Cast articles

Last week, an epistle from the TV cranny listed the 10 most irritating people (TV-related). Nothing better than a good blast of exasperation at the boneheads and egotists. And, as the great Jose Mourinho, soccer boss and natty dresser, declared recently, “Even Jesus Christ wasn't liked by everyone. What hope is there for me?” So, you know, the boneheads probably won't pay the slightest bit of attention.

But fair's fair. There are people we like. There are people we are pleased to welcome into our homes day after day, week after week and year after year. We feel we know some of them better than we know family members and friends. There are people who cheer us up. There are fictional characters we identify with, or feel sorry for. We are decent people and we appreciate those who brighten our little lives or let loose the wuss in us. Herewith, the 10 most endearing people (TV-related).

1. Dr. House (Hugh Laurie). Horrible man. Hotshot doctor. Know-it-all, sociopath. Vindictive and moody as all get out. But a man who has said “Humanity is overrated” and “Reality is almost always wrong” can't be all bad. Millions watch him every week because he's actually adorable. Hopeless with women, awkward with children, and obviously a lonely, tortured soul.

2. Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). Oh, that poor woman. Her clothes get tighter each season. You wonder how she can move in those pencil skirts and heels. You want to tell her, “Yes, you're skinny and you're hot. Quit worrying.” And then there's the endless taunts and tortured flirting from House. As when Cuddy said to House, “Do you have anything to add to this debate?” and House said, “Wilson's right, Foreman's wrong, your shirt is way too revealing for the office.” And House was hallucinating about having sex with her. Poor woman.

3. Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) on Glee . Track-suit wearing, bossy crank who controls the Cheerios cheerleading team. (According to Fox, she was named cheerleading coach of the decade by Splits magazine.) The blunt counterpoint to any niceness and joy in Glee . But, by heavens, a speaker of truth: “Not everyone's going to have the walnuts to take a pro-littering stance, but I will not rest until every inch of our fair state is covered in garbage. That's why I pay taxes. It keeps garbage men working so they can afford tacos. To feed their families.”

4. Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) on True Blood . She's the most perfectly realized teenage character on TV. Made a vampire by Bill Compton, she both loves and loathes her new state. Swears a blue streak when annoyed. Alternately flirty and vicious with boys. On being told she was now a vampire, declared, “I can kill anybody I want, and there's an awful lot of people I'd like to kill.”

5. Amanda Lang. Puts up with mouthy multimillionaire Kevin “I'm just trying to scratch a living here” O'Leary on the utterly ridiculous Lang & O'Leary Exchange on CBC News Network. The woman is slumming on that thing. When she anchored The National recently and was obliged to do it standup style, the fingers on her left hand kept moving to and fro, to and fro. Only emphasized the awkwardness of the new format.

6. Deb Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) on Dexter . A dame. Looks like she buys all her clothes at Wal-Mart and wears stuff straight from the dryer. Drops the F-word with aplomb. A true cynic: “When things are going good, that's God's way of saying to cover your ass. 'Cause it's about to get bit. Hard.” And we all know that Carpenter is married to Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter. Cuteness in abundance.

7. Claire Martin. Actually sounds like she understands the weather stuff. A virtuoso with the arm ballet. Makes Pastor Mansbridge grin like a goof. If only they'd just let her do the weather for Canada, not the weather mini-factoids.

8. Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) on 24 . Computer geek and genius. Champion sulker. One withering glance from her and you're a puddle on the floor. As deadly with sarcasm as Jack Bauer is with a handgun. One time, that flibbertigibbet Kim (Jack's daughter) says to Chloe, “So how have you been doing?” Chloe says, “This morning I woke up with a guy in my bed that I doubt I'm ever going to see again, and one of my best friends just died in front of me. So, I guess, not that great.”

9. Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) on Being Erica. The bad-luck babe. With jobs and with men. Not strange, though: utterly ordinary in the best way. An underachiever you want to succeed. You really, really want her to tell Dr. Tom (Michael Riley) to stop already with the quotations.

10 (tie). Pete and Penny. This is just me. Pete and Penny are two penguins who appeared recently on Animal House Calls on CP 24. Cutest couple of critters you've ever seen. Deserve their own show. Pronto.

Also airing:

Deck The Halls (CTV, 8 p.m.) is about "recently widowed Holly (Gabrielle Carteris), who returns to her home town with her eight-year-old son Ben (Josh Hayden) to start a new life and a new job at her father’s toy company. A mysterious co-worker (Stephen Culp), who her son thinks is really Santa Claus, teaches her the true meaning of Christmas.” Hey, it could happen.

Frontline: The Madoff Affair (PBS, 9 p.m.) is a repeat, but worth your time if you missed it. It’s a scathing look at how Bernard L. Madoff’s investment business managed to operate with little oversight and few questions. It was, of course, a Ponzi scheme of colossal scope that cost investors billions. As the program says, “Overnight, Madoff became the new poster child for Wall Street gall, greed and corruption.” A reminder that awfulness exists under our noses.