# Top Ten Screen Characters of All Time, starting with Spike. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026 "2009-09-29T20:14:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/1 "2009-09-29T20:14:12Z")
I don’t know who the other 9 are right off the top of my head, but I’m putting in for Spike, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as among them. I was inspired to this by the thread about TV shows that have changed. If you are familiar, I think that between Joss Whedon’s writing and James Marsters’ acting, Spike was one of the most exquisitely realized characters I’ve ever seen on TV or film. I think his story was incredibly tragic and powerful and funny and (weirdly) believable and fascinating, and I think James Marsters’ portrayal of him was truly flawless in every detail, word, glance, and motion. So. Who do you think should join Spike? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/2 "2009-09-29T20:18:05Z")
I’m going to go for Spike, and Spike. Spike Spiegel, from Cowboy Bebop, the coolest criminal the universe will ever know. Spike the Bulldog, from Tom and Jerry, the coolest dad in cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/3 "2009-09-29T20:18:44Z")
Charles Foster Kane Rufus T. Firefly The Little Tramp ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/4 "2009-09-29T20:27:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Charles Foster Kane > Rufus T. Firefly > The Little Tramp The OP’s character was from television, but says “screen” in the title. OP - wanna give us a ruling as to what medium you prefer? Or both? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/5 "2009-09-29T21:44:05Z")
Since Spike was a TV character, I’ll stick to TV characters Alphabetically by last name: Sgt. Ernie Bilko Eric Cartman Carl Kolchak Ralph Kramden Perry Mason Londo Molari Ed Norton Mrs. Emma Peel Jim Rockford Maxwell Smart ---
**Author:** ![Billy-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Billy-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy-o)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/6 "2009-09-29T21:49:48Z")
Can I submit a couple from UK programs (or should that be programmes)? If so, then: Horace Rumpole Angus Hudson (from “Upstairs/Downstairs”) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/7 "2009-09-29T22:04:28Z")
\*\*Omar Little \*\*and **Reginald “Bubbles” Cousins** - “The Wire”. \*\*Al Swearengen \*\*- “Deadwood” \*\*Michael Caffee \*\*- “Brotherhood” \*\*Kenny Powers \*\*- “Eastbound and Down” ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/8 "2009-09-29T22:08:14Z")
Totally agree with Omar and Bubbles (The Wire) Archie Bunker Doug Ross (ER) Roseanne Homer Simpson Thomas Magnum (Magnum P.I.) Sam Malone (Cheers) Tony Soprano Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties) Sophia Patrillo (Golden Girls) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/9 "2009-09-29T22:15:53Z")
The most realistic, fully-realized character I’ve ever seen in a television show, by a mile, was Laura Roslyn in “Battlestar Galactica.” ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/10 "2009-09-29T22:21:01Z")
My first thought was Tony Soprano, however, I would also nominate Paulie Gualtieri. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/11 "2009-09-29T22:29:15Z")
James Caldwell, a.k.a. Reverend Jim Ignatowski ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/12 "2009-09-30T01:17:38Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > My first thought was Tony Soprano, however, I would also nominate Paulie Gualtieri. Ok, for number four, I would have Dexter. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/13 "2009-09-30T01:34:19Z")
I’ll accept film. And of the submissions so far, I agree wholeheartedly with Al Swearengen, Archie Bunker, and Angus Hudson. My POV on the qualifications very much includes a three-dimensional, fully lived-in quality. While many of the characters named have much to recommend them, I don’t know that they fall into that category. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/14 "2009-09-30T02:18:34Z")
