lip top 10: awesome female tv characters

Oh boy, I could have compiled this list three times over. Head down to the comments section to include your favourites, because I’m sure I’ve missed someone who could have bumped out Alex Dunphy.

1. Major Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan (M*A*S*H)
Okay, so it may have implied that she was a bit of a flirt, and on occasion she did behave like a girly-girl in the middle of a war zone, but the show was set in the 50s and made in the 70s when attitudes were a little different, so we’ll forgive that. She’s awesome because she’s so damn tough. She stood knee deep in blood and guts every other day, staunchly defended every nurse under her command and stood up to the men and superior officers when they stepped out of line. I think we all need a bit of Houlihan in us.

2. Detective Olivia Benson (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit)
If she were a real person, I’d turn for her. For those who are unfamiliar, she investigates mainly rapes, child abuse and domestic violence; stuff nobody really wants to see, let alone have to deal with as part of their job, day in, day out. She’s really good at it. She has more courage than a three legged antelope hanging out in the savannah, more compassion than Bono and a better moral compass than the Dalai Lama. She’s also managed to go 13 seasons without being shot. Winning!

3. Daria Morgendorffer (Daria)
Intelligent, sarcastic and cynical, Daria is so cool that’s she not cool, which is like, really cool. To the untrained eye she might look a girl that dislikes herself, but to quote her, ‘Don’t worry, I don’t have low self-esteem. It’s a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else.’

4. Alex Dunphy (Modern Family)
Okay, this one may be a little controversial, but aside from her intelligence, passion and drive to succeed, there is one main thing that makes Alex Dunphy awesome – her ability to mess with her siblings. She always has a snappy comeback to her sister’s insistence that she will never get a boyfriend, and frequently spouts off false facts to fool her siblings. I could have a lot of fun if I could convince my sister that rubbing batteries on her head charges them.

5. Sister Peter Marie (Oz)
Sister Peter Marie isn’t your typical nun. She works as a drug counsellor and psychologist in a men’s prison, taking up the habit after her husband was murdered. She is also outspoken, and on one occasion, sacrifices her job for her beliefs. She is frequently torn between her distaste for the prison bureaucracy and her desire to try and help the inmates. Despite being manipulated and emotionally hurt by some of the prisoners, and experiencing a major doubt in her faith, she ultimately sacrifices her own happiness because she feels the inmates need her more.

6. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
She slays freaking vampires! Need I say anymore?

7. Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
Having a baby at 16, abandoning your education, leaving home and raising the baby on your own isn’t your standard recipe for success, but Lorelai Gilmore is a testament to where hard work and sacrifices can get you. Smart, quick-witted and just oh so cool, by the end of seven seasons she had put her daughter on the road to success, opened her own Inn and got the guy we had always wanted her to.

8. Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)
She fights her demons and she fights baddies, while hanging out with another awesome chick who was probably her wife. Yeah.

9. Arya (Game of Thrones)
Confession time: I haven’t seen Game of Thrones, but I did a Facebook poll and several characters from the program were shouted back at me, most agreeing that Arya should be included. From my Wikipedia research, Arya is a little lady who doesn’t want to be a little lady. She fights, she’s smarts, and she’s good at escaping from tricky situations. She’s also a kid.

10. Liz Lemon (30 Rock)
To use a Liz Lemon phrase, I want to go to there. Sure, it may have taken her six seasons to find a viable love interest (Jon Hamm doesn’t count you guys, remember how impeded he was by his handsomeness?), the television show she created rates terribly and her sexuality is frequently misjudged as a result of her wardrobe, but she makes it look awesome. While it may appear that her life is going nowhere, she is a head writer in a male dominated industry, eats what she wants when she wants and (until recently) embraced her singledom. I really do want to be her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to work on my night cheese.

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