THE BEST TV CHARACTER EVER (IMHO)

I haven't seen many Australian or Canadian shows. In the U.S. we get many British shows. John Cleese was awesome as Basil Fawlty. However, has anyone embodied a character more convincingly than Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole?

Oooh, that's a great one.

Helen Mirren as Inspector Jane Tennison, too. ("Prime Suspect.")

Loeki de Leeuw (Loeki the lion)

Naj.

Rumpole was (is) awesome.

Homer Simpson ... for all of his amazing contributions to pop culture.

Another vote for Paladin ("a knight without armor in a savage land"). The thinking person's hired gun...

Dr. Johnny Fever - WKRP In Cincinnati....Phone Cops.

Les Nesman - WKRP...the tape on the floor for walls, the ever present bandages/band aids...the hog reports.

Kramer - Seinfeld...Gitty-Up.

Dr. Mark Craig - St Elsewhere...such a prick.

Kes Nesman, of the tossing live turkeys out of a helicopter as a thanksgiving treat, only to habe them plummet through windshields. That was a funny show.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"

Something like that.

That WKRP Thanksgiving show was the first one I saw. I had been flipping channels and caught this without knowing what it was about. At first I sat there in stunned disbelief, finally caught on and laughed until I cried. Which sounds kinda sick, if you've read the outline but not seen the show.

I'm not surprised that most memorable characters are from comedy shows. I remember seeing an interview with Brett Butler (Grace under Fire), where she said something to the effect that comedians were our modern prophets and truthsayers. I believe it.

There are many British characters that have fascinated me, from Edina and Patsy of Absolutely Fabulous to Tony Clark of Between the Lines. And in a class of his own, the absurd and surreal Dougal of Father Ted.

But I want to put a plug in for two characters of John Larroquette ~ the sleazy lawyer from Night Court, and the recovering alcoholic bus station manager of The John Larroquette Show (the first year, before they cleaned up the story and the humour).

And then there's the cast of Barney Miller ....

Barney Miller was a minor classic which i don't think ever got the credit it deserved. Every character was a complete person with identifiable foibles and a recognizable personality which added so much to the comedy because the writers "got it right" every time--you expected Wojo and Dietrich to behave as they did, and they never disappointed. They also had a running gag in each episode, like Wojo and the book Fear of Flying in an episode in which he had to escort a prisoner to Chicago. In another episode the running gag revolved around a polygraph operator who was touting the virtue of his lie detector. The punch line of the gag was when he hooked up Dietrich, and asked him where he was born, to which Dietrich replied "in a galaxy far, far away." Naturally, he pulled it off with a straight face, and the polygraph operator freaked, because according to his machine, it was true.

Barney Miller was hilarious in a studied, low key way.

Barney Miller was long one of my favorite shows. It was so well put together that when one character left the show, his replacement fit the chemistry perfectly.

My 2 Cents
Please forgive me if these characters were mentioned before (I only read the first page or two of comments )

Barney Miller Ditto to all coments that were stated prior. Cannot single out one character over the others as it's the whole ensemble that was unforgettable.

Coach on Cheers - Can there ever be someone so perfectly written and acted within a comedy vehicle? Loved that man and his comedic timing. May his soul RIP forever.


Gilligan - undoubtedly as good/goofy/endearing a character as Gomer Pyle. - all woven within a carefree, slap-happy comedic vehicle like Gilligan's Island

Jed Clampett - does it get any better as a home-spun philosopher, wise man, gentle-but-firm foil to Mr. Drysdale banker character

Ellie Mae Clampett (sigh) Place your own comment here, but understand that myself and many of my contemporaries puberty was spent admiring her breathing ability.

Jethro Bodine. A clown that was unequalled by many except maybe Gilligan's character.

Archie Bunker - Already commented on prior posts by many. Groundbreaking, and created pathos unlike other tv characters with less dimensionality.

Lucy - TV Hall of fame - end of comment

Batman/Adam West - fun, campy, and appealing to all ages

Gomez Addams/John Astin - campy, cool, kooky, and pretty good believable acting.

