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You don't love them exactly -- you certainly don't respect them. Yet
you find yourself rooting for them, even as their beliefs or actions leave
a tinny taste in your mouth. I'm talking about TV anti-heroes, a
protagonist type growing in popularity, even as viewers wonder if they
should even like these characters. A hero with tragic flaws, more Good Guy
You Squirm About Loving than Bad Guy You Love to Hate, he's complicated
and messy. Like life. Here are a few of our favorite TV anti-heroes, warts
and all:
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Larry Sanders (And Hank. And Arthur.)
"The Larry Sanders Show"
HBO
He's bitter, vain, insecure, misogynistic and depressed. And
that's on a good day. Garry Shandling's
magnificently banal TV talk-show host, Larry Sanders, and his
equally banal sidekicks, Hank (backstabbing, obsequious) and Arthur
(power-mad, potty-mouthed), charted a new course for HBO
protagonists. Larry's progeny include Tony Soprano and a
few other twisted dudes on this list. Hey now!
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Archie Bunker
"All in the Family"
CBS
Archie, as portrayed by Carroll
O'Connor, rattled cages back in the '70s because he was so
weirdly sympathetic and unsympathetic at the same time -- bigoted,
clueless, crabby and absolutely unwavering in the rightness of his
opinion. Meathead: "You know, you are totally incomprehensible."
Archie: "Maybe so, but I make a lot of sense." We're talking to
youse.
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Dr. Gregory House
"House"
FOX
Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie infuses the
maladjusted genius Dr. House with equal parts vinegar, heat and
battery acid, offending colleagues, patients, ex-spouses and anyone
else in earshot. But he's brilliant and that lack of artifice is
what keeps drawing us back. Looking for words of inspiration in the
workplace? Sample House-ism: "Triteness kicks us in the 'nads."
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Bart Simpson
"The Simpsons"
FOX
Since the '80s this 10-year-old smart-ass has been inspiring and
annoying people from the first President Bush to the Rolling Stones. Homer may have better
straight lines, but Bart has the 'tude: "I'm Bart Simpson; who the
hell are you?" Thus appealing to the inner brat in all of us.
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