History PassingTheTorch / LiveActionTV

* Traditionally the winner of the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' receives their trophy from the winner of the previous year's contest. The 2021 contest [[SubvertedTrope was forced to break the tradition]] after outgoing champion Music/DuncanLaurence tested positive for [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] and had to miss the finale to isolate. Eventual winners Music/{{Maneskin}} received their trophy from the show's hosts instead. In 2022, Måneskin themselves had to bow out after lead singer Damiano David injured his leg, with the hosts presenting the trophy to [[Music/{{Kalush}} Kalush Orchestra]]. Luckily in 2023 the tradition was restored as Kalush Orchestra were present to hand over the trophy to Loreen.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': At the end of season 3, Coulson stepped down as director due to his trauma over the mistakes he made the season, and planned to have Daisy Johnson succeed him. Unfortunately, due to her own trauma, she went on the run before they even had a chance to discuss it, and someone else is appointed for political reasons. In season 5, Coulson is director again, but insists that he needs Daisy to lead (to the point of knocking her unconscious to short-circuit her IChooseToStay moment) [[spoiler:because he's SecretlyDying]].

* Traditionally the winner of the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' receives their trophy from the winner of the previous year's contest. The 2021 contest [[SubvertedTrope was forced to break the tradition]] after outgoing champion Music/DuncanLaurence tested positive for [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] and had to miss the finale to isolate. Eventual winners Music/{{Maneskin}} received their trophy from the show's hosts instead.

* Invoked in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Relics", when the ''Enterprise''-D rescues Montgomery Scott- the chief engineer of the original ''Enterprise''- from a transporter buffer after his ship crashed decades ago. While he had retried from Starfleet long ago, as he departs in a shuttle provided by the ''Enterprise'', Scotty reflects to current Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge that the current ''Enterprise'' is a fine ship with a good crew, in Scotty's opinion it is the chief engineer who really makes the ship, and he is confident that the latest ''Enterprise'' is in good hands.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' / ''Franchise/SuperSentai'':
** Before PR began replacing the entire cast wholesale every season like its [[Franchise/SuperSentai source material]], it tended to do this with a few people at a time every so often as cast members got tired of the strict filming schedules, low pay, and career pigeonholing. In fact, the episodes in [[Series/PowerRangersTurbo season 5]] where this happened were actually named "Passing the Torch" pt. 1 and 2.
** Starting around 2005, ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' includes a small [[TheStinger Stinger]] with each season finale showing the outgoing and incoming Red Rangers briefly interacting, symbolically handing off the franchise to the next season.
*** This actually seems to have been a discarded concept for ''Franchise/KamenRider'': a special scene was filmed wherein ''Series/KamenRider555''[='s=] Takumi Inui literally passes the baton to ''Series/KamenRiderBlade''[='s=] Kazuma Kenzaki before the two transform side-by-side. The hand-off was never actually aired and its existence was revealed years later in a [[https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/kamenrider/images/5/5f/Faiz_and_Blade_Passing_The_Torch.jpg magazine article]]. Ultimately, ''Kamen Rider'' started officially doing this starting from ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'', but unlike ''Super Sentai'' and ''Anime/PrettyCure'', who do the hand-offs in-show and in transformation, ''Kamen Rider'' does this using the actors (in-costume) [[https://twitter.com/kravitt/status/1302675488402538496 at special events]].
* The whole "Island protector" thing on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' - first Jacob (preceded by his "mother"), then [[spoiler:Jack and Hurley]].
* Almost a Real Life example (perhaps even meta): In an episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the great Creator/ChristopherReeve guest stars as a scholar helping the young [[{{Franchise/Superman}} Man of Steel]] (Tom Welling) learn his [[YouCantFightFate destiny]].

* In the first episode of ''{{Series/Knightrider}}'', Michael Long is given the '''K'''night '''I'''ndustries '''T'''wo '''T'''housand (better known as KITT) and a mission to protect innocent people from criminals "above the law" by the dying philanthropist Wilton Knight.
* In the last episode of ''Series/SpartacusGodsOfTheArena'', Gannicus earns his freedom from being a gladiator. Before he leaves, he gives Crixus his necklace and declares him the new Champion of Capua.

