History ShootTheDog / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Spock recommends that Gary Mitchell be killed before his [[AGodAmI growing power]] gets completely out of hand. Kirk initially rejects the suggestion in favor of merely marooning Mitchell, but finally realizes that he has no choice (and almost gets killed himself because he hesitates the first time he has an opportunity to go through with it).

** [[CreatorsPet Lana Lang,]] Pete Ross, and [[AntiHero Oliver Queen]] also used this ideology as justification for attacking Lex with lethal intent while under the influence of mind-altering substances. It seemed like this was the case for Kara Kent as well, but that was simply [[spoiler:Main/Brainiac in disguise]].

** [[CreatorsPet Lana Lang,]] Pete Ross, and [[AntiHero Oliver Queen]] also used this ideology as justification for attacking Lex with lethal intent while under the influence of mind-altering substances. It seemed like this was the case for Kara Kent as well, but that was simply [[spoiler:Brainiac in disguise]].

** [[AbusiveParents Lionel]] and [[Main/Lex Luthor]] have both done this at some point, although in the most iconic cases of both, [[TheDogShotFirst they were protecting someone else]].

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': [[TheLancer John]] kills the [[SerialKiller killer cabbie]] in the first episode to stop [[HeterosexualLifePartner Sherlock]] from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him. Understandable, he ''did'' think [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's life was threatened.]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': [[TheLancer John]] kills the [[SerialKiller killer cabbie]] in the [[RecapSherlock01E01AStudyInPink first episode]] to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him. Understandable, he ''did'' think [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's life was threatened.]]
** The Chinese gangster in the second episode was an ''idiot'' for [[BigBrotherInstinct tripping off John's protective instinct towards Sherlock]] when he tries to kill him, despite the fact John's tied to a chair at the time. It ends badly for the gangster, since John [[TranquilFury calmly]] kills him.

** Lionel and Lex Luthor have both done this at some point, although in the most iconic cases of both, [[TheDogShotFirst they were protecting someone else]].
** Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and Oliver Queen also used this ideology as justification for attacking Lex with lethal intent while under the influence of mind-altering substances. It seemed like this was the case for Kara Kent as well, but that was simply [[spoiler:Brainiac in disguise]].

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': [[TheLancer John]] kills the [[SerialKiller killer cabbie]] in the [[RecapSherlockS01E01AStudyInPink first episode]] to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him. Understandable, he ''did'' think [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's life was threatened.]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': John kills the [[SerialKiller killer cabbie]] in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him. Understandable, he ''did'' think [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's life was threatened.]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': John shoots the killer cabbie in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him. Understandable, he ''did'' think [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's life was threatened.]]

** The Chinese gangster in the second episode was an ''idiot'' for [[BigBrotherInstict tripping off John's protective instinct towards Sherlock]] when he tries to kill him, despite the fact John's tied to a chair at the time. It ends badly for the gangster, since John [[TranquilFury calmly]] kills him.

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': John shoots the killer cabbie in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him.

** The Chinese gangster in the second episode was an ''idiot'' for [[BigBrotherInstict tripping off John's protective instinct towards Sherlock]] when he tries to kill him, despite John's tied to a chair at the time. It ends badly for the gangster.

** Happens at least twice. Both times, it's a member of SG-1 killing someone dear to Daniel and explaining "IDidWhatIHadToDo".

* ''Series/{{Merlin-1998}}'': In this series, Merlin helps Uther rape Igraine by deceit, reasoning that it will stop the war, save many lives, and result in Arthur's birth.

* ''Series/{{House}}'': Had its doctors treat an Idi Amin-analogue called Dbala. Cameron says repeatedly that she hopes he dies, and makes moves toward convincing his second-in-command to seize power by killing him, but still treats him as best she can. [[spoiler: Then her husband Chase instinctively calls out a warning that thwarts an assassin. Later, he hears the assassin's backstory (and some of the dictator's genocidal rant), and decides he can't live with having saved this monster's life, so he fakes a test result, deliberately causing the dictator's death, which eventually causes Cameron to leave him and PPTH.]]

