Favourite non-original cast members - a poll - BtVS

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June 08 2012

Favourite non-original cast members - a poll. Vote for up to 10 late additions that you love, including a slew of our favourites from Buffy and Angel.

Via James Marsters on Facebook, who says "Spike needs a little love." But, then, doesn't he always?

Vague That Up | BtVS | 22:43 CET | 27 comments total | tags:

My chosen:

Winifred "Fred" Burkle (Amy Acker) - Angel
Spike (James Marsters) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lois Lane (Erica Durance) - Smallville
Lorne (Andy Hallett) - Angel
Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) - Lost
Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) - The Office
Anya (Emma Caulfield) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) - The Big Bang Theory
Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) - Cheers

I'm loving that Fred is getting so much love!

alexreager | June 08, 22:50 CET

Poor Peter Jacobson's getting no love...

Daburcor | June 08, 22:54 CET

GAH! What is Ben Linus doing so far down on that list?!

DreamRose311 | June 08, 23:21 CET

Spike wins. He was a guest star that became a series regular, a love interest for the protagonist, and he saved the world in the series finale.

Dawn is no one's favorite, I'm pretty sure. And where is Wesley? He technically wasn't an initial series regular.

WhatsAStevedore | June 08, 23:36 CET

The author's reasoning for not including Wesley was as follows:

"I wanted to include Wesley (badly – I love his character!), but he was only a reoccurring guest on Buffy and joined Angel halfway through season one, too close to the beginning in a 5-season show for this poll."

for shame...

napoleon27 | June 08, 23:49 CET

Got my Buffyverse votes in (as well as some [Ben Wyatt is always a favorite]). I disagree with Amy Pond being on the list though as the who point of Doctor Who is the rotating cast of Doctors and Companions. She certainly is wonderful and I love the character dearly, but I'm unhappy seeing her beat real late-additions who made a PERMANENT home on shows.

Andremthefoozle | June 08, 23:58 CET

@DreamRose311 I know, I didn't even watch Lost regularly and I still had to pick Ben Linus.

I didn't see Woody Boyd at first :(. But while I checked Spike, and most Whedon characters (and BBT), if I could only pick one it'd be Lois Lane, despite how much I hated Smallville at first.

luciddreams | June 08, 23:58 CET

Wheres Allison from Grey's Anatomy or Irina Devereko and Sark on Alias???

eddy | June 09, 00:13 CET

Dawn is no one's favorite, I'm pretty sure."

If I only get to pick from someone else's pre-selected list, I'm pretty sure that characters who may not necessarily be my favorites on the shows I like will still come in ahead of characters from shows I don't watch and/or couldn't care less about.

Rowan Hawthorn | June 09, 00:19 CET

Amazing what people will vote about (myself included) in this Internet age. Pleased to see Fred and Spike so high in the list. I had Spike, Anya, Fred, Oz, Tara, Benjamin Linus, Blaine Chris, Woody on Cheers, and Andy Bernard. Can't remember anyone else.

By the way, what about Faith Lehane?

Squishy | June 09, 02:33 CET

How could I forget Desmond on Lost? Or Juliet?

eddy | June 09, 04:12 CET

Frankly, I'm confused as to why there weren't more "Lost" characters on the list: even more than "Buffy" or "Angel," I think that show did a great job of introducing characters past Season 1 who were just as interesting as the original cast: Desmond and Juliet, as mentioned, but also Mr. Eko, Daniel Faraday, and Richard Alpert.

VictorianVampire | June 09, 04:52 CET

Horrible results from the poll. Ben from Lost and Ben from Parks are WAY too far down the list. Jesse from Burn Notice below Dawn? Makes me sick.

Tumnus | June 09, 06:28 CET

Well, I actually like Dawn a LOT more than Jesse, which could be due to the fact that my sister is very much like Dawn and I love my sister to death... That's not to say I don't like Jesse but, I just feel that sometimes he works, sometimes he doesn't really. Nothing against the actor, I think he's good but I do believe I'd prefer it if there were a more diverse or more talented actor in the role.

krissyjump | June 09, 06:40 CET

My 2 favorites are Spike and Castiel and surprise, surprise they are one and two. Others not doing badly either, but would never vote for Jesse,for me he ruined Burn Notice, totally messed up the chemistry between the characters.

rehabber | June 09, 12:59 CET

@rehabber, I am with you on Spike and Castiel. I also added Lorne, Ben Linus, Anya, Amy Farrah Fowler, Tara Maclay, Colonel Potter from Mash and some how missed Woody from Cheers. I need to revote.

