20. CARROLL O'CONNOR
Archie Bunker was hard to love. He hated African Americans, Jews, homosexuals, feminists, rich and poor, zealots and atheists. Yet O'Connor made Archie likable. Perhaps it was his teddy-bear belly or his authentic Queens drawl ('''Tanks,'' he'd say). Or because he was so easily flustered (like when guest star Sammy Davis Jr. kissed him in season 2). O'Connor's Archie smartly kept us debating throughout the '70s: By tuning in to laugh, were we ridiculing bigotry or giving it a soapbox?

Get This! All in the Family, season 2