** "In the Pale Moonlight": Garak and Sisko hatch a morally ambiguous plot to frame the Dominion for plotting an attack on the Romulan Empire. This plot was recognised as a fake by a Romulan Senator who was [[spoiler:promptly murdered by Garak]]. Though angry at first, Sisko eventually came to grudgingly accept that it was a necessity. While some fans consider this to be one of the best episodes in the entire series, others interpret Sisko's attitude at the end of the episode as StupidGood: Garak did what Sisko's plan logically led to, but Sisko kept clinging to a vision of himself that was incompatible with what he actually wanted -- Romulan intervention in the war to save Earth and the Federation. Then again, Garak explicitly calls him on this ("That's why you brought me in remember?") and points out that the self-respect of one Star Fleet officer (plus a few not-so-innocent dogs getting shot) is well worth it as a cost for saving their entire region of the galaxy from the Dominion in the long-run.
** Another ''Deep Space Nine'' episode, "Body Parts", features Quark hiring Garak to commit murder.
--->'''Rom:''' You're hiring Garak to kill Brunt?
--->'''Quark:''' No, I'm hiring him to kill me.
** Garak spends the whole series carrying a fully loaded dog-rifle, just waiting for the right moment to use it.

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': John Watson shoots the murderer in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him.

** In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E17TheLongestDay episode 17]], [[spoiler: Rachel knocks out Lee Blackmore and leaves Blackmore's son to die. Subverted Trope, because she reveals to Aaron that she's not doing any of this for the greater good, but because she wants revenge against Monroe for Danny's death]].

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[spoiler:Rachel stabs Dr. Bradley Jaffe to death so Monroe won't kill her [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness for no longer being of value to him]]]].

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Jack Bauer has been called upon to do this sort of thing numerous times during the series run, often to create plausible deniability for higher-ups during times when he's not officially on CTU's payroll. Examples include executing and beheading a witness in a criminal prosecution (to get undercover with the man he was to rat out); staging the execution of a captured terrorist's children (to get him to talk); breaking the ringleader of a drug cartel out of a maximum security prison (to intercept a bio-weapon his cartel was about to buy); threatening to expose a terrorist's innocent daughter to a fatal virus (to make him talk); threatening to kill a suspect whose lawyer had exempted him from questioning (again, to make him talk); invading the Chinese consulate and kidnapping a Chinese national, and sacrificing his lover's estranged husband (who [[TakingTheBullet took a bullet]] for Jack early in the day) to save said national, ultimately ending up in a Chinese prison for it (to insulate the US government from reprisal); and hijacking Marine One and ''holding the President hostage'' (to get a confession of the crimes he'd committed). He also does shoot a dog, but that was in self defence.
** His shooting dead of [[spoiler:Nina Myers]] in Season 3, on the other hand, was plain revenge-fuelled murder.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'': Has made this an almost weekly theme. Laura Roslin and Saul Tigh are the show's unquestioned champions - the former going so far as to kidnap and fake the death of a newborn unbeknownst to her parents and the latter going so far as to poison his own wife in order to give her a peaceful death after she was caught collaborating with the Cylons. (Probably the kindest thing he could have done, seeing what happens to ''other'' collaborators in the very next episode.) [[spoiler:Reports of her death might have been exaggerated.]]

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Played with in the episode "The Man in the Cell". Bad guy Epps goes over the balcony rail, Booth lunges and [[TakeMyHand catches his wrist]], there's a long moment (and some really creepy dialogue from Epps)... and then Epps is street pizza. Did Booth let go or not? This turns into a sub-arc over the next few episodes.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': [[spoiler:Jesse is forced to kill Gail in order to prevent Walter's execution.]] When he tries to talk about his reaction to the incident at [[spoiler:rehab]], he even states that he was forced to put down a dog.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Giles prevents the hellgoddess Glory from ever returning by [[spoiler: [[CoupDeGrace suffocating]] [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan her human vessel]] Ben. He specifies that he's doing this because... or so that... Buffy never would. (The page quote comes from earlier in that episode, where he foresees having to do such a thing with Dawn.)]]

** Buffy herself has had to shoot the dog. In "Becoming, Part II", [[spoiler:seconds after her vampire boyfriend Angel has his soul restored, the ritual he performed when he was the soulless Angelus kicks off and threatens to drag all of Earth into Hell. The only way Buffy can save the world is by killing Angel and consigning him to Hell instead... which she does. ]]

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In the season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Michael has to kill Victor. It's partly a MercyKill, since Victor says that the people who're after them will take him apart if they get him, but it's mostly just an expedient move for Michael in order to get closer to the people who burned him. Considering Victor was trying to kill Michael up until about halfway through this episode]], it's a TearJerker. Especially since the good guys have gone out of their way to avoid directly killing ''anyone'' after ten minutes into the first episode.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': Happens quite a lot:

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor has often found himself taking this role; it's especially become a character trait in his ninth and tenth incarnations. Instances include, in "Dalek" sealing his companion in a bunker with a Dalek in order to prevent the Dalek from escaping, and drowning the ''children'' of a GiantSpider [[HiveQueen Empress]] in "The Runaway Bride" rather than letting them devour the Earth.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Has Crais offering to execute Aeryn's mother (who was sent to hunt them down and kill them) after they capture her so Aeryn doesn't have to witness it. He doesn't actually 'shoot the dog', he fakes it and offers a proposal to Aeryn's mom where she returns to the Peacekeepers and says the job is done in exchange for her life. Technically averted...

