History ForTheEvulz / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Scream|TVSeries}}'': Both Ghostfaces start their killing sprees, in addition to wanting revenge for percieved slights, because, “killing people is way more fun than therapy”.

* Usually PlayedForDrama on ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger''. From time to time, many of the show's villains seem to enjoy doing this without giving it a second thought.

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': From time to time, many of the show's villains seem to enjoy doing this without giving it a second thought.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

** In season ten, Comicbook/{{Darkseid}}. Unlike in other adaptions, where he is usually goal-driven (albeit still an OmnicidalManiac), this one just likes to corrupt people.

** Armus, the liquid entity in "Skin of Evil", is a justified example because he's ''literally'' MadeOfEvil. However, though he's mainly motivated by plain sadism, he also desires revenge on the aliens who created him and left him behind on the dead planet.
** Lore fed the inhabitants of Omicron Theta to the [[EldritchAbomination Crystalline Entity]] as ridiculously DisproportionateRetribution for ostracizing him (they were rather understandably uncomfortable having an unstable sociopath with superhuman strength, speed, and intelligence roaming their colony). He would later try to feed the ''Enterprise,'' itself, to the same creature before being foiled by Data and Wesley Crusher. This time it was for no particular reason.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In the episode "Persistence of Vision", Janeway asks the alien who's been [[MindRape mind raping]] the crew why he did it. His chilling response is "Because I can".
* Similarly, in the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "The Benders", Sam gets captured by a family of cannibal hillbillies, and Dean allies himself with a female county cop (whose brother was captured by the same hillbillies) to get him back. At the end, the female cop asks the hillbilly patriarch why they killed her brother, and he answers, "Because it was FUN." She shoots him off-screen.

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' - The motivation for most of Damon Salvatore's actions.
** Stefan was told by Klaus to stop Damon from tracking them but Stefan killed Damon's girlfriend Andie just for the hell of it. YMMV as it could be just to prove a point to stay the hell away from him and Klaus.

** "3rd Life". The three thrill killers from "Hopeless" and the (unrelated) rioters in the same episode.

** Syd and her husband in "The Thirteenth Step," though they have a reason. [[spoiler:It's leading up to killing their sexually abusive fathers. Syd's especially, since she's the leader of the two and all but one of the attacks happen in places that remind her of her dad.]]
** This seems to be the case for the Reaper [[spoiler: George Foyet]] as well. The core of his character is that he gets off on manipulating and having power over people.
** Adrian Bale in the early episode "Won't Get Fooled Again". He agrees to tell the BAU how to disarm a complicated bomb, and in exchange he will be transferred from his maximum security prison to a mental hospital, and Agent Gideon will have to apologize to his victims' families, and admit that it was entirely his fault their respective relative died. When the inevitable WireDilemma occurs, Bale, even though doing so ''[[StupidEvil completely invalidates his deal]]'', purposely tells them to cut the wrong wire... because the bomb blowing up will give him some kind of "emotional release". [[spoiler:Luckily Gideon remembers Adrian [[NiceJobFixingItVillain telling him that fact]] and tells the bomb techs to cut the opposite (correct) wire, saving the day and sending Bale back to maximum security with no deal and a reputation as a snitch.]]

** Subverted in the ''episode'' "To Hell And Back". The team profile someone who is abducting random drug users and homeless people as someone who is killing For The Evulz - but it is actually a ManChild who is carrying out orders of his crippled ManipulativeBastard brother, who says he was using the victims to perform horrible human experiments in the hope of finding a cure for his condition. Then a DoubleSubversion when Rossi calls bullshit on that and says he's just a sadist, who enjoys forcing his brother to torture and kill people while he watches, since none of the equipment he has on hand is remotely suited to advanced medical research.
** Ben Bradstone from "Proof". He doesn't understand why people ask why someone would do these horrible things. He says its the same reason people do anything, because it's fun. That's why he [[KickTheDog kicked his dog]] as a kid.
** In the season two episode "The Boogeyman", Gideon asks [[spoiler:young Jeffery Charles]] why he killed three children and almost killed another one. His response? "Because I wanted to."