* In the sixth season finale of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Shawn's dad retires from policing (again), disillusioned by the latest case, and hands Shawn his pocket knife.
* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Nagus". Grand Nagus Zek ''wanted'' to retire and name a successor, but after his son Krax failed the SecretTestOfCharacter he had put before him, Zek decided to postpone it for a while. Played straight in the later episode "The Dogs of War" where he named Quark's younger brother Rom his successor.
* Invoked in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Relics", when the ''Enterprise''-D rescues Montgomery Scott- the chief engineer of the original ''Enterprise''- from a transporter buffer after his ship crashed decades ago. While he had retried from Starfleet long ago, as he departs in a shuttle provided by the ''Enterprise'', Scotty reflects to current Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge that the current ''Enterprise'' is a fine ship with a good crew, in Scotty's opinion it is the chief engineer who really makes the ship, and he is confident that the latest ''Enterprise'' is in good hands.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 50th Anniversary special ''The Day of the Doctor'', the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) meets the Curator of the National Gallery played by Tom Baker, who is strongly implied to be some retired future version of the Doctor himself.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In “The Long Goodbye Job,” before he and Sophie go off into the sunset, Nate hands the reins of his empire over to Parker, of all people.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}:''
** In "Family First," Tony names [=McGee=] as his [[NumberTwo Very Special Agent]] successor before officially stepping down to raise his and Ziva's daughter, Tali.
** In "Bears and Cubs", [[spoiler: Ducky decides it's time for him to retire. While Ducky decides to stay with NCIS as the part-time Agency Historian during the next episode, his protege Jimmy Palmer still takes over as the Chief Medical Examiner]].
* Creator/{{NBC}}'s telecast of ''Theatre/TheWiz'' features Broadway's original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, as Aunt Em to newcomer Shanice Williams' Dorothy. This torch-passing felt even more poignant with such promotional material as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JmKpjK6_44 Mills and Williams singing "Home" together]].

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': At the end of season 3, Coulson stepped down as director due to his trauma over the mistakes he made the season, and planned to have Daisy Johnson succeed him. Unfortunately, due to her own trauma, she went on the run before they even had a chance to discuss it, and someone else is appointed for political reasons. In season 5, Coulson is director again, but insists that he needs Daisy to lead (to the point of knocking her unconscious to short-circuit her IChooseToStay moment) [[spoiler:because he's SecretlyDying]].
* ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'': At the end of the ''Series/Elseworlds2018'' {{Crossover}}, [[spoiler:Clark tells Kara that he's retiring as Superman because he and Lois are starting a family (which, among other things, [[BizarreAlienBiology means they need to leave Earth for a while]]). Clark's not worried, as he's always maintained that Supergirl is the better of the two heroes, but now Kara will be solely responsible for protecting the Earth.]]

* ''Series/TheSunnySideUpShow'': A "Host Hunt" audition contest was held in 2013 and, after appearing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, winners Tim and Kaitlin appeared on the show to sing "The More We Get Together" with Kelly, whom along with Sean they were replacing, and Chica. Tim debuted on December 30th while Kaitlin debuted on January 6th, 2014.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'':
** "Paladin of the Lost Hour" features a dying elderly man named Gaspar passing on the titular object (a pocket watch containing the lost hour of the world) to a new bearer, Billy Kinetta.
** In "The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon", the title character explains to Dr. Jeremy Sinclair that the [[HearingVoices voice that he hears]] told him that he could retire to Miami. Dr. Sinclair then assumes the duty of keeping the world in balance and preventing disasters by maintaining the [[RubeGoldbergDevice contraption]] in Edgar's apartment.

* Traditionally the winner of the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' receives their trophy from the winner of the previous year's contest. The 2021 contest [[SubvertedTrope was forced to break the tradition]] after outgoing champion Music/DuncanLaurence tested positive for [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] and had to miss the finale to isolate. Eventual winners Music/{{Maneskin}} received their trophy from the show's hosts instead.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 50th Anniversary special ''The Day of the Doctor'', The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) meets the Curator of the National Gallery played by Tom Baker.

* In the 1971 TV movie "Dr. Cook's Garden" a young doctor returns to his hometown and slowly begins to realize that the older doctor (Bing Crosby) he idolizes [[spoiler: is making the town perfect by killing his patients who are bad people. At the end the older doctor tries and fails to kill the younger doctor and succumbs to a heart attack. He begs for help, but the younger doctor holds back because he thinks it's better for the old man to die with his reputation intact rather than being charged as a serial killer. The old doctor's last words to the young man were "That's how it starts."]]

