How TV stars followed up their iconic roles

If Jesse Pinkman had been killed off in the first season, as initially intended, Aaron Paul’s career-making turn on Breaking Bad wouldn’t have happened. He got a chance with movies like Need for Speed but never found a breakthrough role. While he technically started providing a voice on BoJack Horseman before The Path, that’s an animated show where he doesn’t actually appear. The Path was Paul’s return to television in a major way and a chance for him to graduate to being the true lead.

Yes, Courteney Cox has the Scream movies, but if you look at her filmography, that’s about it. Among the friends of Friends  who returned to TV (i.e., all of them except Aniston, a movie star, and David Schwimmer, a guy who seems cool with sporadic work), Cox’s felt the most significant — also, the most laughable, at first. Cougar Town began as a network sitcom about a recently divorced woman looking to date a younger man (remember when “cougars” were a thing?). Quickly, the show abandoned that premise, distanced itself from the title, and became a fun hangout sitcom that lasted for over 100 episodes.

Frasier is perhaps the most successful spinoff of all time, and Kelsey Grammer deservedly got his kudos for his work in that role. He only waited a couple of years after the end of his iconic show to jump into a new sitcom. Back to You starred Grammer and Patricia Heaton as news anchors, but it didn’t even last a full season. Its creators dusted themselves off and went on to create Modern Family. Grammer is going to star in an alleged Frasier reboot at some point.

I Love Lucy was a game-changing sitcom, and obviously, Lucille Ball would get another crack at TV (having had a marginal movie career before television, a move to the big screen was unlikely). The Lucy Show debuted in 1962, a couple of years after Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced. Before the fourth season, The Lucy Show did one of the hardest reboots any TV has ever done, moving locations, dropping cast members, you name it, and managed to last through a sixth season.

Everybody Loves Raymond was so popular that the guy who created it was able to somehow convince Netflix to give him several seasons of a show that is just a rich guy going around eating stuff. Ray Romano was also bolstered by that show’s success, but his movie stardom is limited to lending his distinct voice to the  Ice Age movies. Some, like Martin Scorsese, have keyed into the fact that Romano is also a good dramatic actor, and  Men of a Certain Age was an interesting dramedy starring Romano, Scott Bakula, and Andre Braugher. Quite the trio! It lasted for two critically acclaimed seasons on TNT.

Ah, the Seinfeld curse. While Jerry Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy and continued being massively wealthy for a dude who was never really an actor, what would the other cast members do? At first, it was a tricky go of it. Jason Alexander, forever a legend for playing George Costanza, got a new sitcom in Bob Patterson. It didn’t quite take off, so much so it is almost impossible to find images of the show online, and Alexander has never really found another project that has, though he keeps working.

One more Seinfeld cast member (we’ll avoid Michael Richards for, um, assorted reasons). Julia Louis-Dreyfus has had a stellar post-Seinfeld career. She won an Emmy for The New Adventures of Old Christine and several more for her excellent work on Veep. Before that, there was Watching Ellie. It had an interesting conceit of being a “real-time” sitcom but only aired 16 episodes.

At one time, Harry Hamlin was a truly massive star. He was the ostensible lead of L.A. Law, was nominated for three Golden Globes, and was named "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1987 by People. He left the show early, though, and didn’t really find success elsewhere. Hamlin returned to TV to star in the sitcom Movie Stars in 1999. Hamlin plays one-half of a Hollywood power couple raising their family in Malibu. You know, relatable stuff. The show lasted for two seasons and 21 episodes.

Rob Morrow is one of the classic stories. He got a starring role in Northern Exposure and became a television star, winning an Emmy in the process. Then, in 1995, he left the show to do film after having been in Quiz Show, a Best Picture nominee. That didn’t pan out, so Morrow returned to TV with Street Time. It only lasted 33 episodes, which is decent but unremarkable. However, he followed that up with Numb3rs. Say what you will about the quality of that show, but Morrow was on it for almost 120 episodes.

Deadwood was an ensemble show, but Timothy Olyphant was arguably the protagonist of the Western. When he ventured into film, though, he ended up in movies like Live Free or Die Hard and Hitman, which he has not spoken highly of. Olyphant then got to star in Justified, a modern Western-type show based on books by Elmore Leonard. His turn as Raylan Givens came to supersede his time on Deadwood in the minds of many, perhaps most, making Justified his defining show now. If you’re curious, he followed Justified up with Santa Clarita Diet.