** Adrian Bale in the early episode "Won't Get Fooled Again". He agrees to tell the BAU how to disarm a complicated bomb, and in exchange he will be transferred from his maximum security prison to a mental hospital, and Agent Gideon will have to apologize to his victims' families, and admit that it was entirely his fault their respective relative died. When the inevitable WireDilemma occurs, Bale, even though doing so ''completely invalidates his deal'', purposely tells them to cut the wrong wire... because the bomb blowing up will give him some kind of "emotional release".

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]]: Davros, creator of the Daleks, is posed a philosophical question by the Doctor: "If you had a virus that, when released, would kill everyone in the universe, would you release it?" Davros' answer is that yes, he would release it, for no other reason than because he could.

* Subtly subverted in the ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me". Four demons cause death and destruction behind the scenes apparently just because it's fun for them. Except at the end, it's revealed (by Frank Black himself) that the demons are very lonely, simply doing evil not because they like it, but because it's what they've been doing forever and they don't know what else to do.

** Lore fed the inhabitants of Omicron Theta to the [[EldritchAbomination Crystalline Entity]] as ridiculously DisproportionateRetribution for ostracizing him (they were rather understandably uncomfortable having an unstable sociopath with superhuman strength, speed, and intelligence roaming their colony). He would later try to feed the ''Enterprise,'' itself, to the same creature. This time it was for no particular reason.

* The Cousins from ''Series/BreakingBad''. Some of the murders they carry out are pretty unnecessary and have nothing to do with TheCartel's business, [[{{Sadist}} suggesting that there is some pure enjoyment to it]].

*** In "[[Recap/AngelS03E06Billy Billy]]2, he speculates that he was not affected by Billy Blim's power because, even as Angelus, he never hated his victims... he did everything for pure enjoyment.

*** In the season 2 finale of ''Buffy'', he tries to awaken the demon Acathla to suck everyone on Earth into hell for the fun of it. Beforehand, he kidnaps Giles with the intent to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture him]] for the information he needs to do so, but he says he hopes Giles resists:

*** In ''Angel'', he speculates that he was not affected by Billy Blim's power because, even as Angelus, he never hated his victims... he did everything for pure enjoyment.

** Angel and Spike have a conversation in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' concerning how they committed atrocities For The Evulz -- but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.

** One episode of Angel had a twist on this; the demon possessing a small boy did all his crimes For The Evulz, but the boy was a complete psychopath who trapped the demon in his mind and resisted control attempts, then burned things and killed people anyway (even after a successful exorcism) because he didn't see any reason not to. The demon was absolutely ''terrified'' by this, since demons see doing things out of a belief in evil as a valid reason but the boy lacked even that.
** Hauser, a former employee of Wolfram and Hart, believes in evil.

** A trio of killers graduate from vandalism to murder, and one of them is caught editing footage from their latest killing (to The Dead Weather). When asked why they did it [[spoiler:especially in light of the fact that unlike the profile they had steady jobs in a bad economy]], the lone survivor can only say "Because it's fun."
** Also the (unrelated) rioters in the same episode.

* The killer in the ''Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior'' episode "Jane" outright claims he had no reason to torture and kill women, he just did it. According to [[TheProfiler Coop]], he's telling the truth; to the killer, people and most things are just indistinguishable blurs, and he is incapable of anything even resembling emotion, especially (and sadistic) joy or happiness, even while torture-murdering.

----

* In ''Film/TheChristmasThatAlmostWasnt'', the BigBad Phineas T. Prune seems to have no concrete explanation for why he does what he does, until the end, when he experiences his HeelFaceTurn.

