Blog Party II: Three Favorite Sitcom Supporting Characters

Hello! I see you're back! ::canned laughter:: Looks like you've brought some friends, too! ::audience whistles:: Hey look, that wacky Rey just walked in. ::screams and cheers:: Hope you've brought an appetite for reading about sitcom supporting characters; let's get to BLOG PARTY II! ::applause:: We're gonna do it!



When they walk in, the audience cheers. Sometimes they do outrageous things; other times they do impossible things. Whether speaking a made-up foreign language, walking around in a vest and toolbelt 24/7, getting a hole-in-one with a whale, or whipping any number of ingenious devices out of an infinite trenchcoat, we remember sitcom supporting characters long after the sitcoms themselves are off the air. Here are three of my favorites, in no particular order and Ted McGinley-free:


BULL SHANNON:
Who could forget Richard Moll's amiable bailiff on Night Court? This gentle giant lost fellow bailiff Selma when lung cancer claimed actress Selma Diamond, and Flo when Florence Halop died of the same causes. Bull was almost always cheerful and compliant, his trademark “ooooo-kay!” a big part of my vocabulary of impressions growing up. Moll's gone on to major voice roles in shows like Batman: The Animated Series, and was on-screen again in an episode of Smallville last season. Bull may have been abducted by aliens, but the character is forever embedded in the recesses of my memory.


JANITOR:
Neil Flynn's janitor on Scrubs has similar qualities to Bull in that he's a tall working class everyman who's just a bit “off”, but the similarities end there. The Janitor can be a mean prankster who consistently finds new ways to harass Zach Braff's J.D., often for his own entertainment. One of the best aspects of his character is that he's never been named and often conceals his nametag from the doctors, who for four seasons with no other options have simply called him “janitor”. His name might be Neil Flynn, as suggested by one episode in which J.D. discovers the janitor was once a movie star, and actual footage from the Fugitive in which Flynn had a small role as a transit cop is shown. The Janitor isn't all secrets and practical jokes though, as recently some depth has been added to his character. In a recent episode he confesses to Elliot(Sarah Chalke) that he likes her because she “treats [him] like a human being”. Whether tormenting J.D. or convening a meeting with his army of stuffed squirrels, he's a fun character to watch.



ARTHUR FONZARELLI:
I'm not sure what I could say about Henry Winkler's Fonzie that I haven't already said before. The Fonz was the definition of COOL and I did my best to emulate him in the hopes of impressing girls, oblivious to the fact that his kind of cool was a few decades old and wouldn't win the hearts of fellow second-graders. There's a certain timeless value to his cool though, and even people who've seen Winkler in Night Shift still think the Fonz is cool. I'm not sure such a character could work in this day and age. Getting an IPod to play by hitting it just wouldn't be the same as hitting a jukebox. Cool.


* * * * *

Bull.
The Janitor.
Fonzie.

I've run into people like them. Sometimes I've wished I was more like them; other times I've been them. Thanks for coming to Blog Party II and be sure to leave links in the comments section to your own contributions. I'll be back tomorrow to post links to everyone who joined in the fun in a Blog Afterparty wrap-up. Most importantly, thank you for being a friend!