertson on "Five Fingers"
Det. Adam Flint on "Naked City"
Maj. Joe Gallagher on "Five O' Clock High"
C.C. Capwell on "Santa Barbara"
Nicholas Broderick on "Hot Shots"
Neal McVane on "Dynasty"

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1973) - as "Bob Sanders"

Wow, I'd forgotten that they tried to make a TV series out of that. Who ever thought that had a prayer of working on TV?

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

If we're looking at hours in front of the camera, then the record goes to Regis Philbin according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and he's been beating his own record each year. I'm not sure however, if it's purely marketing.

But Regis isn't an actor.

And don't forget his recurring appearance as The Big, Giant Head in "3rd Rock From the Sun".

I didn't forget. However, he wasn't a regular.

A bit of a digression, but did anyone else catch that bit on LIFE UNEXPECTED last night, when someone described the lead character, played by Shiri Appleby, as "pint-sized, big eyes, looks like that girl on ROSWELL . . . ."

Hah!

Nice! (Whenever her new character does something I don't like, I lament, "That's a pretty Tess-y thing to do.")

 

[DarthPipes]

I believe before his death, Robert Urich was in 14 different television shows.