Sure, everyone remembers Thomas Magnum, Frasier Crane and Tony Soprano. It's TV's main characters who get all of the press.
But it's often the sidekicks -- the boyfriends, the landlords or the antagonists -- who steal the show.
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Can you imagine "Three's Company" without Mr. Furley or Mr. Roper? How about "Cheers" without Norm Peterson or Cliff Claven?
Magnum had Higgins, Crane had his brother, Niles, and Soprano had his "associates."
Some of the characters we remember with the most nostalgia weren't played by the big stars who left for lucrative movie careers, but by relative unknowns.
They are the unsung heroes of television and we've picked our five all-time favorites.
Our first stop is the 1980s, when actor Ronald Reagan was president and his favorite show was a sitcom about an unusual family in Ohio ...
No. 5: Nick Moore from "Family Ties"
Reagan-loving Republican Alex P. Keaton, played by Michael J. Fox, loved to get under the skin of his former hippie parents with references to his conservative heroes on "Family Ties."
But he found a new nemesis when his sister, Mallory, started dating a motorcycle-riding, long-haired artist named Nick Moore. Played by Scott Valentine, Nick showed up in season four, and for four years, he had America saying, "Heyyy!"
Nick's first meal with the Keatons set the tone for his relationship with Alex. After glancing at the nicely set table, Nick asked, "Do you always eat like this?"
"You mean with utensils?" Alex replied.
Pilots for a spinoff series called "The Art Of Being Nick" were filmed, but the show was never picked up.
One other famous '80s family could have used an exterminator to get rid of one of their recurring characters ...
No. 4: Cockroach from "The Cosby Show"
He was only on the show for 12 episodes, but Theo Huxtable's friend and co-conspirator, Walter "Cockroach" Bradley, still made an impression with fans of "The Cosby Show."
Played by Carl Anthony Payne II, Cockroach had a knack for getting in trouble. In one episode, he shaved his head to be in a rock video.
Cockroach was often the butt of the Huxtables' jokes.
"If I were pregnant, I would go to my friends," Theo told his father in one episode. Cosby was incredulous. "If you were pregnant, you would go to Cockroach?" he said.
Payne may have been with the show longer, but Cosby reportedly let him go from the show for refusing to cut his hair.
Our next character had no trouble staying on the show. In fact, he grew from a bit part to a major player because of his popularity ...
No. 3: The Smoking Man from "The X-Files"
Some recurring characters defy definition, or don't even have names. Although "the Smoking Man" (sometimes called "the Cigarette-Smoking Man") on "The X-Files" was later given an actual name, most fans still prefer his tobacco-laden nickname.
FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder's arch-nemesis, the Smoking Man works for a vast government conspiracy called the Syndicate.
He only speaks four words in the show's first season, but the character, played by William B. Davis, was eventually expanded. According to the show, he was involved in everything from the Bay of Pigs to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Kim Manners, who directed several episodes, said he was the Darth Vader of "The X-Files" universe.
He was eventually killed by a missile fired from a helicopter after revealing his final truths to Mulder.
However, our next character was not a man of few words, but he did have at least one bad habit ...
No. 2: Eddie Haskell from "Leave It to Beaver"
Everything about "Leave It to Beaver" screamed the squeaky-clean (at least on TV) 1950s -- everything except Wally Cleaver's sugar-tongued best friend, Eddie Haskell.
Played by Ken Osmond, Eddie was the poster boy for sycophants the world over.
He really had the adults snowed. Eddie "is so polite, it's almost un-American," dad Ward Cleaver said on one episode.
When adults were nearby, he was all, "That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver." But when they left the picture, he did his best to get the Cleaver boys in trouble. He even made fun of the Beav.
"Simpson" creator Matt Groening has said Haskell was his favorite character on the show and later helped inspire the character Bart Simpson.
Next, even a show about nothing needs a villain ...
No. 1: Newman from "Seinfeld"
The runaway hit of the 1990s, "Seinfeld," might have been a show about "nothing," but it still needed an antagonist.
Enter Wayne Knight's character, Newman. Seinfeld once described Newman as the Lex Luthor to his Superman. On more than one occasion, he called the mailman "pure evil."
The origin of the feud was never revealed. But throughout the show's run, Newman frequently did things to anger Jerry, including attracting fleas to his apartment. He was also a collaborator in Kramer's get-rich-quick schemes.
But probably the most memorable part of his character was not what he said, but what Jerry said every time he saw him: a snarky "Hello, Newman!"
I'm sure we all have someone in our day-to-day lives who makes us feel like that. It just goes to show something that I've suspected all along. "Seinfeld" wasn't about nothing, it was about everything.
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