Name some TV characters who SAVED a sinking show

"THE CHAMPION ....HEATHER LOCKLEAR"!!

^^^AMANDA WOODWARD^^^

Seven of Nine on ST Voyager. People never warmed up to homely Kes, so they brought in the T&A that could also act.

Abby Fairgate Cunnigham Ewing Scott Sumner

Jo Polniaczek

Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito) - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Elaine on Seinfeld. She was added in the second episode. Not sure the show would have worked without her.

^^^I DIDN'T KNOW THAT-YOU CAN FROM DL^^^

Valerie on BH90210.

Amanda on Melrose Place. (Weren't the ratings for S1 pretty underwhelming before she was brought on?)

The other thread, and article that inspired it, just for reference if you didn't see it.

Stephanie Vanderkellen on “Newhart”.

Maya (played by Catherine Schell) on “Space: 1999.”

R8 - was just going to type that. I adored Valerie on that show!

Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), Donna Meagle (Rhetta) and Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) on "Parks & Rec." I actually love the series and didn't see the first season until I finished the third season. When I went back the show as a complete bore.

Ben paired off with Leslie.

Chris paired off with Ann.

Donna paired off with Tom. "TREAT YOSELF!"

April paired off with Andy. Both were already both on the show.

And Ron played foil and friend to all of them.

The show was finally complete. A successful retool and successful additions that saved the show.

Valerie on 90210.

R8 the Melrose ratings were poor and the show was not firing on all cylinders. Bringing in Jo helped, but it was Amanda that really made it work.

I don't think the drew Carey show was ever a sinking show but Mimi who was only supposed to be a one-off character, Kathy Kinney saved the show.

Heather Locklear not only saved Melrose, but also helped make Dynasty become Dynasty. Sammy Jo did not appear till season 2. Heather also kept Spin City alive, coming in at the fourth season.

R17, that's why it's sad to me that she's in the state that she's in.

'Frank Reynolds' in IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

Danny DeVito joined the show in Season 2 and it was recently renewed for a staggering 18th season.

[quote]Stephanie Vanderkellen on “Newhart”.

Peter Scolari’s Michael was just as important. I doubt most people even remember Steven Kampmann as the diner owner from the first 2 seasons who was Dick’s original foil.

R20 people always forget 'Leslie Vanderkellen' (Jennifer Holmes) who only appeared in Season 1 and was replaced in Season 2 with her cousin 'Stephanie Vanderkellen' (Julia Duffy).

'Kirk Devane' (Steven Kampmann) was in Seasons 1 & 2 and was replaced with 'Michael Harris' (Peter Scolari) starting with Season 3.

Incidentally, Duffy was Emmy-nominated 7 times for "NEWHART" but never won. She lost 4 times to Rhea Perlman ("CHEERS"), once to Jackée Harry ("227"), once to Estelle Getty ("THE GOLDEN GIRLS"), and once to Bebe Neuwirth ("CHEERS").

Scolari was nominated 3 times but lost twice to John Larroquette ("NIGHT COURT") and once to Woody Harrelson ("CHEERS").

Going back to the 70s, Henry Winkler's Fonzie turned Happy Days from a mild hit to a ratings phenomenon.

"AY..............."

Focusing on Fonzie may have saved the show but it certainly didn’t improve it.

Speaking of Happy Days, the actor who played Miles in GG was cast as Howard Cunningham in the TV pilot. We're the Cunninghams Jewish? Because that would have been an obvious casting mistake.

Carlton the Doorman

Taylor Townsend in The O.C. (kind of)

Kathleen Turner as Sue Collini on "Californication."

Spike and Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Woody and Rebecca on Cheers.

Blaine Anderson on Glee.

The terrorists who shot up that wedding on Dynasty.

She was by far the best guest star, r27.

“Cheers “was never sinking.

Alexis certainly changed Dynasty, as did Sammy Jo.

But I disagree that the show was sinking during Season 1, there wasn't enough time spent on it for that determination to be made. It was actually really warming up by end of Season 1, and all those characters then had to take a back seat to Alexis.

I’d throw in Marcia Cross and Laura Leighton along with Heather Locklear for Melrose Place.

R32. However had the replacing coach or Diane been less than stellar it probably would have.

I always thought that Robin Strasser gave One Life to Life an electric charge.

The Guiding Light in the early (mid?) 80s: Lujack (Vincent Irizarry)

[quote]The Guiding Light in the early (mid?) 80s: Lujack (Vincent Irizarry)

In November 1983, Guiding Light wasn't sinking and didn't need saving.

But Vincent Irizarry joining as Lujack did add a bit of excitement to an already excellent show that was firing on all cylinders.

Ahem.

