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The 100 Greatest TV Characters of the 21st Century
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<blockquote data-quote="Ome" data-source="post: 259869" data-attributes="member: 2"><p><h2>80. Rebecca Bunch (<em>Crazy Ex-Girlfriend</em>)</h2><p>[ATTACH=full]25493[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Played by Rachel Bloom</strong></p><p>As pop culture has gotten exponentially more aware of how to portray and talk about mental illness in a constructive, empathetic way on screen, it was only a matter of time until a show nearly perfected it. <em>Crazy Ex-Girlfriend</em>, created by and starring Rachel Bloom as its overly romantic, slightly obsessive, often manic-depressive heroine Rebecca Bunch, disguised a thorough, unflinching examination of the mental issues people around us struggle with every day as a hysterical, brilliantly written, four-season-long musical. Rebecca Bunch goes from a mess who barely talks about her innermost traumas to a mess who can, and does so enthusiastically, with all the friends and romantic attachments she makes in her journey. When we talk about strong, yet flawed, yet compassionate heroes, Rebecca Bunch tops the list<em>. -- ES</em></p><p></p><p></p><h2>79. Olivia Dunham (<em>Fringe</em>)</h2><p>[ATTACH=full]25494[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Played by Anna Torv</strong></p><p>It takes a lot to be a female FBI agent in a show about the government examining paranormal occurrences and not become a clone of the OG paranormal FBI agent Dana Scully, but Olivia Dunham, the complex and fascinating protagonist of the equally complex and fascinating<em> Fringe</em>, carved out a space for herself in the pantheon. Her arc on the show as she comes to terms with her inner trauma and her own identity -- especially when, spoiler alert, she meets an alternate version of herself in the later seasons -- is even more compelling than all the weird stuff encountered by the Fringe Division. Far from dismissing her past trauma or tacking it on as merely another character trait, the show allowed Olivia to process real-world fears within a sci-fi environment with determination and creativity, making her one of the coolest, and most intricate female figures in genre television. She also made a generation of girls only want to fill their closets with tailored suits and cool leather jackets. <em>-- ES</em></p><p></p><p></p><h2>78. Rogelio De La Vega (<em>Jane the Virgin</em>)</h2><p>[ATTACH=full]25495[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Played by Jaime Camil</strong></p><p>It makes a certain amount of sense that the best character from <em>Jane the Virgin</em>, the CW show based on a telenovela that was also about telenovelas, would be, well, a telenovela star played by a former telenovela star. Our heroine Jane Villanueva, who was accidentally artificially inseminated, is also secretly the daughter of her favorite telenovela actor, Rogelio De La Vega, the vain lead on <em>The Passion of Santos</em>. When Jaime Camil was cast, he was a well-known quantity in the telenovela industry, but a virtual unknown to most US viewers. His take on Rogelio was one huge wink. Rogelio is devastatingly attractive and devastatingly into himself, which makes the news that he's a father all the harder to swallow. Over the course of the series, he never sheds that flair for the dramatic, but also opens up to the possibilities of romance that dug a little deeper than the hollow swooning of his day job. <em>-- EZ</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><h2>77. Beth Sanchez (<em>Rick and Morty</em>)</h2><p>[ATTACH=full]25496[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Voiced by Sarah Chalke</strong></p><p>Rick might be the main character of Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon's series, but he's a total asshole. Morty is a child idiot; Jerry is an adult moron. Summer's cool but she's nowhere near as good a character, or as integral to how this show ticks, as her mom, Beth Sanchez. Beth, voiced by Sarah Chalke of <em>Scrubs</em> fame, often sounds like a broken record in constantly reassessing her troubled marriage, worrying about keeping her family together, repairing her relationship with her aloof drunk father, but that's why she's so great. She's the emotional motor and essential to the show's dance between zany sci-fi and bleak family drama. She could be off self-actualizing with the Meeseeks, getting absolutely sloshed on wine, forcing her family into therapy, or indulging her darkest sides, but typically a Beth-heavy episode will take a series mostly preoccupied with adventuring with the boys to a new level. The fact that she might be a clone makes it all the more interesting. <em>-- LB</em></p><p></p><p></p><h2>76. Roman DeBeers (<em>Party Down</em>)</h2><p>[ATTACH=full]25497[/ATTACH]</p><p><strong>Played by Martin Starr</strong></p><p>Luckily, <em>Freaks and Geeks</em> started airing in 1999; otherwise we could have very well been considering <em>three </em>Martin Starr characters for this list. Starr, who also played the ornery Guilfoyle on <em>Silicon Valley</em>, is secretly one of the best comedic TV actors of his generation. The part that wins him a spot here beats out a whole cast of worthy contenders. Rob Thomas' <em>Party Down</em> is a comedy built on an amazing collection of weirdos, a crew of Hollywood wannabes working at a catering firm serving the richer and more successful. There's Adam Scott's depressed Henry Pollard, best known for one commercial catchphrase; Lizzy Caplan's sardonic comedian Casey Klein; Ken Marino's former addict Ron Donald; and Ryan Hansen's nincompoop Kyle Bradway. But our spot belongs to Starr's aspiring screenwriter Roman DeBeers. Roman is an all-too-recognizable creep, a bigheaded asshole who is way less impressive than he thinks he is, incessantly talking about his "hard sci-fi." Roman is the most detestable member of