A subject on another board brought this question to my mind. In general, who do you think knows a character better? The writer who creates him or the actor who portrays him?

I would tend to think it is the writer because the writer is always thinking of story lines and what would be fitting for the character. The actor goes home at night, just memorizing lines and perfecting portrayal, therefore hypothesizing less about what should/will be in the character's future.

I say the actor....especially if they have been playing them longer than a few years.

Hard to say, I think they're about equal but I think ultimately the actor, who if they do it for a long time, is going to really be acquainted with what the character is and what they're like, because TV shows are usually written by half a dozen people or so, and usually the character is just maintained by one actor.

Whoever's had them longer.

True, like Mama Harper, I think Vicki Lawrence knows her better than whoever was writing her back in the 80s.