Good Night Sweet Prince

I have written in the past about how many TV shows just kill off characters when they cannot think of anything better to do. Two shows I have ranted about in the past (Lost and 24) have been doing much better. Neither ahs really killed off any main characters this season, until Monday night.

24 killed off one of their top 3 main characters, Bill Buchanan, but they did it right. He had been with the show for 4 seasons and was a great character that really moved along the plot and made it possible for Jack Bauer to do a lot of the things he wanted to do. On last night's episode he gave up his life so the current terrorist situation with the President and the White House experiencing a hostage situation. When he died, they played violin music for the first time, and the show usually goes to commercial with a loud ticking clock, but this time it went to commercial in total silence. I will miss his character, but it made me think about the top "2nd-tier stars" on television. Not the main characters of a show, but characters that make everything else on the show happen. Here is the list I thought of while driving home from work:

• Bill Buchanan 24- (made it possible for Jack Bauer to do everything, risked his life and his job many times for the protection of his country)
• Wilson- House (with having House's best friend on the show, everyone would just see that House is an emotionally-dead jerk. He is an emotionally-dead jerk, but with his interactions with his friend WIlson, we see there is something more there below the surface.
• The Janitor- Scrubs (he is always good for a lagh. Even when the show gets too serious, he will have a scene where he terrorizes JD and you are reminded that this is just a comedy).
• Kramer- Seinfeld (almost too obvious to mention)
• Lester Freamon- The Wire (he doesn't get all that many scenes, but in every season, the only reason that the Police wire tap works is because of his knowledge and due-dilligence towards the case. I think literally none of the cases they worked on would have ever worked without him.)
• Jim - The Office (he is probably the funniest character opn the show, his battles with Dwight are priceless, plus he is probably the best salesman there, and he is a nice guy that moves along many of the storylines- when Dwight breaks up with Angela, he is there; when Michael feels left out that no one will sign chareokee with him, JIm sings; and when Andy gets dumped by his high school girlfriend, Jim is there.
• Nick Stokes- CSI (He is not the main character, but recently many characters have left but he has stayed. This week is episode #200. He is the only character that has broken down and cried over a case and seems to take a personal interest in the cases, plus once he was buried alive as a season-ending cliff hanger.
• Sawyer- Lost (Here is a character that has really evolved like no other on a show ever. He has never been the main character, but we have really seen some evolution. He started off a jack-a** that we are not suppossed to like, then we see stuff from his past so we learn why he is like that, then we see that he is a bigger jerk than he should be, and then last year we see him as a hero who gives up everything to save his friends, and now this season we see him as the leader and willing to risk everything again.)