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** ''[[Power Rangers Turbo|Turbo]]'' marked the first time an African American was a Red Ranger (The designated leader of the team). This wouldn't be much of a big deal except that it was also the only season where the rangers ''lost'' at the end. It didn't help that the Red Ranger was "demoted" in the [[Power Rangers in Space|following season]]<ref>"Demoted" in quotation marks because there was no actual ceremony or rank, he just joined a team led by a pre-existing Red Ranger</ref>.
** Within the show itself, the Rangers themselves were never referred as anything other than "[color] Ranger" in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. However, on the official Disney site of the franchise, presumably to distinguish the original team members from later incarnations, they address each Mighty Morphin member as "[color] Power Ranger", leading to such unintentionally racist handles like ''White Power'' Ranger", the "Black Power'' Ranger", and the "Red Power'' Ranger".
** In ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'', one of the series' original [[Those Two Guys]], Bulk, reappears, with Skull being replaced by his 15-year-old son Spike. The unfortunate implications come in when you realize that 15 years earlier was ''[[Power Rangers ZEOZeo]]'', when Skull was still in high school. When you factor in the [[Word of God]] (stated by one of the writers) that Skull married the original Pink Ranger... who had left the series the year before ''Zeo'', and sent her boyfriend a [[Dear John]] letter right around the time Spike would have been born, the implication is that one of the comic relief guys got the Pink Ranger pregnant in high school.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has a number of unfortunate implications in the series.
** The majority of black and Latino characters are criminals, or put in position of being criminals or [[Magical Negro|Magical Negroes]]. A special mention should be made for season 3 villain Knox, a black man who is not only a criminal, but who has the power to... grow stronger by terrifying people. He also enjoys it. Not to mention how many black characters are [[Killed Off for Real]] in general.
** Hiro's [[Flanderized]] buffoonishness, particularly the arc in which he mentally reverted to a 10-year-old, plays to some unfortunate stereotypes of Asian men. Ando's initial obsession with porn/Niki did too, but [[Characterization Marches On|that character trait was fortunately phased out pretty early in the series]].
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** Candice used her illusion powers to fit a specific definition of beautiful, telling Micah [and the viewers] that she was fat and unattractive in her true form... which viewers only saw from the back {{spoiler|after Sylar killed her}}. An official series webcomic showed that as a teenager she was very overweight with a stereotypical goth/"emo" look.
** Maya hits both race ''and'' gender unfortunateness: her powers are triggered by a hyper-emotional state, which happens with irritating frequency, playing to both "hysterical woman" and "overly passionate Latina" stereotypes. The fact that she needs men (Sylar, her brother) to control her only adds to this. She's also [[Women in Refrigerators|victimized]] on a disturbingly regular basis.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.
** The whole Dark Willow Storyline. Yes, the writers can claim that had she still been with Oz he would have died and she'd react in the same way, but we're left with what they put on screen: a scenario where [[Bury Your Gays|one half of a lesbian couple is shot dead]], and the [[Psycho Lesbian|other half goes crazy]]. And it just happened to take place after a day of unmagicked, undisguised sex. In addition, the writers blathering on about how Willow's positive magick was used as a metaphor for lesbian sex. Her vicious magick was heavily compared to drug use. This has Unfortunate Implications of its own.
** The show contains an awful lot of female empowerment, but the 'empowerment' isn't always played when it should be. Xander and Giles are both [[Badass Normal]] (strong ''without'' powers), while all the females (except Dawn in Season Seven), need to be Slayers, Witches or Demons to hold their own. And of course, in the final battle it is not Buffy, the ''heroine'' of the story who came up with the plan of attack, but male vampire Spike who defeats the enemy. So... Joss likes tough females, and they get to kick butt, but when the final battles come they need their male sidekicks to save them...? It's probably just an implication, but it's unfortunate nonetheless.
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*** On that note, apparently awakening Slayers on a global scale is acceptable as long as the caster is a woman.
** The same sex relationship between the female characters of Willow and Tara is presented as good and sweet. The same sex relationships between male characters though....less so. Angel and Spike is comfirmed, but only after several seasons in two shows of tension and UST, and at least one of them had no soul and was a mass murdering psycho at the time. Then there is Andrew and Warren. Their relationship is again never shown, though pretty much confirmed. Warren is a sociopath and at the time Andrew was evil also and helping him. The final relationship is Ethan and Giles, which is pretty much canon such as being comfirmed by the writers and being shown with the aid of Willow an Tara's "Magic is Love" metaphor. They were together back when Giles was called Ripper, they were general rebels and summoned demons for kicks. Now Giles is good he hates Ethan and Ethan, who still has feelings for him, stalks him while working for the Big Bad and causing general trouble...
* ''[[Sex and Thethe City]]'':
** It has been criticised for [[Unfortunate Implications]] in that a show supposedly about single, empowered women ends with every single character in a monogamous heterosexual relationship.
** In the movie, {{spoiler|Samantha and Smith}} break up, and she goes on being her old polygamous self.
** The lack of minority women in the show could be considered this, as it gives an impression that the whole well-off, empowered woman role exists exclusively for white women.
* The old B-movies ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' uses are full of Unfortunate Implications, due usually to the time in which they were made. But the ''riffs'' themselves aren't free from their own problems; for example, the ''[[Mr. B Natural]]'' short comes off incredibly transphobic and in ''[[The Violent Years]]'' Mike and the bots heavily ridicule a man [[Double Standard Rape (Female Onon Male)|who was gang raped by a group of women]].
