Baseball, TV, and a Top 10

[DOUGHBOYS]

Lets go off topic a little, ok, a lot.
I lived and died baseball as a kid, the same way I do now. The one constant besides baseball from that time to now has been tv. I watched tv every chance I could. Baseball or any sports outside of baseball season during the day, prime time at night.

When I was a kid, it was a treat when tv shows would have episodes featuring major leaguers. Willie Mays on 'What's my line'.
Leo Durocher on 'Mr. Ed' and 'the Beverly Hillbillies'. I still think Jethro Bodine would have been fun to watch, but he needed possum fat rubbed into the baseballs, darn it.
Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, and Willie Davis on 'the Brady Bunch.
All great to see because these players were not polished in front of a microphone like today's players. Anybody who watched 'Home Run Derby' would know that.

Anyway, baseball players aside, here is a list of my 10 favorite tv characters through the years:

10. JETHRO GIBBS-
Maybe the closest I'll get to Jethro Bodine.
Gibbs is a man with a mysterious past, who makes the perfect boss...As long as you're perfect as well. Every boss should use the head slap as a reprimand...

9. JEANNIE-
Get your minds out of the gutter! I think it should be mandatory that every man have Jeannie for a week. A beautiful girl, whose only purpose in life is to grant every wish and make us happy.

8. SPOCK-
Always cool under pressure because he had to be. It's the way he was wired. If only I could be that cool and think that effectively during a fast paced draft.

7. FOX MULDER-
The truth was never out there. If there was one guy that could help me prove that there is no value in the draft itself, it would be Agent Mulder.

6. ABBY-
NCIS gets two characters. I most relate to Abby. My days are spent on a Caf-Pow high trying to analyse the numerish in fantasy baseball.

5. LUCAS McCAIN- What is not to like about Lucas McCain? He lived in a town where every week some bully would over power that pathetic Sherriff and endanger the town. And every week, that sodbuster would come to town with his rifle and restore order. I never got tired of it.

4. LOUIS THE TOWN DRUNK and OTIS THE TOWN DRUNK-
Both were so good. Louis always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to funnel Matt Dillon some needed information about the bad guys, even three sheets to the wind.
Otis used his cell as a hotel on Friday and Saturday nights. If Andy found his still, magically, another one appeared.

3. BARNEY FIFE-
I guess there are two characters from this show as well. We've all been Barney. We all have one bullet and screw it up when trying to use it. At drafts, on the outside we look like Andy Taylor, inside, we're Barney.

2. HOMER SIMPSON-
Flat out, every man alive has a little....but most have a lot of Homer in him.
DOH!

1. COSMO KRAMER-
I still remember him seeing Joe DiMaggio in a coffee shop and describing to Jerry how he dunked his donuts.
Kramer is one of a kind. Just about every character on tv has been replicated, there will only be one Cosmo Kramer.


With only doing 10 people there are many, many I left out. For me, Hoss Cartwright, Hop Sing, Elly Mae Clampett, The professor, James Rockford, all came to mind, but didn't quite make the cut.
What about you?
Who are your favorites?

[Joe Sambito]

Ok, I am going to play along, Dan. I have two favorite characters. One on a show that is gone and one that is still kicking. I'd actually like to have both these guys on Fantasy Baseball managerial staff.

1. CHARLIE EPPS - I loved this show and loved that everything could be broken down into numbers and into a solution. Charlie Epps could sove it all and do so from his chalkboards in his garage. I love that, Epps could use a computer but could also do it long hand as well.

1A. PATRICK JANE - The other side of the spectrum. I like this guy a lot, incredibly bright, solves problems, but a pain in the arse to the 'establishment'. He sees things that others can't.

I can see a managerial meeting now:

Me: What do you guys think of Matt Kemp?
Epps: Potential 50-50 guy, no one better. Take him.
Jane: Wouldn't do that, I saw an interview with at a batting cage. In the background his ipod was playing a Rihanna tune. My guess is he is back with her. How did that work out before. Take Miggy Cabrera, I saw him flipping his 1-year sober coin the other day.

Wow, what a staff that would be...

[Quahogs]

Trapper John McIntyre.

[Ryan C]

Trapper John McIntyre.