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Mal is the rare lead character who never needs a side character to shoot the dog for him. He's more than willing to kill someone to protect his crew, and he does it on multiple occasions, even when killing them isn't strictly necessary.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Eko shoots a man to keep his little brother from having to do so.

** In the new BBC ''{{Series/Merlin}}'', Merlin is forced to [[spoiler: poison Morgana, who he has been lying to about her magic and hiding his own from, because she is the vessel for a curse that has caused all of Camelot to fall into a sleep they cannot awaken from. Admittedly, his hand was forced by Kilgharrah the dragon and Morgause only made things worse, but up until that point, he had viewed Morgana as a great friend and there was even a little bit of romance between them. He also betrayed the location of a Druid camp that he'd led Morgana to in hopes that she would learn more about her magic because Uther was hunting down innocent people and killing them to find her. This also kickstarted Mordred's hatred of Merlin.]]
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Gibbs shooting through Agent [[spoiler: Michelle Lee]] to take out [[spoiler: the Weatherman]].
** [[spoiler: And she asked him to do it!]] Complete TearJerker, right there.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[spoiler:Rachel stabs Dr. Jaffee to death so Monroe won't kill her [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness for no longer being of value to him]]]].

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lionel and Lex Luthor have both done this at some point, although in the most iconic cases of both, [[TheDogShotFirst they were protecting someone else]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Happens at least twice. Both times, it's a member of SG-1 killing someone dear to Daniel and explaining "IDidWhatIHadToDo".

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Has several examples:

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': More like "Shoot the Werewolf" in "Heart". Madison is a sweet, engaging {{Girl of the Week}} but also a danger to herself and everyone around her. She asks Sam (who's slightly in love) to do it as he's the only one she trusts, and she's [[ICannotSelfTerminate unable to do it herself]]. Dean offers to do it but instead we [[SoundOnlyDeath hear a shot offscreen]] and end on Dean looking miserable and flinching.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}: Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'': Finds a new dog to shoot in virtually every episode (as could be expected, given the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt consequences of failure]] and the presence of an emotionless android and a paranoid future soldier in the regular cast). For instance, in an early episode, the benign terminator Cameron prevents John from saving a suicidal girl, reasoning that he could draw attention to himself and risk getting exposed and drawing the attention of other terminators. The biggest example is Andy [[MeaningfulName Good]], an innocent computer engineer who will one day invent [=SkyNet=], who gets shot (though Sarah's pretty upset about it).

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Jack Harkness has taken up this role quite a few times, starting with [[spoiler:giving a child to [[FairFolk evil fairies]] to keep them from murdering innocents in "Small Worlds"]] and going up to [[spoiler:sacrificing his own grandson in order to save millions of other children in ''Children of Earth'']].

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': Ironic reversal: had Gabrielle saving her potentially-future-demonic-minion infant daughter Hope by ''not'' killing her in secret. Later events strongly indicate she probably should have.

** This is Sam's character arc for season 4. Even with how badly it turned out, his intentions were good. This happens again in season 6 when [[SoullessShell Sam temporarily loses his soul]] and is [[OurSoulsAreDifferent willing to do anything]] (including letting letting his brother get turned into a vampire) to get the job done.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': More like "Shoot the Werewolf" in "Heart". Madison is a sweet, engaging {{Girl of the Week}} but also a danger to herself and everyone around her. She asks Sam (who's slightly in love) to do it as he's the only one she trusts. Dean offers to do it but instead we hear a shot offscreen and end on Dean looking miserable and flinching.
** This is Sam's character arc for season 4. [[spoiler:Even with how badly it turned out, his intentions were good.]]

