Characters of the Decade: Part 1

I already have lists for my favorite things of the decade in each category archived on the site, but I decided to do something a bit different for a feature. The most important thing to a good story is interesting characters, and sometimes they're better realized than usual. Characters are often what we remember most about something, and I thought I'd recognize that with a list of the best. These aren't exactly my favorites in each case - I tried to stick with ones that stick out in some really important way even if they didn't totally resonate with me. Any number of things could have gotten a character here; being a great villain, a powerhouse lead performance, launching someone's career, or just making something worth watching. I narrowed it down to 60, which was made easier by trying to limit myself to one character per work where possible. The list is a bit TV heavy since they have more time to develop a personality, and it leans towards white males more than I would have liked, but I still think it's a good list of people (and some robots) that were fascinating to watch. It's ordered chronologically by first appearance, with characters that originated before the decade began placed at the first point they became relevant again.

Eric Cartman
Trey Parker - South Park


"Nananananana! I made you eat your parents!"

The moment above will forever live in infamy, but it's just one of many great ones in the life of Cartman, the world's worst child. He's one of those rare characters that's a completely irredeemable asshole that you still love because his schemes and insults are just so entertaining and unforgettable. And he gets his comeuppance often enough that he's allowed to keep being such a bigoted little jerk.

Tony Soprano
James Gandolfini - The Sopranos


"Anybody else would've had their fuckin' intervention right through the back of their head."

The star of one of television's most important shows, Gandolfini is notable for standing out despite the amazingly strong and deep supporting cast around him. He's part imperfect family man, part ruthless mob boss, and part just another troubled guy who isn't totally sure of himself. One of the most evil men to ever be rooted for, and that's mostly because his insecurities are presented just as effectively as his strengths and ill deeds.

Bender
John DiMaggio - Futurama


"Goodbye losers, whom I've always hated!"

I could have easily put Fry or Professor Farnsworth here, but Bender is the character that defines the whole show. He's the robot who drinks because alcohol fuels his system and smokes because it makes him look cool. Once in a while he gets a bit too lowest-common-denominator, but his narcissism is inspiring and he's the robot friend we all wish we had.

Tyrion Lannister
A Song of Ice and Fire series


"Those are brave men. Let's go kill them."

It's almost insane how many characters George R. R. Martin has managed to develop into genuinely fascinating people, but if one sticks out it's the smallest of the bunch, the Lion of Lannister. The whole series thrives off making its central conflict more interesting by not allowing you to want any one side to totally win, and Tyrion was the first time we saw that. Watching the wheels turn in his head as he tries to do his best with the cards he's dealt is endlessly enjoyable, and hopefully Martin finishes up the fifth book first so we can see what he's up to.

Captain Hank Murphy
Harry Goz - Sealab 2021


"But the secret ingredient is love. Damn it."

Voice actor Harry Goz unfortunately passed away while Sealab was still airing, and while I was still able to enjoy it afterward, it was never quite the same, which speaks to how good he was. As the driving force behind most of the plots, his unique brand of insane leadership paved the way for many bizarre Adult Swim shows to come. Every character on the show had their time to shine, but none provided laughs more than Murphy.

Master Shake
Dana Snyder - Aqua Teen Hunger Force


"I mean, is he gonna be able to chase us? Cause if I woke up looking like that, I would just run towards the nearest living thing and kill it."

You know a character lives off the actor's performance when it's as hard as it was to find a good quote that stands without context even though he provides laughs constantly. Snyder is probably the best voice actor to work repeatedly with Adult Swim, and this is the role that gave him a chance to shine. There's just so much humor laced in every syllable that comes out of Shake's mouth, and even if that week's gimmick plot is lame it'll probably be worth watching just for his next zinger.

GIR
Rikki Simmons - Invader Zim


"It's me! I was the turkey all along!"

Possibly the only character that can get away with just saying random crap all day, thanks to Simmons' fine voice work and his unending supply of adorableness. GIR is one of those animated characters who's fun just to watch do anything, and he's at that right level of idiocy that you have to wonder if he's actually just messing with Zim and the audience some of the time.

Nate Fisher Jr.
Peter Krause - Six Feet Under


"Everything's bad for something."

Nate's as flawed a person as there will be on this list, and that's part of why he works. He's just a human being worried about his mortality and trying to figure out what he really wants to do with his life. His story is a tragic one, but watching it play out made for some of the decade's best personal drama. Plus, watching him yell at stupid people is funny.

Gareth Keenan
Mackenzie Crook - The Office (UK)


"I told him once that I don't like jelly. I don't trust the way it moves."

It's hard to pin down with is Gareth's most hilarious feature. I love his supposed hardened military background despite his ridiculous, gaunt physique. I love his very unfortunate combination of overconfidence and ineptitude with women. I love the overly serious way he deals with the politics of working at a small branch of a paper company. One of the few characters I prefer to the US version's equivalent, and that's despite that equivalent also being on this list.

Dr. Perry Cox
John C. McGinley - Scrubs


“Jordan…the boy already lip-syncs into your tampons, must we put a final nail in his tiny gay coffin?”

Despite this being the ninth year of Dr. Cox being on the air ranting and raving, I'm still not tired of it. McGinley never broke out beyond a few small film roles, but every week he's good for a few solid put downs and probably at least one epically vicious dissection of why whoever he's yelling at is a bad doctor. But there's enough variety, creativity, and humor there that you never feel he's being too mean. At his heart, he's a good doctor who's trying to make others around him better at their job, and that's why he gets away with it.

Jack Bauer
Kiefer Sutherland - 24


"I don't care how it's interpreted from the outside. I just gave you an order and I'd like you to follow it."