For many, Lost was the first defining work they did, such as Evangeline Lilly and Josh Holloway. However, we’re flipping it around because, for one actor, Lost was the follow-up. As a young man, Matthew Fox was one of the stars of Party of Five. He then followed that up by playing Jack on Lost, which is pretty much the last thing he’s done of note.

Schitt’s Creek was a real phenomenon, bolstered by people getting into it during the pandemic. All four main cast members won Emmys for its final season, as did the show. Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara were already icons, and Dan Levy hasn’t really had a follow-up role yet. Annie Murphy, though, was the discovery of Schitt’s Creek. She followed it up with the annoyingly named AMC show Kevin Can F—k Himself, which didn’t seem to gain any traction. Her future remains bright, though, we predict.

Mork & Mindy was the first significant role for Robin Williams. He proceeded to become a massive movie star and an Oscar winner, only returning to TV late in his career, which was very much a “Robin Williams is doing TV again!” situation. What about Mindy, though? Pam Dawber did not become the biggest star in the world. She did star in the sitcom My Sister Sam, her second titular role. During its second season, it was canceled.

3rd Rock from the Sun was quite successful and actually pretty funny. John Lithgow won three Emmys out of five nominations, but he has so many famous roles. You may think of the show as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s jumping-off point for his movie career. 

Kristen Johnston was nominated for three Emmys for playing Sally, winning twice. She’s the one where you think, “Huh, what happened to her?” Well, in 2011, she would finally get another sitcom, the ensemble comedy The Exes, which aired on TV Land. She was reunited with Wayne Knight, who played her boyfriend Don on 3rd Rock. TV Land originals never found much traction, but The Exes lasted for 64 episodes. Johnson later had a recurring role in the later seasons of Mom from 2018-21.

All four leads on Will & Grace won Emmys. The one who most swiftly got into something new was Megan Mullally. What’s interesting, though, is that it was a daytime talk show. It didn’t quite take, as she only did 71 episodes. Bear in mind that daytime talk shows air five days a week. Mullally would then, oddly, find success in the Adult Swim show Childrens Hospital.

Will Arnett must have really liked working with Mitch Hurwitz. Why not? Hurwitz gave him his big acting break by casting him as Gob Bluth in the cult classic sitcom Arrested Development. After Arrested Development, Arnett was one of the voices in Hurwitz’s animated show Sit Down, Shut Up. Then, Arnett starred in Hurwitz’s Running Wilde. Notably, both shows were critical and commercial flops, and eventually, Hurwitz went back to Arrested Development for two continuation seasons.

America Ferrera won an Emmy for Ugly Betty, where she was the star and enjoyed a breakthrough role. She starred in the two Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies, but those were made around her time on Ugly Betty. Ferrera returned to TV a few years after Ugly Betty ended as the biggest name in the cast of Superstore. The NBC sitcom was a success by modern standards, as much as it was a network sitcom that lasted 113 episodes. Ferrera got to direct some of them as well.

Remember when Desperate Housewives was the biggest thing on TV? Before that show, Eva Longoria was only really known to people who watched The Young and the Restless, and she was sort of the breakout cast member. This led to movies like The Sentinel, which is to say, big shrugs. It was only three years after Desperate Housewives ended that Longoria starred in Telenovela. Alas, it didn’t quite take, as the show was canceled after 11 episodes.

Look, we know the true breakthrough stars of Saved by the Bell : Tiffani Thiessen and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Zack Morris is a ‘90s icon, and he did get a shot at film. In 1999, Gosselaar returned to being a TV lead in The WB’s Hyperion Bay . Immediately, things got off to a dicey start, and Carmen Electra was brought in to try and boost ratings, a very 1999 move. It didn’t work, and Hyperion Bay was canceled after 17 episodes. Gosselaar wouldn’t find traction until he joined NYPD Blue, a show already rolling.

Let’s go back to Breaking Bad . Yes, Bryan Cranston had been on  Malcolm in the Middle, but obviously, his defining role is as Walter White. That is a truly iconic character in television history, and it won him four Emmys. Walter will go down as one of the defining characters of the medium. After Breaking Bad, Cranston made Sneaky Pete for Amazon. Now, he was only on the show in a recurring role in the first season, so why count it? Because Cranston co-created the show, the kind of thing you can do when you are the one who knocks.