Top 25 Favorite Television Characters

In the past couple days I ran into a pair of provocative lists by two of Hollywoods more interesting creative minds. It all started when James Gunn, the director of Slither and husband of The Office’s Jenna Fischer (BASTARD!) posted a list of his 25 favorite television characters. This was quickly followed up by Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon’s own list on Whedonesque. This got me thinking about my own favorites, and here’s the list I came up with at the kitchen table over a delicious bowl of Rice Chex.

My self-imposed stipulations:
-- All picks had to be made from memory. That means I forgot a few people who could have been on this list. Julian Sark from Alias, one of my favorite villains of all time, completely slipped my mind.
-- No miniseries were involved unless they became regular series (i.e. Battlestar Galactica, The 4400)
-- Because many of my shows involve large ensembles (Deadwood, Lost, West Wing) I’ve limited myself to two characters per show.
-- No animation or Puppets. Sorry Brak and Statler and Waldorf.
-- Because I wanted this list to be at least reasonably interesting, I’ve done my best to avoid leads whenever possible. Veronica Mars, Buffy, Sydney Bristow, Ed Stevens -- none of these shows would exist without them, but this list could get really boring if I just ran through the main character of every one of my favorite shows.

So, here are my Top 25...

1. Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) -- Scrubs

The quotable grouch who, in spite of himself, can’t help but show his soft and creamy center every now and then. If you don’t love Dr. Cox “You’re wrong. You’re wrong. You’re wrooooooooooooooooong.”

2. Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) -- The West Wing

My favorite West Wing season, season 2, dealt a great deal with Josh Lyman’s recovery from an assassination attempt (it earned Whitford and Emmy). The charming rascal of The West Wing cast.

3. Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) -- 24

The biggest badass on television. That being said we often forget that this whole adventure started with a man trying to rescue his family. 24 is all about one character's battle to retain his humanity in impossible situations. Television crack.

4. Willow (Alyson Hannigan) -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My favorite character evolution over the course of the series. From wallflower to uber-witch in seven seasons. Gave us some of the biggest laughs (evil Willow goosing good Willow) and the biggest tears. If you don’t cry when you see Willow cry, you have no heart.

5. Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) -- Firefly

A man of faith gets screwed by God and spends the rest of his life running from Him. That’s how I always viewed Malcolm Reynolds. There’s nobody protecting him or his loved ones, so he has to take up that charge himself. Charming, angry, and loyal -- there’s never been another character in the history of man who I wish I could be more than the Captain of Serenity.

6. Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter) -- The West Wing

Letting this leggy Republican spitfire loose (to CSI: Miami of all places) was one of the biggest casting errors The West Wing ever made. Every one of her scenes is a gem. The other reason season two is my all-time favorite.

7. Logan Echols (Jason Dohring) -- Veronica Mars

Dohring dances seamlessly between spoiled rich kid and wounded child. Teen Pin-Up turned tragic anti-hero. Probably the most underrated performer on this terrific show.

8. John Locke (Terry O’Quinn) -- Lost

Though Locke kind of lost his way in season two, his passionate, lunatic performance in season one is still enough to put him in my Top 25. While it was interesting watching Locke’s crisis of faith at the end of last year, I hope they find a way to bring back more of the enigmatic bushman that got us all hooked in season one.

9. Lex Luthor (Micheal Rosenbaum) -- Smallville

Though Smallville is technically the tale of the rise of the Man of Steel, I’ve always been more fascinated by the fall of supervillian Lex Luthor, a young man torn between the saintly influence of best friend Clark Kent and the Machiavellian predisposition inherited from his father. Leading up to season five, where Lex finally embraced his darker urges, I found myself hoping that Lex might find away to avoid his unfortunate fate. You can't ask for anything more from a show than to actually care about the villian.

10. Tom Underlay (William Fichtner) -- Invasion

No character on television had a more satisfying character arc on television last year. It’s a shame we’ll never see him again. Underlay went from creepy cop to conflicted husband to heroic rebel over the course of Invasion’s seriously unnerving run. And Fichtner single-handedly kept this very fantastic show grounded with his minimalist acting style.

11. Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) -- Deadwood

Deadwood is one of the best shows on television based on McShane’s line readings alone. He not only made words like “cunt” and “cocksucker” damn near Shakespearean, but also kind of fun. Whenever I think of Al bloodied and beaten by Bullock, lying in the shitty streets, pointing a knife at Bullock’s boy and snearing “Welcome to fuckin’ Deadwood,” I can’t help but smile. I'm a sick fuckin' cocksucker.

