# When You Were a Kid, What TV Character Did You Identify With/Want to Be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158 "2011-10-29T05:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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 30, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/61 "2011-10-30T16:45:05Z")
Zack Morris. And, yes, it was because of his power to stop time and Kelly I also wanted to be Darren Stephens or Tony Nelson, but I didn’t identify with them. I just thought they were so stupid, freaking out over every magical thing, and that I would handle it better. I’m not sure who I merely identified with. Probably one of those nerd characters who knew everything (as I definitely believed that to be the case). ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/62 "2011-10-30T17:24:42Z")
Magnum from Magnum PI, Recardo Tubbs from Miami Vice and, depending on my mood, either Joe Coffee or Bobby Hill from Hill Street Blues. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/63 "2011-10-30T18:12:20Z")
> [@Walkabout](#): > > I wanted to be Barbara Cooper, the Valerie Bertinelli character from _One Day at a Time_. She’s about the same age as me, but in the show she was so pretty, and funny, and had a cool mom and sister. Hell, I wanted to _have_ Barbara Cooper. Fact is, Ms. Bertinelli still looks pretty damned fine… As to who I wanted to be? Napoleon Solo. (My wife says that in her group, they all wanted to be Mr. Waverly and be the boss.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/64 "2011-10-30T18:22:24Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > PFC Paul LeMay from “Combat”, although he was usually called “Caje” because his character was a Louisiana Cajun, I thought his name was “Cage”… 50’s kid here. I used to love “Combat”, and also used to notice Cage more than the others. There was something appealing about the character; I think you just put it into words. . ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/65 "2011-10-30T18:34:29Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > My “who I’d want to be like when I become an adult” was Thomas Sullivan Magnum. > > The guy I wanted to be when I was a kid was Ricardo Tubs, from Miami Vice (sometimes it would jump to being Castillo whenever he went on samurai sprees) > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Magnum from Magnum PI, Recardo Tubbs from Miami Vice and, depending on my mood, either Joe Coffee or Bobby Hill from Hill Street Blues. That’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/66 "2011-10-30T19:33:57Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I identified most with Heckel and Jeckel, an old cartoon that’s never shown anymore, I think because it was politically incorrect. They were smartasses and I really liked that. > > To Lynn Bodoni…when playing “girl stuff” I always wanted to “p’like I’m Debbie Reynolds.” (p’like=play like) Another friend was always Elizabeth Taylor. Don’t know if the scandal had happened yet. > > If I had been a kid more recently it would be Xenia. 😛 See, I didn’t like playing girly-girl stuff. I hated playing house, and I don’t believe I ever threw a tea party for my toys. I wanted to go out and have adventures…but it seemed that only boys (or only males) did that. Debbie Reynolds never appealed to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/67 "2011-10-30T21:18:27Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > That’s weird. Great minds think alike. Also, it probably means we’re abou the same age. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/68 "2011-10-30T21:53:11Z")
Catwoman. Specifically, Catwoman as portrayed by Eartha Kitt. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/69 "2011-10-31T00:27:00Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Also in the episode “Mountain Men” he managed to get on a pair of skis and out race the skilled German ski troopers chasing him. We’ll ignore the fact that Normandy is flat since Pierre Jalbert, a fist class skier himself, told the director who said they wanted such an episode. Me again. You got me interested, so I read up on Jalbert a little. He was in fact the Captain of Canada’s 1948 Olympic Ski Team. Couldn’t compete because of breaking his leg five days before the games. Interesting guy. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/70 "2011-10-31T12:13:52Z")
Living in my house was kind of like being in a POW camp, so I guess I identified with Col. Hogan. Nice uniform, too. But he could escape whenever he wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Nuveena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@Nuveena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuveena)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/71 "2011-11-01T18:32:02Z")
I didn’t want to be a specific character from [The Tomorrow People](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tomorrow_People)(the 70’s series, not the 90’s), but I desperately wanted to be one of them. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/72 "2011-11-01T21:00:07Z")
I identified with Daniel Tiger from Mr. Rogers’s Land of Make Believe. Shy, quiet, but very smart. And Nuveena just beat me on wanting to be a Tomorrow Person. I’d love to jaunt to work, besides all the other fun abilities. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/73 "2011-11-01T21:07:37Z")
Steve Austin. Not the fuckin’ wrestler, the bionic man. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/74 "2011-11-01T21:30:42Z")
Will Robinson, boy astronaut, explorer, and scientist. Only I would have tried to lose Dr. Smith right off. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/75 "2011-11-02T04:23:03Z")
Mrs. Cretin tells me that she always wanted to be “California”, Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekick. She wanted to be the sidekick so she hang out with Hoppy. “If I was Hoppy, I wouldn’t be able to _look_ at him.” . ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/76 "2011-11-02T04:38:50Z")
Makepeace from [Dempsey and Makepeace.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dempsey_%26_Makepeace) I had a bit of a crush on her and on Dempsey, combined with really wanting to be Makepeace. Tough, cool, sexy, posh, always a little out of reach but good in a fight. When I was 8-9 years old, I used to carry the portable TV up to the pub every Thursday night just so I could watch Dempsey and Makepeace. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/77 "2011-11-02T16:36:20Z")
When I was a kid I wanted to be [Jem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jem_%28TV_series%29) or Wonder Woman. In my teens I wanted to be [Saavik](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saavik). The Kirstie Alley version, not the other one. Currently I want to be either Jean Grey from X-Men or Catwoman. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/78 "2011-11-02T16:51:57Z")
I wanted to be [Phoebe Figalilly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_and_the_Professor) or later Samantha Stevens, because they could do magic. For many years, I tried very, very hard to believe in magic and thought that there just might be some secret I could discover that would allow it to be real. I identified with Prudence, the little girl from Nanny and the Professor, and later Jan Brady. I am utterly horrified that Prudence (Kim Richards) grew up to be one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/79 "2011-11-02T16:52:58Z")
I wanted to be Morticia Addams. She was (to my eyes) the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and was an exemplary model of a gracious, kind, considerate woman. Plus she was very wealthy and had a husband who doted on her, both kind of fringe benefits. I wasn’t all that into the Addams family aesthetic, but I certainly could have lived with it in order to be the ultimate “lady.” Oddly, I saw Carolyn Jones, who played Morticia, on a talk show around that time, and while she was adequately good looking by normal standards, she wasn’t nearly the beauty that Morticia was. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/80 "2011-11-02T17:58:45Z")
When I was 10 or so I really wanted to be the sister from The Little Vampire. I can’t remember her name now. They could fly, stay out late and no whiny angsting about sex either. Later on I identified with Darlene out of Roseanne. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158.md?page=5)