I would argue that it wasn’t really Jason who made Open All Hours. Ronnie Baker was the star.
Baker now, he did have two. Fletcher from Porridge and Arkwright from Open All Hours were very different and very successful.
Nicholas Lyndhurst has been in three successful sit-coms, Butterflies, Only Fools and Goodnight Sweetheart. Only one playing the lead though.
Robert Lynsay has been in My Family and Citizen Smith which were also quite successful.
Arbitrarily starting at 5 seasons elimiates Michael J. Fox, but that just doesn’t make any sense; Spin City was a legitimate hit comedy and lasted six seasons, although Fox himself did only four of them. But he was a legitimate star on two hit sitcoms; nobody doubts “Family Ties” and “Spin City” were hits. And the characters were certainly different.
So I think Fox qualifies, at least.
One could also make a strong argument, however, that three has already been done; none other than Katey Sagal has played starring roles on three hit sitcoms:
Married With Children (11 seasons)
Futurama (4 seasons)
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenaged Daughter (3 years and counting)
Bea Benederet played the sophisticated Hollywood neighbor in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and the country inn proprietor in Petticoat Junction. The characters were considerably different.
Neil Patrick Harris in How I Met Your Mother is nothing like Doogie Howser, MD. It’s only been on a year, but the current show is a hit and will eventually reach five.
Ronnie Howard was different in Andy Griffith and Happy Days – older, for one.
Sorry, RickJay…I didn’t see your last post when I was composing the above. Fox definitely qualifies. So does Segal, but only for the two live-action in my book. Voice-work opens a whole new can of worms, and she’s part of an ensemble cast there anyway.
Any Griffith was SHeriff Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Years later he became ‘Matlock’. Never having seen an episode, I don’t know if it had any humor in it.
Hmmm . . . this may seem a bit weird, but how about Garry Shandling, for It’s The Garry Shandling Show and The Larry Sanders Show?
I mean, on the face of it, he’s obviously just being Garry Shandling in both shows.
Yet in the former, he’s a good-natured naif living in a stylized fantasy sitcom world, while in the latter, he’s a bitter self-centered cynic in a very realistic milieu.
I would like to point out that this is probably the first and last time in history that this sentence has been/will be constructed.
Oh, I don’t know… I think that Betty White could kick just about anybody’s ass. Don’t judge her by her television personas- that is one tough broad.
Playing Password, sure.
Well, both of these are supporting actors on their earlier series, but the characters they played were pretty major standouts, so I offer…
Marla Gibbs - The Jeffersons and 227, the latter of which helped anchor NBC’s Saturday nights and lasted 5 seasons. The characters of Florence and (uh, whatever the lead character’s name on 227 was) were pretty different, to my recollection. Both were sassy but Florence was pathetic, bitchy, man-hungry; the 227 character was settled, a wife/mother, much more sympathetic. (Okay, on The Jeffersons I admit I never liked Florence and kinda rooted for George, as much of a jerk as he was!)
Ted Knight - Mary Tyler Moore Show and Too Close for Comfort. Again, the latter lasted for five seasons (surprisingly!). Definitely not the same character types on both shows. On MTM he was … well, we all know about Ted, no explanations necessary! On TCFC he was an uptight, overprotective father with a leetle too much of an obsession with his daughters’ sex lives.
Just thought of another one: what about Howard Hesseman on WKRP in Cinncinati and Head of the Class? The latter had five seasons, though I’m not sure if Hesseman was there for all five. Actually I’m pretty sure he left, so maybe that doesn’t count. (If we’re not allowing Matthew J. Fox, I guess Hesseman shouldn’t sneak in there either.)
Great discussion, all. So far I’m most persuaded by Michael J. Fox and John Ritter, and some of the other contributions are noteworthy too. Still it seems Danson is a pretty significant figure in TV history.
If you’re going to argue about whether Betty White qualifies, then there should be no argument about Bea Arthur. The character she played in Maude (no debating she was the lead, right?) was nothing like the one she played in Golden Girls.
I could argue for Jane Curtin in Kate and Allie and 3rd Rock from the Sun but I’ll concede she was really only a supporting character in the latter.
Soap only ran four seasons, but Richard Mulligan’s Burt was **a lot ** different than Empty Nest’s Harry Weston.
Suzanne Somers - Three’s Company and She’s the Sheriff
Since you bring up The Jeffersons, how about Sherman Helmsley as George Jefferson and as Deacon Frye on Amen?
I’ve never even heard of Becker.
How about Rowan Atkinson? He played a series of brilliant and devious characters in the Black Adder series (well, ok the first series he played an idiot), and then he played Mr. Bean.
And I’ve never seen Bob Newhart play any character. I have only ever seen him bumble around as boring old Bob Newhart.
Buddy Epsen - Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones
Of course, Amen! Yeah, that should count.
Wait, what? She’s the Sheriff? That was a hit? :dubious: Wasn’t that on only one or two seasons, tops?
However, if you exchange that with Step by Step, I think we got a winner. That was a big success for ABC’s TGIF lineup, six or seven seasons I think.
Depending on your interpretation of “substantially different”:
Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show)
…and allowing for non-lead characters:
Don Knotts (Andy Griffith, Three’s Company)
Jane Curtin (Kate & Allie, 3rd Rock)
…and allowing for popular sitcoms lasting fewer than five seasons:
Bob Denver (Dobie Gillis, Gilligan’s Island)
Richard Mulligan (Soap, Empty Nest)
Of course, the OP is specifically worded to eliminate Kelsey Grammer from the running, but his accomplishment with Frasier Crane is singular, and it eclipses Ted Danson’s by a long shot.
Good lord.
Not to mention 14 episodes (2 seasons) of The Thin Blue Line.
I can’t say I agree about Open All Hours – or Only Fools and Horses, for that matter. I think both were shows with dual leads, so the first counts for both Barker and Jason, and the second counts for Jason and Lyndhurst. I appreciate that it’s a matter of opinion, though.
One indisputable two-show star I’d like to nominate it Leonard Rossiter, for The Fall and Rise of Reginal Perrin and Rising Damp.