Culture of Pop

The Best Characters on TV Right Now: 30-21

I’m continuing my list of the best characters on TV right now and we’re getting into the elite choices. These characters are entertaining, fascinating and entirely unique. Be sure to check out the previous installments of the list:

40-31

50-41

60-51

70-61

80-71

90-81

100-91

30. Erlich Bachman (Silicon Valley)

The one brazen, confident extrovert on Silicon Valley immediately stands out and adds some nice variety to the show’s rhythm. He’s also had possibly the best character development on the show. Season 2 saw a newly humbled Erlich, who still maintained the enthusiasm that makes him so lovable.

29. Mr. Peanutbutter (BoJack Horseman)

Mr. Peanutbutter’s goofy optimism provides a contrast to the more cynical, intellectual BoJack. But, he also continues to surprise in interesting ways. The more the show goes on, the more we see him as more than a foil and romantic competitor.

28. Dee Reynolds (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Dee-focused episodes like “The Gang Broke Dee” and “The Gang Beats Boggs” are some of the show’s best and demonstrate what an incredible comedic driving force Dee is. She’s a wonderfully odd, occasionally terrifying, occasionally relatable person who is exciting to watch every week because you never know exactly what she’ll be doing.

27. Charles Boyle (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Charles’ love and support for everyone else on his team makes him incredibly endearing. He’s hilariously quirky, while still feeling like a real human being. And his deep, deep almost-to-the-point-of-it-being-weird love of Jake makes him a great best friend character.

26. Abbi Abrams (Broad City)

Abbi is refreshingly relatbale. Her simple but brilliant delivery of “not today” became a bit of an anthem. We just want to see her succeed, yet we can’t help being hooked by the way the show cuts her down every week. What makes it all worth it is how much she appreciates the little wins in life.

25. Oliver Queen (Arrow)

Oliver is so much wonderful stuff. He’s a lovable, slightly-goofy frat boy type who through a series of events out of his control ended up being a stoic superhero who was also a murderer for a time. The writers’ did an amazing job with his character development and really brought it all together.

24. Gina Linetti (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

At first Gina seemed mostly like a vehicle for incredible one-liners, but she’s become as human and full of depth as the rest of the ensemble, while still delivering on those amazing punchlines.

23. Mac (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

It’s been 11 seasons and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still pulling back layers of Mac’s psychology. He is such a weird, repressed, sad, terrifying dude and it’s absolutely addictive television.

22. Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Rosa is hilarious and Stephanie Beatriz is great at brilliant incorporating physical comedy in with her stoic attitude. Scenes where she’s forced to be friendly or talk about feelings are always especially brilliant.

21. Pam Poovey (Archer)

The brilliance of Archer is that while they get a fair amount of comedy out of Pam being gross, she’s also confident, a great friend (and occasional great lay) to the main character and overall one of the most three-dimensional characters on TV.

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