Not-too-talented actors who lucked out and got cast on a show that ran forever

It’s pronounced “Eye-un”.

Crystal Bernard rules this thread.

Mathew Laba ( something) from Little House on the Prairie.

Oleebia

Ice T

Tom Arnold - Roseanne. The big fat woman, Rose on the Waltons.

R3, Laborteaux

Thanks R7. Lol, I'm ashamed I didn't know.

Peri Gilpin on “Frasier”

The EPITOME of the two bit actor Scott Baio aka Chachi on Happy Days

R3 and R7, coincidentally there was a thread yesterday about how to pronounce his last name.

Good one R10!

Jamie Farr, William Christopher, and Wayne Rogers, "M*A*S*H*" (I would add Gary Burghoff too, but some people really liked him)

George Lindsey and Howard McNear, "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Mayberry RFD"

Jack Lord, "Hawaii Five-Oh"

Gates McFadden, "ST: TNG"

Tori Spelling

Miss Ttina yyouthers.

Tina Yothers is a great example

[quote]Peri Gilpin on “Frasier”

You're an idiot, r9.

R7 Next you should learn how to spell it

Matthew Labyorteaux

That fucking Irkle.

Thank you Mathew at R8.

Kirk Cameron - Growing Pains

Candace Cameron- Full House

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Screech

I like Jesse. If I had to single out someone of Modern Family for not having talent, it wouldn't be him

Susan Olsen

It's funny; Susan Olsen was the first of the six Brady children they cast. They thought her adorableness was surefire. She was really cute for the first two years, too. Then she got older, and suddenly you have a lisping teenager.

[quote]Tori Spelling

I still maintain that Tori was good at comedy but she just wouldn't stick with it.

[quote]Candace Cameron

Perfect answer. Nothing special at all.

The girls who played Carrie on Little House

Ray Romano

R28. Thread CLOSED!

I would say Ariel Winter, the teenage girl, with the huge tits was more of a dead weight on "Modern Family" than Jesse Tyler Ferguson, although Nolan Gould (who had such brilliant timing the first two or three years) also grew up to be a dud. Unexpectedly the eldest sister just got better and better as the series went on--I'm surprised she's not done much since, given how funny she was.

With Ferguson the problem was the same as with David Schwimmer on "Friends": the problem was not that he wasn't good at the role, but that the role was written to be annoying.

Kat Dennings

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Kaley Cuoco

Sean Hayes

Matthew Perry

Everybody on either Dynasty.

I thought Sean Hayes was really funny on Will and Grace. Great timing.

Matthew Perry had genius timing as Chandler. He began to repeat himself too much in the role, but he was a genuine standout in the cast.

Joe Regalbuto, "Murphy Brown"

But his role was so awful.

Anthony Clark from Yes, Dear

[quote]Jamie Farr, William Christopher, and Wayne Rogers, "M*A*S*H*" (I would add Gary Burghoff too, but some people really liked him)

Loved the movie, hated the tv show. Gary Burghoff was the only actor from the movie that was in the tv show - and they destroyed his character Radar in the process.

Somewhat off topic - wasn't Gary Burghoff supposedly a major asshole?

Anthony Clark was a successful stand-up, the show was centered around him. He didn't just luck into it. Same with Ray Romano

You can't be serious r35. He was such a dud of a character and added nothing to the show.

Michael Richards as Kramer on Seinfeld- he was NEVER funny on that show.

One of my friends (I'll call him Jon) used to date someone who was best friends with Anthony Clark, and they used to hang out with him in the 00s. He said Clark was an alcoholic and a major asshole--especially when he was drunk. He would be rude to people on the street when he was drunk--he was just gripped with rage.

R28- In a way she's a very good example. She's been mentioned before on other threads- her lack of talent but I would she was less of a little actress and more of a PROP like the dog tiger on The Brady Bunch- who was killed in real life and they did not bother to replace him on the show- he was never mentioned again.

Vicki Lawrence

Here are two TERRIFIC examples-

Both the Mailman and the FAT Accountant on Cheers

George Wendt- he was generally fat and boring

John Ratzenberger- he was ever more boring than Cliff Clavin

I meant to write even more boring not ever.

Larry Matthews, who played Ritchie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," was one of the worst child actors of all time.

You type fat, r46/r47.

jk

Not an actor, but ...

Vanna White

If I were an actor, I’d want a career like Courtney Thorne-Smith‘s. She went from 5 years on Melrose Place, straight to 3 years on Ally McBeal, straight to 8 years on According to Jim, straight to 50+ episodes of Two and a Half Men. Three of those shows are culturally significant (for better or worse), and According to Jim ran for 8 seasons/nearly 200 episodes. Most actors would kill for opportunities like that.

