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A Day In The Limelight / Live-Action TV

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Episodes of Live-Action TV that put the spotlight on secondary characters.

  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
    • "4,722 Hours" focuses on Simmons' four months trapped alone (and, eventually, with one guest star companion) on the alien planet she gets accidentally transported to in the Season 2 finale. Other than Fitz's appearance in the two scenes of framing narrative, and brief shots of Fitz, Coulson, Skye, and May in a video Simmons watches on her phone, she's the only character for much of the episode, and the only series regular involved in the main story line.
    • "Rewind" is this for Fitz. Left behind when the whole the rest of the team is sent to the future, he is the only member of the main cast seen for most of the episode as he and a returning Lance Hunter attempt to figure out what happened to the team.
  • Subverted in the American Gothic (1995) episode "The Beast Within", in which the usually ineffective Minion with an F in Evil Ben Healey has to step up to save everyone, good and bad, from his psychotic brother. It turns out Lucas organised the whole thing to manipulate him.
  • American Horror Story: Freak Show devotes its tenth episode, "Orphans", to exploring Pepper's back story. Justified given the series' anthology format in that Pepper was the first character to recur between seasons, having originally appeared in Asylum, and the episode bridged the gap between the two and explained how she got from a circus in Florida in the mid-'50s to a mental institution in Massachusetts over a decade later. This episode is also notable in that it was very well-received by critics compared to most other AHS episodes from about Season 2 or 3 onward.
  • Angel:
  • The fourth season of Arrested Development takes this trope and runs with it, with each episode being a Day in the Limelight for a specific character, so that each of the nine leads receives one or two in the fifteen-episode run. They even get their own slight variation on the main titles and opening music, with each character represented by an instrument that plays over the original score for their episodes, and with the other characters introduced according to their relationship with that episode's lead (in the original three seasons, it was always everyone else's relation to Michael). This was partly due to budgetary and scheduling reasons: since the series had been Un-Cancelled by Netflix seven years after the original run ended, most of the actors were committed to other projects and resurrecting Arrested was more of a labour of love, meaning it had to be filmed whenever the leads were available. This was most noticeable in Buster's story line: due to Tony Hale's lead role on Veep being quite time-intensive, Buster only shares a few key scenes with other members of the family, and is mainly shown in a conveniently separate story line that focuses on his army career.
  • Babylon 5:
    • Given the show's ongoing Myth Arc, and the large number of characters, the lesser recurring characters all had ongoing B-plots rather than eps of their own, but they occasionally still happened: Vir was the center of "Sic Transit Vir", for example. Sometimes the combination of a Limelight episode and the Myth Arc would have odd results, such as "Grey 17 Is Missing", a Garibaldi-centric Monster of the Week A-Plot with a B-Plot about Minbari politics that was far more important. Lampshaded at the end of the episode when Garibaldi tries to explain his absence to the Captain and tells him that he'll fill him in on the details later.
    • "A View From the Gallery" is an entire episode focusing on two janitors trying to go about their job while the station is under attack. P.s. it's a DAMNED good episode of the show.
  • The Ballad of Big Al: The special serves as this for Allosaurus, which originally only featured as an "antagonist" in the "Time of the Titans" episode of Walking with Dinosaurs.
  • Band of Brothers. Each of the 10 episodes focuses on a specific character to some degree. The lead is Lt/Capt/Maj Winters who is in the limelight for episodes 2, 5, and 10. The other episodes focus on (1) Capt. Sobel, (3) Pvt. Blithe (a case of A Death in the Limelight, but not one that was historically accurate), (4) Sgt. Bull Randleman, (6) "Doc" Roe, (7) Sgt. Lipton, (8) Pvt. Webster, and (9) Capt. Nixon. If the episode has narration, it's by the character in the limelight from their Point of View.
  • Starbuck tends to have this for the majority of the episodes in Battlestar Galactica (1978).
    • Boomer, while not the main character focus got a bit of limelight in the episode "Fire in Space".
    • Muffit, the robot dog also had a few moments of focus now and again.
  • Battlestar Galactica (2003) has done this a few times, especially in its third season:
    • 3.10 "The Passage" is about Kat's past.
    • In 3.14 "The Woman King", Helo investigates a potential murder among civilian refugees.
    • In 3.16 "Dirty Hands", Chief Tyrol becomes the focus of a labour dispute.
  • Better Call Saul: "Five-O" focuses solely on Mike, with Saul in a few scenes here and there. It reveals a bit more about Mike's family, and his deceased son, who was a cop like Mike.
  • Blake's 7:
  • Breaking Bad
    • The episode "Hermanos" focuses on Gus, which fleshes out his character as well as giving a backstory to his relations with the Cartel, especially Hector / Tio.
    • At the beginning of series 5, we start to see a lot more focus on Mike, who had previously just been a tool for whomever was hiring him at the time.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Cake Boss
    • The episode where Buddy is making a full scale NASCAR car cake away from the bakery. While Buddy obviously has the bigger and cooler job, Mauro, Buddy's assistant, is in charge of the bakery and get to be the star of his half of the hour long episode (it was split between Buddy and Mauro more or less evenly, with Buddy getting a tiny bit more time). This in effect gives Mauro his own episode in Buddy's role, leading the cake team make a cake for a client he met with and narrating the segment.
    • One episode gave the spotlight to Cousin Anthony for his 21st birthday, and another one to head baker Joey on whether he'd leave the bakery or not. Not as much as the first example, but a change from the usual.
  • As Zachary Levi was busy preparing the Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Leftovers", most of "Chuck Versus Phase Three" focused on Sarah.
  • Community has done this a few times, with "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" focusing on Abed, "Advanced Gay" on Pierce, and "Football, Feminism and You" being Troycentric. Perhaps the best example is "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons", which focused equally on Pierce, typically the least-invested character, and Fat Neil, a background character.
  • While Auggie's role is probably Covert Affairs' second largest, the action always directly follows Annie, with Auggie acting as her Mission Control. Except in the season 2 episode "Half a World Away", which switches those roles.
