History SmugSnake / LiveACtionTV

** To those he has power over, [[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon King Joffrey Baratheon]] is abusive, threatening, and shamelessly overconfident. However, the instant that someone actually stands up to him, he shows off the cringing coward he truly is.

** While Cersei is indeed a somewhat competent/lucky schemer, she is not as brilliant as she thinks herself to be, and her self-entitlement, pettiness, and overconfidence often render her blindsided, and she always struggles to grasp that she's in over her head when she has been outplayed. Her own father dresses her down for it.

** Theon is accused of this by so many people (Tyrion, Ros, Osha, Maester Luwin, Balon, Yara) because of his hostage status that his InferioritySuperiorityComplex and his desire to prove himself lead him to terrible decisions, thereby proving them right.
** For all his cunning, Ramsay has a pretty inflated opinion of his own intelligence and importance compared to his father. Consider that ''all'' of the people he's terrorized and tortured were unarmed and incapable of fighting back: the Ironborn at Winterfell surrendered in good faith, the civilians at Winterfell when he torched it and put them to the sword, torturing Theon while Theon's chained up in his dungeons, hunting ''unarmed girls'' for sport while armed with a bow and hunting dogs, and then massacring the Greyjoy garrison at Moat Cailin (again, ''after'' they surrendered). He's a capable fighter on a personal level, but he's never won an actual "battle" (apart from turning back Yara's Leeroy Jenkins-style sneak raid on the Dreadfort, invented for the TV show; even this wasn't a full-scale attack but only 50 men against an entire castle garrison, relying on the element of surprise, which soon evaporated). Ramsay genuinely thinks that flaying unarmed girls alive who are chained up in his dungeon makes him "cunning" -- but any idiot can pull the wings off a fly.
** To those he has power over, Joffrey is abusive, threatening, and shamelessly overconfident. However, the instant that someone actually stands up to him, he shows off the cringing coward he truly is.

** Littlefinger ''is'' a ManipulativeBastard, but because he's so used to being able to manipulate others, he tends to flounder when his manipulations come up short, and, being a NonActionGuy, this doesn't go well when he doesn't have hired muscle at his back. ''Cersei'' managed to turn this on him when he antagonizes her, and she (and her guards) make it clear she could cut his throat at her whim if she truly wanted to. In Season 7, [[spoiler: it gets him killed by the hands of the Starks.]]

** Many Cardassians are also Smug Snakes. Dukat is one, through and through while fancying himself a MagnificentBastard. Just listening to him talk about how he feels the Bajorans should have loved him like a father while he oversaw their enslavement and the strip-mining of their world, is disgusting to the series' protagonists and highly amusing to Weyoun. Dukat even has moments where he is on the side of the heroes [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor until]] he takes an opportunity to serve himself to everyone else's detriment.

* ''Series/{{Camelot}}'': In this Starz TV series, Merlin comes across as a condescending, ill-tempered, and unpleasant character in contrast to his EndearinglyDorky counterpart in ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. The Sword in the Stone was just a ruse staged by him to trick the people of Camelot into accepting Arthur as their king. Merlin has a {{Yandere}}-like obsession with Arthur, believing him to be the indisputable ruler of the land, even though this Arthur is portrayed as a [[{{Wangst}} whiny]], [[SmallNameBigEgo self-centered]] {{Jerkass}}. Merlin has nothing but contempt for the people of Britain, describing them as "a chorus of fools". His nemesis, [[EvilIsSexy Lady Morgan]], on the other hand is a thoroughly [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]], and at one point he ends up being towed behind her carriage with a rope around his wrists, resulting in a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

** ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'': Drew Lansing (a.k.a. Kamen Rider Torque), one of BigBad General Xaviax's lieutenants, fancies himself both an expert manipulator and fighter. Eventually, he proves lacking in both areas.

** While Cersei is indeed a somewhat competent/lucky schemer, she is not as brilliant as she thinks herself to be and her self-entitlement, pettiness, and overconfidence often renders her blindsided, and she always struggles to grasp that she's in over her head when she has been outplayed. Her own father dresses her down for it.

*** During her dinner with Tyrion in "The Prince of Winterfell", she gloats over the fact that she's holding Tyrion's whore hostage, while both Tyrion and the viewers know she's got the wrong woman altogether. Not that that makes Tyrion any less pissed at her contemptible behavior.
*** Despite considering herself a keen player in the game of thrones, none of her plans ever truly succeed. Indeed, in most cases, her actions end up backfiring on her horribly, particularly her plan to rule Westeros behind the scenes while Joffrey sat on the throne. The most Cersei ever appears to achieve are very small, petty victories over people much less powerful than her, and that desire for short-lived sense of satisfaction irrespective of whether it actually improves her position or accomplishes anything in the long run is textbook Smug Snake.
*** At the end of Season 6, while she does eventually manage to outmanoeuvre her enemies to become crowned Queen, but this isn't exactly the glorious triumph it might otherwise seem to be, and she probably shouldn't be trading in this trope for a MagnificentBastard crown just yet.
** Viserys' snide and superior attitude is totally at odds with his bratty, bullying behaviour. He acts like he is a King before he even has an army...or anything, for that matter. When Daenerys finally stands up to him, he has a VillainousBreakdown.

