Too much of a good thing

There’s a prison in Maine where the inmates were given fresh lobster to eat every night. They eventually revolted. They pleaded for hamburger helper, shit on a shingle, anything but lobster.

Too much of a good thing.

Now Mae West may contend that: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” And I suppose in some cases it is. If someone complained that he was having too much sex with Selena Gomez you could justifiably shoot him. But generally the rule holds true.

In television shows you are occasionally lucky and certain guest or supporting actors become breakout characters. The audience loves them to where they become the new focal point of the series. Such was true of the Fonz on HAPPY DAYS, Urkel on FAMILY MATTERS, Barney on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, JJ on GOOD TIMES, and Alex on FAMILY TIES to name but a few. You have to do a lot of redeveloping and scrambling on the fly, but it’s worth it. A breakout character can turn a struggling show into a powerhouse.

But you must be very careful. Not every actor that scores big for an episode or two is a breakout character. And there’s such a temptation to make him one because of the upside that you could just fall into a trap.

Too much of a good thing.

Characters or shtick can wear out their welcome. In many cases, a little goes a long way. That’s how we always felt about the Colonel Flagg character on MASH. Ed Winters was hysterical in the role, and I’m here to tell you, he was the most fun character to write on the show. But we were very judicious.  At the most we only used him once a season, and there were a few seasons when we didn’t use him at all. We just felt he was the kind of character that would get tiresome if we went to that well too many times.

Bebe Glazer on FRASIER was another. Harriet Harris was screamingly funny as Frasier’s flamboyant agent. But she was just too out there to appear every week. Yes, the decision could have been made to tone her down, but then she wouldn’t be nearly as funny. So instead of over-using her, she appeared sporadically, and each time she did it was a huge treat for the audience.

A more recent example would be Elaine Stritch as Jack’s mother on 30 ROCK, although in that case, I think the producers knew that Elaine is gifted but bat-shit crazy so spared themselves the weekly chaos regardless of how hilarious she was.

Elevating an actor to breakout status when they don’t qualify for it can bring down a series. Screech in SAVED BY THE BELL, and in my opinion (you may not agree) Miles in MURPHY BROWN. You can go from being beloved to Jar Jar Binks in a heartbeat.

A character has to have dimension to work long term. Frasier and Lilth on CHEERS. Reverend Jim on TAXI. Otherwise, it’s…

Too much of a good thing.

Producers have to be careful. One man’s dinner at the Palm is another man’s prison riot.