  • CSI:
    • While the episode "Lab Rats" brings background lab techs Archie Johnson, Mandy Webster, Henry Andrews, and Wendy Simms to the fore and gives them each some time in the spotlight, the episode is actually A Day in the Limelight for Trace Evidence expert David Hodges. It was, after all, his lucky day.
    • And was later done again with the Lab Rats in the episode "You Kill Me". Fitting one reason for doing such an episode the actor playing Hodges is now a main character with title credit.
  • Daredevil (2015):
    • The season 1 episode "Shadows in the Glass" focuses primarily on Wilson Fisk's backstory, showing how his abusive father molded him into the man he is today, and how his father became the first person he ever killed.
    • The season 3 episode "The Perfect Game" spends the majority of its time establishing Dex's backstory. This is done through a lengthy black and white stageplay as Fisk researches key moments in Dex's life to exploit his weaknesses.
    • The season 3 episode "Karen" gives the spotlight entirely to Karen Page. The first 30 minutes of the episode establishes Karen's Dark and Troubled Past. The last 15 minutes is about Matt going to the church to stop Dex as Dex is dispatched by Fisk to kill Karen as revenge for her murdering James Wesley.
  • Dark Angel focused on Original Cindy's love life in "Shorties In Love" while the Alec fans got their showcase in "The Berrisford Agenda".
  • Dead of Summer, made by many of the same people behind the below-mentioned Lost, uses this in much the same manner, with each episode focusing on one character and containing flashbacks to their backstory.
  • Degrassi: The Next Generation:
    • "Don't Believe the Hype." This episode took Hazel, who was previously just a flunky for the Alpha Bitch, and revealed her secret: she's a Somali Muslim immigrant who was bullied at her previous school for being a "terrorist." She's been pulling an elaborate Masquerade so the popular girls will accept her. While The Reveal was well-done, it never answered the question of how she got into the in-crowd when she could never let them visit her house. And none of this came up in any other episode, ever again, aside from an offhand comment by Paige in "Holiday". There's rarely a time when one character is focused on in two consecutive episodes outside two parters.
    • The season 12 two parter, Never Ever was Imogen's first, and so far only, main plot. It introduced her family life and divulged heavily into it as well. It was followed up somewhat in a subplot later on, but was mostly from the point of view of Imogen's girlfriend, Fiona. Earlier in the season, we had Got Your Money, which focused on Zig's home life, who had been shafted as merely the object of affection for Tori and Maya until that point, and ever since he's been playing the same role as before.
    • Also, Season 7's Got My Mind Set On You was the only time Danny and Derek EVER received a main plot (and one of the few times they had a storyline period). A few episodes later, Snake gets a main plot in Another Brick in the Wall. Another couple of episodes later, Anya takes the lead in Ladies' Night and she wasn't even a main character at that point.
  • Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High use to do these all of the time:
    • Nothing to Fear featured LD, who had only made minimal appearances in the series at that point, struggling with the fact that her dad was in the hospital.
    • Eggbert showed Shane struggling with Spike's pregnancy. Every other plot relating to the baby was from Spike's point of view.
    • Despite being a major character, Snake's first real, non-Zit Remedy storyline wasn't until the season 3 episode He Ain't Heavy. He wouldn't have the focus of an episode again until the second to last episode of the series.
    • Diana seemingly came out of nowhere (well, she was in the background but no one really noticed) with Little White Lies, where she sneaked out of her house, went to a party, drank, smoked, got detention and was grounded, because she didn't want to go to night classes at Greek school.
    • Most of the episodes featuring the twins were from Erica's point of view, except for Just Friends, where Heather was FINALLY interested with someone who wasn't interested in Erica. Unfortunately, Wheels wasn't exactly interested in Heather either. But this storyline also took place during the long running storyline where Erica had an abortion (which wasn't even brought up) so it was nice to see Heather getting some focus.
    • Liz gets one with Crossed Wires, which finally reveals why she seems like such a man hater (but she has VERY good reasons).
  • One episode of Doctors was all about Julia alone in her house dealing with her mental degeneration; all the other characters only appeared in her hallucinations.
  • Doctor Who:
    • "The Sensorites" allows Susan, normally relegated to Damsel in Distress while the Hero Ball would be passed between the more dynamic Ian and Barbara, the opportunity to save the day with amazing Psychic Powers she'd never shown before and would never get to show again.
    • The First Doctor serial "The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve" is the first Doctor Who story to feature a single companion, Steven Taylor. On top of that, the story focuses almost entirely on Steven's adventures as a Fish out of Temporal Water in 16th century France as, while William Hartnell is present throughout the serial, the Doctor only appears in the first and last episodes.
    • Season 4 contains three consecutive stories which focuses more on one of the companions than the others so they can get some development: Polly overcomes Stay in the Kitchen attitudes and saves the day with nail varnish remover in "The Moonbase", Ben gets some More than Mind Control and some resulting character development in "The Macra Terror", and Jamie gets a little romantic subplot with the Girl of the Week and sets out on his own to rescue the Doctor in "The Faceless Ones".
    • In Season 19, each of the companions was given a story where they could take a bigger role. "Kinda" saw Tegan gets possessed by a snake being (this happened again in this next season's "Snakedance"), "Black Orchid" saw Nyssa meeting her identical stranger and "Earthshock" saw Adric leave the series in a dramatic fashion.
    • "Turn Left" is focused solely on Donna Noble, and the effect one decision (turning left or turning right) had.
    • The first half of "The Crimson Horror" is about Strax, Jenny and Madame Vastra, although the Doctor takes over the episode when he eventually turns up.
    • "Flatline" sees the Doctor trapped in the TARDIS when a mysterious force causes its exterior dimensions to diminish, so Clara has to assume his role for the day (him coaching her from "afar") and figure out why this is happening. She even takes on a companion figure of her own, Rigsy. This shows the upsides and downsides of her Character Development, as he realizes just how much like him she's becoming, and ends with another clue to the mystery of how and why they were brought together to begin with.
