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What is a dedicated television viewer to do? The meme has been done by The Man himself, so I had to participate. via.

So here’s what happened: Slither director (and Jenna “Pam from The Office” Fischer husband) James Gunn wrote a list of his 25 favorite TV characters ever. (Yes, Pam was on it.) Now, Gunn is on the radar of Joss Whedon fans because he cast good old Nathan Fillion (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly and Serenity) in Slither. So naturally, they took note of the list… and were shocked to find Captain Mal scandalously omitted.

This kicked up some dust on Whedonesque, and eventually resulted in Joss himself lightheartedly weighing in with a rival list.

My own criteria is that I will not choose two characters from any one show and while they’re numbered here, they’re in no particular order. Please note that this list has taken me days to put together, and I’m sure I’ll change my mind a few seconds after I post. But what are blogs and memes if not an arbitrary task designed to capture a moment of your life? Ooooh, deep.

1. Jon Stewart, The Daily Show — Since I’m pretty sure his persona on the show isn’t quite him, I’m calling him a “character” and being done with it. He’s so smart and funny and BRILLIANT, and it comes through.
2. Gob Bluth, Arrested Development — Does anyone make you want to both listen to him in horror and slap a piece of duct tape over his mouth more than Gob? COME ON!
3. Jack Bristow, Alias — Spy Daddy pwns you. Even when the show went to hell, Spy Daddy was the devil who didn’t get lost in the details.
4. Jesse Spano, Saved By the Bell — “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so…scared!”
5. Chris Griffin, Family Guy — I’m a sucker for anyone who manages to fit in musical moments to a non-musical show. Two of my favorite Family Guy moments involve Chris: falling into the A-Ha video and the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” Peace Corp jiggery pokery.
6. Steven Hyde, That 70s Show — He’s mean and mostly emotionless. I love that!
7. Captain Mal Reynolds, Firefly — Seriously. How do you not love him? The snark, the pathos, the (often) misguided honor. A big damn hero.
8. Special Agent Doctor Dana Scully, The X-Files — Sure. Fine. Whatever. No one else could ask about the scientific nature of the whammy and deal with the nut that is Mulder at the same time.
9. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, Battlestar Galactica — It’s not like it was easy to choose just one character from this gorgeous show. Starbuck is awesome because she, like the rest of the characters and the Cylons, are so very human. Also, watch this woman roll her eyes or raise her eyebrows. She clearly learned at the altar of Dana Scully.
10. Doris Schwartz, Fame — Doris didn’t fit in, but she did just enough. I identified with her, but she repelled me. That’s hard work. Also, few people wore legwarmers as badly as she did during the height of the legwarmer phase.
11. Virgil “Web” Webster, The Inside — Bryan and I were two of about 30 people who watched this show, but it was awesome. Web absolutely gave me the creeps, but I still wanted him to succeed.
12. Shane McCutcheon, The L Word — I’ve seen about an episode and a half of this show. I had to google for the character’s last name. I’m smitten. Yeow.
13. Nate Fisher, Six Feet Under — I hated him! Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to punch him. But I kept watching because I wanted to hate him some more while hoping he’d do something so I could like him just a little bit.
14. Drusilla, Buffy the Vampire Slayer — What? You thought I was going to say it was Faith. I know. But c’mon! Seeing Dru (and Spike) for the first time was the moment when I knew that Joss was, in fact, going to own me.
15. Marlena (Evans) Brady, Days of Our Lives — When I was 7 and watching Days with my mom, no one was cooler than Marlena. Roman! John Black! Aieee!
16. Laura Holt, Remington Steele — The brains behind the Bond, so to speak. She was so smart and was always coming up with the answers, which I liked. Plus she was the grown-up version of those kids on 3-2-1 Contact, so it proved it was possible to stay that clever.
17. Chandler Bing, Friends — Could he be any funnier? After he and Monica got married, I think he caught a case of the boring, but whether Chandler or Ms. Chanandler Bong, he was the punchline personified.
18. Punky Brewster, Punky Brewster — Mismatched socks? Check. Bandana around leg? Check. Playing hide and go seek and your friend gets locked in a fridge just after you’ve coincidentally learned CPR? Check!
19. Wesley Wyndham Price, Angel — Seriously. He went from being a ponce to being a bad ass. “I’ll take away your bucket.” Rawr.
20. Laura Petrie, The Dick Van Dyke Show — I came to this show late. Not just because I was approximately -17 when it debuted, but also because I didn’t have vable tv and Nick at Nite until I was in college. Her smile turned the world on…no, wait, wrong show.
21. Chris Stevens, Northern Exposure — First of all, he’s played by the hottie John Corbett, and secondly he had the most amazing curiosity and wonder for the world.
22. Jaye Tyler, Wonderfalls — Jesus, how can this show be cancelled. HOW? If this show had been on when I was in junior high, I would have modeled my life around her and changed my name.
23. Dr. Perry Cox, Scrubs — hahahahahahahahahahaha! Every word from this man’s mouth is gold.
24. Jerri Blank, Strangers With Candy — You know, Bryan didn’t like this show. Jerri was too sexy or something. But now he’s seen the light and knows the sweet rapture that is Jerri and Amy Sedaris.
25. Velma Dinkley, Scooby Doo — I quit tap dancing lessons to stay home and watch Velma lose her glasses. I identify waaaaay too much.