Advertisement
Dublin: 1 °C Friday 29 March, 2024
good support

10 TV shows whose supporting characters deserve spin-offs

Who cares about Will and Grace when you’ve got Jack and Karen?

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS ARE supposed to stay mostly in the sidelines, working as a foil to the leading character.

But sometimes the intended leads just aren’t a patch on the characters that back them up. Here are 10 shows where this is exactly the case.

Will and Grace – Jack and Karen

Despite being billed as the lead characters in the show, Will and Grace were – let’s put it nicely – boring.

8a90dbed4b636f6003c2678b45f2aec8 Pinimg Pinimg

Exactly Karen. This pair, on the other hand, were a riot. Where was the Jack and Karen spinoff? WHERE WAS IT?

jack_karen Wordpress Wordpress

(Bonus fact: Megan Mullally, who plays Karen, is married to another breakout character actor – Nick Offerman, who plays the legendary Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation.)

Arrested Development – Everyone except Michael

We understand that in the opening jingle of the show Michael Bluth is singled out as the ‘one son who had no choice but to keep them all together’.

a_560x0 Nymag Nymag

But in fairness, Michael is probably the least interesting character. How could he stand out when there’s Lucille, George Sr, Gob, Buster, Lindsay and Maeby? And Tobias, of course, who rules them all.

tobias_thunder AMC Networks AMC Networks

Love/Hate – Fran ‘The Man’ Cooney

Love/Hate is built on breakout characters. Nidge was a mere henchman in the first season before being elevated to ringleader after John Boy kicked the bucket. But over the next few seasons the ruthless, slightly nutty Fran became the fan favourite.

With Nidge getting himself somewhat incapacitated at the end of the last episode, there’s no telling what Fran has up his sleeve.

frantooth

Gavin and Stacey – Uncle Bryn, Nessa

Again, though Gavin and Stacey are responsible for the show’s title, the lovesick young couple were not what made the show the cute comedy classic it is now.

MrRime123 / YouTube

Stacey’s lovable Uncle Bryn managed to steal every scene he was in, and bolshy Nessa (played by Ruth Jones, who also wrote the series) was just…Nessa.

Nessa-gavin-and-stacey-23417576-500-281 Fanpop Fanpop

Breaking Bad – Jesse Pinkman

OK, so you can’t exactly get better than Walter White, no matter how hard you try. But who can deny that by the end of this excellent series, it was Jesse we wanted to come out on top?

aaron-paul-magnets-bitch Mshcdn Mshcdn

After years of being tormented mentally and physically by Walt and his actions, it was impossible not to root for the misguided Jesse. Which is partly why the finale was so, so satisfying.

18-jesse2 Uproxx Uproxx

How I Met Your Mother – Barney Stinson

Question 1) Why did it take them so long to find out who the mother was?
Question 2) Why isn’t Barney the lead character, instead of dull, drippy old Ted?

Fans of this show have many issues with the pacing of the plot, but nobody seems to have a problem with Barney. Kudos to Neil Patrick Harris for creating a memorable character in an otherwise average show.

self-five Suitupbros Suitupbros

Downton Abbey – The Dowager Countess, Violet Crawley

Between the many aristocrats and the raft of servants, there’s certainly no shortage of great characters in the hugely popular period drama.

But Dame Maggie Smith owns the room as the Crawley family matriarch, her acid tongue always aimed and ready to fire pithy put-downs at whoever displeases her. What a boss.

6963565_DOWNTONGIF1 Entertainmentwise Entertainmentwise

Scrubs – Doctor Cox, The Janitor

The friendship between J.D. and Turk was special all right, but many really watched Scrubs for Dr Cox and The Janitor, who delighted in tormenting J.D. in a myriad of belittling ways.

bc397545b7399807cb35299933aec0a6 Pinterest Pinterest

Neil Flynn, who played The Janitor, actually ad-libbed most of his lines. Because he is just that amazing.

shaunfallis / YouTube

House of Cards – Claire Underwood

Robin Wright rightly received an Emmy for her performance as Frank Underwood’s ice-queen wife, Claire.

Where Frank is an over-the-top, almost pantomime villain, Claire is quietly scheming, and in the second season proves herself to be almost if not more evil than her husband. Chilling.

tumblr_n10dwn2FqP1rdutw3o1_400 Tumblr Tumblr

Father Ted – Fr Dougal McGuire

Bit of a cop out seeing as each and every character on this show is a gem, but if you had to choose a favourite, it probably wouldn’t be Ted himself.

It could be argued that it’s the Father Dougal Show really.

Hat Trick / YouTube

Did we catch your favourite supporting character? Who did we miss? Let us know in the comments!

9 very important things Jared Leto taught us in the nineties>

16 ways childhood TV ruined your life>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
10
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.