Take note: These top 5 picks are my personal favorite from the television shows I watch. I can't watch everything for the love of god, so don't cry if I didn't mention your favorite... make your own list and post it in the comments, I'd love to read them.

All of you know how much I love watching TV and you all know that I watch or try to watch as much television shows I can, but what makes a television show so great? You can come up with a bunch of different answers for that but in this case we are going to stick with characters.

2008 has been host to some of the best television characters I've seen in years - some of them still entertain us today, some only have a couple of months left and some of us have left us hanging in the balance. So who is Phil's favorite characters of 2008? Let's take a look at the top 5:

5 - Bill Adama played by Edward James Olmos - Battlestar Galactica

When we look at other starship Captains and Commanders, none of them have ever had to go through the fire the way Adama has. His life has been a never ending battle against his enemies starting out as a Viper pilot during the 1st Cylon war, to the destruction of the Colonies by the Cylons, ending up as the last Battlestar to survive, and leading the last survivors of the human race to a dead world believed to be Earth. What does this guy have to do for peace in his life... oh, and his best friend is a Cylon, and the woman he loves is near death from Cancer. I could go on and on, but I'm not...

Adama goes through all of this but remains a bad ass leader. Sure he's had his nervous break downs, I would too if I was in his position, but he can still kick ass with the best of them. He's the old war horse leader with a legendary Battlestar as his sword. Whatever happens in the last 10 episodes of the series Adama is sure to go out in the way heroes are meant to.

4 - Jack Shephard played by Matthew Fox - LOST

What does Matthew Fox have to do to receive a Emmy nomination. He's been absolutely fantastic the past couple of years on Lost and he's easily my favorite character to watch on that series. His character Jack is so tragic it's so great - this guy has the weight of the world on his shoulders forcing him to be a drunk, yet there is still hope.

My favorite scene that Jack had this year was when he found out that Claire was his sister. The look on his face was priceless and it should have gotten him a nod in some award show. I can't wait for Lost to start up again, which will be in a couple of weeks - I expect it to be another fantastic year.

3 - Jake Green played by Skeet Ulrich - Jericho

Ah yes, Jericho - Remember folks, Jericho's last couple of episodes were in the beginning of 08 so that makes this fair game.

Jericho was one of my favorite television shows, then it got cancelled. It's really unfortunate considering that the story telling quality was one of the best that I've seen in a long time. The intensity of Jericho was ridiculous - I was on the edge of my seat every moment especially during the last several episodes, mostly the entire second season.

Jake is another tragic hero - He comes back to his small town of Jericho to his estranged family only to remain after several nuclear attacks, his father murdered, under occupation from a rouge group, and then starting the 2nd American Civil War. That's a lot to do in 2 years, or really a year and a half considering the second season was only 7 episodes long.

You would root for this character all the way through because he and Robert Hawkins are the only hope for what was the United States; that's a big responsibility and that's why he's number 3 on this list. In the end he makes it... but because of cancellation, we'll never know what happens to him after the start of the war.

2 - Robert Hawkins played by Lennie James - Jericho

This was a tough one - Robert Hawkins almost got the number one spot but after thinking about it someone else deserved that spot more, however, Hawkins does get the number two and runner up spot.

In short, Hawkins is a bad ass. I'm not going to explain who he is because it would be better if Jake told you in a video, the first 7 minutes of season 2 - CLICK HERE!

I love macho characters and that's what Hawkins is. He plays no games; he's serious and focused; he's determined to restore the United States and destroy it's enemies. From the start we the viewer knew that Hawkins wasn't exactly what he appeared and over the course of 2 seasons his full identity was shown to us which basically led us to everything that happened in the final episode. The final episode alone was probably one of the most entertaining episodes I've ever seen.

I suppose the best comparison I could make is that Hawkins is Felix Leiter from the James Bond franchise, but much more bad ass. He has Bond skills, but not the Bond charm so yea... Felix Leiter.

The final episode saw Hawkins shot and bleeding out, but he was being taken to a hospital and we can only asume that he recovered. Nobody knows if we'll see more from Jericho especially now since the actors have moved on with their careers but I'll be waiting for the day when we can see the 2nd American Civil War with both Jake and Hawkins stuck in the middle being bad asses and such.

1 - Derek Reese played by Brian Austin Green - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Brian Austin Green... Whoever thought that the David Silver actor would eventually turn into my favorite character of this year. When BAG was cast as Derek in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I was one of those people that laughed in disgust because I thought it was one of the dumbest casting moves since Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face.... ok, maybe not that bad, but it was bad enough to make me think TSCC was going to fold. WOW was I wrong!

BAG came into his role as Derek like he was born to it and has not only blown me away but pretty much every other TSCC viewer and fan. Every episode aired that featured his character at the center is considered to be the best episodes of the series so far, two of which I'll post below.

Reese is a character that has so many things I really like but to name just a few: He's the brother of Kyle Reese and that's huge - BAG is also able to perform like he really was in a war; very scared, angry, and experienced. He's also macho as hell. He feels nothing for his enemy and only wants to protect his commander and friend John Connor. His back story from the war is so rich thanks to the writers which make his character so intriguing.

I can only hope that this show will continue for a couple of years with BAG continuing to play a big part in this circle of characters. I can't wait for the series to return in Feb and remember that it's on Friday nights now.

Until then, take a look at a couple full episodes that feature BAG's Reese.

Honorable mentions, candidates and considerations:

(click names for clip)

 Summer Glau - The Sarah Connor Chronicles
 Anna Torv - Fringe
 John Noble - Fringe
 Milo Ventimiglia - Heroes
 Jack Coleman - Heroes
 Zachary Quinto - Star Tre...errr.. Heroes
 Katee Sackhoff - Battlestar Galactica