** Zaroff in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace The Underwater Menace]]", when he tries to destroy Earth just for the fun of it.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", Davros, creator of the Daleks, was posed a philosophical question by the Doctor: "If you had a virus that, when released, would kill everyone in the universe, would you release it?" Davros' answer was that yes, he would release it, for no other reason than because he could.

** PlayedForDrama and {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the Creator/BigFinish audio ''Master''. All his evil plans were ''never'' expected to work, they were only designed to cause as much misery and destruction as possible. Why? Because as one of the Doctor's titles is Time's Champion, the Master is ''Death's Champion''.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]" , the Daleks arrive at the space station on floor 494 and must get to floor 500 to defeat the Doctor. Before doing that, however, they go all the way down to floor 0 to exterminate a group of innocent humans because they were there.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]", the Weeping Angels tell the Doctor they are forcing Amy to count down to her death "for fun, sir."
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice]]", Missy kills two bodyguards just to make the point to Clara that "No, I've not turned ''good''."

* ''Series/ScreamTVSeries'': Both Ghostfaces start their killing sprees, in addition to wanting revenge for percieved slights, because, “killing people is way more fun than therapy”.

* Similarly, a villain in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "[[Recap/TorchwoodS1E6Countrycide Countrycide]]", when asked the reason for [[ImAHumanitarian his actions]], simply responds "Because it makes me happy." It's PlayedForDrama.
** And there's this quote from a charming recurring villain in "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E13ExitWounds Exit Wounds]]". (Although [[spoiler: he was deliberately overacting, to try and hint at Jack that he was forced into being evil and that the real villain was listening.]])

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Fannysmackin'", where local teens beat tourists to death. The point made at the end is that these kids were bored and were stupid enough to pick this to break the boredom.

** It's a TV show about FBI profilers who hunt down (mostly) serial killers. At least half the episodes fall into this trope. The other half, however, [[SubvertedTrope subverts it]].

* Series/ScreamTVSeries: Both Ghostfaces start their killing sprees, in addition to wanting revenge for percieved slights, because, “killing people is way more fun than therapy”.

** Theon's captor in Season 3 tortures him and eventually extracts one piece of useful intel: Theon did not in fact kill Bran and Rickon Stark. Then the captor continues brutally torturing Theon, admitting that it's not for any reason other than he enjoys doing it.

** Zigzagged with Roose. He shuns mistreating high-profile prisoners because there's nothing to gain from it and is aware of the dire repercussions it may bring. However, if he can get away with being a dick, he will be a dick just because people's reactions amuse him. Later, he's quite upset at Ramsay destroying Theon's value as a hostage, as it means there's no chance of an alliance with the Greyjoys and solidifying his new position as Warden of the North will be much harder.

