Favorite TV Leads? (1 Viewer)

[JohnHopper]

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Amongst the television leads from the past, which ones do you like the most and why?

Single Lead:
Duo:
Trio:
Team:​

 

[JohnHopper]

_____________________________________
Amongst the television leads from the past, which ones do you like the most and why?

Single Lead:
Duo:
Trio:
Team:​

Single Lead: agent John Drake, N° 6, reporter Carl Kolchak, Architect David Vincent
Duo: Jim and Artie, John Steed and Emma Peel, Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde, Doug Phillips and Tony Newman
Trio: John Steed and Mike Gambit and Purdey (The New Avengers), John Koenig and Helena Russell and Victor Bergman (Space: 1999)
Team: The IMF (Mission: Impossible), UNIT (Doctor Who), Company “K” (Combat!), 214 (Baa, Baa, Black Sheep)

To be continued …​

 

[Rick Thompson]

Single Lead: David Janssen as Harry Orwell (Harry O)
Duo: Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt and Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele (Remington Steele)
Trio: David James Elliott, Catherine Bell, John M. Jackson (JAG)
Team: Most of that platoon-size group on the 20 years of the original Law & Order. If it has to be basically unchanging, then the (Jack Lord) Hawaii Five-O team.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Hmm, too many to name, but off the top of my head:

Single Lead: John Drake/Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan); Columbo (Peter Falk); Simon Templar "The Saint" (Roger Moore); Richard Kimble "The Fugitive" (David Janssen); Paladin (Richard Boone); McGill (Man in a Suitcase); Carl Kolchak

Duo: James West/Artemus Gordon (The Wild, Wild West); Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson (Jeremy Brett/David Burke or Edward Hardwicke version); Tod Stiles and Buz Murdoch (Route 66); Lord Brett Sinclair/Danny Wilde (The Persuaders); Andy Taylor and Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show); Steed/Mrs. Peel (The Avengers); Fox Mulder/Dana Scully (The X-Files)

Trio: James T. Kirk/Dr. McCoy/Mr. Spock (Star Trek); James Herriott/Seigfreid and Tristan Farnon (All Creatures Great and Small)

Team: The Red Dwarf crew: Lister/Rimmer/The Cat/Kryten; Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright (Bonanza)

Sorry, got carried away there...impossible to name just one for each category.

 

[bmasters9]

I'm with Jeff, in that I have at least a couple for each category:

Single lead: Lt. Frank Ballinger (M Squad); Paladin (Have Gun, Will Travel); Josh Randall (Wanted: Dead or Alive)

Duo: Lt. Mike Stone and Insp. Steve Keller (The Streets of San Francisco); Jonathan and Jennifer Hart (Hart to Hart); Bob and Emily Hartley (The Bob Newhart Show)

Trio: The aforesaid Harts, and Max (Hart to Hart); Tony and Maggie Petrocelli, and investigator Pete Ritter (Petrocelli); Cody Allen, Nick Ryder and Murray Bozinsky (Riptide)

Team: The detectives of the 12th Precinct squad room on Barney Miller; and ever the more lately, The Untouchables of that hard-hitting 1959-63 ABC period detective series, led by the late, great Robert Stack

 

[JohnHopper]

Single Lead: agent John Drake, N° 6, reporter Carl Kolchak, Architect David Vincent
Duo: Jim and Artie, John Steed and Emma Peel, Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde, Doug Phillips and Tony Newman
Trio: John Steed and Mike Gambit and Purdey (The New Avengers), John Koenig and Helena Russell and Victor Bergman (Space: 1999)
Team: The IMF (Mission: Impossible), UNIT (Doctor Who), Company “K” (Combat!), 214 (Baa, Baa, Black Sheep)

To be continued …​

Example of a team …

“We are poor, little lambs … Who have lost our way …”

​

 

[jcroy]

David Hasselhoff

Beavis and Butthead

Adama/Apollo/Starbuck

The A-Team

 

[JohnHopper]

Example of a team

And now, for something completely different … it’sssss UNIT.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Single Lead:

Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) - The Fugitive
John Drake/Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) - Danger Man & The Prisoner
Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) - Columbo
Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat (Robert Loggia) - T.H.E. Cat
Lt. Frank Ballinger (Lee Marvin) - M Squad
Paladin (Richard Boone) - Have Gun, Will Travel
Officer Casey Jones (Beverly Garland) - Decoy
Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) - Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Duo:

John Steed (Patrick MacNee) & Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) - The Avengers
James West (Robert Conrad) & Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) - The Wild, Wild West
Joe Friday (Jack Webb) & Frank Gannon (Harry Morgan) - Dragnet
Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) & Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) - Leave It to Beaver
Yancy Derringer (Jock Mahoney) & Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah (X Brands) - Yancy Derringer
Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) & Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford) - The Rifleman
Brett Maverick (James Garner) & Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) - Maverick

Trio:

Gil Favor (Eric Fleming), Rowdy Yates (Clint Eastwood) & Wishbone (Paul Brinegar) - Rawhide
Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) & Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) - Star Trek
Batman (Adam West), Robin (Burt Ward) & Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) - Batman
Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson)/Mike Nelson (Michael J. Nelson), Crow T. Robot (Trace Beaulieu/Bill Corbett) & Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) - Mystery Science Theater 3000

