Pop Vultures

Last week, Scooter asked fellow TV bloggers to compile a list of their current favorite television characters. What better way to celebrate the slow return of scripted television than by honoring those characters that keep us tuning in each week? This Friday 5 names my personal favorites, though I’ve got to say, it was nearly impossible to narrow it down to five, and the list changed at least six times. Ask me again tomorrow, and I may have different answers, but this is my absolute most up-to-date list of my five favorite characters.

5. Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss)
The Show: Mad Men
Why the Character is Awesome: Though I started watching Mad Men when it first aired, I wandered away and forgot to return. I thought it might be a bit like The Sopranos was for me: an excellent show peopled with characters that I didn’t actually care about. And yet, after about a month away from the show, I started wondering what Peggy Olson was up to. Somehow or other, that simultaneously timid and ballsy “new girl” in the steno pool had got under my skin. I had to know if she was ever given copywriting jobs, or moved out of the boroughs, or if she ever got around to punching Pete in the face (answers: yes, no and, sadly, no). Peggy is a bundle of contradictions. She calls building security during an out-of-control office party because it’s the right thing to do, but doesn’t hesitate to sleep with a married man. She aspires to the high-class Manhattan lifestyle, but refuses to apologize when she gains too much weight to look the part. She manages to be both the scared ingenue and the ambitious future ad exec and is equally believable in both aspects of the role. It is that split that will keep me tuning in next season. I want to know which side of Peggy will eventually triumph.

4. Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler)
The Show: Friday Night Lights
Why the Character is Awesome: Eric Taylor may be the most perfect man ever. Really. Sure, he has his faults, but none of them are deal-breakers, and his winning qualities more than take the lead over his weaknesses. If I’m not careful, this could descend into an ill-advised sports metaphor, so let me instead enumerate the reasons men should be more like Eric Taylor. 1) He’s a loyal husband and devoted father, both because it’s the right thing to do and because it’s what he wants to do. 2) He admits when he’s wrong, even when he has to admit such a thing to Tim Riggins, a man who’s likely to get drunk and forget that anything ever happened. 3) He tells people when they’re being stupid, but also forgives them for being so. 4) He gives a damn good inspirational speech. If the FNL people ever need to find a way to make some additional money to keep the show on the air, they should simply record “Tidbits by Taylor” and sell it as a self-help CD. 5) He’s pretty damn hot. I could keep going, but I should probably stop before I forget that Eric Taylor is fictional and start unfavorably comparing potential boyfriends to his fabulousness.

3. The Doctor (David Tennant)
The Show: Doctor Who
Why the Character is Awesome: Is there anything about the Doctor that isn’t completely lovable? He is whimsical, energetic, joyous, a bit giddy, and utterly in love with the human race. He’s smarter than three Stephen Hawkings put together (and wears the glasses to prove it). Plus, he’s something of a natty dresser, what with the pin-striped suit and the Converse. Although it gets a bit tiresome having to watch all of his companions fall in love with him, I can’t say I blame them, either. Still, what really earns his spot on this list is the Doctor’s weaknesses. Despite the fact that the man would never lack for a willing partner, he is desperately, heart-breakingly lonely. This character has seen his entire race killed off in the war with the Daleks. He outlives all his companions and has learned that, however much he needs them, he shouldn’t let them get too close. For all that he adores humanity and their everyday emotions of love and fear, those are two emotions that he will never allow himself to deeply feel. He may be one of the most likable characters on television, but he will always hold himself apart from those he attracts.

2. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackoff)
The Show: Battlestar Galactica
Why the Character is Awesome: Starbuck was the number 1 choice amongst bloggers, for obvious reasons. People love Starbuck. She is tough, humorous, reckless and unapologetic. She is less a human than a force of nature, stumbling through the post-apocalyptic landscape like some sort of space tornado, wreaking destruction and change wherever she lands. Anders and Apollo are still trying to figure out what hit them and whether they carry insurance that will cover the damage. On paper, she’s not exactly a likable character: she drinks too much, gambles too much, cheats on her husband, disobeys orders…you get the idea. And yet, she’s damn near irresistible. Part of that is certainly due to her enormous grin, one that clearly shows that she knows what a fuck-up she is and is going to have fun with it, anyway. More to the point, for good or ill, Starbuck is a fighter. Who didn’t get chills at the end of season 2, when the humans faced occupation by the Cylons, and Starbuck explained her plan: “We do what we always do. We fight ‘em till we can’t”? In the face of nearly impossible odds, she refused to ever give up, and in that way she represents the entire idea of the series. Humanity may be a fucked-up mess, but it’s still worth fighting for — and we love to watch Starbuck fight for us.

1. Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris)
The Show: How I Met Your Mother
Why the Character is Awesome: I’m sure that, after years of being the butt of Doogie Howser jokes, no one, including NPH, expected the actor to top a list like this. Few would include the character after simply reading a script for HIMYM, either. Yet another sitcom Lothario obsessed with bedding women and making money? Yawn. And yet, somehow, in NPH’s capable hands, the character becomes both a spot-on satire of That Guy while also developing into a 3-dimensional character on its own merits. Despite being an emotionally stunted yuppie with a bad case of Peter Pan-syndrome, Barney has one major thing going for him: everything he does is awesome. His suits? Awesome. His laser tag skills? Awesome. His blog? Awesome. Say what you will about his morals, but at least the man never wallows in emo angst. It would have been so easy for this character to become a predictable cliché, but NPH’s absolute commitment to the role, through each dated high five, each command to suit up, each innovative pickup line, ensured that his character quickly became legen(wait for it)dary.

Close runners-up: Omar Little (The Wire) and John Casey (Chuck)

What about you? Do you love these characters as much as I do? And which ones would make your list?