I resent the implication that S. Epatha Merkerson’s Van Buren was any less “iconic” than Briscoe.
I was thinking about mentioning this, but I feel like Cavill appeared right around the time that the series started declining. I’d mention Admiral Kane, as her appearance kicked off one of the best (and the last) good arc in the series, but she wasn’t really around long enough to be considered a new regular character.
I’d add the Queen of Thorns to that list. She’s awesome, and didn’t appear until Season 4, right?
Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, Samurai, and Rima on the Super Friends?
Friday Night Lights brought in a bunch of new characters in S4 when Coach Taylor moved to East Dillon, including Vince, Jess, Becky and Luke. I remember thinking there was no way it would work, but it did.
Should we maybe distinguish between characters in story-arc shows (B5, BSG, Game of Thrones, etc…) who were always part of the plan, but not yet introduced (e.g. Cavil, Lord Tywin, Hizdahr zo Loraq, etc… ) versus characters introduced in episodic shows without an overarching storyline planned ahead of time (Bernadette, Amy Farrah Fowler, Mork, Ziva David, 7of9, etc…)
Seems like the first category is kind of missing the point of the OP- they weren’t really added, so much as revealed, while someone like 7 of 9 was added after Kes left with the intention of changing the dynamics of the crew.
I agree that Anya, Tara, Spike, and Dawn were great additions to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never thought that Oz added very much to the show and really don’t notice his absence in later episodes. I also notice that no one seems to think Reilly or Andrew were great additions. And Faith always seemed like more of a plot device than a full fledged character to me. I enjoyed how people could come into and leave Buffy’s life in a somewhat organic way (except for Dawn of course.)
On Cheers I thought Rebecca was far preferable to Dianne.
On Deep Space Nine I thought the addition of Martok as a recurring character brought something to the show. Though arguably the most important recurring character added during the course of the show was Lousie Fletcher as Winn Adami late in the first season. She was so fun to hate.
Poochie was a great addition to The Itchy and Scratchy Show. He got biz-zay, consistently and thoroughly, in addition to being proactive and a totally outrageous paradigm.
That’s a good point. In the former the story lines were built for those new characters to come in and change things up. In the later, a character comes in and by their presence changes the show a bit.
He was in Episode1 of season 1
[quote=“drachillix, post:89, topic:698601”]
He was in Episode1 of season 1
[/QUOTE]That’s Tyrion (the imp) not Tywin (the patriarch).
Hmm. My old theory was that eventually she was going to kill herself. I mean come on, Sara Sidle, suicidal?
Osiris the 1st, though I hated Reilly more than words can express, I liked Andrew. I’m bummed that Tom Lenk’s new character just got killed off on another show.
I always liked Van Buren quite a bit, but when people think Law and Order they think Briscoe making a wisecrack at a crime scene, McCoy making ethically dubious legal maneuvers, and the “dun-dun” sound. Everything else comes after.
I feel like one of the very few people who just didn’t like Tara very much. She barely had any relationships with any of the other characters beside Willow. That was even the theme of an episode, where the rest of the gang had no idea what to get her for her birthday since she was pretty much just “Willow’s girlfriend” to them. Angel was similar, in that when he wasn’t evil 90% of his screentime on Buffy was spent in angsty, melodramatic relationship drama with Buffy.
What about evil Wil Wheaton in The Big Bang Theory? What was supposed to be a one shot character got so much Internet mention (including his “evil” moniker) that he has become a reappearing character.
Not a character per se, but Bill Murray was a great addition to the cast of SNL.
Agree. The fact that it was pointed out I thought was very real and organic.
Later when she was a replacement mother-figure for Dawn that helped but she was always going to be “Willow’s girlfriend” due to the nature of the show. “It’s all about Buffy” was THE tenet. Tara was tangential to that.
Any candidates from “Mad Men?”
I’m thinking it’s a toss up between Andrew Keaton on Family Ties or Alexander Rozhenko on ST:TNG.
Hell I even feel Crowley brought on something great. Mark Sheppard really knows how to play a Magnificent Bastard.
I thought Davis Bloom brought a foil to Clark in Smallville pretty well.
Smallville’s Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) was really cool.
Jethrine on The Beverly Hillbilles.