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': Happens quite a lot:
** The season 1 finale saw the sisters getting attacked by a demon who had a master of time on his side so that whenever the demon himself was killed by the sisters, [[GroundhogDayLoop the day would rewind and start over]]. The sisters discovered that the only way to stop this was to allow the day to end without vanquishing the demon. Prue cast a spell to fast forward the rest of the day but it meant letting Andy die as he had sacrificed himself to save the sisters in the third version of the day (Phoebe and Piper had died in the previous two versions instead).
** The episode "A Witch In Time" had Phoebe getting a premonition of her boyfriend dying in a robbery and she saved him, only for the [[BalancingDeathsBooks Angel of Death to keep trying to kill him]] that resulted in her and Paige being killed by demons. Piper went back in time and was forced to give Phoebe the wrong directions during the robbery so that her boyfriend would be killed this time.
** Phoebe's rebellious high school self eventually took over her and she busted an old school friend out of prison and he went on a rampage, using her powers to his advantage. Once the cops were after him again, he ordered her to change his appearance magically. She and Paige made him look like Chris who was being hunted by demons. The demons then appeared and killed the man, thinking him to be Chris.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': The crew, consistently and awesomely due to this show being DarkerAndEdgier than its parent show. For example, Wesley torturing a female druggie, Angel allowing Darla and Drusilla to kill a lot of Wolfram & Hart employees, and anything the recurring villain Holtz ever does.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Has several examples:
** Section 31 is a secret group in Starfleet, which [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans performs rather shady actions while giving Starfleet plausible deniability]]. Suspicious fans wondered if this was LampshadeHanging to explain how the on-screen portrayal of the Federation became less idealistic over time.
** "In the Pale Moonlight": Garak and Sisko hatch a morally ambiguous plot to frame the Dominion for plotting an attack on the Romulan Empire. This plot was recognised as a fake by a Romulan Senator who was [[spoiler:promptly murdered by Garak]]. Though angry at first, Sisko eventually came to grudgingly accept that it was a necessity. While some fans consider this to be one of the best episodes in the entire series, others interpret Sisko's attitude at the end of the episode as StupidGood: Garak did what Sisko's plan logically led to, but Sisko kept clinging to a vision of himself that was incompatible with what he actually wanted -- Romulan intervention in the war to save Earth and the Federation. Then again, Garak explicitly calls him on this ("That's why you brought me in remember?") and points out that the self-respect of one Star Fleet officer (plus a few not-so-innocent dogs getting shot) is well worth it as a cost for saving their entire region of the galaxy from the Dominion in the long-run.
** Another ''Deep Space Nine'' episode, "Body Parts", features Quark hiring Garak to commit murder.
--->'''Rom:''' You're hiring Garak to kill Brunt?
--->'''Quark:''' No, I'm hiring him to kill me.
** Garak spends the whole series carrying a fully loaded dog-rifle, just waiting for the right moment to use it.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Has an episode in the third season where Archer [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique tosses a man into an airlock and then drains the air to torture him for information]]. Another episode had them commit an act of piracy in desperation later in the season.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': Ironic reversal: had Gabrielle saving her potentially-future-demonic-minion infant daughter Hope by ''not'' killing her in secret. Later events strongly indicate she probably should have.
** Later events also give the impression that it might not have worked ([[spoiler:she came back from being poisoned and the body burned, after all]]) ''and'' that Gabrielle might have been correct all along: Hope clearly cared for her mother and was hurt about being abandoned. Perhaps being brought up by a loving parent to teach her right from wrong might have done some good. Or perhaps not. Regardless, secretly not-killing her clearly didn't help.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Jack Bauer has been called upon to do this sort of thing numerous times during the series run, often to create plausible deniability for higher-ups during times when he's not officially on CTU's payroll. Examples include executing and beheading a witness in a criminal prosecution (to get undercover with the man he was to rat out); staging the execution of a captured terrorist's children (to get him to talk); breaking the ringleader of a drug cartel out of a maximum security prison (to intercept a bio-weapon his cartel was about to buy); threatening to expose a terrorist's innocent daughter to a fatal virus (to make him talk); threatening to kill a suspect whose lawyer had exempted him from questioning (again, to make him talk); invading the Chinese consulate and kidnapping a Chinese national, and sacrificing his lover's estranged husband (who [[TakingTheBullet took a bullet]] for Jack early in the day) to save said national, ultimately ending up in a Chinese prison for it (to insulate the US government from reprisal); and hijacking Marine One and ''holding the President hostage'' (to get a confession of the crimes he'd committed). He also does shoot a dog, but that was in self defence.
** His shooting dead of [[spoiler:Nina Myers]] in Season 3, on the other hand, was plain revenge-fuelled murder.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': In the episode "Rage," Olivia shoots the perp engaged in a [[ItsPersonal personal battle]] of wills and wits with Elliot because she knew he wanted Elliot to shoot him since IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'': Has made this an almost weekly theme. Laura Roslin and Saul Tigh are the show's unquestioned champions - the former going so far as to kidnap and fake the death of a newborn unbeknownst to her parents and the latter going so far as to poison his own wife in order to give her a peaceful death after she was caught collaborating with the Cylons. (Probably the kindest thing he could have done, seeing what happens to ''other'' collaborators in the very next episode.) [[spoiler:Reports of her death might have been exaggerated.]]
** Al-Queda-style suicide bombing and planned genocide via biological weapon!
** Canine execution via firearms starts up in the pilot miniseries and just keeps on going. Leaving behind ships that can't jump to FTL and Helo gunning down a man trying to jump onto an already-full Raptor are just two of the ugly decisions characters make. And [[FromBadToWorse things get worse as the series progresses.]]
** Things get pretty dark pretty fast on that show.