Are we talking Wayne Rodgers or Pernell Roberts??

[Quahogs]

Trapper John McIntyre.

Are we talking Wayne Rodgers or Pernell Roberts??

Wayne... who's Pernell ?

[Ryan C]

Pernell Roberts also played the character in the show Trapper John M.D. - not anywhere near as funny as Rodgers

[Cobb]

This is a good one Dough. I have so many favs, I'm a TV junkie...but as a child of the late 70's/80's here's a few of my favorite TV characters:

10. Larry David - He kills me
9. Starbuck - Big Dirk Benedict fan, he'll show up again
8. Simon Templar - Big Roger Moore fan (Bond of my era, though I love them all). The Saint was an excellent series for the time
7. George Constanza/Seinfeld/Peterman/Puddy/Cosmo Kramer - Can't pick just one from best show of all time
6. Moe Howard- Love the 3 Stooges
5. Templeton Peck/Hannibal Smith - The A Team was my favorite show as a kid, still makes me laugh
4. Shawn Spencer- (Sorry, I saw a reference to The Mentalist, you HAVE to go with the original here...and I don't mean Sherlock Holmes!) Roday is perfect in that role and it fits cable...wait for ittt!
3. Jason Gideon - Love all Criminal Minds cast, but Mandy Patinkin was the best
2. Banacek - My all time favorite investigator, if you haven't seen him in action check it out. George Peppard in the 70's. There's an episode where a woman calls him chauvinistic and Banacek replies "Big words don't impress me!" ...classic!
1. Agent Dale Cooper - Twin Peaks was so unique and ingenious...and Kyle Maclachian embodied it so well.

There are so many good characters out there, I know I'm missing dozens, but this group is pretty good.

[Ryan C]

Okay - I'm in. Have to knock Dale Cooper of the list since Cobb tabbed him - but I'll add a few of my own personal fav characters - with the emphasis on CHARACTER:

10- James T. Kirk - You have Spock - I'll take the Captain!

9- Andy Sipowicz - I think he'd be the perfect guy to go to a Yankees/Red Sox game with.

8- Benjamin Linus - Sneaky prick. Wouldn't want to draft next to him.

7- Louie DePalma - He'd be great on the message boards!

6- Ari Gold - Everybody's got to have an agent these days.

5- Eric Cartman - Cartman tells it like it is-hilariously.

4- Dwight K. Schrute - Annoying geek, but would likely be the stat guru of your office league.

3- Lt. Columbo - Easily my favorite detective and probably my favorite TV Character of all time.

2- Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton - Some guys go together and I've seen all these episodes over and over and over and they still make me laugh everytime.

1- Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin - Who better to have endless discussion about what Doughboys just posted than these two!

[DOUGHBOYS]

I would pay money to see Louis DePalma post here!
Dwight Schrute would be the perfect auctioneer. Talk about a tight ship!
Loved Banacek, George Peppard was so under rated...

[DOUGHBOYS]

I thought about Cliff and Norm. In fact a conversation in the draft chat room with ToddZ was the root of this thread.
I just didn't have the heart to break them up.

Louis DePalma though, I'm still kickin myself in the butt for forgetting him...

[DOUGHBOYS]

I do have an all time worst too...

Every time I saw Potsie Weber, I wanted to roll him up and stick him in a locker. If there were such things as mental swirlies,(shuddup spell checker! That's right swirlies, go ask your boss) he got one from me every Tuesday night.
Worse than Erkel...

[Glenneration X]

Great thread once again Doughy...and a lot of great choices.

I was a Kirk man myself, but Kirk without Spock or Spock without Kirk just wouldn't have worked nearly as well.

Kramer and Costanza was another dynamic duo and two of my all time faves.

Taxi was one of those shows where everyone was great.

Trapper was a nice call Jupinka as he was my fave character of that original cast, which for me was far superior to later seasons where the show got a bit too preachy.

A-Team brought me back to my young teens, Rockford & Columbo brought me back to my childhood, Ari Gold's ridiculous and hysterical, and Cartman may be the funniest cartoon character ever.

A few characters I'm surprised not to see mentioned.....Tony Soprano, Jack Bauer, Lennie Briscoe, Archie Bunker.

