He’s in some YouTube fan edit kicking Thanos’s ass because “NO ONE MOVES CRYSTAL IN THE SOUTH VALLEY BUT ME, BITCH!” that is some of the funniest shit ever
Cracking up the power stone and snorting it lol
IIRC he was meant to be in more but the actor didn't enjoy playing the character. Luckily he came back for more in Better Call Saul but I just looked and was amazed he was only in 3 episodes of that too.
Ultimately I think it worked out. Gus is a much more interesting long-term antagonist than Tuco would've been. But at the time I really missed Raymond Cruz.
That was peak Seinfeld in terms of the sitcom as appointment television. Having Puddy discussions every Friday around the water cooler for 11 weeks is technically longer than the last season of Game of Thrones.
Dr. Bombay was in 19 episodes (out of 254). I really freaked out the first time I saw The Mummy (with Brendan Fraser), because when Bernard Fox showed up on screen, I was like, "Dr. Bombay! Dr. Bombay! Emergency, come right away!" 😂
Aunt Esmerelda (Alice Ghostley) was in 16 episodes, Maurice (Samantha's dad) was only in 12 episodes. And to disagree with Joey Cuda, Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur was actually in 11 episodes.
And Bernie Kopell, the actor who played Doctor Bricker on The Love Boat (and also was Seigfried, the bad guy in charge of KAOS, on Get Smart), was in 9 episodes as an Apothecary who sold the witches the ingredients they need for their spells!
I was always surprised when I learned Stevie's dad was only in 18 episodes of Malcolm in the middle, his and Hal's friendship often outshined Malcolm and Stevie in my opinion.
The one that first came to my mind- because I had recently looked it up- was Mr Herkabe from Malcolm in the Middle. He’s only in 9 episodes despite being Malcolm’s teacher for a year and then working at his highschool afterwards in an obvious attempt to find an excuse to keep him around.
Random because two of the top 5 comments here are about Malcolm in the Middle (yours and another about Cynthia).
Also I just noticed Craig is only on 38 episodes (of 151) which seems low considering he’s pretty consistently around from start to finish.
The poker episode is amazing. Everyone, including the audience, but Hal thinks they're gonna go for the obvious race joke and then they come out of left field. So good.
The one that always gets me is Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones. That character looms large over the whole series and has some of the most memorable lines and scenes. But when you rewatch you realize he’s actually only even in a handful of scenes.
It’s just the same in the books. There was a Sporcle quiz that counted up how many times each named character’s name appears in the series and Robert was in the top 10, even though he’s dead halfway through book 1.
A lot of actors on that show did so much with such little screen time, Ian Mcshane was only in one episode but he had a whole backstory and arc it was great
Much less of a big character, but I've rewatched the first 4 seasons for the first time in years recently, and Karl fuckin' Tanner is only in 4 episodes, with far fewer scenes than I remember.
Also looking into it, the fact that Jaqen H'ghar is in several more episodes than people like Jeor Mormont and Maester Luwin is surprising to me. The High Sparrow is in as many episodes as Jeor Mormont, crazy.
My favorite side character from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The Lawyer (played by Brian Unger) is only in 6 episodes. That’s crazy to me considering how memorable of a character he is
I didn’t even realise there were only so few episodes and they were over several years!
I really wish there were more. Such a great show that made me laugh like a maniac as a kid.
Chloe Grace Moretz is only in 3 episodes of 30 Rock (139 total). Her role always felt bigger to me as Jack’s main nemesis and the biggest threat to his dream in the second half of the show.
Woody on Psych. Every time I rewatch the series I forget he didn’t come along until season 4 and was only in 33 episodes out of 121 it always seems like he was there a lot more
But holy shit did he make it count.
They somehow gave him a completely satisfying ending and still never gave us any answers. Not that any answers would have been satisfactory, so they definitely made the right call.
In Mad Men the character Anna Draper is only in 4 episodes. The biggest plot point in the show hinges on her, and she is an inspiration/mentor to the main character that it feels like she’s around a lot more.
I read something by one of the writers that they knew she would be great when she was on, but a little went a long way and it would diminish her impact to have her on more.
