History AffablyEvil / LiveActionTV

** Larry, a recurring character (yes, [[RunningGag Dead Larry]]), is a consistently polite and cheerful man. He seems to truly care about his friends, tries to be a positive influence on the people around him, and will never do anything harmful to anyone without a good reason. He's also a remorseless sociopath, so "good reason" for Larry means "it would be marginally more convenient for me if you were dead". In his latest reappearance, Michael and Sam walk into Michael's house and are greeted warmly by Larry, who is very apologetic about the still-bleeding corpse on the floor, and makes himself as helpful as he can in dealing with the cartel that wants Michael dead. Well, actually, they want Larry dead, but he was using Michael's stolen identity at the time.

* Todd the Wraith from ''StargateAtlantis'' is surprisingly charming and personable for a [[ToServeMan life-sucking monster]] (and has a sense of humor -- he even makes some jokes that aren't morbid), especially since every other member of his AlwaysChaoticEvil species seems to lean heavily towards the LargeHam school of StupidEvil. He shows signs of being a budding MagnificentBastard, and is honest enough not to pretend to be anything other than a human-eating monster, and is quite frank with the heroes in pointing out that, no matter how many times they cooperate out of necessity, their fundamental nature will inevitably make them enemies at some point (though the Atlantis expedition has begun to take steps to remedy this). Todd can even be said to be trustworthy, as he honors a deal with Sheppard even though Sheppard is completely at his mercy.
* ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'':

* Tiffany Turner on Australian drama ''Winners And Losers'' falls into this, although she also likes using the XanatosGambit a bit...

* Lionel and Lex Luthor in ''{{Smallville}}'''s early seasons. Later seasons have Lex distrustful and paranoid, delving him into traditional villain territory. Lionel becomes a vessel for Jor-El and mentor to Clark, but is no less a MagnificentBastard.

* Lionel Luthor on ''{{Smallville}}'' has no interest in hurting people pointlessly. As long as you're not in his way (and aren't [[ArchnemesisDad related to him]]), you're in no danger. The same can be said of Tess Mercer, who eventually took over [=LuthorCorp=]; the same can ''not'' be said for his son Lex, or his AlternateUniverse [[EvilCounterpart counterpart]], Earth-2 Lionel, who are both classic examples of BitchInSheepsClothing.

--> '''Mayor''': [[GoshDarnItToHeck Oh gosh...]]

*** Lampshaded, repeatedly, but most brutally when they defeated him. The Mayor was destroyed because Buffy manipulated his finest quality-- his paternal love for Faith. For all his evil, it was his sliver of goodness that did him in.

* Tiffany Turner on Australian drama ''WinnersAndLosers'' falls into this, although she also likes using the XanatosGambit a bit...

** Sahjhan. He's rarely without a one-liner, and even chats up Connor, seemingly without malice, whom Sahjhan knows is destined to [[spoiler:kill him]] in the fight that's about to start.

** Even more than both Scorpius and Kaarvok is EvilSorcerer, RealityWarper, and EmotionEater, Maldis. In both his appearances, he always seems so friendly and conversational even while guiding his victims into his death traps - not to mention [[LargeHam clearly having the time of his life.]]

** The famous Khan Noonien Singh. It is often pointed out that once you strip away his limitless need to rule the universe, he's really a mirror image of Captain Kirk: polite, charming, a bit of a swaggering rogue. Of course, then came the weird ear parasites, and the charm mostly vanished...

** Weyoun, also from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', and the others of his species (the Vorta), who are the Founders' "carrot" race (with the [[SuperSoldier Jem'Hadar]] as the "stick"). But Weyoun is the finest of them, genetically engineered to be efficient, evil, and oh so polite. Also, useful for a diplomat, immunity to most poisons.
*** Although he is specifically designed to be polite and persuasive, most characters (especially some of the Cardassians, who are supposedly ''on the same side'') find him intensely irritating.

** Abadon. Yes, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast a dude named Abadon is affably evil]]. It helps that we also see that Silas knows his weak point and convinces him to do the stabilizing, if not exactly right, thing for Gilboa even after years of imprisonment. Of course, he's played by Brian Cox. So in order to drive home that he's, y'know, ''evil'' -- since he can't do much, locked up as he is -- they have him remark offhandedly that when he was king and bored, [[MoralEventHorizon he'd rape a serving girl]].

* ''{{Oz}}''. Sayid (before his HeelFaceTurn) and Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly in particular, since his entire "Iago" gimmick requires him being able to charm the pants off of just about anyone to further his schemes.

