OT: Your Top 25 TV Characters of all-time

Submitted by BeatOSU52 on

1.  Don Draper (Mad Men)

2.  Michael Scott (The Office)

3.  Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)

4.  Hank Hill (King of the Hill)

5.  Tony Soprano  (The Sopranos)

6.  Stringer Bell  (The Wire)

7.  Selina Meyer (Veep)

8.  Saul Goodman (Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul)

9.  Ron Swanson  (Parks and Rec) 

10.  Randy Marsh (South Park) 

11.  Ted Talbot (Rectify)

12.  Gustavo Fring  (Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul)

13.  Philip Jennings (The Americans)

14.  Omar Little (The Wire)

15.  Richard Harrow (Boardwalk Empire)

16.  Ruth Fisher (Six Feet Under)  

17.  Daniel Holden (Rectify)  

18.  Tyrion Lanister (Game of Thrones)

19.  Chris Moltisanti (The Sopranos)

20.  Leslie Knope (Parks and Rec) 

21.  Sue Heck  (The Middle) 

22.  Phil Dunphy (Modern Family) 

23.   Brian (Family Guy)  

24.  Harvey Specter (Suits)

25.   Nelson Van Alden (Boardwalk Empire)

 

Honorable/Special mention (Mostly characters not having quite enough screen-time to crack it):  Ned Stark (Game of Thrones), D'Angelo Barksdale (The Wire),  Bunny Colvin (The Wire),  Rusty Cohle (True Detective),, Sally Draper (Mad Men),  Luis Stevens (Even Stevens),  NobusukeTagomi (The Man in the High Castle)

 

Just missed the cut:    Mike McLintock (Veep),  Dwight Schrute (The Office)  , Dr. Jenna James (Getting On),  Elliot Anderson (Mr. Robot)

 

 

Two things:

Yes, I admit that there is a pretty big major recency bias involved in my selection based on what shows I have watched

-Yes, top 25 is a lot so obviously feel free to just make top 5, 10, ect

Qmatic

July 13th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^

Couple of those characters really stand out to me. McNulty was the closest thing the show had to a protagonist next to the city itself. His character was great, even when he was a beat cop in season 4.

Carcetti was great how we got to see how the political machine and pursuit of power can change people who legitimately had good intentions at first.

Bubbles was one of the few characters with a happy ending in the show; kinda fitting.

Two that you left out who were two of my favorite characters were Cutty and Bunny Colvin. Season 3 and 4 they were majore reasons why those were the two best seasons.

s1105615

July 14th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^

Absolutely, and Stringer is too far down his list as it is.  

The Wire is the show I consider to be #1, and Stringer Bell is the deepest, most interesting and multifaceted character I’ve ever seen.  He’s easily my #1 character.

I don’t have the time to parse between #6-#25, and I’m sure I’d miss too many to  have a list that truly reflects my actual feelings, so here’s my top 5 (confirmed regency bias):

1.  Stringer Bell (The Wire)

2.  Bobby Axelrod/Chuck Rhoades/Wendy Rhoades (Billions)

These 3 are lumped together because the entire show rests on the interplay of these characters, and it is awesome, truly the best show on TV right now

3.  Walter White/Heisenberg (Breaking Bad)

The devolution of the white bread punching bag to drug manufacturing kingpin is intriguing, but the true revelation is when you rewatch the series and realize Walter never changed at all, rather he allowed himself to be who he really was the entire time.

4.  Lester Freamon (The Wire)

Under used and under appreciated.  Steals every scene he’s in.  The wizened elder who knows how it all plays out, but let’s the young pups learn on their own.

5.  Dr Perry Cox (Scrubs)

Really should be the entire Scubs cast, but John C McGinley has the hardest job being both a good guy father figure and an anti hero who pushed everyone away to make them prove they loved him.  For a comedic role, the depth and range of emotion this role showed pushes it as high as possible.

My top 25 would probably be all The Wire, Scrubs, and Billions characters with a sprinkling of Breaking Bad thrown in.

JBGOBLUE

July 14th, 2018 at 6:28 AM ^

Yes the original post showed their age.  

Hawkeye and the gang from MASH

Coach and Carla from Cheers and the rest of the cast.

Elizabeth Jennings from The Americans!

Crockett and Tubbs

Fonzi

I Love Lucy (Lucille Ball)

I love the old reruns.  They are better than most of the new sitcoms.

 

 

MGoFunkadelic

July 13th, 2018 at 9:37 PM ^

Monk, David Sachet's Poirot, Walter White, Sam Malone (Cheers), Kramer, Kojak, George Jefferson, Johnny Fever & Venus Flytrap, Hawkeye Pierce & Col. Winchester, Macgyver, Jack Bauer, Joan on Mad Men, Omar & Stringer Bell, Colombo, .......

i give up too many to list and no way to rank them across genres and time periods.