* The ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' franchise:
** The opening theme of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise (TV)|Star Trek Enterprise]]'' falls under this. The montage in said theme was ostensibly supposed to show the "firsts" of human space exploration which would eventually lead to warp. Thing is, all of the scenes used were from the American space program, [[Small Reference Pools|which would ostensibly be more familiar to the American audience]]. This, of course, doesn't take into account the fact that in [[Real Life]] the Soviets were ahead during the earlier stages of the Space Race. Supposedly, when asked why Yuri Gagarin (the first man in space) and other Soviet space heroes weren't seen as important enough to make the title credits, one of the creators suggested that the Soviet space program ''was'' important, because it spurred on the Americans to greatness. It veers right past Unfortunate Implications and into [[Digging Yourself Deeper|Unfortunate Shit Said Outright]].
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]]'' pulled the same stunt years earlier. In " Threshold", when talking about the chance to perform a flight first, Janeway proceeds to rattle off all the American firsts in flight and space travel.
** The creators of ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' always prided themselves on its message against prejudice, both through metaphor and example (the fact that a black woman is on the bridge with Kirk and no one thinks it's unusual). One unanticipated consequence however was that gay fans of the show would take this lesson to heart and call for a gay character on ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' or its spin-offs, or at least have a reference to the fact that homosexuality exists in the Federation. Despite trying to fob fans off with a couple of [[Very Special Episode|Very Special Episodes]] on the subject, there was never any unambiguous sign that any main character, guest star, or expendable ensign had ever had or contemplated having sex with someone of the same gender. One argument by [[The Powers That Be]] was that they couldn't do it without belittling gays ("What would you have us do, put pink triangles on them? Have them [[Flamboyant Gay|sashay down the corridor?]]"). Then comes the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV)|Deep Space Nine]]'' episodes set in the [[Mirror Universe]]. Which sent the message that it '''is''' possible to be openly gay. But only evil people do it.
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV)|Deep Space Nine]]'' did manage to explore this more tastefully in the examples of Trill sexuality. While the current host's pre-joining orientation may take precedence, bisexuality is still shown to be innate in joined Trills: Resuming an old host's relationships is a taboo, but Jadzia's encounter with Lenara Khan and Worf's suspicion of an affair with the girl on Riza show that physical gender remains a non-issue.
** In "The Outcast" a race of mostly asexual/agendered aliens persecutes a woman for having a gender and entering into a heterosexual relationship with Riker. It doesn't help that all the aliens were played by female actors, which makes the episode look uncommonly like a paranoid conservative nightmare about lesbian separatist feminists persecuting straight people. Frakes himself has said the episode, which was supposed to be an allegory of homophobia might have worked a little better if his love interest had been played by a man.
** In Enterprise, there is an episode likening gays to 'melders,' a persecuted minority of Vulcans who engage in the taboo practice of mindmelding. T'Pol gets Pa'nar Syndrome (an allegory for AIDS) from a forced [[Mind Rape|mind meld.]] When her bosses try to have her removed from her post for contracting the disease, she refuses to defend herself by telling them that she got it from a non-consensual meld, because she doesn't want to perpetuate negative feelings about melders. Great, except for where it implies that gays are lurking in wait to rape innocent straight people and give them AIDS, and that it is noble to protect your rapist by not reporting them.
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]]'' has a lot of Unfortunate Implications in the form of Chakotay. While the writers may have wanted to add even more diversity to the cast, their portrayal of Native Americans composed of a mishmash of several different (and often erroneously portrayed) cultural practices of several Native American groups. The end result is so stereotypical that it's bound to have come off as quite offensive. It doesn't help that the episode "Tattoo" basically reveals that a group of aliens visited the Native Americans in the distant past and "uplifted" them from being primitive savages by giving them culture. [[SF Debris]] derisively noted that the episode was essentially "Space: White Man's Burden".
** A TOS episode (The Paradise Syndrome) also pulled that same stunt. Apparently ''Star Trek'' writers are required to attend the Tonto School of Native American Stereotypes.
** [[SF Debris]] also mentions this trope and the site by name when he points out the [[Unfortunate Implication]] of having Kes (played by a white woman) as the only one who manages to calm down the increasingly escalating hostility between Tuvok (played by a black man) and Harry Kim (Asian-American actor) in the episode "Resolutions." The hostility between the two occurs only because Captain Janeway (again, white female actress) had to leave the ship.
{{quote| '''Chuck Sonnenburg:''' Kes comes in to see Tuvok and, after a couple of minutes, Tuvok decides he'll try that plan of Harry's. There's a thing [[TV Tropes]] calls [[Unfortunate Implications]], and this seems to apply here: The only thing stopping the black guy and the Asian guy from beating each other up are white women.}}
** The third episode of ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', "Code of Honor":
*** It was one horrible implication after another. The Enterprise visits a world supposedly similar to Earth's past to obtain a vaccine but the cruel, primitive, misogynistic and petty inhabitants put them through the rigamarole of kidnapping the chief of security officer, the blonde, blue eyed Tasha Yar, with whom the males are all obsessed. Oh, and all the actors are African American. They don't even bother giving them [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|different foreheads]]. This one can be placed almost solely at the feet of the episode's director, who decided that aliens all be black. It was so bad, he was actually fired during production. The cast all consider the episode to be an embarrassment.
** "Code of Honor" has even further negative implications beyond race, although race is the only one that's generally called out. In this episode, Troi actually tells Tasha that she's conflicted by her kidnapper, because there is some part of her that is "attracted" to that behavior. Tasha admits that this is true. Remember, Tasha came from a planet overrun by "rape gangs," yet here she was agreeing that she really wanted a man who would kidnap and dominate her. So, the blame can't go entirely on the director. The writer chose to put a "women really want to be dominated and raped" message into the story. The worst part was having the sentiments spoken by female performers.
** In the TNG pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", the intent was to show how peaceful the 24th century was, but in hindsight, it wasn't a good idea to have the ''[[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys|French]]'' captain surrender in his first mission.
** Pretty much any handling of religion on ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' falls here.
*** There's a scene in "Who Watches the Watchers" which basically implies that ''every'' horrific event in human history happened because people believed in God/religion.
