• August 30, 2000

If you're thinking of using a TV character for your next ad campaign, you might find the results of a recent Biography Magazine survey of interest.

Asked to vote for their top 20 favorite TV characters of all-time, Biography Magazine readers weighed in via regular mail, e-mail, fax, and website. With nearly 30,000 responses to this exclusive survey, the results (published in the September issue) indicate an undeniable nostalgia for all things not recent. In fact, only two of the 20 TV characters chosen have appeared in shows that are still running original episodes. Here's a quick look at the retro love-fest results from 1 to 20:

Alex P. Keaton, "Family Ties" (played by Michael J. Fox)

Lucy Ricardo, "I Love Lucy" (Lucille Ball)

Dr Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, "M*A*S*H" (Alan Alda)

Rose Nylund, "The Golden Girls" (Betty White)

Fonzie, "Happy Days" (Henry Winkler)

Samantha Stephens, "Bewitched" (Elizabeth Montgomery)

Archie Bunker, "All in the Family" (Carroll O'Connor)

Edith Bunker, "All in the Family" (Jean Stapleton)

Niles Crane, "Frasier" (David Hyde Pierce)

Mary Richards, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Mary Tyler Moore)

Barney Fife, "The Andy Griffith Show" (Don Knotts)

Jessica Fletcher, "Murder, She Wrote" (Angela Lansbury)

Mork, "Mork & Mindy" (Robin Williams)

Clair Huxtable, "The Cosby Show" (Phylicia Rashad)

Lieutenant Columbo, "Columbo" (Peter Falk)

Laverne De Fazio, "Laverne & Shirley" (Penny Marshall)

Kramer, "Seinfeld" (Michael Richards)

Phoebe Buffay, "Friends" (Lisa Kudrow)

Will Smith, "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" (Will Smith)

Fran Fine, "The Nanny" (Fran Drescher).

SOURCE Biography Magazine