13 Favorite TV Devils of All Time

TV has a long history of handling the Devil with wit and creativity, as this list of our 13 favorite TV Devils of all time shows. 

Ardra, 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'

In the Season 4 episode "Devil's Due," Ardra (Marta DuBois) is an intergalactic devil who lays claim to the entire planet of Ventax II based on a thousand-year-old Faustian contract. She's also a shape-shifter, one who briefly assumes the forms of the Earthling and Klingon devils, as well as a temptress who tries and fails to seduce Capt. Picard. (Rebuffed, she punishes him by transporting him to the planet's surface in his pajamas.) Turns out she's just a con artist with a big bag of high-tech tricks. She's safely put away by Federation authorities, but one wonders what the Ventaxians -- and the Enterprise -- would do if the real Ardra ever showed up.

The Devil, 'Saturday Night Live'

"SNL" has had a couple of memorable Mephistopheles-es. Jon Lovitz made for a hilariously inept Satan, one who's bug-eyed grin was more silly than scary. Jason Sudeikis played him as a necktie-wearing corporate drone, easygoing but overwhelmed by the actual amount of horrifying evil in the world. 

Gavin Doran, '666 Park Avenue'

Anyone who's ever had to deal with Manhattan real estate wouldn't be too surprised to find out that their landlord is Lucifer. Nonetheless, residents of the posh Upper East Side high rise didn't figure out until too late that Terry O'Quinn's soft-spoken mogul was the corrupter of souls. Alas, ABC's satanic soap didn't even last a full season, so we never got to learn the true depths of Doran's devilish depravity.

Him, 'Powerpuff Girls'

The ultimate adversary of the pint-sized trio of adorable superheroines, this devil is so scary that no one dares call Him by his real name. Weirdly androgynous (he has a goatee but also wears a tutu and thigh-high spike-heeled boots), Him uses possession and psychological warfare to drive a wedge between the Girls, for only when they are united can they defeat him. Appearing in several episodes, Him was voiced by Tom Kane, also the voice of the Girls' creator Professor Utonium.

Jerry Belvedere, 'Reaper'

Maybe the best Devil in TV history, the Satan of "Reaper" (unforgettably played by "Twin Peaks" alumnus Ray Wise) was a grinning slickster in a sharp suit, always quick with a quip unless you got him angry, which made him turn terrifying. He kept showing up to ruin the life of Sam (Bret Harrison), a young slacker with a job in a big-box store, whose father had signed away his son's soul. As a result, Wise's paternal, backslapping Lucifer forced Sam to work for him on the side, capturing souls who'd escaped from the underworld and return them to the portal to Hell. (Which was located, of course, at the DMV.) Too bad the CW horror-comedy series lasted just two seasons (2007-9), since Wise's performance was diabolically good.

Lucifer, 'God, The Devil and Bob'

In this short-lived cartoon series, God (voiced by James Garner) is a laid-back Jerry Garcia type, while the Devil (Alan Cumming) is his needy, petulant, co-dependent golfing buddy. They bicker over whether or not to destroy humanity, with ordinary slob Bob (French Stewart) as their Job-like test case. NBC canceled the series after just four episodes back in 2000, though the whole season eventually found a home on Adult Swim.

Lucifer, 'Supernatural'

The Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) whom the demon-hunting Winchester brothers occasionally confront is surely the closest TV has come to the Lucifer imagined by John Milton in "Paradise Lost." Once God's favorite angel, he was cast into Hell for his petulant jealousy of God's new favorite creation, mankind. He blames the species not just for his own punishment but also for despoiling God's beautiful Earth; no wonder he's not too fond of us. Fortunately, he's often too distracted by the series' frequent wars among angels and demons over control of Heaven and Hell to wreak much havoc.

Ned Flanders, 'The Simpsons'

Let's face it, didn't you always suspect that Homer's devout do-gooder neighbor (voiced by Harry Shearer) harbored a dark secret? In a "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode, we got to see a version of Ned that showed his true cloven-hoofed self. Still pretty mild-mannered and courteous, as it turned out.

The Red Devil, 'Scream Queens'

Well, actually, there was more than one Red Devil killer terrorizing Wallace University on last fall's "Scream Queens." As it turned out, though, the leader of the horns-and-cape-clad killer conspiracy was... well, we won't spoil it for you. Judging by the Season 1 finale, the Red Devil's reign of terror isn't over yet.

Robot Devil, 'Futurama'

A thousand years from now, the Robot Devil will torment the souls of wayward robots and exact Faustian bargains from the easily corrupted. He will be the master of Robot Hell, whose portal is beneath the "Inferno" ride at a New Jersey amusement park. Dan Castellaneta (whose day job is voicing Homer SImpson) has said his Robot Devil voice is essentially a bad imitation of Hans Conreid, the voice of Disney's Captain Hook in "Peter Pan."

Satan, 'The Kids in the Hall'

In a Superstore") is a snaggle-toothed Satan who spits green slime and has four arms, all the better to play the double-neck guitar in his rock-off against surly teen garage guitarist Bobby (Bruce McCulloch). Bobby can barely play Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," but he still manages to out-shred the enraged Satan. We bet Jack Black watched this sketch about 497 times.

Satan, 'South Park'

Leave it to the animators who made Jesus a two-fisted action hero to generate some sympathy for the Devil. As voiced by Trey Parker, Satan is just a guy trying to do his job, with (im)moral support from his lover, Saddam Hussein.

Super Devil, 'Family Guy'

In the Season 5 episode "Boys Do Cry," the Griffins go to Texas, where the locals talk of a demon even worse than the Devil. The Super Devil is six inches taller than Satan, rides a flying motorcycle, and carries a jar of marmalade that makes people commit adultery. (He's also a former drinking buddy of George W. Bush.) Turns out he's really not all that formidable; Brian brings him down by firing a gun randomly into the sky.