    • "The Woman Who Lived" focuses on Series 9's special guest character Ashildr (Maisie Williams), as the Doctor's path crosses with hers again some time after the events of the previous episode, in which he rendered her a functional immortal. The changes this meant for her life and personality drive the story, as the Doctor tries to keep her from making an awful mistake. To better focus on their relationship, the Doctor is on his own here; Clara only appears in the denouement.
    • "The Husbands of River Song" has the Twelfth Doctor encountering his wife once more when a case of mistaken identity gets him involved in her latest scheme — and she doesn't recognize him. She's the character who initiates and drives the plot, the Doctor ends up a companion of sorts for most of the runtime, and he and the audience learn a great deal about her that they didn't before. This is also River's only episode to date in which none of the Doctor's other companions appear, as he's travelling alone at the time.
  • Dr. Pimple Popper: When one patient presents with an extensive case of acne keloidalis nuchae on the back of his neck, Dr. Lee refers him to her colleague Dr. Sanusi Umar, a specialist regarding such extreme cases. Half of the episode then follows Dr. Umar as he explains and performs the keloid removal procedure step by step.
  • The Dukes of Hazzard has quite a few, most notably "Miz Tisdale On The Lam" (focusing on the Drop-In Character of postmistress Emma Tisdale).
  • Family Matters: Downplayed as Judy Winslow never really gets a day in the limelight, only a few subplots:
    • In "Fast Eddie Winslow", she must write a book report about Swiss Family Robinson after she doesn't read the book.
    • In "Ice Station Winslow", she feels ignored by her family because of her younger cousin Richie.
    • In "A Thought in the Dark", she ruins Harriette's dress and begs Carl to cover for her.note 
    • In "Taking Credit", she's in the Framing Device along with Rachel and Richie.
    • Played more straight with Carl's mother, Estelle Winslow, who, even though she was part of the main family, was rarely important to the episode's plots, especially in later seasons. Nonetheless, episodes like "The Quilt" and "Mama's Wedding" focused on her.
  • The F.B.I.: In the season 1 episode "The Impudents", Jim takes the lead on an investigation in California when Erskine has to testify at a trial in Washington. It just happens to be a case where Erskine has reason to doubt Jim's impartiality.
  • Frasier:
    • The episode, "Head Game", which focuses on Niles. In fact, the title character only appears in the first three minutes! The plot was written with Frasier in mind, but thanks to some substance abuse issues, Kelsey Grammer could only make a token appearance. The plot was shifted over to Niles, and some of the dialog are clearly Frasier-isms.
    • Season seven's "Dark Side of the Moon", which focuses on Daphne.
    • Season nine's "The Return of Martin Crane", which focuses on Martin.
    • Season five's "The Kid", which focuses on Roz.
    • Almost every season has at least one episode that focuses on the development of Niles and Daphne's relationship.
  • Fringe gave us two of these in Season 4: "Everything in Its Right Place" for Lincoln, and "Making Angels" for Astrid. Of course, the fans who had been longing to see both Lincolns share the screen probably regretted it when the episode resulted in Alt-Lincoln being shot and killed.
  • Happened in Glee: Tina Cohen-Chang, one of the original members of New Directions, had been neglected in terms of storylines and song distribution for nearly three whole years, until the episode “Props”, which was named after the fact that she felt like a prop to the whole glee club. The recap at the beginning of the episode actually went all meta stating how neglected Tina had been.
  • The Good Doctor:
    • The third episode of Season 3, "Claire", is focused on Dr. Claire Browne. The episode begins and ends with a scene of her, and shows a day in the hospital from her point of view. The protagonist of the series, Dr. Shaun Murphy, appears in few scenes and is secondary in the plot of the episode.
    • The sixth episode of Season 4, "Lim", is focused on Dr. Audrey Lim, and follows the same narrative structure of "Claire".
    • The tenth episode of Season 4, "Decrypt", is mainly focused on Lea having to resolve a hacking attack at the hospital.
  • Sitcom Greek's Beaver is one of the most prominent secondary characters, yet nothing was known about him except that he got his nickname for biting a chair while drunk, that's until the final season where he gets an episode titled "all about beave" where his motivations, his background, his day-to-day living and his real name are revealed.
  • The Handmaid's Tale: Luke, who hasn't gotten a lot of attention before, has an entire episode devoted to his story once he was separated from June and Hannah, "The Other Side".
  • Hawaii Five-O'' "Cry,Lie" was very few episodes to actually on focus on Chin Ho, who's accused of bribery as part of a plot to discredit Five-O.
  • Heroes:
    • In a show that wavers between Two Lines, No Waiting and Four Lines, All Waiting, the episode "Company Man" in Volume 1 almost completely focused around HRG (aka Mr. Bennet) and his very messed-up relationship with his job and family. Up to this point, he was just an overprotective dad. In Black, but this greatly expanded backstory and explanation of his motives permanently cemented his Ensemble Dark Horse status.
    • HRG gets another one in "Cold Wars" while both Tracey and Sylar are going to be getting a few in Volume 4. And "The Year of Our Lord" focused more or less entirely on Peter/Future Peter. ("Five Years Gone" did the same for Hiro/Future Hiro.)
  • In Highlander, Duncan MacLeod had a greatly reduced presence in the final season. Most of these were Poorly Disguised Pilots for new Immortals, but the penultimate episode, "Indiscretions", gave Methos and Joe Dawson their own story.
  • On Hogan's Heroes, Kinch was often involved in plots requiring technical/radio work, but since the color of his skin would be a bit noticeable trying to impersonate a WW2 German official, he didn't get as many "dress up" plots as the rest of the cast. One exception was "The Prince From the Phone Company", involved him capturing and impersonating an African royal trying to ally himself with the Axis forces, complete with a Girl of the Week.
