"+A final nod to Sherlock Holmes I won't spoil here..."

I think you just bascially spoiled it in at least three different ways, Obi.

(But perhaps I am wrong. I haven't seen it yet. Don't tell me.)

For me:

House,
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett's),
Picard,
Spock,
Josh Lyman (The West Wing),
President Bartlet (The West Wing),
Daria (From...Daria...and there, the Sausage Fest is broken up),
The Brain (Pinky and the Brain...oh, what a role model he was a kid...) ;)

@Alderian:

Actually, watch those last 5 episodes...they all make a good, long, last story arc together...

The finale might be OK by itself, but without that arc...yeah, there's a couple things you need to know going in, and besides, the whole thing builds and builds (the penultimate episode, actually, last week was such a great one I wondered how they could top the situation they left them all in, and a couple before that, we get another great House/Wilson "roadtrip" episode, which was great when they did it with the Coma Guy and probably the only good thing to come out of Season 5, that roadtrip in that one and the story we get as to how Wilson and House first met.)

So yeah--have a mini-marathon night, or space them out, serial-style, one night over 5 days or so, but I'd recommend watching all those last 4 or 5 leading up to the finale.

@semck:

Well, I immediately said "Well, either this is ___ or they're pulling another Holmes reference here to ___"...

I don't know if it's too obvious, I guess, watch it and then tell me if that totally ruined it? (If so, sorry--I'm just an ass, I guess...ah, my favorite ass on TV is now retired...I went through high school and community college with this show, it'll feel weird, not having it on live, but oh well--as TNG's great finale says, "All Great Things...")

I'll go with

Niles Crane
Adrian Monk
Dewey Wilkerson
Kevin Arnold
Archie Bunker
Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)
Mary Richards
Lieutenant Frank Columbo

No problem, Obiwan, you've got me sufficiently confused now I guess. ; )

Actually, scratch Richards and replace with Horace Rumpole.

Thanks obi, will do.

In no particular order:

Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) from Damages
Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) from Frasier
Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) from The Thick of It
Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) from Archer
Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) from House
Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) from Game of Thrones
Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) from Dexter
Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) from Happy Days

Hmmm...I've actually never seen Fraiser, but I know Kelsey Grammar and he's awesome...

Maybe I'll make that my "Summer Show" to watch with the class-free time transitioning between colleges this summer.

I'm pretty sure you'd love it, Obi.

I'm not going to make a top 8 right now, but i do second Tyrion Lannister!

obi, you would love Frasier. He is every bit as pompous as you about things that don't matter : )

You can watch it all on Netflix. Probably the most economical way to watch it.

If you really had nothing to do with your time, you could watch 11 seasons of Cheers followed by 11 seasons of Frasier.

Little Pete Wrigley (Adventures of Pete and Pete)
John Locke (Lost)
Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Jerri Blank (Strangers With Candy)
Michael Bluth (AD)
Hank Kingsley (Larry Sanders)
Tom Servo (MST3K)
Bubbles (Trailer Park Boys)

Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Desmond Hume (LOST)
Buster Bluth (Arrested Development)
Zim (Invader Zim)
Frank Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
John Locke (LOST)
Randy Marsh (South Park)
Sydney Bristow (Alias)

Dr. Gregory House
Walter Bishop (Fringe)
Olivia Dunham (Fringe)
Detective Nick Burkhardt (Grimm)
John Adams (John Adams...HBO miniseries counts as TV)
Leo McGarry (The West Wing)
Dr. Diego "Doc" Soto (Alcatraz)
The Joker (Batman: The Animated Series)

Drs. Crane (Kelsey Grammer & David Hyde Pierce) from Frasier
Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) from House
Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) & Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) from Game of Thrones
Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) from LOST
Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) from Law and Order
Zoidberg (voiced by Billy West) from Futurama
Denny Crane (William Shatner) from Boston Legal
Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) from Community

I doubled up a few from the same show.

Oh I also want to add

Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and Burton Guster (Dule Hill) from Psych.

Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead)
Rowdy Yates (Rawhide)
Captain "Bubba" Skinner (In the Heat of the Night (TV series))
Archie Bunker (All in the Family)
Chief Bill Gillespie (In the Heat of the Night (TV series))
Cullen Bohannon (Hell on Wheels)
Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)
Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-O)

In no particular order...

John Locke (Lost)
Gregory House
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett's as well)
Adrian Monk
Doctor Who (the character is fascinating no matter which actor plays him)
Hercules Poirot (David Suchet's)
Abby Sciuto (NCIS)
Sylar (Heroes)

And the finale of House was truly incredible and the retrospective before hand was a lot of fun. It was weird hearing Hugh Laurie talking in hospital natural voice and not with his very convincing American accent.

