6. Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties)
Family Ties began as a sitcom about a pair of married hippies and their children, intending to explore how hippy minded people reaching middle age adjust to a world slipping slowly into 80's Capitalist Consumerism and Reaganite Conservatism. This was expressed through their Republican son Alex, intended to be the foil and "villain" to his liberal parents. In the hands of the very talented Michael J. Fox however, Alex quickly became the breakout star of the show, with the creators (by their own admission) having drastically overestimated how much the audience would hate the character's hard right views. Though to be fair, it was less the character's conservative nature and more Fox's smug know-it-all portrayal that won the fans over. While clearly written to be, frankly, an asshole, his smugness came off as a fun and charming kind of cocky, not just contrasting his exasperated liberal parents, but stealing scenes from the somewhat restrained and understated performances by Meredith Baxter and Micheal Gross. The massive popularity of Alex P. Keaton kept Family Ties on tv for a respectable 7 year run, and jump-started Fox's film career. Which is amazing when you consider that according to Fox's friends and family, he began showing the first signs of his Parkinson's in season 5 of the show, meaning he managed to hide it through several movies and the first few seasons of his second sitcom Spin City.