Some of television's best and longest-running series in recent years have featured families full of crooks, mobsters, drug dealers and con artists. And just this week, a new wave of projects featuring clans of outlaws crested with ABC's Scoundrels, which features Virginia Madsen as a matriarch trying desperately to straighten out her crooked family. Meanwhile, in Scoundrels' wake, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht (who headed HBO during the rise of The Sopranos) acquired the rights to the Australian crime drama Underbelly, which currently features blood-related gang members, and Jamie Foxx shot a trailer for a mob family drama called Tommy's Little Girl. In honor of this perennial programming trend, Movieline has compiled some of television's best crime families over the years and ranked them -- from funny to fearless.
· The Funny But Politically Incorrect: The Malloys (The Riches)
This under-appreciated FX series featured Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Irish Traveller con artists who assume the identities of a wealthy couple killed in a car crash. The family posed in occupations that they were fully unqualified for -- like lawyer and dental hygienist -- while lying frequently to protect their new identities, finagle their ways around Traveller traditions, navigate drug addiction and deal with the consequences of the conscious that a life of deception breeds.
Most Humorous Moments: When Izzard and Driver's characters were forced into situations that required them to lie spontaneously and at length -- like during the show's pilot when Wayne posed as a high school graduate during a reunion: "Uh, I just wanted to say something. It hasn't been easy for us Wildcats. You know. Some have cried, some have died, some fought the battle, some the spike, broken promises, ungrateful children, a bypass surgery, and a bad dose of a clap."
· The Subtly Funny and Dramatic: The Botwins (Weeds)
What began as "innocent" suburban weed-pushing spiraled into crimes much more serious over the course of the series' five seasons on Showtime. Mary-Louise Parker's widowed Nancy Botwin unintentionally introduced her sons and brother-in-law to the world of drug trade, drug trafficking and eventually cemented her place in the crime world by marrying the corrupt mayor of Tijuana and having his baby. During Weeds' most recent season, Nancy's oldest son starts his own pot business and Nancy's youngest son kills his stepfather's political adviser with a croquet mallet.
Most Humorous Moments: Even after the series arguably jumped the shark in season three, Nancy's brother-in-law Andy continues to provide some of television's best comedic lines -- and situations -- on television. For example, after Nancy chose to marry Esteban last season instead of running away with him, he blew $180,000 on vintage Pac-Man games, the General Lee and vintage swords.
· The Subtly Amusing and Majorly Fearsome: The Sopranos (The Sopranos)
Television's most legendary crime family, The Sopranos entertained viewers over six seasons on HBO with their complicated family dynamics and continual conflict. Tony Soprano, the boss of the DiMeo crime family was at once a tough-guy criminal, struggling father and husband and sensitive person prone to psychiatric episodes. Tony committed at least six murders on the series himself, including his cousin and protégé Christopher by suffocating him after a car crash.
Most Humorous Moments: The show's lightest moments occurred between Tony and his children -- like the time that Tony had a panic attack after seeing a box of Uncle Ben's rice shortly after making racist comments about his daughter's black boyfriend.
· The Straight-Up Scary: The Salamancas (Breaking Bad)
The AMC show's meth-manufacturing main character Walt (Bryan Cranston) has collided with the Salamanca family several times in the show's three seasons. Tio Salamanca, now an invalid, was once a high-ranking cartel member who taught his nephews lessons by punching them in the face. Tuco Salamanca was an unpredictable Mexican drug kingpin who kidnapped Jesse and Walt with the intention of smuggling them into Mexico for his own drug-production purposes. Meanwhile, Leonel and Marco Salamanca ("The Cousins") are cold-blooded murderers who once decapitated a foe by machete.
Most Humorous Moments: Aside from the image of an psychopathic murderer getting angry that his wheelchair-bound uncle spilled a bean burrito, there is not much humor found within the Salamanca family.