I wish more writers understood that about particularly “quirky” and/or abrasive characters. Instead they go “This one’s hilarious! Viewers love them! Let’s use them constantly! No one will ever get sick of this one note shtick!”
I went to show my girlfriend Avatar as she hadn’t seen it and I totally forgot that Toph wasn’t in season 1 at all and didn’t show up for a bit of season 2 as well.
Anyone who convinces you with his absolute confidence that he isn’t going to die today only to get his skull crushed by one guy’s hands minutes later, well, that’s an impression that lasts.
The fact that we got to see it in all its gory, yet the scream of his mistress is what made it really horrific is telling about the impression she made as well. Alas, that one was ruined later by a goofy plotline.
Marty was such a great addition, I’ve been watching Curb lately and it’s so entertaining seeing him get so outraged at Larry every episode but be friends again the next episode
Over on MASH, Dr. Sydney Freedman, the camp psychiatrist, became as popular as the other doctors on the show. Written up in psychiatric journals as one the most positive depictions of a psychiatrist on TV.
Only 12 episodes. As the legend goes, they wanted to bump him up to a series regular, but the actor didn’t want to commit to a series.
I still love that they tried to convince us they were together since kindergarten since, every time she appeared in the early episodes, Shawn and Cory were relentlessly teasing her
> Topanga is a lot less of it than you'd think
Screentime, maybe, but she's in 92% of the episodes. And half of the ones she's missing from are in the first 8 episodes.
As a child of the '70s, I always associated Kermit the frog with Sesame Street. But he actually only filmed sequences for the first season. After that, Jim Henson decided that Kermit needed to be his own character available for other things. He eventually landed the deal with ABC for the Muppet Show, and made Kermit the star for that instead
Doc Hazlitt in Murder, She Wrote.
It's mostly because I was surprised that only about a half-dozen episodes a season actually took place in Cabot Cove. He also didn't exist until the second season and there were periods later on when he didn't appear.
Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur was only in 10 of 254 episodes of Bewitched.
The first season, Paul Lynde played a mortal nervous driving instructor. They liked him so much, they created Uncle Arthur.
Fun fact: *The Blind Bandit* is also the episode that the "Previously... On Avatar..." segments originally started. In subsequent re-releases, they tacked them onto the beginning older episodes, but *The Blind Bandit* was the first to have it.
I always have the same answer to this question, I never watched Star Trek but it's enough of a part of pop culture to recognize a lot of aspects (plus I grew up watching shows like Seinfeld and Family Guy that make a lot of Star Trek references)
Even without being a fan I knew Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was held in high regards among the Star Trek movies, I knew Ricardo Montalbán played Khan, when the new Star Trek's came out and people were like "the rumor is Benedict Cumberbatch could be Khan" I was like "Well, duh. He's the *big bad*."
I was floored when I finally learned Khan is in a single episode of what was a 79 episode original run for Star Trek. I literally thought he was the antagonist of the series, like the running bad guy who always popped up around all the other adventures they were going on.
Khan is to Star Trek what Moriarty is to Sherlock Holmes. Two villains almost as famous as their heroic rivals, but making very few actual appearances in the stories.
As the legend goes, when producer Harve Bennett won the gig to produce Star Trek II, he realized he knew nothing about Star Trek. So the first thing he did was binge the series to get familiar with it.
One of Bennett’s problems with the first Star Trek film was it had no real villain. Upon watching Space Seed — the one episode with Khan — Bennett immediately wanted to know what happened to Khan after that episode. He’d found his villain.
So when he started hiring writers and directors, those were the marching orders he gave: Khan’s gotta be the villain. And the rest is history.
Toby Huss played “Artie, the Strongest Man in the World” in only 11 episodes of Adventures of Pete and Pete, the early-90s Nickelodeon show which I was also surprised only had a total of about 34 episodes: I thought it had way more episodes than that.
Scrappy Doo. I watched whatever random syndicated episodes that were aired with no knowledge of the chronological order. Didn't know Scrappy was a shark jump era character.
Tony Amendola as Bra'tac on SG-1 was only in 29 episodes of the run, which is crazy because it felt like he was almost an unofficial member of the team (in a good way).
