So I've made the West Wing my late-summer weekend binge watch special, and learned tonight Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborn was intended to be the main character of the show before the pilot was filmed and they realized the ensemble was stronger than any single unit. This really struck me because from the very beginning I've been under the impression this was Bradley Whitford's show - sidebar: I also just realized he was the bad guy from Billy Madison - and that he was going to...turn evil or something? I had a weird opinion of this show when I was 10.


That got me thinking about other shows where characters were intended to be the main focus, but ultimately slid into a sort of "separate but equal" role, if not outright replaced by the audience with another character.


The only one that immediately came to mind was Community, which is supposed to be about Jeff's pursuit of a BA but to most ends up an examination of television through the eyes of Abed.


Friday Night Lights and a couple others I thought of after, but they all have main solid rocks that anchor them and the focus of the ensemble shifted around them.


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