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It's as if the narrative proletariat, the character actors, the funny guys and now gals who have so often provided all the best scenes in film without getting any of the awards or big paychecks, have risen as one and demanded above-the-line treatment.

Television is a safer haven for traditional leads, but the sidekick mentality is making definite inroads, whether through the geek humor of "The Big Bang Theory" or "Miss Guided" or the fractured leads of "Saving Grace" and "Ugly Betty."

We can relate

What does it mean that we seem to be rejecting the broad strokes of traditional narratives (except for action pictures, of course) and going for the messier, more crosshatched background, stories and characters that are, rather than larger than life, almost smaller? Or at least more narrowly focused.

The role of the sidekick is to keep the lead grounded, provide comic relief and, if they're lucky, find a little happiness, if not as grand and sweeping as that of the lead. But now we don't seemed satisfied with letting the little guy, or gal, get less than the real goods.

Let's face it: Most of us identify more with the sidekicks than the leads anyway; that's what makes them so vital to a film or series. We need to feel part of the action, and most of us don't look that good in black pants.

With the media in general becoming more porous, how surprising is it that the second banana is having its day? Viewers, not critics, choose the next "American Idol." The personal is replacing the archetype on almost every level; in the blogosphere everyone's a columnist, a critic, a screenwriter and now an above-the-title lead.

We are the sidekicks, and this is Sidekick Nation.

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