Let’s talk about television. I’ve been watching MASH reruns after dinner lately. I started thinking about all the really successful TV series through the years. Most of these long-running shows were ensemble pieces. The other thing about them is the actors rarely came anywhere close to this level of success again. Some churn through soon canceled star turns, while a good number of them were never heard from again. I’m reminded of that line from an Eagles song: “I don’t know why fortune smiles on some and lets the rest go free”[1]. Here are a few examples of this phenomenon.
MASH – In the end almost none of the actors went on to do anything, other than maybe game shows[2], other than Alan Alda, who became a character actor in film (“The Aviator”) and TV (“West Wing”).
FRIENDS – Jennifer Aniston has gone on to moderate film success (she’s mostly stayed away from television). The others have tried starring in numerous television series with little or no success. I tried watching “Cougar Town” once, the Courtney Cox show. I lasted to the first commercial. Unwatchable. I liked Matthew Perry in Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip (Another ensemble show that I thought was great, but was canceled after one season. There’s a blog about this show somewhere down the line.) but there hasn’t been much to show since.
THE WEST WING – It’s hard to see Bradley Whitford as anyone other than Josh Lyman (though again I thought he was great as Danny Tripp on Studio Sixty). Whitford has tried a few other shows after Studio Sixty that also didn’t last. Alison Janney (CJ Craig) has been successful with a sit-com, “Mom”, as well as movies and stage work. Rob Lowe is also finding work in ensemble TV dramas, most recently “Code Black”.
SIENFELD – This one is a bit of an exception to the thesis. We all knew Jerry Seinfeld, who has gone back to standup and some smaller projects on cable (“Comedians In Cars”), would continue to thrive. But it is Julia Louis-Dreyfus whose career has jumped to new heights with “Veep” another long-running, award winning series.
DOWNTON ABBEY – Granted the show is almost all English actors so it will not be as easy to track their progress now that this series ended. Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham) continues to work, most recently in a PBS Shakespeare mini-series. Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) has done a complete turn from type in her new TNT series “Good Behavior” where she plays an ex-con, drug addict on the run with a professional assassin.
What can explain this? It may be as simple as the fact that when a show is successful and runs up to eight seasons or more that the actors become “branded” as their characters. It’s becomes difficult to see them as anyone other than President Jed Bartlett or Lady Mary.
For some these roles are a culmination of a long running but moderately successful career e.g., Martin Sheen on The West Wing or Harry Morgan on MASH. For others it is the early part, or beginning, of their careers e.g., Gary Burghoff as Radar on MASH.
Some getting a whiff of the show’s early success, and completely misjudging their star power (or perhaps trying to avoid this branding effect on their career), decided to leave their series.[3] This also has rarely worked e.g., McLean Stevenson (Colonel Blake) leaving MASH or Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley) exiting Downton Abbey. They experienced moderate success at best.
Perhaps the best explanation is this: A successful ensemble show is alchemy of the best parts of each of the actors. There is no real star. The show becomes the star, not the actors. This may or may not be true but it is difficult to argue with the career success of most of the actors after these iconic shows end. Hopefully they made the best of it during their show’s long run. History seems to indicate it’s all downhill from there.
[1] “The Sad Café” on “The Long Run”
[2] There was also Jamie Farr (the cross-dressing Max Klinger) who sponsored an LPGA golf event for 28 years.
[3] Killing off the character seems to be the preferred method for explaining the early exit.