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Jack Harkness has taken up this role quite a few times, starting with [[spoiler:giving a child to [[FairFolk evil fairies]] to keep them from murdering innocents in "Small Worlds"]] and going up to [[spoiler:sacrificing his own grandson in order to save millions of other children in ''Children of Earth'']].
** A couple of more literal examples in killing Suzie and Lisa. Jack is very Needs of the Many guy.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Happens at least twice. Both times, it's a member of SG-1 killing someone dear to Daniel and explaining "IDidWhatIHadToDo".
** In the first episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Shepherd has to kill [[spoiler: his CO]] after the latter has the life sucked out of him by a Wraith.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': This show is full of this. Then again, every race and every individual in Babspace is a MagnificentBastard -- even the heroes are like this at times.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': More like "Shoot the Werewolf" in "Heart". Madison is a sweet, engaging {{Girl of the Week}} but also a danger to herself and everyone around her. She asks Sam (who's slightly in love) to do it as he's the only one she trusts. Dean offers to do it but instead we hear a shot offscreen and end on Dean looking miserable and flinching.
** This is Sam's character arc for season 4. [[spoiler:Even with how badly it turned out, his intentions were good.]]

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Played with in the episode "The Man in the Cell". Bad guy Epps goes over the balcony rail, Booth lunges and [[TakeMyHand catches his wrist]], there's a long moment (and some really creepy dialogue from Epps)... and then Epps is street pizza. Did Booth let go or not? This turns into a sub-arc over the next few episodes.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}: Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'': Finds a new dog to shoot in virtually every episode (as could be expected, given the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt consequences of failure]] and the presence of an emotionless android and a paranoid future soldier in the regular cast). For instance, in an early episode, the benign terminator Cameron prevents John from saving a suicidal girl, reasoning that he could draw attention to himself and risk getting exposed and drawing the attention of other terminators. The biggest example is Andy [[MeaningfulName Good]], an innocent computer engineer who will one day invent [=SkyNet=], who gets shot (though Sarah's pretty upset about it).
** In the episode "The Brothers of Nablus," Cameron guns down three thieves who stole from their house, simply because they knew where the Connors lived. [[spoiler: Sarah spares the last robber, who was hiding in the bathroom. Cromartie eventually comes along and susses the location of the Connor's house from him.]]
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': In one episode, Vila orders a pro-Federation surgeon to operate on a fellow rebel at gunpoint, then says that Blake isn't the sort of person to do this. [[spoiler: Then a few minutes later, Blake subverts this trope by [[BewareTheNiceOnes threatening to cripple the surgeon's hands if he delays any longer]].]]

