I always thought that there were some minor characters that could have grown from the storylines or plot contrivances that they were used for.

One good example is Alicia from Smallville. She could have a good person for Clark to talk to about his powers. Also, I thought that Gwen Raiden could have used more in Angel.

Yes, it was a shocking and brilliant move to kil her off, but I still wish Buffy's Jenny Calendar had lasted longer. The bookish "technopagan" with a thing for Giles seemed like she had so much more potential.

During Charmed's sixth season, I liked one of Paige's slampieces who stuck around for several episodes,(his name was Richard, I think). He had a fairly decent backstory (by Charmed's standards anyway) and unlike most of the Manor Moron's love interests, he was actually quite likable and somewhat interesting. But because the crack-addled monkeys on Charmed can't write for shit, he was locked in a mind-numbing storyline where Paige didn't want him using magic anymore, at one point staging an intervention with all of his dead relatives. shudders

I adored Jenny Calendar, but it made her death all the more shocking by the fact that she was such a nice, interesting, and fleshed-out character. I'm sure nobody saw that coming! Of course, Robia LaMorte is gorgeous, and at the time, she was probably the hottest hottie on Buffy, a show where all the women are beautiful.

I also like Chloe O'Brien, played by Mary Lynn Rajskub, on 24. She is affectionately (but IMO unfairly) known as "Potato Face" on TWoP's 24 forums.

Most of my favorite characters from Justice League Unlimited have been minor characters: The Question (who actually had several key appearances this past season), Mister Miracle (one featured episode), Deadshot (one featured episode where he didn't even appear in costume, and an earlier cameo appearance where he did), Fire and Ice (only non-speaking cameos), Zatanna (one featured episode), and Maxwell Lord (one featured episode).

24 has had a boatload of cool supporting characters. I'm still mourning the loss of Day One's snarky, bitchy, but still friendly and adorable Milo Pressman.

Is Oz minor enough to qualify for this thread? He was definitely cool enough.

[OT] Robia La Morte hotter than Charisma Carpenter? or, for that matter, Elizabeth Anne Allen? I'm afraid we part company on that, bigbadvoodoolou. She may have been a better actress than the other two, but not a better looker IMO. [/OT]

I don't know. Seth Green was a regular for a while.

Mama Solis, from Desperate Housewives. She was awesome!

I'm still mourning the loss of Larry from BtVS.

I'm still hoping Dr. Petra Gilmar from House will come back and slap Cameron around a bit.

Mr. Trick was a pretty cool minor character. It's almost too bad Faith had to dust him before she could team up with The Mayor.

This thought just now popped into my head. How about Evil Faith/Mr. Trick as a couple-that-never-was?

I agree that Larry could have continued to contribute and grow valuably for a long time -- though perhaps "mourning" is a bit strong for any feelings I'd have about a fictional character. And yes, Gwen on Angel.

With as many characters as Hill Street Blues had, I thought some of them never got used properly. I'm especially thinking of Bobby Hill (Michael Warren), who even though he got his screentime, in the 7-year run hardly ever had a subplot of his own other than being idealistic and sincere: we never saw where he lived or any of his life separate from the job, and there were almost never stories that focused just on him.

Same with Denzel Washington on St. Elsewhere. I heard that he was content to have it that way so he could take time off to make movies sometimes without being missed too much, still he never seemed to develop enough dimensions on the show.

I thought Bobby was a good character and he did have some plotlines - the ups and downs of his 'marriage' to Renko were a huge part of the spine of the show, there was his vagabond father Reggie showing up and Bobby dealing with his complex feelings about his father, the time he won the lottery, his brief involvement with racial politics in the department - but I do agree that they could have done more with him, especially given that some of those latter plot lines were wrapped up a bit quickly. I suspect that TPTB found it easier to write about the more openly eccentric or outsized characters like Belker, Hunter, JD Larue and Renko.

I wished that we got to know Trent's bandmate Jesse on [/B]Daria[B] better. We saw him play with the band and go on a couple of excursions with Trent, Jane, and Daria, but we never got to really meet him. I always thought that he should have been the third party in the infamous love triangle in the last two seasons instead of Tom.

According to the Desperate Housewives spoiler thread, that ass clown Marc Cherry says that he'd like to bring back Ryan Carnes as Justin, "if he can think of a story for him."

And if Marc Cherry can't bring back Justin because he can't think of a SINGLE story for a character with so much potential, than Justin belongs in this thread, and Marc Cherry belongs in Antarctica where he can never run a television show after a first season again.

I think Hurley is the most interesting character on Lost but he's really only used for comic relief. I would love to see more of him.

Back when "Lou Grant" was on, one of the editors of the Los Angeles "Tribune" was played by the guy who has played Luis on Sesame Street for lo these many years. You hardly ever saw him except in editorial meetings, but I was fascinated by Luis in an adult role.

