History KarmaHoudini / LiveActionTv

** By the end of the show, Tony's underboss Paulie Walnuts, has not only never at any point faced any real comeuppance for his numerous crimes and generally boorish and unpleasant behavior, he has also gotten away scot-free with the problems his attempts to curry favor with the Lupertazzi Family caused for Tony and the [=DiMeo=] Family along the way (Tony did suspect his hand in the situation, but was ultimately forced to let to go due to being unable to find any evidence against him). In fact, pretty much everything is looking up for Paulie, with Tony having to reshuffle the [=DiMeo=] Family's hierarchy in the wake of the recent MobWar with the Lupertazzi Family, and giving him a big promotion in the process. The only real downside Paulie sees to the whole arrangement is his own supersitous worries about the crew he has been set to lead is cursed.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime "Partners in Crime"]]: The Adiposian First Family, who set up the whole scheme to kill one million humans and covert their body fat into more Adipose, successfully breed around ten thousand of the planned million babies (albeit with only one death as far as we know due to the Doctor's intervention) and leave in their spaceship with their new children after first disposing of their accomplice who was the one person who could implicate them in the scheme.

* In ''Series/TheBoys'', [[spoiler:WonderWomanWannabe Queen Maeve was a more neutral figure compared to IncorruptiblePurePureness Starlight, and had purely selfish motivations for joining [[CapeBusters the Boys' crusade]] against [[EvilInc Vought]]. As a result, in the season 3 finale she betrays them (save Butcher) for her RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Homelander and irresponsibly ''[[DestructiveSavior throws a can of nerve agent into the streets of New York]]''. [[SubvertedTrope In spite of the clear setup for]] a RedemptionEqualsDeath, she's given PlotArmor that allows her to survive ''two'' back-to-back fights against Supes leagues stronger than her that should have killed her outright, and gets a happy ending where she's PutOnABus with her spontaneously-reappearing girlfriend while [[WellIntentionedExtremist Butcher]] gets LaserGuidedKarma in the form of [[YourDaysAreNumbered brain cancer]]. According to WordOfGod the writers gave her special treatment because they wanted to PreserveYourGays.]]

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': In the TV series, this happens a lot. If someone is participating in a crime and seems to not really want to do it, or better yet does anything to thwart the rest of the criminals, they will never be punished at the end for the crimes they committed. Also some villains escaped: Mariposa in "Screaming Javelins", Count Cagliostro in "Diana's Disappearing Act", and... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gault's brain]] in "Gault's Brain".

** [[Recap/DoctorWho2016CS TheReturnOfDoctorMysterio "The Return of Doctor Mysterio"]]: While the episode ends with the Harmony Shoal's plan foiled and their headquarters occupied by [=UNIT=], the shoal member possessing Dr. Sim manages to escape in the body of a [=UNIT=] soldier in a clear setup for another appearance [[AbortedArc which was never followed up on.]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime "Partners in Crime"]]: The Adipose Family, who set up the whole scheme to kill one million humans and covert their body fat into more Adipose, successfully breed around ten thousand of the planned million babies (albeit with only one death as far as we know due to the Doctor's intervention) and leave in their spaceship with their new children after first disposing of their accomplice who was the one person who could implicate them in the scheme.

*** It looks like karma will catch up with him in [[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks "Revolution of the Daleks"]] when he [[DirtyCoward allies himself with the Daleks to avoid extermination]], but the Doctor lets him off after he gives a weak excuse about [[BlatantLies "acting as a decoy"]] and [[TheBadGuyWins even allows him to take the credit for saving Earth, get a knighthood and restart his political career]]!

* ''Series/TheThreeStooges'': In ''You Nazty Spy'', the Stooges get eaten by lions for [[PuttinOnTheRiech turning Moronika into a fascist dictatorship]]. But the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt Corporate Executives]] [[GreaterScopeVillain who put them up to it]] [[{{Greed}} in order to sell more weapons]] get away with seemingly no consequences. {{Averted|Trope}} in the alternate version of the episode, ''I'll Never Heil Again'', where the executives are seen living in squalor and they admit facilitating the Stooges' rise to power was a horrible decision that they never should have made.

