Monday, February 11, 2008

responses to your responses

So my list of the Top 10 TV Characters of All-Time has generated some heated debate here on teacher man. I feel it's my responsibility to address all of your concerns:

1. Obviously, I loved Ed as much as the next guy. As indicated in my preface, this was a nearly-impossible list to make. However, I stand firm. And Ed would never be the choice from that show--3rd at best. Phil would easily be #1, and he would be followed closely by Mike. If Frankie hadn't turned out to be such a freakshow, she would have been 3rd. Maybe Shirley. Man, that was a great show.

2. Michael over Dwight? Really? I suppose you're entitled to your opinion, but that's a crazy one. What about Schrute bucks? What about Cousin Mose? What about Jim's pranks? What about the health care plan? What about Dwight Schrute trivia? What about "Okay, see you later Pan"? What about how 911 is his emergency contact? What about how he can raise and lower his cholestorol on command? What about how he volunteers to hold the limbo stick for Captain Jack? And I thought of all of those in like two minutes!

3. The reason Swarley is at 8 is that I'm afraid putting him higher would be reactionary. Like when I made my Top 10 CD and I put "Carry This Picture," by Dashboard Confessional, on there. That was ridiculous--I see that now. But at the time, I loved that song. I almost debated whether B.S. should be on the list at all, but he shouldn't be punished for being awesome now rather than 15 years ago. (Come to think of it, he was awesome 15 years ago--hence Doogie's inclusion on the list.)

4. Again, this was a difficult list, and I really like Sports Night. But I just don't know where any of those characters fit. (If you looked closely, Isaac Jaffe was on the Honorable Mention list--he would be my top choice, I think. Just above Jeremy.) But was he a better character than Barney Stinson? Rose Nylund? Frank Barone? It's debatable, I guess, but as I said before, I stand firm.

5. I totally don't remember the Schrute bucks episode. I even looked it up online, and the whole thing seems foreign to me. Is it possible I missed it? I don't know how. This is unsettling.

Later gators.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Silly. Any of the Sports Night characters would be a better choice than anything else on television - particularly Isaac Jaffe, or Dan Rydell. Why not both?

Anonymous said...

hi.
so, here is the deal.
i loved your list of characters. except for one. i would replace the dad from Seinfeld with Niles Crane from FRASIER.

i think that Niles is perhaps the perfect combination of smart humor and snark.

thats all.

Anonymous said...

The Schrute bucks hilarity happened during the finale last year! (You remember the finale, right? The one where Jim asked out Pam? The one where Michael interviewed for Jan's job? The one where Michael played the Natalie Merchant song as he left the office?). If you remember it, I'll give you a Stanley Nickel.

So, are you basically saying that in 15 years you're pretty sure you're going to find it "ridiculous" that Swarley is on your list? Somehow, I think his awesomeness will translate into the year 2023. I bet Future Ted and Future Marshall would agree with me.

Anonymous said...

You are crazy! The Schrute bucks was the finale of last season - when Michael left the office to Dwight when he interviewed in NY. Maybe you were off at a baseball game... BUT we do have the DVD's...

PS - I LOVE Ed!!

Claire said...

You must see the Schrute bucks episode. The only thing more freakish than regular Dwight is Dwight with power. And if I were to make a top 10 list of anything at this moment, it would be the top 10 pranks Jim played on Dwight. Number two would be dressing up as him - "Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica." - and number one would be moving his desk into the bathroom, because Dwight answering the phone in there made me laugh so hard I cried.

I agree about the Sports Night characters. You KNOW I love that show more than is healthy, but I'm not sure there are any I'd single out as a top 10-worthy character.

And it really is too bad that Frankie turned out to be a freak on Ed. Sigh.

The Ben Show said...

Okay, you're right on Ed. I would have put Mike over Ed - scratch that, I would have put Warren P. Cheswick over them both! He was the best part! And long before he dated Drew Barrymore and started using Macs.

You probably didn't miss the Schrute buck episode... It was last season's finale when Michael thought he was going to get the job at corporate and Dwight painted his office black...