::: Although it's arguable whether or not Death is actually evil. His main concern is to get out of Lucifer's control so that he can go back to doing his own thing. Even though his thing is killing people (he is Death, after all), he generally seems apathetic towards individual human lives, and even to the destruction of entire cities. Basically, he's just playing the waiting game until he reaps God.

** Then, there's Sheridan's torturer in season 4, who was basically a middle-aged accountant who just happened to be delivering large electrical shocks and doses of agonising, vomit-inducing poison, instead of doing tax returns. Somehow, his WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou attitude and philosophical digressions on the nature of truth managed to be creepier than he could ever have been as a frothing sadist.

* Melvin Palmer in ''BostonLegal''. Of course, it may be difficult to call him ''evil'' in the GreyAndGreyMorality world of law, but when facing him in court, Alan inevitably comes off as [[ALighterShadeOfGrey more sympathetic]].

* [[{{Sanctuary}} Nikola Tesla]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited loves]] Helen Magnus unconditionally, will do absolutely anything for her, and has pretty much always come through when the titular Sanctuary needs him. This does not stop him from wanting to TakeOverTheWorld, or constantly getting himself into trouble that he then needs the Sanctuary team to help get him out of. He's also one of the good guys (mostly).
* Harry Montebello from ''Series/TheStraits'' loves his daughter, is always polite to the police, and even built a special set of steps so his cute, tiny dog can more easily get up onto his bed. He also is the head of a crime syndicate who will cheerfully have you stung to death by jellyfish if you cross him.

** Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who provides the page image. Harry Groener who portrayed him claims to have based him in part on Ted Bundy: charming, able to talk you into anything, will kill you without blinking. Wilkins is friendly, mannerly, and is implied to be an upstanding, hard-working and (debateably) honest politician. He also provides well-meant ([[JerkassHasAPoint and, frankly, accurate]]) [[MayflyDecemberRomance relationship advice]] to Buffy and Angel, inspired by his own marriage a century ago where she aged and died while he was immortal, and the exchange makes it obvious he did love her. He also genuinely cared for Faith, and while he was TheCorrupter to her, Faith was already corrupted by the time she sided with him. By contrast she has fond memories of him into the rest of the series, seeing him as the only friend she's had who didn't try to manipulate or use her. And this was ''after'' her HeelFaceTurn.

** Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who provides the page image. Harry Groener who portrayed him claims to have based him in part on Ted Bundy: charming, able to talk you into anything, will kill you without blinking. Wilkins is friendly, mannerly, and is implied to be an upstanding, hard-working and (debateably) honest politician. He also provides well-meant [[JerkassHasAPoint and, frankly, accurate]] ([[MayflyDecemberRomance relationship advice]]) to Buffy and Angel, inspired by his own marriage a century ago where she aged and died while he was immortal, and the exchange makes it obvious he did love her. He also genuinely cared for Faith, and while he was TheCorrupter to her, Faith was already corrupted by the time she sided with him. By contrast she has fond memories of him into the rest of the series, seeing him as the only friend she's had who didn't try to manipulate or use her. And this was ''after'' her HeelFaceTurn.

** Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who provides the page image. Harry Groener who portrayed him claims to have based him in part on Ted Bundy: charming, able to talk you into anything, will kill you without blinking. Wilkins is friendly, mannerly, and is implied to be an upstanding, hard-working and honest politician. He also provides well-meant ([[MayflyDecemberRomance and, frankly, accurate]]) relationship advice to Buffy and Angel, inspired by his own marriage a century ago where she aged and died while he was immortal, and the exchange makes it obvious he did love her. He also genuinely cared for Faith, and while he was TheCorrupter to her, Faith was already corrupted by the time she sided with him. By contrast she has fond memories of him into the rest of the series, seeing him as the only friend she's had who didn't try to manipulate or use her. And this was ''after'' her HeelFaceTurn.
*** Well, not exactly honest.

** [[HolyHitman Brother.]] [[{{Badass}} Mouzone]]. You know, the man with the thick glasses, the dorky bowtie, the [[GoshDarnItToHeck exceedingly polite speech]], a love of ''Harpers'' magazine, and who has no problem shooting hoppers with hollow-point bullets or [[spoiler: gunning down Stringer Bell!]]

** [[HolyHitman Brother.]] [[{{Badass}} Mouzone]]. You know, the man with the thick glasses, the dorky bowtie, the [[GoshDarnItToHeck exceedingly polite speech]], a love of ''Harpers'' magazine, and who has no problem shooting hoppers with hollow-point bullets or [[spoiler: gunning down Stringer Fucking Bell!]]

