TV’s top 10 scariest characters

5. T-Bag, ‘Prison Break’

More than a few of the "Prison Break" prisoners inside Fox River State Penitentiary have turned out to be nice guys, albeit ones with a rap sheet and abrasive personalities. At least, they come across as sympathetic on some level. But that's not the case with Theodore Bagwell, also known as T-Bag. (Yes, that's really his nickname.)

Fox T-Bag: Just another reason to stay out of prison.

He's in prison for rape, kidnapping, and first-degree murder, and during just eight episodes, he's managed to rape, kidnap, and kill inside the prison, so it's no surprise that he's in prison for life. T-Bag controls one of the prison gangs, and commands irretractable loyalty from his followers. He's also the one character who would not need to be rewritten if he was to transfer to HBO's "Oz," the gritty prison series that set a standard FOX will never be able to match as a broadcast network.

Ever since T-Bag's prison boyfriend was killed during a mini-riot, he's been out for Michael Scofield's blood. But now that he's discovered Michael's escape plan, he'll be an ally, or as close to an ally as one gets in prison. So far, their alliance isn't working well; despite the Scofield brothers' insistence that a prison guard hostage not be harmed, T-Bag tortured the man and then later stabbed him to death before throwing him over a railing.

Even the gentle, soulless way T-Bag talks is frightening. As he held a picture of the guard's teenage daughter, rubbed it against his face, and spoke of what he'd do to her, he established himself as one of the most horrifying, scary villains on television today.    —A.D.

6. Emily Gilmore, ‘Gilmore Girls’

On a recent episode of “Gilmore Girls,” Lorelai referred to her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) as a scorpion who, even though she promised to refrain from stinging the frog carrying her across the river, skewered it anyway and they both drowned. Why? Because it was her nature. It’s tough to find a Mother’s Day card with that kind of sentiment on it, but it sums up with succinct melancholy the complex and emotionally wrenching relationship between two of the three Gilmore Girls. The sheer force of Emily’s Cruella DeVil-in-a-Chanel-pantsuit persona forced Lorelai out of the house when she got pregnant at 16, and the mother-daughter relationship has grown more fragile with age. And now Rory is getting a taste of grandma’s sharp-tongued wrath.

To say society dame Emily interferes in her daughter and granddaughter’s lives is akin to saying Hitler “interfered” with Poland. The elder Gilmore’s sins range from the relatively tiny — throwing her financial weight around to force the girls into a strict regimen of Friday-night dinners, to the extreme — scheming (successfully, in at least one case) to break up both Rory and Lorelai’s relationships. She is frightening not for the malevolence she so often exudes, but for the times when she softens her steely exterior and transforms into a legitimately likable woman. She soothes before she strikes. Smiling from ear to ear, Emily Gilmore will gut you from stem to sternum, and know exactly which Waterford shrimp fork to use in the process.     —B.B.

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