Four-Temperament Ensemble/Live-Action TV

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Examples of Four-Temperament Ensemble in Live-Action TV include:

  • Two and A Half Men: Charlie is choleric, Alan is melancholic, Jake is phlegmatic and Rose is sanguine.
  • Hot in Cleveland: Elka is choleric, Melanie is phlegmatic, Joy is melancholic and Victoria is sanguine.
  • The cast of Seinfeld fit this schema nicely. Jerry is phlegmatic (rational but indifferent), Kramer is sanguine (and a space case), George is melancholic, and Elaine is choleric.
  • In Friends, Ross is melancholic, Phoebe and Joey are sanguine (the former of the Cloudcuckoolander variety), Chandler and Rachel are phlegmatic and Monica is so choleric.
  • Lie to Me: Lightman is choleric, Foster is melancholic, Torres is sanguine and Loker is phlegmatic.
  • The cast of Sliders fits this, Arturo is choleric, Rembrandt is melancholic (even his stage name is 'the crying man'), Quinn is phlegmatic and Wade is sanguine.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer has an alternate personality division: Willow is the Spirit (cuz of the magic and her pluckiness), Giles is the Mind (he of the books and British schooling), Xander is the Heart (because what else is he going to do?), and Buffy is the Hand (because of the punchingness of her).
    • The characters can also be divided up quite well according to the standard intepretation: Xander as the Sanguine, Buffy as the Choleric, Willow as the Melancholic, and Giles as the Phlegmatic.
      • In season 2, the core group of teens can be grouped this way. Buffy (Choleric), Willow (Melancholic), Xander (Sanguine), and Oz (Phlegmatic).
  • House, M.D. original team: House is Choleric (loves puzzles and power), Cameron Melancholic (she married a dying man), Foreman Phlegmatic (tries to refuse or frustrate House's games), and Chase is Sanguine (upbeat and sunny, in spite of a damaged relationship with his father).
    • The new team: House is choleric, Adams is sanguine, Chase has gotten more melancholic, Taub is phlegmatic, Park is supine.
  • The four main positive characters of Less Than Perfect: Claude is sanguine, Ramona is choleric, Owen is Melancholic and Carl is phlegmatic.
  • Desperate Housewives: Susan is sanguine, Bree is melancholic, Lynette is phlegmatic (without the laziness) and Gabrielle is choleric. The husbands qualify as: Orson - melancholic, Carlos - choleric, Tom - sanguine and Mike - phlegmatic.
  • Down in Fraggle Rock, Unstated Leader Gobo is Sanguine, Red is Choleric, Boober is Melancholic, Hippie Chick Mokey is Phlegmatic, and Wembley is what you get when you combine Supine with ADHD.
  • Criminal Minds
    • Hotch and Morgan are choleric
    • Prentiss and Gideon are melancholic
    • Reid and JJ are phlegmatic
    • Garcia is sanguine
    • Rossi is phlegmatic II
  • The four surgeons at the 4077th Mash keep this up throughout the series. Hawkeye is the constant, Sanguine, Blake/Potter the Choleric, Burns/Winchester the Melancholic, and Trapper/B.J. Phlegmatic. Despite the replacement characters all being vastly different than their predecessors, they still fill the spots left open.
  • Frasier features the choleric title character as well as Daphne, who is supine, Niles, melancholic as they come, the phlegmatic Martin, and Roz the sanguine.
  • Community has two of each:
    • Sanguine: Shirley and Pierce (yep)
    • Choleric: Annie and Chang (when he has power, at least)
    • Melancholic: Britta and Abed
    • Phlegmatic: Jeff and Troy
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures - Clyde is most definitely sanguine, Rani is choleric (bucketfuls of ambition, and just look at how she bosses the boys about!), Sarah Jane is melancholic, and Luke is phlegmatic (bless his cotton socks). This is something that makes the show very different from others: the leader of these True Companions is not the choleric character, but the melancholic one! True, Sarah Jane is a little bit choleric at times (coz she's their leader) but she's quiet and independent, and completely occupied with all that's wrong in the world. Not to mention the shedload of melancholic moods she goes through due to all the stuff that happens to her in each series (do the writers hate her?). Effectively making this team leader the Woobie.
  • The children of George & Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development fit this pretty well: Michael (Choleric), Lindsay (Sanguine), GOB (Phlegmatic), and Buster (Melancholic).