12. Sean Garrity (Steven Pasquale) -- Rescue Me

There are two types of dumb characters: those played by smart people, and those played by dumb people. Ironically, the smart people do the best job playing dumb. They know not to wink at the camera. It’s a shame he’s on a drama, because there’s no more consistently funny character on television than dim bulb Garrity; Pasquale deserves an Emmy for this performance. His recent sleeping pill induced supermarket sweep had me in tears as he bluntly commented on a woman’s weight and asked a beat cop for U2 tickets. The online short featuring a “werewolf” and sympathy puking is also worth checking out.

13. Irina Derevko (Lena Olin) -- Alias

Talk about a winning poker face. Lena Olin had a disquieting stillness in her scenes as Sydney Bristow’s deceitful mother that was absolutely fascinating to watch. That chilling scrutinizing gaze she gave her daughter -- every scene she was onscreen I was on the edge of my seat, when I wasn’t cowering in the corner.

14. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) -- House

The most essential lead in modern television. Without Hugh Laurie’s House, this is just another medical procedural. With Hugh Laurie’s House, it’s one of the most fascinating shows on television. Flawed, yet brilliant. You’re not gonna find a better internal conflict than that, and certainly no more watchable character on television.

15. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) -- WWE Entertainment

Yes, I’m counting The Rock as a television character. Anybody who watched the WWE through its best run knows you can’t get much more entertaining than watching The People’s Champ browbeat his opponents mercilessly. Though his appearances on WWE television have pretty much come to an end, every appearance is trash-talking of the highest order.

16. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) -- The Office

If we throw in the amount of effort it takes to get a laugh, Jim is the funniest character on The Office. Not Michael. Not Dwight. Jim -- the King of Deadpan. Not to mention he’s one half of the best will-they-won’t-they couple since Ross and Rachel -- the first time, anyway. Before the wedlock.

17. Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) -- Battlestar Galactica

Laura Roslin was like 638th in line to inherit the presidency. It’s a good thing the Cylons know how to wage genocidal warfare. Unqualified, terminally ill, and occasionally hallucinatory, she’s proven herself an intelligent and humane leader. And I’ll admit, the dedication of the stealth starship “Laura” had me crying like a girl.

18. Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) -- The O.C.

I love Summer’s exasperation. Watching this Orange County princess fall for Seth Cohen in the first season was just about the most entertaining thing on the show. And while nearly every other character on The O.C. has been stagnant over the past two seasons (so much so they even killed one of them), Rachel Bilson has upped her comic game to the point where they had Seth comment on the fact that Summer was actually becoming funnier than him. She wasn’t exactly my type when the show started, but it’s impossible not to have a crush on Miss Roberts now.

19. Dr Mike Burton (Josh Randall) -- Ed

My favorite “best friend” character in the history of television. One half of the immortal ten dollar bet.

20. Jack Shepherd (Matthew Fox) -- Lost

People who find Jack Shepherd one of the least interesting characters in Lost’s large ensemble haven’t been watching very carefully. Like Jim from The Office, Jack does a lot without showing much. His increasingly dangerous certitude and savior’s complex have yet to truly damage his standing on the island, but Jack has already shown signs of cracking. Locke already lost his wits. How long before Jack follows suit?

21. Christopher Turk (Donald Faison) -- Scrubs

I almost left Turk off the list, not because of a lack of quality, but because I think Turk is more of an exhibition of Faison’s natural comic talents than he is a “character” per se. But I have to live with myself. So there he is.

22. Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) -- Veronica Mars
My
favorite moments on this show are the one’s where law enforcement pariah Keith Mars Hulks up to protect his precocious young daughter. The heart and soul of this show is the father/daughter relationship and Colantoni holds up his end of the bargain and then some. Funny, smart, caring, and a total badass when he needs to be. This character just makes me smile.

23. Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) -- Friends

Even if it went longer than it should have, this was still one of the greater comedies in history, and no character had a more compelling evolution than the always flummoxed Chandler Bing. The most romantically inept of the Friends men turned into the husband and father we most admired. Who knew that his relationship with Monica would turn out to be the most compelling, and most mature in the show’s run. Not to mention, could there be anyone better at delivering a sarcastic one-liner.

24. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) -- Battlestar Galactica

My favorite character with the fewest redeeming qualities. Cowardly, slimy, underhanded -- no wonder he became President of the Colonies. I’m still uncertain if he’s legitimately crazy or if the Cylon’s actually do have some control over him, but damn if he isn’t the most maddening villian on television. The ultimate inept leader taking his people to hell with him.

25. Trixie (Paula Malcomson) -- Deadwood

Hooker with a heart of gold has been done before, but never with this much complexity. Trixie continually battles with her true identity, unable to reconcile her humanistic tendencies with the fact that she’s, by societal standards, trash. Trixie’s recent failed assassination of Hearst was a tour de force as she went from grief to vengeful rage to suicidal panic in a manner of minutes. Like Jack Bauer, she’s a tortured soul we hope can one day find peace, however unlikely that might be.