LISTOMANIA

It's that time of year again where everybody does "end-of-the-year" lists or give out "Best Of The Year" awards in all sorts of categories. But since we're a TV blog, those that interest me have to do with the world of the toob.

TV.com has a list of the best supporting TV characters now up. They dictated that it would only be a list of supporting characters new this year and yet they immediately went and broke that rule with the inclusion of Big Mike from 'Chuck'. And with a pretty lame reason why. (Of course, when they asked for their readers' suggestions, they insisted that we stick by those original rules. Screw that.)

And they doubled up for one slot with both Gene Hunt and Ray Carling from the American remake of 'Life On Mars'. I'm enjoying the new version far more than I expected I would, but Harvey Keitel is no match for the memory of Philip Glenister in the original; he never should have been on this list! However, Michael Imperioli has really stamped Ray as his own, and he is a great cartoon, albeit a believable one, of the 70s detective.

Anyway, there were several new supporting characters from other shows who could have better served the terms of the rules than Big Mike. Here are just three of my suggestions:

1] Marshal Marshall Mann, 'In Plain Sight'
2] Ida, 'The Middleman'
3] Cameron, 'Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles'

Even if TV.com had some kind of prejudice against androids/cyborgs, Marshall Mann would still have been a far better choice than recycling Big Mike!

Pikers.

BCnU!
Toby O'B