History JerkWithAHeartOfGold / LiveActionTV

* Drake from ''DrakeAndJosh'' has his moments, contrasting to the JerkWithAHeartOfJerk sister, Megan.

* Alex P. Keaton from ''FamilyTies'' 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 [[ExtrovertedNerd Skippy Handelman]].

** Ted also meanders into this trope sometimes, though from the other direction: he's often a NiceGuy, but even during the times when he acts like more of a douche than a nice guy, he's ''always'' a caring, loyal friend, and usually snaps out of his JerkAss behavior when he actually ''realizes'' that he's behaving badly.

* Dr. {{Frasier}} Crane, likewise, is a pompous, self-righteous, overbearing and snobby jackass who nevertheless genuinely loves and cares for his family and friends, is devoted to psychiatry and his patients, and is deep down ruled by an inner need to be liked. His brother [[TheNiles Niles]] is similar — less arrogant and self-righteous than Frasier, but even more snooty and viciously sarcastic, who nevertheless demonstrates genuinely decent redeeming qualities similar to those of his brother, and his love for Daphne frequently brings out his sweet side.

* ''{{House}}'': Dr. Gregory House threatens to get into this during his PetTheDog moments, particularly when he was diagnosed with cancer and still insisted on focusing on the patient. As always, it turned out he was just a [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Jerk With The Heart Of An Even Bigger Jerk]] than we had assumed -- [[spoiler:he faked having cancer so he could get his hands on the perscription drugs, although to be fair, his team only "found out" he was sick by snooping around behind his back]].

* [[DrJerk Dr. Owen Harper]] from ''{{Torchwood}}'', gaining his heart of gold mainly during season two. Especially in ''Fragments''.

* Dr. Morris from ''ER'' starts off as a DrJerk, but matures into a JerkWithAHeartofGold by the end of the series.

* StatlerAndWaldorf from TheMuppetShow. [[YourMilageMayVary YMMV]] but they have a couple of moments that show that they aren't total jerks. Like [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ArFSoYHSxs this]] song for example.

* ''TheWalkingDead'' has Daryl Dixon, a racist who has no problem saying someone is stupid, but who also shares is stash of medicine and comforts a mother with a missing child.

* Ralph Kramden, of ''TheHoneymooners''.

* ''TheWalkingDead'' has Daryl Dixon, a racist who has no problem saying someone is stupid, but who also shares is stash of medicine and comforts a mother with a missing child.

-->'''Jayne''': You guys had a riot? On account o' me? My very own riot?

-->'''Jayne''': (Gives a Buddhist Monk some money) "Buy some shoes."
-->'''Monk''': "the Hero of Canton... He's real!"

* Professor Kingsfield in THE PAPER CHASE. For instance, in one episode he apparently blows off both Logan's desperate phone call from jail and Hart's attempt to hand in his extra credit work. However, Kingsfield actually intervenes behind the scenes to get Logan released and turns over an entire class period for Hart to present the research he's done.
* [[CriminalMinds 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.

-->"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchet-man in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely: revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman."

* ''TheWalkingDead'' has Daryl Dixon, a racist who has no problem saying someone is stupid, but who also shares is stash of medecine and comforts a mother with a missing child.

* ''[[{{ptitleypuldya7}} 100 Deeds for Eddie [=McDowd=]]]'' has the titular character going from antagonizing Justin while he's a dog to helping him when he's in trouble.

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*** Doctor Chase is a lesser example, he is a self-serving jerk and semi-antagonist for the first season but proves his loyalty by season 3. It's also assumed by everyone that he will break Cameron's heart when they begin their friends with benefits relationship, when in fact she's the one who breaks his.

** House ''is'' just a JerkWithAHeartOfGold with the "jerk" aspects played up to ludicrously selfish extremes. Doesn't make his heart of gold any less sincere... just covered in more crud.

** In ''[[MASHTheSeries M*A*S*H]]'''s 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 [[ChaoticGood were directed toward the mostly unlikeable]] [[JerkAss Frank Burns]] and [[IceQueen Margaret Houlihan]], anyway.

* Dr. Cox and his wife Jordan from ''{{Scrubs}}'' are examples. They are both exuberantly acerbic and sarcastic especially to each other, but deep down are caring (albeit emotionally repressed) and loving, although they only express this to each other and their son, Jack -- and, in the case of Cox and very ''very'' occasionally, to J.D.

** The ultimate in-series example is Eric, ''PowerRangersTimeForce'''s SixthRanger. Having grown up poor, he's [[TheResenter bitterly jealous]] of [[WhitePrince Wes's privileged upbringing]], and much of his motivation after becoming the Quantum Ranger is to finally have as much (if not more) power than [[TheHero Wes]] does, which he gets by becoming the leader of the Silver Guardians, a private security force created by Wes's father. (This is all [[FoeYay amplified]] by how much of a [[NiceGuy genuinely good guy]] Wes is.) Yet one of his best friends is a young girl who's a neighbor of his at the trailer park he lives in, and he also [[MoralityPet keeps birds as pets]]. As the series goes on, he begins to warm up to the Time Force team, even thwarting one of Wes's father's plans that would have inadvertently helped the BigBad. In the finale, he [[spoiler:agrees to become Wes's partner leading the Silver Guardians... at Wes's insistence.]]

* [[ParksAndRecreation Ron Swanson]]. Also Tom to a lesser extent.

* Sam in ''{{iCarly}}''. A lazy, gluttonous bully she is saved by her [[MoralityPet genuine feelings of friendship for Carly]] and (very rare) moments of decency towards Freddie.

* Dr. {{Frasier}} Crane, likewise, is a pompous, self-righteous and snobby jackass who nevertheless genuinely loves and cares for his family and friends, is devoted to psychiatry and his patients, and is deep down ruled by an inner need to be liked. His brother [[TheNiles Niles]] is similar — less arrogant and self-righteous than Frasier, but even more snooty and sarcastic, who nevertheless demonstrates genuinely decent redeeming qualities, especially his determinedly concealed adoration of his older brother, and his love for Daphne, which frequently brings out his good side.

** Daphne is kind of a double subversion as a BitchInSheepsClothing [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold With A Heart Of Gold]]. She's sweet, polite, and cheerful on the outside; manipulative, bitchy, hot-tempered, and slightly unbalanced on the inside; and deeply loyal and caring on the ''very'' inside.
** Even Roz is a bit of this as well. She's a swaggering, loud, snarky, ball-breaking office slut; but shows that deep down she does feel vulnerable about her life and relationships, is a romantic at heart, and is very, ''very'' protective towards her best friend Frasier. Yeah, this show had a big thing for taking comedy-fodder stereotypes and giving them depth and complexity.

** 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.
*** I wouldn't necessarily count that. He seems, at least in this troper's interpretation, to have done it because he was feeling guilty about trying to collect on Simon and River.

* In ''Series/TinMan'' Cain starts as this, but the other three wear him down until he remembers what a good guy he really is, and that (pardon the {{Wicked}} reference), good deeds don't necessarily go unpunished. Oddly enough, it's a HeroicSacrifice into a frozen lake that did the best job of thawing him out.