Team:

Dan Briggs (Steven Hill)/Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), Barney Collier (Greg Morris) & Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus) - Mission: Impossible

Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord), Danny Williams (James MacArthur), Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong) & Kono Kalakaua (Zulu)/Ben Kokua (Al Harrington)/Duke Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer) - Hawaii Five-0

Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), William Youngfellow (Abel Fernandez), Enrico Rossi (Nicholas Georgiade), Lee Hobson (Paul Picerni) & Jack Rossman (Steve London) - The Untouchables

Sgt. Sam Troy (Christopher George), Sgt. Jack Moffitt (Gary Raymond), Cpl. Mark T. Hitchcock (Lawrence P. Casey) & PFC Tully Pettigrew (Justin Tarr) - The Rat Patrol

Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman), Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid), Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson), Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump), Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner)), Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) & Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers) - WKRP in Cincinnati

Capt. Barney Miller (Hal Linden), Sgt. Stanley Wojciehowicz (Max Gail), Sgt. Philip K. Fish (Abe Vigoda), Sgt. Miguel Amanguale (Gregory Sierra), Sgt. Ron Harris (Ron Glass), Sgt. Arthur P. Deitrich (Steve Landesberg), Nick Yamana (Jack Soo) & Officer Carl Levitt (Ron Carey) - Barney Miller

Gomez (John Astin), Morticia (Carolyn Jones), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) & Lurch (Ted Cassidy) - The Addams Family

Stoney Burke (Jack Lord), Ves Painter (Warren Oates), E.J. Stocker (Bruce Dern) & Cody Bristol (Robert Dowdell) - Stoney Burke

Capt. Steve Burton (Gary Conway), Mark Wilson (Don Mathesan), Dan Erickson (Don Marshall), Valarie Scott (Deanna Lund), Betty Hamilton (Heather Young), Barry Lockridge (Stefan Arngrim) & Alexander Fitzhugh (Kurt Kaznar) - Land of the Giants

Det. Steve Carella (Robert Lansing), Det. Roger Havilland (Gregory Walcott), Det. Bert Kling (Ron Harper) & Det. Meyer Meyer (Norman Fell) - 87th Precinct

 

[ScottRE]

William Shatner: Star Trek and TJ Hooker
Chris George: The Immortal
Richard Basehart: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Lee Majors: Six Mil
Richard Boone: Have Gun Will Travel

 

[Gary OS]

Single Lead:
David Jansen - "The Fugitive"; Lee Majors - "Six Million Dollar Man"; Richard Boone - "HGWT"

Duo:
Bud Abbott & Lou Costello - "A&C Show"; Ozzie Nelson & Harriet Nelson - "Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet"; Bob Denver & Alan Hale, Jr - "Gilligan's Island"; Fred Gwynne & Al Lewis - "The Munsters"

Trio:
Tony Dow, Ken Osmond, Frank Bank - "Leave it to Beaver"; Linda Kaye Henning, Lori Saunders, Meredith MacRae - "Petticoat Junction"; Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury - "Doctor Who"

Team:
Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood, Paul Brinegar, Steve Raines, Sheb Wooley - "Rawhide"; Richard Basehart, David Hedison, Robert Dowdell, Del Monroe, Henry Kulky - "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"

To be honest, this could have been a list 20x this size, but I just went with a few from different eras and genres. I did find my favorite duos were comedy teams (guess that makes sense), and the larger teams were adventure/western settings (also makes sense to me).

Gary "no female leads on my list - does that make me a chauvinist?" O.

 

[ScottRE]

Team: Richard Basehart, David Hedison, Robert Dowdell, Del Monroe, Henry Kulky - "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"

I loved Henry Culky as Curly. He was a genuine sailor and added a great deal of reality to the show. The show lost a little bit when he died, however, I think Terry Becker did a great job coming in and really grabbing the third spot. I felt badly for Bob Dowdell, though. He should have been that third lead, but Sharkey was the more approachable down to earth guy and whatever promise Chip Morton may have had was blown out of the torpedo tubes by the mid-second season. He was relegated to asking stupid questions and really being kinda unlikable. What's amusing to me is how Morton over time seemed to really get annoyed at Sharkey in general. Maybe a little resentment crept into the characterization. Almost nothing was on the page for these guys, so whatever personalities they had seemed to come from the actors. Thank Zod, Irwin cast it was well as he did.

 

[ian McLachlan]

Difficult for there are so many.

Single leads: Dr. Richard Kimble/Harry O; David Vincent; Nowhere Man; Barnaby Jones; McGill; The Saint;
Duos: John Steed and Emma Peel; Batman and Robin;
Trios; Steed/Purdey/Gambit; Department S; The Champions; Randall and Hopkirk/Jeannie; Doctor/Steven/'Dodo; Doctor/Polly/Ben;
Quartet; The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Susan;
Team: Lost in Space Family; Land of the Giants people, Mission Impossible Team; Star Trek original crew