Give me characters to care about

My wife and I have been using critical acclaim and/or awards as a filter for choosing TV shows/movies to watch. Given that taste is subjective, sometimes the much-raved about shows exceeded expectations while at other times they left me feeling disappointed. What I’ve realised though is that if a TV show/movie doesn’t have characters that I care about, it’s a quite likely that the show will be in Camp Disappointment. I’ve watched shows with unknown (to me) actors playing compelling characters and I became invested. I’ve also watched award-winning actors play characters, whom I couldn’t care less about if they died, no matter how Oscar-baity their acting might be. Here are 2 examples each for either type: POSSIBLE SPOILERS #Thumbs- Up Man Like Mobeen’s protagonist, the former drug dealer Mobeen (played by Guz Khan) is rougher around the edges but he was someone I wanted to see succeed. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms had Peter Claffey play Ser Dunk, who makes us care for this lowly…