[OT]Damn close call (they're both gorgeous), but I'd have to use their characters to break the tie, and Jenny Calendar was a lot nicer and cooler than the Cordelia Chase of seasons 1 and 2, so Robia narrowly trumps Charisma. And I've only seen the first 3 seasons so far, so I don't know who Elizabeth Anne Allen is. But by the end of season 3, my Willow Rosenberg/Alyson Hannigan crush beats all. [/OT]

I've become interested in the people at Stargate Command who rarely travel offworld.
There's Sgt. Walter Harriman, Sgt. Siler, Lt. Graham Simmons, and of course, the dearly departed Dr. Janet Fraiser.
I believe there was an episode last season devoted entirely to SGC and Gen. O'Neill trying to keep things under control with help from everyone else. I hope they do something like that again soon.

I always thought Kyle from Roswell was pretty cool. He was so-so in Season One but still likable. Once Kyle actually got in a the mix of things in Season 2, his stock definately went up. Especially when he was paired with Tess(I liked her, so sue me). In Season 3 he was still cool but he never had anything to do, which sucked.

Bomani from Season 3's Alias. The guy was just plain cool and smooth. And Sark killed him to save Lauren. Vomit.

I'm ashamed to admit this, as someone who was once a rabid x-files fan, but there is a character on there that I'm thinking of, who's name I can't recall. He was another agent who Scully consulted from time to time and he had a huge crush on her. He appeared in maybe 5 episodes, and then he got killed. Poor guy. I was always hoping he'd get up the nerve to ask her out.

Agent Pendrell. Or Agent Bulletstopper as I like to call him.

Unless you missed Season One's The Witch and Season Three's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, you have seen Ms. Allen even if you don't remember her, bigbadvoodolou. She played Amy in both episodes, and also appeared as the same character in the regrettable Season Six.

Kendra The Vampire Slayer. Imagine if Kendra had gotten a show of her own. It probably would have been a comedy. I got a kick out of listening to her speak with that accent. I loved Kendra's quirkiness. She was a fun character to watch.

Oh wow, Amy the witch! She was also in Season Three's "Gingerbread," where she turned herself into a rat. I'm surprised I didn't remember the actress' name, since I'm usually good with names. She was cute, but I'd still rank Alyson, Robia, and Charisma higher.

spritz, I got your back. I seem to recall Kendra taking a lot of heat on the boards, but I liked her too.

My favorite minor character from Buffy is Drusilla, and I was really disappointed that they never really resolved her character on either Buffy or Angel. It would have been interesting to see her and Spike interact, after he got his soooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuul.

And on a different note -- I would totally watch The Sideshow Bob Show.

I really like Julie, Ross' girlfriend from the first half of Friends' 2nd season. She was pretty, smart, and nice. One of the few times that the "other person" in a love triangle isn't a raving bitch/jerk/moron/bore/etc.

What a glaring contrast to Rachel, who came off like a rude, mean, nasty bitch.

In fact, I've probably liked EVERYONE who was involved with someone Rachel liked--Bonnie, Emily (until she turned into a shrew, albeit with good reason), and Charlie (who should have kicked Rachel's ass)--mostly because they exposed Rachel for the immature, whiny, bratty bitch she truly was.

Drusilla's ends not being tied up drives me crazy. CRAZY. She was a fantastic character, and for her to just slink away and never get talked about ever again just bugs.

Though at least she escaped the Joss curse that often striked down his female cast members.

I love O'Neill. He reminds me of this cool uncle I once had. Sniff.

I have to agree with every Buffy character mentioned and would like to add Harmony, who was fantastic comic relief when trying to be bad, and Michael, the boy witch, who seemed like he might be an interesting character.

I loved Harmony. One of the only characters on that series who ever genuinely made me laugh. She was awesome in her appearances on Angel, too.

There was a character mentioned during the first season as being "Smallville's only goth", some eyeliner-wearing guy named "Chad", who we never even got to see and yet many of us mourn the lack of him. I also wish they'd bring back Lex's jerk half-brother Lucas who was only used in one episode.

And who can forget Porthos the beagle on Enterprise? Dogs count as characters, right? Because I loved him. I was seriously rooting for him to get his own storyline, preferrably involving giving Captain Archer a case of space-rabies.

If we're talking Buffy characters, I've always had a soft spot for Jonathan. The lonely nerd in high school, he does once affect the world's reality to make himself a paragon--but he used his paragon powers for good, mostly--and while later he does become a Buffy villain, he never really wants to kill anyone, he just wants the power. I always thought he should have reformed and had his own show, like Angel except with this former nerd who has some magic abilities. But then the series creators had to kill him off, and then focus on the ridiculous Andrew--a far inferior character in my estimation.

