My friend Paul presents his all-time best TV characters:
1) Hawkeye Pierce, M*A*S*H— Alan Alda played this character so well, a wise-cracking surgeon who got himself thru working in an Army hospital in the Korean War by making people laugh, but by the end of the series, you could see the weariness of war on his face.
Rest of this list is presented in alphabetical order:
— Jeb Bartlett, The West Wing— Martin Sheen played the President for 155 episodes, when life was more normal. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor- Television Series Drama in 2001, and also won two SAG awards.
— Archie Bunker, All in the Family— Carroll O’Connor played this”lovable bigot” from 1971-83; Archie had a gruff, overbearing demeanor, largely defined by his bigotry towards a diverse group of individuals. Tension with his son-in-law (Rob Reiner) still resonates today, if you follow Reiner on Twitter.
— Bugs Bunny— Created in the late 30’s, Bugs became famous for his flippant, personality and his catch phrase “Eh…What’s up, doc?” He was also the official mascot of Warner Brothers Entertainment.
— Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory— Jim Parsons has won four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, a TCA Award, and two Critics’ Choice TV awards for his portrayal of a theoretical physicist at Cal Tech, He has a genius-level IQ, but lacks social skills.
— Basil Fawlty, Fawlty Towers— Played by the great British comic actor John Cleese, Basil is the proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers- he is cynical, snobbish and is desperate to belong to a higher social class. In a 2001 poll, Basil ranked #4 in all-time British TV characters.
— Dr J0el Fleischman, Northern Exposure— Rob Morrow planed central character at the beginning of the series, a young, somewhat uptight doctor from Queens who is contractually bound to practice in a remote Alaskan town for four years to repay a student loan from the government.
— Arthur Fonzarelli, Happy Days— Henry Winkler played Fonzie, a stereotypical greaser who wore a leather jacket, rode his motorcycle and was a lot cooler than any of his friends in 1950’s Milwaukee. In 1999, TV Guide named Fonzie the #4 TV character of all-time.
— Frank Furillo, Hill Street Blues— The show chronicled the lives of the staff of a single police station located on Hill Street in an unnamed large city; Daniel J Travanti played Lt Furillo- this show won eight Emmys in its first season, and 98 Emmy nominations overall.
— Bob Hartley, The Bob Newhart Show— Newhart played a Chicago psychologist whose interactions with his wife, friends, patients, and colleagues lead to humorous situations and a lot of laughs. Great supporting cast: Jerry the dentist, Howard the pilot and his wife Emily, played by Suzanne Pleshette.
— Oscar Madison, Odd Couple— Jack Klugman played a divorced New York City sportswriter who shares his apartment with his friend Felix Unger, when Felix’s wife tosses him out of their home. The two men have almost nothing in common, which is what made the show so funny.
— Mary Richards, The Mary Tyler Moore Show— Mary Tyler Moore plays the associate producer, and later producer at TV station WJM in Minneapolis, at a time when not many women got jobs like that. Great supporting cast: Ted Knight, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Betty White and Valerie Harper.
— Homer Simpson, The Simpsons— Homer Jay Simpson is the bumbling husband of Marge and father of Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson; he is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. In 2010, he was voted by Entertainment Weekly as the #2 second-greatest cartoon character, behind Bugs Bunny.
— Andy Sipowitz, NYPD Blue— Dennis Franz played a detective working on the Lower East Side of Manhattan; he was the only cast member to appear in every episode of the show’s 12 seasons. One writer described Sipowicz as havng “an underrated, edgy mixture of grit and sensitivity”
— Jon Snow, Game of Thrones— Kit Harington plays Jon Snow, the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, the honorable lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional continent of Westeros. Knowing his prospects are limited by his status as a bastard, Jon joins the Night’s Watch, who guard the far northern borders from the wildlings who live beyond The Wall.
— Tony Soprano, The Sopranos— James Gandolfini played a character that was loosely based on a real-life New Jersey mobster. Throughout the HBO series, Tony struggles to balance the conflicting needs of his actual family with those of the Mafia family he controls.
— Spock, Star Trek— Leonard Nimoy played science office and first officer aboard the USS Enterprise as it explores the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. Spock later served as a Federation ambassador; he is part human, part Vulcan, who was raised in a test tube for two months.