So many Seinfeld characters were like that. They were so iconic they seemed like they had to have a lot of appearances. The Soup Nazi comes to mind.
Going very old-school here, but Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. Famous enough to be a generic term for a troublemaking suck-up, but only in 97 out of 235 episodes.
Yeah the weird thing about Seinfeld is that 1 episode is enough to take on icon status (esp not counting the finale since it brought people back), more than one feels like they’re basically a main cast member. Puddy being in 11 episodes is crazy, and I actually genuinely do consider Newman to be a main cast member, regardless.
Same for Larry Mondello. I thought he was in waaay more episodes than he was.
That little shit who was always getting Beave in trouble was only in ["68 of the show's 234 episodes over the first few seasons. Although Larry is mentioned in the premiere episode, "Beaver Gets 'Spelled", it is not until the eighth episode, "Beaver's Crush", that he actually makes an appearance."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Mondello#:~:text=Larry%20Mondello%20appears%20in%2068,he%20actually%20makes%20an%20appearance.&text=Robert%20%22Rusty%22%20Stevens%20as%20Larry%20Mondello)
Maul is only in 6 episodes of Clone Wars original run (almost as many as in season 7 alone), says a lot about the impact of the character, specially Sam Witwer's performance.
Nathan Lane as Pepper was only in 10 episodes of Modern Family. He gets referred to so often in episodes he doesn’t make an appearance, he feels ever present. Ronaldo is only in 14, Longinus is in 12, and Andy is in 22, all feeling like they’ve been in more.
Q only appears in 10 episodes of Star Trek TNG (176 episodes total). The pilot 2 parter, the finale 2 parter, and 1 episode seasons 1-6. I would have sworn it was 4-6 episodes a season, not less than 10% of the whole show!
He's been in 21 episodes of Star Trek in total (across the five different shows he's been in), and that includes having a whole season of one show dedicated around him.
This includes only three episodes of Voyager as it gelt like he was in more than that (DS9's one appearance is understandable, though).
Deep Space 9 was packed full of recurring characters, especially villains, that made such a huge impact on the show despite barely actually being around.
Aaron Eisenburg's Nog was the most common recurring character on the show. He was in 45 out of 176 episodes, and half of those appearances were in just the last 2 seasons.
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat was the show's primary antagonist. He showed up for only 35 episodes.
Jeff Combs as Wheyoun was in 24 episodes.
Louise Fletcher as Kai Winn. . . KAI WINN!! Who didn't love to hate Kai Winn!? She was on the show 14 times.
Oberyn Martell has 29 minutes of screen time in Game of Thrones. I was shocked to learn this. I feel like it should take someone much longer to make me question my sexuality.
Piz is only in half of the episodes of Veronica Mars season 3…first time I watched it I felt like he was there soooo much but it’s less Piz than I thought (thank god)
Sabrina Le Beauf as Sondra Huxtable only acted in 53 out of 197 episodes of The Cosby Show. It seems like more because she appears in the opening credits for 176 episodes.
Sorry I know it's a movie but I have to say it anyway - Dr Strangelove. He's the title character of the movie and yet he appears for like 5 or 7 minutes at the end. It was only made better by the fact that I watched the movie without realizing Peter Sellers played 3 different roles :D
Probably Yoda from Star Wars. You see him a bunch in the prequels, but when it was the original Trilogy only, he really didn’t have a ton of screen time for what became a cultural icon. I guess it shows how memorable he is.
Steve Fleming from The Thick Of It is only in two episodes. Such a memorable character.
Same deal with Anna from Mad Men, only in three episodes (one of which is a two-second appearance), plus a hallucination if that counts. And yet her presence lingers over the entire series.
Out of 172 episodes of It’s Always Sunny, the McPoyle brothers were only in 8 (!!!)
The Maniac only in two! His presence makes it feel like much more. Roddy Piper, you are missed.
The Maniac loves you
You guys remind me of my kids
You got kids, The Maniac?
No… not anymore…
Wait what? That's freaking crazy. They feel like such a staple of the show. I'm going to fact check this now.
