Tragically, the television world offers little in the way of worthy Man Points Role Models. Either television imposes us with dysfunctional wimps like Homer Simpson or Hal (Bryan Cranston) from Malcolm in the Middle or it gives us unconvincing caricatures of phony masculinity like David Hasselhoff.
Thankfully, we're not entirely bereft of adequate displays of true manliness. We cannot ignore, for example, Kiefer Sutherland’s role as Jack Bauer who, earning the measly salary of a civil servant and being forced to wear the same hooded sweat shirt every day for five years, has saved the United States, and the entire world, on more than a dozen of occasions. He is no surprise to the Man Points Recommended List. However, one surprise entry is Stephen Colbert, a persnickety, ectomorphic, bespectacled gentleman who is about as physically intimidating as a pencil-neck geek art history professor. But what he lacks in formidable physical presence, he makes up for in rapier wit, caustic sarcasm, and in the expert craft of mocking obnoxious gasbags who pose as steely-balled talking heads on cable news programs. Colbert’s superior skill in puncturing and deflating these pompous, self-regarding windbags shows a power and manliness that is unparalleled in the entertainment world and therefore earns Colbert surprise reign as the Man Points King of the Television World.
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