*** This actually seems to have been a discarded concept for ''Franchise/KamenRider'': a special scene was filmed wherein ''Series/KamenRider555''[='s=] Takumi Inui literally passes the baton to ''Series/KamenRiderBlade''[='s=] Kazuma Kenzaki before the two transform side-by-side. The hand-off was never actually aired and its existence was revealed years later in a [[https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/kamenrider/images/5/5f/Faiz_and_Blade_Passing_The_Torch.jpg magazine article]].

* ''Series/TheJokersWild'': Creator/JackBarry planned to do this at the beginning of the eighth syndicated season, naming Jim Peck as his successor. This wound up being subverted due to two factors: [[AuthorExistenceFailure Barry's death during the preceding summer hiatus]] and his partner Dan Enright snubbing Peck in favor of Creator/BillCullen.

* ''Series/TheJokersWild'': Creator/JackBarry planned to do this at the beginning of the eighth syndicated season, naming Jim Peck as his successor. This wound up being subverted due to two factors: [[AuthorExistenceFailure Barry's death during the summer hiatus]] and his partner Dan Enright snubbing Peck in favor of Creator/BillCullen.

* ''Series/TheJokersWild'': Creator/JackBarry planned to do this at the beginning of the eighth syndicated season, naming Jim Peck as his successor. This wound up being subverted due to two factors: [[AuthorExistenceFailure Barry's death early in the mid-season hiatus]] and his partner Dan Enright snubbing Peck in favor of Creator/BillCullen.

* ''Series/TheJokersWild'': Creator/JackBarry planned to do this at the beginning of the eighth syndicated season, naming Jim Peck as his successor. This wound up being subverted due to two factors: Barry's death early in the mid-season hiatus and his partner Dan Enright snubbing Peck in favor of Creator/BillCullen.

** In "Bears and Cubs", [[spoiler: Ducky decides it's time for him to retire. While Ducky decides to stay with NCIS as the part-time Agency Historian during the next episode, Jimmy Palmer still takes over as the Chief Medical Examiner]].

* ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'': At the end of the ''Series/{{Elseworlds}}'' {{Crossover}}, [[spoiler:Clark tells Kara that he's retiring as Superman because he and Lois are starting a family (which, among other things, [[BizarreAlienBiology means they need to leave Earth for a while]]). Clark's not worried, as he's always maintained that Supergirl is the better of the two heroes, but now Kara will be solely responsible for protecting the Earth.]]

* ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'': At the end of the ''Series/{{Elseworlds}}'' {{Crossover}}, [[spoiler:Clark tells Kara that he's retiring as Superman because he and Lois are starting a family (which, among other things, [[BizarreAlienBiology means they need to leave Earth for a while]]). Clark's not worried, as he's always maintained that Supergirl is the better of the two heroes, but now Kara will be solely responsible for protecting the Earth.]]

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}:'' In "Family First," Tony names [=McGee=] as his Very Special Agent successor before officially stepping down to raise Ziva's daughter.

* ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'': At the end of the ''Series/{{Elseworlds}}'' {{Crossover}}, [[spoiler:Clark tells Kara that he's retiring as Superman because he and Lois are starting a family (which, among other things, [[BizarreAlienBiology means they need to leave Earth for a while]]). Clark's not worried, though, as he's always maintained that Supergirl is the better of the two heroes.]]

* ''Creator/{{ER}}'' does this through the ArcWords "You set the tone", which is what David Morgenstern tells Mark Greene (the original main character) in the pilot episode as a way of keeping hospital morale up. When Mark Greene departs at the end of Season 8, he says the same thing to John Carter (who essentially takes over the role of main character afterwards). Likewise, when John Carter departs at the end of Season 11, he shares the sentiment with Archie Morris, only to jokingly retract it when he realizes that Morris is too drunk to register it. Despite that, Morris eventually matures and takes up the responsibilities as one of the senior doctors of the ER, something Carter notes when he makes a return in Season 15.

* Meta example: Dirk Benedict, who played Starbuck in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' passed the cigar to Creator/KateeSackhoff, who played Starbuck in the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 reboot]]. Said passing was done [[VisualPun while the two Starbucks were each having a Starbuck's at Starbuck's]].