20. Buzz Hickey (Jonathan Banks) on Community 2012-2013 Rank: New Character The fifth season of Community saw two longtime cast members leave (Pierce and Troy), two previously-not-around characters return (Professor Duncan and Star-Burns) and brought in one new character. That character was Professor Buzz Hickey. Hickey is an intimidating professor with a background in law enforcement and a love for drawing cartoon ducks. The intimidating factor seemed natural for Jonathan Banks, since he was last seen as Gus Fring's do-everything handyman/hitman in Breaking Bad. I enjoyed seeing him go from one of my favorite dramas to one of my favorite comedies. I'm sadly not sure we'll be seeing him again on Community, since I believe he will be working on the upcoming Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. |
19. Dougie (Karl Pilkington) on Derek 2012-2013 Rank: New Show Derek is a comedy in which Ricky Gervais can showcase the fact that he doesn't always have to play an obnoxious character. Though Gervais is the star as the title character, and does a great job, my favorite character on the show is definitely Dougie. I wasn't sure what to expect from Karl Pilkington, the star of another Gervais creation An Idiot Abroad in which Karl reluctantly travels the world. The character of Dougie however gives me more laugh-out-loud moments than anyone else on the show. Unfortunately he left the show part way into season two and I'm not sure why. |
18. Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) on Community 2012-2013 Rank: 10 (-8) Troy normally ranks much higher on this list for me, but he did leave the show part way through the season this year. The storyline played out that when Pierce died (which also happened this season), he left Troy his boat and told him to take it around the world like Pierce did when he was younger. Of course in reality, Donald Glover was just ready to move on and focus on his music career as rapper Childish Gambino. After a fun, though sad, episode that involved a campus-wide game of The Floor is Lava, Abed accepted letting Troy go and he sailed off (well was towed off) in his new boat with LaVarr Burton. Would you expect anything less from Community? Oh, and the boat was appropriately named the Childish Tycoon. |
17. Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) on How I Met Your Mother 2012-2013 Rank: 16 (-1) After 9 seasons, Ted finally got to tell his kids (and us) how specifically he met their mother. Of course that didn't actually happen until spending most of season 9 on the weekend events leading up to Barney and Robin's wedding. The season 9 episodes won't go down as the most memorable, but there were some great throwbacks throughout the season to reward the longtime fans. Many people weren't happy with how Ted's story ended, and though it didn't thrill me, it also didn't surprise me that much. I think it was appropriate (I'm not going into details here) and when it comes down to it, I won't be thinking about the final scenes when I reminisce about the show. |
16. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) on Big Bang Theory 2012-2013 Rank: 13 (-3) The writers of Big Bang Theory have really decided to mile the awkward Sheldon and Amy relationship as long as they possibly can. Sheldon has been slowly progressing as being someone in a relationship, but it has been very slow. Because of that, they can make a big deal about major milestones, like their first kiss. Which Sheldon planted on Amy after she surprised him with a dinner train adventure for his birthday. The season ended with Sheldon at a turning point in his life. His best friend and roommate Leonard got engaged to Penny and they'll soon want to live alone. Sheldon also decided to change his longtime career focus. All of this came to a boiling point when Sheldon decided to just get on a train and leave, not knowing where he'll end up. |
15. Sergeant Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) on Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2012-2013 Rank: New Show Terry Crews has been an enjoyable presence in his small movie and TV appearances over the last several years. You wouldn't expect someone who is so massive and scary looking to also have some comedic acting chops. His role on the freshman series Brooklyn Nine-Nine is as a Sergeant of a slightly dysfunctional New York City detective department. The show is full of hilarious characters with a bunch of unique traits, and his is the tough, scary Sergeant who has a soft underbelly for his family and friends. |
14. Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) on Community 2012-2013 Rank: 18 (+4) As I mentioned in Professor Hickey's description at #20, Community lost two main characters this season. The positive effect is that new characters (like Hickey) and supporting characters (like Dean Pelton) can get more screen time. The Dean of Greendale Community College has only gotten better and more likable throughout the seasons. He is a wonderful presence as the most main character that is not actually part of the group. |
13. Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) on Community 2012-2013 Rank: 16 (+3) After graduating from Greendale in the previous season, Jeff went on to start his own law practice. Unfortunately for him he crashed and burned pretty quickly. Fortunately for us, he is back at Greendale. Not as a student this time, but as a professor! It has been a good dynamic so far, as they've taken the study group and turned it into more of a school committee. It was a great way to find a reason for Jeff to be around the group all while replacing the holes left by the absence of Pierce and Troy with Professors Duncan and Hickey. |
11. Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) on Parks and Recreation 2012-2013 Rank: Unranked During Ben's unemployment, he participated in many hobbies. The greatest one was crazily creating a board game called Cones of Dunshire. After the episode it seemed to be a one-off joke for Ben. In one of his nerdier moments, he explains the ridiculous and chaotic rules of the game. It turns out that after he threw it away the game was recovered by his obsessive former accountant coworkers and quickly accumulated an underground cult following. He discovers this when Pawnee is applying for city-wide wifi and the sponsors are big fans of the game. He has to defeat them at a game he created. The architect prevailed, citing the most important basis of the game..."It's about the cones, never forget that." Oh, and the show jumped ahead a few years and Ben and Leslie now have triplets. |