The only character I know of who deserves - nay, requires a website to keep track of all of his kills in the line of duty. However you feel about torture, it's hard to be upset with Jack for doing what he thinks he needs to do to save America because he puts up with so much crap and never asks for anything in return. Also, it's just a TV show. His actions definitely speak louder than his words, but he's had his share of resonant emotional moments too. He's why I keep coming back despite the series' declining quality.

Gandalf
Ian McKellen - The Lord of the Rings series


"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

Maybe the greatest action hero who's also an old man in film history. Gandalf was always the most interesting character in the books, and that held true in the movies as well. It's actually sort of two roles, as the wise and resourceful but fallible Gandalf the Grey at first and later as the powerful but justifiably aloof Gandalf the White. Kind and caring, but terrifying when he needs to be. He's basically what you wish your grandfather was like.

Continued tomorrow.

Six Feet Under - Season 5

The tagline on the DVD cover says "Everything. Everyone. Everywhere. Ends." And that's about as accurate a statement you could make on the basic message and tone of this fantastic show's last season. Being a show so focused on death, it's never been particularly happy, but before it always had a more lighthearted undertone. That's not completely gone either, as there's still a few dream sequences that fit the show's unique sense of humor. Still, especially with the last third of the season, the finality and inevitability of death are really hammered home. The sense of loss isn't limited to mortality either, as things mostly don't go so well for some of the characters as they realize life might not bring exactly what they wanted.

Two scenes in particular really got to me, one of which had me crying more than any other show or movie that I can remember, and the final scene of the series, which does exactly what it should have done from the beginning in a very beautiful way. I know I've said it before, but the incongruity of this show's creator also running True Blood was as strong as it's ever been. Six Feet Under wasn't always perfect, but it's a supremely effective work that everyone should watch.

Six Feet Under - Season 4

It's still the same show it was three years earlier for the most part, but there's something different about it somehow. It just feels more bleak and depressing. More outlandish stuff is starting to happen to the characters, and one is even told that only bad things will happen to them from then on in a dream near the end of the season. Obviously a show that revolves this heavily around death as a matter of course in the characters' lives is going to be pretty dark, but it does seem different to me. It comes off less realistic and more like a television show. It's just not quite what I loved about the show when I first started watching it. It's not like I'm enjoying it significantly less, I just needed something to talk about twelve episodes later. Remember when I said I liked Claire? Yeah, well I definitely like her less after this season. I have high expectations for the fifth and final season because with its need to seemingly top itself each year and what happened in the crazy finale, it's probably going to be something else.

Six Feet Under - Season 3

I'm not sure I really have a ton to say at this point. Six Feet Under remains a great show in its third year, with each character continuing along their journey through life. Ruth's story is probably the oddest, as she has an usual romance with a character played by Rainn Wilson, in a role not completely unlike Dwight Schrute from The Office. Claire's is the most secretly tragic. I didn't think I was going to like her character going in, because she seemed like a typical anti-social teen, but she's really won me over. Dave's relationship with Keith is sort of in a holding pattern the entire time, and we're never sure which way it's really going to go. Nate's life with his new baby mama was uniquely interesting for a while before turning into one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen on television. I'm not trying to spoil anything too much but things don't tend to go overly well for people on this show. They continue to feature a death at the beginning of every episode, although they played around with it a lot more this time, with lots of fakeouts and twists on the formula that keeps that part from ever feeling like a routine. I continue to be astounded at how good seemingly every HBO show was during this time.

Six Feet Under - Season 2

I didn't love this season as much as the first one, because it felt more like it fell into the pit of melodramatic relationship issues which the first deftly avoided. It was still very well done, alternately heartbreaking and hilarious. The frequent ruminations on death are still intelligent and thought-provoking, and the dream sequences still perfectly capture what's going on in these characters' heads in an entertaining way. There's a lot of arguing and hugging and screwing and crying, and by this point I'm fully wrapped up in the lives of these people who don't exist.

Most shows try to keep a consistent timeline with real life, but the first two seasons here combine to cover a little over one year. It's a little confusing and actually leads to some inconsistencies with date of birth and age which along with a couple other oddities make me think the writers didn't pay as much attention as they should have, but it doesn't hurt the general quality of the show and it gives the feeling that we really know everything that's going on. I'm pretty sure future seasons jump forward in time more, but it's an interesting way to do it. I really love the whole cast, and with Claire going off to college and a pretty amazingly gripping cliffhanger in the finale, I'm hyped to jump right into the third season. Good show.

Six Feet Under - Season 1

It's hard to imagine how two shows so diametrically opposed in terms of subject matter and balance between actual writing quality and shock value entertainment such as Six Feet Under and True Blood could be created by the same guy. About the only thing they have in common is a fixation on death and gay rights, although Blood mostly uses the latter as a metaphor with vampires. I enjoy Blood, but Six Feet Under is a far superior series; extremely well-written and acted, combining a good drama about a family and their relationships with a great, dark sense of humor and a clever use of dreams and conversations with dead people to explore what the characters are thinking.

Each episode starts with someone dying. Sometimes it's humorous in a sick kind of way thanks to clever misdirection or a completely ludicrous set-up, and sometimes it's just sad. That body ends up in the Fisher brothers' funeral home, and things continue from there as they live their lives and maybe learn something from the victim. Peter Krause and Michael C. Hall from Dexter are great as the two leads, and the rest of the cast does a stellar job too. When this show was actually airing I didn't think I'd like it for whatever reason, maybe because I didn't think there was enough gun fights and car chases. But watching it now, it's just another example of how HBO in the first half of this decade was a golden age of good television. Really enjoyable, smart show.