*** In [[Confused Matthew]]'s review of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV)|Deep Space Nine]]'''s "Tears of the Prophets", he notes that after the orbs of the Prophets are put out by Dukat, the Bajorans aren't acting like believers whose faith has been shaken (e.g. Ned Flanders in ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Hurricane Neddy"), but like junkies needing their fix.
** [[The Next Generation]] episode "The High Ground" revolves around a separatist group kidnapping Dr. Krusher. Data, attempting to understand the morality of Terrorism, rattles off a list of "past" examples where it has proved successful, which flusters Picard. Unfortunately, one of his examples was the reunification of Ireland in 2024. The show was first aired in 1990, while [[The Troubles]] were still very much ongoing. The episode was banned in the UK and Ireland for (effectively) promoting the IRA's activities as not only just, but fruitful. When it was eventually broadcast, the line was edited out, and was not shown uncut until 2007, almost 10 years after the conflict ended with peaceful negotiations, and 2 years after the IRA had officially disbanded. Even then, there was still a disclaimer at the start of the show stating that it was a work of fiction and it should not be taken literally.
* An episode of ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' featured the title characters going head to head with a group of five-to-seven nerds. The nerds are snobby, have an unwarranted sense of self-importance, and are revealed to be underhanded, dishonest thieves, vastly inferior to the talented and creative protagonists. Oh, all the nerds are Asian, by the way.
* The Christian Grace from ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' is so [[Anvilicious]] that it's embarrassing that some viewers believe all Christians act like that.
* Harold Perinneau had this reaction to the death of Michael in ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]''. While many other characters get to reunite with their loved ones, Michael is given a abrupt "redemption" and blown up - leaving Walt without a father, a common cliche with fictional black families. Nobody even tells Walt that Michael is dead - they all lie to him and say he may be alive.
* ''[[Twenty Four24]]'':
** The fourth season features what at first appears to be a liberal Californian family of Middle Eastern origin, they are soon revealed to be both secretly Muslim and secretly evil. What's more anyone who is generally tolerant and not suspicious of Middle Eastern people within their own communities is shown to be at fault.
** The series' use of the [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]] as the default approach to counter-terrorism, and worse, the ''[[Torture Always Works|total infallibility]]'' of said technique, is especially problematic in season 4. Especially after ''actual counter terrorist agents'' have had to be told that ''24'' is just a TV show and torture doesn't truly magically bring out accurate information.
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* ''[[Kamen Rider Stronger]]''
** We have Tackle-chan, at the time the franchise's only female hero, who was altered by the villains (and saved) around the same time as the eponymous hero, and has many similar abilities. She's around for most, if not all of the series until the finale, where she's [[Heroic Sacrifice|killed by a monster.]] She stays dead for 35 years, and is never referred to as a Kamen Rider, something that all main heroes (especially in the Showa era) are. Now compare this to Riderman from [[Kamen Rider V 3]]. He begins as a villainous scientist who only leaves after he's been framed and lost his right arm to torture. Even then, he still fought with V3 for several episodes before realizing his mistake, and [[Heroic Sacrifice|then]] [[Death Equals Redemption|dying]] in the finale. He appeared in ''far'' fewer episodes than Tackle. ''He's'' suddenly back to life in time for the next year's requisite crossover and he's also referred to as "Kamen Rider #4." He appears in every team-up occasion along with the ''primary Riders.'' Tackle ''never'' appeared in such crossover occasions until the ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' [[Wrap It Up]] movie in 2010, over 30 years later.
** Tackle is no longer the series' only female hero, but the others end up no better, ''every last one'' being [[Killed Off for Real]], and typically after only one appearance. (Again, Decade provides the exception, with the alternate versions of these Riders, and the one original to its movie, faring far better. Tackle also gets a decent role in its second movie...though {{spoiler|she's actually still dead and doesn't realize it}}.) We'll see if the curse has truly been broken with [[Kamen Rider Fourze (TV)|Kamen Rider Nadeshiko]], though a scene in the trailer involving [[Say My Name|anguished name-yelling]] doesn't bode well.
* ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''
** The show has a troubling attitude toward its female characters: Maid Marian was portrayed as a strong, competent, intelligent young woman, who doesn't take too kindly to either Robin's incessant flirting or Guy's overbearing attempts at wooing her. She rejects Guy's advances, and makes Robin work for her respect. So far, so good right? Well, in the finale of the second season, Marian is murdered by Guy of Gisborne after she inexplicably reveals her love for Robin to him. Guy impales her on his sword, in an erotically-charged death scene that writer Dominic Mingella described as the consummation of Guy and Marian. The writers' reasons for choosing to kill off Marian were cited as a chance to "rock the show" and to "explore the darker side of Robin." In other words, it was a mix of shock value and a way of driving male characterization further. But neither one of these opportunities were acted on. By the second episode of the third season, the show reverted to [[Status Quo Is God]] and Robin becomes the most jaw-dropping example of [[Angst? What Angst?]] to ever appear on television. Guy also bounces back surprisingly well, though in a (very late) episode confesses his guilt to a young girl called Meg. No prizes for guessing what happens to Meg.
** Furthermore, the [[Twofer Token Minority]] character Djaq was written out of the show at the same time as Marian, and replaced with a (white) girl called Kate. Djaq was witty, compassionate and had a variety of skills. Kate was so useless it was embarrassing and needed the boys to rescue her from stupidity-induced danger at least once an episode.
** Among the other female guest stars were [[Meaningful Name|Eve]], a spy for the sheriff until she performs a [[High Heel Face Turn]] after falling in love with Much; Bertha, a woman who seems maternal and kindly until it's revealed that she's exploiting orphan children; Beatrice, a [[Damsel in Distress]] who doesn't get one single line; Davina, the Sheriff's sister who's a snake-fetishist and dominatrix. They even made ''Eleanor of Aquitaine'' a [[Distressed Damsel]]. Seriously, there is not a ''single'' female character in this show (aside from Djaq, who escapes by being [[Put Onon a Bus]] and forgotten) who isn't dead, evil or completely useless.
