TVSquad

The list of qualities that made Arrested Development such a great show is quite long, but somewhere near the top, right after the cast, is the list of recurring characters who were so hilarious. Here my ten favorite acquaintances of the Bluth family.

1. Barry Zuckercorn (Henry Winkler)
It is a credit to the brilliance of Arrested Development that an actor like Henry Winkler, who will forever be identified with the role of Fonzie, can be identified with a character who could not be more different. The hilarity that comes from Barry's sexual deviancy and complete legal ineptitude is reason enough to watch.

Gallery: ARR DEV Recurring

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 30-21, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the numerous stand-up comedians who became sitcom stars. In this installment we look at one particular TV comedy that made stars out of a number of actors and actresses.

I'm talking about NBC's Saturday Night Live. Since its premiere in 1975, the late-night sketch show has given us a slew of actors and actresses who have made the move onto both the big and small screen. Sometimes the move was towards more comedy, sometimes it was a switch to more serious roles, other times it was a little bit of both. And, while many of those who made it are still in the public eye these days, some of the greatest of those who came from Studio 8H had their careers snuffed out way too early.

The amount of those who rose to the top varied from cast to cast. Some casts, like the very first one, produced a whole slew of talent who went on to bigger and better things. Others, like the first casts from 1980-85 and the mid-1990s, produced very little in the way of big stars.

Gallery: SNL: 1975-1985

Most people don't think of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an SNL alumnus; sure, it's been mentioned here and there, and she did participate in the various show retrospectives that aired last year. But, unlike Will Ferrel, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and any number of big names that came from the show, when you hear JLD's name, the first thing you think of is Seinfeld, not SNL.

That might be because Julia wasn't used all that much during her time on the show, which was from 1982 to 1985. That was especially true in the classic "Short - Crystal - Guest - Shearer" season of 1984-1985, as the star power of that year overwhelmed whatever semi-known cast member was left over from previous years. Pre-Seinfeld, JLD was probably on the SNL fame meter somewhere around the Melanie Hutsell level.