WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!
Matt's Picks:
Buffy Summers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The WB & UPN
Portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar
I know Jay would agree. Joss Whedon's heroine Buffy Summers (first introduced in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which Joss did not consider to his liking the way the film was handled) is one of the best heroes (let alone, female heroes) to ever grace the TV screen! In fact, I almost feel sorry for those who laugh off the show as merely some teen fantasy show about monsters. The show is so much more! Gellar's performance as Buffy is one of the best portrayals of a person presented with many obstacles throughout their life. For those not in the know, Buffy is the one Slayer, the one girl who is chosen to fight and destroy vampires and demons -- a job which has no reward, recognition or peace. She is the perfect blend of tough and vulnerable that makes a great hero. But, what's more, Buffy -- although a leader -- is not always right and it takes her closest friends to show her that. She admires and loves her friends, treats them like family, but makes the difficult choices when she has to -- even if it means dying for the greater good. When Whedon created Buffy, he broke the mold and set a standard that many have not been able to capture in a long time ... if ever since!
Sure, the show may have only survived 14 episodes but they are the best TV has offered in a long time and has not been matched since, as well as spawning a feature film, Serenity. Another notch in creator Joss Whedon's oeuvre, Firefly features one of the most unlikely groups to be a surrogate family. And at the head of the table is flawed hero Malcolm Reynolds. He is completely his own worst enemy as the ghosts of his past keep him from enjoying his present. But don't go thinking he is some brooding, tortured soul. Quite the contrary, Mal is happy and content with what he does for a living: a thief and smuggler (think as if Han Solo had his own series). Nevertheless, he does things like naming his spaceship, Serenity -- a Firefly-class freighter ship -- after the final battle he and his soldiers lost in the war for independence: The Battle of Serenity Valley; and as many badasses as he faces down, he can't quite utter his true feelings to the woman he loves. But he is loyal to his crew/surrogate family, and has no qualms about killing a bad bounty hunter. My favorite thing about Mal is that even though he is tough, he's not the toughest around, and he is a funny-yet-serious character who I'd love to hang out with!
Orphan Black is, hands down, one of the best shows on TV right now! Show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson found a hidden talent when they cast Tatiana Maslany as the lead. Maslany stars as Sarah Manning, a troubled young woman who returns to her hometown city (shot in Toronto, Canada) to get back her young daughter and start a new life together with stolen money from her drug dealer ex-boyfriend. However, she sees a woman who looks identical to herself commit suicide by walking in front of a moving train, and steals her identity with the hopes of gaining some additional cash. What comes with stealing the dead woman's identity is a journey down the "rabbithole," discovering a conspiracy in which she is a part of a genetic cloning program, meaning she has several clones of herself -- albeit, all with different personalities -- all throughout North America and Europe. Manning is another flawed hero but a hero nonetheless. With the help of her foster brother, Felix, and two of her clones, Manning attempts to keep her daughter safe as well as get to the bottom of who cloned her and why. The best thing about the series is watching Manning's transformation from a selfish character to one who selflessly helps others, all while trying to get to the bottom of who's truly after her and her daughter, and why. The show has so many twists and turns that it is difficult to figure out who is on Manning's side and who is the enemy.
Jack Bauer is the closest thing to a real-life hero on the screen than we have seen in a long time. When the series begins, Bauer seems like a normal cop-like character with a wife and teenage daughter. And what starts off as a night searching for his runaway daughter soon turns into the day from hell as he most prevent an assassination attempt on a presidential nominee. From that season on, Bauer must overcome many terrorist plots as well as the betrayal of many colleagues he once considered friends -- even his own family! The great thing about Bauer is that he does what needs to be done to do what's best for the country. However, he has no political motivations behind his actions. He simply is good for the sake of being good. He sees the "big picture," often having to sacrifice himself or those he loves for the greater good of the country ... even if he does what some believe to be wrong; he makes mistakes (many of them); he laughs; he cries; he cusses (DAMNIT!!!); he has relationships -- good and bad (mostly the latter). In other words, he's human -- in every sense of the word. And there's no one else you'd rather go on the ride of continuous nailbiting, cliffhanger episodes/seasons with than with him!
"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home …"
The thing I find most heroic about Dr. Sam Beckett is his humanity. Sure, he's a scientific genius who creates a time machine with which he can randomly leap through time as different people. But in no way is he really a tough guy nor does he possess any special skills. The greatest thing Beckett does have throughout his travels is his ability to do the right thing. He selflessly gives of himself "to put right what once went wrong" even though he is put in some of the most inconvenient situations ... and people. Watching Quantum Leap, I remember always feeling this grand sense of accomplishment from doing good -- even though it wasn't me doing the saving and merely a TV show. But I felt like watching Beckett and taking in his moral lessons made me a better person. And when I recently re-watched the series, I still felt that same emotion! Beckett does what's right not because of the particular way a person is, but because they are a person. He sees beauty in all humanity and does not grow jaded despite all of the ugliness he often sees. If anything, it only makes him appreciate life and his outlook even more.
Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
Firefly - FOX
Portrayed by Nathan Fillion
Sure, the show may have only survived 14 episodes but they are the best TV has offered in a long time and has not been matched since, as well as spawning a feature film, Serenity. Another notch in creator Joss Whedon's oeuvre, Firefly features one of the most unlikely groups to be a surrogate family. And at the head of the table is flawed hero Malcolm Reynolds. He is completely his own worst enemy as the ghosts of his past keep him from enjoying his present. But don't go thinking he is some brooding, tortured soul. Quite the contrary, Mal is happy and content with what he does for a living: a thief and smuggler (think as if Han Solo had his own series). Nevertheless, he does things like naming his spaceship, Serenity -- a Firefly-class freighter ship -- after the final battle he and his soldiers lost in the war for independence: The Battle of Serenity Valley; and as many badasses as he faces down, he can't quite utter his true feelings to the woman he loves. But he is loyal to his crew/surrogate family, and has no qualms about killing a bad bounty hunter. My favorite thing about Mal is that even though he is tough, he's not the toughest around, and he is a funny-yet-serious character who I'd love to hang out with!
Sarah Manning
Orphan Black - BBC America
Portrayed by Tatiana Maslany
Orphan Black is, hands down, one of the best shows on TV right now! Show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson found a hidden talent when they cast Tatiana Maslany as the lead. Maslany stars as Sarah Manning, a troubled young woman who returns to her hometown city (shot in Toronto, Canada) to get back her young daughter and start a new life together with stolen money from her drug dealer ex-boyfriend. However, she sees a woman who looks identical to herself commit suicide by walking in front of a moving train, and steals her identity with the hopes of gaining some additional cash. What comes with stealing the dead woman's identity is a journey down the "rabbithole," discovering a conspiracy in which she is a part of a genetic cloning program, meaning she has several clones of herself -- albeit, all with different personalities -- all throughout North America and Europe. Manning is another flawed hero but a hero nonetheless. With the help of her foster brother, Felix, and two of her clones, Manning attempts to keep her daughter safe as well as get to the bottom of who cloned her and why. The best thing about the series is watching Manning's transformation from a selfish character to one who selflessly helps others, all while trying to get to the bottom of who's truly after her and her daughter, and why. The show has so many twists and turns that it is difficult to figure out who is on Manning's side and who is the enemy.
Jack Bauer
24 - FOX
Portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland
Jack Bauer is the closest thing to a real-life hero on the screen than we have seen in a long time. When the series begins, Bauer seems like a normal cop-like character with a wife and teenage daughter. And what starts off as a night searching for his runaway daughter soon turns into the day from hell as he most prevent an assassination attempt on a presidential nominee. From that season on, Bauer must overcome many terrorist plots as well as the betrayal of many colleagues he once considered friends -- even his own family! The great thing about Bauer is that he does what needs to be done to do what's best for the country. However, he has no political motivations behind his actions. He simply is good for the sake of being good. He sees the "big picture," often having to sacrifice himself or those he loves for the greater good of the country ... even if he does what some believe to be wrong; he makes mistakes (many of them); he laughs; he cries; he cusses (DAMNIT!!!); he has relationships -- good and bad (mostly the latter). In other words, he's human -- in every sense of the word. And there's no one else you'd rather go on the ride of continuous nailbiting, cliffhanger episodes/seasons with than with him!
Sam Beckett
Quantum Leap - NBC
Portrayed by Scott Bakula
"Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home …"
The thing I find most heroic about Dr. Sam Beckett is his humanity. Sure, he's a scientific genius who creates a time machine with which he can randomly leap through time as different people. But in no way is he really a tough guy nor does he possess any special skills. The greatest thing Beckett does have throughout his travels is his ability to do the right thing. He selflessly gives of himself "to put right what once went wrong" even though he is put in some of the most inconvenient situations ... and people. Watching Quantum Leap, I remember always feeling this grand sense of accomplishment from doing good -- even though it wasn't me doing the saving and merely a TV show. But I felt like watching Beckett and taking in his moral lessons made me a better person. And when I recently re-watched the series, I still felt that same emotion! Beckett does what's right not because of the particular way a person is, but because they are a person. He sees beauty in all humanity and does not grow jaded despite all of the ugliness he often sees. If anything, it only makes him appreciate life and his outlook even more.
