1 of 1- mace
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Favourite Television Characters
Over the last 70+ years of television series, do you have any favourite television characters that made you look forward to seeing them. They make you howl with laughter or leave you seething with rage because you despise them. Here are a few of mine. Simon Moon [Anthony Lapaglia] Daphne's no filter, boorish brother on Frasier. Hank Kimble [Alvy Moore] The loveable Country Bumpkin County Agent on Green Acres. Mel Cooley [Richard Deacon] Never had a good comeback for Morey Amsterdam's wisecracks. Skiptracer Randy [Flula Borg] a recurring character on The Rookie. Always means well in trying to help people, but is as clumsy as a bull in a china shop. Along with his German accent he always makes me chuckle. Norm Peterson [George Wendt] Beer and sharp one liners. What's not to like. Uncle Arthur [Paul Lynde] The puns. Gladys Kravitz [both #1 and 2] Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. Dr. Bombay [Bernard Fox] Always laughs at his poor attempts at humour. Richard Hillman [Brian Caprone] One of the most evil killers ever to walk the cobblestones of Coronation Street. He was once described as Norman Bates with a briefcase. Finally, the entire cast of WKRP. They all meshed well together generating loads of belly laughs. There is one character whom I really liked but was rarely seen. Ian Wolfe played the role of Hirsch, Mrs. Carlson's sarcastic, irreverent butler.
- Leslieville Bill
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Mace, you're bringing back some happy memories!
Here are a few that come to mind:
- Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd) from Cheers. An idiot savant but mostly an idiot.
- Tobias Fünke (David Cross) from Arrested Development. An idiot's idiot. (You're seeing a trend here?)
- George Costanza (Jason Alexander) from Seinfeld. The funniest self-loathing schemer.
- Dwight Schrute (Rain Wilson) from The Office. A man so unaware of himself or is he?
- Jack Jarvis, Esq and Victor McDade (Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill) from Still Game from The Comedy Unit / BBC Scotland. They two play Glaswegian pensioners. I had to use sub-titles to understand them and, when I did, it was very, very funny.
I'd watch reboots of any of these shows in a minute.
Last edited by Leslieville Bill (March 16, 2024 11:09 am)
- Not an industry person. Just a guy with a love of Toronto radio.
- Capricasix
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mace wrote:
Ian Wolfe played the role of Hirsch, Mrs. Carlson's sarcastic, irreverent butler.
That brings back memories of watching WKRP with my big brother when I was a little kid. HIRSCH!
- paterson1
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My favourite characters are mostly comedy.
Wayne Knight- Newman on Seinfeld. Newman always looked harmless, but he had a darker evil side and this made him fun to watch.
Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris- Frank and Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld. We have all likely known a couple like this, disagreeing about everything and fighting and yelling over nothing important.
Ken Osmond- Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver. The mouthy slacker teenager who always was overly polite around adults. When the grownups left the room, he could be an a-hole especially to those he thought were below him. A timeless character who never fooled anyone.
Harriet Sansom Harris- Bebe Glazer, Frazier's scheming and ruthless agent. What Bebe wants..Bebe gets.
Martin Short- Jiminy Glick on Prime Time Glick. Shorts best character and so funny. Glick is the shallow self important interviewer of the stars. He is not impressed usually with who he interviews and often doesn't even ask them any questions about themselves. What he does talk about has nothing to do with who his guest is. Talking to Billy Crystal..."Do you think Marvin Hamlisch should still wear denim?"
John Candy- William B. on SCTV.- The ultimate loyal talkshow sidekick. Unsung, unappreciated but the Sammy Maudlin Show wouldn't be the same without William B. Williams. "Sammy..if I could just say something...."
- newsguy1
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Richard Sanders as Les Nessman, the incompetent newsman on WKRP.
I actually worked with a couple of real-life Leses.
"A giant lizzard is heading for the east coast."
"Les, the B is broken on the teletype, it's a giant blizzard."
Don Adams, Agent 86 of "Get Smart." What a groundbreaking show... "Not the Craw...The Craw!!"
On the less funny side, those suave spies, Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuriakin, "Man From Uncle."
Imagine having a good guy Russian that American rooted for during the real Cold War. "Old Russian saying, we all die a little each day."
