Is Col. Flagg in the top 5 of all time side characters? (1 Viewer)

[Binky The Doormat]

Mash thread about whether Burns or Winchester was better got me thinking about Col. Flagg. Do you think he is a top 5 Occasional recurring character in a tv series ever? I liked Larry, Daryl & Daryl on the old Newhart show, Ernest on Andy Griffith, etc. I think the guy stole the show each time he was on - great tough guy, over the edge commie busting attitude.

Some partial Col. Flagg Quotes I found on some mash site:

Charles: "Why don't we call them Mr. X and Mr. Y?"

Flagg: "After tonight, they won't be needing names for long."

Charles: "Should we wait for MacArthur to show up?"

Flagg: "After tonight, every kid in America would wish that they

were me."

Flagg: "I have no home. I'm The Wind."

Hawkeye (to BJ): "I told you he was The Wind! You said he was The

Stars!"

BJ: "I said he was The Moon!"

Flagg: "I only sit two minutes a day."

Flagg: "And get me a box of scorpions as well."

Radar: "Scorpions...as in scorpions?"

Flagg: "Big ones."

Hawkeye: "What the hell are you gonna do with a box of scorpions?"

Flagg: "Gift for a friend. (To Radar) That's it. Get going."

Radar: "What about your scorpions, sir?"

Flagg: "That's OK. I'll get some from home."

Flagg (To Blake): "And don't use Louise. I need that for Tokyo

next week."

Flagg: "There is only one flaw to that theory (about the

disappearance of Houlihan)."

BJ: "Just one?

Flagg: "They don't do two shows at The Sands on weekends."

Hawkeye: "How do you know that?"

Flagg: "I was a showgirl there for six weeks."

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Horrible

 

[Das Boot]

Is this about character actors?

 

[goonsquad]

Col. Flagg was awesome.

 

[TinHat]

Col Flagg was awesome, but top 5?

Let me think of some great ones

Barry Zuckercorn - Arrested Development

Elliot Carlin - Bob Newhart Show

Notale mention: Jim ignatowski started as a side character and then became weekly

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

Not as good as Huggy Bear, Festus, Coach, Fonz, Latka, Tattoo, Kramer, Giles, Ari Gold, or Mr. Burns.

But he's up there.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Not as good as Huggy Bear, Festus, Coach, Fonz, Latka, Tattoo, Kramer, Giles, Ari Gold, or Mr. Burns.But he's up there.

Excellent list NB - and I agree. The question really only deals with occasional regular players - granted some will be on more than others - Flagg was reasonably long term but was only on occasionally.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Is this about character actors?

No its about tv show occasional, but regular side characters - people who were on a show, but not all the time - e.g. "Putty" on Seinfeld. Pure Beauty.

 

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Col. Flagg was awesome.

#1 on my list for this catagory. The Col. Flagg episodes were always my favorites.

 

[FUBAR]

Top 3 I can think of off hand

Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller)

Estelle Costanza (Estelle Harris)

Sideshow Bob

Col Flagg may well be up there

 

[Gatorman]

Tough category, b/c it is hard to define.

Flagg showed up maybe 5 times or so in the series, si ut us a limited ARC thing.

Guys like Huggy bear, Newman, etc. are difficult b/c while they weren't in every show, they were regular characters.

If we take guys like The Costanzas, Newman, and other "real regulars" (Puddy is in this category as well), we are left with seinfeld guys like Sue Ellen Mishky, The short dude (kramers friend), the attorney (Childs) and those players.

For MASH it would be Flagg, Sidney, and one or two others (can't think of their names)...

Probably Scrubs has some of the best of this b/c of who they have brought in for a few story arcs.

Janice on Friends was probably the only modern one that comes close to a guy like Flagg in this case. Every time she showed up it was gold on that show.

 

[Marvelous]

Q on Star Trek the Next Generation is pretty good.

D'Anna on Battlestar Galactica. And she'll be back in season 4.

 

[guderian]

Every time I see a copy of Reader's Digest I think "take out the 3rd, 5th and 6th letters and it's Red's Digest".

 

[badmojo1006]

Fannie Flagg was better than Col. Flagg

 

[Kal El]

Sidney Freedman was a lot funnier than Flagg was, though both were good actors on the show.

 

[Mister CIA]

Aunt Esther

Harry Anderson on Cheers probably deserves a mention in this thread.

The dude from Rockford Files - too lazy to look him up. ...Angel

George Jefferson - All in the Family

Toastman - Ren and Stimpy

 

[Das Boot]

Flagg: "There is only one flaw to that theory (about the disappearance of Houlihan)." BJ: "Just one? Flagg: "They don't do two shows at The Sands on weekends." Hawkeye: "How do you know that?" Flagg: "I was a showgirl there for six weeks."

 

[Mark Davis]

Definitely one of my top two all time. Col. Flagg was great. I also really enjoyed Alderman Fred Davis from Good Times.

 

[TinHat]

edit to add:

Maj Hochstetter - Hogan's Heroes

Packer - the Office

 

[badmojo1006]

One more to add - Walt Robbins from ER. Ving Rhames played Peter Benton's brother-in-law and stole every scene he was in.

 

[The Man With No Name]

Lot's of good ones mentioned, probably the best of the best.

How about Bentley from 'The Jefferson's' or Schneider from 'One Day at a Time'? They have to rank somewhere. They were both hilarious in different ways.

