The Great Sitcom Battle, Female Characters, {choose your favorite} Round 1

This is Round One of the Great Sitcom Battle, Female Characters edition. Rankings are based on input gathered in another thread. Vote for one character in each of the following 25 head-to-head battles. Polls will close when the voting starts tapering off.

1
  • Elaine Benes - Seinfeld (1)
  • Karen Walker – Will & Grace (50)
0 voters
2
  • Edith Bunker – All in the Family (2)
  • Jessica Tate – Soap (49)
0 voters
3
  • Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (3)
  • Dee Reynolds – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (48)
0 voters
4
  • Lucille Bluth – Arrested Development (4)
  • Sophia Petrillo – The Golden Girls (47)
0 voters
5
  • Laura Petrie – The Dick Van Dyke Show (5)
  • Sue Ann Niven – The Mary Tyler Moore Show (46)
0 voters
6
  • Lucy Ricardo – I Love Lucy (6)
  • Lily Munster – The Munsters (45)
0 voters
7
  • Morticia Addams – The Addams Family (7)
  • Mrs. Doyle – Father Ted (44)
0 voters
8
  • Eleanor Shellstrop – The Good Place (8)
  • Rhoda Morgenstern – The Mary Tyler Moore Show (43)
0 voters
9
  • Agent 99 – Get Smart (9)
  • Maw Maw – Raising Hope (42)
0 voters
10
  • Aunt Esther – Sanford and Sons (10)
  • Lois – Malcolm in the Middle (41)
0 voters
11
  • Margaret Houlihan – MASH (11)
  • Margo Leadbetter – The Good Life (40)
0 voters
12
  • April Ludgate – Parks and Recreation (12)
  • Carolyn Knapp-Shappey – Cabin Pressure (39)
0 voters
13
  • Bailey Quarters – WKRP in Cincinnati (13)
  • Florence Johnston – The Jeffersons (38)
0 voters
14
  • Gracie Allen – The Burns and Allen Show (14)
  • Lovey Howell – Gilligan’s Island (37)
0 voters
15
  • Phoebe Buffay – Friends (15)
  • Sue Heck – The Middle (36)
0 voters
16
  • Barbara Good – The Good Life (16)
  • Rachel Green – Friends (35)
0 voters
17
  • Leslie Knope – Parks and Recreation (17)
  • Helen Fisk – Fisk (34)
0 voters
18
  • Lilith Sternin – Cheers (18)
  • Maude Findlay – Maude (33)
0 voters
19
  • Peg Bundy – Married…with Children (19)
  • Sybil Fawlty – Fawlty Towers (32)
0 voters
20
  • Lisa Douglas – Green Acres (20)
  • Rosa Diaz – Brooklyn Nine-Nine (31)
0 voters
21
  • Roz Doyle – Frasier (21)
  • Diane Chambers – Cheers (30)
0 voters
22
  • Janet – The Good Place (22)
  • Murphy Brown – Murphy Brown (29)
0 voters
23
  • Selina Meyer – Veep (23)
  • Carla Tortelli – Cheers (28)
0 voters
24
  • Daphne Moon – Frasier (24)
  • Kimmy Schmidt – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (27)
0 voters
25
  • Rose Nylund – The Golden Girls (25)
  • Mary Richards – The Mary Tyler Moore Show (26)
0 voters

BTW, feel free to make comments in this thread.

mmm

Slight nitpick - Fred Sanford only had one son (that we know of).

I’ve voted on all the ones I have passing familiarity with both characters, (about half of them)

Why did Mary Tyler Moore go against Betty White twice? Weird coincidence or choice.

I’m disappointed by Rhoda vs Shellstrop, 2 of may favorites.

I didn’t post in the other thread because I never came up with five, but my number one with a bullet would be Joy Turner, from My Name is Earl.

A sitcom battle? Are we talking about “which is a better character” or “which would win in a fight?”

(It would definitely be the latter in most of the fan-spaces I’ve spent time in in the last few years)

I abstained on a few because I honestly am not at all familiar with either candidate. Hope that’s okay.

Good point. Choose your favorite character.

mmm

Thirteen (52%) for me. Some of them were characters I’ve forgotten from shows I watched a long time ago, some of them were from shows I’ve never watched, and three or four were from shows I’d never even heard of.

Oops. This will be corrected if Aunt Esther advances.

Weird, I did not notice that. It is just how the rankings fell.

I’m in the same situation with Agent 99 up against Maw Maw.

mmm

Bless the inclusion of Carolyn Knapp-Shappey in this poll. I know the number of people familiar with Cabin Pressure is small but it’s one of the best sitcoms of the last 30 years.

But it’s radio, so…

Ditto, with Lucy vs Lily.

I had a hard time with this one, because Maw Maw was on my list, but I had a huge boyhood crush on 99.

In all of my selections I erred on the side of the funny one. 99 was one of the most striking women on TV but she was essentially just a straight man for Max.

Mr. Fudd raises a good point.

However, I still haven’t decided. Maw Maw made me laugh, but the nostalgic warmth I have for 99 cannot be easily dismissed.

mmm

My framing was “which one do you prefer?” - independent of the reasons for preference.

I used the same criteria pretty much.

I think I was the first to mention her in the nominations thread. The OP ruled out cartoon characters, but didn’t say that the sitcoms had to be on television.

For me it was Kimmy Schmidt vs Daphne.