|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 12, 2023 1:34:08 GMT
The first episode in season 2 of Rawhide is called 'Incident of the Day of the Dead.' It's notable for only featuring Clint Eastwood, whose character Rowdy Yates is involved in an incident away from the cattle drive.
Some episodes of The Virginian only featured James Drury as the title character, or Doug McClure as Trampas...usually away from the Shiloh ranch on business of some sort, getting embroiled in the problems of guest characters.
Did sitcoms or other popular programs, besides westerns, ever do an episode that only featured one of the regular cast members..? (Shows with only one regular cast member, like Columbo or Murder She Wrote don't count!)
|
|
|
|
Post by jinsinna13 on Oct 12, 2023 13:07:17 GMT
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - Dwayne Hickman was the only regular cast member who was featured in the opening credits for its entire run. Everyone else was only credited for episodes they appeared in.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 12, 2023 15:46:25 GMT
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - Dwayne Hickman was the only regular cast member who was featured in the opening credits for its entire run. Everyone else was only credited for episodes they appeared in.
On TV westerns this became a frequent practice, because they were turning out 30 or more episodes per year and they had to give some of the cast time off to prevent burn out. In the case of The Virginian they were filming 74-minute episodes and it saved time to have James Drury shoot an episode with half the crew, while Doug McClure shot another episode at the same time on different sets with the other half of the crew.
In the final season of The Virginian which was re-titled The Men from Shiloh, they actually created four separate crews. So James Drury had his own episodes, Doug McClure had his own episodes, Lee Majors had episodes and Stewart Granger had episodes where his character led the story. Sometimes James Drury would appear as a minor supporting character in the other stories, but often there was no crossover and the only connecting element was the ranch.
I don't think this sort of production model was ever really adapted for sitcoms, which were generally recorded before live audiences that often utilized most of their cast members (unless someone was away on maternity leave). |
|
|
|
Post by jamesjazzguitar on Oct 12, 2023 15:59:35 GMT
Laramie the western that ran from 59 - 63: Many episodes only featured either Slim or Jess. While both are in the show, often one of them only at the end, where they will end with the one that was featured being asked by the other "say how was it while I was gone?", and the other saying 'well not much happened' (when there were killings, kidnapping, robberies, etc... that actually happened!).
|
|
|
|
Post by intrepid37 on Oct 12, 2023 16:07:33 GMT
Laramie the western that ran from 59 - 63: Many episodes only featured either Slim or Jess. While both are in the show, often one of them only at the end, where they will end with the one that was featured being asked by the other "say how was it while I was gone?", and the other saying 'well not much happened' (when there were killings, kidnapping, robberies, etc... that actually happened!). Maverick was like that too. Garner featured one week, Kelly the next. Rarely the two together. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 12, 2023 16:32:46 GMT
Yeah, Laramie and Maverick are good examples.
I should clarify that not every sitcom is done on videotape using multiple cameras before a live audience. Some are done on film with one camera, without an audience. Gilligan's Island was done on film without an audience. However, in that case, you could not leave any of the cast members out of an episode, because the audience would think 'oh did the Howells get rescued? Are they no longer on the island?' LOL All you could do in that situation would be to reduce the number of scenes certain cast appeared in if the story didn't really involve their characters.
On a show like Charlie's Angels they could have just had episodes that only featured Jaclyn Smith. But I think the audience would have complained. One of the themes on that show was that the three angels had a sisterly bond and helped each other investigate cases. So even if Jaclyn Smith's character was the main focus of a story, you still had to see the other two angels and Bosley (David Doyle) assisting her in some capacity.
|
|
|
|
Post by jamesjazzguitar on Oct 12, 2023 18:55:32 GMT
77 Sunset Strip would often feature just one of the main characters, Stu (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) or Jeff (Roger Smith) solving the mystery and being involved in the action.
As the series developed the show's breakout character, who had not been included in the pilot film, was Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III (Edd Byrnes). This character started to be featured more and more typically paired with just one of the main characters.
|
|
|
|
Post by jinsinna13 on Oct 12, 2023 20:09:53 GMT
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - Dwayne Hickman was the only regular cast member who was featured in the opening credits for its entire run. Everyone else was only credited for episodes they appeared in.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 12, 2023 20:26:30 GMT
I didn't mean the opening credits. I meant only one member of the cast appeared in a specific episode. The rest of the cast had the week off.
The final season had Robert Prosky's character, Sgt. Stan Jablonski, retire from the force. And he would turn up only sporadically after retirement. They didn't technically demote Prosky to recurring. But he was only credited in the episodes in which he appeared...he was only in 9 of 22 episodes during season 7. |
|
|
|
Post by intrepid37 on Oct 12, 2023 20:32:36 GMT
The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead (both shows feature sizeable casts of regular characters) have featured episodes that concentrated on a single cast member (or sometimes a just couple of them.)
|
|