The weakest links in "Will & Grace" to me were always Eric McCormack (bitchy and unlikable as Will) and Harry Connick, Jr. (incapable of being funny). Debra Messing had talent, but it was really the "Jack & Karen" show--they were the funniest.

I liked Peri Gilpin quite a bit on "Frasier." He needed someone to zing him and puncture his pompousness, and I loved Gilpin's voice. I did not at all get the appeal of Jane Leeves as Daphne.

R2 Crystal Bernard was only cast in “Wings” because Brandon Tartikoff insisted on it. The creators wanted Peri Gilpin, but Tartikoff didn’t think she was experienced enough. They obviously remembered Gilpin for “Frasier” a few years later.

R50, she must be the luckiest woman in the world

R52- That whole show was weak. The character of Will was strictly designed to appeal to straight women- he was a straight women's fantasy of an Urbane Gay Male and the show in general was desperate to please especially that woman with the Minnie Mouse voice.

The gay writer Andrew Holleran once described the show as a Repellent Sitcom- that's a perfect description of the show.

To R6- I consider Tom Arnold "1 of the luckiest men in Hollywood" He walked away with half of Roseanne's fortune(no pre-nup agreement) 50 MILLION DOLLARS BB!!

Kristin Davis on Sex and the City.

All the Waltons kids except Richard Thomas

Portia de Rossi does not quite fit this rubric because "Arrested Development" did not run forever... although it has been watched and re-watched so many times it will undeniably be more influential (and far more beloved) than all kinds of shows that ran for much longer.

But even so I have to say: every one of the regulars on "Arrested Development" is so great at comedy in it, even down to the young Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat. But then, there's Portia de Rossi...

Portia de Rossi was also on Ally McBeal. She didn't luck out with just one show

All the Bradford kids, except for Nicholas (who is at least cute) and Joanie (Laurie Walters, who did make you pay attention to her). Even handsome David (Grant Goodeve) and jailbait Tommy (Willie Aames) are not very memorable in their parts.

[quote] Portia de Rossi was also on Ally McBeal. She didn't luck out with just one show

You're right: she lucked out with two.

Jason Bateman hit the fucking jackpot with Arrested Development. Everyone would have forgotten his name because he has the charisma of a piece of wet cardboard.

I hesitate to consider her "lucky" considering how things ended for her, but Dana Plato was laughably bad on "Different Strokes".

One of the worst so-called child "actresses" of all time. She had zero chance of ever being cast in anything except porn after that show ended.

Farrah Fawcett-Majors

Jaclyn Smith

Cheryl Ladd

Shelly Hack

Tanya Roberts

Most of the SVU cast.

Jamie Lynn Sigler - The Sopranos

Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki.

Charlene Tilton

David Hasselhoff

Joan Collins

[R53] They probably made the right decision. Crystal Bernard was a good fit as a small-town girl with a high school crush on Joe Hackett. Peri Gilpin wouldn't have worked, too acerbic.

Woody Harrelson, "Cheers".

I wish Crystal Bernard was still active on television. She did have a lot of charm.

Candice Bergen

Everyone who was ever on a US soap.

Can't believe no one has mentioned DL's patron saint of bad actors, Andrew Shue.

I don’t think she’s terrible, just a middling actress, but Ellen Pompeo knows just how lucky she is to have landed Grey’s Anatomy.

[quote] Somewhat off topic - wasn't Gary Burghoff supposedly a major asshole?

Only to Lucy’s career

Pompeo and Cuoco are the patron saints of shitty actresses who lucked out.

Lassie

The thread reeks of Drama Club wannabes.

Fuck you, R76

If you watched Cuoco's progress from Season 1 of BBT to the last episode, she turned herself into a spontaneous, wonderful actress.

Pretty much all of them. Getting a long running TV show is luck and says nothing about an actor’s range.

John Ratzenberger.

Richard Karn.

Most of the cast of EIGHT IS ENOUGH.

Emma Thomson, Sophie Turner, Maison Williams. Rupert Grint was awful in the early HP movies but got better.

The Olson Trolls.

I would more say the Uncle that wasn't John Stamos

I love the show and his over the top portrayal, but I have to offer up David Caruso. He won the career lotto with CSI: Miami

Honestly, most of the Full House cast would qualify.

Caruso was on NYPD Blue before CSI: Miami

NYPD Blue got much better after Caruso left. The first season centered around his good guy cop helping and mentoring everyone while he divorces Dr. Susan Lewis. I found it annoying that he was such and unbelievable mensch as no one real or fictional ever before!!!

Does anyone remember the nurse on Empty Nest? I believe she also showed up a Reba's friend on Reba several years later. Annoying smoker's voice and embellished southern twang. Bad hair and face like an old boot. Omg she's only 65 now??

Danny Pintauro

I had to carry these two losers for years... 🙄

Meghan Markle on Suits

[quote] I hesitate to consider her "lucky" considering how things ended for her, but Dana Plato was laughably bad on "Different Strokes".