On my personal list of faves that I haven't seen listed yet would be Al Bundy, any character Eddie Murphy played on SNL (I could name dozens of SNL characters played by others I loved as well), Rod Serling (more for his writing than for his character but an absolute genius), and since this is a sports thread and returning back to duos who are better playing off of one another, Howard Cosell and Dandy Don.

[rockitsauce]

This is a good one Dough. I have so many favs, I'm a TV junkie...but as a child of the late 70's/80's here's a few of my favorite TV characters:

10. Larry David - He kills me
9. Starbuck - Big Dirk Benedict fan, he'll show up again
8. Simon Templar - Big Roger Moore fan (Bond of my era, though I love them all). The Saint was an excellent series for the time
7. George Constanza/Seinfeld/Peterman/Puddy/Cosmo Kramer - Can't pick just one from best show of all time
6. Moe Howard- Love the 3 Stooges
5. Templeton Peck/Hannibal Smith - The A Team was my favorite show as a kid, still makes me laugh
4. Shawn Spencer- (Sorry, I saw a reference to The Mentalist, you HAVE to go with the original here...and I don't mean Sherlock Holmes!) Roday is perfect in that role and it fits cable...wait for ittt!
3. Jason Gideon - Love all Criminal Minds cast, but Mandy Patinkin was the best
2. Banacek - My all time favorite investigator, if you haven't seen him in action check it out. George Peppard in the 70's. There's an episode where a woman calls him chauvinistic and Banacek replies "Big words don't impress me!" ...classic!
1. Agent Dale Cooper - Twin Peaks was so unique and ingenious...and Kyle Maclachian embodied it so well.

There are so many good characters out there, I know I'm missing dozens, but this group is pretty good.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE W/ MY BROTHER ?

[DOUGHBOYS]

Just to expand this a little....
Lets go with a top 10 of tv dads...

10. HOMER SIMPSON-
Say what you want about Homer. He 'values' his kids. Even if he can't remember their names.

9. HEATHCLIFF HUXTABLE-
True, for a doctor he was home A LOT. But, he did make that time count.

8. JOHN WALTON-
Somehow the kids came first even though he was bustin' his ass during the depression

7. PHIL DUNPHY-
He does a lot of things wrong and sometime in the future it wouldn't surprise me if he makes it a threesome with his in-laws as a 'learning experience', but he spends time with the kids and usually has their best interest at heart.

6. MIKE BRADY-
It seemed he was a referee more than a father. But sometimes, we are both.

5. WARD CLEAVER-
The common sense dad. No matter what Wally and Beav thought of old dad, they respected the heck out of him.

4. STEVE DOUGLAS-
Not exactly a single dad with Bub and Uncle Charley around. Still, he managed in a time when there were few single dads.

3. HOWARD CUNNINGHAM-
He was sooo not hip, that he was hip. The perfect dad for when kids were coming of age.

2. CHARLES INGALLS-
Nobody went the extra mile for his kids more than Charles. He had a tough life in making income for his family, but never forgot that time with the kids, quality time, was just as important.

1. ANDY TAYLOR-
How many other dads can say that their son came from a small town upbringing to become a famous movie director?
Andy knew how to handle problems better than most everybody on tv. In a way that left everybody happy, especially Opie.

[KJ Duke]

11. WIll Ferrell doing Haray Caray on SNL.
10. Owen (Men of a Certain Age, Andre Braugher as a used car salesman dealing with an ego-maniac father among other issues).
9. Bill Jacks (Obscure character played by Ed O'Neil from a show no one's every seen, John from Cincinnati. Played a half-crazy retired police officer who talked to birds. He won't make anyone else's list so I need to give him some credit).
8. Jack Donaghy (30 rock, Alec Baldwin).
7. Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman as government-hating Libertarian).
6. Russell Edginton (true blood, powerful vampire with a sense of humor).
5. Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor as Larry Sanders late night TV sidekick).
4. Gob Bluth (Will Arnett on Arrested Development. I'll go with Gob, but could easily add more 5 characters from that show).
3. David Brent (BBC's The Office)
2. Tony Soprano
1. Brian Griffith (Family Guy. Sarcastic, loves to drink, likes smart women but can't help but chase hot ones, wants to be intellectual yet is a slave to his basic instincts. And he sings peanut butter jelly time in a banana suit. As close to perfection as a character can be).