Jay's Picks:
Buffy Summers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The WB & UPN
Portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar
Matt is right, I do agree. Buffy is one the most compelling heroes that has ever graced the small screen. When he created her, Joss Whedon said he was thinking of all those typical horror/slasher flicks where the monster/killer is chasing the bubbly blonde cheerleader through the dark alley while she screams for her life. He thought what if that stereotypical girl turned and faced her attacker and fought back, kicking his ass for good measure? The Slayer was born. One girl in all the world with the strength and power to fight the vampires and other "creatures of the night." But, besides all of that, what the show was at its heart was a realistic portrayal of a girl's coming-of-age, through friendship, loss, love and everything else a normal teenager experiences. Just throw in a lot of demon slaying. Gellar was perfect in the role, giving Buffy both a vulnerability and a strength that is an inspiration to young girls everywhere. She never sacrificed what made her feminine in order to be the hero.
Raylan Givens
Justified - FX
Portrayed by Timothy Olyphant
I am often drawn to the flawed hero and I would argue that there is no other protagonist on TV that is more so than U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens. Forced to return to his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky, after he guns down a Miami mobster, Raylan is very good at what he does. To call him a bad-ass would be an understatement. But in his personal life he is a mess. Friends and lovers alike are often let down by him. He manages to break up his ex-wife's new marriage and get her pregnant as well. She ends up leaving him again anyway. His dad, a local lowlife himself, cooperates in an attempt on Raylan's life. His boss and fellow Marshalls are frequently frustrated by his actions. But when it comes to dealing with fugitives and other bottom feeders, there is no one better. Season 2 of this show is one of the best story arcs you will ever see in any show. If you haven't checked it out, what are you waiting for?
Special Agent Dale Cooper
Twin Peaks - ABC
Portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan
I know Matt is not a fan, but at its peak, Twin Peaks was a cultural phenomenon. Much of its success has to be attributed to the fantastic performance by MacLachlan as FBI Agent Dale Cooper. Sent to the small town of Twin Peaks to investigate the brutal murder of a local popular teenager named Laura Palmer, Cooper is not your normal detective-on-the-trail-of-the-killer. He is eccentric, quirky, highly intelligent, goofy, spiritual and absolutely obsessed with a good cup of coffee and a delicious piece of pie. David Lynch and Mark Frost created a show that straddled the lines between police procedural, supernatural horror and prime time soap opera and Cooper was the guy that anchored the whole show. From talking into his mini cassette recorder to the never-seen "Diane," to looking awe-struck at the brilliant Douglas Firs that populate the landscape, to facing down the darkness that threatens to engulf more citizens of this idyllic community, Dale broke the mold for what most consider to be the typical hero.
The Doctor
Doctor Who - BBC
Portrayed, in the rebooted series, by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi
For over 50 years, the Doctor has been saving Earth and in many occasions the entire universe on the BBC's long-running show, Doctor Who. While I do not claim to be a devotee of the classic series, I have become a big fan of the rebooted series started by Russell T. Davies in 2005. The last surviving Time Lord, a race of aliens that attained mastery over time and space, the Doctor travels across eons of time with his ship, the TARDIS. It is a time machine that is supposed to disguise itself as something unassuming but through a malfunction it is stuck in the shape of a blue police box. The Doctor also has the ability to regenerate if he ever dies, which is why so many different actors have played him over the years. My personal favorite Doctor was David Tennant who played the Time Lord for three seasons before giving way to Matt Smith's 11th Doctor. What I love about this hero mostly is his relationships with his companions, the human friends he takes with him on his journeys. He's a lonely man who has lived for hundreds of years and his need for a personal connection is one of the things that drives him the most. He never uses a gun, but instead always manages to outthink his adversaries. I'm sure he will continue to defend the universe for many years to come.
Will Graham
Hannibal - NBC
Portrayed by Hugh Dancy
Hannibal has been one of the biggest surprises in television for me. I had very low expectations for another rehash of what I felt was already covered ground. But show creator Bryan Fuller has proved again why he is one of the most unique show runners in the business by infusing the series with a wholly unique visual flair and a deeply psychological plot. Dancy's portrayal of FBI behavioral profiler, Will Graham, is certainly a revelation. His take on the character, which had already been performed by both William Peterson in Manhunter and Edward Norton in Red Dragon, is much more unhinged. He is clearly a man that is gifted with an almost preternatural ability to get into the head of a killer through examining a crime scene. But this gift comes at a price as he slips further and further into a psychosis that makes the viewer believe he is almost capable of the same atrocities that his quarries are. Graham does have a strong moral code, though, and his revulsion of the things he sees comes through, despite how unbalanced he is. The cat-and-mouse game he plays with his psychologist, Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelson), is the core of the show and while he often is clearly outmatched by the clever cannibal, he knows that the doctor's ego and insanity will eventually lead to his capture.
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