Actors in two hit series

JP Liz V1

The Good Wife is definitely a hit, a huge ratings winner for CBS plus a favourite with critics also

Besides Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth it also has Christine Baranski (Cybil) and Josh Charles (Sports Night and Season 1 of In Treatment)

pickarooney

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Alison Brie - Community and Mad Men

Much as I love Trudy she's not a primary cast member.

Rosemarie DeWitt - Mad Men and United States of Tara

Bizarely I'd never realised Tara's sister and Midge were the same actress even though I loathed them to the exact same degree. Needless to say she's not a star in the Mad Men world.

John Corbett - Northern Exposure and Sex and the City and United States of Tara

Star billing on two niche shows and a recurring role on a big hit... almost makes it, I'd say.

Rob Morrow - Northern Exposure and Numbers

Interesting one. Entirely depends on what constitutes a hit.

I would have pegged Samantha Who? as Applegate's "Joey" show but it seems not to have done so badly. A hit though? Not sure.

I've been convinced of Chris Noth's credentials with The Good Wife. I might even watch is some time.

I'm going to go with Julie Louis-Dreyfus. TNAOOC was a pile of cack but it ran for 5 seasons and won Emmys. Extra credit for appearing in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm centred around Jason Alexander's inability to find work after Costanza.

JP Liz V1

Heather Locklear

Dynasty - Melrose Place - Spin City

pickarooney

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Heather Locklear

Dynasty - Melrose Place - Spin City

And TJ Hooker. A no-brainer. I thought Morgan Fairchild would be a shoo-in as well but she's had more of a nomadic career.

JP Liz V1

Holland Taylor

The Naked Truth - The Practice - Two and a Half Men

pickarooney

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Holland Taylor

The Naked Truth - The Practice - Two and a Half Men

Seems to fit the bill.

Someone mentioned Larry Hagman a while back, which I forgot to acknowledge.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

pickarooney wrote: »

Patricia Wettig? I've never seen Brothers and Sisters but it sounds like a good call. Is the show any good, while we're on the subject?

I only saw the first 2 seasons of it because RTE were so inconsistent with it's scheduling but it was actually quite good. Sally Field I think makes the show.

Clareman

Kevin McKidd - Rome and Grey's Anatomy

phasers

Clareman wrote: »

Kevin McKidd - Rome and Grey's Anatomy

And don't forget his iconic role in Father Ted!

pickarooney

Clareman wrote: »

Kevin McKidd - Rome and Grey's Anatomy

Is that Tommy from Trainspotting? Big to little screen actors can be tricky. For some, it's a step down from Hollywood (too many examples to list), for others a career-maker (e.g. James Gandolfini), others, like the ubiquitous Mr. Sheen make out like bandits either way.

That guy will always be Tommy to me. That reminds me, I must really get round to watching the rest of Rome...

Clareman

He'll always be Soap to me

Clareman

Have we decided whether The Good Wife can be considered a hit show or not yet?

The 3 partners have been in different shows, In Treatment for yerman, Cybil & recurring role for yerone and latest season of Californication for the newest partner. The husband was Mr. Big in Sex & the City.

I'm going off on a tangent now I think (I think mentioned already) David Duchovny X-Files & Californication, Runkle was in Sex and the City as well as Californication. Skinner in the X-Files was in Sons of Anarchy, Supernatural, Stargate and Grey's Anatomy. Robert Patrick (T2) was in The Unit and The X-files. Ron Perlman was in the Mortal Kombat TV show (don't know how long that lasted) and Sons of Anarchy, Jax in SoA was in Queer as Folk, his girlfriend (the doctor) was in Mad Men.

My head hurts now

Morgans

Shatner is a certainty.

Even if you were to include Boston Legal.

I'm not sure if this counts, but Idris Elba of The Wire and Luther fame. Though I'm unsure if you can call Luther a "hit" series, as it only has one season so far, but did considerably well ratings wise, if I remember correctly.

pickarooney

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not sure if this counts, but Idris Elba of The Wire and Luther fame. Though I'm unsure if you can call Luther a "hit" series, as it only has one season so far, but did considerably well ratings wise, if I remember correctly.

I did have a "whoah, watch out, it's Stringer Bell!" moment when he showed up in The Office (US).

Clareman, if you don't even know the actors' names it's probably a good bet they're not worldwide stars

Basically, if someone asked you to sum up a show in 100 words, if a character/actor doesn't get a mention in that summary he/she's not really an integral part of it.

JP Liz V1

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not sure if this counts, but Idris Elba of The Wire and Luther fame. Though I'm unsure if you can call Luther a "hit" series, as it only has one season so far, but did considerably well ratings wise, if I remember correctly.