  • House does this with the season 6 episode "Wilson," which focuses on (you guessed it) Dr. Wilson doing his rounds in the oncology department and solving his own medical mystery about a former patient whose previously-in-remission leukemia may have recurred. Having House and his team be secondary characters in this episode is a great example of how ridiculous their diagnostic schemes are (and gives us some great one-liners that are hilarious out of context.)
    • "5 to 9" did the same with Cuddy.
    • And Season 7's "Last Temptation" is this for Martha Masters before she intentionally causes a 13-year old girl to go into cardiac arrest all so she could then chop off her arm, then she resigns, before falling over a chicken.
    • Chase gets his own episode in "Chase", in which he recovers from leg injuries from the previous episode and hooks up with a nun he treated in the clinic. The morning after, he saves her life after she suffers a carotid artery dissection.
  • The season 7 How I Met Your Mother episode "Symphony Of Illumination" seemed to be this, similar to the Scrubs examples below: unlike every single previous episode, it begins with Future!Robin narrating the episode to her future kids, rather than Future!Ted narrating it to his own.
    • "Something Borrowed" was Lily and Marshall-centric, and any episode involving his father is a day in the limelight for Barney.
    • Season 9's "How Your Mother Met Me" is the Mother's story, portraying the show's timeline from her perspective and how many times she's narrowly missed meeting Ted until their paths convened at Farhampton.
  • Iron Chef:
    • Yukio Hattori, normally a commentator for the battles, would twice challenge an Iron Chef: the first time out of jealousy and claims that he should be an Iron Chef, challenging Michiba, the other out of an It's Personal vendetta because his ancestor was snubbed for a prestigious position in favor of the then head chef of Nadaman, and so Hattori wished to avenge himself on the current head chef of Nadaman, Iron Chef Nakamura. He lost both battles.
    • Hattori would fill in as chairman when Chairman Kaga, outraged at the losing streak his chefs were suffering, boycotted Battle Piglet. (This is a bit of Kayfabe, as the real reason was a scheduling conflict on actor Takeshi Kaga's part.)
    • Kenji Fukui, the other major commentator in Iron Chef battles, would get his chance to be a judge in the 2000 Dish special.
  • The Incredible Hulk (1977): Season 3's "Proof Positive" focuses squarely on reporter Jack McGee instead of David Banner's travails. Jack's boss has retired and his daughter who takes over the "National Register" forbids Jack to continue his pursuit of the Hulk. The two end up having a heart-to-heart where Jack tells her the effects the story has had on his life. David is only shown briefly in flashbacks or by having a stunt double fill in for Bill Bixby, who was unable to film due to a conflicting court case over his impending divorce.
  • JAG was known for giving each of the supporting characters an episode of their own once a season.
  • Jake and the Fatman: In "I Cover the Waterfront", an old friend of Derek's shows up wanting to reconnect, but when he's found dead later that night, Derek insists it wasn't a suicide like all the evidence seems to imply. Jake is out of town testifying in another state, so Derek goes off-reservation and acts an investigator.
  • Kamen Rider has the tendency to do this with a lot of their shows. Most notably in direct-to-DVD movies. They're usually devoted to Secondary Riders, but a few had been devoted to an Ensemble Dark Horse or even a Villain Episode. Most of these often give them a Super Mode, a Super Prototype, or some variant of a new form. Some even outright give them a Rider form, as they had none prior to the limelight. Examples of these include:
  • Happens at least once a season on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, when Stabler and Benson, the lead detectives, step aside and allow the secondary team of Munch and Fin to be the primary focus of the episode, or the time when Fin got an episode to himself.
    • Sometimes the episode starts fairly near to the end of the "Law" section, and the majority of the episode is the "Order", as the ADAs run around Manhattan trying to scare up witnesses. This is far less common than it was on The Mother Ship.
    • Melinda Warner has a minor day in the limelight in "Blast".
  • LazyTown: Robbie Rotten has one in "The First Day of Summer", where after the townspeople head to the beach he sees he's the only person left in LazyTown, to his delight. However, he quickly gets lonely. Fortunately, he actually gets a bone thrown for him at the end. It's a heartwarming episode.
  • The Legend of Dick and Dom is an Ensemble Cast show, but the emphasis is usually on Prince Dick and Prince Dom; they get Taken for Granite in "Rock Hard", so their servants Lutin and Mannitol get A Day In The Limelight, trying both to cure them and get that week's MacGuffin.
  • On the 1984-86 revival of Let's Make a Deal, host Monty Hall let then-announcer Dean Goss host two deals to test his abilities as host. Goss later uploaded clips of the episode to his YouTube channel, where he confirmed that Hall wanted to renew the show for a third season and pass it over to him. It got canceled instead.
  • In Lessons for a Perfect Detective Story Fujii has her own episode in the style of a "Two-Hour Suspense" story aimed at middle-aged women with her own opening credits and song.
  • Liv and Maddie's "Detention-A-Rooney" puts the spotlight firmly on Parker, with both Liv and Maddie relegated to the subplot section.
  • Lost, despite having a huge main cast, has (almost) every episode focus on one character. Some notable episodes that focus on recurring characters who don't usually get their own episodes include:
    • "S.O.S", which focused on Rose & Bernard.
    • "Live Together, Die Alone", which focused on Desmond, who was made a main character next season.
    • "The Incident", though containing flashbacks from almost every living character, focused on Jacob and also featured a Ilana flashback (both characters were also the focus of one of the episode's two plotlines).
    • "Ab Aeterno", considered by most to be one of the series' greatest episodes, is the long-awaited flashback episode of Richard. About 85% of the episode takes place in the past, specifically 1867.
    • "Across the Sea" is focused on Jacob and the Man in Black, two important guest stars, and features no regular cast members outside of stock footage.
  • MacGyver (1985): "Early Retirement" is this for Pete Thornton. Pete oversees the disarming of a nuclear warhead. A deadly explosion at the disarming facility causes Pete to accept full responsibility and retire from the Phoenix Foundation. However, MacGyver soon suspects that the replacement for Pete is responsible for sabotaging the warhead.
