Eight of the best breakout characters

Often times a show's writers will not anticipate such strong, positive responses for a minor character. However, when they receive it, that character will later be written in as a major character (or in some instances, the main character). When this phenomenon occurs, the end product is known as a breakout character. Whether it be Chris Colfer as Kurt on Glee getting the Emmy love and becoming more acclaimed than the show's protagonists, that wacky Jim Rash playing larger and larger roles on Community, Ben Linus going from a character that was supposed to be around for three episodes to the leader of the Others, Andy Bernard going from "that guy from the Stamford Branch" to a series regular (and eventually Michael Scott's replacement) or Barney Stinson being infinitely more lovable than Ted on HIMYM, it is clear that minor characters have a tendency to steal our hearts. Below I have compiled a list of some of my favorite breakout characters from some of my favorite TV shows.


1. Andy Bernard (The Office)

2. Dean Pelton (Community)

3. Ben Linus (Lost)

4. Walter Jr. (Breaking Bad)

4. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

5. Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation)

6. Kurt Hummel (Glee)

7. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

8. Abed Nadir (Community)

6 reasons Community is the best show on television:

1) It takes risks. What other show has an 8 bit video game style episode ("Digital Estate Planning")?  How about a Glee inspired Christmas episode, both slamming and emulating Glee ("Regional Holiday Music")? Or speaking of Christmas episodes, how about the claymation episode ("Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas") that aired a year prior? Just reading an episode description, one can tell that Community is one of the most unique and clever shows to date. The wikipedia description for "Critical Film Studies" from the second season says, "In the episode, the study group organizes a Pulp Fiction-themed birthday party for Abed. Instead, Abed spends most of the evening with Jeff at an upper class restaurant and the two engage in what is seemingly a deep conversation about their life-changing experiences. Unknown to Jeff, Abed is actually using the dinner to reenact another movie. Meanwhile, the rest of the group wait impatiently for Abed to finally show up.". This Pulp Fiction turned My Dinner with Andre episode is one of the many instances where Community demonstrates that it is not afraid to take risks, or differ from the norm. This is what sets it apart from show like The Big Bang Theory that have laugh tracks and predictable humor. 

2) Pop- POP CULTURE. From it's use of Twitter ("Tweeting it!" "#sixseasonsandamovie" "AnniesMove") to Abed's plethora of knowledge in everything movies and television, one can clearly see that Community thrives on pop culture. It even surpasses Arrested Development in it's references. Think about it. The Law and Order parody episode. The Glee parody episode. The episode where the Greendale 7 dresses as celebrities (Britta as Michael Jackson <3) to help get Abed out of debt with the impersonators. Dungeons and Dragons games. Abed and Jeff dancing on a table like the kids from The Breakfast Club. Inspector Spacetime and Cougarton Abbey. The list goes on and on.  And who could forget Abed's constant quips referencing movies and celebrities?

3) The Little Things make the show. How much goes on in the background that we only later discover by looking up clips of Community on Youtube? Abed helped deliver a baby, Beetlejuice appeared, and Starburns was reading a book called "How to Fake Your Own Death". It's these things that are part of the reason Community is a show worth watching. Not to mention all the metahumor ("I guess we're doing a bottle episode!").

4) Characters. Troy and Abed in the morrrrrning! We love these people so much. Except Pierce (or maybe that's just me). The study group has a great dynamic. Jeff, the slightly douchey, ego-filled lawyer. Shirley, the religious mom of the group. Troy and Abed, the hilarious duo who are always doing something interesting (like the Spanish 101 rap, playing in the Dreamatorium, renacting television cliches, et cetera). Annie, the obsessive, perfectionist teenager. Britta, messing up everything all the time (Britta'd it). And then there is Pierce, who is the racist old man that can have his sweet moments sometimes. Plus, Dean Pelton, with his flamboyant costumes, obvious advances towards Jeff, puppy parades and kind heart. Every character is wonderful. Even the minor ones like Chang, Starburns, Leonard and Fat Neil play their part and manage to earn our love. 

5) Paintball episodes. Arguably some of Community's best episodes. The first paintball episode from Season 1 ("Modern Warfare") left us craving more, and Season 2 brought a two-part finale that was everything we could have ever wanted; a western themed episode featuring Sawyer from Lost, Abed as Han Solo, surprise romances, and a showdown with City College.