* The "Fagmalion" episodes from ''[[Will and Grace]]'' in which Will and Jack attempt to turn [[Straight Gay]] Barry into a "proper" homosexual (read [[Flamboyant Gay]]) and end up getting crushes on the finished result. At one point Barry actually calls them out on this and walks out on them, only to come back a couple scenes later, claiming that he'd rather go through it with them than do it alone... [[Aesop Amnesia|and that he wants to look like someone from "Men's Fitness"]].
* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'':
** The makers were worried when they wrote the original pilot script that the character of [[Uncle Tomfoolery|the Cat was racist]] -- so the production team sent the script to Craig Charles (then a punk poet and occasional actor) and asked his opinion. Charles assured them the character wasn't racist and also asked if he could audition for Lister, whom the creators had originally imagined as looking similar to Christopher Lloyd in ''[[Taxi]]''. He ended up getting the part. The casting of [[The Cat]] is due to him being descended from a black cat (Frankenstein), thus the human form would be black.
** It is of note that in the episode "Waiting For God," the ancient cat priest is mostly white, but one hand is black. Like cats Felis sapiens come in all different color combinations.
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** Despite the show making it clear that there were many women on board the ship, for the first two series the show had an all male cast. In real life, the writers were probably trying to avoid having the last surviving human being a woman, with all the ensuing "needing to repopulate" UI involved.
** Throughout the course of the show Holly - the ships computer - was shown to be "computer senile" having been left on his own for 3 million years and going somewhat peculiar. He was originally portrayed as an older man who, while not entirely incompetent, was certainly past his prime. In later series, he was replaced by his female counterpart ... a ditzy blonde. Flanderization had already set in by this point, but the character still made a massive leap from eccentric but functional to being genuinely quite thick.
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'':
** On the one hand, the only major [[But Not Too Black|dark-skinned]] character is Guinevere, who [[Foregone Conclusion|will eventually become Queen]]. On the other hand, in the series she's a servant of the rich white Morgana. In all fairness, ''[[Merlin]]'' couldn't do much better than it does and still try for some semblance of [[Hollywood History|faux-historical accuracy]]. Season 3 adds her brother Elyan as a regular cast member, but the show still has a bad track record of killing off black characters (Sir Ewan, Sir Pellinore, Myror, Tom, Aglain, Helios - all black, all dead).
** The show's creators always planned to have Gwen undergo a gradual makeover throughout the course of the series from a lowly servant to a future queen, but unfortunately, the first step of this makeover coincided with her becoming a [[Love Interest]] to Arthur. In series one she was quite plain, and wore clothes that fitted with her being a servant, and in series 2 was made [[Hotter and Sexier]], with a new dress that showed off her cleavage, just in time for her romantic subplots. To all little girls watching the show: no man will ever love you if you don't get your breasts out (though at least Lancelot found her attractive while she was still wearing the equivalent of a potato sack).
** The show has four main characters: two white males, one white female, and one black female. Guess which one always gets left off the DVD covers. Go on, guess!
*** Subverted by the Season Four DVD covers, where Gwen appears and Morgana ''doesn't''. In a similar vein, the fact that the entire cast ''except'' Guinevere had been made into action figures is finally sorted when figures of Queen Guinevere were released in late 2010 - however, the simple fact that it took four years for the promotional material to finally start paying attention to the show's only reoccuring black actress is still an [[Unfortunate Implication]].
** There's also a troubling theme of powerful women being both evil and seductive. Thus far, we've had Mary/Helen, Sophia, Morgause, Morgana, Nimueh and Lamia - all beautiful, all magical, and all evil (and most acting on the defensive). There has also been Lady Catrina and Grunhilde, two hideous magical creatures in disguise, who try to use beauty and sex to get what they want (the menfolk are suitably repulsed by this), and the Callieach and the Dochraid: two evil, bloodthirsty hags. Even the unambiguously ''good'' female characters are rife with [[Unfortunate Implications]]: Freya defends herself against an [[Attempted Rape]], is [[Curse|Cursed]] by the rapist's mother, and [[Killed Off for Real]] to provide [[Angst]] for Merlin. Vivian is a [[Spoiled Brat]] who is punished by being put under a [[Love Potion]] that leaves her permanently [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] into believing she's in love with Arthur. Igraine [[Death Byby Childbirth|Died In Childbirth]] after her husband put her under a spell (without her knowledge or consent) to get pregnant with his heir. Alice is [[Informed Ability|called a powerful sorceress]] but spends the whole episode under the thrall of a magical creature. Elena was possessed by an evil fairy, and when the curse is lifted she looses all her "embarrassing" characteristics such as clumsiness, flatulance and wild hair (because...real women don't have any of those traits? Though she ''does'' enjoy horseback-riding, so there's that). Isolde is a [[Faux Action Girl]] who is [[Killed Off for Real]] in order to [[Stuffed in The Fridge|provide Arthur with a reason to marry Guinevere]]. Finally, Guinevere is [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] into cheating with Lancelot and never gets her name cleared (instead Arthur just decides to take her back because he misses her), leaving her convinced that she willingly cheated on him. This betrayal is set between two episodes in which male characters are also magically [[Brainwashed]], but who are all exonerated by the end of the episode. Occasionally there is a brief ray of light (Annis, Mithian, Hunith) but these women are never allowed to pass [[The Bechdel Test]] and are quickly [[Put Onon a Bus]], and this point the ''sheer consistency'' with which the female characters fall under [[Unfortunate Implications]] is beyond a joke. They're either victims or villains, and to date there has not been a ''single'' female character with magical abilities that has not been portrayed as either evil and/or unable to control their powers (as opposed to the dozens of male characters who are both benevolent and in control).