  • M*A*S*H:
    • The season 11 episode "Hey, Look Me Over" centers on Nurse Kellye, who's usually strictly a Bit Character. It's actually a rather nice story... actress Kellye Nakahara's "Nurse Kellye" had more appearances and lines over the years than any of the other nurse characters (strictly bit parts, though), and she was well-liked by the cast. Alan Alda felt she deserved an episode where she could really shine, and surprised her with the script for "Hey, Look Me Over."
    • "Dear Sigmund", which is told from the point of view of psychiatrist Sidney Freedman, a recurring guest character.
    • There's also the other "Dear" episodes, when not told by Hawkeye, technically.
    • Depending on whether you consider Hawkeye to be the show's lead character or just one part of the ensemble, than any number of Character Focus episodes centering on the other regulars – Margaret, Radar, Father Mulcahy, etc. – could be regarded as this.
    • Hawkeye himself gets one in the season 4 episode "Hawkeye", where he's the only one of the main characters to appear in the entire episode.
    • Another episode is shown completely from the point of view of, and narrated by, a soldier who is brought to the 4077th after being wounded in battle.
  • Miami Vice
    • "Golden Triangle" and "Bushido" delved into Castillo's past and expand slightly upon his typically taciturn character.
    • The first season episode "Made for Each Other" focused on Zito and Switek.
  • Doesn't happen all that often in Merlin but Elyan does get a couple. One occurs near the end of season 4 when he is Brainwashed and Crazy by a ghost and plays a vital role in starting peace between Arthur and the Druids. The other happens mid-season 5 and is actually A Death in the Limelight.
  • Millennium (1996): "The Well-Worn Lock" focuses on Frank Black's wife Catherine, usually a supporting character, in her job as a social worker. It's also reminiscent of a Very Special Episode, as instead of a deranged Serial Killer or an Ancient Conspiracy, it deals with domestic violence by a father who sexually abuses his daughters.
  • In The Millionaire, each episode features somebody anonymously receiving a check for one million dollars from John Beresford Tipton, an Eccentric Millionaire. Each check is hand-delivered by Tipton's executive secretary, Mr. Anthony, and usually once that's done they both disappear from the story and the focus goes to what the recipient does next. "The Hugh Waring Story" is an exception: Waring is about to be executed for murder, and doesn't care about the money; instead the episode is about Anthony becoming convinced Waring has been framed and persuading Tipton to see justice done.
  • Modern Family 6x16, "Connection Lost", is one for Claire. Though all the main characters (and a few recurring/guest characters) make an appearance, the entire episode pans out from Claire's POV as she reacts to events on her computer screen.
  • An episode in the waning season of Moonlighting gave Agnes and Herbert an episode to themselves and a case to solve, playing out approximately like a first-season episode as a welcome respite from watching David and Maddie hash out their relationship problems.
    • A more obvious episode is North by North Dipesto, which is entirely about Agnes Dipesto.
    • Another obvious episode is season 4's Here's Living with You, Kid, which is the only episode in which neither Cybill Shepherd nor Bruce Willis appear. The focus is entirely on Agnes and Herbert.
  • Season 7 of Murdoch Mysteries had two; the Girl's Night Out Episode "Friday the 13 1901", in which a Closed Circle meant Dr Odgen had to play detective, and "Kung Fu Crabtree" in which, as the title suggests Crabtree took the lead, because Murdoch was caught up in a Story Arc related B-plot. Season 8 has "Crabtree Mania", which keeps the focus on Crabtree even though Murdoch is involved in the investigation as well, and ends with him being offered a detective position.
  • My Mad Fat Diary: The penultimate episode, "It's a Wonderful Rae: Part I" has a larger than usual focus on secondary character Tix and is partially narrated by her.
  • While basically an ensemble show, Nashville's "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" is practically all about Scarlett and the aftereffects of her onstage meltdown.
  • Nathan for You: The Grand Finale, "Finding Frances", centers around Bill Heath, the Bill Gates impersonator who appears several times throughout the series, as Nathan assists him in tracking down a lost love from his past. While Nathan has a plotline of his own and plays a central role in the search itself, the episode is distinctly Bill's.
  • Never Have I Ever: S01E06, "...been the loneliest boy in the world," centers on Ben Gross. Instead of McEnroe narrating, it's Andy Samberg.
  • Once Upon a Time follows the same format as Lost (obviously due to being created by Lost alumni) and has every episode focus on one character, some on minor and one episode characters, which include:
    • "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" focusing on Sidney Glass (The Magic Mirror)
    • "Dreamy" which focuses on Leroy (Grumpy)
    • "Red-Handed", a notable example which focuses on Ruby (Red Riding Hood) where it was revealed that she is a werewolf
    • "In the Name of the Brother" which focuses on Dr. Whale ( Dr. Frankenstein)
    • "The Miller's Daughter", which focuses on Cora (The Queen of Hearts).
  • One of Us is Lying: "Simon Says You Better Pray" shifts the focus to Vanessa as she investigates the Murder Club during the episode and shows her perspective on things.
  • The fifth and final season of Orphan Black has a number of its episodes focus on a different character, often complete with flashbacks.
    • The third episode focuses on Alison and her struggle with her suburban life.
    • The fifth episode focuses on Cosima on the island, as well as her relationship with Delphine.
    • The seventh episode focuses on Rachel and her history at DYAD.
    • The eighth episode focuses on Mrs. S and what she's been up to behind the scenes.
    • The ninth episode focuses on Helena, with flashbacks to her abusive childhood.
    • The tenth and final episode naturally focuses on Sarah, the protagonist, and her uncertain future after the events of the series.
  • Although Miss Brooks is always the star of Our Miss Brooks, some episodes give lesser characters a major role:
    • "Brooks' New Car" features a major role for Mrs. Conklin. Likewise, "Weekend at Crystal Lake".
