Unexpected fan favorites who take over the show?

[auntiehill]

I also think Avon is the best character in Sci-fi and his and Blake's 7 influence can be seen in later shows such as Farscape and Firefly.

Most definitely. Avon is an incredible character and probably one of the most fascinating in Sci-fi TV.

 

[the G-man]

I never said it wasn't created for Mr. T; I said Peppard THOUGHT it would be his show.

The thread is about "unexpected fan favorites" (i.e. supporting characters) "who take over the show" (i.e., they go from being the supporting character to the star despite the original intent of the series).

BennyRussel wrote:

George Peppard was supposed to be the star of The A-Team, but it was Mr. T that took over the spotlight.

You agreed, stating:

Oh, very much so.

Mr. T did not take over the show. The show was about him from conception. Peppard's ignorance of his intended role in the show in no way means Mr. T took over. Mr T was the star from the beginning.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well the thread has gone "off point" more than once with posts bringing up examples that don't quite fit the premise. Wasn't Xena a re-occuring guest-star rather than a supporting character? Fraiser was a one off character who goes from that to reoccuring to regular to his own spinoff. Sheldon as noted was always a lead in TBBT, who often has his own story in episodes. Howard seems to be more of a breakout, going from a supporting role to having entire episodes revolve around him. ( more so with the addition of Bernadette)

As for Mr. T and the A-Team, my memories of the show has dimmed, but I never got the impression BA was the central character/lead.

 

[Dream]

I think Seven of Nine's takeover of VOY was planned, though, since they cast a beautiful woman and put her in skin tight clothin' by her third episode.

Sure, she showed up as a drone, but ya know they weren't gonna keep her like that.

Gotta get the male demographic, and that was the way they did it.

Well, they certainly weren't getting the male demographic with the bad writing!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think Seven of Nine's takeover of VOY was planned, though, since they cast a beautiful woman and put her in skin tight clothin' by her third episode.

Sure, she showed up as a drone, but ya know they weren't gonna keep her like that.

Gotta get the male demographic, and that was the way they did it.

Well, they certainly weren't get the male demographic with the bad writing!

We're easily distracted.

"Weak dialog, derivative plot....BOOBIES!!!!!!!!"

 

[od0_ital]

hehehehehhe.....boobies....

 

[Starkers]

I also think Avon is the best character in Sci-fi and his and Blake's 7 influence can be seen in later shows such as Farscape and Firefly.

Most definitely. Avon is an incredible character and probably one of the most fascinating in Sci-fi TV.

Villa just, just, nudges ahead of him for me, but it's kinda hard to imagine one without the other, a great double act and two great characters, neither of whom got neutered as the show went on. He could be heroic, but on the whole Villa remained a coward, and Avon could be caring, but on the whole he remained a cold, calculating bastard to the end.

Between them they had all the best lines too...

 

[Kirby]

Nobody has mentioned David Hewlett's Dr. Rodney MacKay on Stargate Atlantis. That role was originally written for an African American actor who would play an 'unflappable astro physicist' and they had trouble casting the part and at the last minute called in Hewlett to reprise Rodney. According to a Gateworld interview with Hewlett, he thought he was going to have more of a limited role following Weir around and giving status reports. He never expected all the screen time and guns. After the pilot episode they started changing the character to play towards Hewlett's strengths.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

^^
But he didn't unexpectedly take over the show eventually. He was only unexpected in the casting process. By the time we were watching (ie, the pilot episode), he was one of the stars that we were ALREADY familiar with, right?

I don't think it's possible for main stars to take over a show they're already a main star on, really. A better Atlantis argument might be Zelenka or Lorne since they started off as more background characters, if they had only used them more instead of keeping them so secondary.