Idris Elba is also in The Big C

Sarah Wayne Callies - Prison Break and The Walking Dead

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

I did have a "whoah, watch out, it's Stringer Bell!" moment when he showed up in The Office (US).

.

He was pretty incredible in the Office (US), wasn't he?

Is he? Does the Big C count as a hit show?

Clareman

pickarooney wrote: »

Clareman, if you don't even know the actors' names it's probably a good bet they're not worldwide stars

I'm shocking when it comes to names, I would say that I wouldn't know the real names of the actors that play 80% of the characters of shows that I watch, I had to google most of the names for my other submissions, when I was off on a tangent I was just thinking of shows and people in them.

But if you want real famous celebs don't look any futher than Niall Tobin, Bracken, The Irish RM, Ballykissangel and The Clinic

JP Liz V1

Stephen Tompkinson

Drop The Dead Donkey - Ballykissangel - In Deep - Wild at Heart

pickarooney

Clareman wrote: »

I'm shocking when it comes to names, I would say that I wouldn't know the real names of the actors that play 80% of the characters of shows that I watch, I had to google most of the names for my other submissions, when I was off on a tangent I was just thinking of shows and people in them.

But if you want real famous celebs don't look any futher than Niall Tobin, Bracken, The Irish RM, Ballykissangel and The Clinic

Yeah, the smaller the country the bigger the chance of crossover success. I bet on Liechtenstein TV there's one guy playing the lead in every series and in India you won't get hired for anythign if you've already had a 2-second cameo in a one-season flop

Clareman

Dean Cain was in Lois and Clark as well as Las Vegas. Josh Duhamel was in Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan (he might have been in a soap opera as well).

Clareman

Everybody Loves Raymond would have a few crossovers
Ray - Men of a Certain Age & King of Queens (I know same character)
Debra - 30something
Marie - Remington Steele

I've to read all this thread as well before I post anymore

Rael

pickarooney wrote: »

Cool, now we have a series which hasn't even aired yet!

Yeah but we all know its going to be good :P

JP Liz V1

pickarooney wrote: »

I'm just not buying Timothy Olyphant. Deadwood was axed for poor ratings, Justified is a new show and not well known and honestly I wouldn't be able to pick him out of a line-up. If I'm not mistaken he featured heavily in a thread a few months back on actors who didn't get enough work, which is kind of contradictory.

I'll take Betty White and also Ed Asner by association.

In regard to Timothy Olyphant I think he has had success in two hit shows, Deadwood ran for 3 seasons and was a critical success for HBO and Justified has been renewed for a third season and is a ratings winner for FX and he also featured heavily in Season 2 of Damages

Faolchu

Christian Kane, Angel and Leverage also did Fame LA and Close To Home
Thomas Haden Church, Wings and Ned & Stacey

Luckycharm

Alan dale is a very good one - I remember seeing him in 24 and going that is Jim Robinson from Neighbours then he seemed to appear in all the big Shows over there playing pretty much the same role a rich evil businessman - he was in OC, Ugly Betty, Lost and has appeared in ER, JAG, The Practise, West Wing, CSI, NCIS, Torchwood, Entourage, Law and order and Californication.

Actually I wouldn't say there is too many other actors who have been involved in more hit shows.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Speaking of Ugly Betty, again I don't know her actual name but the woman that played Claire Meade in it was Angela in Who's The Boss way back in the day.

Also Vanessa Williams was in Ugly Betty and is now in Desperate Housewives. Not sure how long she's been on that though.

And speaking of Who's The Boss, Tony Danza was in it and Taxi. I think we've already mentioned Alyssa Milano from that too.

Scott Baio - Happy Days, Charles In Charge (huge in America I believe) and Diagnosis Murder (we've all watched it, don't lie)

JP Liz V1

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Speaking of Ugly Betty, again I don't know her actual name but the woman that played Claire Meade in it was Angela in Who's The Boss way back in the day.

Also Vanessa Williams was in Ugly Betty and is now in Desperate Housewives. Not sure how long she's been on that though.

And speaking of Who's The Boss, Tony Danza was in it and Taxi. I think we've already mentioned Alyssa Milano from that too.

Scott Baio - Happy Days, Charles In Charge (huge in America I believe) and Diagnosis Murder (we've all watched it, don't lie)

Yes Judith Light is also on L&O SVU as a judge she has been in quite a few episodes of it

Sinfonia

iguana wrote: »

Alan Dale, Neighbours, The OC and Ugly Betty.

and Lost.


How about Aidan Gillen, for Queer as Folk and The Wire?

Edit: Sorry, efb already said it

JP Liz V1

Susan Sullivan

Falcon Crest - Dharma & Greg - Castle