* In the ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E04ClydeBruckmansFinalRepose Clyde Buckman's Final Repose]]" the killer asks someone why he does these terrible things. The answer is "because you're a homicidal maniac".
-->'''Killer:''' That... that does explain a lot, doesn't it. It's all starting to make sense now.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** "Everything you say, Waterfield, is true. If we cannot find Jamie, the Daleks will take pleasure in killing everyone in sight, and their greatest pleasure will be in killing me." - the Doctor, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks The Evil of the Daleks]]".
** Zaroff in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E5TheUnderwaterMenace The Underwater Menace]]", when he tries to destroy Earth just for the fun of it.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", Davros, was posed a philosophical question by the Doctor: "If you had a virus that, when released, would kill everyone in the universe, would you release it?" Davros' answer was that yes, he would release it, for no other reason than because he could.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowInTheGalaxy The Gods of Ragnarok]] who were trapped in a parallel dimension (possibly by the Doctor himself) and take over a circus to force people to perform for them, just to alleviate their boredom. When they lose interest in an act, they kill the performer.
** PlayedForDrama and {{deconstruct|ion}}ed in the Creator/BigFinish audio ''Master''. All his evil plans were ''never'' expected to work, they were only designed to cause as much misery and destruction as possible. Why? Because as one of the Doctor's titles is Time's Champion, the Master is ''Death's Champion''.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]" , the Daleks arrive at the space station on floor 494 and must get to floor 500 to defeat The Doctor. Before doing that, however, they go all the way down to floor 0 to exterminate a group of innocent humans because they were there.
** This dialogue between Martha and a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Toclafane]]. (However, since they were engineered out of innocents by the Master, it's very safe to assume that it's actually the Master's opinion.)
-->'''Martha:''' But why? Why come all this way just to cause all this death and destruction?\\
'''Toclafane:''' Because it's ''FUN''.
** In almost any given incarnation, you can expect TheMaster to be more interested in screwing with the Doctor than actually taking over the world. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils The Sea Devils]]", the Delgado Master flat-out tells the Doctor he's only working with the villains so they can get rid of "the human race of which you are so very fond."
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]", the Weeping Angels tell the Doctor they are forcing Amy to count down to her death "for fun, sir."
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice]]", Missy kills two bodyguards just to make the point to Clara that "No, I have not turned ''Good''."
* Similarly, a villain in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS1E6Countrycide}} Countrycide]]", when asked the reason for [[ImAHumanitarian his actions]], simply responds "Because it makes me happy." It's PlayedForDrama.
** And there's this quote from a charming recurring villain in "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS2E13ExitWounds}} Exit Wounds]]". (Although [[spoiler: he was deliberately overacting, to try and hint at Jack that he was forced into being evil and that the real villain was listening.]])
-->'''Captain John Hart:''' Do I mean fun or carnage? I always get those two mixed up.
* Dr. Mikoto Nakadai in ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' is an EvilGenius who is utterly bored with life... until he discovers that tormenting the heroes and plotting widespread death and destruction is just the kick he's been missing.

