The more the merrier! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the best characters to join TV shows in live-action series after the first season.
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00:00 - Me? I can't think of a better man for the job.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best characters to join
00:10 TV shows in live-action series after the first season.
00:14 - Ben, I don't think that's a great idea. - Let's do it!
00:16 Number 10. Negan Smith, The Walking Dead.
00:21 - You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men.
00:29 This zombie series had a few human antagonists during its long run,
00:34 but Negan casts a long shadow over all of them. While his introduction proved controversial,
00:40 Negan quickly proved to be the shake-up the show required. He makes for an unsettlingly
00:44 charismatic villain, putting the protagonists through the ringer with a smile and a joke,
00:50 seemingly energized by their misery. - And I brought him home, safe and sound.
00:56 And I fed him spaghetti. Even after his imprisonment, actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan
01:02 brings his A-game, revealing Negan's hidden depths and his journey to redemption being
01:07 every bit as riveting as any of the heroes. - I am so sorry...
01:12 for what I took from you, and what I took from your son.
01:19 Number 9. Leon Black, Curb Your Enthusiasm. - You're laughing, chilling, relaxing.
01:26 Why'd you change from chilling? What was wrong with chilling?
01:28 Larry David's style of observational humor works wonderfully when he has someone to bounce off of
01:34 or indulge in his skewed understanding of social situations. But it isn't until six seasons in
01:40 that Curb Your Enthusiasm delivered the perfect counterpoint to him, Leon Black.
01:45 - I just wanna do my thing, Larry. You know what I mean?
01:46 - What is your thing? - I'm gonna be a director, man.
01:50 Action movies, all that stuff, man. - You know, you can't just go right into that.
01:54 Leon's unlikely friendship with Larry leads to plenty of the show's usual awkward situations.
01:59 While Leon is just as offbeat and weird as Larry is, Leon bulldozing his way through societal norms
02:05 somehow works out for him, unlike his buddy. Leon may bring out the worst in Larry sometimes,
02:11 but that also makes for the best comedy. - I think he charged me for talking to him
02:15 at the car show. - That's something you gotta handle, man.
02:18 You know? You wanna take a ride? Number 8. Marlo Stanfield, The Wire.
02:23 - Chris. Tell our people to tune up. I'm on it.
02:31 - There are plenty of villains to be found in this series centered around Baltimore and its
02:36 criminal underworld. So when the relatively young Marlo Stanfield arrives on the scene
02:41 as the up-and-coming drug kingpin, it's impressive that he manages to hold his own
02:45 among the more experienced organizations. In fact, to some degree, he manages to be even
02:51 more violent than his peers. Marlo is utterly ruthless and unwilling to tolerate any disrespect.
02:58 - When we bounce from this shit here, I'm gonna go down on them corners,
03:00 let them people know. Word did not get back to me.
03:03 His cold, intelligent demeanor serves him well in his many conflicts with his rivals,
03:08 as he seeks more and more power. Marlo's uncaring and power-hungry nature serves
03:14 as a human example of the heartless systems that pervade much of The Wire.
03:18 - Don't see the boy snitching? - Neither do I.
03:21 Would you rather bet your future on that?
03:25 Number seven, Brienne of Tarth, Game of Thrones.
03:29 - But I could serve you, if you would have me. You have courage.
03:34 Not battle courage, perhaps, but I don't know, a woman's kind of courage.
03:42 Although Game of Thrones has several lately arriving players that were tempting,
03:48 Oberyn Martell in particular, our pick goes to Brienne of Tarth.
03:52 Westeros is full of self-interested and conniving characters, but the arrival of Brienne,
03:57 a woman warrior with more knightly qualities than nearly every man, is a breath of fresh air.
04:03 Her integrity, skill in battle, and downright wholesomeness elevates nearly everyone around her.
04:09 - I swore to your mother I would bring you home to her.
04:12 - My mother's dead. - I know.