My Favorite Martian/Ray Walston - campy, funny, clever, well-acted, and had me glued to the TV whenever it was on.

The Hulk/Bill Bixby - entertaining for all ages, well acted, serious for a TV show that used a cartoon as its basis.

Fred Gwynne/Joe Ross - Car 54, Where Are You - This show and these 2 characters still kill me.

Palladin - for the reasons previously mentioned. Ahead of its time

force me to pick one...?
Archie Bunker - noses slightly ahead of Lucy (today)

To my previous list please add:

Honeymooners/Ralph Kramden/Ed Norton - cannot separate these two because their impact is intertwined with one another's character.

IMHO, the Greatest TV comedy routines of all time was the Address-the-ball: "Hello, Ball!"

Ah, RP loves the Barney Miller show. I should bring him over to this topic.

I also love Barney Miller; it was the greatest ensemble show, bar none. I definitely loved Bill Bixby as the Hulk ("Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry"). Just a perfect portrait of a guy trying to keep it all together, and how hard that was. He was on the run a la the Fugitive until his temper gave him away.

I love Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore show) because she tended to have believable meltdowns. She was so lovely and looked so perfect but life was often a disaster. She also stood up for herself when she thought she was being treated unfairly, and believably was nervous about that.

On a more contemporary note, I really liked Piper and Phoebe on Charmed. It's something of a throwaway show, but Piper is often caustic and can be a very difficult person, something that is often not shown on TV where writers want everyone to be instantly lovable. She does the right thing but does not suffer fools gladly. Phoebe, on the other hand, is all about love. Her life is encompassed by the search for love. Her trusting nature means that she is frequently disappointed and hurt, even as she watches everyone else (seemingly) fall in love and succeed. She also, very believably, started off not knowing what she was going to do with her life. So many characters on TV seem to be formed whole, like Artemis springing from Zeus's head, and Phoebe actually goes from an irresponsible barely out of teens flighty mess to an accomplished career woman.

Another favorite is Jessica on Soap. The program begins with her as the classic dumb character, but as the series goes on you see the layers of her character. She's in denial about her husband's infidelities. She is fiercely protective of her children - and badly hurt when they disappoint or mistreat her. She will do anything for her sister. She also makes a transition, from spoiled rich wife having an affair with her tennis instructor to a woman who does what she can to keep the family together. The series ends with her heroic death, which you would never have imagined as the arc if you just saw the pilot episode.

PS Props to Les Nessman of WKRP in Cincinnatti, the first real nerd on television.

Soap!!!...yeah love that one too, if I'm not mistaken I believe that Jody {Billy Crystal} was the first gay character on US television. Burt, most notably when he was going thru his invisible phase....and Benson, who usually stoled the show.

I watched Barney Miller at a fairly young age, I'd like to see the entire run again, might pick up on some of the stuff that was above and beyond me at that age...7-12 or so. I agree about the cast, very well rounded...they covered several comedic stereotypes nicely...the dumb Pole, the uppity black, the aged Italian, the know-it-all...etc.

The one piece of dialog that always comes to mind....roughly of course...

Cop: Fish you can't use rubberbands to hold up your socks, it will cut off your circulation.
Fish: My blood doesn't circulate anymore, wherever it's at, is where it's at.

Old Abe is still working in the business today, at 85.

Public TV has shown us a number of good British shows, besides the excellent Fawlty Towers. Are You Being Served, Mr Bean, the one with the character named Hyacinthe, Lord of the Manor, and several more.

Has anyone mentioned Maynard G Krebbs? (sp?)

I recall liking Maynard, while at the same time thinking that the actor was so talentless, that once the series ended, his acting career would be over.

The one with Hyacinthe (sp?) was Keeping up Appearances--i was not as big a fan of that, a show which relied upon the sort of broad humor that many of the English prefer (being in that regard no different than many Americans). To the Manor Born was one show i enjoyed, although it did not run for very many episodes. Although the humor was sometimes broad, by and large, it depended more upon subtlety than shows like Keeping up Appearances and Are You Being Served?.