RobGrizzly  04/21/08

Does Simon Cowell count?

charinator  04/21/08

I wouldn't say Burns is evil more so than he is misunderstood. Plus, anybody whose mortality can be threatened at the hands of a baby does not make a very convincing evil dude. To me, Nina Myers was the most deplorable villain. She was controlling, deceptive, and wickedly manipulative. Along with her self-serving motives and agendas, her viciously high degree of moral flexibility allowed her to betray and kill anybody who got in her way. You also have to credit her because her evilness helped shape Jack Bauer into the dark, tortured, yet admirably brutal bad **** that we know today.

charinator  04/21/08

Oh and without a doubt. Simon comes a close second.

greywolf17  04/21/08

Burns pure evil? He may have done some trrible things, but also some good things as well. And the best villian in tv history?

Ben from Lost.
T-Bag from Prison Break.
Angelus from Angel.
Dante w/ Humonculi from Full Metal Alchemist
Lex Luther from Smallvie & Superman
most mothers in sictoms
Vince Mcmahon from WWE
and so on

Rose Tyler  04/21/08

Baltar on Battlestar. I've never seen a man more obsessed with himself! His own selfishness got almost all of mankind destroyed. Ben from Lost is so bad he just might be good. Then there is Schillinger from OZ. Dear me he freaked me out.

greywolf17  04/21/08

Your right about Ben, after all, he does call himself one of the "good guys".

Dreama  04/21/08

T-Bag is my favorite sociopath, but I'd have to vote Lionel Luthor from Smallville. Look at what that animal did to his own kid!

HoneyBunny  04/21/08

I liked your shout-out to villainous mothers on sitcoms, very funny GreyWolf17

The Counteragent  04/21/08

C'mon! Arvin Sloane!

Amber477  04/22/08

Spike and Drusilla, Season 2 of Buffy- best villains ever.

Oceanic 6  04/22/08

Two words: Benjamin Linus!

demetrithegreek  04/22/08

Two more words: totally sucks.

huzzah  04/22/08

"You can have your dastardly, pure evil S-O-Bs. I'll take my villians with more bark than bite and more humor than pure wickedness."

Well, that's the big question then, is it not? What constitutes a quality villain? Pure evil or just playing the antagonist? Sadistically violent or sarcastically mean? Does scale matter? Q from the Star Trek universe almost wiped out man's existence. For fun. Burns IS bad, but he limits his involvement to the Springfield area; even then he is the antagonist in only...what, 1 of every 10 or 20 shows? Sorry, demetri. Good villain? Sure. Best ever? No way.

For my money, Ben Linus and Ray Wise's devil are the best villains. Ben is cold, calculating, manipulative, and unwilling to relinquish the slightest bit of power. He will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. He is a modern Machiavelli. Wise plays the devil exactly the way we all know Satan would actually be. The joviality, the slight charm, the maliciousness that rears up with no warning.

If however, you want my TRUE belief about villains, I'll point out that the throwdown makes no qualifier regarding TYPE of TV. Ergo, the biggest, baddest, most evil TV villain of all time is...

Dick Cheney.

charinator  04/23/08

Well, huzzah, if we're gonna to such broad extremes, then clearly the trophy for most evil villain in television history goes to... FOX network. No other entity has successfully massacred remarkable shows before their primes (see Firefly) yet continue to inexplicably renew really inferior shows (do people really watch American Dad?). If they renew Don't Forget the Lyrics and The Moment of Truth but cancel T:SCC, then it is clear that FOX is going against the grain of logic and quality standards and living up to their title as the the most dastardly villain in television history.

outlatrbdr  04/23/08

burns is truly evil. not only does he have his personal grudges but lets not forget he is head of a nuclear power plant and most likely a multinational corporation. i believe burns would and has sold fissionable material to evil doers all over the world. hiding behind his frail exterior. the only person who can stop this threat is the only person who has stood up to him. Maggie Simpson.

Alynda  04/23/08

I'm gonna go with Tanya Turner from Footballers Wive$. Just a personal favorite.

Moononastring  04/23/08

Sure Mr. Burns is great, but the best EVER? Maybe the most universally recognized...but the most interesting?

Baltar (BSG) is I think one of the best villains ever. What I love about him is that he isn't sitting there cackling and rubbing his hands. His villainess (is that a word?) just comes out of who he is and the decisions he makes.

Other great ones:

Cigarette Smoking Man (X-Files)
Angelus, Spike, Dru (Buffy)
Wolfram and Hart, Darla (Angel)
Ben Linus (on Lost)
Vilhemina Slater (Ugly Betty)
Sylar (Heroes)
Arvin Sloan (Alias)
Simon Cowell (American Idol)
Aaron Echols (Veronica Mars)

loglady  04/23/08

Ray Wise as the devil is a good one, but what about Ray Wise as Leland Palmer/Bob...evil at it's most terrifying...and I would say hands down the scariest father ever on TV (perhaps my next challenge?!?).

ABCSOAPS55  04/25/08

what about Alexis Carrington on Dynasty, Valerie on 90210, Abby on Knot's Landing and JR on Dallas.