D'oh! Homer Simpson named the best TV character in 20 years.
To the Oxford English Dictionary, Homer Simpson is the immortal utterer of the word, 鈥渄鈥檕h!鈥� To the people of Britain, Homer Simpson is the 鈥済reatest American鈥� 鈥� the fictional charater they would most like to see become president of the United States.
And now, to the readers of Entertainment Weekly, Homer Simpson is the single greatest character created for film or television during the past 20 years, more magical than Harry Potter (No. 2) and more hip than Buffy the Vampire Slayer (No. 3).
Homer Simpson is, after all, the patriarch of the Simpsons, stars of the eponymous TV show that is the longest-running prime time series on American TV.
Had he been a character by the other Homer (the old Greek one), his epithet would surely have been 鈥渂oorish鈥� or 鈥渃raver of doughnuts.鈥�
Equal parts lovable and laughable, Homer Simpson symbolized America more than Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. to the British participants in the unscientific 2003 BBC poll. To the American readers of Entertainment Weekly, too, Homer Simpson鈥檚 dim wits and warm heart were more memorable than the mob life of Tony Soprano (No. 4) or the sinister genius of the Joker (No. 5).
Indeed, in an honor roll of fictional characters, Homer Simpson is consistently near the head of the class. In 2002, TV Guide named him the second best cartoon character, behind Bugs Bunny. And three years ago, Entertainment Weekly rated him ninth on its list of 50 greatest TV icons.
The man who voices Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta, has won four Emmy awards and makes $400,000 an episode.
Entertainment Weekly鈥檚 list commemorates the magazines 20th anniversary.
The top 10 are:
- Homer Simpson (鈥�The Simpsons鈥�)
- Harry Potter (鈥淗arry Potter鈥� films)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (鈥淏uffy the Vampire Slayer鈥�)
- Tony Soprano (鈥�The Sopranos鈥�
- The Joker (鈥�The Dark Knight鈥�
- Rachel (鈥淔riends鈥�)
- Edward Scissorhands (鈥淓dward Scissorhands鈥�)
- Hannibal Lecter (鈥�Silence of the Lambs鈥�)
- Carrie Bradshaw (鈥淪ex in the City鈥�)
- Spongebob Squarepants (鈥淪pongebob Squarepants鈥�)
