Favourite TV characters

Following on from Joss Whedon over at Whedonesque giving his favourite 25 TV characters (as reported by lovely MediumRob), I thought that I should offer a list of my own.

I've thought about it of course, but I've tried to limit myself by giving myself just 15 mins to write the post. I've took a bit longer than than that (it took 7 songs on i-Tunes) but the longer I spend the more likely it was to take over my day.

Anyway, I get to include reference to the Whedonverse - a freedom available to me as I didn't write them. I've also stuck with those created for TV (so no Casanova folks as MUCH as we loved that!), even though that left off a lot of well-portrayed characters who came from elsewhere (Andy Dalziel, for example, or Edward Petherbridge's Lord Peter Wimsey [I'm re-reading some Sayers at the mo which is why that's in my mind]). And although obviously The Doctor is one of THE best TV figures ever created, since the character changes somewhat with every regeneration I've left that one off the list. I also gave considerable thought to disentangling characters from actors: so as much as I have loved performances by people such as Dougie Henshall (Psychos, Kid in the Corner), David Tennant (Blackpool) and Ken Stott(Messiah, The Vice, Takin' Over the Asylum), Christopher Eccleston (Our Friends in the North, The Second Coming), and David Morrissey (Holding On, Blackpool), I've come to the reluctant conclusion that in most instances I was attracted by the performance and the actor's inhabitation and not just the character.

So in thinking out this list I've gone for characters that perhaps anyone else might have played (because the writing was so good) but which had the good fortune of great casting to be given to the best person for the job.

1. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - because, well pretty obvious really
2. Josh Lyman from The West Wing - for being a volatile heart on his sleeve guy
3. Dr. Dana Scully from The X-Files - for being able to keep a straight face even when the plot went utterly bonkers and her Carter-penned soliloquies became unbearably portentious (you should see her as a double act with Mulder really I guess as a great character)
4. Brian Topp from Spaced - for anger, pain and painting
5. Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons - for being smart and surviving
6. Munch from Homocide: Life on the Street / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / X-Files 100th episode - for being so fantastically conspiratorial
7. Gregory House from House - because I just never got Jeeves & Wooster so I have NO problem with the accent and love smart characters
8. Det. Robert Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent - because again, smart guys
9. CJ Cregg from The West Wing - because she was just so incredible
10. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - for having such a great character arc and huge numbers of great lines
11. Dr. McCartney from Green Wing - for being quick-witted, but stupid in love
12. Dr. Joel Fleishman from Northern Exposure - for being sweet (though its a tough call against DJ Chris...)
13. (Ale)Xander Lavelle Harris from Buffy - because for all his faults he and his humour remained adorable
14. Bernard Black from Black Books - wickedly funny
15. Edmund Blackadder - for sustained historical wit and ingenuity
16. Sue White from Green Wing - for being surreal
17. Abby from NCIS - goth girl geek!
18. Dr. Perry Cox from Scrubs - for being sarky and soft-hearted
19. Father Dougal McGuire from Father Ted - for managing to make confusion so appealing
20. Mal Reynolds from Firefly - for courage and stupidity
21. Dharma Finkelstein Montgomery from Dharma and Greg - because whilst the actress may be a scary kook, Dharma was a great kook character (especially when having eaten lots of sugar)
22. Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect - for really taking 'cop shows' to another level
23. Gil Grissom from CSI - for just being ineffably cool
24. Niles Crane from Frasier - for being wimpish to the extreme
25. Lois from Malcolm in the Middle - for somehow holding it together

I could have gone for any number of others instead or as well as these. Any number of great characters from the Whedonverse, or The West Wing, let alone all the random residual memory characters from my TV viewings (Ilya Kuryakin! Burnside from Sandbaggers! Tom and Ruth from Spooks! Marty Hopkirk - the first TV programme I remember watching! Joy Merryweather from Drop the Dead Donkey! Earl Hickey! Francis Urquart!).

It's no good, this list would change in a minute. And excuse the lack of links but I wanted it posted.

UPDATE: MediumRob has his own list which only serves to highlight how partial my list was and how incomplete and how I managed to omit so many great characters. Sheesh, I mean, I doubt my mother will ever forgive me for forgetting Avon from Blake's 7. She's gonna start haunting me I tell ya...