*** Unfortunately, much of this is an inevitable consequence when you're adapting a story which traditionally only featured men in roles of power.
* ''[[Melrose Place]]'':
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** Either the writers got into this, or (HIGHLY UNLIKELY) they were thinking of something along the lines of [[wikipedia:Enjo kosai|enjo kosai]].
** Subverted with [[Straight Gay|Ella's boss Caleb]], who seems to be the stereotypically stern boss, until he reveals he'd go to any lengths to get a contract. And ''like'' it.
* Susan Boyle's appearance on ''[[Britain's Got Talent (TV)|Britains Got Talent]]'': Many observers noted that a lot of the hype that arose around her and the plaudits that surrounded her undeniably skilled singing voice seemed to suggest that people were genuinely shocked that someone who did not look like a supermodel could actually possess genuine talent after all, as if talent ''was'' something that was reserved for the conventionally beautiful. It wasn't a shock because less attractive people can't sing. It was a shock because shows like ''[[Britain's Got Talent (TV)|Britains Got Talent]]'' only let ugly people on if they're going to make a fool of themselves. Everyone watching has seen this pattern for so long they were cringing waiting for her to fall on her face, and then she didn't. THAT is shocking.
* ''[[True Blood]]'':
** The parallels between the vampire rights movement and the real life gay rights movement are unnerving. Vampires only exist because they turn other humans into vampires. Nobody is "born" a vampire. In fact, many of them became vampires willingly, so the two shouldn't even be compared. Not to mention the fact that the humans are justified in their prejudice, because vampires are ''killers''. Even [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Bill]].
** The vampires are also compared to black folks (in a discussion with Sam, Sookie even uses the phrase "separate but equal"). Considering the excuses for prejudice and racism against black people, the comparison is unfortunate, to say the least.
** The worst part being that the series creator, Alan Ball, is ''openly gay'' and has received much praise in the gay community for his film and television work. The show's implications haven't escaped academic types, although currently they seem divided on whether Ball is clueless or [[Stealth Parody|satirizing how America sees homosexuals.]]
* ''[[The Daily Show (TV)|The Daily Show]]'' does this deliberately, for comedy by giving names with Unfortunate Implications to his various news segments.
** A segment about children's toys was named "Jon Stewart looks at children's things". After a brief pause of awkwardness, he asked the editor to switch over to a contingency name, which comes up on the screen: "Uncle Jon Wants to Show You Something". He complained again and they quickly replaced it with "Jon Stewart's Windowless Van for Kids". At this point he stops "fighting" and just goes with it.
** Stephen Colbert was once introduced as "Senior Child Molestation Expert" and complained about it.
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{{quote| '''Quinn''': I can't do this.<br />
'''Puck''': Yes, you can. Have another wine cooler. }}
** Then there's when Sue drugs Figgins, strips him, and gets in bed with him (though fully clothed, for what little it matters) in order to take incriminating photos to blackmail his wife with. And it's played entirely for laughs. Just imagine what would've happened [[Double Standard Rape (Female Onon Male)|if Sue had been a guy and Figgins a woman]].
** In the episode ''Sexy'' , when Rachel and Quinn decide to remain celibate, they are treated as prudish and a joke, and actually called frigid by Holly. This not only insults people who have made the choice to not have sex for whatever reason, but also [[Asexual|asexuals]] who just aren't interested in sex.
** Brittany has said that she's slept with almost all the boys at [[Mc Kinley]] High, as well as Santana, and yet she still thinks babies come from the stork and believes that Santa Claus exists. As [[Flanderization]] makes her [[Too Dumb to Live|dumber and dumber]], it's getting hard not to view all these sexual relationships as [[Fridge Horror|various people taking advantage of a mentally disabled girl with the mentality and naivete of a young child.]] This becomes especially [[Egregious]] in her relationship with Santana. Santana tells her that it isn't cheating on Artie because "the plumbing is different," and that she must be a lesbian instead of bisexual or even straight but confused, and Brittany believes everything she says. It's begining to look like she lacks the mental capacity to know ''what'' she is, and Santana is just taking advantage of her.
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** In "The First Time" (3x5), Artie tells Rachel that if she doesn't want to have sex in high school, she must have "a strange aversion to fun." This show seems to be trying very hard to convince its viewers that [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|there's something inherently wrong with you if you graduate high school a virgin.]]
** In the Season 1 episode "Dream On," Artie comes to the realization that he will probably never dance (on his feet) again, and bows out of a routine Tina was choreographing for the two of them. He sings "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" while she dances with Mike, the best dancer of the Glee Club. As of 2x1, Tina and Artie had broken up and she started dating Mike, of all people. Furthermore, in "Asian F" (3x3), Mike has a hallucination of Tina, who tells him that the the way he danced made her fall in love with him.
* ''[[Stargate SG -1]]''.
** Just count the number of instances of rape in the first few seasons that no one seems to notice or care about, from Hathor drugging Daniel into sex to Daniel saying it's okay for a caveman to rape a girl to Sha're's pregnancy, for which Sha're even apologizes.
** The uncensored version of the pilot, in which the Goa'uld strip two women down to nothing and [[Mind Rape]] them. One of them did full-frontal nudity for no real reason; one didn't. Guess which one was white.
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** Also the attitude toward any [[Nature Abhors a Virgin|virgins]] on the show. If you're a virgin, chances are you will either die horribly or be used by the [[Monster of the Week]] for some nefarious ends. Best summed up with Dean's wry comment towards a female college student whose lack of virginity saved her from being kidnapped by a dragon:
{{quote| '''Dean''': [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|It just goes to show that being easy is pretty much all upside]].}}
* ''[[I CarlyICarly]]'':
** The depiction of the Japanese in ''iGo To Japan''. The Japanese webstars sabotage their foreign competitors and ended up getting imprisoned in their homeland. Also, the Japanese security guards who acted like bumbling idiots for being unable to understand English, even though most of the attendees of the event speak it.
