History JerkWithAHeartOfGold / LiveActionTV

** Daario's taunts can be nasty but he does treat people respectfully when the situation is serious as shown when he sees Jorah is affected with greyscale, he drops the taunt about him being old and is visibly worried.

* ''LifeWithDerek'': Derek Venturi can be a complete ass most of the time, but there have been a number of occasions where his "heart of gold" has shone through. Especially around his little sister, Marti.

** The Twelfth Doctor is callous and given to disdain and insult everyone (even his companions), yet he's shown to care about people and takes a dim view on those who see others as expendable.

*** "Kim": Margaret takes on a surrogate mother role for the titular Korean orphan. (She would do much the same six seasons later in "Yessir, That's Our Baby".)

** ''Series/FamilyFeud'': Probably the Richard Dawson-hosted version is the most prominent example. Dawson many times has been accused of being downright mean and egotistical to the production staff (particularly producer Howard Felsher), and would cut mean jokes about people he didn't like, particularly about Richard Nixon (a man that, according to one history of the series, Dawson claimed tried to "destroy" democracy). He once refused to participate in a ''TVGuide'' feature on game show hosts (because he wanted to be ''the only'' host pictured on the cover), and fellow game show hosts – including Monty Hall – had rather unkind words to say about Dawson (his personality, hosting style and so forth) in said feature.

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'':

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': Jim Hopper, [[TookALevelInKindness and in Season 2]], [[spoiler: Steve Harrington]].

** The same series gives us Taiga Hanaya (Kamen Rider Snipe), an unlicensed doctor and the first Kamen Rider (in this series, anyway), who was stripped of both his license and his powers when the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugsters]] emerged; after getting a new set of powers, he began attacking the other Riders' and trying to claim their {{Transformation Trinket}}s, saying that he's the only Kamen Rider the world needs. [[spoiler:Eventually it's revealed that he feels guilty for being unable to stop the Bugsters or save Saki's life, and believes that he's the only one who should fight because unlike the others, he's got nothing left to lose.]]

* ''Series/MillionYenWomen'': Minami, the rudest of the women, is also quite protective towards the other members of the household.

* ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'': Ren Akiyama, Kamen Rider Knight comes off as a cold loner, who seldom speaks and doesn't get along with people much. Later, he turns out to be a gentle person, who genuinely loves his girlfriend and is determined to save her. Ren also has an unspoken affection for [[DistressedDamsel Yui]] and his rider sidekick [[TheHero Kido]].

* ''Series/FamilyTies'': Alex P. Keaton dreams of reaching the top of the corporate ladder and being rich -- and he often acts pompous about his intelligence. His views also sometimes appear sexist and he often appears to hold a certain contempt for people who lack intelligence and/or wealth. However, he has shown many times that he truly is a lovable and compassionate person -- and his good buddy is [[ExtravertedNerd Skippy Handelman]].

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Jayne Cobb is on the borderline, and definitely leaning toward "Jerk", but shows some nicer moments, such as sending a chunk of his pay to his mom to help take care of his ailing sister, and wearing a truly hideous hat because his mother made it for him.

-->However, Dawson's remarks about obviously dumb answers given by contestants were meant to be taken in jest. He also tried to put the contestant and the game first whenever possible — debating with the judge to rule over "close" answers, allowing more time if they didn't hear the final question in Fast Money, rewarding contestants with lollipops, etc. During the original syndicated series, Dawson gave losing families $250 in consolation just for playing (if they failed to reach that amount). Finally, countless families gave him gifts over the years, so he couldn't have been that bad a guy.
** ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'': Much has been said about Barker's off-screen relationships with the classic Barker's Beauties and other production staff with whom he had fallouts. On-screen, Barker – especially in his last few years on the show – began acting more cantankerous toward particularly dumb contestants, particularly if they were playing the game too slowly or didn't seem to understand a given pricing game despite a clear explanation. However, like Dawson, Barker always tried to put the contestant first and debated with the judge on close answers (almost always deferring to the contestant if he acted as judge himself).

** Major Charles Emerson Winchester, making him more than just a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for [[{{Jerkass}} Maj. Burns]]. Self-centered, elitist and, [[RichBitch despite being rich already]], often greedy and self-promoting, he is saved from pure {{Jerkass}}dom by a strong core of personal integrity and occasional moments of genuine kindness and sympathy. Plus he's also actually just about as good as he thinks he is in the operating room. The most triumphant example of this occurs during one of the Christmas episodes. When the camp decides to throw a Christmas party for a group of Korean orphans, Winchester's contribution to the pot luck is a measly tin of oysters. Of course the rest of the camp calls him out on his stinginess. What they don't know is that he also secretly gave to the orphanage a large amount of fine chocolate bars. However once the bars show up on the black market, he [[PapaBear comes close to beating up the orphanage director]] until the man explains he sold the chocolate to provide a month's worth of staple foods. This mollifies and humbles Winchester.
** In the early years, the main characters Hawkeye and Trapper John were like this-- they're cocky, insubordinate pranksters and hellraisers who irritate others constantly, and two of the best and most caring doctors you could hope for. And most of their pranks were directed toward the mostly unlikeable [[JerkAss Frank Burns]] and [[IceQueen Margaret Houlihan]], anyway. In the novels and the JerkWithAHeartOfGold/{{Film}}, the "jerk" aspects of Hawkeye and Trapper are far more pronounced, fitting this trope much better.

* ''Series/NewGirl'': Nick may qualify. He's incredibly cynical and likes to watch his friends' insanity unfold around him but doesn't really do anything Jerkish. He considers Jess one of his closest friends and appears to really like her quirks. Overall it is made quite clear throughout the series that Nick is a really good guy who has simply endured a lot of misfortune and unhappiness. He's also very ''aware'' of this, and genuinely wants to become a better person (even though he gets in his own way a lot.)
** Schmidt is probably a more pure example. Even at his most vain and status-obsessed self, he'll always stand up for his friends, especially Nick. His CharacterDevelopment comes when we learn that he's so driven because he was an overweight, unpopular kid and he doesn't want to become that again. He finds more balance and learns to appreciate the things he does have, and he's genuinely a better person when he and CeCe get back together.

** In another episode, Dan spends a whole minute [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech ranting at a businessmen about what an unfeeling bastard he is]], for essentially confiscating toys from orphans on Christmas, cooly finishing off with "And if you knew exactly who was saying this to you, you'd appreciate the full measure of that insult".

*** Dillon seems to invoke this trope as a defense mechanism more so than actually ''being'' it (he's probably closer to GoodIsNotNice). In the third episode, "Rain", when the three core Rangers are trying to get him to join the team for good, he says, "I'm not that kind of person", "that kind of person" being the noble heroes he imagines Scott, Flynn and Summer as, even though most of his actions that have been seen up to that point indicate that he's just as much of a "good guy" as they are. To put an even finer point on it, [[spoiler:he joins the Rangers on one condition: that Ziggy be released from prison]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Greatjon is loud and aggressive but also truly loyal to House Stark.

* ''{{Wonderfalls}}'': Jaye Tyler. She's lazy, whiny and frequently mean-spirited, but she loves her family and is, in her own words, "very susceptible to guilt".

** ''ThePriceIsRight'': Much has been said about Barker's off-screen relationships with the classic Barker's Beauties and other production staff with whom he had fallouts. On-screen, Barker – especially in his last few years on the show – began acting more cantankerous toward particularly dumb contestants, particularly if they were playing the game too slowly or didn't seem to understand a given pricing game despite a clear explanation. However, like Dawson, Barker always tried to put the contestant first and debated with the judge on close answers (almost always deferring to the contestant if he acted as judge himself).