# 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:** 2
**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, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/21 "2009-10-15T00:08:42Z")
Here are my more than 10 top choices that come to mine. Some have been suggested by others. In no particular order. 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:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/22 "2009-10-15T00:28:02Z")
Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da Vinci in _DaVinci’s Inquest_ Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey in _The Shield_ Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the original _Law & Order_ Andre Braugher\* as Detective Frank Pembleton in _Homicide: Life on the Street_ Gee. I guess I like me my detective shows. \*I’m so glad to see him come back to TV but I haven’t seen \*Men of a Certain Age \*yet. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/23 "2009-10-15T00:57:17Z")
I’m not that high on Spike as a character either because there were so many things in the mythology that just didn’t fit or track over the years but I think James Marsters played him brilliantly. Buffy Summers Dean Winchester (_Supernatural_) Marybeth Lacey (I don’t know if I would have thought of her if I hadn’t just seen her name in another thread but I thought Cagney and Lacey were both well-developed characters) Father Ray (from the controversial, cancelled show _Nothing Sacred_) Colleen McMurphy (_China Beach_) K.C. (_China Beach_) Doug Ross (ER) Hawkeye Pierce ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/24 "2009-10-15T02:28:30Z")
I’ll have to nominate Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, even though I’m not normally a big fan of Angel. I think the story of his **drastic** change and growth over the years was very well told. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/25 "2009-10-15T02:33:17Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > My first thought was Tony Soprano, however, I would also nominate Paulie Gualtieri. I thought of Tony. Paulie’s another great one, but I came in here to nomiante Christopher Moltisanti. How about Niles Crane? David Hyde Pierce played him to perfection. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/26 "2009-10-15T06:42:45Z")
Thomas Sullivan Magnum James Tiberius Kirk Benjamin Lafayette Sisko Maxwell Smart Jimmy Rockford Mike Hammer Lennie Briscoe Captain Kangaroo (we are talking lifetime of viewership, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/27 "2009-10-15T08:58:08Z")
> [@choie](#): > > 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. No, I’ll agree with you on that one. Their marriage was the model to which I’ve always aspired. Sure, they had problems, but you knew, deep down, that they loved each other fiercely. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/28 "2009-10-15T13:37:51Z")
Has anyone said Basil Fawlty and Edmund Blackadder yet? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/29 "2009-10-15T13:44:24Z")
A preliminary list (subject to revision) Jed Bartlett Edmund Blackadder Archie Bunker Bugs Bunny Eric Cartman Basil Fawlty Vic Mackey Jim Rockford Spock Buffy Summers ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/30 "2009-10-15T14:23:02Z")
I think Barney Fife has to be on that list somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/31 "2009-10-15T14:44:59Z")
Adrian Monk. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/32 "2009-10-15T15:14:48Z")
Wesley Wyndham Price and Lennie Briscoe are my top picks. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/33 "2009-10-15T18:38:35Z")
Theodore Bagwell “T-Bag”-Prison Break. Basil Fawlty and Edmund Blackadder. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/34 "2009-10-15T22:55:10Z")
There’s a difference between “truly 3-dimensional believable utterly convincing characters” and “entertaining characters”, although of course there is some overlap. Ralph Wiggum, for instance, is certainly in the second category, but not so much the first. Whereas I found a lot of the characters the recent BSG to be trying so hard to fit into the first category that (a) they overshot, and (b) they often failed to be entertaining. For characters who fit both categories, I will go with: - **Omar, Bubbles and Stringer Bell** from **The Wire** - **Al Swearengen** from **Deadwood** - **Angela Chase** and **Brian Krakow** from **My So Called Life** - **Coach and Mrs. Taylor** on **Friday Night Lights** (a truly convincing portrayal of a very solid loving marriage that still occasionally has issues, but they seem real, not problem-of-the-week) (honorable mention to a bunch of other characters from the show, particularly **Matt Saracen** ) - **Ruth Fisher** from **Six Feet Under** (first few seasons, at least) and, just because it’s too good a show not to mention - **Logan Echolls** from **Veronica Mars** ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/35 "2009-10-15T23:13:26Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > I think Barney Fife has to be on that list somewhere. I second that. And Colonel Klink. Klink and Barney won about 1000 emmys between them. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/36 "2009-10-15T23:46:26Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > 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. I came in here to mention Titus Pullo. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/37 "2009-10-16T08:35:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Spock That’s a good one. He is so fully realized that the creators forgot he was only half Vulcan, and made every other member of the species almost exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/38 "2009-10-16T10:00:09Z")
Hawkeye Pierce. Theo Kojak. Basil Fawlty. Lucy. Norman Stanley Fletcher. Hilda Ogden. Sir Humphrey Appleby. Mr Spock. Elaine Benes. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/39 "2009-10-16T10:20:16Z")
One of my favorites is still missing: \*\*Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald \*\* played by Robbie Coltrane in the UK series [Cracker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28UK_TV_series%29), one of the best dramas in TV history. As wikipedia says: _Fitz is a classic antihero, unfaithful to his wife, alcoholic, a chain smoker, overweight, addicted to gambling, manic, foulmouthed and sarcastic; and yet cerebral and brilliant. A genius in his speciality: getting into the heads of violent criminals. As Fitz confesses in “Brotherly Love”: “I drink too much, I smoke too much, I gamble too much. I am too much.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026/40 "2009-10-16T11:09:58Z")
> [@Drain Bead](#): > > I came in here to mention Titus Pullo. “All right my dove we’ll pay, but the girl had better fuck him like Helen of Troy with her arse on fire, or I’ll know the reason why!” Titus Pullo What’s not to love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-screen-characters-of-all-time-starting-with-spike/512026.md?page=3)