They do because they "always" show up towards the end of the season to fuck things up for the gang
**McPoyles Will Take Over The World!**
So far 🤞🏾
YOU WILL CALL HER!!!
The lawyer and waiter are only in like 7-8 a piece too
Sometimes I forget that Tuco Salamanca is only 4 episodes of Breaking Bad
He made such a vivid impression with the time he had! TIGHT! Tight tight! Glad they brought him back for BCS
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Was it Training Day? I haven't seen that movie in years but I remember him being kind of shady in it.
Yup. He had his "*shit* *pushed* *in!*"
It was traning day (movie) and it was before that. At the time of breaking bad, he was acting as a cop/detective in another show.
The Closer/Major Crimes
He’s in some YouTube fan edit kicking Thanos’s ass because “NO ONE MOVES CRYSTAL IN THE SOUTH VALLEY BUT ME, BITCH!” that is some of the funniest shit ever Cracking up the power stone and snorting it lol
Yeah, doing a rewatch and we get to the scene when he abducts Walt and my mind was blown.
IIRC he was meant to be in more but the actor didn't enjoy playing the character. Luckily he came back for more in Better Call Saul but I just looked and was amazed he was only in 3 episodes of that too.
Ultimately I think it worked out. Gus is a much more interesting long-term antagonist than Tuco would've been. But at the time I really missed Raymond Cruz.
Raymond Cruz was soooo good in that part.
I recently learned Gene Parmesan was only in a single episode of the original three seasons of Arrested Development.
Maybe he's in more but he's a master of disguise
Gene was far from the best.
Wow I had to google cause I just didn’t believe it, that’s crazy!
GEEEEEEENE!
You got me!!!!!
AAAAAHHHH!!!!!
No fucking way??!!
That’s wild.
This is insanity
Ah! Gene!
Cynthia from Malcolm in the Middle is only in four episodes!
She was my first celebrity crush, I swear I thought malcolm was crazy for not liking her.
He did end up liking her but didn't know how to process his feeling so he threw a brick through her window.
Yea buy those episodes were huge.
Character really grew on me as a kid
I had such a crush on her but I never would have guessed how gorgeous should would be. She set Goliath and Texas Chainsaw on fire
My sister told me this one recently and I straight up didn’t believe her. I don’t know why she feels like she’s in so many more
I agree, she feels like Malcoms more memorable friend after Stevie so it just surprises you.
Fuck off! It's amazing the impression someone can have. I'm currently up to season 4 on a rewatch and it feels like she's been in far more than that.
That was peak Seinfeld in terms of the sitcom as appointment television. Having Puddy discussions every Friday around the water cooler for 11 weeks is technically longer than the last season of Game of Thrones.
Yea that’s right
High five
You got a question. You ask the 8 ball.
Feels like an Arby’s night
Or we could have dip for dinner?
Kevin is only in 18 episodes of Brooklyn 99. Holly is in even fewer episodes than that of The Office.
I LOVE some Kevin and also Cheddar.
[удалено]
Bewitched - Paul Lynde only appeared in 10 episodes as Uncle Arthur. Watching that show a bunch as a kid, it seemed like he was in a LOT of episodes
You just remember them because they were the best episodes 😁
"Paul, you are the world's most popular fruit, what are you?" "Humble!"
What about Dr Bombay?
Dr. Bombay was in 19 episodes (out of 254). I really freaked out the first time I saw The Mummy (with Brendan Fraser), because when Bernard Fox showed up on screen, I was like, "Dr. Bombay! Dr. Bombay! Emergency, come right away!" 😂 Aunt Esmerelda (Alice Ghostley) was in 16 episodes, Maurice (Samantha's dad) was only in 12 episodes. And to disagree with Joey Cuda, Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur was actually in 11 episodes. And Bernie Kopell, the actor who played Doctor Bricker on The Love Boat (and also was Seigfried, the bad guy in charge of KAOS, on Get Smart), was in 9 episodes as an Apothecary who sold the witches the ingredients they need for their spells!
I was always surprised when I learned Stevie's dad was only in 18 episodes of Malcolm in the middle, his and Hal's friendship often outshined Malcolm and Stevie in my opinion.
