History ParentalAbandonment / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': Rose and Jed Walker's parents divorced, resulting in the former living with their mother and the latter living with their father. Then both parents died at different times, leaving Rose on her own and Jed stuck with abusive foster parents by the present day. Part of the plot of the second half of season 1 focuses on Rose trying to find Jed at the request of their biological great-grandmother Unity.

** Eretria's mother died in her childhood, klled by a demon, and her father is unknown. She was adopted by Cephalo after that, who's a terribly abusive father to her.

* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': Rose and Jed Walker's parents both divorced, resulting in the former living with their mother and the latter living with their father. Then both parents died at different times, leaving Rose on her own and Jed stuck with abusive foster parents by the present day. Part of the plot of the second half of season 1 focuses on Rose trying to find Jed at the request of their biological great-grandmother Unity.

** Cherie lost her parents in a car crash, resulting in her being raised by her grandmother Betty. The episode "The Anniversary" focuses on her (slowly) starting to come to terms with it.

** Cherie lost her parents in a car crash, resulting in her being raised by her grandmother Betty.

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': The titular character is raised by her aunts. Her dad the warlock lives in the magical [[AlternateDimension Other Realm]], and only shows up a few times to visit. Her mom is a mortal, which means she and Sabrina can't see each other or Mom will turn into a ball of wax. [[spoiler:Mom is allowed to come to Sabrina's wedding in the series finale because Hilda allows the Witches Council to turn her into a candle]]

* ''Series/{{Cursed}}'': A lot of characters are lacking in the parent department.

* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': Elora has this. Her mother died in a car accident when she was little, and her father was always absent. She's never known her father's identity, as her grandmother didn't want to talk about it. Later she learns he's white and still living.

* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'' g ives us [[AbusiveParents Ricky's parents]]. His dad had drug problems and sexually abused him. His mom had drug and alcohol problems and is implied to be a prostitute. Needless to say, they lost custody of him a long time ago and both ended up in prison, though [[spoiler: his dad got out briefly before getting busted for drugs again]] and [[spoiler: his mom gets out of jail in Season 3 and they eventually mend their relationship]]. However, Ricky has [[ParentalSubstitute very loving and supportive foster parents]] and he considers them his "real" parents.

* ''Series/HitAndMiss'': Wendy dies and leaves her four kids alone, as none of their fathers were involved. Mia, who'd fathered Ryan while involved with her but wasn't aware before of her son (who's now [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} transitioning]]) is told and steps up to raise them, sparking the plot. Riley, the oldest, had taken care of her younger siblings already though.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': Lee "Ace Attorney!" Adama's MissingMom and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's DisappearedDad, and all the people who lost parents and spouses in the destruction of the Colonies and New Caprica, plus the human-type [[TheMole sleeper cell]] Cylons who have no parents due to [[CloningBlues being clones]], a few of which have to deal with being parents themselves.

** Carly and Spencer's father is in the military, whilst their mother is either dead, locked up in a mental hospital, jail or has completely abandoned them, having never been mentioned on the show once. The whereabouts of Sam's and Freddie's fathers is unknown, and Sam's mother is a depressed lump who rarely gets up before noon.

** Cherie lost her parents in a car crash, resulting in her being raised by her grandmother.

* ''Series/{{Willow}}'':
** Elora Danan's mother was murdered shortly after she's born, while her father wasn't even mentioned.
** Jade not only had to kill Ballantine, her adopted father, but had lost her birth father and mother before (however, they [[DeceptiveLegacy were different people than she'd been told during her early life)]].

* In ''Series/Lucifer2016'', this is revealed to be the cause of [[spoiler:Jimmy Barnes']] [[NotGoodWithRejection rejection issues]] in the Season 6 episode "Yabba Dabba Do Me". [[spoiler:When Jimmy was a child, his mother abandoned him in a motel room for her music career, with him left there watching cartoons on TV until CPS came to take him in.]]

** Duela and her mother were abandoned in Arkham Asylum by her father, the Joker, who escaped with his new lady friend Harley Quinn.

** Felicity Smoak's father left her mother and her when she was a child. His disappearance is ominously alluded to multiple times in Season 3, to the point that he is on his way to becoming the MysteriousParent.
** Shortly after Sara (apparently) died on ''Gambit'', Dinah Lance divorced her husband, left her remaining daughter, moved to another city, and made little to no effort contact with Laurel over the next 5 years. When she ''does'' appear, it's usually about Sara suggesting ParentalFavoritism.
** Between Sara's apparent death and Dinah Lance divorcing him, Quentin Lance became an alcoholic. While still present in Laurel's life, it's indicated he wasn't there emotionally, and instead she was largely forced to take care of him.

** Molly Walker's parents were both Sylar victims. She's now got a ''Series/MyTwoDads'' [[HasTwoMommies situation]] instead.

* ''Series/PunkyBrewster'': Sometime after her father abandoned the whole family, Punky was abandoned by her mother; the reason why was never disclosed. The subject of Punky wanting to reunite with her mom came up a few times during the first couple of seasons (and once in the animated version).

* ''Series/PunkyBrewster'': Punky was abandoned by her mother; as to why was never disclosed. The subject of Punky wanting to reunite with her mom came up a few times during the first couple of seasons (and once in the animated version).

* ''Series/MohawkGirls'': Caitlin's mom is dead and had left her as a baby, while her dad's very negligent to her. His mother says it comes from being abused in one of the residential schools the native kids pf his generation were sent to and that he can't show normal love after this.

* ''Series/{{Belgravia}}'': Charles Pope; his mother suffered DeathByChildbirth and his father was killed in the Battle of Waterloo, so he was adopted by the Reverend Pope and his wife. His maternal grandparents the Trenchards gave him up to the Popes to protect his mother's reputation and his paternal grandparents the Earl and Countess of Brockenhurst had no idea he existed until his grandmother admits the truth to his other grandmother out of guilt.

** Emma and Lyn’s mother's death is the IncitingIncident for the plot, while their father is absent in the beginning. It turns out he was deported to Mexico, but there's no indication of them being in contact with him at first. It turns out they thought he died, but he's still alive and is back in the US. Lyn reconnects to him, but Emma doesn't want to. It doesn't last long, since he expresses homophobia toward them hosting LGBT events in their bar, and about Emma being queer, so Lyn declares him [[IHaveNoSon no longer her father]].