Top Five Female Television Characters

By Noreen Sobczyk

1. Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers, 1965 – 1968

When I was younger I wanted to be Emma Peel. Who am I kidding? I still want to be Emma Peel. She has a killer ’60s wardrobe, and for my money is the best dressed female character in television history. She’s intelligent, self assured, sharp, and sexy; a woman who can take care of herself, often rescuing her male partner John Steed. Using her wits as well as her martial arts skills, she solves crimes and fights villains, a great feminist character. (Earlier and later seasons of The Avengers held no interest for me as they did not feature Emma Peel.)

2. Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Willow is a self-effacing, kind, and funny redhead who uses her brains and geeky computer skills (which I envy) to help Buffy and empower herself. Despite being accepted at other schools, she decides to attend U.C. Sunnydale in order to continue to assist “The Scoobys” in Buffy’s mission. Talk about loyal and devoted! She’s the kind of girl I would want to befriend.

Eventually, Willow grew to become far more self-assured and became an integral part of missions, able to fight foes that may have defeated Buffy. However, she became consumed by her power, and turned to the dark side (the scene where she flayed Warren was one of the coolest scenes in television, and I relished it). Although in the beginning Willow became a witch to cast spells, by the end she seemed to take on tenets of the Wiccan faith. For the most part she portrays being Wiccan—and a monogamous lesbian—in a positive light, both unusual things in media of the time.

3. Sherilynn Fenn as Audrey Horne in Twin Peaks

Audrey is the sexpot of Twin Peaks who stole my heart in the pilot when she ruined a very important business deal for her father by disrupting a meeting and causing all of the potential investors to flee. Plus, she has perect eyebrows. She’s also a bratty, manipulative rich girl who acts out due to lack of love from her father. Much of her motivation in the series comes from her crush on Agent Cooper, as well as her desire (though possibly subconscious) to find out why her father loved Laura Palmer. She acts sexually aggressive to hide her vulnerability, though she is actually a virgin. Audrey is the bad girl with the broken heart who begins to change for the better and become more complex deeper into the series. And she looks great in a sweater.

4. Linda Cardellini as Lindsay Weir from Freaks and Geeks

Lindsay Weir is the main character from the short-lived, but brilliant series, Freaks and Geeks, the character with whom I most identified, because she is both a freak and a geek. She is quite smart, but confused and beginning to question her values and purpose in life. Or perhaps she’s merely existential. Lindsay embraces her changes and breaks the mold, stepping outside of conventions, even though it would be easier for her to remain the same. Longing for acceptance, she still holds on to basic kindness, even when her new friend Kim (the alpha female) does not. Although Lindsay experiments with things that may not be right for her, in the end she remains true to herself.

5. Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern in The Mary Tyler Moore Show

I know it was all about Mary, but for me Rhoda was the more interesting character. Her job as a window dresser shows her artistic side and she has a sharp sarcastic wit, especially when dealing with her obnoxious neighbor/landlady Phyllis Lindstrom. I always rooted for Rhoda because she wasn’t perfect. She was less white bread than a lot of TV characters of the time period. Although unlucky in love, and a general underdog, Rhoda is always supportive of her friend Mary, and it seems she would drop anything to be there for her. Her character has a great personality, probably inspired by her strength in dealing with an obscenely overbearing mother. Rhoda is a great feminist character who eventually got her own spin-off. Unfortunately she lost a lot of her vulnerability on Rhoda, which was part of what made her so likable in the first place

RELATED LINKS:

Top Five: TVs Female Role Models, Popshifter January/February 2009 issue