2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
This past season began where it left off, with Howard at the International Space Station. It didn't take too long for him to return to Earth and back with the group. When he first returned, he was very proud of his adventure into space. In fact, he was proud to the point where he wouldn't stop talking about it and began to annoy everyone. Otherwise everything has been good for Howard. Raj has struggled with their friendship since Howard married Bernadette,
but they are still happily best friends.
2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
The man of a million bad entrepreneurial ideas returns to my Top Male Comedy Characters list after a year off. In that year off, Tom left the Parks and Rec department to open a multimedia business with Jean Ralphio which pretty much went nowhere. I felt that Tom was severely underused that season and it hurt him in the rankings. This past season Tom returned to work at the Parks and Rec office and finally came up with a good personal business that has turned out to be successful. The store is Rent-a-Swag and it is a clothing rental store. Due to Tom’s expensive taste and small physique, he’s able to rent his
clothes out to teenagers, and it’s a big hit.
2011-2012 Rank: Unranked
Though the Dean of Greendale Community College has always played second fiddle to the members of the study group, he has become more and more important to the show throughout the seasons. I look forward to seeing the Dean’s crazy costumes and spectacular entrances into the study room every episode. He’s is madly in love with Jeff and it’s no secret. Though he’s sort of their superior, Dean Pelton longs for acceptance among the students of his school..but especially the study group.
2011-2012 Rank: 19 (+2)
Though it had been hinted during season 2 that Penny and Dave might have feelings for each other, Dave ended up back with Alex. They were together though most of the season, but split up near the end. Sadly we won't be able to see where he goes from here as the show was cancelled. I'm going to miss Dave's deep V's and his food truck Steak Me Home Tonight.
2011-2012 Rank: 20 (+4)
It was a year of milestones for Jeff. He reunited with his estranged father after many years, he became less of a dick (mostly), he spent a day with Pearce and decided that he’s not such a bad guy (mostly) and he graduated from Greendale Community College. Of course with this ending and all general logic I expected this to be the last time we see Jeff and his fellow Greendale students, which would have been ok. We’ll get to see how Jeff transitions back into being a lawyer and how it will affect his relationships with his friends.
2011-2012 Rank: 15 (-)
At the end of this season, we were able to see how Ted reacted to two of his best friends getting married…by admitting that he’s still in love with the bride-to-be and therefore can’t be at the wedding. This upcoming final season will show how the wedding unfolds, since we already know it will happen, and how Ted finally meets the mother, who we now have laid eyes on.
2011-2012 Rank: 17 (+3)
At the beginning of this season Brad was dealing with being unemployed. He spent some time with Max living like a homeless person and worked on projects around the apartment. He eventually landed a job at a children’s daycare with his real-life father’s former In Living Color co-star (David Alan Grier). He finally found a new job in business, only to lose his job as a character on the now cancelled Happy Endings.
2011-2012 Rank: 9 (-4)
Could this season have been considered a humbling/humanizing one for Sheldon? One of his best friends (Howard) went to the International Space Station at the beginning of the season while his best friend (Leonard) ended the season on his way to the Arctic to work on a project headed by Stephen Hawking. At work, Sheldon was forced to work on a project with colleague (and sort-of nemesis) Kripke only to find out Kripke seems to be smarter than him. As far as the "humanizing," Sheldon slowly began to open up to his girlfriend Amy. He even hinted at the potential of a physical relationship in the [far, far] future.
2011-2012 Rank: 10 (-2)
After a season in which Rob McElhenney purposely gained 50lbs for comedic purposes (there was an entire episode about how Mac got fat), McElhenney lost a bunch of the wait and was looking more normal for this past season. Of course it was as if nothing ever changed.
2011-2012 Rank: 8 (-3)
With his five best friends in relationships for much of the season, that sometimes left Max out with couple-related things. Fortunately for him, Happy Endings does a great job of having different storylines each week involving different combinations of the six friends. Some of the better Max moments this season included him pretending to be straight to date a girl with great Bulls tickets, competing in the Mr. Super Gay Chicago pageant, having a Romeo and Juliet-like forbidden romance with the son of Dave’s rival food truck owner and most of all, starting a feud with his new roommate Chase (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), who vowed to destroy Max but let up after determining Max’s life was too “un-sabotageable.”
2011-2012 Rank: 12 (+2)
Jack Donaghy is a successful high-ranking businessman, and for seven seasons we got to see how he kept struggling network NBC stay afloat. The best thing about him though was probably his platonic relationship with Liz Lemon. She could seek him for a calming voice among the insanity in her life, and Jack found himself relying on Liz for support as well.
2011-2012 Rank: 5 (-4)
Though I love the character of Troy on Community, I feel like he was dampened by having him date Britta through most of the season. He is best when his efforts are focused on Abed, though I understand the reasoning for causing some tension between the two best friends. I suppose if it wasn’t for that, we might not have been lucky enough to experience Troy and Abed“switching bodies” in order to deal with each other’s internal and emotional issues. The result of that found Troy and Britta breaking up.
