History OnlySaneMan / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/BigTimeRush'': In one episode, James has sprayed himself with lots of orange spray, which is shown to them as "Hollywood Fever". Kendall, Carlos and Logan try to fix the situation, but Carlos ends up joining the Jennifers, and Logan becomes addicted to playing with bongos. Kendall is the only kid at the Palm Woods who manages to not change by this effect.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': the eponymous Malcolm to his delinquent, dysfunctional family, his impossibly nerdy, neurotic, and socially inept friends, his nasty, petty, stupid neighbors and classmates, ''and'' the entirety of the shallow, unappreciative, unfair society around him. Deconstructed, as [[TheSnarkKnight being this trope for too long and going through too much frustration as a result of his sane-ness]] turns him cynical and bitter enough for his OSM-cred to start slipping in the last couple of seasons (thought the finale strongly hints that he earns it back once he dares to live up to his potential). When it's not him, usually Francis plays the role instead.

*** And more recently John Watson to the higher-functioning sociopath Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. Martin Freeman's made a career of it. Though, like in the books, he's also [[UnfazedEveryMan not weirded out by the guy.]]
** Lestrade is this to Anderson and Donovan and, so is Sherlock. Heck, John, too. Why do they have to put up with them?
** Basically, Sherlock is this to the police in general. [[UnfazedEveryman And Lestrade's used to it.]]
** And John was the only one to realize Sherlock was in actual danger in the pilot, and the only medical person (other than Molly) to know that drugs are bad for your health.

* ''Series/TheThunderman'': This role rotates between Phoebe and Barb.

** Arya seems to be the only one who thinks that the Hound murdering Mycah the butcher's boy is something that actually deserves action, and, unlike Sansa, managed to avoid inheriting the HorribleJudgeOfCharacter gene; she sees both Joffrey and Cersei for the monsters they are.

** Tyrion has hints of this on his trip to the Eyrie.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Lord Renly Baratheon views himself as this after Ned Stark rejects his plan in "You Win or You Die." At the very least, he's a far more sensible person than his brothers or his "nephew" Joffrey.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': Michael Bluth believes he's this. He really, really isn't, but compared to [[DysfunctionJunction the rest of]] [[BigScrewedUpFamily his family]] he may as well be. In fact, he's probably only the third most sane person in his family, behind George Michael and Maeby. Funny enough, the true OSM is the narrator/documentary crew.

* ''Series/KirbyBuckets'': Belinda, the put-upon and often ignored best friend of Kirby's sister Dawn. Given the show's general tone, she's occasionally NotSoAboveItAll.

* ''Series/LabRats'': Tasha tends to fill this role the most.

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'': The level-headed Moze is usually the voice of reason of the main trio, and much more sensible compared to Ned, Cookie, and most of the school. Ned also fills this role, being a fairly normal RidiculouslyAverageGuy, while the other students (and the teachers) are merely caricatures and act like over–the–top cartoon characters.

* ''Series/AlphaHouse'': After he takes a hit in the polls for applauding something President Obama said in his State of the Union address, Sen. Robbert Bettencourt (R-PA) decides to play up this trope for his next primary debate. Which is a pretty easy task for him, given that his opponents turn out to be A) a restaurant owner who boasts about his ability to dodge income taxes, B) a PETA treasurer, C) the self-proclaimed reincarnation of James Buchanan (who even debates in-character), D) an alchemist, E) a self-educated libertarian who advocates repealing all laws in existence, and F) a 9/11 truther.

* ''Series/LukeCage'': Shades is unfailingly pragmatic among the criminals, knowing when to (and when not to) have standards. He often tries to play HonestAdvisor and appeal for his more emotional crime bosses to do the practical thing rather than be self-destructively violent or aggressive. Hardly anyone listens when they should except for Mariah Dillard, and Shades' pragmatism nearly gets him killed by Diamondback.

* ''{{Outnumbered}}'': In this BBC comedy, the sensible Jake Brockman often ends up as this, when thrown together with his younger and crazier siblings Ben and Karen. (Resulting in endless frustration and eventual snarking on his part).
* {{Series/OnceUponATime}}: Henry (who is all of 12 years old) and Archie (Jiminy Cricket) are possibly the most sensible people on the show. Too bad no one bothers to listen to either of them. Emma also acts as this.

* Most of the characters in ''Series/ModernFamily'' are [[DumbIsGood lacking of common sense, but nice people]] at best and [[{{Jerkass}} stupid and mean]] at worst. Manny and Lilly are neither.

* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'': Ned Bigby, of course, although Moze occasionally falls into this role as well.

* ''Series/KirbyBuckets'': Belinda.

* ''GreenAcres'': Oliver Douglas is either the most sane person, or the least--he's the only one who tries to view things logically, as it becomes increasingly apparent that in Hooterville, [[{{Cloudcuckooland}} logic no longer applies]].

