How well-known was the cast during the show's run?

[Christopher]

At the time TNG's casting was first announced, I knew Burton from Roots and I recognized Frakes's name from the miniseries North and South, in which he played a major role. (Although I think I mainly noticed his name due to its similarity to the author of the source novel, John Jakes.) I knew Brent Spiner from his recurring role of Bob Wheeler on Night Court -- particularly since Bob was set up in the finale of the '86-'87 season to play an increasingly prominent role (he bought the newsstand in the dining area), but then vanished without in-story explanation at the start of the '87-'88 season.

I know that Michael Dorn had a recurring role on CHiPs before TNG, but I don't think I watched that show much.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I watched CHiPs during it's initial run, but not since. I can't say I remembered Michael when TNG debuted.

Of course he was under a lot of makeup as Worf.

Also, LeVar had been on Reading Rainbow for around 4 years when TNG started.

 

[TheAdmiralty]

As others have said, Stewart would have been known in the UK for theater and British TV, Burton for Roots, Reading Rainbow, and various movies, Wheaton had been in Stand By Me, and that's pretty much it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I remember seeing Stewart on a late-night talk show ca. TNG Season 2, which involved him co-guesting with Whoopee...that is, they came out together, they weren't separate guests. My impression at the time was that she was there with him because she was such a better-known celebrity.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I knew Dorn from CHIPS and LeVar Burton from "Roots."

Never knew of the others until the 1st episode of TNG.

 

[ItIsGreen]

I was only a young child when TNG started, and barely into double digits by the time it ended.

However from a UK point of view, Patrick Stewart was known for his TV work, mainly 'I Claudius' and various Shakespeare productions (amusingly, if you take a look at his IMDB page you'll see he performed in a miniseries that shares a title with the miniseries Jonathan Frakes was known for before TNG - albeit with a very different subject matter, and ten years earlier than Frakes').

Marina Sirtis was also a familiar face on British TV, having had guest parts in several popular shows such as 'Minder', 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' and a sitcom called 'Up the Elephant and Round the Castle' (which starred the spectacularly racist yet inexplicably popular "comedian" Jim Davidson).

Ironically I think Colm Meaney was the most 'visible' actor during the TNG/DS9 years as he has always been a prolific character actor and had several parts in TV shows and movies on both sides of the Atlantic during the run of both shows (examples that spring to mind are the pilot of a British plane in 'Die Hard 2', a cop in 'Dick Tracy' and the asshole DEA guy in 'Con Air').

I seem to remember Brent Spiner becoming quite popular over here during the run of the series due to Data having a Spock-like appeal.

 

[WillsBabe]

Patrick Stewart was a 20-year veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the time he was cast in TNG, so he was certainly well-known in the UK.

I don't think he was, to be honest. I certainly wasn't really aware of him. I know my friend knew of him vaguely from Maybury back at the start of the 80s. But I don't think he was in the general public conciousness to any great extent.

 

[RoJoHen]

Even growing up watching and loving TNG, I never really knew who Michael Dorn was until he started doing Rembrandt commercials.

 

[lordsofelsewhen]

I knew Levar Burton from reading rainbow when ecounter from fairpoint first cam e on..

 

[Nerys Myk]

Burton and Wheaton were the only ones I knew of. Stewart, I had seen in movies but didn't connected him with those roles after seeing him on TNG. Frakes, Sirtis, McFadden, Crosby and Dorn were unknowns to me. Like Stewart, they might have appeared in films or TV shows I'd seen, but I didn't recognize their names or faces when announced for TNG.

 

[indycar]

I think it's safe to say that the cast had some degree of fame when the show was on, but were not household names. So in a lot of ways they were similar to the casts from any other show, they were recognizable while it was on and 20 years later, most of them fall into "Hey is that that one person from The Next Generation?" if they show up in anything, while, like any other show, it did have somebody who went on to become well-known (Stewart).

 

[Anji]

I disagree. The cast were household names and the series had a profound impact on the 1980s. I was in my early 20s then so I have a little more memory of this than most.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I think the only cast member I positively knew of was Wil Wheaton, as I believe I'd seen Stand By Me in theaters. I'd heard of Roots, but I'd never seen it (still haven't), as I was only four years old when it originally aired. I remember reading that Jonathan Frakes was in North and South, but I hadn't seen that mini-series, either.

I'd definitely seen Brent Spiner in Night Court, as that was a favorite show when I was 12-13, but I don't think I realized that was him until after I knew him as Data.

A few years into TNG, I was flipping through my Playbill for the Huck Finn musical Big River, and guess who played the Duke in the production I saw on Broadway in early 1986? Spiner replaced René Auberjonois in the role. Some unknown actor named John Goodman played Huck Finn's father.

 

[urbandefault]

I recognized Burton, Frakes, and Spiner, but I didn't know anything about them other than seeing them on tv in Roots, North & South, and Night Court. I found out later that Dorn was the guy from CHiPs, and I think I saw Dune on cable in '88. Other than that, no idea who the others were.

 

[Finn]

I disagree. The cast were household names and the series had a profound impact on the 1980s. I was in my early 20s then so I have a little more memory of this than most.

No

TNG was heard of in general- yes. But people would have blinked if I mentioned any of the actors. The individual actors weren't household names for at least half of the run

I would have had to tell them "That guy from reading rainbow..." until last couple seasons.


And how did TNG impact the 80s, when it didn't hit its stride until very late 1989 I mean BOBW was in 1990...

 

[A beaker full of death]

I knew Stewart from some RSC productions. Burton was really the only one who was a household name, because he had taken the country by storm in Roots.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I disagree. The cast were household names and the series had a profound impact on the 1980s. I was in my early 20s then so I have a little more memory of this than most.

No

TNG was heard of in general- yes. But people would have blinked if I mentioned any of the actors. The individual actors weren't household names for at least half of the run

I would have had to tell them "That guy from reading rainbow..." until last couple seasons.


And how did TNG impact the 80s, when it didn't hit its stride until very late 1989 I mean BOBW was in 1990...

As a person who was a twenty something in the 80s, I'd have to agree. In my insular SF/Star Trek oriented world they were "well known". To the world outside that bubble, not so much.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was in my late teens in the late '80s, and I'd love to hear an example or three of this profound impact to which I was completely oblivious. In my sphere of experience in that era, the show practically never came up if I wasn't the one bringing it up.

As for household names...Dan Quayle, Jack Nicholson, Arsenio Hall--those were household names. Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn? Not so much.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Although the cast wasn't well-known to the general public for most of TNG's run, Jonathan Frakes was at least enough of a name to do a cameo on "Cybill" in 1995:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwlX3gbgs_g

Interesting that they didn't bother using the real TNG uniform designs. I wonder if Paramount wanted a payment for their use. And of course, the "Cybill" people went out of their way to make TNG look FAR cheesier than it actually was.