TV Guide Picks The 60 Greatest TV Kids Of All Time

Some of these lists I care more about than others, of course if I didn't care about the subject, I wouldn't take the time to do these posts.  This is one of those lists, that while I'm not sure I particularly like the list they put together, I'm not going to take a lot of time to argue about it either.  Child characters are so hard to judge, especially since there are so many of them.  Hell, there are whole channels devoted to these characters; Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, ABC Family, and various others.  One interesting tidbit about this list, they really didn't include any of the obvious characters from those stations.  So there is no Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, or the annoying twin boys from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or any of the group from Pretty Little Liars.  In my opinion, the list is better for it.  

So here is the list TV Guide put together, and my comments will be at the end.  As usual, after the top ten, the rest are listed in alphabetical order.

1.  Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), The Wonder Years

2.  Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox), Family Ties

3.  Angela Chase (Claire Danes), My So-Called Life

4.  Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright), The Simpsons

5.  Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

6.  Arnold Jackson (Gary Coleman), Diff'rent Strokes

7.  Darlene Conner (Sara Gilbert), Roseanne

8.  Eric Cartman (Trey Parker), South Park

9.  Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers), Leave It To Beaver

10.  Sam Weir (John Francis Daley), Freaks and Geeks

11.  Wednesday Addams (Lisa Loring), The Addams Family

12.  Kathy Anderson (Lauren Chapin), Father Knows Best

13.  Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), Welcome Back, Kotter

14.  George Michael Bluth (Michael Cera), Arrested Development

15.  Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick), The Brady Bunch

16.  Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye), Punky Brewster

17.  Kelly Bundy (Christina Applegate), Married... With Children 

18.  Chris (Tyler James Williams), Everybody Hates Chris

19.  Barbara Cooper (Valerie Bertinelli), One Day at a Time

20.  Eddie Corbett (Brandon Cruz), The Courtship of Eddie's Father

21.  Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), Star Trek: The Next Generation

22.  Sally Draper (Kiernana Shipkas), Mad Men
23.  Luke Dumphy (Nolan Gould), Modern Family
24.  Patty Greene (Sarah Jessica Parker), Square Pegs
25.  Stewie Griffin (Seth MacFarlaneZ), Family Guy
26.  Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), The Walking Dead
27.  Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond), Leave It To Beaver
28.  Sue Heck (Eden Sher), The Middle
29.  David Hogan (Jason Bateman), Valerie, The Hogan Family
30.  Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris), Doogie Howser, M.D.  

31.  Rudy Huxtable (Keshia Knight Pullman), The Cosby Show
32.  Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson), That '70s Show
33.  Laura Ingalls, (Melissa Gilbert), Little House on the Prairie

34.  Patty Lane (Patty Duke), The Patty Duke Show 
35.  Buddy Lawrence (Kristy McNichol), Family
36.  Parker Lewis (Corin Nemec), Parker Lewis Can't Lose
37.  Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis), Webster
38.  Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Malcom in the Middle
39.  Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), Veronica Mars
40.  Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford), The Rifleman
41.  Samantha Micelli (Alyssa Milano), Who's the Boss? 
42.  Dennis Mitchell (Jay North), Dennis the Menace
43.  Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Saved by the Bell
44.  Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick), The Munsters
45.  Ricky Nelson (Ricky Nelson), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
46.  Buffy Patterson-Davis (Anissa Jones), Family Matters
47.  Jo Poiniaczek (Nancy McKeown), The Facts of Life
48.  Blossom Russon (Mayim Bialik), Blossom
49.  Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), Friday Night Lights 
50.  Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron), Growing Pains

51.  Will Smith (Will Smith), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
52.  Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lyn Sigler), The Sopranos
53.  Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Game of Thrones 
54.  Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato), Ugly Betty
55.  Opie Taylor (Ron Howard), The Andy Griffith Show

56.  Corky Thacher (Chris Burke), Life Goes On
57.  Dee Thomas (Danielle Spencer), What's Happening!!

58.  Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), Family Matters
59.  Wallace (Michael B. Jordan), The Wire
60.  Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty), Beverly Hills, 90210

So there is their list, and for the most part, it leaves me feeling rather blah.  I think a lot of the characters they picked are pretty predictable.  What's worse in my opinion though, is that most of them are pretty interchangeable.  I'm not sure what makes one character from The Facts of Life, Growing Pains, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, Modern Family, Who's the Boss?, or the various other show with multiple kids, better than another.  Nor am I really clear why so many of these characters came from shows that are almost cookie-cutter copies of each other.  But as I said earlier, at least they didn't pick Hannah Montana for the list.

Obviously there are a ton of shows that didn't make the list, and could have easily supplanted some of these characters off this list.  Bewitched, Lost in Space, Good Times, 227, Eight is Enough, Happy Days, Party of Five, The Waltons, My Two Dads, Voyagers!, The Partridge Family, Flipper, Home Improvement, Fame, and another couple dozen more, all have child characters who are just as deserving of being on the list.

I'm going to be honest with you right now, I love cartoons, always have, always will.  But I really can't stand the few cartoon characters that made the list.  They epitomize everything I dislike in a cartoon.  I would have rather seen characters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Josie and the Pussycats, Galaxy High, The Mini Monsters, The Littles, Lazer Tag Academy, Wildfire, or even Dungeons & Dragons.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the cuter guys that did not make the list for some bizarre reason.  So I have to give shout outs to the guys of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Kyle XY, The Vampire Diaries, The Powers of Matthew Star, Seaquest DSV, and The Hardy Boys.

The last group of characters that weren't really represented on this list, are the ones from TV shows made for kids.  I'm talking about shows like Sesame Street, Kids Incorporated, The Electric Company, Lazy Town, The Power Rangers, The Mickey Mouse Club, and about another couple dozen shows that have captivated young children for years.

I guess I could have listed the characters from the shows I mentioned above, but I think most of you will know who I'm talking about.

And my last comment will be to show a few pictures of characters who really should have been on the list.  I'm not sure how these characters were left off, and I almost think it's criminal that they weren't included.  Two of them are pretty similar, so they may have negated themselves.  Two more of them are from soap operas, but they are characters who have been played by the same actress for years, so we were able to see them grow up on screen.  For the last two picks, one is a commercial success and the other is a group of kids that really can't be separated.

Richie Rich (Sparky Davis), Richie Rich

Ricky Stratton (Ricky Schroder), Silver Spoons

Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson), One Life to Live, General Hospital

Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), General Hospital

Little Mikey (John Gilchrist) Life cereal commercials

All the kids from Full House