Recurring character
Encyclopedia
A recurring character is a fictional character
, usually in a prime time
TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus. The character's return is often based on popularity.
Recurring characters usually start out as guest stars in one episode but continue to show up in future episodes if the storylines or actors are compelling enough. Sometimes a recurring character eventually becomes part of the main cast of characters; such a character is sometimes called a breakout character
. Some notable examples of main characters who were originally recurring characters are Leo Chingkwake on That '70s Show
, Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Zack Allan
on Babylon 5
, Franklin Mumford on My Wife and Kids
, Steve Urkel
on Family Matters
, Donna Moss
on The West Wing, and Michelle Dessler
and Chloe O'Brian
on 24
. In other cases, recurring characters have been given spin-off
series of their own, such as Dr. Frasier Crane
who originally was a recurring character on Cheers
.
On sketch comedy
programs, recurring characters are generally a staple. For example, in the sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows
, Sid Caesar
used the concept frequently:
Usually they will appear in their own sketch and the sketch itself can become a regular part of the show. Some notable examples would include the Church Lady and Hans and Franz
from Saturday Night Live
, the Gumbys from Monty Python's Flying Circus
, and Bob and Doug McKenzie
from SCTV
. However, the characters are not always limited to their own sketches. Sometimes, characters from a recurring sketch go on to appear in other sketches, or develop into their own TV shows. For example, when The Carol Burnett Show
was canceled the central character of a popular recurring sketch called The Family, Thelma "Mama" Harper, went on to have her own show Mama's Family
. Also, recurring characters in sketch comedy shows can go on to have their own movies. This is especially true with Saturday Night Live which has had many recurring characters turn into movies such as Stuart Smalley
, Wayne and Garth of Wayne's World
, The Blues Brothers
, and The Ladies Man
. Recurring characters may even revisit shows long after the actor who played them has left the cast, for example, the character Mary Katherine Gallagher
was portrayed by Molly Shannon
when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2007, six years after she left the cast. Sometimes a recurring character from one show will appear on another show, such as when Dave Thomas
and Rick Moranis
hosted Saturday Night Live in 1983 and portrayed Bob and Doug MacKenzie, or when Emily Litella (portrayed by Gilda Radner
) from Saturday Night Live appeared on The Muppet Show
in 1978. Sascha Baron Cohen's character Ali G
is another example, originating on the Channel Four series The Eleven O'Clock Show
. The character was such a huge success that Cohen got his own show as the original show was cancelled.
Of course, recurring characters are not limited to television. In the early 20th century, the Saturday Evening Post frequently had recurring characters in their cover art, such as Baby New Year
. The Shmoo
was a recurring character in the comic strip Li'l Abner
, which eventually went on to appear in the TV cartoon series Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
and The New Shmoo
. The Sherlock Holmes
series of novels by Arthur Conan Doyle
featured well-known recurring characters such as Professor Moriarty
and Mrs. Hudson.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, usually in a prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus. The character's return is often based on popularity.
Recurring characters usually start out as guest stars in one episode but continue to show up in future episodes if the storylines or actors are compelling enough. Sometimes a recurring character eventually becomes part of the main cast of characters; such a character is sometimes called a breakout character
Breakout character
A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...
. Some notable examples of main characters who were originally recurring characters are Leo Chingkwake on That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
, Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Zack Allan
Zack Allan
Zack Allan is a character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Jeff Conaway. He regularly appeared in the show from season 2 onwards. During the second and third seasons of the series he was a security officer on the Babylon 5 station...
on Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, Franklin Mumford on My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids is an American television family sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005. Produced by Touchstone Television , it starred Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin, and centers on the character of Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules...
, Steve Urkel
Steve Urkel
Steven Quincy Urkel, generally known as Steve Urkel or simply Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...
on Family Matters
Family Matters (TV series)
Family Matters is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois, which ran on national television for nine full seasons. The series was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers, but revolves around the Winslow family...
, Donna Moss
Donna Moss
Donnatella "Donna" Moss is a fictional character played by Janel Moloney on the television serial drama The West Wing. Donna is a recurring character during the first season, although she appears in every episode, making her a de facto regular...
on The West Wing, and Michelle Dessler
Michelle Dessler
Michelle Dessler is a fictional character played by Reiko Aylesworth on the television series, 24. She was one of Jack's closest and most trusted female allies at CTU as well as one of his closest friends outside of work. The character first appeared in the second season of 24 as an Internet...
and Chloe O'Brian
Chloe O'Brian
Chloe O'Brian is a fictional character played by actress Mary Lynn Rajskub on the US television series 24. An analyst at CTU Los Angeles , she is Jack Bauer's most trusted colleague, often doing unconventional and unauthorized favors for him, even at personal risk to herself...
on 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
. In other cases, recurring characters have been given spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series of their own, such as Dr. Frasier Crane
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
who originally was a recurring character on Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
.
On sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
programs, recurring characters are generally a staple. For example, in the sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
, Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
used the concept frequently:
Usually they will appear in their own sketch and the sketch itself can become a regular part of the show. Some notable examples would include the Church Lady and Hans and Franz
Hans and Franz
Hans and Franz were characters in a recurring sketch called "Pumping Up with Hans & Franz" on the television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live...
from Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, the Gumbys from Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
, and Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted "Great White North", a sketch which was introduced on SCTV for the show's third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. Bob is played by Rick Moranis and Doug is played by Dave Thomas...
from SCTV
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
. However, the characters are not always limited to their own sketches. Sometimes, characters from a recurring sketch go on to appear in other sketches, or develop into their own TV shows. For example, when The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
was canceled the central character of a popular recurring sketch called The Family, Thelma "Mama" Harper, went on to have her own show Mama's Family
Mama's Family
Mama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
. Also, recurring characters in sketch comedy shows can go on to have their own movies. This is especially true with Saturday Night Live which has had many recurring characters turn into movies such as Stuart Smalley
Stuart Smalley
Stuart Smalley is a fictional character invented and performed by satirist Al Franken. The character originated on the television show Saturday Night Live, in a mock self-help show called "Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley." It first aired on SNL's February 9, 1991 episode hosted by Kevin Bacon...
, Wayne and Garth of Wayne's World
Wayne's World
Wayne's World was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" on the CBC Television series It's Only Rock & Roll, as the main character first appeared in that show...
, The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...
, and The Ladies Man
The Ladies Man (2000 film)
The Ladies Man is a 2000 American comedy film that stars actor, comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows. It was directed by Reginald Hudlin. The movie focuses on the exploits of radio host and sex therapy expert Leon Phelps....
. Recurring characters may even revisit shows long after the actor who played them has left the cast, for example, the character Mary Katherine Gallagher
Mary Katherine Gallagher
Mary Katherine Gallagher is a fictional character invented and portrayed by Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon from 1994 to 2001, and when Shannon reprised her role when she hosted in 2007.-Character:...
was portrayed by Molly Shannon
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...
when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2007, six years after she left the cast. Sometimes a recurring character from one show will appear on another show, such as when Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (actor)
David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
and Rick Moranis
Rick Moranis
Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
hosted Saturday Night Live in 1983 and portrayed Bob and Doug MacKenzie, or when Emily Litella (portrayed by Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
) from Saturday Night Live appeared on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
in 1978. Sascha Baron Cohen's character Ali G
Ali G
Ali G is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, Ali G is the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show, original episodes of which aired in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, and is the...
is another example, originating on the Channel Four series The Eleven O'Clock Show
The Eleven O'Clock Show
The 11 O'Clock Show was a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4, which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items.The series ran from 1998 to 2000, most notably while hosted by Iain Lee and Daisy Donovan...
. The character was such a huge success that Cohen got his own show as the original show was cancelled.
Of course, recurring characters are not limited to television. In the early 20th century, the Saturday Evening Post frequently had recurring characters in their cover art, such as Baby New Year
Baby New Year
The Baby New Year is a personification of the start of the New Year commonly seen in editorial cartoons. He symbolizes the "birth" of the next year, and that the "old" year is gone; in other words, a "rebirth"...
. The Shmoo
Shmoo
A shmoo is a fictional cartoon creature. Created by Al Capp , it first appeared in his classic comic strip Li'l Abner on August 31, 1948, and quickly became a postwar national craze in the USA....
was a recurring character in the comic strip Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp , the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through...
, which eventually went on to appear in the TV cartoon series Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo was a 90-minute Saturday morning animated package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from December 8, 1979 to November 15, 1980 on NBC...
and The New Shmoo
The New Shmoo
The New Shmoo was a 1979 cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC.-Plot:This show about a group of teenagers — Mickey, Nita and Billy Joe — who solve mysteries and crimes with their friend, Shmoo, a character from Al Capp's newspaper comic strip, Li'l Abner...
. The Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
series of novels by Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
featured well-known recurring characters such as Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
and Mrs. Hudson.