Frasier and Niles, Frasier. (each is good, both are great!)
Chris in the Morning, Northern Exposure.
Andy Travis, WKRP.
Hank, King of the Hill.
Hawkeye, M.A.S.H.
honorable mention:
Martin Tupper, Dream On.
Molly, Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.
the whole cast of Married With Children.
the whole cast of Taxi.
Is it too shaming and aging to admit I watched and enjoyed the first 3 years or so of FOX’s sit com programing? Herman’s Head was my favorite even though none of the actors jumped out at me. Not even Lisa Simpson.
Monty Burns
Homer Simpson
Basil Fawlty
George Costanza
David Brent
I loved early Fox. It was such an exciting time for me as I didn’t have cable and this meant a new channel with first run tv.
Beans Baxter. Martin Lewis. Werewolf. Of course, 21 Jumps Street and Married With Children.
I even liked the short lived post-apocalyptic sitcom “Whoops!”
Hermans Head was great. There were TWO standouts for me. Not top five maybe, but very respectable. Hank Azaria as Herman’s sleaze ball brother. And Molly Hagan as Angel.
Jason Bernard and Jane Sibbett were also decent.
Fred G. Sanford
Homer J. Simpson
Frank Burns
Archie Bunker
Larry David
[ol]
[li]Richard Richard (Bottom)[/li][li]Sally Solomon (Third Rock from the Sun)[/li][li]Donna Pinciotti (That '70s Show)[/li][li]Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)[/li][li]Sophia Petrillo (The Golden Girls)[/li][/ol]
Jim Ignatowsky
Tom Servo
Frasier Crane (Cheers only)
Darlene Conner
Kevin Arnold
It’s sitcom characters, blondebear.
Wanna give us a couple more?
Hawkeye Pierce on “M.A.S.H.”
George Costanza on “Seinfeld”
Fred Sanford on “Sanford and Son”
Ralph Cramden on “The Honeymooners”
Frank Burns on “M.A.S.H.”
Homer Simpson - Comedically stupid characters have basically been done to death. But Homer was the best.
Dwight Shrute - The best sitcom characters are ones that make fun of types of weird people you’ve probably met in real life, but are rare enough that you don’t really have a label for that kind of person. Making fun of established stereotypes is easy and kinda lazy humor, making a character who isn’t a stereotype but still someone who is kind of recognizable is difficult, but also far funnier and more original.
Jan Itor (from scrubs) - Best sitcom nemesis. Sort of the opposite of Dwight, in that no one like the Janitor could really exist, he doesn’t seem to have any purpose in life except to torment JD in extremely round-about and overly complicated ways.
Chris (from Northern Exposure) - Is Northern Exposure even a sitcom? Well, whatever, Chris is one of my favorite characters from vaguely sit-com like shows anyways.
Kramer. Zany neighbor has also been done to death, but Kramer was the best.
Carlton Lassiter, Psych
Gracie Allen, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
Talkie Toaster, Red Dwarf
Endora, Bewitched
Uncle Charley O’Casey, My Three Sons
It’s very hard to whittle it down.
Capt Mainwaring - Dad’s Army.
Jim Hacker - Yes, Minister.
Sir Humphrey Appleby - Yes, Minister.
Del Trotter - Only Fools and Horses.
Mr Humphries - Are You being Served.
Dan Connor (Roseanne)
Marty Crane (Frasier)
Eddie Monsoon (Ab Fab)
Blanche Devereaux (Golden Girls)
Sally Rogers (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
1 Judy Bryant - Betty Bobbit (“Fat mongrel bitch Bryant”) Prisoner (Prisoner: Cell Block H)
2 Basil Fawlty - John Cleese (“I have to put up with from you people. You ponce in here expecting to be waited on hand and foot, while I’m trying to run a hotel here…”) [Fawlty Towers]
3 Leopold “Butters” Stotch - Matt Stone (“Ah gee fellas”) [South Park]
4 Sheldon Cooper - Jim Parsons (“I’m not insane… my mother had me tested”) [Big Bang Theory]
5 Aunt Esther - LaWanda Page (“Watch it Sucka”) [Sanford & Son]
:smack: Sure, why not?
Robert Hartley
Dick Loudon
I CANNOT believe I forgot Eric Cartman! He’s in my top five! Gotta bump Bender. As much as that hurts!
Niles Crane (Frasier)
Blanche Devereaux (Golden Girls)
Gareth Keenan (The Office UK)
Eliot Reed (Scrubs)
Vinnie Barbarino (Welcome Back, Kotter)
I literally waffled between Hawkeye and Winchester. Charles is such a great character in that show…a perfect snobbish foil to the denizens of The Swamp. The “Fetid and festering sewer” speech ranks waaaay up there for me as one of the funnier moments of MASH all time…as does the episode where Charles starts taking amphetamines and has those hallucinations of being some kind of Super Doctor “I do one thing, I do it well, and move on”.
A lot of MASH references in this thread. I still think its one of the best non-cartoon sitcom/drama shows ever made. A really endearing show, and I’ve been watching it since I was about five, because my Dad loved it so much (he’s a retired career Army officer). That show, and also “Baa Baa Black Sheep” or whatever it was called ruled our TV around dinnertime in the late 1970’s…
Eldin is a really, really good choice too. My college roomate and I had a cat we named in his honor. That was a great role and a very funny show.
That show reminds me of “Talk Radio”, which I always felt was an underrated show, and Phil Hartmann’s character was great along with the rest of the cast.
Albert Steptoe (Steptoe and Son)
Alf Garnett (Till Death Us Do Part)
Tony Hancock (Hancock’s Half Hour/Hancock)
Sgt Bilko (Sgt Bilko)
Woody Boyd (Cheers) could have chosen Coach Ernie Pantuso
Arthur Fonzarelli (Happy Days early on) misses out for becoming so lame later on.