Also, where there were a host of Star Trek shows on, I always thought there should have been a Star Trek: Red Shirt series, one that only focused on the extremely minor characters who only showed up long enough to get killed on planets the crew was visiting. On this show, we would have seen more about them and their life on board the Enterprise, and in the end, one of them always goes off on the mission that gets him or her knocked off. Always a sad ending.

Sark from Alias. Cute, sexy, British, and badass, smoothly played by David Anders. Character assassination in Season 3. What a waste.

I so totally agree with everything you said, Penny Bree. I loved Jonathon. During the whole "Nerd Reign of Terror", I thought it came through loud and clear that he didnt really mean to hurt anyone. The look on his face when Katrina told him it was rape....I so wanted him to get a chance at redemption. Instead, he ended up buried in a shallow grave and I was forced to endure Tom Lenk's stupidity for the rest of the season. Gah!

Yeah, although I've never been the huge Sark fan that some are(Sarkney? Eeeww), but I HATED how they turned him into an accessory for Lauren in season 3.

I don't know if he counts as a minor character, but since he was never in the main credits, I'm going with Lindsey McDonald from Angel. He was in the first episode and the last (I don't want to talk about it), irritated Angel to no end, and brought out some of David Boreanaz's best acting.

Battlestar Galactica has some great minor characters, but they keep ending up with major storylines. Helo was a minor character in the mini who became a major player on the show, Crashdown began as a background character and ended up at the forefront of the Kobol storyline, and Cally, Dualla, Billy, Chief, and Gaeta all play the hell out of their roles.

My two favorite minor characters ever were David Puddy and J. Peterman. Peterman was just the perfect pompous boss, and they gave that character some awesome one-liners ("Oh, Elaine... that wasn't him talking! That was the yam yam!"). Puddy was just hilarious, and always had another quirk hidden away to pull out at odd moments, from face painting to wearing a man-fur to listening to Christian radio. Just hilarious.

Nutjob is spot on about Dave Puddy. He was brilliant. Paraphrased but when he tells Elaine 'I'll be back later, we'll make out'. It was comedy gold.

I always thought Arthur, the funeral director intern on Six Feet Under, was woefully underused and departed way before his time. I think he could have stuck around longer if they didn't use him as Ruth Fisher Doomed Relationship Fodder.....

Incidentally, the actor who played him, Rainn Wilson, has gone on to do a ton of work, including a hilarious part on the US version of The Office and a great guest spot on Entourage.

Someone on the Seinfeld thread talked about an interview where it was shown that Puddy's longevity was a true testament to how much everyone loved Patrick Warburton, since all of his various quirks (face painting, fur coat, high fives, devout Christian) could have easily all been given to different characters. And he handled them all so well too.

I wanted Elliot's brother Donnie, on Just Shoot me, to have his own show.
David Cross could be the star of his own series.

Maybe a cooking show? (chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pi-i-e-e-e)

Can't believe I missed your post before, Penny Bee. Jonathan ruled. Well, 'cept for that whole "friends with Warren" thing. But, and I swear I would never post this about anyone else ever: I think deep down, Jonathan at least meant well.

I agree - I think if the Scoobies had accepted him into their gang, he would have helped them a lot. He had magical powers (enough to change reality even) and I think he wanted to do good - in the reality he created he was battling demons, and he helped out in the Graduation battle. Instead though, even Willow and Xander looked down on him, even though they were geeks too.

I have to give a mention to Magda, Patsy's straight-talking editor in Ab Fab, played by the magnificent Kathy Burke. She got some of the best lines, like when she and Pats are talking about models and Magda says ‘If models get any younger Pats, they'll be chucking foetuses down the catwalk!’ It's a shame Magda hasn't really appeared in the last couple of series of the show though, since Kathy seems to have retired from acting to direct.

And those two actors have had better post-Seinfeld careers than any of the four leads, which really tells you something.

Buffy had a nearly unlimited number of fabulous minor characters. I nth the Jenny love and the Drusilla love, but I want to add love of Sunday from "The Freshman" and Holden from "Conversations with Dead People," two vamps that deserved far more screen time than what they got.

Also, Mary Cherry, Nicole Julian, and Bobbie Glass from Popular. They were in the main credits, sure, but always the B/C plots among the ensemble cast. But oh, how I loved them.

I'd love to see Chad actually show up but knowing SV he'd just be another meteorfreak obsessed with Lana.

Seinfeld had several great minor characters, although I think most of them were used in exactly the right amounts. In addition to JP and Puddy, I'll add Newman as my personal favorite.

Col. Fox on M*A*S*H was always a fun character. (Whereas Stanley whats-his-face was just death.)

I loved Flash on the Dukes of Hazzard, although it's tough to imagine expanding his role much.

And, as an example of a great minor character that eventually became more than minor, Lillith on Cheers.