Just for Woody. Coach was such a phenomenal character on Cheers. When he died, there was going to be a huge huge whole in the show. Painful too.

Harrelson did it. And he did it awesomely.

Off to revote.

hann23 | June 09, 16:25 CET

So this is turning into a two horse race between Spike (a Buffy character) and Castiel (a Supernatural character)?

Who! Would! Have! GUESSED??? ;)

And Ben Linus absolutely needs to be further up that list!

Five Horizons | June 09, 16:40 CET

I find it interesting that Spike and Castiel inspire such passion of love or hate amongst their respective shows' fandoms. So many fans have such strong feelings about whether these characters are the best or worst addition to the shows. It seems as if the majority of the voters are pleased in this poll. Maybe this happens on lots of shows.

I really believe that Harrelson had the toughest job and should win this. He won't because Cheers is from long ago and far away.

Does anybody here remember Kelly, Woody's girlfriend, and her Barbies? They were never the same for me after that ep, ;-)

[ edited by hann23 on 2012-06-09 17:06 ]

hann23 | June 09, 17:04 CET

I thought, from the title, that this would be about recasting a character (like the two Darrens on Bewitched, two Beckys on Roseanne, and multiple Joey Buchanans on One Life to Live). But since they just mean actors inserted into the ensemble after season one (which seems like a lame premise to me) then I'll go with Andy Hallet all the way, I adore me some Lorne!

embers | June 09, 18:24 CET

With apologies to Oz and Riley, and some consideration of Woody Boyd - good points made here - Ben Linus, Paige Matthews, and a couple of others, I voted for:

Dawn Summers. Spike; Tara; Anya; Lorne; Fred; Charles Emmerson Winchester (III); Sherman Potter; BJ Honeycutt (seriously, MASH was a clinic on how to replace characters); and Dr. Jennifer Keller (her presence seriously increases the chances of my watching an episode of Atlantis). Also, Dawn Summers.

An interesting, fun little poll.

LKW | June 09, 22:12 CET

Spike must hold a record for being a non-original cast member on TWO different shows.

daylight | June 09, 23:23 CET

You might be right there, daylight. There's a number of instances of main characters from one show moving over to another (Worf on TNG and DS9, Sam Carter on SG-1 and Atlantis to name a couple) but I can't come up with any character other than Spike who has been a non-original cast member on two different shows.

At a push I suppose you could go with Martha Jones, a latecomer to Doctor Who who joined Torchwood for guest stint that was intended to become a regular gig (and would have if not for Freema Agyeman joining the cast of Law and Order UK instead...) but that's as close as I can get to another example.

Five Horizons | June 10, 00:43 CET

What? No love for Charles Gunn?

AngelDiva | June 10, 03:44 CET

I agree AngelDiva and napolean27: I think that both Charles Gunn (for Angel) and Wesley (for both BtVS and Angel) should have been included in this list!

embers | June 10, 03:58 CET

To be fair, I do get why Wesley would have been stretching things a little bit. He was never a regular in Buffy and was in pretty much the entire run of Angel. Most people would probably consider him an original cast member, despite not being around for the first few episodes. Gunn probably deserved a mention though.

Five Horizons | June 10, 13:34 CET

From that list...Spike, Tara, Dawn, Blaine (Glee), Tom (Being Human UK), Hal (Being Human UK), Amy Farrah Fowler (Big Bang Theory), Jessica (True Blood), Andy (The Office) & Prentiss (Criminal Minds)... I think Being Human UK is probably the only show I can think of where I've liked the 2nd Gen characters more than the 1st.

Leaf | June 10, 14:56 CET

I think the reason Charles Gunn is missing is because his character debuted in the final few episodes of season one? Although he wasn't a full cast member until season two, he did appear before the first season of the show was completed, making him not quite fit the selection criteria for this poll as I read it. Nice to see many of us did think of him, though.

LKW | June 10, 21:30 CET

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