2011-2012 Rank: 25 (+17)
There are many people who feel (FILL IN NAME) should have been nominated for an Emmy for his efforts as Nick this past season. Nick dealt with many things, including his confusing feelings for Jess while they dated other people, his battle with immaturity, his father passing away abruptly (and sadly months later Dennis Farina, who played Nick’s father, abruptly passing), and finally his and Jess’s hookup and eventual decision to try to date each other.
2011-2012 Rank: 11 (+4)
Like the rest of his fellow Paddy’s co-workers, Charlie has failed to change and mature through several seasons of the show. And just like everyone else on the show, we prefer it that he doesn’t change. The Gang is crazy and though they each have their own specific tendencies, you could argue that Charlie is the craziest one of them all. You could also argue that among the insanity, he just might be the most normal one of them all. Dennis and Mac are narcissists, Dee is constantly trying to be loved and Frank…well Frank just doesn’t give a crap. I guess that’s why Frank and Charlie get along so well, I believe Charlie really doesn’t care either. He is happy in his own little world of sniffing spray paint, obsessing over the waitress, imitating Al Pacino in Serpico and thinking up ideas like kitten mittens. I will say one thing about Charlie, he is definitely the most innocent of the gang, and the easiest to not hate at one point or another.
2011-2012 Rank: 6 (-)
The great thing about Raising Hope is that unlike a lot of TV shows where there are a lot of characters with negative qualities, the main characters (the Chance family) are a prime example of innocence. The patriarch of the family, Burt, is generally a positive who person who just wants to do right by his family. Of course people like to take advantage of innocence sometimes. His parents actually tricked him into thinking he was half-Jewish in order to have a Bat Mitzvah to take his gift money as they were having money problems. Fortunately for the viewer, that episode became a musical journey for Burt as he learned about what it means to be Jewish. There were some good musical numbers, but the best was definitely the 80’s rock ensemble "Rock the Tora." Simply amazing.
2011-2012 Rank: 3 (-2)
Marshall and Lily spent the season learning how to be parents while also trying to maintain some form of a social life. By the end of the season, the couple face some big life decisions. While Lily was offered a short term job in Paris, Marshall was all in with the move until he was offered a dream job of being a judge. The catch is he has to start immediately. We're left with him saying yet but not having told Lily yet. How will the next chapter in their lives (and final season of the show) unfold?
2011-2012 Rank: 7 (+3)
It’s interesting that just like his roommate Nick, Schmidt is loved for qualities that would normally be hated in a person. Nick is abrasive and doesn’t care about himself or anyone else, while Schmidt is a narcissist and often a d-bag. Of course, the way he goes about it is
amusing and cute. It’s like he isn’t really like that inside. We find that out about him when we learn more about his past while he starts dating his ex-girlfriend. In fact, the beginning of this season will be a battle of old Schmidt versus new Schmidt, or more simply Elizabeth versus CeCe. Who will he choose to share his affections with? Chances are it will backfire and he’ll end up single again.
2011-2012 Rank: 1 (-2)
Here we are on the cusp of the final season of How I Met Your Mother and we're about to witness the full transformation of Barney. For many years he was a lovable womanizer, but now he is ready for love. In the previous season we saw an epic proposal from Barney to Quinn, which was a nice moment. It however was blown out of the water in emotional quality by the efforts he put into proposing to Robin this past season. It looks as if this final season will focus on the events leading up to their wedding (and something about meeting somebody's mother?).
2011-2012 Rank: 2 (-)
It wouldn't really surprise me if the show ended and we find out that it was all just a dream and Abed wakes up about to start his first day at Greendale Community College. And you know what, I wouldn't be that disappointed. For a show that relies often on gimmicks by spoofing other shows and genres, the breaking the 4th wall mentality that Abed seems to incorporate is a fun and fresh quality to exist on a television show. I think you could each character out of the show and it would still work...except for probably Jeff and Abed. Jeff was billed as the lead character at the beginning, but this is very much Abed's show.
2011-2012 Rank: 4 (+3)
Look up the word "Man" in the dictionary and what would you see? The definition of the word "Man" of course. I would however like to suggest that instead of the definition, there should simply be the profile of a certain mustachioed jazz-playing, woodworking, breakfast-loving head of the Pawnee Parks and Recreations department. Though Ron is a very serious man, he has shown signs of emotion now and again. He has found a woman he loves who isn't a crazy Tammy, and he cares tremendously for Leslie, April, Tom and the rest of the Parks and Rec department.
21. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) on The Office
22. Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) on Parks and Recreation
23. Raj Koothrapali (Kunal Nayyar) on Big Bang Theory
24. Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton) on It's Always Sunny in Philadephia
25. Andy Torres (Ian Gomez) on Cougar Town