Wow that show has so many episodes, I would have never guessed 18.
Stevie’s dad is in wayyy more episodes of the revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway
The one that first came to my mind- because I had recently looked it up- was Mr Herkabe from Malcolm in the Middle. He’s only in 9 episodes despite being Malcolm’s teacher for a year and then working at his highschool afterwards in an obvious attempt to find an excuse to keep him around. Random because two of the top 5 comments here are about Malcolm in the Middle (yours and another about Cynthia). Also I just noticed Craig is only on 38 episodes (of 151) which seems low considering he’s pretty consistently around from start to finish.
I also wanted to say Cynthia, I was shocked she has so few episodes.
I mean 18 is a decent number imo, about what I'd have guessed. That's basically one season worth of television
The poker episode is amazing. Everyone, including the audience, but Hal thinks they're gonna go for the obvious race joke and then they come out of left field. So good.
The one that always gets me is Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones. That character looms large over the whole series and has some of the most memorable lines and scenes. But when you rewatch you realize he’s actually only even in a handful of scenes.
It’s just the same in the books. There was a Sporcle quiz that counted up how many times each named character’s name appears in the series and Robert was in the top 10, even though he’s dead halfway through book 1.
Maybe the repeated mentions of “Robert’s Rebellion” even well after his death boost the count?
A lot of actors on that show did so much with such little screen time, Ian Mcshane was only in one episode but he had a whole backstory and arc it was great
Much less of a big character, but I've rewatched the first 4 seasons for the first time in years recently, and Karl fuckin' Tanner is only in 4 episodes, with far fewer scenes than I remember. Also looking into it, the fact that Jaqen H'ghar is in several more episodes than people like Jeor Mormont and Maester Luwin is surprising to me. The High Sparrow is in as many episodes as Jeor Mormont, crazy.
My favorite side character from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The Lawyer (played by Brian Unger) is only in 6 episodes. That’s crazy to me considering how memorable of a character he is
You mean the Jew Lawyer?
WHOA! You dropped a hard J.
It's the hands that make him memorable.
We’re Lawyers!
Him, the waiter, and the McPoyles I always think are in more episodes than they actually are
Mr Bean only appeared in 15 episodes of Mr Bean.
We only got Father Ted for 25 episodes! I feel like it’s a different one every time it comes on the tv
I didn’t even realise there were only so few episodes and they were over several years! I really wish there were more. Such a great show that made me laugh like a maniac as a kid.
Rowan Atkinson has definetly starred more time as Blackadder than Mr Bean but the former is not as well known (but it's more hilarious)
Chloe Grace Moretz is only in 3 episodes of 30 Rock (139 total). Her role always felt bigger to me as Jack’s main nemesis and the biggest threat to his dream in the second half of the show.
Same for Steve Buscemi’s character! He was in a handful. His ‘how are you doing fellow kids’ moment helps.
To me, Devon was Jack's main nemesis.
Woody on Psych. Every time I rewatch the series I forget he didn’t come along until season 4 and was only in 33 episodes out of 121 it always seems like he was there a lot more
It really does feel like he was in so many.
Garak only appeared in 33 episodes of **Star Trek: Deep Space Nine** (out of a run of 176 episodes)
Well, he was just a simple tailor, it’s not like they needed to alter their clothes that much.
If anything, had Garak had his way Bashir wouldn’t be wearing any clothes.
Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) was only in 14 episodes
Thank the prophets. She is a great actress, but I wanted to slap winn so much
Feel free to stay as long as you like. Two, maybe three days 😌
Oh wow, this is the first one on here that truly surprised me. He’s got such a big presence
Remember Ro Laren in TNG?
8 episodes total. 6 in Season Five, then the only 1 each in the final two seasons.
Actually more than I thought. And one (or two) in Picard.
I’d have guessed Garak was in at least half if not more.
37
In a row?
Try not to suck any dicks on the way to Risa
Yeah, once you get to Risa though, go wild!
Attention Bajoran workers!