  • The Talies on Lost: Libby (Sanguine), Ana Lucia (Choleric), Mr. Eko (Melancholic) and Bernard (Phlegmatic).
    • In Season Three, the four most prominent Others are: Tom/Mr. Friendly (Sanguine), Juliet (Choleric), Richard (Melancholic) and Ben (Phlegmatic).
    • And Season Four gives no less then three Four Temperament Ensembles:
      • Jack's Faction: Jack (Phlegmatic), Juliet (Choleric), Kate (Melancholic) and Sun (Sanguine).
      • Locke's Faction: Locke (Choleric), Sawyer (Melancholic), Hurley (Sanguine) and Ben (Phlegmatic).
      • The Freighties: Daniel (Melancholic), Miles (Choleric), Charlotte (Sanguine) and Frank (Phlegmatic).
  • In The A-Team, Hannibal is sanguine, B.A. is choleric, Face is phlegmatic and Murdock is melancholic.
  • Noah's Arc: Noah is phlegmatic, Ricky is choleric, Alex is sanguine, and Chance is melancholic.
  • In The Monkees, Mike is Choleric/Melancholic, Micky is Sanguine, Davy is Phlegmatic, and Peter is Supine.
  • Welcome Back, Kotter's Sweathogs: Vinnie Barbarino (Choleric), Freddy Washington (Phlegmatic), Juan Epstein (Melancholic), Arnold Horshack (Sanguine).
  • In Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw is melancholic, Sam Jones is sanguine, Charlotte York is phlegmatic and Miranda Hobbes is choleric.
  • The Big Bang Theory: Leonard is phlegmatic, Sheldon is choleric (only without the charisma), Howard is sanguine and Raj is melancholic.
  • In Red Dwarf, Lister is Phlegmatic, Rimmer is Choleric, Cat is Sanguine, and Holly Go is Melancholic.
  • It works for the original SG-1: Sam Carter is Sanguine, Jack O'Neill is Choleric, Daniel Jackson is Melancholic, and Teal'c is Phlegmatic.
  • The Golden Girls: Dorothy is Melancholic, Blanche is Sanguine, Rose is Phlegmatic, and Sophia is Choleric.
  • Top Gear: The obsessive, hard-charging, ever-ranting Clarkson is choler, sunny Hammond is sanguine, the nostalgic, meticulous tool-sorter May is melancholic, and the Stig is phlegmatic... extremely so.
  • The Office: The four leads in the U.S. version fit this trope. Pam is Melancholic, Jim is Phlegmatic, and Michael and Dwight crank up the most dysfunctional aspects of Sanguine and Choleric respectively.
  • The Aidensfield officers in Heartbeat: The classic lineup is Rowan (choleric), Bellamy (sanguine), Blaketon (melancholic) and Ventress (phlegmatic).
  • The four men on Gilligan's Island: Gilligan is sanguine, the Skipper is choleric, the Professor is melancholic, and Mr. Howell is phlegmatic.
  • New Tricks: Sandra is choleric, Gerry is sanguine, Brian is melancholic, and Jack is phlegmatic.
  • The Mentalist: Jane is sanguine, Rigsby is choleric, Lisbon is melancholic, Cho is phlegmatic and Van Pelt is supine.
  • iCarly: Carly is sanguine, Sam is choleric, Freddie is melancholic, whilst Spencer fits into phlegmatic by way of being an artist who rarely interacts with anyone apart from the rest of the trio (his sister's friends), and his one single friend, Socko.
  • NCIS: Gibbs is Choleric, Tony is Sanguine, Ziva is Phlegmatic (if a bit Trigger Happy), McGee is Supine, and Abby is Melancholic.
  • Brazilian show Os Trapalhões: Didi is sanguine, Dedé is melancholic, Mussum is choleric and Zacarias is supine.
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Kirk is Choleric, Spock is Phlegmatic, Bones is Sanguine, and Scotty is Melancholic. Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel are Supine; everyone else is Phlegmatic Type II by default.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise to the point it's actually kind of sad: Archer and Tucker are Choleric, Phlox is Sanguine, T'Pol is Phlegmatic, Reed is Melancholic, Sato is Supine and Mayweather is Phlegmatic II.
