Comedy Characters Rule! (Top Ten TV Characters)

Member Name: alocin

Product:	Top Ten TV Characters
Date:	21/05/03 (2057 review reads)
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My top-10 characters are going to be limited, and many people may disagree with my choices but they can only be from tv programmes that I have actually seen. I mainly like comedy shows and American tv (i'm sorry but it's good) so my favourite characters are from these shows. I also seem to have missed shows that many people say are great such as The Office, The Fast Show any soap opera... So if your favourite character is not here then i'm sure they are great but it is due to my taste in tv!

1. Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)

Oh come on, Homer is by far and away the best character on tv. Say "D'oh" or "mmm" to anyone and they will know you are talking about Homer Simpson. His obsession with beer, donuts and doing as little as possible makes us all identify with him. The clip shows where they show him going "D'oh" again and again from different episodes are some of the best tv ever.

2. Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder)

Who would not want to be able to come up with those great put-downs that Blackadder has? He was a different character in the first series but from the second series on he has got to be the best British comedy character going. Just the way that Rowan Atkinson says certain words such as "Bob" is funnier than entire series of other comedy shows. I think that the Elizabethan Blackadder is the best, and the scene where he has been kidnapped and is trying to understand what the Spanish torturer is saying has got to be one of the best moments. Blackadder rules!

3. Alice (Vicar of Dibley)

Another comedy character, but I think they are the best. Poor silly Alice is the best character in the village I think. Her wedding where she has Thomas the Tank Engine on her dress and children dressed as Telly Tubbies as page boys is just so funny. She takes everything literally - a staple for British comedy shows - and tries so hard to please. Once the romance with H
ugo got underway her character changed, and I think she was not as good but in the earlier shows she is great.

4. Mulder and Scully (X-Files)

Some serious-ish characters at last! Yes I know that there are two people listed above, but this is my list of favourite characters and I say that you cannot seperate these people. The X-Files tried to and look what happened to them! I came to X-Files later than others but for a while I was an "X-Phile" - a serious fan. This was hampered by the UK's poor scheduling of the programme and general behindness but I loved this show. The two characters just compliment each other so well. The breaking up of the partnership ruined the last few seasons, but in my mind the two characters together are the X-Files, not the rest of the show.

5. Giles (Buffy)

Another vaugely serious charcter! American tv you see. I was also quite a serious Buffy fan and Giles was always my favourite character. He is a very sterotypical English character on US tv, but still better handled than most others (ie he doesn't go to meet the Queen on holiday). He does like his tea, complain about pop-culture and is a librarian but he is English after all and we are all like that. He did seem to be underdeveloped as a character untill his girlfriend was killed and he had a slight breakdown type moment, and after that he was a much stronger character. The most well known librarian on tv certainly.

6. Josh and Donna (West Wing)

Now you might think that these are serious charcters (yes another pair, hush - it's my list!) as they are on the West Wing, a political drama show. But you would be assuming too much my friends. The West Wing has it's share of humour and some of the best bits come from this pair of charcters. They have their serious times but togther they are the funniest and best bits of the show. In one scene Donna is trying to persuade Josh that the Government should give people
some money back as they took more in taxes than they needed; she mainly wants it so she can buy a DVD player with it. He says that the Government doesn't trust people to spend it wisely so they will keep the extra. Later Donna gets Josh a sandwich and refuses to give him the change as she says he gave her too much money but he wouldn't spend the change wisely. It's a great scene, I just explain funny things badly.

7. Rimmer (Red Dwarf)

Back to comedy characters! Red Dwarf is a great programme and most of the humor comes from Rimmer trying to outwit Lister. It's a miracle that he doesn't manage to considering that Lister does not exactly have a huge IQ. Rimmer is just so hopeless in everything he tries to do. You wouldn't think that failure would make such funny tv but it does. He is an arrogant, usless, cowardly, back-stabbing hypocrite but he is very funny and a great nemesis for Lister. The episode where he is gone and they watch the performance he set up to celebrate himself is just so funny - little puppets of himself are singing "Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer - More reliable than a garden strimmer". You have to see it to believe it.

8. Ned Flanders (The Simpsons)

"Oak-ily Doke-ily!" The eternally cheerful neighbour of the Simpsons. He runs the Leftorium, is an avid church-goer and is constantly harassed by Homer. Despite this in a few episodes he does lose his temper, Homer befriends him and in one he marries a floozy from Las Vegas. Also his wife dies after being hit with a t-shirt fired from a canon at a racetrack. All this is temporary and he reverts back to the friendly neighbour by the end of the show. Except for his wife - she doesn't come back. He is linked with a Christian rock singer in one show though. A great foil to Homer's madness.

9. Spock (Star Trek)

I admit to having been a trekie at some point in my life. I won't go into details but I
have re-joined the real world now and am taking it one step at a time. No, I was never that bad but I did like Star Trek when I was younger. I never went for the Captain Kirk, rekless hero fan-worship. I always thought Spock was a lot cooler. After all he could read minds and do the Vulcan Nerve Pinch. That was way better than Kirk! So the green-blooded, pointy-eared one makes it into my list.

10. Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

One last comedy character. Very few episodes of Fawlty Towers were made, but in all of them Manuel shines through. His wonderful broken English and deep-seated fear of Basil are just so funny, and when he is hit over the had with a frying pan you just feel so sorry for him. Poor Manuel. Que? The moose falling onto his head and him scaring the Colonel are some of the best bits of the show. A great character.

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