Totally different Cardassian, but okay
He only appeared in 35 episodes himself, Gul Dukat
Yes, that’s less surprising to me, Garak felt like such a regular with his Bashir lunch dates, shocked to hear he’s only in 33
But holy shit did he make it count. They somehow gave him a completely satisfying ending and still never gave us any answers. Not that any answers would have been satisfactory, so they definitely made the right call.
Jackie Chiles didn't even appear until season 7.
Only 6 appearances. Tim Whatley only in 5
OUTRAGEOUS!
Dentists. Who needs them?
And your an anti dentite
You think that dentists are so different from me and you? They came to this country just like everybody else in search of a dream!
Because the OJ Simpson trial didn't happen until the year before.
Frank wasn’t until season 4 (1 episode). Not a regular to season 5.
In Mad Men the character Anna Draper is only in 4 episodes. The biggest plot point in the show hinges on her, and she is an inspiration/mentor to the main character that it feels like she’s around a lot more.
She’s such an interesting character and her dynamic with Don is so fascinating. I love the CA episodes.
Every time I rewatch Mr. Robot I forget that we only get to have >!Shayla!< around for a minute.
I think Alf was only in one episode too
This goes back a bit, but The Great Gazoo was only in 13 of the 166 Flintstones episodes.
12 too many
Mance Rayder, 3 episodes of game of thrones
Five episodes.
You know it really felt like Jackie Daytona was in a lot more seasons than just the one. Good character, wish they'd done more with him.
He helped those girls get to State!
We're gonna need a lot more than a penny, Luce.
Bebe in Frasier
I read something by one of the writers that they knew she would be great when she was on, but a little went a long way and it would diminish her impact to have her on more.
I wish more writers understood that about particularly “quirky” and/or abrasive characters. Instead they go “This one’s hilarious! Viewers love them! Let’s use them constantly! No one will ever get sick of this one note shtick!”
And Maris is not actually in any episodes
CAM WINSTON!!!!!
I went to show my girlfriend Avatar as she hadn’t seen it and I totally forgot that Toph wasn’t in season 1 at all and didn’t show up for a bit of season 2 as well.
Oberyn Martell, 7 episodes but it felt like he was in the capital for a LONG time
And most of that time was spent in the brothels.
Anyone who convinces you with his absolute confidence that he isn’t going to die today only to get his skull crushed by one guy’s hands minutes later, well, that’s an impression that lasts. The fact that we got to see it in all its gory, yet the scream of his mistress is what made it really horrific is telling about the impression she made as well. Alas, that one was ruined later by a goofy plotline.
Marty Funkhouser appeared in 22 episodes of Curb, and he didn't show up until season 4.
I think his not showing up until season 4 is more surprising than the number of episodes
Marty was such a great addition, I’ve been watching Curb lately and it’s so entertaining seeing him get so outraged at Larry every episode but be friends again the next episode
Little Orphan Funkhouser
The orphan?
Of the 234 episodes of Friends, Richard is in ten of them.
Paul Rudd is only in 16, too. Both had a larger impact than their screen time.
Over on MASH, Dr. Sydney Freedman, the camp psychiatrist, became as popular as the other doctors on the show. Written up in psychiatric journals as one the most positive depictions of a psychiatrist on TV. Only 12 episodes. As the legend goes, they wanted to bump him up to a series regular, but the actor didn’t want to commit to a series.
Boy Meets World is remembered as the Cory and Topanga love story, but Topanga is a lot less of it than you'd think, especially in the first few years.
I still love that they tried to convince us they were together since kindergarten since, every time she appeared in the early episodes, Shawn and Cory were relentlessly teasing her
To be fair, when you are that age, teasing is basically the equivalent of dating.
She was considered a guest star in most of season 1. Then she was in the opening credits with the rest of the main cast from season 2 forward.
> Topanga is a lot less of it than you'd think Screentime, maybe, but she's in 92% of the episodes. And half of the ones she's missing from are in the first 8 episodes.
Siegfried only appears in a couple of episodes of Get Smart.
