{"id":601271,"date":"2026-08-31T05:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T05:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/601271\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T05:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T05:36:10","slug":"before-the-walking-dead-jon-bernthal-was-in-a-forgotten-sitcom-with-a-modern-family-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/601271\/","title":{"rendered":"Before The Walking Dead, Jon Bernthal Was In A Forgotten Sitcom With A Modern Family Star"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n \"Shane <\/p>\n

AMC<\/p>\n

Shane Walsh in “The Walking Dead”<\/a> might have been Jon Bernthal’s breakthrough television role, but one of his earliest in the medium was in a one-season CBS sitcom.\u00a0After appearing in a number of guest roles between 2002 and 2005, Bernthal played Duncan Carmello in “The Class” alongside Jesse Tyler Ferguson of “Modern Family” fame. “The Class” revolves around a group of eight alumni from Woodman Elementary School, who decide to meet up for a party 20 years later. Every invitee grapples with their own set of difficult circumstances; Duncan, for example, is unable to get over an ex-girlfriend who is currently unhappy in her marriage.<\/p>\n

“The Class” was canceled in 2007 after one season, even though it was helmed by “Friends” co-creator David Crane<\/a> and had a premise similar to the hit NBC show. CBS had postponed the show’s slot by half an hour to remedy lackluster ratings, which steadily improved over time.\u00a0That said, the show’s 8:30 p.m. slot, which cushioned it between heavy hitters like “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men,” only served to highlight its comparatively low Nielsen ratings. “The Class” also dealt with serious budgetary constraints while the second half of its episodes were being filmed. Ultimately, the show couldn’t keep up with the network’s expectations.<\/p>\n

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The Class helped pave the way for Bernthal’s flourishing TV career<\/p>\n


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Giovanni Rufino\/Disney+<\/p>\n

“The Class” might not have much cultural pull today, but it was supposed to evolve into something much bigger. “I wanted to do a show that was different from ‘Friends,’ a show that was serialized, that had a broader canvas than you’re used to seeing on a traditional sitcom,” Crane told The New York Times<\/a> in 2014.\u00a0While these plans didn’t bear fruit, “The Class” was the entry point for a bunch of promising actors who would go on to have successful television careers, including Ferguson, Sean Maguire, Lizzy Caplan, Andrea Anders, and Jason Ritter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For his part, Bernthal’s impressively volatile turn as Shane in “The Walking Dead” catapulted him to stardom. His subsequent television roles banked on his knack for intense, hard-edged performances \u2014 as is the case with Detective Joe Teague in “Mob City” and Frank Castle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a>. This streak continued with “We Own This City,” “American Gigolo,” and “The Bear,” in which he delivered a critically acclaimed performance as the troubled yet charismatic Mikey Berzatto.<\/p>\n


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