Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* Ralph Kramden of ''[[The Honeymooners]]''.

* Tom Paris in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. In fact, the going-away speech given by Neelix in "Investigations" sums up this trope admirably.

{{quote|"Good morning, ''Voyager''. I want to tell you about a friend of mine. I first met this man almost a year ago and, to tell you the truth, I didn't like him much. He seemed a little too cocky, a little too sure of himself. A lot of people had questions about him. He'd proven he'd pretty much sell himself out to the highest bidder, go wherever the wind blew him so people wondered, could you trust this person when things got tough? Would he stand side by side with you or would he let you down when you needed him most? But the fact of the matter is he proved himself right from the beginning. I wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for him and the same goes for many of you. It took me a while to realize it. Like a lot of people, I was too caught up in first impressions to see the truth that was right in front of me. I overlooked his bravery because I was focusing on his brashness. I ignored his courage because I saw it as arrogance and I resented his friendliness because I mistook it for licentiousness. So while this man was giving us his best every minute of every day I was busy judging him. And now he's leaving. I'm proud to say that in spite of my narrow-mindedness Thomas Eugene Paris became my friend. I'm going to miss him. No more laughs over a game of pool. No more sitting up into the wee hours swapping stories. No more complaints about my cooking. (chuckling) Goodbye, Tom. I think I speak for more of us than you might imagine when I say you're going to leave an empty space when you go. I hope you find what you're looking for."}}

** The Doctor arguably fits this as well. He's full of himself and his bedside manner sucks (at least initially), but he loves the crew. At one point he's willing to get reset (which would cost him all his memories and a lot of his personality) rather than risk giving inadequate medical care to them.

* Subversion: There was an episode of the short-lived sitcom ''[[Bram And Alice]]'' which has Bram having the "jerk" who beat him in poker earlier taking Alice out to a jazz concert. After a brief talk between Bram and Alice's roommate, Alice is storming back in and calling the guy the biggest jerk she ever met (or words to that effect).

* Bill McNeal of ''[[News Radio]]'' is a subversion of this. He's always on the verge of doing the right thing, but always falls back on his selfishness.

{{quote|'''Jayne''': (Gives a Buddhist Monk some money) "Buy some shoes."

'''Monk''': "the Hero of Canton... He's real!" }}

** He spends his share of a very large robbery the crew pulled on an entire CRATE of apples, which he shares with the entire crew, because he was guilty about his actions in the previous episode.

** The only person on the crew he shows little affection at all toward is River. Why? Because he perceives her as a threat ''to everyone else''.

* Gene Hunt from ''[[Life On Mars]]'' and ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]''. He generally behaves like a sexist boor, but he's loyal, honest (more in the latter than the former) and has Heart of Gold moments that made this troper go ''[[Squee]]''.

** Ray Carling has his moments too.

* [[Gossip Girl|Chuck Bass]]. He's a jerk, and proud of it, but he loves Blair with all his heart and would do anything for her.

* Andy Milman from ''[[Extras]]'' is a variant of this: he is a very grumpy, selfish, self-centered, and sarcastic guy, and he has contempt for people like Derrin who are idiotic, pathetic, or incompetant (in his eyes at least). He does genuinely like and care about Maggie, however, and he truly wants to be a great actor. The world just seems to conspire to make him look like significantly more of an asshole than he actually is, putting him in situations where he accidentally appears racist, homophobic, anti-religious (which he is, but not in an asshole way), intolerant of the mentally handicapped, etc. However, unlike Maggie, who similarly gets into such situations, it's usually at least partly his fault for being an ass.

* [[Criminal Minds|David Rossi]] comes off as this on several occasions. A prime example is in the episode "Penelope", where he's basically a complete jerk to Penelope Garcia - but only because he wants to catch the guy that shot her. He becomes a bit more subdued in this trope as he gets closer to the team, but he still has his moments.

* Del Boy Trotter in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''.

* [[Dr. Jerk|Dr. Owen Harper]] from ''[[Torchwood]]'', gaining his heart of gold mainly during series 2. Especially in "Fragments".

* Leo from ''[[The West Wing]]'' is this, but he should be considered more pure gold with a crust of jerk rather than a jerk with a heart of gold, especially as he doesn't really attempt a [[Hidden Heart of Gold]]. Toby fits this trope more accurately -- he acts like an asshole, but cares deeply about his friends, is fiercely loyal to the President, and has very deep compassion for people, as shown by the pains he took and emotions he tried to suppress when trying to arrange a military funeral for a homeless veteran.

* Santana, Rachel, Sue, Puck and Quinn from ''[[Glee]]''.

* ''[[Lost in Austen]]'' casts both Wickham and Darcy in this role.

** In one episode, another trooper's baby won't stop crying unless Sergeant Carter is holding the baby.

** Another episode shows Gomer catching a cold, but due to a mix-up of information from the doctor's office, Carter thinks that Gomer is dying. This causes him to show complete kindness to Gomer.

* In the sixth season of the reality series ''The Amazing Race'', Jonathan was usually unmercifully mean to his wife Victoria (his race partner) and even other teams, but in the episodes taking place in African countries he was shown embracing the culture, mingling with the locals, and giving candy to children.