So I’m browsing through the wapo online, and I see this link for the 30 greatest sitcom characters of all time. To the extent that a newspaper’s online edition can have a back page, that’s where it is, for now. The author, Gene Weingarten, actually made this list four years ago, and is allowing readers to lobby for changes to his original. Which is good, because his original list is kinda suspect.
Now, I’m not all about Affirmative Action, per se, but I do like to see myself represented. (I almost wish I could lie and say that’s part of the reason I don’t watch a lotta television right now, but the lack of Black folks on primetime has nothing to do with why I don’t watch.) So when somebody makes a list of all time sitcom characters and the only Black character on there is Kingfish from Amos ‘n Andy (Kingfish!!), that list gets the gas face. But instead of simply complaining and saying that there are some Black characters who should be on the list, I think I’m a little more interested in why that particular television critic may have missed out.
My first thought is simply this: folks look for different things. It’s not really cool to be prejudiced, so most people don’t want to admit to it, but we are. All of us. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. All being prejudiced means is that we are used to seeing things a certain way, and all things considered, we prefer to keep seeing them that way. That’s relatively benign. It only becomes problematic when it involves limiting somebody else’s life. The fact that I root for the Black fighter/game show contestant/quarterback/coach almost exclusively has no bearing on the contest in question. That’s just me. So when I see a subjective list, even a subjective list that’s supposed to be definitive, there’s no getting around the fact that all the choices are shaped by a single person’s perspective. Personally, I don’t know what there’s not to like about Fred Sanford as a sitcom character, or what would make somebody rank him below Granny Clampett (and I like Granny Clampett), but homeboy did. And that’s his prerogative.
As for me? I don’t know that I watched quite enough TV to come up with a list of the 30 “best” sitcom characters. There are too many shows that I never saw. But I can give you 20 that I really liked. For now, in no particular order, but not exactly random.
- Archie Bunker
- Fred Sanford
- Cosmo Kramer
- Jim Ignatowski (If there were some continuity in the television universe, I would almost think that Kramer was Jim’s son.)
- James Evans, Sr.
- Dr. Heatchcliff Huxtable
- Drs. Frasier and Niles Crane
- Lucille Ball
- Johnny Fever (but was Johnny Fever really better than Les Nessman? Gotta think about that one.)
- Clair Huxtable (for 100 reasons, she has to go on the list.)
- George Jefferson
- Aunt Esther Anderson
- Cliff Claven
- Arthur Fonzarelli
- Ed Norton
- Granny Clampett
- Stanley Roper / Ralph Ferley
- Woody Boyd
- Dan Fielding
- Edith Bunker
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Ave, you’re probably one of the only people I know who can orchestrate a deconstructive analysis of social prejudice and situation comedy characters. That’s a nice pet to have.
At any rate, I’d have to add Mike Seaver and Alex P. Keaton to the list. For one, both characters were hilarious in their own right. Also both characters came to represent different and unique aspects of teenage culture (Seaver being the obnoxious and free-spirited type and Keaton being the ambitious and more conservative type). As I see it, they defined a generation.
Rob Petrie
Lucy Ricardo
Jethro Bodie
Uncle Charlie (”My Three Sons”)
Theodore Cleaver
Deputy Bernard “Barney” Fife
Samantha Stevens (is it “Stephens)
Mike Stivic
Niles Crane
Carla from “Cheers”
Louie DePalma
Fred Sanford
Maxwell Smart
Sgt. Carter (”Gomer Pyle, USMC”)
Arnold (”Different Strokes”)
Eddie’s Father
Michael from “The Office”
Phoebe (”Friends”)
Hawkeye Pierce
Mr. Haney (”Green Acres”)
Uncle Martin O’Hara (”My Favorite Martian”)
Endora (”Bewitched)
Ernest T. Bass
(the last two may be the best)
I don’t know if I can do 30. So I just add some I haven’t seen:
Gilligan
Thurston Howell III
Moe, Larry and Curly
Martin
Cedric Robinson(Steve Harvey Show)
LaVida (”)
I doubt if the following belong on the 30 Greatest list, but these are some of my favourites.
Flo from Alice (Mel’s Diner)
Arnold Drummond
All three Seinfeld Costanzas
Maude
Tatoo (was F.I. a sitcom doe?)
Ralph Wiggum
Thurston Howell III
Thelma Evans
Hank Hill
Stewie Griffin
Martin! (c’mon, you know you liked that show for a minute)
Where’s Bijan?
per the original, animated series don’t count. same thing goes for the three stooges, which are technically count as short films.
Fantasy Island wasn’t a sitcom. It was technically a drama.
I couldn’t really fool with Martin too tuff. Not sayin there weren’t any funny episodes, cuz that lie would be as bald as Tommy, but overall, Martin was just a little silly for my tastes.
I was kinda frontin on Flo, though. The question is, which “Flo” had the better smart mouth, the one who worked in Mel’s Diner or the one who worked in the deee-luxe apartment in the sky-y-y?
Ed Norton.
yeah. norton made my first list. he was that dude.
Flo vs. Flo… hmm! that’s a matchup of alien vs predator proportions!… yeah, martin was a clown, but for a couple seasons he was a funny ass clown….too bad no animation cuz there’d be a bunch from the Fat Albert show that would make the cut, too.