The Top Television Characters (For Now)

Ever since television started, there have been thousands of shows, and probably a million characters. To pick a list of the top is not an easy task.

Many people go into making a top  character. Certainly there's the actor--after all, it is their presence we see and hear on screen. But it's more than that. The writers, for instance, create the words they say, and makeup and costuming, in partnership with the actor, create the look of the character.

With this in mind, here is my certainly not definitive list, in no particular order, of the top  television characters.

Dr. Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory): As the breakout character of the show, Jim Parsons' Cal Tech theoretical physicist is a duality himself. One the one hand he is an eccentric with strict rules of social conduct (NEVER sit in his spot) and dietary demands (NEVER get the wrong mustard), but he also loves his friends, and mother, very much. His girlfriend, too....although he has yet to say it.

Captain Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce (M*A*S*H): Alan Alda’s best known TV role, Captain Pierce is a sarcastic doctor who was drafted into the Korean war from his hometown of Crabapple Cove, Maine. He hates the Army, hates Korea (but not Koreans), and hates politics. But he is also patriotic to his fellow draftees, and takes his duties as a doctor seriously. With his partner in crime Trapper John (and later BJ Hunnicut), he is the master of the joke and prank. Alda really gives a lot of himself to the role, as his personal politics mirror that of Pierce.

Archie Bunker (All In The Family): This over the top, controversial role is Carroll O’Connor’s finest, particularly because Archie is perfect opposite of O’Connor. Today, the character would be called a politically incorrect racist, would never make it to air, and was controversial even in its time. Archie was loud, obnoxious, and had his own special view of conservatism, often misquoting the Bible. His debates with his son-in-law, Mike Stivic, were the debates taking place in real life in homes all around the US.

Lorelei and Rory Gilmore (The Gilmore Girls): As the title characters of the show, this mother-daughter team from Stars Hollow, Connecticut are the masters of the non-Aaron Sorkin-written walk and talk. Lauren Graham’s Lorelei grew up as a teenage mother who worked hard to make it on her own. Make it she did--with no help from anyone she got a job with a local inn, went to buisness school at night, and ended up owning that same inn.  Her daughter, Alexis Bledell’s Rory, takes after her mom in terms of personality, and they are more like best friends than mother-daughter. These characters are smartly written and acted.

Quincy, M.E. (Quincy): Before CSI or Bones, Jack Klugman’s medical examiner with no first name was the title character of the original forensics show. Anytime something happened in Los Angeles County, Quincy and his assistant Sam were on the case. Quincy lived on a houseboat, was a real ladies man, and was always butting heads with his boss.

Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation): Played by veteran theater actor Brent Spiner, this android longed to be human. As a lieutenant serving aboard the USS Enterprise, Data was a top notch officer who dabbled in poetry and painting, eventually moving on to teach at Starfleet Academy.

Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show): As a single woman working as a news producer at a local Minneapolis TV station, Mary Tyler Moore’s Richards is a departure from Moore's previous role, although she continued to break ground for female characters. Instead of the traditional married mom (or at least married), Richards was a role model in how a single woman can have it all—a great career and personal life.

Detective Lennie Briscoe (Law and Order): Of all the characters in the L & O universe, Det. Briscoe was one of the most popular. As played by Jerry Orbach, the detective was a kind cop with a snappy one line answer to anything, and would do anything to catch the suspect. He was a homicide detective who was also a recovering alcoholic, and so understood that going to the bar to forget the grime of the day was not the best idea-although he occasionally went to the bar anyway.

President Jeb Bartlett (The West Wing): Martin Sheen’s Bartlett was a Democratic president from New Hampshire. Serving his full eight years, Bartlett was a strong president who had to weather every storm a president could have, from the arrest of a Supreme Court nominee to the resignation of his Vice President—even actual weather, after he sent an entire naval fleet out to sea to avoid a major hurricane, only to have the storm turn and head right toward it. He was also a family man, not just with his actual family, but also with his staff. He was a father figure to all of them.

That's my current, seriously incomplete list. What's yours? The comments are open.