TV's Top Mean Girls: 25 Queen Bees Who Will Forever Rule The Small Screen

Some girls are born mean, some achieve meanness and some have meanness thrust upon them. So in honor of Oct. 3 (aka Mean Girls Day!), Team TVLine is taking a moment to celebrate the ladies we wouldn't want to meet in a darkened high school hallway.

Our list of 25 memorable meanies spans from 1974 to 2020, including everyone from a Pretty Little Liars dream team to a Little House on the Prairie nightmare. And while many of these characters eventually grew out of their naughty phases, we're choosing to remember them as they were — devious, manipulative... and so much fun to watch.

If you're at all familiar with popular TV tropes, it should come as no surprise that many of these characters are (gasp!) blonde and (double gasp!) cheerleaders. But we assure you that our list mixes things up a bit. (Three of them are cartoons, and one is a vampire!)

Scroll down to get reacquainted with 25 classic TV mean girls, then drop a comment with your thoughts below. Which of these characters would you recruit to join your own personal Plastics? And which others would you add to our list?

Faking their deaths, breaking out of psychiatric hospitals and slapping each other in a church was all in a day's work for this pair of master manipulators. Like fire and ice, these primordial forces will surely remain locked in battle for all eternity — or at least until the show gets rebooted.

As the oldest kid in the playpen, this pig-tailed sociopath was drunk on power from Day 1, using her influential position to manipulate, bully and berate the show's beloved babies. Simply put, this li'l lunatic proved that pure evil has no age requirement.

We get that Marlo Kelly's cheerleader was damaged in a way that no number of pyramid formations could ever heal. But that in no way diminished the unmitigated awfulness of the adolescent viper's means of acting out — to the point that she pulled a gun at a party and nearly killed her stepsister by inviting her into an ice bath that was even chillier than her own familiar cold shoulder.

We were obsessed with Emma Roberts' spellbinding turn on American Horror Story: Coven, so imagine our delight upon meeting Chanel, an even more unhinged version of Madison Montgomery with an endless arsenal of quotable takedowns.

Our sympathies to anyone who ends up on the bad side of this red-haired River Vixen, who rules Riverdale High's cheer squad with an iron fist. Quick with a savage insult and always in the mood for chaos, Cheryl can be scarier than the Gargoyle King to any poor soul who dares to encroach on her kingdom.

From the moment she teased Willow about seeing "the softer side of Sears," Sunnydale's Queen C cemented her status as the ultimate Queen B.

The quintessence of the spoiled little rich girl, Carly Chaikin's made-up-to-the-point-that-blinking-was-an-actual-issue teenage nightmare was exactly the kind of snot who'd say, "You can't sit here. This is the cool table." In fact, she did say that — literally — in a well-practiced tone that was so completely and totally disinterested, it couldn't even be considered sarcastic.

Blair and Serena talked a big game, but Michelle Trachtenberg's deliciously devious Georgina was the true hell raiser of the Upper East Side. Is it any surprise that the hard-partying puppet master was among the select few who temporarily controlled the show's titular blog?

Whether she was convincing Stephanie to smoke cigarettes, or spreading rumors about how Stephanie paid a guy to go out with her, or... wait, why was Stephanie friends with this girl? Purely out of fear? No judgment.

We're also happy to report that, while Gia may have traded her cigarettes for a vape pen, this leopard hasn't changed her spots. She even snatched up D.J.'s ex-fiancé Matt — and you know that gets under her skin.

Jackie's younger age made her major 'tude and rich girl snobbery that much more condescending... and hilarious. Though her incessant jabs at Donna and the guys were grounded in serious self-obsession, she kept us rolling from the very first episode until she rightfully earned her spot in the gang's circle.

Though this former bully did soften a bit as the series progressed, Kim was renowned for her short fuse and major hostility. She also had no problem playing into others' perception of her as a tough, party girl you never want to cross.

We're never quite sure what wild insult will come out of Lola's mouth next... and we're also not sure if we should frown on her smack-talking ways or pity her truly bizarre home life. Child Protective Services should probably stand by.

Oh, we know, we know — Carol and Mike's oldest daughter was considered the family's golden child, pretty and popular and perfect in every way. But try telling that to scarred-for-life kid sister Jan, whom she tormented so badly that she turned "Marcia! Marcia! Marcia" into not just a catchphrase but an expletive.

Portrayed oh-so-memorably by Alison Arngrim on the 19th Century-set NBC drama, Nellie Oleson was one of TV's OG mean girls, taking a cue from her brusque, snobbish mother Harriet and regularly sassing heroine Laura Ingalls gruff at school or whenever her family stopped by the mercantile. It wasn't until later on, as a young adult, that Nellie took a turn for the semi-genial, thanks to hard (meaning actual) work at her hotel, plus the love of a good man, Percival Dalton.

Both of these Jacqueline Kennedy High she-devils were bad, but together? Katie Holmes, bar the door, they were worse. So. Much. Worse. Nicole didn't have a bone in her body that wasn't mean, and when Mary Cherry — once flagged as "most likely to become a serial killer" — even made sense, she put the "oh" in "psycho."

Heather Sinclair wishes she were as memorable as Lauren Collins' queen bee, who evolved from a popular-girl cliché to a nuanced, empowering young woman in one of Degrassi's most well-developed character arcs.

We would never want to be the target of Paris' ire, but her verbal eviscerations of both friends and foes — and airheaded classmates asking about the weather — were the Gilmore gifts that kept on giving.

The teenage witch's original arch-nemesis isn't someone you'd want to cross — unless, say, you were crossing her name off the guest list for your birthday party or something. As cold as she is stylish, Prudence has evolved over time, sure, but sorry, not sorry, we've yet to spit out the aftertaste of the disenchantress' mistreatment of so-called "half-breed" Sabrina.

For someone who only attended Tree Hill High School for one year, Danneel Ackles' character stirred up an impressive amount of trouble. With a weakness for boys (especially named Scott) and a problem with girls (especially named Brooke), Rachel constantly found herself in the middle of the drama — and that's exactly where she belonged.

One of the few lucky ladies able to brag about bedding both Salvatore brothers, Rebekah always kept her claws out, even when her fangs were retracted. Heck, the unpredictable bombshell even managed to turn a simple game of truth or dare into a contact sport. And her house parties? To die for.

A special kind of manipulative beast, Molly Tarlov's character got bullying down to a science — nay, an art. Armed with endless nicknames and cruel observations, Sadie always followed up her venomous remarks with a hearty "You're welcome." And we really were.

Naya Rivera's iconic Cheerio was a classic mean girl. Sure, she could cut down her enemies with a single glare, but why take the easy road when she had so much more fun eviscerating them with long-winded (but well-delivered!) monologues, picking apart each of their many flaws? Santana was quick to share every demeaning thought that crossed her mind, and while it didn't always help her relationships with the other characters, it made for damn good TV.

The scourge of Wagstaff School, Tina Belcher's vapid frenemy lost us the minute she threatened to read in front of the whole cafeteria the hopeless romantic's erotic friend fiction (featuring zombies!). So, of course, we've been delighted to learn that she farts when nervous — and those toots can kill. Though, to be fair, as the gaseous gal herself has noted, "That hasn't been proven 100 percent."