What is Three Plus Two?

I'd assumed that Three Plus Two is about a trio that is eventually joined by two new characters to make a group of five. But on the Five-Man Band TRS some tropers believed is was about a five man group where extra focus is put on three members. Looking a the page, I noticed a couple of examples that seem to go by the latter definition. So is this trope based off of when the character's join the group or is it based off of narrative focus?

Edited by RustBeard on Oct 14th 2021 at 3:19:38 AM

Why not both? The original three would most likely be the ones with the most narrative focus, thus making the two newer members have less focus. At least, that's how I understand it. The three are the central players, the first members, the core of the team, and the other two are side characters to the trio who got involved later and thus have less focus most of the time.

But again, that's just me.

But what about examples where the Five-Man Band was present from the beginning? Here's an example of the trope's main page:

• The Big Bang Theory is a Three plus Two plus Two. Penny, Leonard and Sheldon are clearly the main three characters all the way through the series, complemented by Howard and Raj, with Bernadette and Amy joining later. The addition of Stuart as a main character in Series 6 makes it Three plus Two plus Two plus One.

Howard and Raj were part of the main gang since the pilot. In fact they were friends with Leonard and Sheldon before they met Penny. Is this a correct example?

Yeah, I'm honestly not sure. Not just because this trope is confusing, but also because I've never really watched BBT.

Okay, I understand. But let's say there's a show with a five man main cast. Three of these characters get more focus. The other two have always been part of the team, they just don't get as much narrative attention. Would that be an example of Three Plus Two?