By Kathleen Murphy
Special to MSN Entertainment

Truth be told, television is overstocked with people who must like people: I'm-OK-you're-OK types cloned to order for sunny sitcoms about friends and families, or cop/hospital shows staffed by saintly servants of the common weal. So-called Reality TV and even cross-firing, hard-balling news shows mostly sugarcoat sharp tongues and only simulate spontaneous combat.

Thank heavens for subversively honest nasties like Simon Cowell and Judge Judy. Kudos to misanthropic monsters like Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Lucille Bluth ("Arrested Development") and Stewie Griffin ("Family Guy"). And huzzahs for Jon Stewart, so deftly and cheerfully skewering the smug celebrities and politicians who make ever-more-asinine news.

So, why don't more genuine grouches crash the prime time party? Where are TV's rude, crude, smart, contrarian, anti-social characters -- like Archie Bunker, a grump who never met a minority or a "meathead" liberal he wouldn't diss, or the late, lamented Lenny Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) from "Law and Order," the Big Apple's vinegary version of W.C. Fields?

I say let's dial up some mouthy mavericks to lob un-PC grenades at every breed of sacred cow. An elite corps from Don Rickles' boot camp could save us from suffocation by TV fluff that's way too pretentious, dumb, extreme or saccharine. Set these irreverent dawgs loose to sniff out repression's bad odor, wafting from those shady parts of ourselves and our culture we're too afraid or squeamish or ashamed to acknowledge.

But in the meantime, while we wait for reinforcements, let's celebrate nine of TV's current cheekiest curmudgeons and misanthropes ... and remember the one who topped them all in one short season.

10. Josh Holloway as James Ford alias Frank Sawyer, 'Lost'
Sawyer is a hunky rebel and loner trailing self-destructive, Southern charm. He's cantankerous to the max. He delights in sneering out cruel truths; mocking earnest Jack, class president of the "Lost" castaways; and hitting on sexy Kate, who's torn between saving Sawyer's suicidal soul and Doctor Jack's prescription for her own redemption. The man you love to hate joneses nonstop for pain and his fellow survivors' contempt. It's self-imposed payback for his sad, sordid history from traumatized kid to seductive con-artist. Matthew McConaughey-lite at first glance, Sawyer's turned out super-fine as the island hit's dark-side hero.