At first, “Dr. Rick’’ was just Rick, the mustached leader of a support group for people who found themselves suddenly “turning into my dad” after they became homeowners.

But the creative team at Arnold Worldwide, the Boston-based advertising agency that devised that clever 2017 TV commercial for the Progressive insurance company, knew right away that they had struck gold with both the character and the actor who played him, Bill Glass.

So they built a series of spots around Dr. Rick, and they have turned out to be some of the most inspired TV commercials in years. The goal is to raise awareness of the homeowners’ insurance sold by Progressive — not, on its face, fertile ground for comedy. But from that unpromising soil Arnold has created an original and endearing addition to television’s gallery of quirky ad characters.

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