Which sitcom produced the most stars?
 

I was watching Seinfeld today and noticed a ton of 'stars' have been on the show as guests. Kirsten Davis and Chris Parnell were on the episode I just watched. I know Debra Messing, Jane Ives were on a episode as well as a ton of others. I'm not saying Seinfeld is responsible for making these people stars, just kind of odd how many people went on to decent careers. So what sitcom has had the most people move on to bigger careers?

M*A*S*H had quite a few. Probably more than Seinfield as it ran for 11 seasons.

The few I can think of off the top of my head:
John Ritter
Patrick Swayze
James Cromwell
Rita Wilson
Teri Garr
Pat Morita

Taxi
Happy Days

cheers

This question needs more parameters. "Friends", for instance, guested more big names than most of the shows named.

Ned and Stacy?

Mary Tyler more was pretty great:

Almost every character re-appeared on another sucessful follow up TV show:
Ed Asner - Lou Grant
Murray/Gavin - Love Boat
Ted - Too Close
Rhoda - Rhoda
Betty White - Golden Girls

I believe 'Battle of the Network Stars' had the most stars come from it ...

Since when is Kristen Davis a 'Star' ?

Considering it ran for 15 years and spawned 6 spin-offs (7 if you count "704 Houser"), ALL IN THE FAMILY has to be up there.

Simpsons?

Yep. That was the first one I thought of. Stellar cast. Plus you had John Amos who went on to a hit show in Good Times.

I think we're talking about people who had cameo roles while they weren't that famous, and went on to bigger things. IIRC, most of the Friends cameos are famous actors who wanted to make a guest appearance. For those kinds of appearances, Will and Grace must be up there... I didn't really watch the show, but it seemed like they had a new celebrity on every week.

I'd say Law & Order, but it's not a sitcom (or is it?).

Miami Vice. I know it wasn't what the OP was asking for but it had a lot of stars that were unknown at the time it was on.

Ving Rhames, Julia Roberts, Helena Bonham Carter, Esai Morales, John Leguizamo are a few I remember that have decent careers today that appeared on that series.

Another guest star who went on to have a decent career was a guy named Bruce Willis.

Damn, I forgot the most obvious one besides J. Roberts. :)

There are a ton of them in Seinfeld. It seems like most episodes have someone who went on to bigger and better roles. I wouldn't say that Seinfeld "produced" them as they are usually bit parts, but, like L&O, there are a ton of actors on TV today who were once in a Seinfeld episode.

jimmy smits was the partner in the pilot.

weren,t they the main characters and not guests though?

Since non-sitcoms are being mentioned, I'll throw The Rockford Files into the mix. There were a number of future stars that appeared on that great show, including two of my favorites, James Woods & Ed Harris.

Let's not forget Liam Neeson, who also did a guest scint on Miami Vice.

Growing Pains had Brad Pitt, Leo, and Matthew Perry.

They also had a guy named Boner on the show. And Ben glued his butt to the coffee table in one episode. Pretty edgy.

Let us not forget that Boner AKA Andrew Koeing once played the Joker!

This thread is not what I was expecting.

The title is "Which sitcom PRODUCED the most stars?"

That means, to me, people cast in sitcoms that went on to become stars.

It doesn't mean, to me, someone who happened to cameo on a sitcom and then became a star on their own, having NOTHING to do with the cameo they did years before on the sitcom.

Am I missing something?

Courtney Cox and Denise Richards also appeared on Seinfeld early on.

Cox was also on Family Ties before that. And of course so was Michael J Fox. So, that's two stars.

River Phoenix and Tom Hanks also made a guest appearances on the show.

I think you could make an argument, maybe a small argument - but still an argument, that someone who is still basically unknown makes an appearance on a show and gets exposure that it helps their career.

Like Pitt on Growing pains. I don't think it played into Fincher's decision to cast him in Fight Club, but it at least gets his name on the screen and something to give him some exposure.

You're not. I agree with you. The question was also a bit vague. A clearer question might be:

Which sitcom transformed the greatest amount of cast members into stars?

That's still a bit unclear, but you get the idea.

I honestly don't know enough TV to answer the question.

If we're talking about "shows" there's absolutely no competition: Saturday Night Live. I'm not double-checking each of these, but even if only half this list is correct, it's a huge list:

Dan Aykroyd
John Belushi
Chevy Chase
Bill Murray
Eddie Murphy
Jim Belushi
Christopher Guest
Joan Cusack
Robert Downey Jr.
Anthony Michael Hall
Jon Lovitz
Dennis Miller
Randy Quaid
Dana Carvey
Phil Hartman
Dennis Miller
Mike Myers
Chris Farley
Tim Meadows (debatable :lol:)
Chris Rock
Adam Sandler
Rob Schneider
David Spade
Janeane Garofalo (not a "star" but a household name among some)
Will Ferrell

(Billy Crystal doesn't count, he started with Soap)

The only show which even comes close is The Tonight Show and that has more to do with Carson's influence in show business at the time, IMHO.

The begining of the post refers to the guest stars of the show moving on to bigger things after appearing on a sitcom; not the main cast members of the show.

Kung fu had quite a few people pop up on it. I don't have time to look right now though.

Friends

I didn't know that SNL was considered a sitcom. I always thought it was a sketch show.

What about Pitt's stellar turn on Head of the Class? In fact, I believe he was in two episodes!

Megan Mullaly or whatever her name is was also in a Seinfeld episode.

The Love Boat also had guest stars

As did Fantasy Island

Wasn't the idea behind The Love Boat/Fantasy Island booking people who were already semi-famous? They got a bump in exposure, sure. The show also benefitted from the name recognition. I'm not sure it fits the pattern here, though I'm still a bit cloudy on what the pattern is. Courtney Cox was mentioned for her role on Seinfeld, but she had been around forever by then.

This might be too close to the Fantasy Island syndrome itself, but I'd think something like Dr. Katz would be pretty high up there taking into account the number of episodes it had (a sort of star per episode slugging percentage).

Adding:

George Wendt
Shelley Long
Lawrence Fishburn
Blythe Danner
Joe Pantoliano
Leslie Neilsen (I guess he was somewhat popular before MASH)
Ron Howard (ok, so he was Opie before MASH)