by cmsellers » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:44 am
Looking over that list, it's weird I was ever that into Clara Oswald, even if I knew better than to actually count her among my favorites. I think my contrarian instincts may have driven that. She's not as bad as people made her out to be, but not as good as I did either.
I've watched a lot more shows since then, but there are two characters I now have a strong impulse to add.
First is Grandma "Jenny" Huang from Fresh Off The Boat, because she is just an amazing character, over-the-top, but in a good way. I'm kind of amazed she hasn't made either of my earlier lists, given I already watched that show, but maybe she got more compelling over two years.
The second is Maureen Murphy from F is For Family. There are a lot of "precocious younger sister" characters, and with the exception of Lisa Simpson (who is nowhere near favorite character status for me), they are mostly really forgettable. However Maureen feels like a real person, if a smart one, and is also very well-developed.
There are also three characters who I like but never brought up, likely because I've spent the past seven years plus hating myself and they remind me of myself in (very different) ways. They are Diane Nguyen from Bojack Horseman, Brick Heck from The Middle, and Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Diane because she was ambitious, cynical, and deeply depressed, Brick because he is one of the best portrayals of an autistic character on TV (though never diagnosed as such), and Charlie Kelly because he's a complete weirdo, but a lot of his quirks are relatable to me, also a complete weirdo.