Franklin

From the TV series Arrested Development (04/17/05). An African-American ventriloquist dummy who promoted racial healing by duetting with George "Gob" Bluth II (Will Arnett) during "Righteous Brothers," the season two finale episode. The duo spent $5,000 making the album Franklin Comes Alive, as a birthday gift for Gob's brother Michael (Jason Bateman). (Gob borrowed the 5K from Michael, of course.) The album included a truly stunning cover of Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" and this wonderful musical exchange:

Gob: "It ain't easy being white." Franklin: "It ain't easy being brown." G: "All this pressure to be bright." F: "I got children all over town."

Sadly, the African-American studio engineer walked out in protest at this point, so we didn't hear the rest of what was surely going to be a sensitive and nuanced treatment of race.