Steal the show: TV supporting characters who took the lead

Urkel was supposed to be a one-off character. The show was called “Family Matters,” after all and, well, Urkel wasn’t part of the family. However, Jaleel White’s quirky character hit, so much so he became the main character of “Family Matters.” In fact, the youngest child of the Winslow family was retconned out of existence, mostly to make more room for Urkel in the show.

Before there was Urkel, there was Fonzie. Now, Arthur Fonzarelli was the epitome of “cool” on “Happy Days,” as opposed to the uber “nerd” that was Urkel. The Fonz had an office in the men’s room of a diner! How… cool? Anyway, originally a tertiary figure, Fonzie was swiftly worked into the regular cast and became the breakthrough character of the show.

Now, Jesse never overtook Walter White on “Breaking Bad,” but the show did serve as a two-hander by and large, tilting toward Walt some. To think, only a WGA strike led to this reality. Jesse Pinkman was originally going to be killed off by the end of the first season, but the strike happened, Vince Gilligan developed an affinity for Jesse, and Aaron Paul’s performance, and an Emmy-winning turn was born.

“The Big Bang Theory” was a commercial hit, but mostly critically reviled. Jim Parsons did rise above that to win a couple Emmys playing Sheldon Cooper, who also got a spinoff in “Young Sheldon.” Much like Urkel, the catchphrase-spouting “weird” character ended up striking a chord and overtaking the show. Penny and Leonard were the ostensible leads when “The Big Bang Theory” began, with Sheldon as Leonard’s odd, annoying roommate. Quickly, though, Sheldon took up more and more of the oxygen. Bazinga!

Another case of a character’s life being spared when the creatives realized what they had on hand. Boyd Crowder was the “big bad” of season one of “Justified.” He and Raylan dug coal together once upon a time, and when Raylan returned to Harlan County, Boyd was supposed to be done away with in short order. Instead, Walton Goggins’ Boyd became a main character, arguably the second lead of the show. He had story arcs that had nothing to do with Raylan, though in the end the series finale brought the two back together one last time.

“Family Ties” focuses on the Keaton family, and it was always built around the conceit of two liberal Baby Boomer parents raising ‘80s kids that didn’t share their “hippie” sensibilities. The ensemble eventually came to service Alex more and more. He was the breakout character, and the Reagan-loving teenager was the driving factor of almost every “A” story after a while. A character that was not written with any intent of being sympathetic still clicked with audiences, and hindsight makes it clear why. Alex P. Keaton was played by Michael J. Fox.

You want to irk John Amos (or the late Esther Rolle)? Just bring up J.J. Evans. “Good Times” was supposed to be a substantive sitcom focused on a family of five living in a Chicago public housing project. It quickly became a vessel for J.J. to say “Dy-no-mite!” in every single episode. Jimmie Walker became the star of “Good Times,” much to the aggravation of the actors playing the parents of the Evans household. Both Amos and Rolle spoke out about their dislike of J.J. as a character, and how much the show came to revolve around his wacky antics.

If you have never seen “Dallas,” you likely at least know about “Who Shot J.R.?.” It was one of the biggest TV events ever, so much so “The Simpsons” parodied it. When the primetime soap began, though, it was focused on J.R.’s brother Bobby and his wife Pamela Barnes, as the Ewing and Barnes families, rivals in the oil industry. J.R. was the scheming, mustache-twirling villain, though, and the audiences for a soap ate that up. He became the breakout character, and also the only character to appear in every episode.

The show was called “How I Met Your Mother,” and the titular “I” is Ted. He never really rose above the ensemble surrounding him, though. Specifically, the character of Barney Stinson was the clear breakout character. Playing Barney was part of a resurgence of the career of Neil Patrick Harris.

Many of these characters came to overtake their shows because they proved popular. Andy is one of the instances of a character seizing a significant role seemingly against the desires of the viewers. Perhaps the network wanted “the guy from ‘The Hangover’ movies” to have a bigger part. Maybe Ed Helms is a nice guy to work with. All we know is that Andy went from a small part on “The Office” to being treated as one of the leads. When Michael left, “The Office” tried to make Andy the new Michael for a minute, to no avail.

We’ll understand if the name “Elka Ostrovsky” doesn’t ring a bell. The thing is, most people probably think of her as “that character played by Betty White.” White was such a legend by the time she was on “Hot in Cleveland” that she surpassed the need for character names. She’s the character everybody knows, or at least the actor on the show everybody knows. All that, and she was supposed to be a one-off guest star.

If you are of a certain age, you got to experience a pre-Elmo “Sesame Street.” There’s also a good chance you now have Elmo-loving kids, and have come to loathe the helium-voiced red Muppet. Eventually, “Sesame Street” essentially became “The Elmo Show.” This…was not ideal.

“The Golden Girls” is built around a core four: Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia. They are all equals, but that wasn’t supposed to be the case. Sophia, Dorothy’s mother, was not originally a full-on part of the ensemble. Also, the ladies were supposed to have a live-in “houseboy” named Coco. However, Sophie became part of the main four characters, even though Estelle Getty apparently had severe stage fright during her entire run of the show.

You might be wondering how Yogi could overtake a show, given that he was on “The Yogi Bear Show.” Ahh, but that was the show he got after being arguably the first breakthrough animated character. Yogi debuted as a supporting character on “The Huckleberry Hound Show.” He quickly outshined Huck, though, which is why he got to be a titular character.

In Robert Altman’s “MASH,” the two main characters are Hawkeye and Trapper John. When the movie was adapted to television, it was built around Hawkeye, played by Alan Alda, and Trapper John, played by Wayne Rogers. The two surgeon characters were equals, on paper, but Hawkeye started to take over more and more. Fed up, Rogers left the show after the fourth season.

You know how in “Veep” we never really saw the President? Well, that was originally the conceit of “The West Wing” more or less. As Aaron Sorkin has said, his original intent was to focus on Sam Seaborn and the senior staff of President Bartlet, with Bartlet barely being seen, if ever. Then, well, Martin Sheen was cast in the role, and he ended up becoming a major presence.

This is less of a case of a character overtaking a show and more of a case of a character we never imagined being a significant part of a show rising to a key role. Also, we get to talk about Steve from “Stranger Things.” Originally, Harrington was a high school bigshot, a jerk who did wrong by Nancy and Jonathan. He got a little redemption near the end of season one, and from that point on, he became as much a part of the crew as anybody.

We can explain it like this. There is a spinoff of “The Walking Dead” called “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.” Norman Reedus’ character became a core part of AMC’s hit zombie show. He outlived Rick Grimes and earned himself the first titular spinoff show. Daryl is now the Frasier of “The Walking Dead” universe.