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In "Prime Factors" Voyager's crew come across a race of aliens who have the technology to get them home, but who refuse to help them. A faction within their society agrees to covertly give them the technology in exchange for Voyager's library (stories being used as currency). However the transaction is illegal and Janeway refuses on principle. Some of the more militant crewmembers decide otherwise, only to be busted by Security Chief Tuvok, who then proceeds to make the exchange himself.
-->'''Janeway''': I don't even know where to start. I want you to explain to me how you, of all people, could be involved in this.
-->'''Tuvok''': It is quite simple, Captain. You have made it clear on many occasions that your highest goal for the crew is to get them home. But in this instance, your standards would not allow you to violate Sikaran law. Someone had to spare you the ethical dilemma. I was the logical choice, and so I chose to act.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In the season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Michael has to kill Victor. It's partly a MercyKill, since Victor says that the people who're after them will take him apart if they get him, but it's mostly just an expedient move for Michael in order to get closer to the people who burned him. Considering Victor was trying to kill Michael up until about halfway through this episode]], it's a TearJerker. Especially since the good guys have gone out of their way to avoid directly killing ''anyone'' after ten minutes into the first episode.
** And in the season 3 episode "The Long Way Back", [[spoiler:Michael shoots his "partner" Strickler, upon finding out that he had arranged for Fiona to be kidnapped and handed over to any one of the various people who wanted her dead, simply because she was a potential red flag in Michael's file. Strickler had already pulled a gun on him at that point, and was not particularly inclined to let Michael do anything to prevent the plan from going through.]]
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Gibbs shooting through Agent [[spoiler: Michelle Lee]] to take out [[spoiler: the Weatherman]].
** [[spoiler: And she asked him to do it!]] Complete TearJerker, right there.
* ''AshesToAshes'': Season 2 sees Gene Hunt shoot the dog.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Mal is the rare lead character who never needs a side character to shoot the dog for him. He's more than willing to kill someone to protect his crew, and he does it on multiple occasions, even when killing them isn't strictly necessary.
** ''In regards to the following three examples, it should probably be said that every single time Mal Shoots The Dog he is doing so because his patience level has reached Zero. Each time you can almost hear him say; "I don't have time for your Húshuō bādào."''.
** In the pilot, he shoots Dobson (a federal agent) in the face without hesitation because Dobson was threatening River.
** In ''The Train Job'', he kicks the KingMook into Serenity's engines-- shredding the man into a mist of blood-- because he threatened to hunt them down over a deal gone bad.
** In ''The Message'', he shoots Tracy for trying to take Kaylee hostage, when a simple explanation of the situation would have solved everything. But would Tracy have listened?
** The culmination of Mal's "Shoot the Dog for the crew" mentality is shown in ''Ariel'' where he fully intends to space ''one of his own crew'' for trying to sell out two others for reward money.
* ''Series/{{House}}'': Had its doctors treat an Idi Amin-analogue called Dbala. Cameron says repeatedly that she hopes he dies, and makes moves toward convincing his second-in-command to seize power by killing him, but still treats him as best she can. [[spoiler: Then her husband Chase instinctively calls out a warning that thwarts an assassin. Later, he hears the assassin's backstory (and some of the dictator's genocidal rant), and decides he can't live with having saved this monster's life, so he fakes a test result, deliberately causing the dictator's death, which eventually causes Cameron to leave him and PPTH.]]
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Has Crais offering to execute Aeryn's mother (who was sent to hunt them down and kill them) after they capture her so Aeryn doesn't have to witness it. He doesn't actually 'shoot the dog', he fakes it and offers a proposal to Aeryn's mom where she returns to the Peacekeepers and says the job is done in exchange for her life. Technically averted...
** No, that's technically a DoubleSubversion. In a later episode, Crais DOES shoot Aeryn's mother to save Aeryn's life. Which is exactly the kinda material this trope is made of.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'': Ends season 3 with Bartlet reluctantly ordering the assassination of terrorist leader and foreign diplomat Abdul Shareef. Bartlet sees this as an absolute wrong, but flawed evidence gathering prevents them from putting him on trial, and Leo convinces him that it's the only way to prevent future terrorist attacks.
* ''Series/{{Merlin-1998}}'': In this series, Merlin helps Uther rape Igraine by deceit, reasoning that it will stop the war, save many lives, and result in Arthur's birth.
** In the new BBC ''{{Series/Merlin}}'', Merlin is forced to [[spoiler: poison Morgana, who he has been lying to about her magic and hiding his own from, because she is the vessel for a curse that has caused all of Camelot to fall into a sleep they cannot awaken from. Admittedly, his hand was forced by Kilgharrah the dragon and Morgause only made things worse, but up until that point, he had viewed Morgana as a great friend and there was even a little bit of romance between them. He also betrayed the location of a Druid camp that he'd led Morgana to in hopes that she would learn more about her magic because Uther was hunting down innocent people and killing them to find her. This also kickstarted Mordred's hatred of Merlin.]]
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': John Watson shoots the murderer in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': [[spoiler:Jesse is forced to kill Gail in order to prevent Walter's execution.]] When he tries to talk about his reaction to the incident at [[spoiler:rehab]], he even states that he was forced to put down a dog.
** Then in Season 5/Episode 5, [[spoiler:Todd shoots the boy on the dirt bike.]]
* ''Bangkok Hilton'': In the backstory, Hal Stanton thwarted a plan by Allied soldiers to escape from a Japanese POW camp in Thailand, as he knew that their captors would execute two prisoners for every one that escaped, a factor that the escapees refused to take into account. The worst part? If he had let them go, the war would have been over before any reprisals would have happened.

