Top 30 most . . . memorable TV characters from the past decade
TELEVISION has exploded since 2010 (‘‘Peak TV’’) and with that explosion, a whole new crowd of characters has blasted into our lives. This list of the 30 most memorable characters represents only an attempt to cite those figures who have changed TV and the culture since the beginning of this decade (with some carryover from the previous one). There are many, and here they are, ranked in descending order, based on influence, importance and plain ol’ entertainment value.
1 WALTER WHITE
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Easily tops. The antihero of the decade who set the template for all who followed. Cranston’s performance remains among the finest in TV history.
2. MICHAEL SCOTT
Steve Carell, The Office
The bumbling boss from heck was perhaps the most beloved character of the entire decade. Imagine.
3. DON DRAPER
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Don was the soulless soul on the most important drama of the golden age of television. He was also great.
4. Julia SELINA LouisDreyfus, MEYER Veep
With all those Emmys (we’ve lost count), what more can be said? She is again one of the greatest characters in all of TV history, and she happened right now, on our watch.
5. Kit JON Harington, SNOW
Game of Thrones
We spent months wondering whether he was dead or alive, and ultimately found out he was both. Dead or alive, he is the champ of this great series.
6. CARRIE MATHISON
Claire Danes, Homeland
Danes gave Carrie what we call ‘‘facets’’ in the TV trade — brains, brawn, passion and even manic depression.
7. SHELDON COOPER
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang
Theory
Greatest theoretical physicist in TV history.
8. TYRION LANNISTER
Peter Dinklage, Game of
Thrones
When we remember (fondly) GOT 10 years from now, our first memory will be of Tyrion.
9. COOPER/DIRTY COOPER
Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks:
The Return
MacLachlan utterly reinvented the FBI agent/Eagle Scout from the first
Twin Peaks into a pair of brandnew Coopers — one very good, and the other very bad.
10. SAUL GOODMAN
Bob Odenkirk, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul
One of the richest characters ever conceived on TV, who grew — literally — in reverse, from Bad to Saul.
11. HANNAH HORVATH
Lena Dunham, Girls
She was going to be the ‘‘voice of her generation’’ but had to settle for ‘‘voice’’. But still, Hannah ruled.
12. ELEVEN
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger
Things
She instantly captured fans’ imaginations with the silent treatment, and bloody noses, and talents beyond reckoning. This hit’s most indelible character.
13. LEROY JETHRO GIBBS
Mark Harmon, NCIS
Thanks to LJG, we can all go to sleep at night and know there’ll be a world to wake up to.
14. LIZ LEMON
Tina Fey,
30 Rock
Wise Liz understood well the ways of TV, but could hardly circumvent the insanity of TV, making her the greatest TV character on a TV show ever.
15. DARYL DIXON
Norman Reedus, The Walking
Dead
With those eyes and that hair and that crossbow, Daryl is every walker’s nightmare, and the one character the show could never do without.
16. OFFRED
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s
Tale
Moss had two great characters in this decade, but only one would win an Emmy for best actress in a drama — as June, aka Offred, in The
Handmaid’s Tale.
17. SHERLOCK HOLMES
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Cumberbatch brilliantly reimagined the most famous character in the history of detective fiction.
18. COOKIE LYON
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Think Cookie and think, ‘‘Wow — did she really do that?’’ As memorable a character as ever there was — ever.
19. JESSE PINKMAN
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
The other half of the greatest team in modern TV history.
20. ROGER STERLING
John Slattery, Mad Men
Smoothie who helped to make Don Draper even more depraved; plus, he got all the best lines. (‘‘I shall be both dog and pony.’’)
21. VIOLET CRAWLEY
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Easily Downton’s most effortless scene thief, who had all the best lines (‘‘Edith, you are a lady, not Toad of Toad Hall’’).
22. CERSEI LANNISTER
Lena Headey, Game of
Thrones
Greatest villain of GOT and one could make a case for greatest character, too.
23. THE SIMPSONS Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, The Simpsons
Sure they could go higher on this list, but their cultural impact — still great — has steadily diminished since the 1990s.
24. PEGGY OLSON
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Was Mad Men about Don or Peggy? Opinions vary, but a strong case can be made for Peggy.
25. STEWIE GRIFFIN
Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy
Wiseass Stewie has been around so long that we almost don’t remember when he arrived, but he’s still here, and how.
26. DAENERYS TARGARYEN
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Dany has ambitions and dragons to back them up. She starred in all of the show’s most memorable scenes, with the exception of the Red Wedding.
27. MAURA PFEFFERMAN
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
The most prominent trans character in TV history. Enough said.
28. BARNEY STINSON
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met
Your Mother
The quipster of HIMYM who had a quip for every situation, and we never had to . . . wait for it.
29. MIKE EHRMANTRAUT
Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul
Mike was the glue that made one series stick and its prequel stick even better. Also a very scary guy.
30. LUTHER
Idris Elba, Luther
Complicated cop John Luther became the most memorable TV cop of the decade. — TCA