Lead Actors of GREAT TV Series NEVER get a good new Gig?

But the supporting cast always does. This is a theory I've been kicking around for some time, and while I admit that I dont know everything about every TV show (probably not as versed as a lot here), I still havent been able to disprove the theory - at least not on American shows.

The better the show, the more loved, the longer the series runs -- the more unlikely it is we'll see the lead actor in a new TV series about something ELSE, that actually sticks around for more than a pilot episode or 1 flagging season.

But if the show was loved, the characters loved -- you can bet the supporting cast will turn up employed in another good series.

So Im starting to come to the conclusion that if you are an actor/actress on the small screen, youre better served to land a supporting role on a well-loved series, become a loved character, and when the series ends, have a line in for another job, rather than to be the lead and loved character in a loved series, and then struggle finding employment for YEARS after that series ends.

Because, inevitably, all series' end, at some point. But you still gotta eat and pay bills!

Thoughts? Am I wrong about this???

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I used to think like this. Not many can jump from tv to movies nd back. I would say

Bryan Cranston
Jennifer Aniston although I never saw Friends
Mads Mikkelsen

just off the top of my head

Mel Gibson. Wasnt he in Days of our Drearies?
A lot of aussie actors start in tv shows I've never seen.

The longer the tv show, however, the more typecast someone becomes. Same for franchises. What's happened to the hobbits or the hrry potter crew?

Peter Dinklage isn't getting anything worth the talent he has. Guy should be up there with Malkovich, Swinton, Glenn Close, Christoph Waltz but instead he played... something in an Adam Sandler movie.

There's a pretty obvious reason as to why this is, though.

This also reminds me of actors who became fan boy favorites but just didn't have what it took for movies. Josh Holloway, for example. Guy actually seemed to shun the notion of being a leading man.

Emma Watson's doing okay. Beauty and the Beast wasn't all that but it seemed to make enough money. She'll get another shot.

I like Daniel Radcliffe. Guy's taking the weirdest choices available, like Swiss Army Man. Heard he was good in a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead production.

Rupert Grint's... alive somewhere.

I think.

Peter Dinklage is amazing and should be getting more movie roles. I think he's more into film making now?

Rupert Grint was great in Charlie Countryman which didn't seem to do too well because people seem to hate Shia who I thought was excellent in it.

Sean Astin (Sam in LOTR) is about to play the love interest of Winona in Stranger Things.Bit of a nightmare if you ask me.

I'm pretty certain she'll make it but I'm looking forward to see how Carrie Coon will hold up against Streep in full Oscar mode in Spielberg's The Papers.

If they get a scene at all.

Which they should.

Johnny Depp ("21 Jump Street"), Pierce Brosnan ("Remington Steele"), Bruce Willis ("Moonlighting") and George Clooney ("E/R") all did good jobs of jumping from TV to movies.

Ron Howard ("Happy Days"), Rob Reiner ("All in the Family"), and Penny Marshall ("Laverne & Shirley") all jumped from TV to directing movies.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Rupert is in two TV series now. First is a series adaptation of Snatch, which got renewed for season 2 exclusively on Crackle and Sick Note with Nick Frost, which also got renewed for season 2 and Lindsay Lohan appearing in the upcoming season on Sky Atlantic.

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OK, I read the original post and this thread seems to have gotten off topic, but if I understand the topic correctly, we're talking about television stars who only got one serious role on TV and couldn't get another one...so, off the top of my head:

Someone mentioned Rob Reiner and he could apply, though he recently began a recurring role on New Girl playing Zoey Descanel's father.

I don't really remember Patrick Macnee playing any role on TV other than John Steed.

Don't remember Max Wright in anything other than Alf

Though he eventually made movies, I don't remember Bill Macy appearing on anything other than Maude

Never saw Jay Johnson on anything other than Soap

Never saw Inga Swensen on anything other than Benson, though she proceeded that role with a stage and film career.

The actors who played the Brady kids didn't do too much after that went off the air other than spinoffs and revivals of the original show. Christopher Knight did spend a year or so on the NBC soap Another World, but other than that...

I saw Max Wright on the short-lived Misfits of Science and he also had a guest role as Central Perk owner Terry on Friends. He was in the episode where he tells Rachel that he hired a professional (Chrissie Hynde) to play the coffee house and that she would have to break the news to Phoebe.

I don't remember seeing much of the kids on Mr. Belvedere in anything else other than afterschool specials. I do know the daughter eventually left acting and became a real estate agent.

I know after What's Happening and its 80's sequel What's Happening Now I didn't see Haywood Nelson until his cameo appearance in the finale of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.