10 TV Shows That Were Repurposed After Side Characters Became More Famous

Even though it’s a rare occurrence, sometimes the side characters catch the viewers’ eye in a much better way than the protagonists. So naturally, their popularity leads to more screen-time for the character. However, in some cases, such an unexpected craze has also changed the entire storyline of different TV shows, some of which you can find here!

THE WEST WING: The fans have enjoyed the character of President Bartlet and his life story. However, in the beginning, his appearance was planned for only four episodes. Martin Sheen’s performance got the amount of attention that was needed to encircle the show around him.

ARROW: Felicity Smoak was initially planned as a casual fling. Before this, Oliver had romantic bits with a member of his team named Laurel. But the renowned chemistry between Oliver and Felicity changed the plan. Felicity ended up becoming Oliver’s love interest and secured her place as a member of the team.

LOST: Ben is one of the longest-running characters on the show. So it’s almost shocking that he was not meant to play this recurring part from the beginning. His initial role was limited to around three episodes.

HAPPY DAYS: Fonzie is a character that everybody admires. His success is visible through the fact that he was mentioned in equally successful TV shows like Friends. A craze like this led the producers to change the storyline and replace Fonzie from a background character to a full-time lead.

SEINFELD: Kramer was initially just a neighbor who dropped in as an accessory. However, the hilarious conversation between all the characters soon gave birth to the iconic quartet.

CHEERS: Frasier was meant to appear in only a few episodes as Diane’s love interest. However, he became one of the significant and most loved characters of the show. His popularity had increased to the point that he was later given a show of his own.

FAMILY MATTERS: Urkel was one of the characters who ruled the show. It’s hard to think of the show without him, which tells us how much he affected the show’s original storyline as he was only meant to appear in one episode.

DALLAS: This show was not meant to have any lead characters. Its original storyline revolved around the Ewing family altogether. It is a family drama and based on internal matters of this family.  Although it did not take us long to identify an apparent main lead, signifying the effect of J.R Ewing.

THE THICK OF IT: This show focused on the political body of the government staff. Malcolm Tucker was a criticizing character that was planned to start off as a side character, but later became one of the leads.

STAR TREK: Spock was simply Captain Kirk’s science guy. His emotionless aura and quirky ways attracted the fans in a positive way. But with time, his popularity became a problem for the character of Kirk. This resulted in the introduction of McCoy, and in the creation one of the most iconic trios of all time.