I thought this vanity card from Chuck Lorre was pretty funny.
Excuse me? Galecki’s character David Healy was on Roseanne for five years, first as Darlene’s nerdy boyfriend, and later he moved into their basement. He was
nominated for four and the winner of one Young Artist Award.
Minor character my arse!
I started watching Big Bang from the beginning solely because Galecki was in it.
I wouldn’t call him a minor character. He first showed up in season 4 and appeared in every episode of season 5 - season 9.
For a while, he was a more important character than any of the Connor kids.
He is the sole reason I gave Big Bang a shot in the first place.
And don’t forget that he wound up marrying Darlene and they had a baby together (though possibly not in that order). Galecki really showed his acting chops in the birth episode, when the baby was sick and they weren’t sure if it would survive.
He was absolutely a minor character on Roseanne. The major characters were Roseanne, Jackie and Dan. Plenty of minor characters appear in every episode of a series for years.
Let me put it another way: I bet only John Ritter made more money than Cuoco on 8 Simple Rules. How do you think Galecki’s paychecks ranked on Roseanne?
EDIT: In fairness I think I only watched four or five seasons of Roseanne, so if Galecki took over the show and became a headliner, I’ll stand corrected.
You think the ditzy teenage daughter (who at the time had barely any acting credits) was higher paid than Katey Sagal, James Garner and David Spade on 8 Simple Rules?
Yes, absolutely I think the title character who had become the established star got more than the replacement players got.
There was a title character in 8 Simple Rules? Her name on the show was 8? Really?
Obviously, I’m busting your balls, but you don’t honestly believe she was paid more than two established sitcom stars and a bona fide movie star do you?
Having never seen 8 Simple Rules, Cuoco flew completely under my radar. Didn’t even know she’d been on that show until watching BBT. The only thing I know about 8 simple rules is that it’s the show John Ritter was working on at the time of his unfortunately early demise. Was it popular?
8 Simple Rules was your average run-of-the-mill family sitcom. It was not a huge hit, and Ritter’s death really tolled its death bell.
According to IMDB. there were 76 episodes total, 31 episodes with Ritter, 45 after he died.
I could see her being paid more than Garner or Spade, but not Sagal.
The original title was “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” Kaley Cuoco played the teenage daughter in question. (The other teenage daughter didn’t date.)