# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/81 "2011-11-02T18:35:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Mostly I wanted to be Mr. Spock. I really didn’t want to be ANY of the females that were portrayed on TV, not that I can recall right now, anyway. > > In my peer group, it was common for the kids to declare which actor/character from TV shows and movies that they wanted to be. And I was always the weird one who didn’t identify with a female, I identified with males. Yes, I’m heterosexual, and female…I just didn’t want to be a stereotypical ditzy female. Wow, I came in here to write a post and discovered that you wrote it for me! 😃 I was exactly the same way, down to identifying with Spock. I _always_ identified with the male characters in movies and TV shows. I can’t remember one female that I felt any kinship with as a child/teenager. Because they were _boring._ Even the cool ones that were supposed to be powerful (like the Bionic Woman) always had the sorts of issues that men never had, and oftentimes got themselves into jams that required rescue from males. I guess if you put a gun to my head and made me pick females to identify with from that era (this would have been the 70s and early 80s for my child/teen years) I’d have to pick Endora (Samantha’s mom on Bewitched) because she didn’t take shit from anybody (Samantha was cool but I could never figure out why she took orders from that dishrag Darrin), or Nanny from Nanny and the Professor (she was always cool and collected, she had mysterious powers, and she had that cool way of sticking it to you in an oh-so-polite British way.) I might have liked Emma Peel if I’d ever watched The Avengers in those days, but I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/82 "2011-11-02T18:39:50Z")
MacGyver. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/83 "2011-11-02T19:35:06Z")
Fox Mulder. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/84 "2011-11-02T19:45:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Bret Maverick: good looking, lady killer, fast with a gun, and quick with a quip. Me too. I had the Maverick gun and holster set when I was growing up. Bret really wasn’t that good with a gun, but he made up for it with his wits. (BTW, Jimbo just released his autobiography, [The Garner Files: A Memoir](http://www.amazon.com/Garner-Files-Memoir-James/dp/1451642601). I can’t wait to read it!) ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/85 "2011-11-02T20:09:19Z")
MacGyver or Fox Mulder ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/86 "2011-11-02T20:48:03Z")
Felix Unger. But I grew up to be more like Oscar Madison. Looking back, I can see the male characters in “The Big Bang Theory” as representing different stages in my life. Well, except for Wolowitz. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-were-a-kid-what-tv-character-did-you-identify-with-want-to-be/601158/87 "2011-11-02T20:57:08Z")
Flint McCullough, from Wagon Train, because a) he was a scout, which is cool and b) he rode an Appaloosa horse. I spent pretty much all of 5th and 6th grades drawing appaloosa horses. Illya Kuryakin. A jaw like no other. And hair. He was awesome. And Spock. I had no female role models, apparently, which probably explains a lot about me. [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=4)