TV loves making lists -- Top 10 this, Top 20 that. One day I'll make a list of all the lists I've seen listed and rank them by favorite.
However, in light of the recent satisfying and well-deserved demise of evil Ramsay Bolton on HBO's Game of Thrones, I believe it's time Rolling Stone updated its "40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time" ranking that ran in February.
Rolling Stone loves to make lists. It has had lists of artists influenced by Joni Mitchell, 40 best sci-fi TV shows of all time, 100 best Bob Dylan songs, and the 16 best losers on American Idol. It's only natural it would rank TV villains. There have been some great ones.
We don't have room to list all 40 (No. 37 was Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), but here are the Top 10. They're a pretty evil bunch, but Bolton still heads my roster, and his going to the dogs was most gratifying.
See if you agree with Rolling Stone:
10. Catwoman, Batman. This is a stretch, but Rolling Stone included the collective Catwoman as portrayed by Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether. No mention of those by Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway or Camren Bicondova (on Gotham).
9. The Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." Yeah, they were a pretty irresistible and gnarly collective. Be sure to perform that self nanoprobe exam.
8. Montgomery Burns, The Simpsons. Homer Simpson's disgustingly wealthy boss (voiced by Harry Shearer) may be a villain, but does an animated character have the gravitas to make the Top 10 list?
7. Gus Fring, Breaking Bad. Giancarlo Esposito brought a simmering, sinister tone to the criminal mastermind. Kudos to Walter White (Bryan Cranston) when he arranged for Gus to go out with a bang.
6. Al Swearengen, Deadwood. Ian McShane put heart and soul into the hard-drinking, hard-swearing town puppet master. Unfortunately, it was a black heart and a dark soul in this essence of malevolence.
5. Bob, Twin Peaks. Who killed Laura Palmer? Bob (Frank Silva) killed Laura Palmer. We could demonize him all the more here, but he was already a demon who specialized in possession (sorry, Leland Palmer) and fed on pain and suffering.
4. Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones. This snot-nosed, insufferable, narcissistic little twit was my former No. 1 villain. Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) beheaded the beloved Ned Stark (Sean Bean), and proceeded to cut a swath of murder, torture and sexual assault right up to his drinking the Kool-Aid, so to speak, at his wedding.
3. Livia Soprano, The Sopranos. As the driving force behind her son, the abusive, manipulative Livia (Nancy Marchand) provided the catalyst for Tony Soprano's conflicted life. Evil? She once even put out a hit on her son.
2. Marlo Stanfield, The Wire. There are many who believe The Wire to have been the best TV show ever. If so, then the ruthless Marlo (Jamie Hector) gets much of the credit. Ambitious, intelligent and coldly efficient, Marlo rose to the top of Baltimore's drug scene. Disrespect Marlo at your peril.
1. Benjamin Linus, Lost. Although I watched every single episode, I, too, get confused when I try to remember what exactly happened on Lost. I do recall that Ben (Michael Emerson), leader of the Others, had done it all -- kidnapping, torture, mass murder and the sacrifice of his adopted daughter Alex to protect the island from those he deemed unworthy.
Yet, there was something disturbingly charming about Ben. Maybe that's the secret to being TV's all-time No. 1 villain.
There you have it, Rolling Stone's Top 10 villains. Where, you may ask, were some of the others? Vee (Lorraine Toussaint) from Orange Is the New Black was No. 28; The X-Files' Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) was No. 21; and The Governor (David Morrissey) from The Walking Dead only made it to No. 19.
Even Newman (Wayne Knight) from Seinfeld was ranked No. 16. That reminds me of the famous quote from the series:
Elaine: "Perhaps there's more to Newman than meets the eye."
Jerry: "No. There's less."
• Canceled. Despite earlier statements, HBO has changed its mind and decided against a second season of its very expensive music industry drama Vinyl.
There are reports that the first season, which starred Bobby Cannavale as a '70s record executive, cost a hefty $100 million. Not enough viewers watched to justify the expense.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 07/03/2016