The Order of Characters Who "Pop"

From the late ‘80s until now, selling a pilot has been all about characters “popping.” This is a term borrowed from the visual side of the medium; a yellow shirt on a blue couch “pops.” It was appropriated to describe characters who stand out from the background and make us forget the rest of the group, which was assumed to be a good thing, even when it was requested in an ensemble show, in which case they ask to have all the characters pop. In testing, standard questions put to the sample audience are “Who’s your favorite character?” and “Who’s your least favorite character?” Of course someone is always the least favorite character, and this person they try to eliminate from the series. (Who’s your least favorite Stooge? Lose him. Which of Ebeneezer’s ghosts did you like the least – cos, I dunno, I just never felt the Present Ghost popped.)