* ''Series/TheThreeStooges'': In ''You Nazty Spy'', the Stooges get eaten by lions for [[PuttinOnTheReich turning Moronika into a fascist dictatorship]]. But the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt Corporate Executives]] [[GreaterScopeVillain who put them up to it]] [[{{Greed}} in order to sell more weapons]] get away with seemingly no consequences. {{Averted|Trope}} in the alternate version of the episode, ''I'll Never Heil Again'', where the executives are seen living in squalor and they admit facilitating the Stooges' rise to power was a horrible decision that they never should have made.

* ''Series/TheThreeStooges'': In ''You Nazty Spy'', the Stooges get eaten by lions for turning Moronika into a fascist dictatorship. But the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt Corporate Executives]] [[GreaterScopeVillain who put them up to it]] [[{{Greed}} in order to sell more weapons]] get away with seemingly no consequences.

** In "A Model Citizen", in spite of Lewis and Bolander proving that he had ordered the death of [[spoiler:Sam Thorne]], Sinclair manages to get a light sentence when he makes a deal with the DEA, which also makes it impossible to prosecute him for the aforementioned murder. Lewis also notes that [[GreaterScopeVillain Sinclair's boss and the head of the Cali Cartel]] is completely untouched by the whole situation, and will likely continue profiting off the drug trade unless the DEA extradited them.

** In the finale, serial killer Luke Ryland manages to walk away from his trial scot-free and vows to continue killing in another city. Bayliss snaps, resigns his commission, [[spoiler:and kills Ryland in cold blood]].

** After everything he's been responsible for over the last three seasons, Marlo avoids a jail sentence entirely and gets to keep all his money and connections, with the seemingly minor stipulation that he's not allowed to return to dealing drugs on the streets...but subverted when it turns out that he can't imagine any other life, so this is actually a fitting punishment for him.

* ''Series/{{Goosebumps}}'': Karl, the villain of the three-part episode "Chillogy". At the end the heroes believe that one of the miniature figures they're burning in the fireplace has to be Karl, but it turns out he escaped the destruction of Karlsville unharmed. The episode ends with him doing an EvilLaugh at his apparent luck.

* Demetrius Harris from ''Playmakers'' fits the bill. He implicates a person for murder that his friend committed, is a drug addict, dumps a girl at a hospital who is overdosing, and steals pain medication from a cancer patient he is visiting. Yet he never sees the consequences of his actions and his transgressions are overlooked by the team owner, who wants him to be the face of the franchise.

* ''Series/{{Swarm}}'': Dre is still at large by the end of the series and hasn't been arrested for all the murders she committed.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]]: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Daniel Barton]] allies himself with TheMaster and helps him summon the Kasaavin to Earth, as well as getting them to kill his mother. After his plan is foiled and he is exposed, you'd think he'd get his comeuppance, but [[VillainExitStageLeft he escapes]].

* ''Series/{{Dragnet}}'' In one episode, an apathetic jury acquits a burglar despite his obvious guilt. Fortunately, the burglar's return to LA and some new technology give the law a second chance.

[[folder:X]]
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': At least half if not more MonsterOfTheWeek villains basically got off scot free even if temporarily thwarted by Mulder and Scully. A common ending was to show the villain in a whole new location with the implication they were still at large and out there. A handful ended up getting their comeuppance in later episodes, but only a handful.
[[/folder]]

** Arguably TheMaster is one. While he usually gets his comeuppance, his JokerImmunity means he'll always escape whatever inescapable situation he's left in and return to threaten the universe again. Davros was the same until the show DroppedABridgeOnHim. Then again, that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks has]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks happened]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd before]].