* Subtly subverted in the ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me". Four demons cause death and destruction behind the scenes apparently just because it's fun for them. Except at the end, it's revealed (by Frank Black himself) that the demons are very lonely, simply doing evil not because they like it, but because it's what they've been doing forever and they don't know what else to do.
* About the only reason why Arthur Petrelli of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' does anything. Mr. Linderman of Season 1 wanted to blow up NYC to heal the world and Adam Monroe of Season 2 wanted to release a deadly virus to give his people a second chance, but Arthur didn't even bother with idealistic pretense. He just spouted the usual [[CardCarryingVillain villainous cliches]], and in a half-hearted fashion, as if he could barely be bothered to even offer a modicum of justification for his douchery.
** The only justification for anything Sylar has ever done aside from wanting more abilities is simply because he can.
* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'':
** Everything [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Angelus]] does in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is for sheer sadism and cruelty. He tortured Drusilla relentlessly, making her life a living hell and killing her family and then a church full of nuns the day she took her holy orders, and when he finally succeeded in driving her batshit insane, he turned her into a vampire so her suffering and madness would go on forever.
*** In the season 2 finale of ''Buffy'', he tries to awaken the demon Acathla to suck everyone on Earth into hell for the fun of it. Beforehand, he kidnaps Giles with the intent to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture him]] for the information he needs to do so, but he says he hopes Giles resists:
---->"You could probably… tell me what I'm doing wrong. But honestly, I sorta hope you don't— ’cause I ''really'' wanna torture you."
*** In ''Angel'', he speculates that he was not affected by Billy Blim's power because, even as Angelus, he never hated his victims... he did everything for pure enjoyment.
** Most demons and vampires are like this, by their very nature. Two villains, however, get special mention: Spike and Ethan Rayne. Spike at least has an excuse, he's a vampire, and therefore is AlwaysChaoticEvil. Ethan doesn't even have this excuse; he's just an ordinary human who worships pain and chaos. His powers come from his worship of Janus.
** After Slayers are outed and vilified by Harmony, Simone thrives on the fear and hate she gets from ordinary humans, and proceeds to commit crimes and acts of terrorism that only further cement Buffy and her crew's bad image.
** StrawMisogynist Billy Blim from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' season 3. He can generate a HatePlague that turns any man he comes in contact with into brutal woman bashers like himself. As he puts it, he just likes to watch his handiwork play out.
** Angel and Spike have a conversation in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' concerning how they committed atrocities For The Evulz -- but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.
*** Spike could also be considered a subversion. While he enjoys killing humans as individuals, he actually likes human society in general (with Music/SexPistols being his favorite rock band) and doesn't want to see it destroyed.
-->'''Spike''': "The thing is, I ''like'' this world. You've got Manchester United, dogracing, and ''people''. Millions of people, all walking around, like Happy Meals on legs."
** Then after Spike's HeelFaceTurn it turns out he absolutely loathes Angelus, and Angel by extension. Why? Because he saw Angelus was such a monster wanted to make others just like him so there'd be someone else as vile in the world. This would come back to bite Angel again and again, with resentment for what he did and having to pay as Angel.
** One episode of Angel had a twist on this; the demon possessing a small boy did all his crimes For The Evulz, but the boy was a complete psychopath who trapped the demon in his mind and resisted control attempts, then burned things and killed people anyway (even after a successful exorcism) because he didn't see any reason not to. The demon was absolutely ''terrified'' by this, since demons see doing things out of a belief in evil as a valid reason but the boy lacked even that.
** Hauser, a former employee of Wolfram and Hart, believes in evil.
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'', given that it focuses on {{Locked Room Myster|y}}ies and other planned murders, usually has very rational and logical villains with complex motives. Thus this trope came as something of a surprise when it was played in season four - after the media suggests that a series of murders are inspired by the fact that all the women killed were named after flowers (as an attempt to "deflower women") and the real killer is caught, Jonathan notes that no-one had considered the idea that a young woman would kill other young women "simply because she likes to". The floral connection of the names was just a coincidence.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** A trio of killers graduate from vandalism to murder, and one of them is caught editing footage from their latest killing (to The Dead Weather). When asked why they did it [[spoiler:especially in light of the fact that unlike the profile they had steady jobs in a bad economy]], the lone survivor can only say "Because it's fun."
