Which TV shows have had more memorable characters than "The Wire"?

[Kent_Clark]

It hasn’t been popular in syndication, but St. Elsewhere was the first real exposure for a lot of soon to be stars, including:

Denzel Washington
Alfre Woodard
Howie Mandel
Ed Begley, Jr.
Bruce Greenwood
David Morse
Nancy Stafford

And maybe some others.

[interface2x]

Freaks and Geeks, maybe?

James Franco
Seth Rogen
Jason Segel

have all become big movie stars.

Busy Phillips
Linda Cardellini

have shown up in other shows.

[BrokenBriton]

@alexandra

I’m not sure he had anything half as big as Luther. Maybe he had a bit part in Casualty like every other British actor. checks IMDB No, but he was in The Bill.

It’s a long, long way from tv bit parts (pre The Wire) to having your own BBC1 drama vehicle (post The Wire). Other than Luther he seems film-orientated now.

[Captain_Amazing]

@Bricker

I guess I’d like to know who I’ve been missing – I always like to see cast from The Wire do well. It’s my impression that most have not gotten any obvious boost, but I would love to be enlightened to the contrary.

Wendel Pierce (Bunk Moreland) had a major roll in Treme, and also was Michael J. Fox’s boss in Fox’s recent (now cancelled) sitcom, and Clark Peters (Lester Freamon) was on Treme. Treme, of course, was done by David Simon.

As for non Treme people, Lawrence Gillard (D’Angelo) is on the Walking Dead, and Chris Bauer (Frank) is on True Blood.

[nevadaexile]

Let’s see:

[ol]
[li]Happy Days - All of the main cast are easily recognizable when seen in other projects. As are many of the minor actors[/li][li]Law and Order (The original series)- Again, all of the main cast (living or deceased) would be recognized if they are seen in other series or in films.[/li][li]Barney Miller - The entire cast who are still alive are easily recognizable almost 40 years after the end of the series[/li][li]The Love Boat - The entire main cast from the all but the last year of the series are recognizable in othe projects.[/li][/ol]

[Ibn_Warraq]

@Zeldar

Maybe “broken out” is inaccurate, but I continue to see The Wire actors in roles here and there. Example shows recently:

True Detective
The Good Wife
Justified
Boardwalk Empire

And even though I didn’t watch the show, I believe Treme had quite a few veterans in their cast.

As for numbers, I suspect IMDb might have an episode count of the key players in the shows worth considering. Offhand I’d suggest at least 10 episodes as a measure of how “regular” a character might be.

Not to mention Idris Elba.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@interface2x

Freaks and Geeks, maybe?

James Franco
Seth Rogen
Jason Segel

have all become big movie stars.

Busy Phillips
Linda Cardellini

have shown up in other shows.

John Francis Daley has long played the young FBI psychologist who gets derided by his actually-good-at-something-physically-quantifiable colleagues on Bones. He also pops up in small movie roles by dint of simply writing the films: Horrible Bosses, for example, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

The Dick Van Dyke show

[alexandra]

@BrokenBriton

It’s a long, long way from tv bit parts (pre The Wire) to having your own BBC1 drama vehicle (post The Wire). Other than Luther he seems film-orientated now.

I know, that was my point.

[Kobal2]

@Bricker

The I am sad to say The Wire does not qualify. I can’t think of any Wire actors that can really been said to have “broken out,” because of their roles.

Idris Elba (Stringer Bell) went on to be in *Thor, Prometheus *and Pacific Rim. Few TV actors get to break into the big leagues of Hollywood. Aidan Gillen (Carcetti) had a bit part in the third Batman and of course landed a major role in Game of Thrones.

As for Sonja Sohn (Kima), she almost broke out… of acting, as she’s now head of a community program in B’more, leveraging her *Wire *fame to reach out to at-risk kids. Which is pretty cool.

[OldGuy]

@nevadaexile

Let’s see:

[ol]
[li]Happy Days - All of the main cast are easily recognizable when seen in other projects. As are many of the minor actors[/li][li]Law and Order (The original series)- Again, all of the main cast (living or deceased) would be recognized if they are seen in other series or in films.[/li][li]Barney Miller - The entire cast who are still alive are easily recognizable almost 40 years after the end of the series[/li][li]The Love Boat - The entire main cast from the all but the last year of the series are recognizable in other projects.[/li][/ol]

I’d add M.A.S.H. to this list