TV Party Tonight

Via David Schwartz: A meme asking you to list your top ten TV shows, your favorite character from each show, and why they are your favorite character. I don't really feel the need to defend enjoying television: what makes television shows intrinsically valueless? Who determines that?

I decided to only include cast members, just because.

1. Angel - Cordelia Chase. In the last couple seasons, she was all over the map, but at her best, she was every bit as snarky as she was on Buffy, but with more emotional investment in the fight being waged around her. Of course, she was also one of my favorite characters on Buffy, too. (Lorne is a close second, owing to the fact that he was always coded gay [regardless of whether his character was or not], and because he was always so contrary to the brooding, Romantic (overdone) aesthetic of the show.)
2. Gilmore Girls - Paris Gellar. Paris is an exquisitely brittle character, biting and angry and hilarious. From her original role as simply academic competition for Rory, she has since become her friend, although it is a friendship that is not without tension.
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Anya. It's hard to choose on this show, because at one time or another, most of the cast members were my favorite. But I chose Anya, because I really like sarcastic women. I like her fear of bunnies, and I like her militant capitalism, and I like the fact that her hair color changed every episode. She didn't know enough to ever be polite, and even if she did, I don't think she would ever put a premium on social niceties.
4. Lost - Hurley. How many shades of meaning can the word "dude" encompass? This character proves that it can mean a lot more than I ever imagined. Somehow, this guy has become the favorite of, not only myself, but all the people I watch the show with. We all lust after other characters (in my case, Sayid), but this is the character that seems the most human to me. Plus, as Joss Whedon might say, Hurley brings the Shemp, and humor is something that keeps the show from just being a melodramatic potboiler. Usually.
5. Arrested Development - Maeby Funke. I like her because the character is both smart and stupid at the same time. She is able to convince her school that she has a wheel-chair bound twin (named Surely), and she is able to maintain the fiction long enough to get a giant check given to her, but she doesn't know that six $20 bills doesn't add up to $200. It seems a shame that Arrested Development has such good younger actors, when other shows (J'accuse, SEVENTH HEAVEN!!) can't find one. But then, the material is so good that it doesn't seem like a shame at all.
6. Alias - Francie/Evil Francie (AKA The Francinator). This one, I don't really have an explanation for, except to say that I immediately associated with this character (good Francie) the most on the show, which isn't surprising, when you realize that the rest of the characters all seem fluent in every language this side of sanskrit. She was a little sarcastic, although nowhere near Cordelia-esque. Evil Francie was cold and brutal, but what got me was when she finally stabbed Will with tears pouring down her face. Through all the rest of the duplicity, there was something there that was real, and it was horrifying and touching.
7. Firefly - Jayne. Because he's big, sexy, mean, and stupid. If the show hadn't been cancelled so quickly by Fox, my allegiance might have shifted, but he made the biggest impression, mostly because the character is so blunt.
8. Strangers With Candy - Principal Blackman. Somewhere between Big Brother and Mao, his is the supreme voice of authority in the otherwise remarkably (and casually) racist environs of Flatpoint. His delivery of the line, "Hubris. Overweening pride," is justification enough for my inclusion. Besides, all the other characters are so repugnant, his romantic liasions with the female students looks almost quaint in comparison.
9. Absolutely Fabulous - Patsy Stone. Well, duh. As horrible as Edwina is, without the occasional flashes of unselfishness to redeem her, Patsy is severe and hilarious, a female drag queen whose brutality towards Saffron is almost too much to bear.
10. Felicity - Noel Crane. Because I secretly wish I could date him. Well, not so secretly. I was happy when he didn't end up with Felicity, because I always thought he could do better, although I was certain she couldn't. I also sort of always identified with him, more than any other character, which makes the motivation behind the choice a wee bit perverse.

Looking over the list, I am struck by the fact that it is pretty overwhelmingly skewed towards women. Not just women, but a certain sort of woman. Mean women (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9). Mean women who are bad roommates to the heroine (2, 6). I apparently like to see a bitchy character redeemed. I also like characters who will say things that no one else would dare to say, even if the things are true, characters who are more than willing to not be polite. This, I think, has a lot to do with who I am: in real life, I tend to be extremely non-confrontational. I've always admired people who are able to do or say things that might not be considered polite.

The women thing is totally not a surprise: I have always identified closer with women than I have with men. I don't mean this in a "woman trapped in a man's body" way; I'm just more comfortable talking and interacting with women than I am with men. Men are sort of intimidating to me.

Of the men, two are largely chosen based on hormonal reactions. Two are chosen because I identify closest with them. One is chosen largely because of my fascination with Mao.

Most of the characters make poor romantic choices, ranging from just unfortunate (Anya and Xander), to destructive (Francinator and Will), to completely disturbing (Cordelia and Connor). All of them seem to be significantly damaged by events in their life, particularly (as with 1, 2, 5, 9) where family is concerned. Many (1, 2, 3, 6, 10) have been betrayed by lovers. Several of the characters (1, 6, 9, 10) are the best friends of the main character of the show. In many of these instances, their friendship is a source of tension.

It seems fairly straightforward to me; I guess my choices say more about me than I first thought.