system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The use of "with," "featuring," "and starring" in TV credits.

My guess is that it has to do with money and clout. But *just* that much doesn't make a ton of sense to me: Jason Alexander was the singled-out one in Seinfeld ("Starring Jerry Seinfeld.....Michael Richards.....Julia Louis-Dreyfus......and Jason Alexander as George.") -- but how does he have more pull than Jerry?

For Six Feet Under it was "Peter Krause... Michael C. Hall... Frances Conroy... Lauren Ambrose... Freddy Rodriguez... Mathew St. Patrick... and Rachel Griffiths as Brenda."

Did Rachel's agent (or Rachel herself) just have a ton of pull? (Am I correct to assume that it's a "plus" to be listed separately?) 

Do you have to be a "known" to be so featured?
gpt
Actors preferentially want to come first in credits rolls because after the first couple people zone out and the later people don't get name recognition and it doesn't help their career.

The last person/people who get the intro+character name combo get it because its a consolation prize for coming last, plus by including the character name you might hear. "Brenda" on screen and recognize that its Rachel Grifiths. Where unless you knew what Mathew St. Patrick looks like you don't *know* who he was playing.

**tl;dr** Actors wanna be first, when they can't be first they want to be special, that makes them special.