I see your Dana Plato and raise you Erin Moran. Started out ok on Happy Days but didn’t transition well into an older teenager and then was dragged along to Joanie Loves Chachi simply because Chachi was a teenage girl pinup.

Erin Moran is a great example

Half the cast of Grey's Anatomy

Everyone on Party off Five. Especially JLH who was everywhere for at least 10 yrs. Why? I have no idea.

Oops I meant Emma WATSON not Thomson.

R101, Jennifer Love lucked out with multiple popular shows. She's on that 9-1-1 show now. She must be the least talented actress to have such a long career

[quote]Everyone who was ever on a US soap.

I BEG your pardon!

The lesser lights of the Friends cast since the actors stuck together for pay negotiations.

Tina Louise

Rumor has it she was a call girl before getting Gilligan.

[quote]Rumor has it she was a call girl before getting Gilligan.

She had a lot of acting credits before getting "Gilligan." That's why she thought she was going to be the star of the show, despite its title.

Peri Gilpin has a great, low speaking voice (such an asset for an actress) and decent comic timing. She does "dry" pretty well. And she's pleasant looking.

But a major talent? Not at all. She was one of the more limited acts in a very talented ensemble. She replaced the far more talented Lisa Kudrow, originally cast as Roz (then fired... which worked out okay for both of them).

She had some very minor credits before FRAZIER, and nothing but very minor credits since. I'm sure she made a truckload of money on FRAZIER, and good for her. But she is a minor talent, all told.

Welcome Anne H. @ R82!

Teri Hatcher (now seemingly forgotten) accomplished this not just once, but twice.

On the same network.

Just saying.

R98 /r99 agree but her acting was at least ok - unlike Plato who was always laughably bad.

Kelly Ripa

Victoria Wyndham

Susan Lucci

Eric Szmanda

Jorja Fox

Gary Dourdan

Agreed, R114. There's a reason it took her 42 years to finally get enough pity votes to win an Emmy. And in all her years on AMC, her acting never improved one bit.

Lassie.

[quote]It’s pronounced “Eye-un”.

Now it's pronounced "haz - bin."

The son (Jake) on "Reba."

Sometimes actors improve. I remember for years Jennifer Connelly was laughably bad but she kept working and sometime around the late 90s directors started to bring out something intelligent and touching out of what used to be just this wan exterior.

Faith Ford. Aka Insta faith ford who comments on literally every celebrity post to try to get some attention.

Tony Danza is another one who scored not one but two successful series with long, lucrative runs.

It's undeniable that TV audiences found him charming, sexy, winsome, etc. Very likeable.

But a good (let alone great) actor? Hard no.

R122 oooh that may be the best one yet.

How does Tony pay for his male escorts now? Residuals pay only so much…

Jimmie Walker

KATE FUCKING LINDER

Jill Whelan

Joyce DeWitt

Steve Kanaly

Gail Fisher

Kevin Hart

^ *Kevin James

Gale Gordon

Though physically beautiful, Peter Lupus on Mission: Impossible is a prime example.

Someone suggested Arnold The Pig on Green Acres, but he really was the Fonzie for that show.

R131, Peter Lupus was stunning in his prime.

Phil Rosenthal's wife, Monica Horan, on Everybody loves Raymond.

It always strikes me how sitcoms with child characters often cast the cutest childen, rather than the ones who will grow up to be an attractive teenager, and so they get some really hideous teens if the show runs a long time.

Classic examples:

Susan Olsen (Cindy on "The Brady Bunch")

Tina Yothers (Jennifer on "Family Ties")

Frederick Kohler (Chip on "Kate & Allie")

Benjamin Salisbury (Brighton on "The Nanny")

Angus T. Jones (Jake on "Two and a Half Men")

It seems based on this like it's important if you expect your sitcom to have any longevity at all not to hire a child actor who is precocious and with chubby cheeks--instead, hire a kid who looks like he or she will grow into an attractive adult (i.e. with decent cheekbones) and who can genuinely act and not just be bratty.

Sometimes certain actors are just there to improve the eye candy quotient and have no pretense of being useful otherwise. Peter Lupus on "M: I" is a classic example, as is Lydia Cornell from "Too Close for Comfort" ("Daddy, you're not being very nice to Monroe!")

Re: 134 and child actors--I actually found both Jodie Foster and Kristy McNichol unattractive/unappealing as child performers: too runty, too butch, too charmless and aggressive. But they both grew up to be lovely adult women.

If McNichol hadn't been sidelined with personal problems (and increasingly middlebrow/terrible TV projects), she could have had a real career as an adult actor. She has talent.

Poor Tatum O'Neal gave exactly one good performance in her life, in PAPER MOON, and that was her director giving her line readings. Tatum was an enchanting looking child onscreen but a zero as an actor, as every other project would attest.