10. Schmidt (Max Greenfield) on New Girl 2012-2013 Rank: 4 (-6) Schmidt made a huge mistake at the beginning of the season, trying to date his college girlfriend and CeCe at the same time. After a few episodes the two women found out and of course both left him. Schmidt struggled with the mistake and tried to at the very least reconcile his friendship with CeCe throughout the season. It was clear that he still cared about her very much, but would do anything to make her happy. |
9. Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) on Arrested Development 2012-2013 Rank: Not On Last Season "It's the final countdown! Da-na-naa-naaaa...Da-na-na-na-naaa!" A magician named Gob returned for the new season of Arrested Development. Gob is probably the most absurd of all the Bluths, and it's wonderful. Speaking of "wonder"-ful, his magical rival Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller) returned as well and Gob was determined to destroy him. Instead the two of them accidentally fell in love. Yeah..."It's Arrested Development." |
8. Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) on Parks and Recreation 2012-2013 Rank: Unranked Chris Pratt is a bona fide movie star now after being the lead in this summer's hottest movie, Guardians of the Galaxy. He has been working towards that the last few years with multiple movie roles, but GotG was his first big leading role. He will always be beloved as Andy on Parks and Recreation however. They wrote into his storyline that he was working in London so Pratt could work on his movie, but fortunately it wasn't for too many episodes and we still got to experience plenty of Andy. |
7. Detective Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) on Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2012-2013 Rank: New Show I've already mentioned multiple times through the female and male character lists how great of an ensemble cast Brooklyn Nine-Nine has. Boyle is easily my favorite of the supporting characters. I have been a longtime fan of Joe Lo Truglio in his many supporting movie roles. I was thrilled not only to see him getting a regular TV role, but also being one of the strongest characters on the show. Boyle is lead character Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg)'s best friend and fellow detective. He has a passion for food and can't keep a secret, both traits that lead to some great comedy. He is however a pretty competent detective. |
6. Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segal) on How I Met Your Mother 2012-2013 Rank: 5 (-1) If there was one thing I most disliked throughout the last season on How I Met Your Mother, it was probably Marshall's storyline in the first several episodes. Marshall had an adventure reminiscent of Planes, Trains and Automobiles...only not nearly as funny. Eventually he caught up with the rest of the group, and there was tension between him and Lily as they decided the fate of their future...Lily's job offer in Europe or Marshall's job offer as a judge. |
5. Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) on Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2012-2013 Rank: New Show I'm sure there were a lot of skeptics regarding Andy Samberg's move from SNL cast member to leading actor on a TV show. Fortunately a couple things happened...Samberg found a role perfect for him, a simple but well-done show idea and a stellar ensemble cast. Samberg deservedly won a Golden Globe for his first season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the show seemed to get stronger as the season went on. Hopefully that will continue into the second season. |
4. Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) on Community 2012-2013 Rank: 2 (-2) It was a difficult season for Abed as he lost his best friend Troy (Donald Glover left the show). As the show continues to move forward, Abed will have to continue to be more self-sufficient. I think he'll be just fine, but they were practically inseparable and guaranteed laughs whenever they were together. |
3. Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) on How I Met Your Mother 2012-2013 Rank: 3 (-) This will probably be the last time I write about this perennial favorite atop the Male Comedy Characters list. Barney brought so much to How I Met Your Mother throughout its nine-year fun. It's probably safe to say if it wasn't for NPH excelling in the role of Barney, the show probably wouldn't have survived past a first season. Of course the show soon picked up a following and it helped that Jason Segal (Marshall) started getting movie roles. Still, Barney will always be one of my all time favorite TV characters. Amazing for a womanizing man-slut whose comedy was long based on his "conquests." His heart grew throughout the show's run and eventually reached a pinnacle when he had a baby daughter in a flash forward during the final episode. The Bro-Code will live on in all of us Mr. Stinson...Awesome! |
2. Burt Chance (Garret Dillahunt) on Raising Hope 2012-2013 Rank: 6 (+4) Speaking of big hearts, none might be bigger than that of Burt Chance on Raising Hope. As another one of my favorite comedies comes to an end, I can't help but reflect on how great of a character Burt was. Much like his wife Virginia, Burt loves his family very much and would do anything for them. He is a simple man, but he puts so much passion into everything he does. |
1. Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) on Parks and Recreation 2012-2013 Rank: 1 (-) How do you upstage two of my favorite characters who have seen their final episodes? Simple...be Ron Swanson. The stache alone should do the trick, but the humor he brings to Parks and Rec is difficult to rival. Like Barney Stinson, Ron is very quotable. He could have a series of short phrase motivational posters. With the 2-3 years jump that Parks and Rec is making, it'll be interesting to see what role Ron plays in a new office. Ron has a baby now too, and he seems to be a great father. |
Next Five:
21. Derek (Ricky Gervais) on Derek
22. Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) on Silicon Valley
23. Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) on Silicon Valley
24. Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) on Parks and Recreation
25. Nick Miller (Nick Johnson) on New Girl
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