AfterElton's Top 50 Favorite TV Characters
45. Lafayette Reynolds, True Blood (Nelsan Ellis)
[On Air: 2008-Present] Whether or not you think the show completely messed up his character this past season, from the start Lafayette was a gay character unlike any we had ever seen on television before: smart, proud, flamboyant, and very dangerous. He's the kind of queen who would cut you deep for skipping out on your bar tab ... and then bring you pecan pie and street Valium in the ER. Our kind of guy!
In recent years we saw Lafayette’s vulnerable side through his love affair with good witch
Jesus (
Kevin Alejandro), which ended - as most
True Blood romances do - in tragedy. We’ve also watched him slyly manipulate a gay bloodsucker for cash (
Eddie, played by
Stephen Root), deliver some tough love to his wayward cousin
Tara (
Rutina Wesley) and discover his own onsiderable powers as a witch. And he did it all without smudging his eyeshadow.
He’s already outlived his character in the books, and here’s to hoping that we haven’t seen the best, baddest, or ballsiest from Laffy yet.
34. Neal Caffrey, White Collar (Matt Bomer)
[On Air: 2009-present] Fans were captivated by the roguish Neal Caffrey from the moment he debuted on
White Collar in 2009. A gentleman thief in the mold of
Simon Templar,
Raffles and
Lupin, Neal's wit, charm and style, not to mention his dazzling smile and sparkling blue eyes, served him well in his life as a con man and forger. Now he uses those talents as a consultant for the FBI.
Initially possessed of a devil-may-care attitude even behind prison bars, Neal's outlook began to change when an old enemy first kidnapped and then murdered his lady love,
Kate. Always fiercely loyal to his friend
Mozzie, Neal has come to trust and value the friendship of his FBI handler
Peter and Peter's wife
Elizabeth.
And he paints and sculpts half-naked. Repeatedly.
Matt Bomer brings his own considerable charm and style to bear in full force in playing Neal, winning over male and female, gay and straight fans alike. With Bomer's recent
publicized acknowledgment of his entire family, including partner
Simon Halls, Neal Caffrey may just be what lays to rest silly notions about whether gay actors can play straight leading roles.
24. Eric Northman, True Blood (Alexander Skarsgård)
[On Air: 2008-Present] Our statuesque Viking vampire god, how we love you so. You arrived on the scene fangs-first, a long-haired badass with a naughty nightclub and a weakness for blonds who played the perfect foil (and boss) for the show’s brooding, long-suffering good guy. We love the way you take what you want without asking. We love how you banter with your sharp-tongued progeny,
Pam. And we adore your tendency to get caught with your pants down.
As the years went by, we learned more about your family (slaughtered!), your summer home (Pam memorably called it a “windy sh*thole”), and your romantic side. But just when we thought we had you pegged, a storefront witch stole your memory and you were reborn as a babe lost in the woods.
Eric, consider this an open invite to enter our house any day - windy sh*thole or no.
23. Justin Taylor, Queer as Folk (US) (Randy Harrison)
[On Air: 2000-2005] The brash twink that turns the world of Pittsburgh’s most popular partyboy Brian Kinney (
Gale Harold) upside down, Justin was TV’s first unapologetically sexual gay teenager. Sure, he had a dramatic arc over the American series’ five seasons, but a typical tortured teen he was not.
Except when it came to Brian’s elusive affections.
Justin, also known as “Sunshine” by good-hearted waitress
Debbie Novatny (
Sharon Gless),
heralded the era of the new gay teen, onscreen and off. Out and proud, he marched to his own drummer and sometimes even wrote his own tune altogether. Like
Glee’s
Kurt Hummel, he was the victim of a bully (and almost died after a savage beating in the season 1 finale). But ultimately he became a stronger, more confident character as a result — a survivor. Just like many real-life teens then and today.
22. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell)
[On Air: 2004-2007] She’s alpha-tough, snappy, emotional, and has a world of pop-culture references at her fingertips.
Veronica Mars’s
O.C. sheen and
Columbo pacing make for a strange dichotomy, the hard-bitten detective story that doubles as a teenage melodrama. Kristen Bell’s titular sleuth is a fascinating character of both genres. Her penchant for snooping is exhilarating while her inability to heal mangled friendships is believable and even heartbreaking. Personally, I’d do anything to get the dastardly
Logan Echolls back on my side too.