You may have spotted my absence from blogland

Minor point I know, but I have been ill. After scarcely sleeping on Monday night, I came home on Tuesday feeling like BLEURGH and have spent last few days at home not venturing out, drinking honey and lemon, smoothies, eating tins of tomatoes and nice bread (tomatoes may I stress, not the tins themselves), and indulging in copious amounts of video and DVD watching. I've dipped into several seasons of X-files, watched the whole of Firefly (which never fails to blow me away: what were the network thinking of cancelling that?!), and Terminator 2 (I felt inspired after I watched most of the first one last night).

I still feel pretty pants but until today could hardly summon the focus to read let alone use a computer. So feeling a tad better but still coughing and spluttering. Subject to not keeling over again I'm back to work Monday. Being ill sucks (apart from watching stuff). And having Cloud look after me. Awh...

Casyn's back, but with sad news

Awh, I really loved spotting this "Who's-That-Guy?" and proudly outlining his CV as Jenny's uncle (Buffy: Season 2) and Lanny (X-Files: Humbug) and the subway ghost (Ghost) and enjoying how well-employed he was.

And now he's dead. Shucks.

Movies and TV on DVD and video

Casyn recently posted on the distinctly modern flavour [mid-1990s onwards] of her DVD collection (amongst other things, some of which I shall return to in another post). It got me pondering. We probably lean as much towards getting older stuff in that we know and love already as we do new releases either seen or unseen - though in truth I think Cloud would quite like to have a moratorium on consumer spending. [He's perhaps a closet fan of Norm's view on owning movies - if so I will remind Cloud of that the next time he gets the urge to watch Leon for the gazianth time: one of our most favourite of films].

Anyway, our non-period dominated collection means that I will quite happily pursue the purchase of X-files seasons that we have watched several times over (just season 4 to get now), alongside recent releases like Casanova and the Rufus Wainwright DVD All I Want (next on the order list, whatever Cloud says). Not being too nostalgic for the TV of the past, most of that is undeniably recent drama and comedy: and if you don't know by now what that includes then check out the header for this blog, as well as here, here and here for some clues. There are a handful of black and white films - such as Casablanca (every home should have one!) and The Third Man - in the Cloud and Rullsenberg collection of official purchases. But post-WWII gets stronger by the decade. The 1950s are a little sparse, as are the 1960s apart from some early James Bond films; but the 1970s, 1980s and onwards certainly have a presence. We have the first two Godfather films; the French Connection films; Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America; works by Terry Gilliam from Brazil onwards; and quirky works like Repo Man.

All this is a by-the-by for working out what Cloud and I do as we try to rationalise our film/TV collection on video and DVD. We have way too much stuff on the awful and constantly, vividly, degrading medium of videotape: and absolutely tons on home tapes (or as Cloud calls them, our amateur dramatics and home-filmed bird and wildlife tapes --- I think he is a little too paranoid about the legal status for materials taped off the television being stored for more than a few days).

But what to do? Do we keep older materials - more obscure, less easy to replace, but equally probably less often watched - or the more recent stuff? Do we replace things on DVD, only to leave them further semi-watched or unwatched but in a more up-to-date and expensive medium? And what to do about treasured items? We have a number of programmes that are not and never have been available on pre-recorded video, let alone anything as technologically advanced as DVD. Okay I admit it, a number of these tapes feature works starring the lovely Douglas Henshall or are of performances by the magnificent Pulp. But we also have a number of cultural documentaries about sci-fiction and art that I love to throw on to accompany a dinner-time slot. And most of all we have movies: weird and wonderful stuff that we probably could track down if we really worked at it, but at ludicrous prices. Should we keep them or take a bold step to launch them into videotape oblivion?

It seems to me that the relative non-modernity of the collection contributes to this problem of selection: what is fit to be kept, what do we keep for appearances sake (worthy, but dull!), and what is in danger of destruction through repeated viewings? Not sure if this is resolvable as soon as we would like, but if anyone is willing to offer their suggestions or experiences I suspect we'd find it helpful.