    • "Madison Mascot" and "Stretch to Transfer" feature the student athlete in something akin to a starring role.
    • "Angela's Wedding", "A Dry Scalp is Better Than None", and "Mr. Casey's Will" feature Mrs. Davis' sister Angela as the episodes mover and shaker.
    • "The Egg" has an appearance by Mrs. Davis' usually unseen, only mentioned, brother Victor.
  • Person of Interest gives pretty much every character at least one.
    • Reese has season 1's "Pilot", and "Many Happy Returns", season 2's "Prisoner's Dilemma", season 3's "4C", and season 4's "Terra Incognita."
    • Finch has season 1's "No Good Deed", season 2's "All In", and season 3's "Lethe".
    • Carter has season 1's "Get Carter", and season 3's "Endgame", and "The Crossing".
    • Fusco has season 2's "In Extermis" and season 4's "Wingman".
    • Shaw has season 2's "Relevance" and season 3's "Razgovor".
    • Root has season 2's "Bad Code" and season 3's "/"note .
    • Elias has season 1's "Flesh and Blood" and season 4's "The Devil You Know" (along with his friend, Scarface.)
    • Zoe has season 1's "The Fix".
    • Stanton has season 2's "The Dead Reckoning".
    • Collier has season 3's "A House Divided".
    • Greer has season 4's "The Cold War."
    • Control has season 4's "Control-Alt-Delete".
    • And the Machine has season 4's "If-Then-Else".
  • On Police, Camera, Action! the episode "Jacked & Cloned" mainly focused on the Greater Manchester Police, and the episode "ASBO Drivers" was this for two forces: Greater Manchester Police and South Yorkshire Police. Later on in the series, "Moto Mania" was this for the South Yorkshire Police, most of the British footage was from that county - aside from two Midlands clips, a Texan police clip, an Ohio Police clip, a Cambridgeshire Police chase of a learner motorbike rider (dubbed the "learner from hell") and a Metropolitan Police motorbike chase.
  • Power Rangers:
    • Power Rangers in Space: "True Blue to the Rescue" features the return of Justin tand the super cars from the last season, Power Rangers Turbo and provided closure for them.
    • Power Rangers RPM features 5 episodes named after the title characters ("Ranger [color]"), as well as their mentor, Dr. K. Each elucidates a character's backstory. Dillon, Ranger Black, does not have his own episode, attributable to Laser-Guided Amnesia, and that Dillon's character episodes are more or less the two first, where he's made to choose between becoming a ranger, or jail. And a bunch of episodes trying to solve his amnesia.
  • Punky Brewster would allow her pals to bask in their own episodes. Allen's episode would be his final one ("Divorce, Anderson Style" which had a Downer Ending). Cherie's episodes were "Cherie Lifesaver," where she gets trapped in a disused refrigerator, and "The Anniversary," where she visits her parents' graves on the day they were killed in an accident. Marguax's was "Poor Margaux," when she discovers her dad is bankrupt.
  • During the 70s, there were two versions of the TV game show Pyramid: The daytime network version (First, The $10,000 Pyramid; later, The $20,000 Pyramid), and a nighttime syndicated version (The $25,000 Pyramid, which later ran on CBS daytime), with two different hosts — Dick Clark and Bill Cullen, respectively — who would often appear as a celebrity guest on the other's version to help the contestants win money.
  • Series/Psych:
    • "A Very Juliet Episode" and "In For a Penny" are both Juliet-centric episodes, focused on her relationships with her ex-boyfriend and father respectively. The cold opens for both episodes are also Juliet-centric.
    • While Gus is the deuteragonist of the show, it is still heavily centered around Shawn. However, "Cog-Blocked" sees Gus take over as the lead in the case of the week, with Shawn tagging along for the ride.
  • While Quantum Leap was always a two-hander between Sam and Al, and the supporting cast changed each week, the S5 episode "Killin' Time" has Sam stuck waiting out a hostage situation and unable to take much action, while his murderous leapee manages to escape the Waiting Room — and the episode follows Al as he tracks the leapee through the nearby city, since Sam can't leap till he returns. This was almost the first episode since the pilot in which we saw Al do anything outside Project QL. ("Honeymoon Express" showed Al addressing a Senate hearing, but the focus of the episode remained on Sam.)
  • In the Remember WENN episode "The Ghost of WENN," it is revealed that the ghost is actually CJ, who's miffed at being ignored by the main cast.
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures:
  • Scrubs has done this on multiple occasions, in the episodes "His Story" (I-IV), "Her Story, (I-II) and "Their Story" (I-II). These episodes feature the inner monologues of characters other than JD, often alluded to in-character with phrases like "Now that I have this tape recorder, I won't need to be in my head as much". They also include a whooshing sound as JD makes physical contact with the focus character right before the voice over switches, as though the ability to narrate is the result of some sort of communicable disease. This also works backwards near the end of the episode, often including similar phrases.
  • Each episode of Skins focuses on a particular member of the cast, with each cast member getting an episode (or sometimes two) to themselves each season.
  • The Stargate SG-1 episode "The Other Guys" focuses on the scientists who usually are just background characters.
  • Stargate Atlantis had "Sunday". The episode is unusual in it isn't made clear who the story is about until the end when Carson Beckett dies.
  • Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch gets these in the cringeworthy "Huggy Bear and the Turkey" (a failed Poorly Disguised Pilot) and the considerably better "Huggy Can't Go Home."
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • "Lower Decks" (the Trope Namer for the Lower-Deck Episode and the inspiration for an entire spin-off series) focused on a group of low-ranking officers, including one character who'd appeared in a single episode in an earlier season. The episode explores how different life is for the lower ranks and how the senior officers either awe or intimidate them. It also acts as a way of setting up the previously-seen character as possibly developing a recurring role in the show. Subverted at the end when she dies as part of her mission, and the episode comes full circle with the main cast and the lower ranks sharing the pain and admiration of her sacrifice.
