Characters Welcome

It apparently started with screenwriter James Gunn choosing what he says have been the 24 all-time best characters on television, a roster that includes Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk), Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) of Prime Suspect, and Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) of HBO’s The Wire, along with such memorable players as Deadwood’s Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), Get Smart’s Maxwell Smart (Don Adams), and Reverend Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd) from Taxi.

But then Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame, decided to pitch in his own two cents, issuing a rival rundown of two dozen all-time greats, with little crossover. Crime-fiction-related figures making Whedon’s cut are Detective Michael “Mick” Belker (Bruce Weitz) from Hill Street Blues, Dr. R. Quincy (Jack Klugman, shown at right) from Quincy, M.E., Frank McPike (Jonathan Banks) from Wiseguy, Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) from Law & Order, and Lieutenant Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) from the terrific Crime Story.

At least Whedon seems more familiar than Gunn with television’s abundant selection of fictional detectives, private eyes, and amateur sleuths. But they both failed to acknowledge Jim Rockford (James Garner) of The Rockford Files, or Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner) of It Takes a Thief. And what about the impeccably dressed, umbrella-wielding John Steed (Patrick Macnee) of The Avengers? Or police chief Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr) of Ironside? Or the smoother than smooth Thomas Banacek (George Peppard) of, well, you know, Banacek? Or aw-shucksing Billy Jim Hawkins (Jimmy Stewart) from the 1973-1973 series Hawkins? What of Tony Shalhoub’s obsessive Adrian Monk, or Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes, or Sharon Gless’ emotionally fragile Chris Cagney from Cagney & Lacey? And I can hardly believe that neither of these astute authorities mentioned Endeavor Morse (John Thaw) from Britain’s Inspector Morse series. As far as true characters go, I’d also have to throw into the mix Hec Ramsey (Richard Boone, shown below), the gunfighter-turned-crime solver who tried to bring crude forensic science to a cruder Oklahoma town at the turn of the last century, in the 1972-1974 NBC Mystery Movie series Hec Ramsey.

Going beyond series protagonists, a list of noteworthy crime-fiction characters shouldn’t neglect that cowardly con man Evelyn “Angel” Martin (Stuart Margolin) from The Rockford Files. Or the menacing Hawk (Avery Brooks) from Spenser: For Hire. Or Russian secret agent Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum) of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. fame. Or even Lieutenant Murray Quint (Clifton James) from the too-short-lived 1976 series City of Angels, as reprehensible and slovenly a Depression-era L.A. cop as has ever been brought to the small screen. Also, though I was never a Starsky and Hutch fan, I’d have a hard time leaving Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas) off any list of the most colorful TV crime-fiction figures.

It seems to me that, while Messrs. Gunn and Whedon have practiced eyes for spotting uncommon TV talent, in general (Deadwood’s magnetic Swearengen, Josh Lyman [Bradley Whitford] of The West Wing, and Titus Polo [Ray Stevenson] of Rome are all splendid choices), they’re neither old enough--at 36 and 32, respectively--to understand the intricate history of televised crime fiction nor, particularly in the case of Gunn, sufficiently attuned to the breadth of mystery-related characters to choose, definitively, which have risen the furthest above the ordinary. I mean, to pick 24’s dimension-challenged Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) or Klugman’s too-earnest Quincy over Jim Rockford or Brett’s Sherlock demonstrates that neither judge in this case did a whole lot of cogitating before posting their lists on the Internet.

Characters don’t have to drive wooden stakes through the hearts of vampires (like the lovely Buffy Summers) or be whining “Peter Pan” types (like Ray Barone of Everybody Loves Raymond) in order to be appreciated by audiences; nor must they jump around on couches (yes, we’re talking about you, Tom Cruise) or fart for laughs in front of new aides, in imitation of America’s frat-boy president, to be noticed. More often, characters win followings because they’re complexly drawn, and demonstrate a capacity for change and growth; or else they attract because of their determination to usurp the conventions of society. One or more of those traits fit all of the players I have mentioned here.

Maybe the next time Whedon, Gunn, or anyone else thinks to assemble a list of television’s greatest characters, they’ll pay a modicum more attention to the myriad colorful figures--working both sides of the law--who’ve made TV crime series so damn popular over the last half century.