Best Of 2008: 5 Sexiest Men On TV

By Julia Diddy
Fancast.com

A king, a vampire, a high school football star, a wealthy teenage lothario, and a Viper-pilot-turned-space-lawyer walk into a bar. The bartender says…well, actually, it would be difficult to hear him talking above the din of women shrieking in ecstasy, swooning and stampeding toward the new arrivals, so never mind the punchline.

Not surprisingly, our “Sexiest Men” list slightly favors bad boys over good guys, but after all, these are the sexiest men on television…not the ones you’d necessarily bring home to meet Mom. (Not unless you want her beheaded or drained of blood.) Also, interestingly enough, there’s barely a Yank in sight: we have one Irishman, a Canadian, two Brits, and one British American (Jamie Bamber does possess American citizenship as well, but hadn’t actually lived here until recently), and these gents been more than a little busy storming our shores in a highly photogenic siege this past year. We surrender! Gladly.

Without further ado, behold five reasons why television sets were ablaze in 2008:

1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors

“Physically, I’m nothing like the pictures of Henry and therein lies the boldness. We needed to do something to get a contemporary audience watching, to draw in people in their 20s and 30s.” – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, as told to BBC News.

Boy, did that plan work. Viewers continue to be drawn in droves to Rhys Meyers’ camera-friendly variation of history’s most famous serial husband. The Irish actor first began to turn lots of heads after appearing as an androgynous Bowie-esque rock star in Velvet Goldmine; subsequent roles, such as the dreamy soccer coach in Bend It Like Beckham, and a philandering tennis pro in Match Point, continued to propel Rhys Meyers toward stardom.

With drop-dead good looks and Golden-Globe award winning talent (garnering J.R.M. a statue for his role as Elvis in the CBS miniseries of the same name), who better to lure modern-day audiences toward the tale of that infamous and insatiable sixteen-century monarch on The Tudors? Never mind that yes, historically, Henry VII has always been visually depicted in a manner which would have rendered John Goodman a more authentic casting choice… Rhys Meyers makes all those notches on Henry’s bedpost seem credible for entirely different reasons.

Check out photos of Jonathan right here.

2. Stephen Moyer, True Blood

Recently, True Blood’s headlining heartthrob declared in an interview, “I’ve always rather liked doing sex scenes. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.”

Apparently this fellow hasn’t looked in the mirror recently. Then again, vampires have traditionally had issues with reflective surfaces…

Stephen Moyer has long been a fixture on the British miniseries scene: Castles; The Grand; Midsomer Murders…the list goes on, but given that it went on in the U.K., most of Moyer’s early projects aren’t familiar to American audiences. And no, this isn’t Moyer’s first time sporting fangs…he also did the undead thing in the U.K. series Ultraviolet, though interestingly enough, that series never actually employed the “V” word - choosing instead to brand their nightwalkers as, “Code 5”s, or “leeches,” instead. (So, does that technically make this Moyer’s first time playing a “vampire,” after all? Not to split hairs or anything…)

His recent appearances on American television – first as Sam in The Starter Wife and, more visibly, currently starring in True Blood – have finally thrust Sookie’s breathtaking and blood-sipping beau into a particularly luminous stream of Hollywood limelight. In Alan Ball’s hit series, Moyer plays Bill Compton, an atypically moral immortal who pines for a local waitress and is perpetually striving to curb his more animal instincts. It’s that romantic and gentlemanly veneer that has female fans entertaining all sorts of uncivilized fantasies.

And who can blame them?

Check out photos of Stephen right here.

3. Taylor Kitsch, Friday Night Lights

Models-turned-actors have an advantage when it comes to sashaying onto any sexy list: they’re trained professionals in the art of working it. However, while Kitsch did start out as a male mannequin, he opted to not rely solely on those dashing looks (even though he have easily coasted for miles and miles on ‘em), and studied the craft of acting in earnest with a coach in New York. The hard work soon paid off as Kitsch found himself served up as the in-flight meal to some slithering co-stars in Snakes on a Plane. Landing additional roles in The Covenant and John Tucker Must Die in the same year marked this Canadian model’s permanent departure from what could have otherwise easily been a more muted career as a still-life object.

Kitsch’s portrayal of jock Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights takes the whole bad boy package to the next level – after all, here is a drunken cad who seduces his best friend’s girl. Did we mention that his best friend is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound? Yup - nothing screams “bad boy” quite like kicking your pal when he’s permanently down. Yet, in this clip, Kitsch discusses how Riggins’ bad behavior masks a more complicated and tortured soul. See, it’s not all about drinking and three-ways! There’s a teensy dash of ennui in there, too. Somewhere. Eh, who cares…throw in some more three-ways, and nobody’ll notice the ennui.

Apparently we’ll forgive this fictional bad boy nearly anything – even betraying a paraplegic pal – so long as the guy shows a little remorse…and a lot more of that chiseled physique.

Check out photos of Taylor right here.

4. Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl:

“My style has always been good. Top notch, baby. I like the glamorous indie rock look, like the Libertines. But you know, without the heroin needle sticking out of my arm.” – Ed Westwick on being a style icon both on and off screen.

OK, so he knows he’s hot and hip - admittedly, it’s difficult to overlook. And, like Monsieur Moyer above, Westwick also started out in TV in his homeland, as a regular on the Brit soap The Doctors and the serial drama Casualty. Of course, it’s only after he embarked upon his role as that womanizing (or teenage-girl-izing) private school predator Chuck Bass that he began seriously pinging our radar on this continent.

As for his wildly popular role on Gossip Girl, well…to hear Westwick tell it in this clip, Chuck is a “sexual pervert kind of antagonist.” (Let’s hear him tell it again. I kind of lost track of what he was actually saying, what with the sexy accent and everything…)

And, just in case the stylish ensembles, the accent, and successful acting career aren’t enough for you, he’s also a fledgling rock star who fronts for a band called The Filthy Youth. Sure, it’s dangerously close to hipster overkill, but if anyone can pull off this sort of excess with a certain debauched flair, it’s the guy who plays Chuck Bass.

Check out photos of Ed right here.

5. Jamie Bamber, Battlestar Galactica

Our third Brit on the list, Bamber had actually infiltrated American television before most of his co-sexy colleagues mentioned above by appearing in Steven Spielberg’s and Tom Hank’s acclaimed HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, as well as the internationally popular series of Horatio Hornblower TV movies (the latter having also propelled Fantastic Four’s Ioan Gruffudd to celebrity on this side of the pond).

After landing the role of Lee “Apollo” Adama on Battlestar Galactica (which Bamber describes here), Bamber has run the gamut on the show: first starting off as a resentful young Viper pilot with serious father issues, then working his way toward commander of the Pegasus, before eventually embracing his secret desire to become a…space lawyer. (Hey, some aspirations are juicier than others.) With the last half of BSG’s final season set to air in January ‘09, undoubtedly some of Apollo’s finest – and most surprising - moments are yet to come. (Between now and January, when Battlestar will begin its final descent toward the series finale, why not tide yourself over with some past episodes right here on Fancast? Go on – you know you want to…)

Despite having so recently wrapped such an involved and long-term small-screen project, Bamber has hardly washed his hands of serialized television…at least if his signing on to play Detective Matt Devlin in the Law & Order: U.K. series is any indication…

Having studied French and Italian during his college years - and having attained top honors for such while at Cambridge - Bamber managed to render himself officially irresistible in not one, not two, but three languages.

All we can say is, “Wow.”

Check out photos of Jamie right here.