Jerkass/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

* [[Malcolm in The Middle]] give us several: Reese's favorite activity is physically assaulting Dewy, Malcolm is an [[Insufferable Genius]], Hal regularly puts his own wants and desires ahead those of his family, Francis was one until he emancipated himself and became a generally nice person (although he seemed to go back on that one after he got fired from the dude ranch), Dewy usually shows these traits toward someone who has wronged someone in some way, making him a subversion even a toddler Jamie is shown stealing, framing his brothers, and being an overall asshole, even by toddler standards. The [[Incredibly Lame Pun|mother]] of them all is Lois: Specific examples are numerous but for simplification, while the entire family is generally disliked by their neighbors, the seem willing to at least tolerate everyone except Lois. Watch one episode and it will become entirely clear how much of a [[Jerkass]] you need to be to make the rest of that family tolerable by comparison.

* [[One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd (TV)|Eddie McDowd]] is the ''epitome'' of [[The Bully]], not to mention that [[The Faceless|his face is not shown to the viewers]]. He arrives to school stealing a student's sandwich for breakfast, probably bullies a teacher for money, pushing a student to a trash can, and bullies another student for milk. When Justin Taylor came to the school, he is spilled milk on him by ''accident''. Eddie starts to retaliate by putting paint on him and hanging him on a flagpole. Later on, he skips classes just to "exercise" by tossing rocks into windows. Noticing a dog, Eddie starts throwing rocks on the car that it's hiding [[Moral Event Horizon|until it explodes]]. The Drifter shows up and knows ''everything about Eddie'' of how he took people's lunch money, the bikes he stole, the kids he terrorized, and his heart-shaped birthmark.

* It's easier to list people on [[The Wire]] that ''aren't'' pricks.

** Ditto ''[[The Sopranos]]'', where it's probably even harder. You could probably sum it up for the show as "everyone except Bobby."

*** That was only because Jerkass Tony decided Bobby needed to pop his cherry {{spoiler|by killing a bad business contact, until that point Bobby had never committed murder}}. Even after said event Bobby was consistently more bearable than the likes of Tony and Pauly.

**** Bobby beat up protesters with baseball bats and threatens jury members before he "popped his cherry" and anyone who commits murder a planned murder is still a jerkass

* Much of the humor in ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is derived from all the characters being complete jerks who have zero [[Character Development]] over the course of the series.

** [[Larry David]]'s next show, ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'', fits the bill as well. Nearly every character seems to be an unhappy, neurotic, oversensitive, needlessly-hostile Jerkass. The fictional Larry David himself is merely a crass and socially-backwards Jerkass.

* Ray Carling in ''[[Life On Mars]]''. At times, he exists purely to make Gene Hunt appear likeable in comparison.

** This applies both Dean Andrew's portrayal on the BBC version and Michael Imperioli's portrayal in the U.S. version

*** Jack ''all the time'' would be more accurate.

* Col from ''[[The Adventures of Lano and Woodley]]'' cannot go five minutes without physically or verbally abusing Frank.

* Rick from the British sitcom ''[[The Young Ones]]'' is an over-the-top example of this character type. One of his housemates describes his name as being spelled "with a silent P."

** Oh, hell. The characters from this show took turns being the [[Jerkass]]! Except for [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Neil, who never got a turn for anything.

***** Plus, of course, {{spoiler|Sheldon saved Leonard's life.}}

* Carrie Heffernan from ''[[The King of Queens]]''. Don't let her pleasant appearance fool you. She has an incredibly short fuse, is incredibly demanding of everyone around her, makes ridiculously selfish requests (often for minor reasons), and even caused a [[Downer Ending]]. In addition, she's a status-seeking social ladder climber. To be fair, she learns her lesson by the end of the episode (most of the time... and then [[Aesop Amnesia|forgets it by the next]].)

* Bill McNeal on ''[[News Radio]].'' He almost always gets away with it, and most of the other main characters let him walk all over them (especially Dave, his boss).

* Rimmer on ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' qualifies, though he's really only marginally worse than everybody else. Nonetheless, the man's avarice is shown to have virtually no limits, going so far as to [[Grand Theft Me|steal his crew mates' bodies against their will]], attempt to seal them in a quarantine cell for several months just to torture them, alter history to prevent Lister from becoming a successful millionaire, and many, many more.

** Similarly, Cat is a vain, shallow, narcissistic [[Jerkass]] who, in the early seasons especially, has absolutely no problem leaving a clearly unwell Lister slumped unconscious on the floor in favour of going to find something to eat (although he does draw the line at stealing Lister's shoes in the process). It says something that when a universe-hopping stimulant arrived on ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' seeking to remove the useless and worthless from the ship, both Cat and Rimmer were spared because their own shallow, narcissistic personalities and low expectations for themselves meant that, by their own selfish standards, their lives were worthwhile.

** Shooting B.J. was an accident attributable to Frank's idiocy rather than his jerkassity. He has both in spades.

** This was the reason Larry Linville (Burns' actor) left the series - he felt that he had gone as far as he could with the character, and that Burns' jerk tendencies were so awful there was no way at all to redeem him.

** [[Word of God]] has it that he was created so that Brent wouldn't seem like quite so much of a tosser in comparison.

** The American version of Chris Finch is Todd Packer. They're both obnoxious, over-sexualized, condescending sales reps.

** The Iron/Dark Enforcer from the first season also counts.

* Georg, the [[Bad Boss]] in [[Naeturvaktin (TV)|Naeturvaktin]]. He confiscates his employees' pay, assaults a stroke victim, offends customers with racist tirades, and is utterly obnoxious to everyone he meets, all while ''absolutely convinced'' that he's in the right. Much of the humour in the series comes from schadenfreude when Georg's behaviour backfires on him.

* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has had its share of Jerkasses Bulk and Skull during Season 1 being the most notable.

* Frank Pembleton from ''<nowiki>~Homicide: Life on the Street~</nowiki>'' was a major one until Season 5. He was condescending, cold and never gave anyone else, including the partner who idolised him, for any credit for their work. He was kept because he was an excellent detective. In Season 5, after a major stroke, the other characters prove to be getting on fine without him with Bayliss doing brilliant work on his own. He then realizes that he can't do it alone and asks to be partners again.

* Every single one of the main characters in ''[[Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'' is selfish, arrogant, amoral, conniving, and dishonest. Many of the show's episodes involve them hatching elaborate schemes for either personal gain or revenge.

* Barney Stinson from ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' treads the line between [[Jerkass]] and [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]. He's definitely the latter towards his friends -- despite often being manipulative, insensitive, and insulting towards them, he's done a number of incredibly sweet and selfless things for them out of sheer love and devotion. But to the people outside of a tight-knit circle that seems to consist of Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin, his mother Loretta, his brother James, his brother's husband Tom, and his nephew Eli, he's a straight [[Jerkass]] who demonstrates barely any trace of scruples or conscience. At least, until season six, where his [[Character Development]] reaches a new level that includes glimmers of self-awareness about how his actions affect strangers.

* Malcolm Tucker in [[The Thick of It]], [[Sir Swearsalot|obviously]].