I have a small list of favorite characters. Not all are franchises, but fuck, a good character is a good character.
>1960s: LT Frank Bullitt
>1970s: Insp. Harry Callahan, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader
>1980s: CPT H.M. Murdock
>1990s: T-800 and Det. John McClain
I don't have any favorites from the 2000s on, as most movies/shows were shit. I have some favorite movies from them, but no real favorite characters. Hollywood managed to kill off good characters sometime around 1999/2000.