THE SYNDROME

Watching The Hills last season I at times found myself violently and audibly cursing some lady I don't know for having spawned the likes of Spencer Pratt -- the resident baddie opposite Lauren Conrad's steadfast, righteous heroine on the show glamorizing young-money-living in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, on the flip-side, I found myself sneering at Ed Westwick's dickish villain on le Gossip Girl, a show that I've been sure I didn't like. Now that I've caught the series premiere of the sophomoric derivative 90210, I find myself out of love with that show's bubbly sweetheart, instead confronted with a dynamic distaste for its silly-nasty post Regina George blonde who is currently fighting Blair Waldorf for the Top Bitch prize on the CW.

On FX there was Patty Hewes, BBC America currently hosts the evil Season 1 persona of Tony Stonem and of course there's House on House. I hate 'em -- I hate 'em all! Bastards!

Then I realized something: I LOVE to hate 'em. And it's because these characters aren't the bad guys of the past. They're not the 'tie-the-girl-to-the-train-tracks-and-wait' bad guys and, as much as I LOVED Heath's deliciously dark rendition, they're not the mother-loving Joker.

They're Daniel Plainview. They're Miranda Priestly. They're even Les Grossman. New Villains are insidious not overt.

In a post Dr. Horrible or The Dark Knight world, being a villain is beginning to pay off even more than in the past. Chris Nolan, after ending Knight with the sobering (and yet noble in its martyristic resonance!) notion of Batman becoming a villain in the eyes of Gotham, ended up reaping massive dividends because he took a hero, turned him into a version of the New Villain and pitted him against an upgraded Old Super Villain with a surgically enhanced smile.

And now the New Villains are back in full force. Though they've been around for a while, they've not been given our full appreciation. The past couple of years and the upcoming ones might end up changing that. I'm about to break down for you the four ways to spot a New Villain, which demonstrate why they are so great. So thank them for ramping up the dramatic tension next time you see them on the small or silver screen.

And pray that we get newer New Villains to replace the Pratts.

1) New Villains aren't out exclusively to ruin your day, they're just looking out for number one and if you happen to get in the way, they're not gonna stop for you.


2) New Villains hurt too; whereas villains of the past only seemed to struggle when locked in a fight with the arch-nemeses heroes, New Villains can often be found alone, pondering their purpose, locked in a fight with their own sense of worth.


3) Some New Villains don't even know that they're villains ... they're almost lovable that way. (Almost.)

4) New Villains have great hair. (No, for real! They almost always do.)