He should have been spaced.
Then he’d really be lost!
“Oh, the pain, the pain!”
Here’s my expanded list:
Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) — Frasier
Barney Fife (Don Knotts) — The Andy Griffith Show
Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor) — All in the Family
Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) — Frasier
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) — I Love Lucy
Hal (Bryan Cranston) — Malcolm in the Middle
Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) — The Dick Van Dyke Show
Robert Barone (Brad Garrett) — Everybody Loves Raymond
Dr. Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) — 3rd Rock from the Sun
Ed Norton (Art Carney) — The Honeymooners
I’ve submitted by 10 so I guess I’m committed, but this is a worthy choice. There’s a great back story here, too. CBS and the sponsors both objected to Arnaz playing Lucy’s husband because they thought the ethnicity just wouldn’t sit well with American audiences. Lucille Ball was adamant – Arnaz would play her husband, or there wouldn’t be a show.
As it turned out, it was a stroke of genius. Arnaz turned out to be a great comic actor, and his thick Cuban accent, constantly mocked by Lucy, was the source of a lot of the show’s humour. This was one of several areas in which I Love Lucy blazed new trails in television. Lucy’s real-life pregnancy, which instead of being hidden was openly celebrated on the show, was another one.
I agree completely. I’ve always thought Desi was the funnier of the two. Lucy had the bigger slapstick moments, but Desi’s reactions, and growing exasperation were hilarious. He was the perfect foil.
And he wasn’t just great on screen; Desi also helped pioneer the three-camera sitcom format through Desilu, which shaped TV comedy for a long time. Not too shabby for a guy the network didn’t even want.
Another great back story here, for those who haven’t already heard it, was about the filming of I Love Lucy. The era of videotape arrived only at the tail end of the series, so it effectively did not exist during the show’s heyday. CBS planned to stage the show in New York in front of a live audience and broadcast it live to the large television audience in the northeast, and then show lower quality kinescopes to the rest of the country.
Lucy and Desi didn’t want to leave Hollywood and offered to pay the extra cost of having the show filmed out of their own salaries, in exchange for syndication rights. CBS readily agreed because, they thought, who would ever want to watch a silly sitcom more than once?
I Love Lucy became the most syndicated show in television history, boosting the fortunes of Desilu and making Lucy and Desi extremely wealthy!
Raymond Holt - Brooklyn 99
Jake Peralta - Brooklyn 99
Jack Donaghy - 30 Rock
Troy Barnes - Community
Jason Mendoza - the Good Place
Perry Cox - Scrubs
Joey Tribiani - Friends
Ron Swanson - Parks and Rec
Dan Fielding - Night Court
Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh - Blackadder Goes Forth
Outstanding addition, very underrated and overlooked.
mmm
Batman/Bruce Wayne (Batman)
Sam Malone (Cheers)
Reverend Jim Ignatowski (Taxi)
Bob Hartley (The Bob Newhart Show)
John Clarke (The Games)
I’ll be very surprised if Clarke’s nomination is seconded, but I still think that show was brilliant.
The OP this time did specify TV sitcoms. I’d have gone for Arthur.
I also agree completely. No need to splain any further.
My 4 additions:
Jim Ignatowski - Taxi
Stan “Wojo” Wojciehowicz -Barney Miller
Ted Baxter - Mary Tyler Moore Show
Les Nessman - WKRP in Cincinnati
I had Mr Haney* on my list but it was really a toss-up between him and Hank Kimball. (Although I suppose I could have listed both but wanted to limit myself to one character per show.)
* I didn’t give a first name because IIRC they actually gave him two different first names at some point. I think one was Eustace? And I forget the other one.
- George Costanza (Seinfeld)
- Jim Ignatowski (Taxi)
- Al Bundy (Married w/ Children)
- Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show)
- Norm Peterson (Cheers)
- Eddie Haskell (Leave It to Beaver)
- Arthur Dietrich (Barney Miller)
- Larry ? (Newhart)
- Louie DePalma (Taxi)
- Ed Norton (The Honeymooners)
OK, not that it will get any traction but I may as well use up all 10
Douglas out, Jimmy Anderson (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) in.
- Richard Richard (Bottom) — Rik Mayall
- Eddie Hitler (Bottom) — Adrian Edmondson
- Maxwell Smart (Get Smart) — Don Adams
- Dick Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun) — John Lithgow
- Basil Fawlty (Fawlty Towers) — John Cleese
- Cliff Clavin (Cheers) — John Ratzenberger
- Georg Bjarnfreðarson (Næturvaktin) — Jón Gnarr
- Dwight Schrute (The Office) — Rainn Wilson
- Niles Crane (Frasier) — David Hyde Pierce
- Balki Bartokomous (Perfect Strangers) — Bronson Pinchot
Round 1 is active.
mmm