** [[HolyHitman Brother.]] [[MagnificentBastard Fucking.]] [[{{Badass}} Mouzone]]. You know, the man with the thick glasses, the dorky bowtie, the [[GoshDarnItToHeck exceedingly polite speech]], a love of ''Harpers'' magazine, and who has no problem shooting hoppers with hollow-point bullets or [[spoiler: gunning down Stringer Fucking Bell!]]

* ''Series/{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'':

-->'''[[spoiler: Skip]]''': Angel, buddy, whatever's going on, I'm telling you true... ''[dagger shoots out of arm]'' '''Not a dupe'''.

* Even though they never forgot the purpose of their experiment, The Mads (and later Pearl) on ''{{MST3K}}'' oftentimes have a strangely chummy relationship with Joel & Mike. In the ''Time Chasers'' episode, Pearl and Mike even hang out on her spacegoing Volkswagon van, enjoying a cuppa while chatting like neighbors on a front porch. "So, Pearl: why are you so evil?" "Hmm...I'm filled with hate, I don't know if that helps."

** Bob, too. Maybe even more so.

* Gus from ''{{Breaking Bad}}'' plays this almost to a fault. Not only are the employees at his chicken restaurant punctual and polite, but the people who run his massive underground drug empire are too. He even apologizes to a fellow kingpin when his hideout is not wheelchair accessible. Whether this is a stone cold facade or simply the way he prefers things has not yet to been clarified. It works slightly to his disadvantage, however, when Walt is easily able to identify the all-too-humble fast-food manager as his "mysterious" contact.

* [[MagnificentBastard Ben Linus]] from ''{{Series/Lost}}'' is affable and polite even when informing you exactly how terrible he's just made your life, and has only occasionally let out his scary side. Even when he does act scary, he usually waits a beat or two and returns to his affable demeanor with a small exhale or chuckle, which is much, ''much'' more frightening than if he were malevolent all the time. When he doesn't go back to being nice? Someone dies. Just call him Ben "I've Prepared You a Nice Breakfast Because the Next Few Weeks Will Be Very Unpleasant" Linus. This exchange from third season between Ben and [[spoiler:Jack]] really says it all:

* Todd the Wraith from ''StargateAtlantis'' is surprisingly charming and personable for a [[ToServeMan life-sucking monster]] (and has a sense of humor -- he even makes some jokes that aren't morbid), especially since every other member of his AlwaysChaoticEvil species seems to lean heavily towards the LargeHam school of StupidEvil. He shows signs of being a budding MagnificentBastard, and is honest enough not to pretend to be anything other than a human-eating monster, and is quite frank with the heroes in pointing out that, no matter how many times they cooperate out of necessity, their fundamental nature will inevitably make them enemies at some point (though the Atlantis expedition has begun to take steps to remedy this). Todd can even be said to be trustworthy, as he honors a deal with Sheppard even though Sheppard is completely at his mercy.

** Baal, despite being rather sexist and genuinely malevolent, is at least fairly reasonable and relatively subtle compared to the rest of his megalomaniacal, AlwaysChaoticEvil, LargeHam species. This was especially the case in the last few seasons, after he spent some time living as a human after losing his empire, and started to adopt Earth behavior and mannerisms (including talking like a normal person instead of in standard Goa'uld [[VoiceOfTheLegion scary echo speak]]). In ''[[StargateContinuum Stargate: Continuum]]'', Ba'al goes so far as to take over the galaxy using a fake "We Come in Peace" slogan instead of the typical "Kneel before Zod (or die)" approach. He even calls the U.S. President using a satellite phone, and invites him to lunch.
* {{Played for laughs}} in ''Series/TheGoodies'', an episode of which features Dr. Wolfgang von Petal, a MadScientist who just wants to be liked. Unfortunately for him, he seems to have a bit of a skewed idea of how to actually go about getting people to like him:

* Jonas Hodges of ''TwentyFour''. Charming, witty, charismatic, psychotic. When he suspects the chairman of the board of his company of [[spoiler: helping the government in taking down his company]], he engages him in a conversation discussing their long history together and the virtues of loyalty [[spoiler: before ''savagely beating him to death with a glass pitcher.'' He then proceeds to dab the blood of the man he had treated like a son from his shirt with a wet napkin.]] That's just the most extreme example.
* ''{{Kings}}''.

* The Bernie Madoff [[{{Expy}} lookalike]] and his wife on ''{{Law and Order}}'' are friendly and cheerful even as their assets are being seized and he's being arrested on suspicion of murder. [[spoiler: He's innocent (of murder, anyway), and allowing himself to get caught was better than having his family killed by the South American gangsters he was cheating]]. The ending reveals the flip side of their affability: while the couple truly loved each other, they completely screwed their investors, childhood friends, and ''their own daughter'' out of their savings.