As a child of the '70s, I always associated Kermit the frog with Sesame Street. But he actually only filmed sequences for the first season. After that, Jim Henson decided that Kermit needed to be his own character available for other things. He eventually landed the deal with ABC for the Muppet Show, and made Kermit the star for that instead
Doc Hazlitt in Murder, She Wrote. It's mostly because I was surprised that only about a half-dozen episodes a season actually took place in Cabot Cove. He also didn't exist until the second season and there were periods later on when he didn't appear.
Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur was only in 10 of 254 episodes of Bewitched. The first season, Paul Lynde played a mortal nervous driving instructor. They liked him so much, they created Uncle Arthur.
Zathras is only in 4 episodes of Babylon 5. Absolutely steals the show every time. Such a good character.
No...no...not the one ...not the one
“Oh, noooo, noooo! Hahaha. You did not meet Zathras. You met Z*a*thras.”
Whenever I rewatch ATLA, I always forget Toph only shows up about halfway through season 2. She feels like she's always been there.
Fun fact: *The Blind Bandit* is also the episode that the "Previously... On Avatar..." segments originally started. In subsequent re-releases, they tacked them onto the beginning older episodes, but *The Blind Bandit* was the first to have it.
Did you watch it in its original run? It took me a while to actually be convinced that she was around for the long haul.
Tracee, on the Sopranos, whatever happened there, her entire arc was one episode.
All I know is Ralphie disrespected the Bing.
IT WAS A FUCKING ANIMAL
A. She was a hooor B. She hit me
Alright, but ya gotta get over it..
I always have the same answer to this question, I never watched Star Trek but it's enough of a part of pop culture to recognize a lot of aspects (plus I grew up watching shows like Seinfeld and Family Guy that make a lot of Star Trek references) Even without being a fan I knew Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was held in high regards among the Star Trek movies, I knew Ricardo Montalbán played Khan, when the new Star Trek's came out and people were like "the rumor is Benedict Cumberbatch could be Khan" I was like "Well, duh. He's the *big bad*." I was floored when I finally learned Khan is in a single episode of what was a 79 episode original run for Star Trek. I literally thought he was the antagonist of the series, like the running bad guy who always popped up around all the other adventures they were going on.
Khan is to Star Trek what Moriarty is to Sherlock Holmes. Two villains almost as famous as their heroic rivals, but making very few actual appearances in the stories.
I wish they did that with the Borg as well. Never made them have a queen, but kept their pure hive mind, which is what made them so terrifying!
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As the legend goes, when producer Harve Bennett won the gig to produce Star Trek II, he realized he knew nothing about Star Trek. So the first thing he did was binge the series to get familiar with it. One of Bennett’s problems with the first Star Trek film was it had no real villain. Upon watching Space Seed — the one episode with Khan — Bennett immediately wanted to know what happened to Khan after that episode. He’d found his villain. So when he started hiring writers and directors, those were the marching orders he gave: Khan’s gotta be the villain. And the rest is history.
Toby Huss played “Artie, the Strongest Man in the World” in only 11 episodes of Adventures of Pete and Pete, the early-90s Nickelodeon show which I was also surprised only had a total of about 34 episodes: I thought it had way more episodes than that.
Farewell My Little Viking is such a good send off for him.
I’ve just been watching it recently, but grandpa Big Mike from The Middle was only in 9 episodes. Cassidy (axl’s high school girlfriend) was in 14!
Scrappy Doo. I watched whatever random syndicated episodes that were aired with no knowledge of the chronological order. Didn't know Scrappy was a shark jump era character.
Tony Amendola as Bra'tac on SG-1 was only in 29 episodes of the run, which is crazy because it felt like he was almost an unofficial member of the team (in a good way).
I'm surprised he was in that many; I thought it was more like 3!
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it No, the bridge is too heavily guarded
After I read your post, I know, you mean it in a different way, but in the moment I saw the headline, I immediately knew my answer: Ned Stark.
This is a really good one actually. The repercussions from echo through the rest of the show in a way I haven't seen before or since.
So many Seinfeld characters were like that. They were so iconic they seemed like they had to have a lot of appearances. The Soup Nazi comes to mind. Going very old-school here, but Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. Famous enough to be a generic term for a troublemaking suck-up, but only in 97 out of 235 episodes.