Freddie Brooks and Kim Reese.

Jaleel White on Family Matters. Despite the hate for him, he is the only reason anyone remembers that show. Oh, that and the daughter that became a porn star.

R18 Nevada, or Oregon?

Rachel on Another World

R34 Laura and Marcia were great, but the show was great prior to them being regulars.

Abby Cunningham on Knots Landing. Well somebody had to stir the shit!

Eliza Dushku on Season 4 of “Angel.”

Karen Cellini on “Dynasty”! The show would have been ruined without Catherine Oxenbeeg to play Amanda!

Guiding Light was a top 4/5 ( sometimes #2 or #3) rated show when Vincent joined in 84.

R46, agreed! Faith is a fantastic character, and her best moments came not on Buffy, but as part of her redemption arc on Angel.

I hate when these turn into soap threads, but as mine have all been taken-

Tina Lord Roberts- OLTL 1985.

I stand by that Andrea Evan's return to One Life To Live in 1985 brought that show from a sincerely unmemorable 2+ years and and serious ratings drop to the top of the ratings.

(And from what I have read- she reinvigorated that character into a funny scheming vixen and as the writers watched her portrayal they then wrote Tina that way) post1985 Tina was pretty much Andrea's creation. Erika Slezak confirmed that herself.

I’ll submit Nancy McKeon, season 2, Facts of Life. While the show underwent a number of other cast changes at the time, Jo became the perfect counterpart to LIsa Warner’s Blair.

[quote]“Cheers “was never sinking.

Incorrect R32. It was almost cancelled in its first season and Brandon Tartikoff saved it. The ratings went up. Partially because of the Sam/Diane romance which ended when .... yeah.

Cheers may not have been sinking in the traditional sense, but losing both Coach and Diane could’ve derailed it, and Shelly's exit was expected to do that. Woody and Rebecca gave the show a new rhythm that kept it going for 11 seasons. They had their highest rated season after that before it steadily began to decline.

Lisa Rinna

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Bethenny Frankel

Real Housewives of NY season 7-11

I think Frasier and Lilith gave Cheers a big boost as well.

Barnabas from "Dark Shadows."

R53, totally disagree. Bethenny is the weakest link in the seasons she returned. She is just constantly bringing everyone down due to her negative energy. Aviva is such an underrated villain and Kristin Taekman is an underrated hero.

Snuffleuppagus as Big Bird's real but unseen by everyone else on Sesame Street brought in some much needed drama.

Katherine Chancellor on Young and the Restless. She wasn't an original character and was brought on when the initial ratings were poor.

[quote]The Guiding Light in the early (mid?) 80s: Lujack (Vincent Irizarry)

Guiding Light definitely didn't need saving in 1983. But I would argue that Kim Zimmer joining as Reva Shayne Lewis did more to help the show.

Reva quickly became an audience favorite and Kim Zimmer even got the "And Kim Zimmer as Reva Shayne Lewis" at the end of the credits roll due to that popularity (and a savvy agent who knew how to negotiate these things).

Adding Lujack didn't hurt the show. He added some excitement, but certainly not to the extent that Reva did.

Mrs Beasley on ‘Family Affair’. Uncle Bill was a hottie but couldn’t carry the show on his own without her.

I don't know if "saved" is the right word but Ted Danson brought the original CSI back to life for several seasons after William Peterson left and Laurence Fishburne's grim tenure ended.

R11- Deanna Troi seems vaguely based on the Maya character from Space 1999 as does the female doctor from Space 1999 remind me of Dr. Beverly Crusher.

Quinn Cumming’s Annie Cooper saved the day on Family.

Betty White's "Sue Ann Nivens" on MTM. At first, she was brought in as a guest star on the show, for the episode 'The Lars Affair' (which was the best in the whole series) in the 1973-74 season.

Once Rhoda left the show in 1974, they wrote 'Sue Ann' in a few more guest spots for 1974-75. Once Phyllis left in 1975, they brought White in as a regular (1975-76) and made 'Sue Ann' a permanent character in Mary's circle of friends. She kept the show afloat with Rhoda and Phyllis gone for the final two seasons (1975-77).

This may be technical and/or hair splitting but I seem to remember reading in a few books/articles about the MTM show that White never became a "series regular" - not in the same in-every-episode way that the main characters were, anyway.

She was in a number of episodes from season 4 on but I think it was more like 7-8 a season.

R65 Betty White two Emmys as Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for MTM, not as Guest Actress.

Betty White said that she was flattered when people told her how much they loved Sue Ann because she wasn’t in that many episodes.