the <em>Party Down</em> team, but that's what makes him our favorite. <em>-- EZ</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ome, post: 259869, member: 2"] [HEADING=1]80. Rebecca Bunch ([I]Crazy Ex-Girlfriend[/I])[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full"]25493[/ATTACH] [B]Played by Rachel Bloom[/B] As pop culture has gotten exponentially more aware of how to portray and talk about mental illness in a constructive, empathetic way on screen, it was only a matter of time until a show nearly perfected it. [I]Crazy Ex-Girlfriend[/I], created by and starring Rachel Bloom as its overly romantic, slightly obsessive, often manic-depressive heroine Rebecca Bunch, disguised a thorough, unflinching examination of the mental issues people around us struggle with every day as a hysterical, brilliantly written, four-season-long musical. Rebecca Bunch goes from a mess who barely talks about her innermost traumas to a mess who can, and does so enthusiastically, with all the friends and romantic attachments she makes in her journey. When we talk about strong, yet flawed, yet compassionate heroes, Rebecca Bunch tops the list[I]. -- ES[/I] [HEADING=1]79. Olivia Dunham ([I]Fringe[/I])[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full"]25494[/ATTACH] [B]Played by Anna Torv[/B] It takes a lot to be a female FBI agent in a show about the government examining paranormal occurrences and not become a clone of the OG paranormal FBI agent Dana Scully, but Olivia Dunham, the complex and fascinating protagonist of the equally complex and fascinating[I] Fringe[/I], carved out a space for herself in the pantheon. Her arc on the show as she comes to terms with her inner trauma and her own identity -- especially when, spoiler alert, she meets an alternate version of herself in the later seasons -- is even more compelling than all the weird stuff encountered by the Fringe Division. Far from dismissing her past trauma or tacking it on as merely another character trait, the show allowed Olivia to process real-world fears within a sci-fi environment with determination and creativity, making her one of the coolest, and most intricate female figures in genre television. She also made a generation of girls only want to fill their closets with tailored suits and cool leather jackets. [I]-- ES[/I] [HEADING=1]78. Rogelio De La Vega ([I]Jane the Virgin[/I])[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full"]25495[/ATTACH] [B]Played by Jaime Camil[/B] It makes a certain amount of sense that the best character from [I]Jane the Virgin[/I], the CW show based on a telenovela that was also about telenovelas, would be, well, a telenovela star played by a former telenovela star. Our heroine Jane Villanueva, who was accidentally artificially inseminated, is also secretly the daughter of her favorite telenovela actor, Rogelio De La Vega, the vain lead on [I]The Passion of Santos[/I]. When Jaime Camil was cast, he was a well-known quantity in the telenovela industry, but a virtual unknown to most US viewers. His take on Rogelio was one huge wink. Rogelio is devastatingly attractive and devastatingly into himself, which makes the news that he's a father all the harder to swallow. Over the course of the series, he never sheds that flair for the dramatic, but also opens up to the possibilities of romance that dug a little deeper than the hollow swooning of his day job. [I]-- EZ[/I] [HEADING=1]77. Beth Sanchez ([I]Rick and Morty[/I])[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full"]25496[/ATTACH] [B]Voiced by Sarah Chalke[/B] Rick might be the main character of Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon's series, but he's a total asshole. Morty is a child idiot; Jerry is an adult moron. Summer's cool but she's nowhere near as good a character, or as integral to how this show ticks, as her mom, Beth Sanchez. Beth, voiced by Sarah Chalke of [I]Scrubs[/I] fame, often sounds like a broken record in constantly reassessing her troubled marriage, worrying about keeping her family together, repairing her relationship with her aloof drunk father, but that's why she's so great. She's the emotional motor and essential to the show's dance between zany sci-fi and bleak family drama. She could be off self-actualizing with the Meeseeks, getting absolutely sloshed on wine, forcing her family into therapy, or indulging her darkest sides, but typically a Beth-heavy episode will take a series mostly preoccupied with adventuring with the boys to a new level. The fact that she might be a clone makes it all the more interesting. [I]-- LB[/I] [HEADING=1]76. Roman DeBeers ([I]Party Down[/I])[/HEADING] [ATTACH type="full"]25497[/ATTACH] [B]Played by Martin Starr[/B] Luckily, [I]Freaks and Geeks[/I] started airing in 1999; otherwise we could have very well been considering [I]three [/I]Martin Starr characters for this list. Starr, who also played the ornery Guilfoyle on [I]Silicon Valley[/I], is secretly one of the best comedic TV actors of his generation. The part that wins him a spot here beats out a whole cast of worthy contenders. Rob Thomas' [I]Party Down[/I] is a comedy built on an amazing collection of weirdos, a crew of Hollywood wannabes working at a catering firm serving the richer and more successful. There's Adam Scott's depressed Henry Pollard, best known for one commercial catchphrase; Lizzy Caplan's sardonic comedian Casey Klein; Ken Marino's former addict Ron Donald; and Ryan Hansen's nincompoop Kyle Bradway. But our spot belongs to Starr's aspiring screenwriter Roman DeBeers. Roman is an all-too-recognizable creep, a bigheaded asshole who is way less impressive than he thinks he is, incessantly talking about his "hard sci-fi." Roman is the most detestable member of the [I]Party Down[/I] team, but that's what makes him our favorite. [I]-- EZ[/I] [/QUOTE]
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The 100 Greatest TV Characters of the 21st Century
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