** The [[Evil Brit]] roles tend to be thrown to the British, the best examples being Wade Collins (who hates America) and the Pathetic Plays' "Englishman" (who is a cruel father to his children). Nevel also has a British [[Camp Gay]] vibe.
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** [[All Abusers Are Male]]
** Every gay male who is of any major importance has a [[Depraved Homosexual|"creepy" phase]] to establish that they are indeed homosexual.
** In the DVD version of "Careless Whisper" we have Marco's [[Male Gaze]] on Sean's [[Shirtless Scene|naked chest]], interspersed with shots of Marco licking his lips. Then Sean calls Marco a fag, so [[Villain Byby Default|of course Sean's the villain]].
** Riley just kissed Peter randomly.
** And this is all absolutely nothing compared to the hubbub over the [[It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It]] episode with [[Lovable Alpha Bitch|Holly J]] and [[Lonely Rich Kid|Declan]]. It really walks the line of rape and regretted sex and the whole episode was a massive [[Base Breaker]].
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* ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' is full of these.
** Some may be efforts at [[Truth in Television]], given that these are all based on [[Real Life]] prejudices, but the show often fails to pull it off, resulting in all kinds of [[Unfortunate Implications]].
** Female and underage victims are portrayed as ''much'' more sympathetic than adult male victims, especially when [[Double Standard Rape (Female Onon Male)|the attacker is female]], to the point where a female who had been raped a decade earlier faced basically no repercussions, not even a stay in a psych facility, when ''she sodomized and then branded her attackers''. On the other hand, when a male who was raped or molested in the past commits a sex crime, [[Double Standard|they have no qualms about charging him]]. This could be because she was getting revenge on the men who raped her while the male rapists targeted innocent victims.
** The sole female detective is sexually assaulted when a prison guard tries to rape her while she's undercover, some fans finding it offensive that they'd fall back on a [[Damsel in Distress]] story. She put up a good fight, but it ultimately came down on a male character to save her.
** The fact that the [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|male characters]] are the only ones to ever sustain serious injuries (to the point where Stabler is in the hospital at least once a season).
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** The aptly named episode ''Doubt'' was kind of a weird subversion of this, in that the perceived implications said more about the viewer than anyone else. It portrayed a he-said-she-said scenario, where both parties were shaky witnesses, with major holes in their stories and bizarre behavior after the fact. Based on everything presented in the episode, it was impossible to determine who was telling the truth. Still, many viewers sided with either the man or the woman, leading to many implications about the fan base. Likewise, what viewers saw as [[Unfortunate Implications]] in the episode itself ("rape victims are liars" or "no rape victim ever lies") tended to have its own Meta implications about the viewer's prejudices.
** The episode "Gray" had an Unfortunate Implication in a speech delivered at the end by actress Kate Nelligan. Nelligan is an accomplished actress, and the Unfortunate Implications lie entirely at the feet of the writers. She is a judge, wise, and advanced in her career, trying to convince a young woman to testify in court against the man who raped her, by telling the woman the story of her own assault, many years ago, when she was very young. At the time, she, the judge, was a dancer (not a spoiler, as it is irrelevant to the plot), and was walking home alone after a performance, when she was attacked. Her attackers were never brought to justice, and she never danced again. (We don't know whether she "never danced again" because of injury, or emotional trauma.) The Unfortunate Implication is that her distinguished career as a jurist is a direct result of the attack, and thus having to redirect her ambitions, when she could no longer dance.
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''
** There was the male patient who hit every homosexual stereotype in the book, being a miserable, self-destructive jerk who was infected with AIDS due to indulging in copious amounts of narcotics and unprotected sex.
** There was Thirteen, a bisexual character that started well but swiftly dived into this when her attraction to women was increasingly there merely for the [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot]] aspect, her "relationships" with women brief and entirely sexual until she entered a "real" relationship with Foreman (a man).
** The episode where a plague spreads among the hospital's babies, and House is ultimately forced to sacrifice a baby to see which of two potential cures will work. The baby who dies from being given the wrong cure belongs to a lesbian couple, with no other plot-related reason for it.
** In a season 8 episode, one of Wilson's patients mentions she and her male life partner's [[Asexuality]] with him. Turns out, {{spoiler|one of them had a treatable brain tumor that hindered his libido, and the other chose to pretend she was asexual because she was in love with him. [[No Bisexuals|Neither of them were actually asexual.]] }}
* ''[[One Thousand1000 Ways to Die]]'': The episode is ''Death Puts On a Dunce Camp'' where two drug smugglers wash up on a island...of Polynesian Stereotypes. [[I Am a Humanitarian|Who want to eat them since they've ran out of meat]].
* One of the experts on ''Stupid Is as Stupid Dies''. Instead of getting a expert on bullying and hazing to address the mental attitude of an abusive Sorority girl, they...get a female Mud Wrestler to talk about how to defeat opponents.
* ''1000 Ways'' almost subverted the bad implications with their segment on a psycho feminist (who encouraged, among several questionable things, testicle twisting in her classes). To counterbalance the crazy woman, a more balanced feminist explained her mindset and why more moderate feminists wouldn't agree with it. The problem? While the feminist gave her explanation, you see the words "BLAH BLAH BLAH" scroll across the screen endlessly.
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** It's also an example of a huge [[Double Standard]]. Apparently Italian-Americans are [[Acceptable Targets]]—can you imagine a show like this centering around all the negative stereotypes of another ethnicity? If someone were to make a show like this about Mexican-Americans, black people, etc., it would be deemed too offensive to air.