Lost time

Cloud lost 13 minutes on his watch a couple of days ago. Since then his watch has kept time just fine. Is this an example of an extended 9 minutes experience? Am about to watch Season 3 again on DVD... maybe Cloud was just predicting the lost hours of our watching tv?

If you ever had difficulty keeping up with what happened in the X-files to who, and when (and, in the case of lost time, how long for), then check out this.

Reading material

Between Cloud and myself we have about 3,000 books at home and, in the absence of incoming DVDs this Christmas, it was mostly books that were added to our household through the annual exchange of gifts programme that the festive period usually brings.

Having said that, Cloud is currently dedicated to reading The Crash at Hennington, which I read over Christmas - despite all our books we still use public libraries!

Still, at some point Cloud will get around to reading Q by Luther Blisset; the Disinformation Lists (bless Russ Kick and the quirkiness of conspiracy theories and poor referencing); and the Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish --- actually, he's already started with this one and the movie quotes section is causing much fun!

As for me, I got The X-Files Guide to Season 7 - which alerted me to the fact I haven't seen as many from that season as I thought - and which makes me want the season 4 and season 6 guides even more. I also got myself the Slayer Trivia book, but haven't dared bring that out as an extra present yet so I guess that's still off limits to comment on...

Watching The X-Files

Over the course of last year whilst I was indoctrinating George into the ways of Buffy (an experience he is unlikely to get over), I was simultaneously being drip-fed The X-Files. So imagine my delight when I found that box-sets of videos were being made available through The Works (remainder bookstore chain) as just £9.99 GBP each... I got S5-7 cos they aren't out on the cheaper DVD sets for ages yet. I got S1 on the cheaper DVD sets... and over Christmas I found the video box sets were now just £4.99
...so I got S2 and S8.
Now I just need to get S3 and S4 on DVD and I will be a happy bunny.
Yes, I know, there were NINE seasons of The X-Files, but Season 9 only has some highlight stand-out episodes and as I have G's old taped-off-the-TV tapes that will do for me. Season 8 has the fantastic episodes where Billy Miles comes back and those have GOT to be worth a season of interest ...we'll just gloss over Moronica [TM TelevisionWithoutPity] though if you don't mind...

"We lost nine minutes...."

At last, at last... After months of withdrawal symptoms I treated myself to the X-files season 1 cheapo DVD box set. Yes the packaging is crummy. Limited extras (Neil says "pah" to extras anyway) but oh yeah... Season 1 Scully all sweet and naive and awh, bless...

Still get a thrill when the nine minutes goes missing... I have whole days like that...

Today's quote: X-files related

This in from my trawling of the TWoP forum for The X-files You Know You're an X-Phile when…

From Starbucket:
"when watching CSI you see Nick Lea playing Catherine’s boyfriend and immediately think, “He’s up to something… I don’t trust that one,” because, well, he’s Krycek."

I remember watching that episode of CSI - Early Rollout (4:15) and both myself and my partner shaking our heads muttering "he will not be good news for Catherine". 'Fraid Alex Krycek was one of those who met my 'baby-faced=evil' psychological reading...

Introducing people to the Buffyverse

"It's all about the Power..."

Back last year (autumn 2003) I found an ideal opportunity to introduce somebody to the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Little did I know what I would unleash. Although my victim (sorry, pupil), George, had seen some episodes, he was unaware of what a full-blown addiction to this series would feel like. Between October 2003 and June 2004 he watched every single episode from the 144 produced for TV, pretty much in order (video rental stores get your act together - it really helps to have full series). Given that I knew and loved each and every one in far too much detail to be healthy, this provided me with an ideal situation wherein I could nurture another person's passion.

Of course, we had a reciprocal arrangement. Tracing the mythology arc of The X-files alien episodes and then (by Xmas 2003/4) going back to the start to fill in with the Monster-of-the-Week material, I got hooked myself on a series I had previously only dipped in and out of. Indeed for both of us the real thrill was often suddenly making sense of weird shifts in the plots or character development that had fuddled us when seeing an episode out of sync.

Anyway, I am now in the process of generating a new addict. My friend Christine became receipient of the handover tradition of video/DVD exchanges. I got S1 on DVD; she got my old video box set. It seemed like a fair trade-up!

Anyone else had experience of "inducting" someone into their obsessions (especially the Buffyverse)?