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OT: Ten Greatest Dramatic TV Characters of All-Time

NittanyChris

NittanyChris

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Dec 3, 2001
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In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...

You need to see Mad Men. I’ll add…

Raylan Givens, Boyd Crowder, Ava Crowder - Justified

Elizabeth Jennings, Phil Jennings - The Americans
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
11. Wui---DeadWood....SanFrancisco cvcksucker!
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
I really hated Hawkeye Pierce. I get him being anti-officer in those times but he would have been a freaking nightmare to work with. Plus, even before being "woke" and "#metoo" it was pretty clear his behavior was abusive to women. No way I can call that series "drama". (although I do see many listing it as a drama)

Having had my beef, I'd throw in Sam Waterston (just over S. Epatha Merkerson since you can only have one per show). David Janssen in The Fugative. Peter Faulk on Columbo. Jon Hamm in Madmen. Patrick Stewert in Star Trek the Next Generation.
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
Marty Byrd - Ozark is in contention. WW would also be my #1.
 
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lunsmooth said:
Marty Byrd - Ozark is in contention. WW would also be my #1.
Click to expand...
good catch. If we are adding in cable, I have to add Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in House of Cards. Off the charts good, IMHO.

giphy.gif
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
Kind of cheating to have both Walter W and Mike E since Mike E appears in both shows ;-)

Also, I'd argue that Hawkeye Pierce is not a dramatic role. And, as I've said before, MASH the TV show is highly overrated unless you never saw the movie.
 
PSU2UNC said:
Kind of cheating to have both Walter W and Mike E since Mike E appears in both shows ;-)

Also, I'd argue that Hawkeye Pierce is not a dramatic role. And, as I've said before, MASH the TV show is highly overrated unless you never saw the movie.
Click to expand...
I disagree about Mike. He takes on a much more substantial role in Saul. His acting is simply astounding in developing the background of his character.

MASH is a dramedy, so to speak. It is borderline.

Apart from criticism, which of these characters do you love? Are there others you’d put on the list?
 
NittanyChris said:
I disagree about Mike. He takes on a much more substantial role in Saul. His acting is simply astounding in developing the background of his character.

MASH is a dramedy, so to speak. It is borderline.

Apart from criticism, which of these characters do you love? Are there others you’d put on the list?
Click to expand...

Locke from LOST (see this too - game changer in terms of how we connect with and consume serialized television - everything since has been inspired by it). Sum is less than the whole, but the good stuff is insanely good.
 
NittanyChris said:
I disagree about Mike. He takes on a much more substantial role in Saul. His acting is simply astounding in developing the background of his character.

MASH is a dramedy, so to speak. It is borderline.

Apart from criticism, which of these characters do you love? Are there others you’d put on the list?
Click to expand...
I was mostly giving you a hard time about Mike. I love that character and love both those shows.

I haven't seen all of the shows on your list, but others I might consider:

Vic Mackey -- The Shield
McNulty -- The Wire (impressive for a foreigner to nail being a Bmore detective)
Boyd Crowder -- Justified
Rami Malek -- Mr Robot
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
Great list for 2-7….I never saw Killing Eve or NYPD Blue, so I can’t comment on them. I was not a big fan of Breaking Bad and I don’t think MASH is a drama. I would add

Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell- Prison Break
Boyd Crowder- Justified
Frank Gallagher- Shameless
Tim Riggins- Friday Night Lights
 
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Good lists…Swearengen is my fav mentioned so far. I’ll add some others:

Coach Eric Taylor - Friday Night Lights
Billy Butcher - The Boys
Rip Wheeler - Yellowstone
John Reese - Person of Interest
Gus McCrea - Lonesome Dove (do mini-series count? Full disclosure, this is my all-time favorite novel).
 
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David Proval - Sopranos Richie Aprile made your skin crawl in every time he was on screen
Dominic West - Wire
Timothy Olyphant - Justified
James Gandolfini - Sopranos
Giancarlo Esposito - Breaking Bad
Michael Chiklis - The Shield
Brian Cranston - Breaking Bad
Idris Elba, Jamie Hector, JD Williams - The Wire (honestly you could pick almost any of them)



I know there's repeats but the man asked for 10
 
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NittanyChris said:
In honor of the great Michael K. Williams. My own rules: Dramas only, only one character per show, only shows I’ve seen(never saw Mad Men or Lost, sorry)

Criteria: greatness of the character, greatness of the acting, originality of the character, iconic factor, greatness of show.

Here’s mine, what do ya think?
1. Walter White - Breaking Bad
2. Al Swearengen - Deadwood
3. Omar Little - The Wire
4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos
5. Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
6. Gregory House - House
7. Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul
8. Villanelle - Killing Eve
9. Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
10. Hawkeye Pierce - MASH
Click to expand...
Tony Soprano is the only one of those characters I’ve seen beside Hawkeye. And I think Hawkeye is one of the worst characters ever when he stopped being funny.
 
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AWS1022 said:
How about the Swede on Hell On Wheels…he was creepy as hell and he was so good at making you hate him.
Click to expand...
Definitely the Swede was a great character! The actor who played him did a superb job.
 
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rotzc said:
David Proval - Sopranos Richie Aprile made your skin crawl in every time he was on screen
Dominic West - Wire
Timothy Olyphant - Justified
James Gandolfini - Sopranos
Giancarlo Esposito - Breaking Bad
Michael Chiklis - The Shield
Brian Cranston - Breaking Bad
Idris Elba, Jamie Hector, JD Williams - The Wire (honestly you could pick almost any of them)



I know there's repeats but the man asked for 10
Click to expand...
This is a fantastic list. I’ve been watching a lot of Sopranos clips lately - Richie is amazing.
 
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