** The cast frequently refers to their hope for a "Grenade-Free America," with the term "grenade" being used to mean people who aren't up to their standard of what it means to be good-looking (as in, one friends should "jump on the grenade" so your other friends stand a chance of hooking up with her better looking friends.) So what would need to happen in order for this "Grenade-Free America" to come to be? We're talking mass plastic surgery, best-case. Worst-case? Genocide.
* In ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]]'', Episode "The Final Showdown, Part 2", The only member of Walker's group in the shootout to get killed was the [[Token Black|black guy.]] Make of that what you will.
* In ''[[Mind of Mencia (TV)|Mind of Mencia]]'', Carlos showed a clip to the audience of a news program showing pictures of black people during hurricane Katrina scavenging for supplies and calling them greedy looters exploiting a bad situation. He then showed a news clip of a group of pretty blond white people doing the same exact thing, but the people in the news described them sympathetically as "Just trying to find whatever they can to survive".
* [[Dave Chappelle]] could get called out.
** He's often done characters in white face paint, and a "white accent" mockingly. Though he probably doesn't intend it to be racist (and there are white people who worked on his show), there's the UI in that a white man doing blackface is racist, but a black man doing whiteface is funny and no one should be offended.
** Considering the history and reception of "Chappelle's Show", namely highlighting racist stereotypes and how ridiculous they often are, probing that UI was probably the entire point.
** Notably, Chappelle [[Creator Breakdown|left the show]] because during one of the "[[Uncle Tomfoolery]]" skits he saw a white crewmember completely busting a gut over it, realizing he was acquiring a [[Misaimed Fandom]]. He bailed out on a lot of money because of how much it upset him.
* In ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'':
** GOB carries around roofies, which he refers to as a "Forget-Me-Now" and as being an important part of a magician's toolkit. Their use (to make someone forget a magic trick/to induce amnesia in himself) is played for laughs. However, his skeevy personality and status as [[Casanova Wannabe]] raise some unfortunate possibilities about other things he might do with them, especially because Forget-Me-Now sounds like a counterpart to a Forget-Me-Not in the sense of a romantic gift. While GOB's never shown as a rapist and it's a level of vileness beyond his jerkassery, the implication is still there.
** Then there is his line when (correctly) accused of having supplied them to Buster: "I thought he was dating again!"
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** In the pilot, Chuck tries to rape both Serena and Jenny. The assault on Serena [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|has never been mentioned again]] and she thinks of him as her brother. The assault on Jenny ''has'' been mentioned a number of times... but it didn't stop Jenny from letting Chuck take her virginity.
** Jack Bass, in the second season, tries to rape Lily. In the third season Chuck is manipulated by him to set up Blair to sleep with Jack in exchange for Chuck's hotel. Not only is Chuck allowing her to prostitute herself, he is also placing her in danger of getting raped according to the majority of viewers.
* Both of the USA network shows featuring a woman as the primary heroic figure (''[[Fairly Legal (TV)|Fairly Legal]]'' and ''[[Covert Affairs]]'') have titles that obliquely refer to sex.
** Promos for the second season premiere of Covert Affairs use the Wolfmother song "Woman" over various action shots, as if to say "isn't it funny that a woman is doing things?!" They were also running promos for ''[[White Collar]]'' at the same time; they didn't use a song where the word "Man" was repeated several times in a row.
** You happened to miss "The Starter Wife" and "[[In Plain Sight]]". Also, the ad campaign for ''White Collar'' is basically [[Bishounen]] Matt Bomer, in a suit, staring at the viewer with his blue, blue eyes. The actual show has Neal flirting with a woman or being admired by one about every five minutes. no one say they don't exploit both genders
* ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' tends to veer into sexism and [[Positive Discrimination]] more than a few times.
** The majority of men with powers on the show are either evil or end up getting stripped of their powers eventually.Cole was simply labelled evil when he returned from the Wasteland with new powers, despite trying to be good. Paige's boyfriend Richard, whom she abruptly decided had to be stripped of his powers when he started using them too much. Leo gets power upgrades as an Elder and then as an Avatar which allow him to fight demons properly instead of just being able to orb and heal, then he gets all his powers taken away and is reduced to looking after the kids while the sisters do all the fighting.
** Also (at least in the earlier seasons), the only men with powers were either warlocks (=evil) or would become evil if they used their powers (Cole and a half-warlock guy in the first or second season).
* Both ''[[8 Simple Rules]]'' and ''Hope & Faith'' try to hammer home the [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] that all teenage boys are either hopeless nerds or perverts who can't commit to one woman. Take Kyle cheating on Bridget with Kerry, Kerry losing her virginity to a guy who doesn't call her and turns out to be a jerk, a one episode guy who asks Bridget and Kerry out on dates in the same day, an older man hitting on Bridget at the gym and even Rory kissing a random girl to practice for his girlfriend. Then ''Hope & Faith'' has an episode where Faith invites Sydney's boyfriend around to the house for some private time with Sydney. Except she doesn't say Sydney and he assumes Faith herself wants to sleep with him. A similar situation happens in season 2 when Sydney wants to lose her virginity to a college boy.
* Discussed on the DVD commentary for ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' episode [[Community (TV)/Recap/S1 E23 Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare]]. The episode tries very hard to avoid the viewer being reminded of actual real life school shootings. Also played for laughs in the episode "English as a Second Language", in which Troy (an African-American character for those unaware) discovers he has an undiscovered talent for plumbing, which much to his confusion and annoyance prompts almost everyone around him to try and get him to 'embrace his destiny' by dropping out of school to become a plumber.
* The treatment of fathers in ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210|90210]]'' is shockingly poor. Of the main cast two have fathers who are outright criminals (Navid and Liam), four have fathers who are [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]] (Naomi, Teddy, Ivy and Liam ''again'' - his step father this time) and four have fathers who are simply not in their lives much/whose absence has never been explained (Annie, Dixon, Silver and Adrianna.) In other words every single teen main character has at best a distant relationship with their father.