* ''Series/AlphaHouse'': After he takes a hit in the polls for applauding something President Obama said in his State of the Union address, Sen. Robbert Bettencourt (R-PA) decides to play up this trope for his next primary debate. Given that his other opponents turn out to be A) a restaurant owner who boasts about his ability to dodge income taxes, B) a PETA treasurer, C) the self-proclaimed reincarnation of James Buchanan (who even debates in-character), D) an alchemist, E) a self-educated libertarian who advocates repealing all laws in existence, and F) a 9/11 truther, this is a pretty easy task for him.

* ''Series/LukeCage'': Shades is constantly advising more emotional crime bosses to do the practical thing.

** Tim in the UK ''TheOffice''. Not surprisingly, the actor [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy went on to play Arthur Dent]].

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': At one point, BJ suggests Klinger may actually be this. precisely because he's the only one actively trying to remove himself from [[KoreanWar the war]].

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': In one episode, Kenneth's page jacket is ruined by Jenna and the only way he can get a new one is by competing in a "page-off" against the head page Donny - a secret underground NBC trivia contest. Pete catches them doing it as none of the pages are upstairs working, and says "What, are you kidding me? This is a billion dollar company. Donny, give Kenneth a damn jacket!"

* ''TheInbetweeners'': Brilliantly subverted with Will. He may start out being the most intelligent and sensible one in his approach to many things, but usually he soon ends up being a {{hypocrite}}, a [[ExtravertedNerd loser trying to climb the social ladder]], a horndog desperate to lose his virginity or an inconsiderate ranter (or several/all of them). Simon is the more straight example, but even he subverts it when he is [[LoveMakesYouDumb near a girl]] [[DoggedNiceGuy he fancies]].

* ''JonathanCreek'': Jonathan Creek already gets a mention under this trope's close relative OnlySaneEmployee, but for most of the fourth season he ends up being the only person involved in the production of "Eyes and Ears" (think ''{{Crimewatch}}'' with the production values of a Fox News chat show) who seems to care or indeed even notice how tasteless, factually inaccurate and generally awful it is.

* ''KeepingUpAppearances'': Richard. And also Elizabeth and Emmett.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': FBI Special Agent George Huang, M.D. always sees the big picture, and is often the only reasonable person. If the rest of the cast ever actually listened to him, instead of using him to wheedle confessions out of perps, most of their problems would be solved.

* ''LifeWithDerek'': Nora.

* ''Series/TeenWolf'':
** Jackson in that everybody but him cheers on Scott's rather miraculous change of athletic ability. He almost seems frustrated that no one else thinks that something is wrong with Scott - even his girlfriend starts hitting on Scott.
** However, as the story progresses, Jackson seems to be falling very far and very quickly on the scale of actual sanity.
*** Now the role has been doubly passed onto Stiles (for Jackson and Scott), and Lydia (for Allison).
*** Although I wouldn't really call Lydia sane as of the second season.
** Of Derek's pack, Boyd is easily the most level-headed of them, including Derek.

* Wilson from ''Series/HomeImprovement''; he's [[BunnyEarLawyer eccentric as hell]], but his purpose seems to be giving advice to the other members of the cast when they get into conflicts that their own lack of common sense got them into.

* Wilson from ''Series/HomeInprovement''; he's [[BunnyEaredLawyer eccentric as hell]], but his purpose seems to be giving advice to the other members of the cast when they get into conflicts that their own lack of common sense got them into.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': the eponymous Malcolm to his delinquent, dysfunctional family, his impossibly nerdy, neurotic, and socially inept friends, his nasty, petty, stupid neighbors and classmates, ''and'' the entirety of the shallow, unappreciative, unfair society around him. Deconstructed, as [[TheSnarkKnight being this trope for too long and going through too much frustration as a result of his sane-ness]] turns him cynical and bitter enough for his OSM-cred to start slipping in the last couple of seasons (thought the finale strongly hints that he earns it back once he dares to live up to his potential).

* {{Series/OnceUponATime}}: Henry (who is all of 12 years old) and Archie (Jiminy Cricket) are possibly the most sensible people on the show. Too bad no one bothers to listen to either of them.

* '''[[Series/{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]''': At one point, BJ suggests Klinger may actually be this. precisely because he's the only one actively trying to remove himself from [[KoreanWar the war]].

-->'''Jane''': Oh, ''Steve!'' How much longer?
-->'''Steve''': [[LiteralMinded About the usual amount.]]
-->'''Jane''': How much longer ''in minutes'' Steve?

** Edmund Blackadder. Surrounded as he is by idiotic and / or mad superiors and underlings. For all his faults, Edmund is usually the only sane person around at any given time period. Unfortunately for him, if there are any ''other'' sane people around, they're usually gunning directly for him. He's also a lot more savvy than most people around him in a historical sense as well, being able to recognize where his contemporaries cannot that witch hunts solve nothing, the application of leeches to various body parts isn't an effective medical treatment, and that WorldWarI is one long, muddy, blood-soaked and pointless waste of time and lives.