* The Tech Bandit from the episode "Common Enemies" of Fox's ''Series/TheGoodGuys''. A nice fellow that only steals so that he can support his love of traveling and food blogging.

* No matter what nasty (and sometimes downright evil) deeds ''{{Neighbours}}''' Paul Robinson has planned, he will always do them with an air of debonair class.

* Nevel Papperman of ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' is polite and friendly despite his attempts to destroy iCarly [[DisproportionateRetribution because Carly refused to kiss him.]]

* On ''TrueBlood'', there's the vampire from The Authority who attached Bill and Eric's [[ExplosiveLeash iCrosses]]: an adorably perky WrenchWench who energetically explained how the harnesses worked, how they would kill them if they disobeyed The Authority, and that they were controlled through an [=iPhone=] app. "You boys are way too cute to be goo."

* On ''TrueBlood]], there's the vampire from The Authority who attached Bill and Eric's [[ExplosiveLeash iCrosses]]: an adorably perky WrenchWench who energetically explained how the harnesses worked, how they would kill them if they disobeyed The Authority, and that they were controlled through an [=iPhone=] app. "You boys are way too cute to be goo."

-->"And remember how we used to do it? We'd ring you up, tell you where the bomb was, when it was going to go off, and have a chat. How fucking polite were we!?"

*** The new series Cybermen are less so, being far more [[StarTrek Borg]]-like. "You will be upgraded" and "upgrading is compulsory" are pretty much the new "[[TheAssimilator You will be assimilated]]" and "ResistanceIsFutile". Ironic, as the Borg were often accused of being based on the Cybermen. However, what hasn't changed is that they still believe they're improving people, genuinely pitying the poor, emotional humans, and working to "free" them of that unenviable state.

* ''StarTrek'':

** Weyoun, also from ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', and the others of his species (the Vorta), who are the Founders' "carrot" race (with the [[SuperSoldier Jem'Hadar]] as the "stick"). But Weyoun is the finest of them, genetically engineered to be efficient, evil, and oh so polite. Also, useful for a diplomat, immunity to most poisons.

* Siegfried from ''GetSmart''. In one episode, he even joins forces with the heroes (at least, until the very end). Not so, however, in the 2008 [[TheRemake remake film]], in which he is stylish but not exactly friendly.

** Harmony Kendall from the same series -- the only person ever to have her personality ''improved'' by being turned into a soulless undead monster. As both a human and a vampire, she pays no attention to the internal voice telling her right from wrong, and simply wants to be popular and liked. [[GoodAngelBadAngel Bad results when she ignores her inner voice as a human, gainign a superego and showing no empathy. Good results when she's a demon, and she shows no malice]].

** Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who provides the page image. Harry Groener who portrayed him claims to have based him in part on Ted Bundy: charming, able to talk you into anything, will kill you without blinking. Wilkins is friendly, mannerly, and is implied to be an upstanding, hard-working and honest politician. He also provides well-meant ([[MayflyDecemberRomance and, frankly, accurate]]) relationship advice to Buffy and Angel, inspired by his own marriage a century ago where she aged and died while he was immortal, and the exchange makes it obvious he did love her. He also genuinely cared for Faith, and while he was TheCorrupter to her, Faith was already corrupted by the time she sided with him. By contrast she has fond memories of him into the rest of the series, seeing him as the only friend she's had who didn't try to manipulate or use her.

* Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell of ''PrisonBreak''. Capable of being charming, urbane, soft-spoken, and erudite, he's a sexual predator, a cold-hearted killer, and all around "raw animal".

** Lucifer is portrayed as a calm, collected, soft-spoken villain who always treats the Winchesters (particularely Sam) with courtesy. The facade fades only when Dean tries to foil his plans one too many times by removing his brother Michael, prompting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* Jubal Early of ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. Polite and charming, if a little bit [[CloudCuckooLander sideways in his thinking.]] He's also an unrepentant sadist under the daffy exterior, both physically and psychologically.

* Moriarty in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' is this, much like the original. However, Jim is friendly in a very [[GigglingVillain cheerful]], CampStraight way. Which is infinitely creepier.

** D'Hoffryn, master of the vengeance demons, seems to be a pretty nice guy, making conversation with Willow, showing up to Anya and Xander's wedding, etc. He got [[MoralEventHorizon ''really'' nasty]] in his final appearance, though.

** D'Hoffryn, master of the vengeance demons, seems to be a pretty nice guy, making conversation with Willow, showing up to Anya and Xander's wedding, etc. He got ''really'' nasty in his final appearance, though.