[Edwards Kings]

I will add a few, some from lessor known shows:

5) Larry Linville - His Frank Burns was one of the funniest (in a simpering, whimpering way) bad guys ever.

4) Henry Fonda - Little remembered show called "The Smith Family" ("....just a family on Primrose Lane, with you!") Only lasted about a year, but Henry was Dad, patriarch, and detective. May win you Trivia Night as every forgets Henry as one of Ron Howard's TV Dads!

3) Jack Lord - Ultra-cool head of Five-O. Also, I cracked up every time they rolled credits and had the screen-shot of Kam Fong as "Chin Ho". I always wondered why they had to use a pseudonym for the character. Were they worried that we would get him confused with all the other actors named Kam Fung?

2) Ron Harper - Was there ever a greater show for a kid than "Garrison's Gorillas"? A blatant rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen", but I loved it. Ron Harper was the leader of the misfits. All the bleeding hearts hated it because of something about "violins on television"!



1) Christopher George - Along the same lines, at the same time, and equally short lived as "Garrison's Gorilla's", "Rat Patrol" (you remember the show where two jeeps with .50 caliber machine guns could take out half-tracks, armored cars, and tanks?) was also beamed into my prepubescent mentality. Give an American with attitude a paper-clip, Elmer's Glue, and yesterday's cheese sandwich and we can beat the bad guy. Kind of pre "MacGyver" but way cooler.

[rockitsauce]

1. Brian Griffith (Family Guy. Sarcastic, loves to drink, likes smart women but can't help but chase hot ones, wants to be intellectual yet is a slave to his basic instincts. And he sings peanut butter jelly time in a banana suit. As close to perfection as a character can be).

LOVE Brian & Stewie....Joey named his Yorkie Stewie a decade ago and this pic has been my fantasy football team logo for 7 yrs. That episode where Stewie is able to time travel, so he 'steals' pnut butter jelly time from Brian and performs for a gleeful Peter....

[KJ Duke]

This one's for you Dan.

Death hasn't stopped former Cubs broadcaster Harry Carey from hosting "Space: The Infinite Frontier". His guest is Linda Ham, the flight director for John Glenn's return to space:

Harry Carey: Now, tell us: what was it like working with an American legend like John Glenn?

Linda Ham: Well.. Senator Glenn was, um.. [ pause ] ..an inspiration.. I.. I'm sorry.. Please, please forgive me for asking this, but didn't you die?

Harry Carey: Yes, I did. What's your point?

Linda Ham: Uh.. oh.. nothing..

Harry Carey: Good. Hey! So they shot the shuttle Discovery up into space!

Linda Ham: Yes.

Harry Carey: Is that thing ever coming back?

Linda Ham: Uh, it landed a week ago.

Harry Carey: How many survivors?

Linda Ham: Everyone survived, Harry.

Harry Carey: Oh. That's a relief. [ long pause ] Hey, Linda! What was it like inventing the space shuttle?

Linda Ham: Uh.. I didn't invent the shuttle.

Harry Carey: Well, I wonder, whoever did, made a lot of money! And then, I bet he tried to invent something else. But it wasn't as good. Life can sometimes turn your greatest successes into your most crushing defeats!

Linda Ham: [ not sure how to respond ] Yeah.. I guess that's right..

Harry Carey: Linda Ham! Linda Ham! Linda Ham! Does your name ever make you hungry?

Linda Ham: No. No.

Harry Carey: Well, it makes me hungry! One time, I named a sandwich "Linda". It was a beautiful sandwich! And guess what kind of sandwich it was.

Linda Ham: I don't know. Ham?

Harry Carey: I guess. I don't know. Hey, Linda! When are we finally going to get over to Mars?

Linda Ham: Well, there is a manned expedition being discussed..

Harry Carey: No! I mean you and me! We could make an evening of it. We'll head over to Mars, and I'll bring my sandwich "Linda". And we can make sloppy Martian love in the back of my dunebuggy. So, what do you say? Is it a date? It's a simple question: Do you want to go to Mars with a dead guy and a sandwich? Yes or no?

Linda Ham: Uh.. no..