* Happens quite a lot in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'':

* The crew in ''Series/{{Angel}}'', consistently and awesomely due to this show being DarkerAndEdgier than its parent show. For example, Wesley torturing a female druggie, Angel allowing Darla and Drusilla to kill a lot of Wolfram & Hart employees, and anything the recurring villain Holtz ever does.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has several examples:

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' also has an episode in the third season where Archer [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique tosses a man into an airlock and then drains the air to torture him for information]]. Another episode had them commit an act of piracy in desperation later in the season.
* Ironic reversal: ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' had Gabrielle saving her potentially-future-demonic-minion infant daughter Hope by ''not'' killing her in secret. Later events strongly indicate she probably should have.

* Jack Bauer on ''Series/TwentyFour'' has been called upon to do this sort of thing numerous times during the series run, often to create plausible deniability for higher-ups during times when he's not officially on CTU's payroll. Examples include executing and beheading a witness in a criminal prosecution (to get undercover with the man he was to rat out); staging the execution of a captured terrorist's children (to get him to talk); breaking the ringleader of a drug cartel out of a maximum security prison (to intercept a bio-weapon his cartel was about to buy); threatening to expose a terrorist's innocent daughter to a fatal virus (to make him talk); threatening to kill a suspect whose lawyer had exempted him from questioning (again, to make him talk); invading the Chinese consulate and kidnapping a Chinese national, and sacrificing his lover's estranged husband (who [[TakingTheBullet took a bullet]] for Jack early in the day) to save said national, ultimately ending up in a Chinese prison for it (to insulate the US government from reprisal); and hijacking Marine One and ''holding the President hostage'' (to get a confession of the crimes he'd committed). He also does shoot a dog, but that was in self defence.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' has made this an almost weekly theme. Laura Roslin and Saul Tigh are the show's unquestioned champions - the former going so far as to kidnap and fake the death of a newborn unbeknownst to her parents and the latter going so far as to poison his own wife in order to give her a peaceful death after she was caught collaborating with the Cylons. (Probably the kindest thing he could have done, seeing what happens to ''other'' collaborators in the very next episode.) [[spoiler:Reports of her death might have been exaggerated.]]

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor has often found himself taking this role; it's especially become a character trait in his ninth and tenth incarnations. Instances include, in "Dalek" sealing his companion in a bunker with a Dalek in order to prevent the Dalek from escaping, and drowning the ''children'' of a GiantSpider [[HiveQueen Empress]] in "The Runaway Bride" rather than letting them devour the Earth.

* Jack Harkness on ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' has taken up this role quite a few times, starting with [[spoiler:giving a child to [[FairFolk evil fairies]] to keep them from murdering innocents in "Small Worlds"]] and going up to [[spoiler:sacrificing his own grandson in order to save millions of other children in ''Children of Earth'']].

* Happens at least twice in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Both times, it's a member of SG-1 killing someone dear to Daniel and explaining "IDidWhatIHadToDo".

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' is full of this. Then again, every race and every individual in Babspace is a MagnificentBastard -- even the heroes are like this at times.
* More like "Shoot the Werewolf" in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'s'' "Heart". Madison is a sweet, engaging {{Girl of the Week}} but also a danger to herself and everyone around her. She asks Sam (who's slightly in love) to do it as he's the only one she trusts. Dean offers to do it but instead we hear a shot offscreen and end on Dean looking miserable and flinching.

* Played with in the ''{{Series/Bones}}'' episode "The Man in the Cell". Bad guy Epps goes over the balcony rail, Booth lunges and [[TakeMyHand catches his wrist]], there's a long moment (and some really creepy dialogue from Epps)... and then Epps is street pizza. Did Booth let go or not? This turns into a sub-arc over the next few episodes.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}: Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'' finds a new dog to shoot in virtually every episode (as could be expected, given the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt consequences of failure]] and the presence of an emotionless android and a paranoid future soldier in the regular cast). For instance, in an early episode, the benign terminator Cameron prevents John from saving a suicidal girl, reasoning that he could draw attention to himself and risk getting exposed and drawing the attention of other terminators. The biggest example is Andy [[MeaningfulName Good]], an innocent computer engineer who will one day invent [=SkyNet=], who gets shot (though Sarah's pretty upset about it).