04:17 I wish I could have been there to protect her.
04:19 Brienne's character arc proves among the most satisfying in the series.
04:23 While the show's final season got a lot wrong,
04:26 you can't tell us that Brienne getting knighted didn't bring you joy.
04:30 - Arise, Brienne of Tarth, a knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
04:47 Number six, Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
04:51 Buffy and her Scooby gang are entertaining enough in the show's first season,
04:55 but season two is when Spike arrives, and boy, does he make an impression.
04:59 - So, who do you kill for fun around here?
05:06 Initially, a bad boy would-be big bad, Spike gradually becomes a reluctant ally of Buffy
05:11 and her friends, and then a not-so-reluctant one. Spike's brutal honesty, surprising him
05:17 emotional depths, and incredibly funny remarks quickly endeared him to fans.
05:21 - She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head.
05:28 - Spike has chemistry with nearly every character, and his relationship with Buffy in particular
05:33 brings out a new side of both of them, for better and for worse. Even so, many viewers
05:39 can't imagine Buffy, the show, or the Vampire Slayer without Spike.
05:43 - I can feel it, Slayer. You know you wanna dance.
05:48 Number five, Ben Wyatt, Parks and Recreation.
05:53 The first few seasons of Parks and Rec are a little rough, but arguably the turning point
05:59 is the introduction of two characters.
06:01 - But she kinda steamrolls the rest of her team, me, to do whatever she wants,
06:07 regardless of how the rest of her team, me, feels.
06:12 While Chris Trager is an adorable bundle of positivity, his auditing bro Ben Wyatt is our
06:18 pick. Ben initially clashes with protagonist Leslie Knope, but their similar love for
06:23 government blossoms into a mutual love that's as heartwarming as it is adorkable. And it isn't
06:28 just Leslie that Ben works well with. He's a great straight man to the more zany members of the cast,
06:34 - I am going to teach you how to open a bank account.
06:37 acting like an exasperated older brother to his more immature colleagues.
06:41 Ben just does so well that it's hard to believe he failed at being a mayor, even if he was 18.
06:47 - When I was 18, I ran for mayor of my small town and won. A little bit of anti-establishment
06:54 voter rebellion, I guess. Here's the thing though, about 18 year olds, they're idiots.
06:59 Number four, Frasier Crane, Cheers.
07:02 - Hello, Sam. I'm Dr. Frasier Crane. I'm sorry I startled you.
07:09 When your two leads are in a will-they-won't-they relationship, inevitably there will be some
07:14 romantic rivals for one or the other. Frasier Crane is initially introduced as one of these
07:19 in Sam and Diane's Endless Dance. Erudite, stuffy, and sophisticated, Frasier is everything Sam isn't.
07:27 However, even after the end of his and Diane's relationship, Frasier stuck around,
07:32 and we're so glad he did.
07:34 - Lilith and I met over drinks after the chemical dependency seminar last week.
07:38 By the way, I noticed your drinking went beyond sociability.
07:42 - Woody, I have two cognacs.
07:44 The fussy neurotic psychiatrist has been a fixture of television off and on for decades
07:51 since his introduction, thanks to his spinoff series. Frasier isn't the first character to
07:56 be so good he got a spinoff of his own, and he won't be the last we'll be talking about either.
08:01 - There is as little validity in a supposed death dream as there is in the cliched image
08:06 of death itself as a grim, bloodless ghoul whose bony finger reaches out to tap you on
08:12 the shoulder when your number's up.
08:13 Number three, Ben Linus, Lost.
08:16 - Your instinct was right, John. These people are a threat.
08:21 And if you shoot me, you'll never know how great a threat they were.
08:26 In another life, we would have chosen the dashing Scotsman Desmond Hume from the same show,
08:31 but we can't help but love a good villain. Benjamin Linus is the manipulative,
08:36 mercurial leader of the inhabitants of the mysterious island Lost is set on.