    • Although main cast, Troi rarely had good quality episodes focused on her and her background and was initially defined in the show by her past relationship with Riker until her character was developed a little more. And then "Face of the Enemy" happened, an episode that made her the key driving force of the entire episode in a very unusual way. She spends the episode masquerading as a Romulan, taking centre-stage in a high-stakes political defection plotline.
    • In "Dark Page", the focus of the plot on Troi's mother, Lwaxana, who has been teaching a telepathic race called the Cairn how to communicate verbally so that they can interact with non-telepathic species. The episode delves into secrets Lwaxana has been keeping that Troi never knew existed and the rest of the main cast only appear as satellites to Troi's investigation of her mother through the help of the Cairn.
    • Wesley Crusher, as the original Trope Namer for Creator's Pet, rarely had storylines that explored flaws within his charactrer. However, "Final Mission" gives him a coming of age story by thrusting him into a leadership position when Captain Picard is injured while alone in a desert with Wesley and a miner they're travelling with while "The First Duty" is a highly unusual storyline in that it deals with a terrible incident that a group of cadets, including Wesley, is covering up; the truth almost ends Wesley's future career and does damage his ability to graduate.
    • "The Wounded" was the first episode to prominently center around Miles O'Brien, as he has to help stop his former commanding officer, Capt. Benjamin Maxwell, who's launching unauthorized attacks against the Cardassians. This would set the stage for O'Brien's promotion to main character and many more plot points on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • The modern Star Trek series all have had limelight episodes for various characters, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the clear champion in this category thanks to its large cast of secondary, minor, and recurring characters. By the end of the series the recurring villains were getting as much screen time and focus on their problems and schemes as the heroes were.
  • Star Trek: Voyager took this to an extreme with "Pathfinder", an episode devoted to Lt. Barclay, who was not even on the Voyager and inhabited a different sector of space. The episode revolves around Barclay attempting to make contact with the distant Voyager, and the main cast doesn't even appear until the last act of the episode.
    • Then there was "Course: Oblivion", the episode concerning the silver blood clones of Voyager and crew. Turns into a Tear Jerker when it's learned they're losing cohesion and basically about to die just as they're about to meet the real thing... and none of the real Voyager crew even knew of their existence.
    • "Timeless" could be considered "the Harry Kim episode."
    • Tuvok gets a few, but "Gravity" was probably his main one.
    • "Barge of the Dead" was probably the main B'Elanna show, but there was also "Day of Honor" covering her and Tom's relationship, and "Faces" and "Lineage" about her Klingon/Human issues. She also had "Dreadnought" and "Prototype" to show off her engineering chops.
    • Neelix had "Jetrel", "Fair Trade", "Mortal Coil" and "Homestead".
    • Icheb, otherwise very much a minor character introduced in the sixth season, had "Child's Play" and "Imperfection".
  • On the other hand, as David Gerrold pointed out in his book about Star Trek: The Original Series, McCoy only had one episode directly about him ("For The World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky") while Scotty had the spotlight in "Wolf in the Fold" and "The Lights Of Zetar".
  • In the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip episode "The Disaster Show", Matt and Danny don't feature at all. Instead it was a day in the limelight for Cal, the director.
    Jack Rudolph, President of the network: "Hope it's a good show!"
    Cal, responding to the many disasters happening: "Can't see how!"
  • Supernatural:
    • "Ghostfacers", which featured two characters from a first season episode and their friends. Fans either loved it or loathed it.
    • "The Rapture", told the Backstory of Castiel's vessel.
    • The Impala gets flashbacks and a backstory in "Swan Song". She later gets a full episode shown entirely from her point of view in "Baby".
    • In Season 6, Bobby Singer gets one of these, aptly titled, "Weekend at Bobby's" (also a Shout-Out, as the episode titles often are). It focuses on what Bobby does when he's not helping Sam and Dean, and how that actually interferes with his life. The episode also wraps up the minor Story Arc about selling his soul to Crowley to help save the world.
    • "Death's Door" is also Bobby-centric.
    • "The Man Who Would Be King" is about Castiel, and narrated from his point of view.
    • "Apointment In Samarra" is one for the Reapers, as Dean learns exactly what the Psychopomps of his reality have to deal with every day.
  • Torchwood:
  • Ultra Series, because even if every episode requires Ultraman to save the day in the end, it's still possible to give focus to the hero's friends and allies.
    • Ultraman:
      • "Don't Shoot, Arashi!" for Arashi (in which his trigger-happy attitude proves to be his downfall against Zaragas, a kaiju with an Adaptive Ability)
      • "Pearl Oyster Defense" for Fuji (in which she has a lot more participation than usual in this week's monster hunt)
      • "The Small Hero" for Ide (where he begins to feel he is useless because Ultraman always defeats the monsters for Science Patrol)
      • "Human Specimens 5 and 6" for Captain Muramatsu (where much of the episode sees him trying to bust aliens invading a mountain lab by himself)
      • "The Coast Guard Command" for Hoshino (which is about him and his friends running into some diamond smugglers while Science Patrol hunts the kaiju Gesura in the subplot).
    • Ultraseven:
      • "Return to the North!" for Furuhashi (where his mother comes over from Hokkaido to convince him to leave Ultra Garrison and return to the farm)
      • "The 0.1 Second Kill" for Soga (which focuses mainly on his rivalry with a fellow marksman)
      • "The 700-Kilometer Dash" for Amagi (where he has to overcome his fear of explosions while being pursued by aliens armed with explosives)
      • "Horror on the Moon" for Commander Kiriyama (which focuses on his past fighting off alien invasions as a private)
      • "The Human Farm" for Anne (where she and a friend face an alien that intends to plant a Festering Fungus on them).