I’d also like to nominate Colonel Saul Tigh from the re-imagined BSG We meet him as a crusty, gruff, hard-drinkin, hard fightin’ old military man, hardened by the first Cylon war, and with a deeply ingrained hatred for the Toasters, and a marriage that’s, well, on the frakkin’ rocks, he can only find comfort and solace in a bottle… he goes through many difficulties, a trial-by-fire as temporary Commander of the Galactica, and has his own share of frak-ups, but at least he’s keeping the Toasters at bay… His wife returns, and for a time, so does happiness… only to have it unceremoniously yanked out from under him when he discovers his wife was a (unwilling) Toaster-Lover, he loses an eye as well… Nevertheless, he slogs onward, never giving up the fight against Toasterpression, but at the cost of the only woman he truly loved, he succeeds, saving Humanity from another Toaster-induced genocide… Only to be forgotten by the very people he sacrificed everything to save (I think the scene of Tigh, walking stoically away from the crowd on Galactica chanting “Adama! Adama!..”, holding back his emotions, was one of the saddest, and most understated scenes in BSG) and after all of this, he finds out that He’s a Toaster himself, as was his wife…… Michael Hogan did a brilliant job portraying Saul Tigh, you’d think, after all that Tigh’s been through, it’d be understandable if, after all the hardships he’s experienced, that he’d have a _terrible_ pain in all the diodes down his left side… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/15 "2009-09-30T04:42:16Z")
Archie Bunker wins the thread – way above Spike, IMO. I never saw Spike as all that much of an achievement, either in writing or acting, _pace_ all the Whedon fans. I’ll add Edith Bunker too, though she didn’t have as many opportunities to strut her stuff. But a remarkable achievement in performance and writing. Hawkeye Pierce is much more 3D than some of his detractors think he is; Alda gets snarked at for his idealism, but Pierce himself was actually quite jerkish and full of himself at times, and failed to live up to his own so-called standards of sensitivity. Yet we knew so much about who he was as a man, and Alda’s acting was incredible, especially as a listener. Leo McGarry from _The West Wing_. John Spencer lived this role. I’m not sure I’d put him in the top ten, though. Perhaps substitute Jed Bartlett, then. Jane Tennison (_Prime Suspect_). Helen Mirren … well, what is there to say? She was utterly brilliant, not a false moment, taking this highly flawed, intelligent, screwed up woman through the wringer from highs to lows. Claudius, Caligula and Livia (_I, Claudius_). If one must choose only one of ‘em, then Claudius. Derek Jacoby managed to show us a man who was both foolish naif and genius strategist. But I could make a case for John Hurt’s Caligula and Sian Phillips’ Livia as well. Cases can absolutely be made for Gregory House, Dan Connor (whom I’d choose over Roseanne, though it’s a helluva close call – but John Goodman’s a better actor), Jean-Luc Picard, among many others. But for my wild card I’m gonna choose someone no one will agree with me on: Tom Good, from _Good Life_ / _Good Neighbors_. I think Richard Briers was incredible in this role, who could vacillate from optimistic idealist to cynic to charmer to blowhard to chauvinist to sensitive ‘modern man’. Tom and Felicity Kendal’s Barbara had one of the most believable portrayals of married life in a sitcom ever, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/16 "2009-09-30T07:48:49Z")
Hawkeye Pierce Arthur Fonzerelli George Costanza Marsha Brady To name a few. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/17 "2009-09-30T08:43:29Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > James Caldwell, a.k.a. Reverend Jim Ignatowski Damn, that’s who I wanted to say. Hands down the greatest character _ever_. ---
**Author:** ![meanoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@meanoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meanoldman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/18 "2009-10-14T23:40:41Z")
I was thinking about posting a thread about the character Emma Peel, when I thought I’d better do a search and see if anyone else recently mentioned her. Yup, just upthread a bit. Not sure if there has EVER been another female character like Emma. Smart, sassy, sexy, didn’t need a man but likes men, fully able to take care of herself by chop, punch, kick, elbow, sword or pistol. Witty without being a ball-buster. Oh, for clarity, the Diana Rigg version of Emma Peel, _not_ the Uma Thurman one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/19 "2009-10-15T00:07:23Z")
Jim Rockford Tony Soprano Carmela Soprano Livia Soprano Livia wife of Augustus in I, Claudius Claudius Jax Teller, The Sons of Anarchy Gemma Morrow, The Sons of Anarchy Hamlet the character no matter who plays him is a masterpiece of writing Michael Corleone Fredo Corleone Tom Hagen Thomas Moore as played by Paul Scofield Horace Rumpole Julia, as played by Vanessa Redgrave ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/20 "2009-10-15T00:07:26Z")
Special Agent Dale Cooper, Federal Bureau of Investigations I’ll second Eric Cartman. And I’d second so many other HBO characters. HBO has it on lock down for me, TV-wise. (And don’t forget Titus Pullo.) I don’t think I’ve ever watched one episode of Buffy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026.md?page=2)