Four Great Sitcom Characters Who Weren’t Added Until Season Two
While sometimes adding a new character is the worst thing that can happen to a sitcom (looking at you new kids and babies), other times it elevates a show to a whole new level of hilarity. Just imagine how much less trouble the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia gang would have gotten into without Frank Reynolds bankrolling them? Or how many fewer times the word “literally” would have been uttered on Parks and Recreation if Rob Lowe never joined the cast?
It’s literally frightening to imagine it. So instead, check out this list of great sitcom characters who didn’t arrive until their show’s second season.
Michael Harris on ‘Newhart’
After the success of The Bob Newhart Show, Bob Newhart’s second sitcom, Newhart struggled to find its footing in Season One. The show was about New Yorkers Dick and Joanna Louden (Newhart and Mary Frann) buying a quiet inn in Vermont, and originally, Leslie Vanderkellen, played by Jennifer Holmes, served as the inn’s maid. Leslie was a wealthy heiress who took the job to get some real-life experience, but she was so kind and friendly she never really generated any laughs.
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In Season Two, Leslie was replaced by her bratty, entitled and much funnier cousin Stephanie (Julia Duffy), who had appeared in one episode of the first season (hence her exclusion from this list). Stephanie re-energized the show along with her shallow yuppie boyfriend Michael Harris (Peter Scolari), a TV producer who dotes on her constantly.
Because they were a young couple, many of the show’s big episodes centered on their relationship, like their breakup, their wedding and the birth of their child. Scolari was also a wonderful foil for Newhart, as Newhart’s character was endlessly exasperated with him. And Michael, because he was a TV producer, brought in a whole new opportunity for comedy with Dick Louden hosting a local morning show.
Without that wrinkle, it’s hard to imagine Newhart would have lasted eight seasons with just the antics around the inn.
Ben Cafferty and Kent Davison on ‘Veep’
Veep started out with a big cast, but it got even bigger (and better) when Kevin Dunn and Gary Cole joined in Season Two as two veteran political advisors for Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Cole played Kent Davison, a cool, cold, numbers-obsessed pollster who seemed to lack regular human emotions. Dunn played Ben Cafferty, a burnt-out advisor who inspired some of the show’s most quotable lines, like when Selina asked him how he’d feel if he had to choose between his cock and his balls, and Ben replied, “I could lose ‘em both. I mean, at this stage they’re purely decorative.”
Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger on ‘Parks and Recreation’
Parks & Recreation was another show that took a minute to find itself. Amy Poehler was great as Leslie Knope from the start, but her love interest (Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz) had very little going for him. At the very end of Season Two, Mark left, and in came Indiana state auditors Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) and Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe). Ben was hilariously nerdy — he dressed up as Batman and created a truly terrible board game — and his romance with Leslie was one we all could root for. As for Lowe, his cheery, neurotic energy and his clipped way of speaking quickly made him one of the show’s funniest characters.
Frank Reynolds on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
After pretty much no one watched the first season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX demanded the addition of a star to the cast and suggested DeVito. In came Frank Reynolds, the rich, loathsome, insane, gun-toting father of Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Dennis (Glenn Howerton). While most episodes of It’s Always Sunny still center around the antics of its original foursome, Frank has brought about hundreds of the show's funniest moments, like his naked emergence from a leather couch and that time he pooped his and Charlie’s bed just for laughs.