* In one ''Series/BlakesSeven'' episode, Vila orders a pro-Federation surgeon to operate on a fellow rebel at gunpoint, then says that Blake isn't the sort of person to do this. [[spoiler: Then a few minutes later, Blake subverts this trope by [[BewareTheNiceOnes threatening to cripple the surgeon's hands if he delays any longer]].]]
* There's an episode of ''Series/PieInTheSky'' where WPC Cambridge arrests an old police friend of Crabbe who's guilty of taking a bribe, to spare Crabbe from having to do so.

* Lionel and Lex Luthor have both done this at some point during ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' although in the most iconic cases of both, [[TheDogShotFirst they were protecting someone else]].

* In the ''Series/BurnNotice'' season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Michael has to kill Victor. It's partly a MercyKill, since Victor says that the people who're after them will take him apart if they get him, but it's mostly just an expedient move for Michael in order to get closer to the people who burned him. Considering Victor was trying to kill Michael up until about halfway through this episode]], it's a TearJerker. Especially since the good guys have gone out of their way to avoid directly killing ''anyone'' after ten minutes into the first episode.

* Gibbs shooting through Agent [[spoiler: Michelle Lee]] to take out [[spoiler: the Weatherman]] in ''{{Series/NCIS}}''.

* Season 2 of ''AshesToAshes'' sees Gene Hunt shoot the dog.
* Mal of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is the rare lead character who never needs a side character to shoot the dog for him. He's more than willing to kill someone to protect his crew, and he does it on multiple occasions, even when killing them isn't strictly necessary.

* Series/{{House}} had its doctors treat an Idi Amin-analogue called Dbala. Cameron says repeatedly that she hopes he dies, and makes moves toward convincing his second-in-command to seize power by killing him, but still treats him as best she can. [[spoiler: Then her husband Chase instinctively calls out a warning that thwarts an assassin. Later, he hears the assassin's backstory (and some of the dictator's genocidal rant), and decides he can't live with having saved this monster's life, so he fakes a test result, deliberately causing the dictator's death, which eventually causes Cameron to leave him and PPTH.]]
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has Crais offering to execute Aeryn's mother (who was sent to hunt them down and kill them) after they capture her so Aeryn doesn't have to witness it. He doesn't actually 'shoot the dog', he fakes it and offers a proposal to Aeryn's mom where she returns to the Peacekeepers and says the job is done in exchange for her life. Technically averted...
** No, technically [[DoubleSubversion doubly subverted]]. In a later episode, Crais DOES shoot Aeryn's mother to save Aeryn's life. Which is exactly the kinda material this trope is made of.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'' ends season 3 with Bartlet reluctantly ordering the assassination of terrorist leader and foreign diplomat Abdul Shareef. Bartlet sees this as an absolute wrong, but flawed evidence gathering prevents them from putting him on trial, and Leo convinces him that it's the only way to prevent future terrorist attacks.
* In the ''{{Series/Merlin-1998}}'' series, Merlin helps Uther rape Igraine by deceit, reasoning that it will stop the war, save many lives, and result in Arthur's birth.

* John Watson in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' shoots the murderer in the first episode to stop Sherlock from giving into his ego and eating a pill that has a 50/50 chance of killing him.
* In the second ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Spock recommends that Gary Mitchell be killed before his [[AGodAmI growing power]] gets completely out of hand. Kirk initially rejects the suggestion in favor of merely marooning Mitchell, but finally realizes that he has no choice (and almost gets killed himself because he hesitates the first time he has an opportunity to go through with it).
* Done straight in ''Series/TheWire'' Season Three where Cheese shoots his dog and the police mistake it as code and question him if he killed any of the murders that have been happening.
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', [[spoiler:Jesse is forced to kill Gail in order to prevent Walter's execution.]] When he tries to talk about his reaction to the incident at [[spoiler:rehab]], he even states that he was forced to put down a dog.

* In the backstory of ''Bangkok Hilton'', Hal Stanton thwarted a plan by Allied soldiers to escape from a Japanese POW camp in Thailand, as he knew that their captors would execute two prisoners for every one that escaped, a factor that the escapees refused to take into account. The worst part? If he had let them go, the war would have been over before any reprisals would have happened.