History OnlySaneMan / LiveActionTv

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': There is an interesting take on this. Merlin is the only one who notices the constant stream of assassins/monsters/enchantments/traitors that pop up ''all the time''. You'd think that everyone else would get wise to it. It is then subverted when Gaius becomes the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Man]] by pointing out the ridiculous actions Merlin takes to take care of the problems, becoming no more sane than the people whose sanity he is annoyed with!

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Has two sane people in Penny and Leonard. Penny is there primarily to point out how hopelessly obsessed the geeks are, while Leonard is easily the most "normal" of the geeks. Leonard even frequently acknowledges what he and his friends are doing is completely insane, although he usually participates anyway. He does have his moments of insanity though such as in "The Itchy Brain Stimulation" which ironically has Sheldon at his sanest.

* Cody Martin from ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody''

** 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.

* ''SledgeHammer''. Dori Doreau is in an unenviable situation. Her boss, Captain Trunk, is popping pills to stay even marginally competent and is one raging shout away from a coronary. Her beat partner is the reason for Trunk's manic anger and depression. She is a normally competent human woman partnered with a borderline homicidal maniac. Who happens to be a cop. She sighs and gets on with it...

* ''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. Amongst the teachers, Mr. Wright (later Principal Wright) holds this role.

** While Jim is probably the most likely out of the entire Dunder Mifflin staff to point out his coworker's foibles and snark about them, he is more than willing to indulge them for his own amusement whenever he's bored, which is often[[note]]He's shown to be a skilled salesman who can exceed his sales quota with minimum effort. He'd probably be able to overtake Dwight if he cared more for the job.[[/note]]. In later episodes, though, Jim has shown that he's not immune from picking up the IdiotBall, especially when he's put in charge of anything[[note]]Jim and Dwight cause complete chaos and destroy a good amount of inventory when put in charge of the warehouse[[/note]], and he and Pam go through a good deal of [[{{Soaperizing}}family drama]] in the final season due to their inability to communicate.

* 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.]]

** Basically, Sherlock is this to the police in general. [[UnfazedEveryman And Lestrade's used to it.]]

** [[EarlyEpisodeWeirdness In earlier seasons]], writer Kevin [=McCaffrey=], journalist Michael Bryant and a number of legal figures were this, being rounded by a MinimalistCast of celebrity felons and quirky comedians.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Miss Brooks often serves this role, as she is constantly dealing with the eccentricities of the people around her.

** 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!"

* Ross Gaines isn't just the sanest and most intelligent character in the Job Restart Centre plot thread, he is probably the sanest character in the show, beating Benjamin on grounds that he is more active in fighting back the madness around him, unlike Ben who is way more passive and it takes much more to get him to stop going with the flow. Though this changes in the third series, as Rosse's insecurities get the better of him.

* ''TheOffice'':
** In the US version, Oscar labels himself, Toby, Jim, and Pam as Dunder Mifflin's 'Coalition of Reason'. Although it's not without a cost. Oscar seems perpetually on the verge of snapping.
*** While Jim is probably the most likely out of the entire Dunder Mifflin staff to point out his coworker's foibles and snark about them, he is more than willing to indulge them for his own amusement whenever he's bored, which is often[[note]]He's shown to be a skilled salesman who can exceed his sales quota with minimum effort. He'd probably be able to overtake Dwight if he cared more for the job.[[/note]]. In later episodes, though, Jim has shown that he's not immune from picking up the IdiotBall, especially when he's put in charge of anything[[note]]Jim and Dwight cause complete chaos and destroy a good amount of inventory when put in charge of the warehouse[[/note]], and he and Pam go through a good deal of [[{{Soaperizing}}family drama]] in the final season due to their inability to communicate.
** Ryan sometimes also took on this role, then he got promoted to corporate and his [[{{SmallNameBigEgo}} ego]] got the better of him, even when he got busted down to the office temp.
** Tim in the UK ''TheOffice''. Not surprisingly, Creator/MartinFreeman [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy went on to play Arthur Dent]].

* ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'': Benjamin Denton is the only sane person in his plot thread on the show. Similarly, in every scene set in the Local Shop, whichever character Mark Gatiss is currently playing will be the only sane man. He will probably also be tortured to death.

* Despite being a little quirky herself, [[DisabledSnarker Joey Lucas]] in ''Series/TheWestWing'' often functions as the OnlySaneMan when dealing with the White House staff.

* ''[[Series/{{Utopia2014}} Utopia]]'': Tony, in stark contrast to Rob Sitch's characters in [[Series/{{Frontline}} previous]] [[Series/TheHollowmen series]]. Natalie has her moments as well.

* Despite being a little quirky herself, [[DisabledSnarker Joey Lucas]] in ''Series/TheWestWing'' often functions as the OnlySaneMan when dealing with the White Hoise staff.

-->'''Joey:''' ''(signs "union again)''

-->'''Joey:''' ''(exasperated sigh, walks away)''

** Catelyn is definitely the smartest and most down-to-earth of the Tully siblings. After the Season 2 finale, she might also count as the one sane person in Robb's camp, although this depends on how justified you think she is in releasing Jaime or whether it was a truly boneheaded decision. A point in her favour, at least, is that Robb's bannermen actively plot to murder Jaime, so she isn't wrong in thinking that they'd lost their only bargaining chip either way. And in "The Rains of Castamere", when Lothar Frey closes the doors and "The Rains" start playing, she is the ''only'' member of the Stark retinue that suspects something bad is coming. Well, her and Grey Wind.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Frasier Crane ''thinks'' he's this trope — his psychiatric skills are always on overload, analyzing his acquaintances with a keen eye and all-too-aware that he's surrounded by his anxious, foppish brother, his happy-go-lucky slob of a father, his violent-tempered, sex-crazed best friend, and his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} of a housekeeper who doesn't understand Americans. What he doesn't realize is that when it comes to reacting to the problems and issues in their lives, they are all far, far more well-adjusted and sensible than he is. Also, Martin frequently receives this role in the plots. He's not faultless, but if Niles and Frasier are doing something stupid it's a pretty good bet that he'll step in with some advice that resolves things.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In the episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E20TheScienceOfIllusion "The Science of Illusion"]], Jeff starts to mention that he and Abed are this before Abed cuts him off. In the episode [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps"]], it's shown that Abed has the highest sanity rating[[note]]Jeff, however, mentions that he answered randomly on the test they all took to determine their sanity[[/note]].

* ''YoungDracula'': Chloe would often be the only character to notice how bizarre the situation actually was.

* ''WKRPInCincinnati'': Andy Travis. Created as the show's protagonist -- that's him being referred to in the theme song -- but the writers soon realized he was too dull to drive many plots and made it into an ensemble series with Andy at the bemused centre of the crazy.