I almost included Shawn and Gus as well as the new Hawaii Five-Oh's Steve McGarret but I also have folks i left off from Babylon 5 (London and Vir and G'Kar) and Farscape and Firefly and several other series...

Jimmy James (NewsRadio)
Niles Crane (Frasier)
Octavian Caesar (Rome)
Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)
Basil Fawlty (Fawlty Towers)
Odo (Star Trek DS9)
Philip J Fry (Futurama)
George Lass (Dead Like Me)

I dunno though, this is pretty restrictive. It's too bad I couldn't get someone from the Avatar: The Last Airbender of Legend of Korra on there. Both very well written. And like, honestly, from each of these shows I'd want to add at least one or two more characters each.

I find it weird that I would go with Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, because in the books my favourite character is easily Daenerys Targaryen, but the show hasn't given her much to do this season aside from shout "I AM THE MOTHER OF DRAGONS!" over and over again. It might also have something to do with the performances. Emilia Clarke who plays her on the show is really really good, but Peter Dinklage is amazing. Also in terms of performances that improve a character, Lena Hedley is doing such a fantastic job as Cersei Lannister, even though in the books she is one of the most awful people ever, I actually really really look forward to her scenes on the show. Conversely Jon Snow who is very compelling in the books, is bland as all hell on the show and his scenes just drag on and on.

Also yes obi - Frasier is one of the funniest, smartest sitcoms in television history and I'm fairly certain from what I know of you online, that you will LOVE it. I also really wanted to list Maris Crane as one of my 8 here, but that would have been weird.

@Draug, crap I forgot Firefly. Can I just give a nod to the entire cast?

@Mafia, I found Daenerys to be the one part of the books and the TV show that I just can't find myself to be motivated to care about, dragons or not. You are spot on about John Snow though, he is quite dull in the show. I think that about Catelyn and Robb as well, I just don't find them to be engaging. Ygritte has done a good job of at least making the North story arc more interesting, though.

@everyone - Frasier has to be one of the best shows ever made.

Martin Crane is also a great character from Frasier.

@ Poozer - Damn it Firefly! Oh Jayne. Also River.
I really like Daenerys' overall arc, she definitely gets the least to do in A Clash of Kings (ie Season 2). I think the actress playing Catelyn in the show is very very good (probably the 2nd best actor on the show after Tyrion). She gives a subtle, and completely honest performance. The guy playing Littlefinger is TERRIBLE. He might as well just be coated in a thin film of grease and spend most of his time hissing, he's so obviously a huge, sleazy douchebag.

@ Draug - Agreed, though Martin also bothers me a bit? He's always whining about how his sons are huge disappointments and how he wants them to be completely different people. And I think he never really learns how to appreciate the sons he actually has, rather than the ones he wants. Which, wouldn't be so bad if they didn't make a big point of having Niles and Frasier come around to appreciating and being happy for their dad every second episode.

It'll be interesting to see the direction the actress takes with Catelyn later on.

Well, to be fair, Littlefinger is a sleazy douchbag in the books......

Well, Martin is just being the grumpy old man. But he has his moments I really love like when he falls for the female cop that Frasier thinks *he* has a connection with. I also forgot a few characters from M*A*S*H. By the end of the series almost the entire cast had taken on interesting aspects to their roles. Margaret ceased being the whiney 2 dimensional but (along with Frank) of Hawkeye's jokes but was a major lead lady and flushed out to become very three dimensional with episodes like the one where her and Hawkeye stay behind to care for a patient when the whole camp bugs out. And the finale of that show had all the characters were given their best treatments by the writers.

I think we also forgotten the great cast of Battlestar Galactica.....

I agree Martin's a great character. Almost everyone on that show is a great character.

And dangit, Draug, you reminded me (indirectly, by putting Homer Simpson) that I should have put Hank Hill. Incredible character (as are all of the Simpsons).

Well, I didn't list Homer Simpson, but OK... And yes, Hank Hill is a great character.

Can I also just say "Timmy!!!!"

hehehe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UBakpPtv2Q

Tommy Carcetti, Bunk Moreland, Stringer Bell, , Lester Freamon, all from The Wire
Al Swearingen, E.B. Farnum from Deadwood
Lisa Miller, Bill McNeill from News Radio

How has no one mentioned Johnny Drama?

Or maybe even better from the same show... Ari Gold.

Because Entourage sucks more than KA's symphony.

Shit, I forgot all about Ari Gold. He's right up there with Malcolm Tucker.