** Malcolm Merlyn is the worst case for the series, largely because people keep refusing to even try and bring him to justice. Prior to show's start, he sabotaged the ''Queen's Gambit'', leading to the death of several people (including his best friend, Robert Queen), and sending Oliver and Sara to their personal hells. His plot for the first season is to level the Glades, and he is [[TheBadGuyWins partially successfully]] is doing so, killing over ''five hundred'' people, including [[OffingTheOffspring his own son]]. Surviving Oliver's attempt to kill him, he brainwashes his daughter Thea into killing Sara, setting off the plot of Season 3. Not only does Oliver refuse to even try to punish him for it, he ''actively protects and then rewards him'', making him more powerful than ever. In Season 4, he ''does'' get removed from said position of power, and in response he kidnaps Oliver's son, is an accessory to Laurel's murder, and assists Darhk in a plot to destroy the world, before switching sides at the last moment when he loses [[ItsAllAboutMe his way to survive it]]. Again, Oliver doesn't bother trying to punish him. In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' Season 2, he joins the LegionOfDoom, kills an entire police station, and helps create [[VillainWorld Doom World]]. Not only does he do nothing to prevent the deaths of every hero in Doom World, he also took the time to ensure that Nyssa was living "a miserable closeted existence" [[EvilIsPetty just because he could.]] In the final battle he kills the Doom World version of Jax, and while the heroes are ultimately successful, once again no one punishes him. He ultimately gets a HeroicSacrifice in the ''Arrow'' Season 5 finale, never having been punished for a single crime, and effectively dodging it in death.

* In ''Series/SquidGame'', all the bad guys, except for a handful of guards, get away scot-free. Il-nam, the game's creator, dies in the final episode, but it's of a brain tumor at an old age, and he never faces justice for his crimes.

** Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in Season 4 causes Gaeta to lose his leg via Anders' gun because of a Leoben-inspired head trip, painting pictures on the bulkhead while the crew mutters mutinously behind her. She never seems sorry about the event, not even visiting him in sickbay. But then again, [[HumansAreBastards almost no one does]]). She even [[KickTheDog mocks him about it later]] (though in her defense, Gaeta instigates the argument).

* ''Series/AmericanGothic1995'': Unsurprisingly, [[{{Satan}} Sheriff Buck]] is a Karma Houdini for the entire run of the series. Among the most notable things he gets away with are: killing Merlyn Temple ''in the very first episode'' and blackmailing his failed BastardUnderstudy Ben Healy to keep quiet about it; imprisoning, torturing, and eventually causing the death by neglect of an out-of-town reporter (complete with removing from his belongings the evidence that might convict Buck of various crimes, [[GoodIsImpotent all while Dr. Matt and Gail look on helplessly]]); tormenting Dr. Matt about his alcoholism, nearly getting him expelled at the hospital due to his tragic past, and eventually [[[UnwittingPawn setting him up to look like an insane vigilante so he could be locked up in a mental ward]]; manipulating Gage Temple into killing Gail's parents (from which he escapes only by [[BrokenPedestal revealing to her how awful her parents really were]]); and summoning the spirit of the Boston Strangler to kill Merlyn ([[IdiotBall only to have him go after Gail as well]]). He even seems to win at the end of the series. This would be enough to constitute a DownerEnding and a reason to wash your hands of the show, if not for the suitably vague ending, [[TheEndOrIsIt which implies the victory might not be all it seems]], and how deliciously this ManipulativeBastard pulls most of this off.

** Gaius Baltar manages to avoid paying for numerous crimes, notably his part in the complete destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Throughout the show he continuously acts in [[DirtyCoward such a way]] that ''ensures'' viewer fantasies about pummeling the shifty little bastard, and has an implausible amount of sex with practically every woman in the show (Laura Roslin being an honorable exception) despite being an all-around weasel. He then manages to become the president of the fracking colonies despite the extremely noticeable handicap of wandering the halls talking to himself. Plus the religious cult set up around him by, you guessed it, hot young women.]] He even manages to get a HappilyEverAfter with Caprica!Six in the GrandFinale.