* On ''[[Family Matters]]'', the romance between Urkel and Laura is filled with this. In addition to all the problems that come with the [[Give Geeks a Chance]] trope (namely that a girl only matters because she's beautiful and it's never clear what the would-be couple has in common), the fact that Laura is actually engaged to him at the end of the series gives the message of "If you stalk your dream girl long enough, she'll one day give in!"
* The TV show ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]'' despite being very successful actually falls under this trope for the main reason that every important female character is an epic level [[The Scrappy|scrappy.]] Everyone from his [[Annoying Younger Sibling]] and [[Bratty Half-Pint]] younger sister Tanya [[Base Breaker|(although she might be debatable at certain times)]], to his mother Rochelle [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male|(who fully embraces double standards about the relationships of males and females)]] and her friends who are all stereotypical [[Sassy Black Woman|Sassy Black Women]], to his [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|extremely]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|racist]] [[Dude, Not Funny|teacher]] [[Sarcasm Mode|(Because you know, an adult that should set an example and make a positive impact in a student's life choosing to making racial stereotypes to a kid is SO funny)]] easily qualifies for this. It's one thing to be made into a [[Butt Monkey]] by [[Jerkass|Carusso, the school bully]], but it's another thing altogether to be made into a [[Chew Toy]] by people who are supposed to support you. Even if the 1980s weren't as politically correct as we are now, this is one case where [[Meaningful Name]] of the show and [[Fair for Its Day]] don't pass as viable excuses for this. If [[Chris Rock]]'s life was anything like this, it's a great thing he was able to endure it and become so successful.
* The TV adaptation of ''Girls in Love'' by [[Jacqueline Wilson]] cast the blonde, Caucasian [[Lovable Alpha Bitch|Magda]] as a black girl, making the character come across as a [[Sassy Black Woman]] (by carrying over Magda's outgoing, cheeky personality from the books) and providing [[Unfortunate Implications]] because of her being the most boy-crazy of the three main characters.
* [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBgQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYJWdPn8iFKo&ei=Jw_LTpjyLOnM2AXg8-jHDw&usg=AFQjCNH9Qc7FaynyHQvbjzDhT3ln99zNLA This awful little puppet segment from song Christian children's show], even though it's about Jesus loving all children no matter their ethnicity, they did it in the most offensive, stereotypical, and inaccurate even as far as stereotypes go way possible. The first two children we meet are a Native American boy and girl, they are wearing traditional feathers and such, and for some reason the girl has the classic sixties hairstyle, they are also explicitly referred to as red. The next boy and girl we meet are Chinese, and they are wearing stereotypical outdated clothes and the music is very racist Chinese music, they are of course explicitly referred to as yellow. Next we meet an African American boy and girl, while the fact they are explicitly referred to as black isn't as bad, they are dressed in hip hop culture clothes, dancing to 70s porno music, and are for some reason grey. Next we get to meet the explicitly referred to as white kids, who are for some reason stereotypical hillbillies, whose background music is for some reason the French national anthem played with country music instruments.(At least they portrayed white kids offensively as well, but it doesn't make up for the next part). Now we see a kid from each pair singing together, and a Mexican boy comes up and says "Hey, did Jesus forget about us?" and the other kids say "No way Jose! Olay!", he doesn't get his own scene with a girl, and next they just say "Red and yellow, black and white.". Again ignoring him. We also learn from this song that Jesus loves all children except for middle-eastern and Jewish kids.
* The [[Gay Aesop]] tends to become this. It's all well and good to try and teach people not to be jag-offs to gay people, but this only lasts for one episode, as the [[Suddenly Sexuality|"gay]] [[Shoo Out the New Guy|character"]] tends to get [[Put Onon a Bus]] or is never shown [[Hide Your Gays|doing anything remotely gay or having a love life]] like the other 99% straight characters on the show. Remember, it's alright to be gay, but do it in the privacy of your own closet.
* ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'' features an episode in which a racist easily beats a black man into submission, while the only other man currently present, an Asian, cowers in fear. It takes the white male sheriff showing up out of nowhere to save all the frightened minorities and women. Ironically, the sheriff delivers an in-story anti-racist aesop after the fact.
* [[Comedy Central]]--perhaps trying to cash in on the success of ''[[Chapelles Show]]'' after it ended--made a (thankfully) short-lived sketch-comedy show styled after ''[[The Daily Show (TV)|The Daily Show]]'' called ''Chocolate News'', showing news stories from "the African-American perspective''. The very first episode premiered on the day of Obama's winning election, and began with David Alan Grier complaining that [[No True Scotsman|Obama was not "black enough" ]] to be considered the first black president. [[It Got Worse|It just snowballed from there]].
* A show called ''Minipops'' was briefly shown on British T.V in the early 80's. The idea of the show was to have adorable toddlers sing along to various pop tunes topping the charts at the time. Unfortunately, many of the performers wore clothes that mimicked the adult singers' rather risque performance costumes and included the original song's provocative lyrics (like ''9 to 5'''s "night time is the right time to make love"). The show was accused of being little more than televised kiddie porn and after a huge amount of critic and public backlash the show was axed. Both the producers and the children who sang the tunes were reportedly stunned by the accusations.
* In ''[[Terra Nova]]'', the colony is quite literally a military dictatorship. The government consists solely of Commander Taylor giving orders and his security forces carrying them out. Not only does he make all political decisions, he acts as judge, jury, and executioner in criminal cases. He doesn't even bother with a trial if he is convinced that the person is guilty. However, this is presented positively, as something close to an ideal state. Jim even says that his handling of criminal cases is much better than the justice system from 2149, in which the accused actually has rights. And don't forget that virtually all the rebel "Sixers" who live outside the compound and don't accept Taylor's authority, are black.
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