08:40 Rarely willing to tell the truth when a lie will do, Ben revels in being two steps ahead.
08:46 - Surrender! Surrender!
08:48 - Oh, so you do speak English.
08:49 But as loathsome as he can be, Ben is surprisingly sympathetic, and his interactions
08:54 with some characters bring out his inner humanity, as well as plenty of sarcasm.
08:59 Michael Emerson's masterful performance always has us guessing what Ben will do next.
09:04 - I was terrified that I was about to lose the only thing that had ever mattered to me, my power.
09:11 But the thing that really mattered was already gone.
09:20 Number two, Saul Goodman, Breaking Bad.
09:24 - We Waltz a scientist. Scientists love lasers.
09:27 The second season of this crime drama introduces some of TV's finest supporting characters,
09:32 and while Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut were so close to making it instead,
09:37 we thought it would be better to call Saul, television's greatest criminal criminal lawyer.
09:42 Saul Goodman hires himself as Walter White's consigliere, hooking him and his partner Jesse
09:47 Pinkman up with criminal connections, legal advice, and plenty of colorful metaphors.
09:52 - He said he was gonna break my legs, and don't tell me he didn't mean it, okay?
09:57 'Cause he gave me the dead mackerel eyes.
09:59 Bob Odenkirk is absolute magic in the role, deftly balancing Saul's wit, sleazy self-interest,
10:06 and long-buried better nature to create one of the best side characters ever.
10:11 It's no wonder they gave him his own show.
10:14 - So if you wanna make more money and keep the money that you make, better call Saul.
10:20 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:25 Lalo Salamanca, Better Call Saul.
10:28 An offhand remark in Breaking Bad led to this terrifying and charismatic villain.
10:33 - Tell me again.
10:34 - What?
10:34 - Tell me again.
10:42 Casiel, Supernatural.
10:45 Who knew the Winchesters needed a trench coat angel bestie?
10:48 - It's angels and demons, probably.
10:50 They're skirmishing all over the globe.
10:53 Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher, Daredevil.
10:57 John Bernthal kills it and nearly stole the show.
11:00 - I'll reach you tomorrow night, I promise.
11:02 Yeah.
11:03 Never think that further.
11:10 There's not gonna be any tomorrow.
11:11 Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory.
11:14 Her exact nerd girl energy is just what the show needed.
11:18 - It's a tiara.
11:19 A tiara, I have a tiara.
11:22 Put it on me, put it on me, put it on me, put it on me.
11:26 Max Mayfield, Stranger Things.
11:29 The new girl in Hawkins turned out to be just what the party needed.
11:33 - Sometimes I imagine myself running to you, pulling you away.
11:39 I imagine that if I had, that you would still be here.
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12:02 Number one, Frank Reynolds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
12:07 - Well, I don't know how many years on this earth I got left.
12:11 I'm gonna get real weird with it.
12:13 It can be easy to forget, given how long the show has been on the air,
12:18 but Frank Reynolds didn't join the show until season two.
12:21 The stepfather of Dennis and Dee, Frank proves that his unhinged children are,
12:27 if anything, watered down versions of his own dysfunction.
12:31 Despite Danny DeVito joining the cast mainly to increase the show's fame, he fits right in,
12:36 and Frank's wild, untamed behavior often causes many of the disasters the gang find themselves in.
12:43 - Ongo Goblogian, the art collector.
12:46 - I'm charmed, I'm sure.
12:48 - Yes.
12:49 Fond of drug use, guns and sex workers,
12:52 Frank is a chaotic gremlin of a man who is impossibly entertaining.
12:57 - Anyway, I started blasting.
12:59 Is there a latecomer to your favorite show that we missed?
13:02 Share the very best with us in the comments.
13:04 - Clearly his taste in women is the same as his taste in lawyers,
13:07 only the very best with just the right amount of dirty.
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13:20 [Music]