 

[kupcho1]

Barry Zuckercorn - Arrested Development

First one I thought of before opening this. Great not just on his own, but because he lead to Bob Loblaw and some (perhaps subtle) riffs on the Fonz/Chachi characters on Happy Days.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Col. Flagg was good, but it is impossible for any side character (meaning a character who wasn't in every or almost every episode) ever to beat Frank Costanza.

 

[Verbal Kint]

edit to add:Maj Hochstetter - Hogan's HeroesPacker - the Office

Bull####. You didn't do an edit.

 

[yellowdog]

Mary had a little lamb

My dog has fleas

mares eat oats and does eat oats

And I'll be home for Christmas

Your Loving Son,

Queen Victoria

 

[MikeMan]

Nice topic.

Jethrine Bodine

Arnold (Pat Morita on Happy Days)

 

[MikeMan]

Also Boner from Growing Pains.

 

[Mr. FancyPants]

Nice topic.Jethrine BodineArnold Ziffell (Petticoat Junction)

Fixed Wrong Arnold

 

[L5UT1ger]

Q from ST:TNG

 

[parrot]

Adam from Northern Exposure was always solid.

 

[Barry]

Col Flagg was awesome.

I always thought Nick Tortelli from Cheers was hilarious.

Chris Finch from The Office was pretty great also.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Though I doubt it holds up well, I always like Larry, Daryl, and Daryl on the Newhart show. Kind of a one-trick pony act but they held them out long enough between episodes (at least for awhile) to make it good ...but I was pretty young and still thought David Brennan was kind of funny.

I am a bit partial to Puddy from Seinfeld though ..."Hey, you stole my Jesus fish!" and "You got a question babe? ...just ask the 8-ball."

 

[bdphifer]

Another from the 80s...

From Night Court:

Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: NG) as Bob Wheeler:

Harry Stone: What are you folks doing here? I thought you went back home to West Virginia.

Bob Wheeler: Sir, we're not from West Virginia.

Harry Stone: You're not?

June Wheeler: No, sir. We perjured ourselves.

Bob Wheeler: And we lied, too.

Harry Stone: Why did you pick West Virginia?

Bob Wheeler: I don't know. It was the first exotic place that popped into my head.

Christine Sullivan: Well then, where are you from?

June Wheeler: Isn't the accent obvious?

Court Clerk MacIntosh 'Mac' Robinson: You mean you're from...

Bob Wheeler: Yugoslavia.

 

[The Dawg]

Pretty much any Sout Park side character created >>>>> any mentioned.

"Towelie you're the worst character ever."

"I know."

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Mr. Van Ranseleer.

He was the blind guy that sat at the end of the bar in "Archie Bunker's Place".

I always liked him.

 

[[scooter]]

Here's another vote for Puddy.

:yeahthat'sright:

 

[HellToupee]

Newman

***** the Robot from Get Smart

 

[bakes]

Adam from Northern Exposure was always solid.

Adam and Col. Flagg have to be in the top 5 of occasional guest roles. Aunt Esther would be too frequent to qualify, but some of the battles between her and Fred Sanford were hilarious.

 

[HellToupee]

Speed from the Odd Couple

 

[Raider Nation]

Watch that whole thing and tell me he doesn't deserve to be on this Top-5 list!

 

[wikkidpissah]

Off the top of my head, my Mt Rushmore would be Flagg, Nick Tortelli, Frank Costanza & Sue Ann Nivens

 

[pittstownkiller]

I don't know if Flagg would be my top 5 and I watched a lot of M*A*S*H* but grew out of it after I was a teenager; I always thought his character was too goofy but the whole show got weird. I always thought that Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa, was the man, and when he made the guest appearance to help Fonzie with his rumble on "Happy Days" it was .

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

If we take guys like The Costanzas, Newman, and other "real regulars" (Puddy is in this category as well), we are left with seinfeld guys like Sue Ellen Mishky, The short dude (kramers friend), the attorney (Childs) and those players.

Tim Watley and Uncle Leo are two good ones that would qualify but I'll take Flagg over either one.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Off the top of my head, my Mt Rushmore would be Flagg, Nick Tortelli, Frank Costanza & Sue Ellen Nivens

All those other actors used their roles to go onto bigger and better things, but for whatever reason Edward Winter never seemed to really break out. He was a journeyman sitcom guest-star throughout his career. Too bad. The guy was tall,good-looking, and obviously had a great sense of comedic timing.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Barney Hefner and Sam the Butcher.

Two good side characters played by the same actor.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I always thought Nick Tortelli from Cheers was hilarious.

One of the best accents too.

 

[KingPrawn]

Mork

 

[D-Day]

If we take guys like The Costanzas, Newman, and other "real regulars" (Puddy is in this category as well), we are left with seinfeld guys like Sue Ellen Mishky, The short dude (kramers friend), the attorney (Childs) and those players.

Tim Watley and Uncle Leo are two good ones that would qualify but I'll take Flagg over either one.

It's because your are a rabid anti-dentite.

 

[bro1ncos]

Who was the old drunk guy at the end of the bar in Cheers that would just occasionally have a one liner on the show. Not saying he was a top 5 or 10 in the category, but he had some funny one-liners.

Flagg and Nick Tortelli would have to be in my top 5.

 

[Doug B]

Another from the 80s...

From Night Court:

Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: NG) as Bob Wheeler:

Someone mentioned Harry Anderson himself earlier ... but it took WAY too long for someone to mention the actual show Night Court. It has probably has half of the top 10 side characters by itself.

I'll name three more off the top of my head: (1) John Astin as Judge Stone's father Buddy, (2) Yakov Smirnoff as, um, Yakov, and (3) vertically-challenged actor Daniel Fishman playing Dan Fielding's boss.