I haven’t seen the show but I can only assume it’s Mandy Patinkin’s natural coolness shining through. I love the man.
For someone who watches the amount of TV that I do, I thought this would be easy but it kinda wasn’t. I’ve always thought Detective Robert Goren from Law and Order Criminal Intent was pretty damn cool.
Even cooler is Alan Shore from The Practice last season and Boston Legal this season (playing the same character). He does the right thing the wrong way and for him it seems completely rational.
Jack Bristow, from Alias. He’s simultaneously a good guy and a badass. Plus, he has a storage building with guns, money and “facilities for disposing of human remains.”
Willow: “Arrr! This is so frustrating!” Oz: “Nothing useful.” Willow: “No, it’s great. If we want to make ferns invisible or communicate with shrimp, I’ve got the goods right here.” Oz: “Our lives are different than other peoples.”
And of course, the “Attack the Mayor with hummus” idea.
Sam Malone from Cheers. I wouldn’t have minded being another notch in his belt. He’s a womanizer but has an innate sweetness about him that you can’t help but love him.
Tony Soprano - He’s overweight. He’s balding. He kills people. He cheats on his wife. Gawd is he sexy.
Angel - He’s tormented, dresses nattily, can do a roundhouse, and boy can he brood.
Murphy Brown - She’s smart, she’s sexy, she’s neurotic.
Jack Bauer from 24 - an unstoppable badass who will risk everything to get the job done. He won’t kowtow to terrorists’ demands, he’ll never give up, and he’s not afraid to kill those who have it coming. Very likely the toughest S.O.B. on television.
Having sat around watching Cosby Show reruns yesterday, I must say that while as a child I loved Cliff, as an adult I think Claire Huxtable is the most awesome, smart, funny, bitchy, sexy woman around. You know she came up with that nasty prank of playing Alphabet with a hungover Vanessa who really thought they were making Rudy take shots of cheap liquor until she messed up and found out it was tea. I’d so love to hang out with Claire. She’s a good mom but it dosen’t eat her life.
And damn it, I don’t think I realized as a child how much the Huxtable couple is doing it. Jesus!
G’Kar was only cool from the middle of Season 3 onward. Lennier, OTOH, was the coolest character on TV throughout the series. Calm, collected, a supreme badass in a fight, fanatically loyal to Delenn and with an inner resoviour of sadness that broke him at the very end.
OK, Swearengen is my 2nd favorite character on TV, possibly ever. Somehow, even though he’s a terrible person, I grew fond of him, and by the end of the season, I was rooting for him. That guy can turn a phrase like nobody’s business. If he and Omar ever teamed up in some alternate fantasy universe, they’d run the entire joint. Now there’s an idea for HBO.
I’ll second Hawk from Spencer: For Hire. And Julian Bashir. He was my guilty pleasyure (everyone else I know either disliked him or, at best, was neutral).
Also, H.M. Murdock (Well, and Hannibal, too, but Murdock moreso) and Admiral Al Calavicci (again, Sam Beckett, too, but Al moreso).
Capt Picard (ST:TNG), for all the reasons already mentioned.
Spike (BtVS) because he is the bad boy, and sometimes shows a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor.
Xander (BtVS) “ah yes, the human with the large arms”, for his courage. He has no powers, but he still risks his life for the others. I would never willingly face demons, vampires, zombies etc, I would “Run Away! Run Away!”
Duncan MacLeod (Highlander). Even after centuries of living, he has somehow not become bitter and cynical. Plus, he has some cool moves.
Hyacinth Bucket (Keeping Up Appearances) because despite her social climbing and other foibles, there is just something about her that ism so familiar and endearing.
OK, they aren’t all cool in the usual sense, but this is my list.
Yeah! He made a decent gimmick of a show enjoyable to the point of addictive. I love him (but, as drm pointed out, it’s his Mandy Patinkin-ness that makes him so great).
