The Top Twelve Female TV Characters of Awesome: Part One

So it was only a matter of time until the inevitable top-something list from us and we've worked long and hard to bring you what we feel are the greatest female characters on television. Why? Because television, like most media landscapes, are devoid of interesting portrayals of women and so we felt we should celebrate all those charecters that fulfill a certain quota of greatness. OK, so TV still has a long way to go and this list is mainly cisgendered, attractive women under 30 (holla at the gender theorists in the hizzle!), but hey, baby steps right? Lets start with 12 - 6.


12) Nancy Botwin – Completely amoral but with the best of intentions (at least to start off with), Nancy is a joy to watch and fits in with that select group of characters who you just love to hate, but still want to win. Becoming a drug kingpin (queenpin?) and continually winning it all and subsequently losing it as she lurches from one disaster to the next, Nancy brings being fucked up to new and dizzying heights.

Highpoint; ‘Go’ - Burning down an entire town to save her skin. Crazy like a fox!


11) Martha Jones – The second companion in the rebooted Doctor Who, Martha (a doctor in training herself), brought a certain fiery dynamic to the doctor/companion relationship and though her lovestruck awe of the doctor could get a bit trying, she ended up being just as awesome as him.

Highpoint; ‘Last of the Time Lords’ – Saving the universe. Can’t really get more awesome than that.


10) Anne (Annie) Clare Sawyer – The idea of an insecure, agoraphobic ghost is hilarious but could have easily become annoyingly one-dimensional. Not so with Annie, the resident ghost of ‘Being Human’. The fragility of her character in the beginning of the first season slowly blooming into the confident woman she never was in life; in fact for a dead woman, she seems far more alive than most (OK, I’m kinda in love with her).

Highpoint; ‘Season One, Episode Six’ Annie who was so confined both actually and figuratively, saves lives with her newfound confidence (and mad poltergeist skillz).


9) Lorelai Gilmore – Gilmore Girls is a completely misunderstood show. People view it as mindless fluff when it’s actually a complicated treatise on class in modern America. Well, sort of. But Lorelai is great and an excellent role model, not relying on her parents handouts she started a business from scratch and raised a child alone, all while managing to watch a phenomenal amount of TV a day.

Highpoint; ‘The Lorelais' First Day at Yale’ Coolest. Mom. Ever.


8) Veronica Mars – Ace female detective? Brilliant. I love Veronica Mars so much I wrote an essay about her for my degree. Her deductive reasoning at points put her for me, into the pantheon of greatest fictional detectives and the wonderful subversion of the type by using a pretty blonde girl (something owed in part to another entry on my list) was quite clever. Her relationship with her father is another important point, being both realistic and warm, making it a joy to watch.

Highpoint; ‘Not Pictured’ Solving the 2^nd season mystery and getting a lot more besides answers (plus Kristen Bell’s performance here is incredible).


7) Dr. Neela Rasgotra – Another example of a complex character given plenty of growth over the course of the show; Neela, my personal favorite doctor in E.R. starts out as reticent and uncommunicative and downright grouchy, but softens as the show went on going on to become an excellent surgeon and friend to much of the staff, it’s no wonder about seven people fall in love with her over the course of the show! Neela is the sort of character you cheer for when she overcomes some difficult goal, like her claustrophobia or terrible bedside manner and very much became the heart of the show.

Highpoint; "The Gallant Hero & The Tragic Victor" If your heart didn’t break for Neela here then you have no soul. Seriously.


6) Buffy Summers – The girl, the legend. Buffy, who has inspired numerous critical feminist discourses on the subject of women in television is just plain amazing; whether she’s fighting numerous demons and vampires or trying to deal with high school. Even when she fails, she does it so well you can’t help but love her; and you can never forget that she taught a generation that the girl doesn’t have to be the victim and can kick ass with the best of them (and quite often, better). So popular she continues to live on in comic book form, not many charecters can say that. If they were, you know, real and could say things.

Highpoint; ‘The Gift’ Heroic self-sacrifice of awesome.


That's enough for now, check back soon to find out who made it to number one!