SO EVIL IT’S DELICIOUS

THERE’S a lot of evil in the world today -- no kidding -- and maybe that’s one of the reasons all sorts of shades of black have infiltrated our TV screens during prime-time.

This past season, the bad guys (and gals) have been vicious serial killers, scheming politicos, murderous stalkers with otherworldly powers and, well, nasty magazine editors. They appear in broad comedies -- who would have thought “Ugly Betty’s” eyebrows wouldn’t have been the biggest wrongdoer on that show? -- and in as intense a scenario as “Prison Break,” the ill-fated journey of cons on the run.

We’ve highlighted the miscreants from the last season who have jangled our nerves, raised our ire and given being good a bad name. “There’s something about playing the baddies that people like,” noted Powers Boothe, from Fox’s “24.” “They’re more fun and people tend to remember them, particularly if you do them well.”

See? For every nice guy who finishes last, there’s a bad guy who has stomped all over him to finish first. So where’s that Emmy for best evil-doer?

-- Ann Donahue

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Actor: Powers Boothe

Show: “24”

Character: Vice President Noah Daniels

Most dastardly deed: Well, there was the suborning perjury to make sure the president stayed in the hospital and out of the comfy space that Daniels was setting up for himself in the Oval Office; then there was the itchy trigger finger to blow up half of the Middle East. Yeah, he’s no Abu Fayed, but that terrorist is dead and this guy is stepping in as the most powerful man in the free world. How’s that for scary?

Best line: Daniels returns to the bunker after a bomb goes off in the White House, ready to strike back without a second thought, and some suits chide him for moving too quickly. He snaps to his assistant: “Lisa, a bomb just exploded in the White House. If anything, we’ve taken far too long.”

Ploy for pity: Aw, he’s just trying to do what’s right for the recently nuked country -- which is, of course, nuking another country in retaliation -- and all these danged terrorists and sitting presidents and do-gooder advisors keep getting in the way! “There’s a little history to the vice president on ‘24’ -- they’ve all been bad guys,” Boothe said. “There is a precedent there, but I only get two scripts at a time, so I’m not sure what happens next.”

Inspired by: Boothe won’t confirm or deny if he was inspired by a certain similarly bulky, cranky U.S. vice president. “I found myself watching stupid stuff like Senate hearings on C-SPAN,” he did admit.

Trademark tic: Surveying the toys of power with an imperious air, be it the minions in the situation room or the military’s weaponry. (“The scene I did getting off of Air Force Two, this giant plane, and there are two F-16s there with soldiers,” Booth said, “can you imagine the reality of the power of this office? You could go to that plane and tell the pilot to go somewhere ... and it’s ‘Yes, sir!’ ”

You know you’re in trouble when ... Daniels relies upon his interpretation of the Constitution for his behavior. Amendment, schmamendment, right? If it’s an issue of following the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law, Daniels will take the read-between-the-lines interpretation every time. “I find what scares people is not what I’m doing but the situation,” Boothe said. “If, in fact, a nuke had gone off in Valencia, would we want a presidency where someone would take action or wring their hands?”

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Actor: Robert Knepper

Show: “Prison Break”

Character: Prison escapee Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell

Most dastardly deed: We’ll just ignore the rape and murder of six children that landed him in the hoosegow in the first place since viewers never saw that. T-Bag’s most recent egregious wrongdoing is the body count he racked up while fleeing in the show’s second season, including the death of a corrections officer, a therapist, two prostitutes and (maybe) one of his fellow escapees -- all with (almost literally, after a gruesome incident during the escape) one hand tied behind his back.

Best line: When horrifyingly omnisexual T-Bag preens at new inmate Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller): “You’re as pretty as advertised.”

Ploy for pity: Aw, T-Bag’s mother also is his aunt, and his father also is his uncle. Go ask Faye Dunaway in “Chinatown,” OK?