MTM only featured acting credits at the end of the show, not at the beginning, so anyone who appeared in an episode as a featured player stood alongside the actors who were in every episode, making “series regular” harder to define, but Betty White did appear in every episode of the final season, which I think made her a regular at that point.

I loved Sue Ann, but she never filled the void left by Phyllis and Rhoda. She was too mean to ever be Mary’s real friend. Georgia Engel, who was too dumb to establish a meaningful relationship with Mary, also flopped as a friend, though they kept trying.

The show had some golden moments in its final three seasons, but it essentially became a workplace comedy. A lot lot of the heart left with Rhoda and Phyllis.

Here are the closing credits for the episode where Mary lands in jail for protecting a source. The regulars get starring credit, while Georgia Engel and Betty White get the WITH credits. Barbara Colby got the guest star credit.

Thanks for confirming/clarifying, R67, I knew I'd read something along those lines in one of the MTM books.

I thought Richard Chase (David Selby) was good for amping up the drama on Falcon Crest when he came in season 2.

David clennon as Miles drentell on thirty something

All the prime time soaps needed a shot in the arm in the beginning. “Dallas” was a surprise hit in its original airing as a miniseries and they decided to move JR to the fore front although he’s already pretty prominent from the start.

Charo on Peyton Place.

R70 Yes.

Having Noel Fisher return as Mickey Milkovich on SHAMELESS certainly helped in the later seasons as the writing was really going to shit. Mickey and Ian were the only reason I kept watching, and I always found Fisher very hot even if he's not conventionally handsome.

Amen, R71

How about characters who *could* have saved a sinking show? I was right there but the writers foolishly made me a one-off villain

Don't forget about me, Margo aka R76

Sasha Mitchell becoming a cast regular in season 2 of Step by Step.

Harry Morgan and Mike Farrell on MASH.

(MASH probably wasn't sinking, but it needed these new characters to keep going.)

Dynasty was a massive hit as a mid- season replacement. Joan didn't save the show... she added interest. She was basically unknown to an entire generation.

[quote]This may be technical and/or hair splitting but I seem to remember reading in a few books/articles about the MTM show that White never became a "series regular" - not in the same in-every-episode way that the main characters were, anyway.

I think the same could probably be said for Leachman and Harper, too. I don't think they were in every episode in the first 3 seasons. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Valerie Harper was certainly a series regular.

Cloris Leachman was a frequent guest star.

“Dynasty” was decidedly not a massive hit in its first season which is why Aaron Spelling was recruited starting with Season Two. The quality of the show was better in Season One but it was too slow for people.

What was I?

Harper was a regular on MTM the first four seasons. She doesn’t appear in the last two episodes of Season Four probably to get people used to her absence.

White was slowly added but I’d say she was a regular the final two seasons.

Leachman though was never considered a main cast member. It’s just that she was so memorable is all.

And yet Phyllis got a spinoff series, like Rhoda.

Phyllis tended to be front-loaded into the earliest episodes of the seasons she was in.

Alice Ghostley kept Designing Women afloat in its final season.

I'd hesitate to say that Spike saved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although he did become increasingly central to it in its later years. Going so far as to be given the crucial role in the series-ending battle that you'd have expected the title character to win.

Sadly moving the character to the spin-off—after he was incinerated !—was one of the conditions for the WB renewing Angel's 5th season. I wasn't happy to see him, but he could be said to have saved that show (minus all the scenery he chewed; the set builders and decorators must have had to work 24/7 to keep up).

Bubba and his insanely hot ass on Mama’s Family.

How can we forget Judith Lowry playing 'Mother Dexter' on 'Phyllis' ? Talk about saving a show from ruin ! She started as a guest star, but was so well-liked in each episode that the producers made her a permanent cast member by the end of the season, having her become a member of the household.

Not sure if it counts, but the pilot of Lost in Space lacked both Dr. Smith and Robot. They were in the first episode that aired.

Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch

R92 Then she died during the second season.

R95 She sure did. Both she and her TV husband - within weeks of each other. Lindstrom said that was when the network decided to end the show - she could not be replaced, and her character was too important to the show not to have her.

This thread has moved far away from characters who saved sinking shows.

But here's some trivia. The Dylan McKay character played by Luke Perry was not in the first episode of Beverly Hills 90210. Dylan first appeared in the second episode.

R96 And Jane Rose (Phyllis's mother in law) had cancer while on the show, and her role had to be reduced. (Died around 3 years later.)

'Dynasty' wasn't sinking, but Joan Collins gave the show a huge boost.

It's been reported that Loni still has a HUGE collection of Disney's "Snow White" memorabilia in her house, dating back to when she was a child. She auctioned some of it off nearly 10 years ago, but still has a great deal left for her kids to unload. I wonder what they will get for it ?

Loni who?