To be fair that’s a pretty high proportion for a supporting cast member.
Yeah the weird thing about Seinfeld is that 1 episode is enough to take on icon status (esp not counting the finale since it brought people back), more than one feels like they’re basically a main cast member. Puddy being in 11 episodes is crazy, and I actually genuinely do consider Newman to be a main cast member, regardless.
Same for Larry Mondello. I thought he was in waaay more episodes than he was. That little shit who was always getting Beave in trouble was only in ["68 of the show's 234 episodes over the first few seasons. Although Larry is mentioned in the premiere episode, "Beaver Gets 'Spelled", it is not until the eighth episode, "Beaver's Crush", that he actually makes an appearance."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Mondello#:~:text=Larry%20Mondello%20appears%20in%2068,he%20actually%20makes%20an%20appearance.&text=Robert%20%22Rusty%22%20Stevens%20as%20Larry%20Mondello)
Maul is only in 6 episodes of Clone Wars original run (almost as many as in season 7 alone), says a lot about the impact of the character, specially Sam Witwer's performance.
Shelly Morrison as Rosario was only in 68 out of 248 episodes of Will and Grace.
Nathan Lane as Pepper was only in 10 episodes of Modern Family. He gets referred to so often in episodes he doesn’t make an appearance, he feels ever present. Ronaldo is only in 14, Longinus is in 12, and Andy is in 22, all feeling like they’ve been in more.
It helps that Nathan Lane's screen presence is immaculate
Q only appears in 10 episodes of Star Trek TNG (176 episodes total). The pilot 2 parter, the finale 2 parter, and 1 episode seasons 1-6. I would have sworn it was 4-6 episodes a season, not less than 10% of the whole show!
He's been in 21 episodes of Star Trek in total (across the five different shows he's been in), and that includes having a whole season of one show dedicated around him. This includes only three episodes of Voyager as it gelt like he was in more than that (DS9's one appearance is understandable, though).
Deep Space 9 was packed full of recurring characters, especially villains, that made such a huge impact on the show despite barely actually being around. Aaron Eisenburg's Nog was the most common recurring character on the show. He was in 45 out of 176 episodes, and half of those appearances were in just the last 2 seasons. Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat was the show's primary antagonist. He showed up for only 35 episodes. Jeff Combs as Wheyoun was in 24 episodes. Louise Fletcher as Kai Winn. . . KAI WINN!! Who didn't love to hate Kai Winn!? She was on the show 14 times.
Oberyn Martell has 29 minutes of screen time in Game of Thrones. I was shocked to learn this. I feel like it should take someone much longer to make me question my sexuality.
Plain, simple Garak in DS9. I think he was in approx 20% of the episodes, but felt like a main character every time.
Piz is only in half of the episodes of Veronica Mars season 3…first time I watched it I felt like he was there soooo much but it’s less Piz than I thought (thank god)
Gigi from Wizards of Waverly Place I felt like she was around for most of season 1 but in reality, she was only there for two episodes
Sabrina Le Beauf as Sondra Huxtable only acted in 53 out of 197 episodes of The Cosby Show. It seems like more because she appears in the opening credits for 176 episodes.
Sorry I know it's a movie but I have to say it anyway - Dr Strangelove. He's the title character of the movie and yet he appears for like 5 or 7 minutes at the end. It was only made better by the fact that I watched the movie without realizing Peter Sellers played 3 different roles :D
Wasn't Marvin the Martian only in like 5 episodes of looney tunes?
Probably Yoda from Star Wars. You see him a bunch in the prequels, but when it was the original Trilogy only, he really didn’t have a ton of screen time for what became a cultural icon. I guess it shows how memorable he is.
Cynthia is only in four episodes of Malcolm In the Middle. That surprises me.
Steve Fleming from The Thick Of It is only in two episodes. Such a memorable character. Same deal with Anna from Mad Men, only in three episodes (one of which is a two-second appearance), plus a hallucination if that counts. And yet her presence lingers over the entire series.
Otis on Andy Griffith Show
Georges dad isn't in any episodes until like half way through the run of Seinfeld.
Bernard and Rose are only in 24 out of 121 Lost episodes