    • Ultraman Tiga:
      • Rena gets "The Man who Fell to Earth" (focusing on her relationship with her father), "SOS for the Deep Blue Sea", and "Monster Zoo" (both showcase her compassionate side for animals)
      • Captain Iruma gets "The Devil's Judgement" (which reveals a lot more about her family) and "The Mirage of a Monster" (in which she has to face a jerkass GUTS general who hates Ultraman Tiga)
      • Commander Munakata has "The Day the Monster Appeared" and "Vampire City" (both featuring his regular outings at a bar to speak with his journalist pal)
      • Horii has "Requiem to Darkness", "A Fog is Coming!", and "Goodbye to Darkness" (all of which develop on his love life)
      • Shinjoh's are "The Closed Amusement Park" (dealing with his relationship as an older brother to GUTS nurse Mayumi), "Human Collecting", and "A Friend from Space" (both in which he battles aliens targeting his friends and family)
      • Yazumi has "One Vanishing Moment" (where he gets to fight on the field for the first time), "The Time-Transcending Smile" (where he encounters a time-displaced girl), and "The Town Where the Girl Disappeared" (mainly a solo adventure where an insane AI falls in love with him).
    • Ultraman Mebius:
      • Konomi has "Broken Bonds" (where she feels that her timid attitude makes her unsuited for GUYS) and "Konomi's Treasure" (which deals almost entirely with her encountering a childhood friend).
      • George has "Reverse Shot" (where his inability to work with a team makes him consider leaving GUYS) and "The Lonely Grandstander" (where he stands as the only man able to neutralize the Monster of the Week's Doppelgänger Attack).
      • Marina has "Marina of the Wind" (where she meets up with some old friends from her motorcycling career) and "The Ocean Waves of Time" (where she travels back in time to the summer her beloved grandfather died).
      • Teppei has "One Path" (in which the fact that he hasn't told his parents yet about his new job at GUYS causes trouble) and "Lady of the Blue Flame" (where is unsure if he can save the life of a girl he likes).
      • Ryu has "Formation of Our Vows" (where he is troubled by how ex-mentor Serizawa/Ultraman Hikari seems to be no longer interested in him) and "The Resurrection of Yapool" (where the evil Yapool takes over his body to try break his friendship with Mirai).
      • Ultraman Hikari has "Azure Waves of Light and Shadow" (in which his past as Anti-Hero Hunter Knight Tsurugi comes back to haunt him).
      • Captain Sakomizu has "A Visit from an Old Friend" (which reveals a lot more about his experiences with Ultras to spoiler levels).
      • Adjutant Toriyama has "The Chief Inspector's Message" (in which he becomes annoyed with how GUYS' Chief Inspector is constantly absent, despite it being his duty to report to the Chief).
  • In The Vampire Diaries "Brave New World" centers on Caroline and her becoming a vampire. The appropriately named "Katerina" is about Katherine's backstory.
  • Walker, Texas Ranger: Although Walker is the undisputed hero, sometimes, his fellow Rangers and Alex have their moments in the spotlight when it comes to taking on cases.
    • In Season 2's "A Deadly Vision", he is almost absent and we see Trivette and CD run around solving the case together, along with a one-shot psychic.
    • In Season 3's "Till Death Do Us Part", while en route to a courthouse with Alex, Walker ended up in a coma while trying to save a toddler from a car teetering off a bridge following a hit-and-run accident, and while his friends and family pray for his recovery, CD and Trivette search for the driver responsible.
    • Played painfully straight in Season 4's "Behind the Badge," where Walker is in the spotlight for a documentary show and Trivette wants to impress them. Too bad it happens to be the one day crime is in a dry spell.
    • Season 6's "Angel" had Trivette reunite with a former lover, who is now a professional killer while Walker was away at Camp Justice, and he had to not only arrest her, but a Jamaican drug lord.
    • Season 8's "Tall Cotton" focused on Gage and Sydney searching for the former's sister, who was kidnapped by the sleazy owner of the titular nightclub after she had gone undercover to expose his shady doings while Walker and Alex were away on a fishing trip. Walker is quickly called back into action as backup when the owner of the club tries to flee the country after Gage, Sydney and Trivette rescue her.
    • "Rise to the Occasion", also in Season 8, had Trivette, Gage and Sydney take on the Lorenzo Cabral investigation while Walker is busy with his anti-bullying campaign at Chisholm Middle School following the suicide of the much-bullied Henry Monroe.
  • This has happened several times on Wheel of Fortune:
    • Co-host Vanna White played one round for charity at the end of a 1989 episode, with host Pat Sajak turning the letters.
    • During a week of episodes in November 1996, Pat had laryngitis for the entire taping session. His condition was so bad that come Thursday's Bonus Round, he turned the letters and Vanna "hosted" for him.
    • A year later, Pat and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek traded places and hosted each other's shows on April Fools' Day. Pat and Vanna also played that day's Wheel (with Pat's wife, Lesly, turning the letters) and won over $50,000, which they split between two charities.
    • And in early 2011, the show held a contest which allowed one home viewer to take Vanna's place for two rounds. The winner appeared on the March 24 episode.
    • Due to Pat recovering from surgery at the time of taping, Vanna ended up hosting two weeks of episodes in December 2019. As the weeks were also a Disney tie-in, costumed Disney characters took her usual place.
  • The White Collar episode "As You Were" focuses on Jones, who's normally the junior FBI agent who sits in the surveillance van.
  • In The Wild Wild West's "The Night of the Big Blast" Artie, rather than Jim, is in charge. In fact, the real Jim doesn't appear until the end of act 3.
  • The first season Xena: Warrior Princess episode "The Prodigal" was very much a Gabrielle episode, with the warrior princess herself only appearing in the opening and closing scenes.
  • The X-Files did a number of limelight episodes later in its run, including "Zero Sum" (it focused on Assistant Director Skinner, Mulder and Scully's FBI superior), "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man" (the recurring villain and agent of The Conspiracy dubbed "Cancer Man" or "the Cigarette-Smoking Man"), "Unusual Suspects", "Three of a Kind" and "Jump the Shark" (the Lone Gunmen, conspiracy theorist Comic Trio and cohorts of Mulder).

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