Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 January 5

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January 5

Who are the gods and goddesses of television actors?

My criteria are that the person must have starred in the greatest number of successful series, say those that ran for at least five seasons. I can come up with various actors with two to their credit, e.g. Bob Newhart (The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart), James Garner (Maverick, The Rockford Files), Andy Griffith (The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock), and Griffith's one-time co-star, Ron Howard (The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days), but only one man and one woman come to mind with three: Michael Landon (Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven) and Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy). Is there anyone else who can match or surpass them? Or are they the unchallenged Zeus and Hera of the boob tube? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:22, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

David Boreanaz seems to be on his way (Angel, Bones and the not-quite-there SEAL Team). Clarityfiend (talk) 00:28, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Ted Danson: Cheers, Becker (TV series), and 5 seasons in a starring role in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation RudolfRed (talk) 01:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

I don't think CSI qualifies. The article states he was a regular for only four seasons (12-15), plus in a large ensemble cast, was he one of the big stars? It's not a show I watched much, but I thought that distinction belonged to William Petersen. Close though. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:50, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Seinfeld (1989–1998), The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010), and Veep (2012–2019). PrimeHunter (talk) 10:26, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Ted Danson was mostly cast to replace Laurence Fishburne who was mostly to replace William Petersen. Danson also played the role of supervisor, the role formerly held by Petersen's character (although Marg Helgenberger held the role during Fishburne's time). After CSI, Danson moved to the second and final series of CSI: Cyber. Nil Einne (talk) 11:47, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Danson should get a special exception for The Good Place. Only four seasons, but extremely successful and critically acclaimed. Matt Deres (talk) 21:59, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Since British television hasn't been specifically excluded I'll suggest David Jason, star of six series of Still Open All Hours (following on from four series of Open All Hours), seven series of Only Fools and Horses, and fifteen series of A Touch of Frost. --Antiquary (talk) 11:49, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Not forgetting Do Not Adjust Your Set--Phil Holmes (talk) 14:18, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

William Roache has played the same role in Coronation Street since 1960. If radio is included, there are some almost life long time roles in The Archers

--TrogWoolley (talk) 12:07, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Maura Tierney should qualify with the fantastic NewsRadio, plus ER and something called The Affair. --Wrongfilter (talk) 12:21, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

• Another 3-fer: Carroll O'Connor for All in the Family, Archie Bunker's Place, and In the Heat of the Night. --Jayron32 12:25, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
• Another 3-fer: Betty White for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls, and Hot in Cleveland. Plus, if you count non-acting roles, she was a regular on many of the highly popular panel shows of the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, if you asked me, given her LONG career in the medium in various roles, which beside her acting and non-acting screen roles also include producer and writer and others, she'd be my first shot for "Queen of Television". --Jayron32 12:35, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
  • Hell, just cut to the chase and install her as President immediately. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:26, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
    • I'm okay with her as POTUS, but she had only a recurring role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and O'Connor's Archie Bunker's Place lasted four seasons. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:45, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
• Harry Morgan should get an honorable mention. He was on TV pretty much continuously for 4 decades, playing Pete Porter on a series of CBS sitcoms in the 1950s and 1960s including December Bride and Pete and Gladys, plus Bill Gannon on the 1967 revival of Dragnet and Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H. In between all of those, he also played in a number of less successful series. --Jayron32 12:47, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
• Ted McGinley should also get an honorable mention. He was never the star, but he was on a number of very successful series, including The Love Boat, Happy Days, and Married... with Children and has never seemed to be without work in 40 years... --Jayron32 13:03, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

• I searched the out-of-date IMDB raw data files that are still available at ftp.fu-berlin.de, and looked for TV series where the same actor or actress appeared 50 or more times, excluding appearances as himself or herself. The greatest number of different TV series with 50+ credits each for one actor or actress was 27 different series for Frank Welker, including 198 credits on The Smurfs, 140 on The Real Ghostbusters, and 118 on Garfield and Friends, and so on down. If I excluded voice performances, then the champion was Hilda Bernard, with 50+ credits on 21 different series, all apparently in Spanish, including 311 credits on Chiquititas, 272 on Malevo, 255 on Se dice amor, and so on down. Most other people with large numbers of credits on large numbers of different series also have names that appear to be Spanish. --174.95.161.129 (talk) 08:15, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

  Part of that is the organization of Spanish language TV series (especially in Latin America) is different than English Language. The Telenovela format doesn't usually run for more than a season, though a single season may run nightly for 150-200 episodes, so it would be common for an actor to appear in a different series every year, and to rack up hundreds of such credits. It would be similar to U.S. daytime soap operas, if instead of a continuing storyline, every 6 months or so the show just ended and a new show started in its place. --Jayron32 11:57, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

  Yeah, the old joke is "I saw a cartoon the other day. ... Frank was in it."--Khajidha (talk) 14:16, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

IMHO this question is misplaced. It is entirely opinion-based, additionally with arbitrary, personally chosen criteria, which makes any possible answer arbitrary, too. --CiaPan (talk) 12:09, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Feel free to not answer it then. No one here will miss you. --Jayron32 14:49, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Starting with the title. It should be something like, "Who has starred in three or more successful TV series", with followup defining "starred" and "successful". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:24, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks all. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:15, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

Katey Sagal starred in Married with Children, Futurama and Sons of Anarchy, all running for many series (or seasons as they are American) as well as the excellent if less-successful 3 seasons of 8 Simple Rules. 86.4.248.70 (talk) 21:56, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

Late entry: Martin Clunes starred in six seasons of Men Behaving Badly, nine seasons (to date) of Doc Martin and six seasons of Kipper! Rojomoke (talk) 18:28, 11 January 2021 (UTC)

Billy West voices Fry, Doug, Ren and Stimpy, but he only appears to be one of those cartoon all-stars. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:45, 12 January 2021 (UTC)