OT: Your Top 25 TV Characters of all-time
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
If you are going to have Lou Grant, you have to have Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore).
Not in any order
mr ed
andy griffith
kwi chang cane (kung fu)
capt kirk
wonder woman (the original)
adam 12
dragnet dudes
the hulk
that's a start anyway.
Butters/Professor Chaos
Great topic, I feel like I could go on forever but here are some of my favorites:
Dexter
Sawyer- Lost
Ben Linus- Lost
Frank Underwood- house of cards
Tim Riggins- Friday Night Lights
Fox Mulder & Dana Scully-X-Files
Khal Drogo- Game of Thrones
Arya Stark- Game of Thrones
Elliot Anderson- Mr. Robot
Uncle Phil- Fresh Prince
James and Alyssa- End of the fu***** world.
i should have listed mulder and scully.
Any list like this must include Raylan Givens.
No order other than rough chronology.
Lucy Ricardo
Ed Norton
Matt Dillon
Barney Fife
Fred Flintstone
Joe Friday
James T. Kirk
Archie Bunker
Mary Richards
Fred Sanford
Hawkeye Pierce
Thomas Magnum
JR Ewing
The Fonz
Cliff Clavin
Sonny Crockett
Al Bundy
Homer Simpson
Kramer
Tony Soprano
Al Swearengen
Michael Scott
Walter White
Don Draper
Raylan Givens
I would add two:
Radar O'Reilly - Gary Burghoff might have been the best actor on that show. Once he made the decision to leave, not only was Radar gone, but Klinger got out of the dresses (where he was hilarious) and into the clerk's job. It made him less funny.
Reverend Jim (Taxi) - So many great moments, but none more so than "What does a yellow light mean?"
"Slow down."
OK. "Whaaaaaaaat doessssssssss aaaaaaaaaaa yelowwwwwwwwww lighttttttttttt meeeeeeaaan.?"
Slow down!
Jim Rockford and Barney Miller are two of my favorites, but I think Angel Martin from Rockford Files may be top of the list for me, though he only appeared in about 1/3 of the episodes.
loved Fish
Jim Rockford definitely.
It's Michael Scott and everyone else, IMO. He is the perfect TV character.
This list blows
1a. Hawkeye pierce
1b. Michael scott
1c. Perry cox
done
Top three in order. The rest as they popped into my head.
1. Walter White
2. Tony Soprano
3. Don Draper
4. Sam Malone
5. Archie Bunker
6. Al Bundy
7. Jerry Seinfeld
8. Cosmo Kramer
9. Dexter Morgan
10. Peter Griffin
11. Eric Cartman
12. Mike Erhmentraut
13. Fraser Crane
14. Hawkeye Pierce
15. Fred Sanford
16. Barney Stinson
17. Carrie Matheson
18. Michael Scott
19. Harvey Spector
20. George Jefferson
21. Saul Goodman
22. Jesse Pinkman
23. George Costanza
24. Thomas Shelby
25. Arthur Shelby
In deference to my avatar (Captain Hindsight), this list could have / should have included...
Should have.......
Alex P. Keaton
Bob Hartley / Dick Loudon
Could have.......
Gabe Kaplan (also Arnold Horshack and Vinnie Barbarino)
Frank Columbo
Jack Tripper / Janet Wood / Chrissy Snow
Stretching a bit but I liked them / they made me laugh......
Larry / Moe / Curly
Benny Hill
Matt Foley
Had to throw you an upvote for Benny Hill. Not that he was one of the best characters on TV, nor was he particularly inventive. Many of his jokes had a layer of dust on them ("She's wearing so much perfume that if she stands still, she leaves a puddle.") But gag after gag, the man seemed like he was enjoying himself so much that it was hard not to laugh.
Plus, the girls ("Hill's Angels") didn't hurt.
In no order
Taco MacArthur, Charlie Kelly, Alex Moran
Ted Baxter and it's not even close.
1.Rafi (the league)
there is no close second
Forgot to list him, but he is phenomenal.
0/10 no Twilight Sparkle
1. J.R. Ewing
2. Dan Fielding
3. Q
4. Niles Crane, Frasier Crane (tie)
5. Alex P. Keaton
6. Archie Bunker
7. George Jefferson
8. Stan Beeman
9. Lowell Mather
10. Al Borland
Boss Hogg and JR, the Friday night antagonist tag team.
Woody Boyd
Lol. Beat me to it. Coach (Cheers) was HM on my list.
