My Top 5 TV Crushes

My misspent youth was filled with a lot of television, and from those shows I loved, I developed a number of crushes on fictional characters.

Zoinks! The first TV crush of my life was none other than Shaggy, of Saturday morning's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Born Norville Rogers and voiced by Casey Kasem, Shaggy's an unlikely heartthrob. Skinny and rumpled and cowardly, with a voice that squeaks on occasion and a cast-iron stomach, he's not every girl's dream. But he was always groovy in my eyes. Beatnik's weren't exactly known for smelling good, so it's probably just as well this is only a TV romance. You never forget your first crush, and, like, Shaggy will always have, like, this special place in my heart.

Ah, Star Trek. My first fandom outside the ranks of animation. I discovered it long after its 1966 debut, and Ensign Pavel Chekov, as portrayed by Walter Koenig, quickly stole my heart. All the space beauties fell for Capt. Kirk, but Chekov had the boyish good looks, the accent, and the wulnerability that beat Kirk's machismo hands down. Is it any wonder I never cared for the first season episodes?

Dave Starsky will always be linked to "& Hutch," but he was definitely the cute one. Played by Paul Michael Glaser back in '75, Starsk had a laid-back way of dealing with crime. And a really awesome car. But it was for a glimpse of the man, not the wheels, I waited all week long. Looking back on the series, it's a bit too gritty for my taste now, yet Starsky is still there, slouching through each investigation, and looking great doing it.

Crush number 4 is Prince Dirk Blackpool from the short-lived 1983 mid-season replacement series Wizards and Warriors. With only 8 episodes under its belt, you'd think the show wouldn't make much of an impression. But Dirk, played by Duncan Regehr, is unforgettable. Tall, dark, and smoldering, he's nothing like the type I usually favor, but he had me at the very first "Hi." Crushing on a villain has its problems; for one thing, all the adventures you write in your head need an outside enemy in order to allow Dirk to win the day. Bad never looked so good.

The most recent crush was, and is "Skid" Mark McCormick, from Hardcastle and McCormick, 1983. As played by Daniel Hugh-Kelly, he is truly a hottie. Mark's phenomenal good looks make a marked contrast with his sometimes-goofball personality. Whether it's a stretch in prison or a session of pool-cleaning, the guy can never seem to catch a break. And I love him for it.