Do we like them?

Do we like Mr. Burns?

A character from The Simpsons (1989–present)

Our score: 1 out of 10. Not a chance. He's funny to watch and awful to work for. He'd sell out the whole town for another dollar, and he'd have you fired for asking.

Charles Montgomery Burns is Springfield's richest and most powerful citizen. He owns the nuclear plant where Homer Simpson works, and he watches his staff on closed-circuit cameras from his office. He is very old, very frail and very rich. He is always attended by his devoted assistant Smithers. He often steeples his fingers and says "Excellent" in a low, slow voice. He has a pack of hounds to set on anyone who annoys him.

As a villain he is both menacing and ridiculous. He cuts corners on safety, bribes officials like Mayor Quimby and the safety inspectors, and treats the town as his property. He is also hopelessly out of touch. He is baffled by ordinary life, mixes up names and decades, and keeps failing at things that anyone else could do. That makes him one of TV's most quotable comic bad guys.

He scores a 1 because his schemes are driven by greed and spite, and he rarely shows real warmth or remorse. He is still entertaining. We love to watch him, and we wouldn't back him for a second.

His most notorious scheme is blocking out Springfield's sun so people have to use more of his electricity. It ends with him being shot by a baby, which started one of TV's best-known whodunit mysteries.