Raylan Givens
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Barney Stinson
Ginger/Mary Ann
Richard Castle
Woody Boyd
James T Kirk
Audra Barkley
Jack O'Neill
I'd upvote this if 3.0 would let me. Richard Dean Anderson kinda mailed it in in season 8 but every other season he was great. Loved his Jack O'Neill!
No Rick sanchez?
Colombo
Perry Mason
Emily Hartley (Susan Pleshette)
Barney Fife
Bret Maverick
Jeannie
Frazier Crane
Goldie Hawn (Laugh In)
Cosmo Kramer
OP list is more like the best characters this century. Here’s an unordered, partial list of some greats that go further back:
- Captain Kirk
- Spock
- Beavis
- The Fonz
- Jack & Karen (Will and Grace)
- Rose & Sophia (Golden Girls)
- Niles Crane
- Sydney Bristow
- Cliff, Clair, and Denise Huxtable
- Carlton and the Fresh Prince
- Violet Crowley
- Frank Underwood
- Vic Mackey
- Kermit and Gonzo
- Roseanne
- Jack Bauer and David Palmer
- Larry David
- Abed, Jeff, and Pierce
- Scully and Mulder
- Tracey Jordan
- Picard and Data
- Sipowicz
- Zach Morrison
- Basically everyone in the West Wing, particularly Josh, CJ, and Charlie
- George And Jerry
- Steve Urkel
- Hannibal, Murdock, and BA
- Sheldon Cooper
- Dev Shah
- Bull Shannon
- Gilligan
- Mork
- Alex Keaton
- Arnold Jackson
- Murphy Brown
- Peter, Stewie, and Brian Griffin
- Marie and Robert Barone
- Martin Payne
- Al Bundy
- Sherlock
- Rustin Cohle
Ruston Cohle, for sure
No order, but here goes:
Al Bundy
Cosmo Kramer
Archie Bunker
captain Kirk
Michael Weston
Harvey Spector
Michael Scott
Barney from How I Met Your Mother
Tony Soprano
1. George Costanza-Seinfeld
Any top 10 TV characters list without him is fraudulent and a crime against television watching
Rick from Rick and Morty
Goes without saying!
Rafi -The League
Charlie- Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Chief - Cheers
Kramer- Seinfeld
Fish - Barney Miller
How'd i miss Fish!
1. Kramer
2. George
3. Jerry
4. Elaine
5 Newman
6. Frank costanza
7. Estelle costanza
8. Soup nazi
9. Close talker
10. Toby (heckler)
11. Mr. Pitt
12. Susan
13. Man hands
14. Pakiderm
15. The Drake
16. Jackie Childs
17. Babu
18. The virgin
19. Uncle Leo
20. Morty Seinfeld
21. Helen Seinfeld
22. Banya
23. David Putty
24. Peterman
25. Bob Sakamano
Need to find a place on that list for Sidra ("They're Real and They're Spectacular").
I like where your head is at. Seinfeld is the greatest television show of all time IMO.
My (abbreviated) List...
Seinfeld
- George Costanza
- Frank Costanza
- Newman
- Cosmo Kramer
- Morty Seinfeld
- Jay Peterman
News Radio
- Jimmy James
- Bill McNeal
Game of Thrones
- Littlefinger
- Varys
- Sir Davos
- The Hound
VEEP
- Selina Meyer
- Gary Walsh
SouthPark
- Butters!
- Cartman
- Big Gay Al
The Simpsons
- Charles Montgomery Burns
- Smithers
- Lionel Hutz
Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Larry David
Magnum P.I.
- Jonathan Quail Higgins
Star Trek
- Spock
Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Data
- Q
25 seems excessive. Come on.
And which the OP mentioned and suggested maybe a top five or ten. So you come here and add nothing. Maybe you should take a break from the blog. You would be doing us all a favor mate!
1) Spock
2) Kirk
3) Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The Office)
4) Columbo
5) James West (Wild, Wild West)
6) Carlton, "your doorman"
Daisy Duke
In honor of my grandmother, Victor Newman (The Young and the Restless)
While doing some late-night channel flipping a couple of weeks ago, I came across him in an episode of "The Rat Patrol" under his real name, Hans Gudegast. He popped up in a lot of episodes of "Combat," too.
And my girlfriend would approve of your grandmother's taste. She's had a crush on Eric Braeden for years. She was heartbroken when he didn't survive in "Titanic."