Pauley Perrette.

I WIN.

Mackenzie Phillips - One Day at a Time

Jerry Mathers was a terrible actor, especially as he aged.

Jay North

the actress that played Penelope "Baby Girl" Garcia on Criminal Minds

R141 I read that in Shemar's voice 😄

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Jenna Fisher who played "Pam" on the Office. That woman is bland as fuck, untalented and I never understood the appeal of the Jim and Pam relationship and why people were so obsessed with them. In real life "Jim" would have replaced that bland chick after two years with someone hotter and more energetic. The character was also extremely lazy and failed at almost everything (bad secretary, design degree, sales job, laughable art work) and was actively holding her husband back from following his dreams.

Jenna Fisher is still obsessed with the show and does a weekly podcast. It was funny when Fisher hinted at that John Krakinski and Fisher were attracted in real life and he shut her down and said nope, never happened.

I actually thought Crystal Bernard did nice work on “Wings”. A lot of the insult humor on the show (much of it directed to her character) was very funny and she handled it well.

Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki from Supernatural. Both are abysmal actors but had chemistry together and landed a show that ran for fifteen years.

WTF happened to the kid who plays Young Sheldon? So good and natural (I thought) until the last 2 or 3 seasons. Scenes with him are awful.

Same with the kids from Modern Family. They ALL got terrible as they aged, particularly “Manny.”

[Quote] That woman is bland as fuck, untalented and I never understood the appeal of the Jim and Pam relationship and why people were so obsessed with them. In real life "Jim" would have replaced that bland chick after two years with someone hotter and more energetic.

I'm watching The Office for the first time and i didn't realize so many despise the Jim/Pam relationship. I actually didn't mind Karen. And I didn't like that Pam couldn't hack it another couple of months at art school because she missed Jim.

[Quote] Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki from Supernatural. Both are abysmal actors but had chemistry together and landed a show that ran for fifteen years.

SPN should have ended after 5 seasons as originally planned.

An observation about Ian on "Young Sheldon". As he gets older, his voice gets deeper. So how did this Sheldon become the older squeaky Sheldon? Did he get kicked in the nuts repeatedly?

Courteney Cox.

Alyson Hannigan.

Dear departed Dana Plato. Poor creature didn’t have a Plan B.

Larry Manetti

Though very good as George Constanza, Jason Alexander is one of the luckier men in showbiz.

R153, His Tony Award win was on par with Aaron Tveit’s.

Frank Dickcopalus on GL.

Patricia Richardson on HOME IMPROVEMENT, then STRONG MEDICINE.

I’ve come around to thinking David Schwimmer was the best comedian on Friends alongside Lisa Kudrow. The rest became extremely dull over the years. Ross (as a character) is meant to be over the top and annoying and he nailed it perfectly.

The actor who played Jim Bob on the Waltons- he was such a LOUSY actor.

The youngest brother on Home Improvement. He got worse as he got older.

I always got gay vibes from JimBob. He and "Yancey' the mechanic, seemed a little too close.

Madison Lintz, the daughter on Bosch and now Bosch: Legacy.

Someone upthread mentioned Steve Kanaly, who played Ray on Dallas. FWIW, the other actors on Dallas seemed to hold him in high regard.

Peri Gilpin is an okay actress, but it's funny how her character was supposed to be from Wisconsin. She had a Texas accent, it wasn't really heavy, but you could pick it up. I mean, I'm from the East Coast, and even I can tell. No one from the midwest sounds like her.

[quote] Most of the cast of EIGHT IS ENOUGH.

We were considered lucky?

Valerie Cherish in “I’m It!”

[quote]Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki from Supernatural. Both are abysmal actors but had chemistry together and landed a show that ran for fifteen years.

Jensen is a slightly better actor though. It's a mystery to me why Jared got cast for the Walker Texas Ranger remake and an even bigger mystery on why it got renewed for a season 3 when both him and his real-life wife are shitty actors. I know CW has low standards, but still... Jeez!

R166 careful, you're going to trigger the Jared stans on here. He is on a successful CW show while Jensen has gone on to star in mediocre crap that no one has heard of e.g Big Sky and The Boys.

I don't agree about Kaley Cuoco. She might not be the best actress in the world but Penny was meant to be the "straight-character" compared to all the quirky ones on TBBT, so she wasn't really given that much to do.

Who was the "Penny" in the unaired pilot who was awful?

Mr Green Jeans

Tony Danza was excellent on Taxi playing a boxer which what he was. But then came the forever show One Day At A Time and I still don't get what he was doing on it.

R170. Especially because it was actually WHO’s the Boss

As Don Rickles might say loudly: Like there's a difference!

Have we mentioned Joyce DeWitt? Because I think we need to mention Joyce DeWitt.