  • On Boy Meets World, the four main characters generally fit this schema, though it took them a couple of seasons to get there: Eric is Sanguine (and how!), Shawn is Choleric, Topanga is Melancholic, and Cory is Phlegmatic.
    • Early on, Topanga was Sanguine, Cory was Melancholic, and Eric was Phlegmatic. In later seasons, Cory gets unusually neurotic for a Phlegmatic character; the reason he remains so is because everyone else gets wackier too.
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sarah Connor is sanguine, John Connor is choleric (though doesn't get the full measure of his leadership until the end of the second season) Cameron is melancholic, and Derek Reese is phlegmatic. Rounding out the group is Charley Dixon, who is supine.
  • The wives of Henry VIII in The Tudors. Catherine of Aragon the Melancholic. Anne Boleyn the Choleric. Jane Seymour the Phlegmatic. Anne of Cleves the Supine. Katherine Howard the Sanguine. Catherine Parr is also Choleric, but a less extreme case than Anne Boleyn.
  • Four of the main characters on The L Word: Alice Pieszecki-Sanguine, Bette Porter-Choleric, Shane Mc Cutcheon-Phlegmatic and Dana Fairbanks-Melancholic.
  • The four grownups on The Nanny: Fran Fine is Sanguine, Maxwell Sheffield is Melancholic, Niles is Phlegmatic, and C.C. Babcock is Choleric.
  • In King of Queens, Doug is phlegmatic, Carrie is choleric, Arthur is sanguine, and Deacon is melancholic.
    • The secondary characters also apply: O'Boyle is choleric, Spence is melancholic, Danny is sanguine, Richie is phlegmatic, Holly is supine.
  • In Martin, Martin is choleric/sanguine, Gina is melancholic, Pam is choleric, Tommy is phlegmatic and Cole is sanguine.
  • Charmed: Although Prue and Paige never appeared together, the charmed ones all fit. Prue is Melancholic, Piper is Choleric, Phoebe is Sanguine, and Paige is Phlegmatic.
  • The show Fringe has this with Peter being sanguine, while Olivia is choleric, Walter is melancholic, and Astrid is phlegmatic.
  • Bonanza: Ben is choleric, Adam is melancholic, Hoss is phlegmatic and Little Joe is sanguine.
  • Everybody Loves Raymond: Ray is phlegmatic, Debra and Frank are choleric, Robert is melancholic, and Marie is sanguine.
  • Happy Endings: Competitive sisters Alex and Jane are both basically choleric, Brad and Penny (despite single gal angst) are sanguine, Dave is melancholic, and Max couldn't be more phlegmatic if he tried.
  • Victorious: Trina (Choleric), Cat (Sanguine), Jade (Melancholic), and Tori (Phlegmatic).
  • The four regulars on the American edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway:
    • Drew Carey: Choleric
    • Wayne Brady: Sanguine
    • Colin Mochrie: Phlegmatic
    • Ryan Stiles: Melancholic
  • Project Runway judges: Heidi Klum is phlegmatic II, Tim Gunn is choleric, Nina Garcia is supine, Michael Kors is melancholic.
  • America's Next Top Model: The four resident panel counts. Tyra Banks is choleric, Ms. J is sanguine, Mr. Jay is phlegmatic II and Nigel barker is phlegmatic I.
  • The Young Ones: Rick is sanguine, Vyvyan is choleric, Neil is melancholic, and Mike is phlegmatic.
  • The four main agents in The X Files: Fox Mulder is phlegmatic, Dana Scully is melancholic, John Doggett is choleric and Monica Reyes is sanguine.
  • The titular characters in Pretty Little Liars are almost a textbook case:
    • Hanna: Sanguine
    • Spencer: Choleric
    • Emily: Phlegmatic
    • Aria: Melancholic
  • The four male MythBusters: Adam Savage is Sanguine, Jamie Hyneman is Melancholic, Tory Belleci is Choleric, and Grant Imahara is Phlegmatic.
  • Burn Notice: Fiona is Sanguine, Jessie is Choleric, Michael is Melancholic, and Sam is Phlegmatic.
  • The re-imagined Hawaii Five-0: Steve is Choleric, Danno is Melancholic, Chin Ho is Phlegmatic, and Kono is Sanguine.
  • The Eleventh Doctor and his companions:
    • Sanguine: Amy.
    • Choleric: River.
    • Melancholic: The Doctor.
    • Phlegmatic: Rory.
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