Time for a silly blog list, yes? Here are my 25 favorite TV characters ever (originated by James Gunn, via Whedonesque, including a list from Joss!). I've broken some of Gunn's rules (whaddya mean no cartoons?), and arranged these somewhat chronologically:
1. Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones), The Addams Family. Wife, mother, gardener...who says you can't have it all?
2. Chet Kincaid (Bill Cosby), The Bill Cosby Show. Noteworthy ep: "A Christmas Ballad." First season just released on DVD(!).
3. Dr. Bombay (Bernard Fox), Bewitched. The cranky quack was the only thing that saved this show from the switch from B&W to color and from York to Sargent.
4. Arnold Ziffel ("Arnold the piggy"), Green Acres. Some pig!
5. "Nanny" Phoebe Figalilly (Juliet Mills), Nanny and the Professor. Noteworthy ep: "A Letter for Nanny"...the one where Nanny cries.
6. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk), Columbo. Noteworthy ep: "Try and Catch Me" with Ruth Gordon.
7. Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), The Night Stalker. Goofy, scary, perfect.
8. Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), The Mary Tyler Moore Show. At her best before she got skinny. Noteworthy ep: "Love Blooms at Hemple's."
9. Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx), Sanford and Son. Favorite mixed drink: Cranberry juice and Ripple: 'Cripple'.
10. Sergeant Foley (Bruce Solomon), Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The inexplicably irresistible almost-love interest of the pigtailed Louise Lasser.
11. Assistant Crown Attorney Heather Redfern (Janet-Laine Greene), Seeing Things. The buttoned-up lawyer whose teenage crush was not Paul McCartney, but Glenn Gould.
12. Detective Ron Harris (Ron Glass), Barney Miller. Dapper and literary...I'd always hoped to be set up on a blind date with someone just like him.
13. Bradley Raines (James Rebhorn), Guiding Light. The indelible soap opera role. (District Attorney Norwalk in Carlito's Way? That's evil stepfather Bradley! Dr. Bowman the psychiatrist in Far From Heaven? That's evil stepfather Bradley!)
14. 'Coach' Ernie Pantusso (Nick Colasanto), Cheers. To whom thanks are owed for teaching us that Albania's chief export is chrome, and for (as director Nick Colasanto) the two best episodes of Columbo ever, "Etude in Black" and "Swan Song".
15. David Addison (Bruce Willis), Moonlighting. If you ignore the smirking, the "singing" and the bogus final chase scenes, there's actually something to see here. Noteworthy ep: "Knowing Her," with Dana Delany and the Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine.".
16. Dana Scully (Gilllian Anderson), The X-Files. Held her own even after this show jumped the shark and skidded down to the bowels of hell. Noteworthy ep: "Beyond the Sea."
17. Sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole), American Gothic. The perfect role for the always awesome Jeffrey MacDonald-Mike Brady-Bill Lundbergh-Cotton McKnight Gary Cole.
18. Executive Assistant DA Benjamin Stone (Michael Moriarty), Law and Order. The first and the best.
19. "Sideshow Bob" Terwilliger (Kelsey Grammer), The Simpsons. Noteworthy ep: "Cape Feare".
20. The Chief (Lynne Thigpen), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Authoritative and soothing, she was the first talking head that got a smile out of my colicky first born.
21. Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Noteworthy ep: "Once More, With Feeling."
22. Hal (Bryan Cranston), Malcolm in the Middle. Noteworthy ep: "Rollerskates". Please tell me that was not a stunt man skating to "Funky Town".
23. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), 24. Let me get this straight: Tony is dead, and Audrey is alive? 24 writers got some 'splaining to do...
24. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Firefly. Coming back to TV in reruns next month, in high-definition (!), if you get Universal HD on cable.
25. The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Doctor Who. My other car is The TARDIS.
Bradley Raines in Guiding Light must have been before my time. I rarely watch it now, but back in the day (late 80's, early 90's), that was my favorite soap. Once Roger Thorpe was gone, I don't think it will ever be the same.
Posted by: Julana | August 28, 2006 at 04:49 PM
Morticia was among my first role models along with Nancy Drew (doesn't count for this list because not TV) and Marlo Thomas as "That Girl!" I also wanted to be Angelique from the original Dark Shadows.
What great choices. Columbo. Malcolm Reynolds. (Really. It's coming out on HD?)
I can't think of anyone to add except Special Agent Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks) and Veronica Mars. And Spock. Or going way back, Perry Mason.
Posted by: M Sinclair Stevens | August 29, 2006 at 12:15 AM
I so love Bryan Cranston in the roller episode of Malcom - we were just talking about it because he is in the new movie 'Little Miss Sunshine' as a character very different from Hal.
Annie [first favorite show was Annie Oakley played by Gail Davis, way, way back]
Posted by: Annie in Austin | August 29, 2006 at 09:49 PM
Pretty good, although I do think it was unfortunate to omit Perry Mason, Della Street, Hyacinth Bucket, Inspector Morse, Hamish MacBeth (but not that b!tch who played Priscilla!), Fitz Fitzgerald (Robbie Coltrane in Cracker), Saffron on Ab Fab, Sister Wendy, Peter Boyd and Grace Foley (Waking the Dead), Hetty Wainthropp (Patricia Routledge; yes, she was Hyacinth, too), Jonathan Creek and Maddy, and um um um *guilty pleasure* about anyone on Boston Legal, except that new chick -- not too sure about her. But, in general, the Beeb is most likely to seduce me into the vast wasteland...
Posted by: Patricia Tryon | September 10, 2006 at 10:08 PM
Its very good....now im watching it less but previously...i watch alot...Anyways the Beeb is most likely to seduce me into the vast wasteland...
Thanks for the post....
http://www.flowergirldressforless.com
Posted by: FLower Girl | July 03, 2008 at 01:34 AM
Gut!
Posted by: berlin | February 27, 2009 at 07:49 AM
Ein Kompliment für diese tolle Seite.
Eigentlich bin ich durch Zufall darauf gestoßen und dachte mir,
einen netten Eintrag und viele Grüße zu hinterlassen.
Vielleicht schauen sie mal auf meiner Homepage vorbei!
Willkommen im Urlaub an der Ostsee oder Nordsee!
Posted by: Urlaub in Germany auf Sylt | December 13, 2009 at 02:13 PM