Inspired by: The live recording of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The prisoners “just erupt,” Knepper said. “You know, the microphones weren’t so great back then, but when you hear the roar of the guys, you can feel these guards just standing there, going, ‘Uh, oh.’ ”

Trademark tic: Licking his lower lip before doing something vile. “I had wanted to toughen myself up for the part a little bit, so I started growing this goatee,” he said. “And I wasn’t used to it at all. And I kept putting my tongue down over the crumb catcher ... and that’s how it started.”

You know you’re in trouble when ... T-Bag feels cornered by correction officers, fellow inmates, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever. The question isn’t “to shank or not to shank,” because he’ll knife someone every time. “Those guys that are lifers, they’re 24/7,” Knepper says. “All they think about is how they’re going to survive, how they’re going to make the most of it in prison. It’s their world.”

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Actor: Zachary Quinto

Show: “Heroes”

Character: Geek-turned-creep Sylar

Most dastardly deed: The series of murders that leads Sylar to assume the identity of mild-mannered Zane Taylor and then buddy up with scientific hero tracker Mohinder. Of course, Mohinder wants to find the heroes to help them; Sylar thinks their brains would be tasty snacks that give him even more powers. “I certainly was kind of on a spree there on the road with Mohinder,” Quinto says. “You know, both of [the victims] were these kind of unassuming people who were both so endearing; they were characters you wanted to know more about.” Oh, well.

Best line: In the episode where the plot travels along with Hiro to five years into the future, Sylar is revealed to have shape-shifted into a likeness of Nathan Petrelli -- who was elected to the U.S. presidency. In the Oval Office, he encounters saved cheerleader Claire, whom Sylar failed to whack years ago. Slowly morphing from Petrelli to his normal visage, he longingly sighs: “I’ve waited a long time for this.” Yiiiikes.

Ploy for pity: Aw, he was just a sad, hardworking watchmaker before he became a supernatural serial killer. “I really use the watch shop, the stillness, the time pieces with those really minute details, the monotony,” Quinto said. “He was born as a very lonely, isolated, solitary, meek person.”

Inspired by: All those other supernatural serial killers out there. Just kidding. Quinto says he has to shift on a dime because Sylar’s ability to suck traits from other heroes means that he’ll be healing himself one week and melting metal the next -- or sometimes in the same episode. “The character is never in a box,” he said.

Trademark tic: No, he’s not pointing at you when he raises his index figure in your general direction. He’s telepathically opening your skull like a can opener.

You know you’re in trouble when ... Sylar is nice to you. Face it, folks, if he shows any decency at all to another character, that character is about to get crucified by paintbrushes or worse.

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Actor: Vanessa L. Williams

Show: “Ugly Betty”

Character: Fashion editor Wilhelmina Slater

Most dastardly deed: Her quest to take over as the editor in chief of Mode magazine by seducing Bradford Meade, the owner, and breaking up his marriage.

Best line: In the Christmas episode, Mode editor Daniel Meade is on a politically correct rant about the holiday season. Wil takes him down a peg by tartly inquiring: “Did you just gesture at me when you said Kwanzaa?” (For her Christmas gift to the crew, Williams gave them all mugs with a picture of Wilhelmina and the line printed on it.)

Ploy for pity: Aw, she has an adult daughter. Which means she’s old enough to have an adult daughter. Gasp! “She’s aging, and trying to hold on to her sex appeal while always surrounded by young and beautiful people,” Williams said.

Inspired by: Let’s see ... Williams was Miss America, a successful recording artist and has been photographed countless times. Exacting, nitpicky photo editors past and present, she salutes you. “I drew from people I worked with on photo shoots,” Williams said. “Allure, Vogue, In Style -- the people who conduct these shoots care about the makeup, care about the hair, it’s passionate and exciting: ‘This blouse’s collar is genius! Brilliant!’ ”

Trademark tic: The disdainful, derisive, domineering stare from Williams’ steely blue eyes. “The stares happen genetically,” she said. “My mother is the master of the stare.”

You know you’re in trouble when ... Wil has a beauty treatment that goes wrong; Wilhelmina lost her eyesight after a botched job involving duck sauce in Chinatown. She takes her fey assistant, Marc, to Fashion Week to act as her “seeing-eye gay.” It’s the line that Williams said she gets shouted at her most often on the street by fans.