** Also the (unrelated) rioters in the same episode.
** This seems to be the case for the Reaper [[spoiler: George Foyet]] as well. The core of his character is that he gets off on manipulating and having power over people.
** Adrian Bale in the early episode "Won't Get Fooled Again". He agrees to tell the BAU how to disarm a complicated bomb, and in exchange he will be transferred from his maximum security prison to a mental hospital, and Agent Gideon will have to apologize to his victims' families, and admit that it was entirely his fault their respective relative died. When the inevitable WireDilemma occurs, Bale, even though doing so ''completely invalidates his deal'', purposely tells them to cut the wrong wire... because the bomb blowing up will give him some kind of "emotional release".
** It's a TV show about FBI profilers who hunt down (mostly) serial killers. At least half the episodes fall into this trope. The other half, however, [[SubvertedTrope subverts it]].
** Subverted in the ''episode'' "To Hell And Back". The team profile someone who is abducting random drug users and homeless people as someone who is killing For The Evulz - but it is actually a ManChild who is carrying out orders of his crippled ManipulativeBastard brother, who says he was using the victims to perform horrible human experiments in the hope of finding a cure for his condition. Then a DoubleSubversion when Rossi calls bullshit on that and says he's just a sadist, who enjoys forcing his brother to torture and kill people while he watches, since none of the equipment he has on hand is remotely suited to advanced medical research.
** Ben Bradstone from "Proof". He doesn't understand why people ask why someone would do these horrible things. He says its the same reason people do anything, because it's fun. That's why he [[KickTheDog kicked his dog]] as a kid.
** In the season two episode "The Boogeyman," Gideon asks [[spoiler: young Jeffery Charles]] why he killed three children and almost killed another one. His response? "Because I wanted to."
* The killer in the ''Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior'' episode "Jane" outright claims he had no reason to torture and kill women, he just did it. According to [[TheProfiler Coop]], he's telling the truth; to the killer, people and most things are just indistinguishable blurs, and he is incapable of anything even resembling emotion, especially (and sadistic) joy or happiness, even while torture-murdering.
* Rico in ''Series/HannahMontana'' explains the fact that he is always trying to make people (his so called friends no less) miserable as "I'm rich and bored, ItsWhatIDo."
* On an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', a serial rapist and murderer who is also a PhonyPsychic keeps butting into a case in which he is actually the killer. After he's captured, a detective asks him why he did it, since he'd probably have gotten away with it if he hadn't. His response? "I just had to see what I had set in motion. The expressions on your faces were priceless. This place was like a big beehive that I poked with a stick."
** In one episode, a Romanian boy is kidnapped and murdered after school. The detectives are led to believe that a man with the mind of a child, who's living with his mother, committed the crime. But it was actually two teenage girls whom framed the mentally challenged man and planted evidence in his room. When the detectives finally figure it out, Olivia asked the blonde teen, who was the leader of the two, why she did it. Her answer? "Why not?"
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Fannysmackin'", where local teens beat tourists to death. The point made at the end is that these kids were bored and were stupid enough to pick this to break the boredom.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''
** Niska seems to look for any excuse to make people [[ColdBloodedTorture scream]].
** In the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" [[spoiler: Saffron]] implies she might be this, [[spoiler:after Mal questions her about why she needed such a convoluted plan.]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Saffron]]''': "You're assuming the payoff is the point."
* In ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' The BigBad was quite different from other final bosses of Kamen Rider. No speech about his desire to win the game, all he wants to do is fight Yosuke and as he died fighting him, he didn't whine about how a mortal had beaten him, just smiling as he watches Yuusuke being so violent.
* A rather light example in ''Series/TheGoodies'': Bill's just signed up to do a row of extremely violent shows for the BBC. Graeme and Tim, bewildered, simply ask why he'd join up for such 'immoral, gratuitous violence'.
-->'''Bill:''' Oh, don't worry, I have a perfectly good reason.
-->'''Graeme:''' Oh really? What's that?
-->'''Bill:''' ''I like violence! (jumps Graeme, beginning to strangle him)''
* [[spoiler:Jim Moriarty]] from ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': he threatens to blow up a series of bombs in London because he was bored, and as an attempt to get Sherlock's attention.

