TV's best protagonists

[TheIntelligencePolice]

Who, in your humble opinion, is the best protagonist(s) you've had the pleasure to watch from the comfort of your front room?

TV's given us a lot of great characters down the years, we've laughed with them, cried with them, and I'll wager that on a lot of occasions we've wanted to jump through the screen and slap some sense into them. But I think everyone has those characters who they like just that little bit more than the rest, so c'mon, name the names.

For me the ones that spring first to mind are; Buffy Summers, Dean Winchester, and even though he's not sci-fi/fantasy related, Jack Bauer. Each of them are deep, complex characters that even though they do cringy, stupid, and sometimes horrifying things, they're compelling characters who appeal to me on so many different levels.

 

[BAYLOR]

J R Ewing ( Dallas) his motto " Once you give up your integrity , the rest is piece of cake " He was one od the great most memorable television protagonists of all time. The one everyone loved to hate , he was wonderfully dastardly and he had style .

 

[Harpo]

Norman Stanley Fletcher.

 

[Rodders]

There are so many, but my favourite is probably Captain John Sheridan from Babylon 5.

I've always liked Bruce Boxleitner and Babylon 5 is my favourite Science Fiction experience, so i suppose it's natural for him to be the protagonist that comes to mind when asked this question. As to why? Probably his strong sense of right, wrong and duty. He's a good role model and the hero we deserve.

 

[Danny McG]

he was wonderfully dastardly and he had style

And right away this guy popped into my head....I remember as a teenager yelling at the telly
"No, just keep driving, you're miles in front so don't waste time setting traps for the others, drive!"

 

[hitmouse]

James T Kirk
Blackadder
Malcolm Tucker
Rick and Vyvian
Smithy and Nessa
Captain Mainwaring
Arthur Dent

 

[BAYLOR]

And right away this guy popped into my head....I remember as a teenager yelling at the telly
"No, just keep driving, you're miles in front so don't waste time setting traps for the others, drive!"
View attachment 90869

Dick Dastardly and Mutlety appeared in two different series one the was Dastardly and Mutley in their Flying Machines and the other Wacky Races, I remember both of those series . A fews ago , there was comic book series that took Dick Dastardly and Mutely and the rest of the Wacky Racers and gave it a very Dark and nasty Mad Max spin . The artwork for these comics is quite good and quite disturbing. I think you like it .

 

[paranoid marvin]

Dick Dastardly and Mutlety appeared in two different series one the was Dastardly and Mutley in their Flying Machines and the other Wacky Races, I remember both of those series . A fews ago , there was comic book series that took Dick Dastardly and Mutely and the rest of the Wacky Racers and gave it a very Dark and nasty Mad Max spin . The artwork for these comics is quite good and quite disturbing. I think you like it .

They were also in Laff-a-lympics, although under the names of the 'Dread Baron' and 'Mumbly', leading 'The Really Rottens'. It's actually a pretty fun series featuring Scooby Doo, Captain Caveman and other Hanna-Barbera characters. I'm not sure why it seems to have been largely forgotten.

 

[paranoid marvin]

My contenders would be the boys from the Dwarf. I'd like to see myself as Cat, but in reality I'm probably a cross between Lister and Rimmer.

One of the best protagonists I've seen on tv was Obadiah Hawkeswill. A character so brilliantly brought to life by Pete Postlethwaite that the author said he regretted killing him off so soon.

If I had to choose one character though as the most memorable, it would have to be Sir Humphrey Appleby played on tv by the wonderful Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Never has a character ever spoken so eloquently, nor used a hundred words where one would have sufficed.

 

[BAYLOR]

They were also in Laff-a-lympics, although under the names of the 'Dread Baron' and 'Mumbly', leading 'The Really Rottens'. It's actually a pretty fun series featuring Scooby Doo, Captain Caveman and other Hanna-Barbera characters. I'm not sure why it seems to have been largely forgotten.

At that time, they were re-using these old characters because , at that point in time , they'd largely run out good ideas and were putting any old crap show on the air. They figured the kids would watch them anyways and, for a long time, they were right.

 

[BAYLOR]

Maxwell Smart known as bumbling Controll agent 86. From Shoe Phone to Cone of Silence .

 

[BAYLOR]

Dr Shrinker

Dr Shrinker , Dr Shrinker ,
He's a madman with an evil mind !

 

[Astro Pen]

It is an almost endless list but a few that surfaced rapidly.

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner)

Frances Urquart in the original British House of Cards

Emma Peel

The Man from Uncle (Robert Vaughan)

William Hartnell as the real Dr Who despite the occasional fluffed line

Basil Fawlty

Roger Moore as The Saint, the epitome of cool


and I am with @BAYLOR on J.R Ewing, the only brain in his whole moronic family. He had no choice.

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Doctors from Doctor Who.
James Gordon from Gotham.
Angel from Angel.
Chidi Anagonye from The Good Place.
Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock.
Max Evans from Roswell.
I agree with James T. Kirk and Buffy Summers.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Mal from Firefly has to be one of mine.
Napoleon Solo - who out epitomied Roger Moore in coolness by far.
Emma Peel.
Noggin the Nog.

But the person I have most identified with and wanted to be ever in any TV show I have ever seen, and, according to those who know me, I uncannily resemble, is Bernard Black .

Bernard Black is the owner of Black Books, a small London bookshop. The series revolves around the lives of Bernard, Manny and Fran. Bernard's persona of a grouchy and misanthropic shopkeeper is a central theme; he has a hatred of the outside world and all the people who inhabit it, except for his best friend, Fran, who initially runs a trendy bric-a-brac shop, Nifty Gifty, next-door to the shop.

Bernard displays little interest or knowledge in retail (or, indeed, anything outside drinking, smoking and reading) and actively avoids having to interact with anyone, even inside his shop, as he has a seething dislike towards his customers who treat his bookshop more like a personal library.

 

[Parson]

Spock, in a league of his own. He was so smart and so capable that I didn't even consider the no emotions side of it. --- Much more the TV series than the movies.

Tim Taylor, for rather opposite reasons. He reminded me of my bumbling clueless self. But, at least he had a good heart.

Columbo, I think because he played so ultimately against type casting.

 

[Droflet]

I enjoyed the troubled father-son relationship between Walter and Jesse in Breaking Bad.

 

[Rodders]

Sergeant Bilko from the Phil Silvers show had me in stitches as a kid. Really funny stuff.

 

[BAYLOR]

Dr Richard Kimball The Fugitive
David Vincent The Invaders

 

[Mouse]

Difficult because secondary characters are usually waaaaaay more interesting than the protags. For example, I prefer Anya to Buffy. Godber to Fletcher. Rimmer to Lister. Wash to Mal. etc. etc.

John Crichton from Farscape (though Aeryn is my favourite character).

All four TMNTs (though Michelangelo is clearly the best).

All four Monkees (though Micky ftw).

Trying to think of a show I really like where the protag is a woman (apart from Buffy and like I said, I prefer Anya). Maybe Echo from Dollhouse.