Robert Conrad as James West, "The Wild Wild West." James Bond moved to 1800s American West. Plus steampunk before it was called that. (Also I once met Ross Martin (Artemus Gorden,) in a restaurant in Vancouver. He was really nice.
And of course, the unforgettable Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg, in "The Avengers," before Marvel stole that name away.
"Never forgot the line when Mrs Peel left the series, handing over to a new female sidekick, Tara King,... Emma tells her about John Steed, "Remember he likes his tea stirred counter clockwise."
Barbara Eden, "I dream of Jeannie." and of course Larry Hagman, long before J.R arrived.
In modern time, I still think Mariska Hartigay is doing a great job as Olivia Benson.
Fans also know her mother was the ill-fated sex bombshell Jayne Mansfield, and her father was body builder Micky Hartigay.
- Dale Patterson
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Edward Winter as Col. Flagg on M*A*S*H comes to mind among characters who made an occasional appearance.
Brilliant casting for the role of the over-eager CIA man.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- newsguy1
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I believe Flagg was a Marine Colonel, prompting the line from Hawkeye, to Trapper, "why are you being so rotten to the corps?"
- BowmanvilleBob
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Homer Simpson - "Kids, let me tell you a story about a man. He had long hair and a beard. He wore a white robe and he didn't always do everything that other people wanted him to do. And that man's name was.....Well, I forget what his name was, but the point is.....Marge, help me out here. You remember him. He used to drive that blue car."
- RadioAaron
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Homer Simpson - "Kids, let me tell you a story about a man. He had long hair and a beard. He wore a white robe and he didn't always do everything that other people wanted him to do. And that man's name was.....Well, I forget what his name was, but the point is.....Marge, help me out here. You remember him. He used to drive that blue car."
Yep.
- Tq345
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Mace, great thread. And thanks for mentioning the evil Richard Hillman from Coronation Street. Pat Phelan comes to mind as another Street baddie. On the lighter side of Corrie, I always loved Jack Duckworth.
Most of my favourite characters are the recurring ones that didn't always appear, but when they did they were very memorable:
Floyd The Barber and Briscoe Darling from The Andy Griffith Show.
Millie Helper from The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Any number from Seinfeld: Frank and Estelle Costanza, Jackie Chiles, Mickey Abbott, Uncle Leo, Izzy Mandelbaum, and of course David Puddy "high five ... 🤚"
- RadioActive
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A decade or so ago, TV Guide in the U.S. did an entire edition about the best secondary characters in TV history. (Not the stars, the second bananas.) The list contained a few of the names mentioned here, including my favourite, the Rev. Jim from Taxi.
But I was kind of disappointed by their pick for #1. They chose Ed Norton from The Honeymooners, played by the great Art Carney. A funny character no doubt and a good one. But the best of all time? I still have trouble accepting that pick.
- Peter the K
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Along with the Rev. Jim on Taxi, (who it should be known was a high-achieving college student until he disvered the brownie) my favorite second banana character was Sgt. Schultz (Played by the late John Banner) from Hogan's Heroes. He's there because the Nazi's appropriated his toy factory. He'd rather be anywhere else. (except the Russian front.) If you dig beneath the surface of "I know nothing", it's actually a pretty complex character.
It was once speculated in a Reddit discussion that if the show wasn't cancelled and the writers had a chance to write a proper ending for the series, a great way to end things would be to find that Klink/Shultz et al were actually secretly working for the underground and turning a blind eye to Hogan's work.
- mace
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The one line I will remember is from the episode Ed is attempting to teach Ralph how to play golf. Plant your feet firmly on the ground then address the ball."Hellooo ball"
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Thread Starter- mic'em
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Jim Rockford. Best there is, best there was, best there ever will be.
- RadioActive
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Along with the Rev. Jim on Taxi, (who it should be known was a high-achieving college student until he discovered the brownie)
It should be noted the other actor in that scene about Jim's first time trying drugs was his roommate, played by a then-unknown and impossibly young Tom Hanks.
But the scene below is one of the reasons I was so fond of Rev. Jim on Taxi. To me, it's the modern day equivalent of "Who's On First." It could literally go on forever.
Both the gag and the performance are brilliant. My all time favourite scene in Taxi, where the cab drivers, feeling sorry for the drugged-addled burn out, try to help him get his driver's licence.
It's only a minute long, but it's a classic moment in TV history.