* On ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', Peter likes Manny, but Emma likes Peter. Manny gets drunk, and Peter films Manny stripping and uses it for blackmail. Emma then puts Peter [[DracoInLeatherPants in leather pants]] and blames Manny, but starts dating the guy who filmed her best friend stripping. Strike that. That whole plot was For The Evulz. Peter's motives are clearer in season 6. (Sean likes Emma, Peter's dating Emma, Peter frames Sean for "possession".) And he actually gets a random FaceHeelTurn in season 7.
* This is Sue Sylvester's primary motivation in ''Series/{{Glee}}''. So much so that when she finally got the opportunity to shut down the Glee Club forever, she chose not to ''just so she could continue to torment them.''
* The motivation of Joey Heric, the resident MagnificentBastard on ''Series/ThePractice''. As his psychiatrist points out, he is clearly smart enough to commit murder in such a way that he would never be suspected, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as letting everyone know he is guilty and then getting away with it anyway.
* Francis from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', during his youth, and currently, was implied to have done things like steal a neighbor's car, crash it onto a tree, as well as drink, smoke, gain multiple piercings, break curfew, slept around, as well as torture his brothers, lock them in a closet, steal their toys, and presumably scar Reese with a Bayonet because of this trope, almost certainly the prior stuff was simply to spite his mother.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Selto Durka, Peacekeeper Captain, enthusiastic torturer, and all around bastard. He's so horrible that when Rygel -- one of his former victims -- [[spoiler: finally kills him, Rygel spends the next several days carrying his head around on a stick. It's '''really''' hard to blame Rygel for being so happy.]]
* Thomas and O'Brien from ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', who have attracted criticism that the mostly realistic cartoon series suffers from having these cartoon villains with no identifiable motivation. And ironically, the one thing O'Brien at least thought she had a motivation for ([[spoiler:planting a bar of soap so Cora would have a miscarriage, and wouldn't fire her]]) is the only one she actually shows regret for.
* One episode of ''Series/ThePretender'' has Jarod try to get into the mind of a serial killer in order to track down a copycat in time to save his latest victim. Jarod almost [[LogicBomb Logic-Bombs]] himself because he can't understand the reason why the killer does what he does. The killer then helpfully informs him that there is no reason; he kills because he wants to.
* When [[spoiler:Methos]] from the [[Series/{{Highlander}} Highlander TV series]] finally tells Duncan about his days as an evil marauder back in the depths of time, he sums up his motives as a combination of this and EvilFeelsGood.
-->Killing was all I knew. Is that what you want to hear? I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed TEN thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it.
** This was also the main motivation of his {{Blood Brother|s}} Kronos, and the AxCrazy Caspian. The last member of the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, Silas, is DumbMuscle more than anything else.
* A Finnish kids' show, ''Rölli'', has this as its main character's motivation. He isn't as mean as he wants to be, as he did save Tiina the Elf from the other trolls. [[FelonyMisdemeanor He did think that it's the most mean thing to do in the forest, though.]]
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** Jordan openly admits that she torments people "for funsies."
** Dr Kelso at least sometimes seems to act this way, and is always suspected of it. When Dr. Cox tells him how miserable having his wife working with him makes him Dr. Kelso [[spoiler:immediately makes the position permanent]]. He turns to Dr. Cox and asks how he didn't see this coming. Other times he acts for good reasons, for instance when he fires two nurses. Carla claims he did it for no reason, but there were good budgetary and personal reasons for it.
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' has no motive for any of the things he does beyond proving his own superiority and simple curiosity. [[spoiler: When Will finally figures it out, he admits that the lack of any traceable motive is what made Hannibal so hard to spot.]]
* In ''Series/HouseOfCardsUK'', Francis Urquhart takes delight in making people very angry, and while his schemes in the first series are rationally attributable to [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]], in the second one he's determined to destroy the King just because he's bored and decides he would like a new challenge.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': A lot of what [[TheSoulless the Sinners]] did was for this reason, when it wasn't to get more souls for Ammut. One notable example being Fabian [[BreakThemByTalking giving Joy a cruel speech]] when she came to him ''specifically for comfort after being heartbroken'', leaving her feeling completely destroyed, and then going on his way. Another example is with Alfie insulting and dumping Willow just before flirting with Joy and Mara directly in front of her.
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': Megan certainly doesn't let the lack of a proper motive get in the way of her fun most of the time.
* In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', Prince [[spoiler: (always implied to be but never named as Satan)]] locks an astronaut out of the Space Shuttle, stealing the ship. When the suffocating astronaut asks "Why you you do these things", Prince replies "Because I'm bad. Because I'm very, very bad."
* On ''Series/BloodDrive'', some of the things that [[MegaCorp Heart Industries]] does can be written off as just amoral money-making schemes. But others, such as the creation of [[FantasticDrug Smax candy]] (which drives the eater insane) and [[TheVirus the Dionysus Strain]] (which turns people into zombies), make ''no'' logical sense whatsoever beyond being done to create death and destruction.
* Mau ("Bad") from ''Series/CasteloRaTimBum'' is very fond of his reputation of being evil. When he starts telling about his terrifying deeds, Godofredo always interrupts him to tell that Mau actually chose to do an act of kindness in the end, which Mau did not want him to tell.