Harry Carey: Yeah, you're right.. it probably wouldn't work out. But it doesn't hurt to be a dreamer! If we didn't dream, we wouldn't have the space shuttle.

Linda Ham: That's right, Harry. That's a very good point.

Harry Carey: Also, if we didn't dream, our brains would devour themselves, in madness and paranoia. The Viet Cong knew that. That's why they used sleep deprivation as a form of torture! [ long drawn-out pause ] Anyway, that's all the time we have! Hey! Join us next week at nine o'clock Eastern time, and watch me eat an entire planet! [ stagehand whispers in Harry's ear ] Oh! Thanks, Pete! That's actually eight o'clock Eastern time. I'm still going to eat a planet! See you then! Cubs win! Cubs win!

[DOUGHBOYS]

Now THAT, had me laughing out loud!
Good Stuff.

[BK METS]

Ok here's my 2 cents - Here are my 5

1) Cosmo Kramer - There are so many, I can't list them all, but the story of when he was driving the bus, had me laughing so hard, I literally couldn't breathe

2) Chandler Bing - I have watched Friends repeats for years now and he is the only one on the show that still has me laughing

3) Robert Romano - Yes, the bug guy from Everybody Loves Raymond - The scenes when he is dancing had me ROFL

4) Kelly Bundy - Ok before you say anything, I am not a perv. I was about the right age to enjoy Kelly/Christina Applegate at the time and still am

5) Marilyn Munster - And why else would you watch that show?

[Spartacus]

Let me add to this great list:

-Growing up in the tenements of NYC there was a woman who lived in my building that absolutely set my mother off. So incensed by her, she would only refer to her by last name. She would just call her Newman! As far as I know, Larry David din't live in my building, but I often wondered.
-Sticking with the Seinfeldian world, I was always disappointed that in their last episode, Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer weren't locked in a cell with crazy Joe Davola
-SNL had so many great characters over the years. A few not mentioned yet: Beldar Conehead, Emily Latella and Todd De La Muca, Billy Crystal doing Sammy Davis jr., and I must say Ed Grimley with or without his triangle, don't you know!
-Boris Badenov and Natasha (Nogoodnik) Fatal
-And for some of you old timers: The Kingfish, Rin Tin Tin (Yallll Rinny), and last but not least, Lou-Bud-Hillary Brooks-Sidney Fields-Mike the Cop-Stinky and of course Mr. Bacciagalupe.

[DOUGHBOYS]

And for some of you old timers: The Kingfish, Rin Tin Tin (Yallll Rinny), and last but not least, Lou-Bud-Hillary Brooks-Sidney Fields-Mike the Cop-Stinky and of course Mr. Bacciagalupe.

And Sky King.

[Spartacus]

And for some of you old timers: The Kingfish, Rin Tin Tin (Yallll Rinny), and last but not least, Lou-Bud-Hillary Brooks-Sidney Fields-Mike the Cop-Stinky and of course Mr. Bacciagalupe.

And Sky King.

Yeah, I had a crush on Penny too....

[Rainiers]

Speaking of crushes, I'm not sure how you could leave Ginger and Mary Ann off the list...

[ToddZ]

I'll go relatively obscure.

in no particular order...

Buffalo Bill (Dabney Coleman) - this was on during my drinking years, so I cannot recall the plot of a single episode other than Buffalo Bill was a dick and still plugged Geena Davis, but I do remember the show cracked me up

Arthur on Larry Sanders (Rip Torn) - my favorite show of all time and it isn't really close. It was more of an ensemble cast but I loved Arthur's character the most, yes even more than "Hey Now" Hank.

Mick Belker on Hill Street Blues (Bruce Dietz) - I'm not sure I have seen anything funnier than when a rather hefty, obnoxious woman was sniffing chickens to check for freshness and Belker asked "Lady, could you pass that test?"

Spenser and Hawk (Robert Urich and Avery Brooks) - as far as shows go, it was really nothing special, but since it was set in Boston and my Dad would appear as an extra once or twice a year, I was a big fan.

Benson (Robert Guillaume) - From Soap, not his spinoff

Skippy on Family Ties (Nick Price) - oh wait, wrong list. He's #1 on my most disliked list.