15 TV Characters That Were Never Meant to Last
Course correction. It exists in art for a reason, usually in frustrating ways. Usually some artists have to change their intended vision on the whims of a producer that’s funding the show, or some other bigwig that is in charge of creative people but isn’t really creative themselves. Because of this, the art suffers for it.
However, there are times, in television especially, in which course correction has been done for the better. If there wasn’t a change of mind or of plans, several now-iconic characters would have just been around for a brief moment, never given the time to be the fully fleshed out people we see on the screen. In fact, several roles that were meant to be just brief hello/goodbye launched careers.
Here’s a list containing some of the most iconic TV roles and characters that were meant to be one-offs, but turned into endearing presences on our screens.
Jaleel White as Steve Urkel
ABC
Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester
20th Television
Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
NBC
James Marsters as Spike
20th Television
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
AMC
Ice T as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
NBC
Rachel Bilson
Fox
Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut
AMC
Neil Flynn as The Janitor
NBC
Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
Netflix
Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank
HBO
Pamela Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten
20th Television
Henry Winkler as Fonzie
ABC
Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
NBC
Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer
NBC