Characters by network
CBS sitcom characters
CBS has the longest sitcom history in the library, starting with I Love Lucy in 1951 and M*A*S*H in 1972. Decades later it was still producing hits with Everybody Loves Raymond, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory, which together kept the network's comedy nights busy from 1996 to 2019.
32 characters on this list.
I Love Lucy(4)
CBS, 1951 to 1957
- Lucy RicardoLeadPlayed by Lucille BallThe redheaded New York housewife who dreams of breaking into her bandleader husband's nightclub act and keeps landing in hilarious trouble with her…
- Ethel MertzMain castPlayed by Vivian VanceLucy's landlady, best friend, and reluctant partner in crime, a sharp-tongued former vaudevillian who always says the scheme is a bad idea and then…
- Fred MertzMain castPlayed by William FrawleyThe grumpy, penny-pinching landlord of the Ricardos' brownstone, a retired vaudeville song-and-dance man who becomes Ricky's best friend and Ethel's…
- Ricky RicardoMain castPlayed by Desi ArnazLucy's charming, hot-tempered Cuban husband, a bandleader and singer at a New York nightclub who loves his wife dearly and wants her to stay far…
M*A*S*H(8)
CBS, 1972 to 1983
- Hawkeye PierceLeadPlayed by Alan AldaThe brilliant, wisecracking chief surgeon of the 4077th MASH, who fights the Korean War with a scalpel by day and jokes, pranks…
- B.J. HunnicuttMain castPlayed by Mike FarrellA gentle, devoted family man and gifted surgeon from California who replaces Trapper John at the 4077th and becomes Hawkeye's best friend and…
- Charles WinchesterMain castPlayed by David Ogden StiersThe snobbish, Harvard-trained Boston surgeon who replaces Frank Burns in the Swamp, matches Hawkeye wit for wit…
- Frank BurnsMain castPlayed by Larry LinvilleThe whiny, rule-obsessed, and famously inept surgeon of the 4077th, who carries on a not-so-secret affair with Margaret Houlihan and schemes…
- Margaret HoulihanMain castPlayed by Loretta SwitThe tough, by-the-book head nurse of the 4077th, nicknamed "Hot Lips," who starts as Frank Burns's ally against the surgeons and grows into one of…
- Maxwell KlingerMain castPlayed by Jamie FarrThe Toledo-born corporal who wears dresses and pulls stunt after stunt to win a psychiatric discharge from the Army…
- Radar O'ReillyMain castPlayed by Gary BurghoffThe shy, teddy-bear-hugging Iowa farm boy who runs the 4077th as its company clerk and somehow hears the choppers, and his commander's orders…
- Sherman PotterMain castPlayed by Harry MorganThe horse-loving, plain-talking career Army colonel from Missouri who takes command of the 4077th in season four and becomes a steady father figure…
Everybody Loves Raymond(5)
CBS, 1996 to 2005
- Ray BaroneLeadPlayed by Ray RomanoThe easygoing Long Island sportswriter at the heart of Everybody Loves Raymond, forever stuck between his frustrated wife, Debra…
- Debra BaroneMain castPlayed by Patricia HeatonRay Barone's sharp, overworked wife, who raises three kids on Long Island while her in-laws walk through her front door whenever they please and her…
- Frank BaroneMain castPlayed by Peter BoyleRay and Robert's blunt, grumpy father, a retired bookkeeper and Korean War veteran who parks in Ray's armchair, insults everyone in sight…
- Marie BaroneMain castPlayed by Doris RobertsRay and Robert's devoted, meddling mother, a proud homemaker who lives across the street, rules the family with home cooking and guilt…
- Robert BaroneMain castPlayed by Brad GarrettRay's towering, gloomy older brother, a New York City police officer who has spent his whole life convinced that their mother loves Raymond more.
How I Met Your Mother(7)
CBS, 2005 to 2014
- Ted MosbyLeadPlayed by Josh RadnorThe hopelessly romantic New York architect whose years-long search for the woman he will marry is the story he tells his two teenage kids across all…
- Barney StinsonMain castPlayed by Neil Patrick HarrisThe suit-obsessed, catchphrase-spewing womanizer and self-appointed best friend to Ted, whose outrageous schemes hide a lonely…
- Lily AldrinMain castPlayed by Alyson HanniganMarshall's sweet-faced, secretly scheming wife, a kindergarten teacher and aspiring painter who is the group's emotional center and its most…
- Marshall EriksenMain castPlayed by Jason SegelTed's big-hearted best friend from Minnesota, a law student turned lawyer and eventually a judge, whose devotion to his college sweetheart Lily is…
- Robin ScherbatskyMain castPlayed by Cobie SmuldersThe career-driven Canadian TV journalist Ted falls for in the pilot, a scotch-drinking, gun-loving former teen pop star who becomes the gang's fifth…
- Tracy McConnellMain castPlayed by Cristin MiliotiThe title character of How I Met Your Mother, a warm, funny, ukulele-playing musician with a yellow umbrella who finally meets Ted after eight…
- RanjitSide characterPlayed by Marshall ManeshThe cheerful Bangladeshi cab and limo driver who keeps turning up to chauffeur the gang through their biggest nights…
The Big Bang Theory(8)
CBS, 2007 to 2019
- Sheldon CooperMain castPlayed by Jim ParsonsThe brilliant, rule-bound, socially clueless theoretical physicist from Texas who shares an apartment with Leonard and turns every friendship…
- Amy Farrah FowlerMain castPlayed by Mayim BialikThe deadpan neurobiologist matched with Sheldon by a dating website, who grows from his intellectual equal and pen pal into his girlfriend, wife…
- Bernadette RostenkowskiMain castPlayed by Melissa RauchPenny's sweet-voiced, fiercely competitive coworker turned high-earning microbiologist, who marries Howard and becomes the group's most intimidating…
- Howard WolowitzMain castPlayed by Simon HelbergThe wisecracking aerospace engineer with a bowl cut, tight pants, and a mother who yells from offscreen, who goes from hopeless flirt to astronaut…
- Leonard HofstadterMain castPlayed by Johnny GaleckiThe good-natured, glasses-wearing experimental physicist who rooms with Sheldon, falls for Penny the day she moves in across the hall…
- PennyMain castPlayed by Kaley CuocoThe friendly, street-smart aspiring actress from Nebraska who moves in across the hall from Sheldon and Leonard…
- Raj KoothrappaliMain castPlayed by Kunal NayyarThe sweet, romantic astrophysicist from New Delhi who for six seasons cannot speak to women unless he has had a drink…
- Stuart BloomMain castPlayed by Kevin SussmanThe gentle, perpetually down-on-his-luck owner of the Pasadena comic book store where the guys spend their Wednesday nights…
More character lists
By show
- I Love Lucy
- M*A*S*H
- Happy Days
- Cheers
- The Golden Girls
- Full House
- Seinfeld
- Family Matters
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Frasier
- Friends
- Everybody Loves Raymond
- That '70s Show
- Malcolm in the Middle
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Scrubs
- Arrested Development
- The Office
- How I Met Your Mother
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- 30 Rock
- The Big Bang Theory
- Parks and Recreation
- Modern Family
- Community
- New Girl
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Schitt's Creek
- Superstore
- The Good Place
- What We Do in the Shadows
- Ted Lasso
- Abbott Elementary
- Home Improvement