20. Scotty Wandell, Brothers & Sisters (Luke Macfarlane)
[On Air: 2006-2011] The other half of TV's greatest gay relationship, Scotty started out as a flaky and irresponsible cater-waiter with a penchant for bad hair and living in his car. His initial hook-up with Kevin led to a friendship that turned to love. Their relationship has survived Kevin's family, infidelity, Kevin's family, adoption drama, Kevin's family, surrogacy problems. Kevin's family. But through it all, Scotty remained good-hearted and sensitive, and was able to balance out his type A partner's rigidity, creating the greatest gay relationship in TV history.
17. Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother (Neil Patrick Harris)
[On Air: 2005-Present] Though “Suit up!” has entered the annals of instantly recognizable TV catchphrases, it’s always the perfect two-word command for summoning Barney Stinson’s gusto and conviction. Barney is dapper, hilarious, gleefully hypocritical, a self-vaunted “bro,” and one of the few people whose love of magic tricks doesn’t make us sprint for the door. It helps that
Neil Patrick Harris is perhaps the most charismatic sitcom actor of the past decade.
16. Kevin Walker, Brothers & Sisters (Matthew Rhys)
[On Air: 2006-2011] We'll be forever thankful to creator
Jon Robin Baitz for giving us the first fully formed and realistic gay male character on broadcast television. There had been gay characters prior to Kevin, sure, but on
broadcast TV at least they were either sanitized one-note characters, surreal comic creations or sad and noble victims struggling with their sexual orientation. Kevin Walker on the other hand was nobody's victim, and for the most part his orientation was a non-issue.
He had a few memorable relationships, including a closeted soap actor and a smoldering preacher, but his relationship with Scotty remains the most complete and satisfying gay relationship in TV drama history, and will probably never be matched.
15. Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory (Jim Parsons)
[On Air: 2007-Present] Though
The Big Bang Theory is a glossy CBS production with
Chuck Lorre’s ubiquitous, dictatorial name attached, it’s hard not to love the show for bringing geekdom – nutty, delirious geekdom– to the masses.
Jim Parsons’ performance as Sheldon Cooper is so convulsively wacky that we can’t even think of an older character to whom it compares. Surely
Danny Pudi’s fabulous
Abed on
Community owes something to Sheldon, but it’s more fun to think of the one-of-a-kind gifts Sheldon has given viewers, namely a believably brilliant character who can still dish spot-on humor in spite of a blindness to sarcasm.
14. Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (James Marsters)
[On Air: 1997-2003] Buffy makes a strong showing in the top 50, and it’s no surprise that bleach-blond bad boy Spike made the cut. Thanks to Marsters' sly, sexy, and unexpectedly witty take on this villainous vamp, Spike blossomed like blood in a swimming pool over the series' seven seasons and wound up having one of the most satisfying character arcs of the whole Scooby Gang.
Whether he was ruthlessly taunting the Buffster and her friends with his lady-love
Drusilla, playing house with newbie vamp
Harmony, or dealing with the anti-aggression chip planted in his brain by the Initiative, Spike was always criminally fun to watch. But it was when he fell in love with Buffy that his character really came into its own, leading to a heroic sacrifice in the final reels that left us all gasping for more.
Spike, we’d pick you over a Chaos demon any day.
12. Ianto Jones, Torchwood (Gareth David-Lloyd)
[On Air: 2006 - 2009] Ianto had a humble beginning for a man who would eventually go on to make such an impact on viewers. He may have started as a glorified butler who helped maintain the guise that the Torchwood Hub was a mere tourism office, but his strong sense of loyalty and his love for
Captain Jack Harkness would give him a lasting place in viewers' memories.
Ianto had a sweet and mild-mannered exterior, but he was also capable of holding dark secrets and keeping Captian Jack's voracious sexual appetite satiated. Sadly, just as he started becoming a more confident and active member of Torchwood, he was killed when joining Captain Jack to confront an alien menace, a death that drew the ire of fans and drove pages and pages of articles, blog posts and heated discussion threads. Years later, any mention of his death can still get people talking.
Ianto lives on in novels, radio plays and comics that explore his history between TV episodes. As long as there are
Torchwood fans, it seems likely that they'll be debating the impact his death had on the series.
11. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Alyson Hannigan)
[On Air: 1997-2003] Willow Rosenberg, for you we reserve the highest praise: We loved you even before you were a lesbian.
For years,
Buffy Summers' first Sunnydale friend got the short end of the stick (though, luckily, not the pointy one - except in an alternate universe), but trudged on as one of the more valuable but under-appreciated members of the Scooby Gang. But all her studies and patience paid off, because over time Will stepped out of the corduroy overalls to become one of the most powerful characters in the Buffyverse. Sure, she almost used that power to destroy the world a few times, but let’s chalk that up to unchecked enthusiasm.
Willow of course also went down in television history as one of the first teen characters on a mainstream show to explore her sexuality and come out as a lesbian, thanks in good part to her first girlfriend,
Tara (
Amber Benson). We love Potential-jumping Alpha Witch Willow, softer-side-of-Sears Willow, werewolf-dating bookworm Willow, darksided and “kinda gay” vampire Willow, and everything in between.
[On Air: 2005 - pending] When
Doctor Who introduced the roguish Captain Jack, it was impossible to look away. Not only did he have charm and confidence to spare, Captain Jack also had
John Barrowman's good looks and disarming swagger to reinforce the character's appeal. No matter how grim the situation, he faced every threat with determination, a sly grin and a certainty that made him a valuable ally.
The omnisexual time traveler has left an impact that goes beyond the iconic
Doctor Who franchise. He's been parodied and referenced on a variety of shows and comic writer
Peter David
named Captain Jack as an influence in how he wrote a bisexual superhero. While it's not clear when we'll see Captain Jack again, his influence will be felt for a long time.
[On Air: 1997-2003]Spider Man may have imparted the lesson that "with great power comes great responsibility," but
Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it one better: "With great power comes great fashion sense and a weakness for kicking ass in expensive shoes."
For seven seasons on two fledgling networks, reluctant hero Buffy Anne Summers grew, stumbled, loved, groused, and of course kicked a lot of vampire butt as she developed from a petulant SoCal princess to a strong, independent, wonderfully layered woman. She also died a few times along the way, but hey - nobody's perfect!
Buffy won us
over because even though she wasn't perfect, she tried her best. She didn't ask to be the savior of the human race, but when push came to shove (and kick, and roundhouse, and pile driver), she was willing to sacrifice life as a normal teenage girl in order to save us all. Her father/daughter relationship with her doting watcher,
Giles (
Anthony Stewart Head) was the emotional core of the show, but it was her close bond with her mother,
Joyce (
Kristine Sutherland) that delivered some of the series’ most stunning moments.
And come on - at one point she dated a guy who later came out as gay (
Scott). How could we not love this woman?
In the years since there have been legions of imitators, but no one will ever match the wit, strength, and just-stepped-out-of-the-salon hair that Buffy brought to the business end of Mr. Pointy.
3. Brian Kinney, Queer as Folk (US) (Gale Harold)
[On Air: 2000 - 2005] It's just a law of nature that
Queer As Folk's resident bad boy Brian Kinney will
always show up at or near the top of any favorite TV character list we ever do. Remarkable, since the sexy rogue has been off the airwaves since 2005! No doubt we'll take another favorite TV character poll in the year 2050 - and he'll still be right there in the top ten.
People just never can forget Brian. He's the king of all gay scoundrels, the patron saint of unapologetic homo hookups. For a brief period he made puka shell bracelets cool. (No mean feat). And, well, he's played by Gale Harold and so he's just ineffably hot.
Once on the show he was described as "the love child of
James Dean and
Ayn Rand." That fits, though thankfully he takes after Dean in the looks department.
[On Air: 2009 - Present] Kurt strikes a chord with many gay viewers because he reminds us of our own high school experience: the social outcast, loner or misfit.
A groundbreaking TV character on a one-of-a-kind series, Kurt has been slowly evolving out of the victim role (being thrown in a dumpster in the pilot, multiple Slushies to the face) into a more mature, stronger mentor. Witness his recent forgiveness and friendship with former bully,
Dave Karofsky (
Max Adler) for proof.
While many of Kurt’s storylines in the first two seasons of
Glee
revolved around his sexual orientation (and they sometimes still do) his character has become more well-rounded and is currently looking hopefully toward the future — life after high school. Kurt is a hopeful sign of the future for many of today’s gay teens: It may be a long, rough journey, but it
will get better.