6) THE FANS! Six seasons and a movie, am I right? Although Community is streets ahead, NBC has only kept the show on so long because of it's crazy fan base. And the actors love us! Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover and the rest of the cast constantly interact with the fans on twitter. In fact, the episode in the second season of flashbacks that never happened was based on a video a fan made, by splicing together clips that exemplified certain "ships". One fan even made "Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne"... an actual 8 bit Community video game! So thank you fans of Community. You are all beautiful people. 

Moonrise Kingdom: REVIEW

Directed by Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom is an indie dramedy that is loaded with heart, a quirky charm and adorable humor. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) is an orphan and a member of the Khaki Scouts, a summer camp led by Scout Master Ward (portrayed by the ever-wonderful Edward Norton). He is the movie's protagonist, who ends up running away to be with his true love, Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) in the summer of 1965 on the island of New Penzance. The two had been pen pals for months, bonding over their unhappiness with their lives, after meeting at a school performance of Noah's Ark. The movie tells the story of this twelve year old pair of misfits' romance, after they run away into the wilderness. It also details their struggle to stay together, as the local police (led by Bruce Willis), the Khaki Scouts and Suzy's parents are all looking for them.


Moonrise Kingdom was a beautiful work of cinema. For any that think the quality of movies is in decline, get off the computer now and see this film. The characters were memorable, and it was a child fantasy come true. Moonrise Kingdom was refreshing, clever and witty. Probably the best movie I’ve seen this year! Edward Norton gave a stunning performance as a very child-like man who is innocent and sweet, and the two younger principle characters (Gilman and Hayward) were equally cute and awkward. Anderson's best film to date.


Rating: 96 percent

The Amazing Spiderman: REVIEW

Although I was one of the many fans who attended The Amazing Spiderman's midnight premiere on Monday night, I can honestly say I was mainly enticed to do so because of Andrew Garfield's presence in the movie. He has been a crush of mine ever since he got worldwide fame for his role as Eduardo in Fincher's The Social Network and I went into the movie Monday night more interested in his performance than the movie as a whole. However, I was pleasantly surprised and can now say, bias aside, it is a movie worth seeing. Sure, it was no Avengers, as Joss Whedon recently set the bar insanely high, but Marc Webb did a great job directing this comic book adaptation.

Only ten years after Raimi's Spiderman came out, Sony rebooted the series and, as written on The Amazing Spiderman's Facebook page, plan on making another trilogy. A daring task, many would say. However, Webb did a great job differentiating the two movies. Garfield is a much more free spirited, witty and cocky Spiderman that instantly draws the fans in. Not to mention, he is much better looking. Sorry, Tobey Maguire. In fact, the casting as a whole was fantastic. Martin Sheen played a great Uncle Ben, and Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans and Denis Leary also gave notable performances.


The Amazing Spiderman begins with an hour long telling of the origin story of Spiderman. Peter Parker is a nerd who is not very popular in school, he has a pretty love interest, he goes to Oscorp and gets bitten by a spider, Martin Sheen paraphrases "with great power comes great responsibility", Peter's spite at someone is the cause for Uncle Ben's death, et cetera. This movie has the same key elements of the old Spiderman movie, but it is still somehow fascinating and well done. Plus, there is also an added level of danger because Gwen Stacey (Peter's love interest) is the daughter of the Chief of Police, and sees Spiderman as a threat. Though there is a lot of exposition before we get into the action, the movie is never slow. There are so many clever jokes and adorable romance scenes that the wait isn't so long. Eventually we meet the antagonist of the movie, The Lizard (and everyone in the theater simultaneously has an "oh shit" moment when they discover it's identity). The suspense leading up to the final scene is insane because it's uncertain how it will turn out for our hero, and the eventual confrontation between Peter and The Lizard is a lot better than Spiderman's with the Green Goblin ten years prior, thanks to technology improvements.

All in all, The Amazing Spiderman is a solid summer action movie. It has it's flaws (the way Peter gets the idea for the Spiderman suit is kind of odd), but the pros far outweigh the cons. There are a lot of laughs, a few tears perhaps and the movie is loaded with heart. Even though a reboot was not necessary so soon, The Amazing Spiderman is still an enjoyable movie to watch. Definitely go out and see it, if you haven't already.

Rating: 83 percent.