** For all his cunning, Ramsay has a pretty inflated opinion of his own intelligence and importance compared to his father. Consider that ''all'' of the people he's terrorized and tortured were unarmed and incapable of fighting back: the Ironborn at Winterfell surrendered in good faith, the civilians at Winterfell when he torched it and put them to the sword, torturing Theon while chained up in his dungeons, hunting ''unarmed girls'' for sport while armed with a bow and hunting dogs, and then massacring the Greyjoy garrison at Moat Cailin (again, ''after'' they surrendered). He's a capable fighter on a personal level, but he's never won an actual "battle" (apart from turning back Yara's Leeroy Jenkins-style sneak raid on the Dreadfort, invented for the TV show; even this wasn't a full scale attack but only 50 men against an entire castle garrison, relying on the element of surprise, which soon evaporated). Ramsay genuinely thinks that flaying unarmed girls alive who are chained up in his dungeon makes him "cunning" -- but any idiot can pull the wings off a fly.

** Qhono sneers in Tyrion's face about Lannister's men weakness.
** Littlefinger ''is'' a ManipulativeBastard, but because he's so used to being able to manipulate others, he tends to flounder when his manipulations come up short and being a NonActionGuy this doesn't go well when he doesn't have hired muscle at his back. ''Cersei'' managed to turn this on him when he antagonizes her and she (and her guards) make it clear she could cut his throat at her whim if she truly wanted to. In Season 7, [[spoiler:it gets him killed by the hands of the Starks.]]
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'': Not only does Lisa Niles fit this to a T, she gets bonus points for being a total psycho. She seriously believed that killing Robin would make Patrick fall in love with her. All her attempts to off Robin failed. [[spoiler: Most recently, Lisa fell into a coma after accidentally sticking herself with a syringe full of toxic drain cleaner that she meant to use on Robin.]]

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Dr. Frank Burns is this. His replacement, Dr. Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III, is the king of this trope. If one needs proof, watch "An Eye for a Tooth", and notice the ending.

* ''Series/NineteenFortyOne'': In a series filled with sadistic Nazi and fascistic antagonists, Weissman stands out for his pettiness and faux affability. When Walter realizes his beloved Dasha has been sentenced to hang, Weissman is ''reveling'' in Walter's torment.

* ''Prince Amongst Men'': This is why this short-lived BBC sitcom didn't work -- the title character was a Smug Snake, when he needed to be a MagnificentBastard. Not only that, but the creators missed the point that we sympathize with, for example, Blackadder because the world really does seem out to get him and he's just fighting back. Gary Prince's world seemed to be [[KarmaHoudini incredibly on his side]], to the point where he was a JerkSue.

* ''Series/{{Frontier}}'': Captain Chesterfield is both quite arrogant and desperate for recognition while scheming to become the Governor of Fort James. While he eventually succeeds at that specific goal, many of his other schemes fail due to his own bumbling leadership. It's also clear that Lord Benton, while no less arrogant than his former subordinate, is a [[TheChessmaster far more cunning threat]], forcing Chesterfield into an eventual EnemyMine with Declan Harp.

* Series/NineteenFortyOne: In a series filled with sadistic Nazi and fascistic antagonists, Weissman stands out for his pettiness and faux affability. When Walter realizes his beloved Dasha has been sentenced to hang, Weissman is ''reveling'' in Walter's torment.

** Lilah Morgan was a true MagnificentBastard, but eventually she had to die and be replaced, and that replacement was Eve. As ThePoorMansSubstitute for Lilah, Eve inevitably came off as a Smug Snake, but the writers seemed to realize this, and put her through a series of events that had the effect of [[BreakTheCutie breaking the cutie]].
** Lilah herself only slowly evolved into a MagnificentBastard; earlier in the show she was definitely a Smug Snake, even ending up with a promotion -- and thus her life -- solely because Lindsey contemptuously tossed it away.
** The true SmugSnake in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' was Gavin Park. Gavin believed himself to be the next Lindsey [=McDonald=], a MagnificentBastard who could arguably be called Angel's {{Archenemy}} (well, ''he'' would argue that he could), but he just wasn't the man, lawyer or villain that he'd replaced. Nevertheless, Gavin managed to do some damage to Angel Investigations thanks to LoopholeAbuse

* ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'': While we're on the subject of ''Franchise/KamenRider'', this trope would not be complete without mention of Houjou. He spends the entire series trying to undermine the G3 crew in multiple ways, from guile-ing his way into becoming the G3 Operator, to proposing a competing powered armor system, to trying to capture Agito ''just'' to render G3 obsolete. The worst part is, every time he gets shut down, he only seems to get ''worse.''
* ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'': Drew Lansing (a.k.a. Kamen Rider Torque), one of BigBad General Xaviax's lieutenants, fancies himself both an expert manipulator and fighter. Eventually, he proves lacking in both areas.

* ''Series/{{Camelot}}'': In this Starz TV series, Merlin comes across as a condescending, ill-tempered and unpleasant character, in contrast to his lovably dorky counterpart in ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. The Sword in the Stone was just a ruse staged by him to trick the people of Camelot into accepting Arthur as their king. Merlin has a {{Yandere}}-like obsession with Arthur, believing him to be the indisputable ruler of the land, even though this Arthur is portrayed as a [[{{Wangst}} whiny]], [[SmallNameBigEgo self-centered]] {{Jerkass}}. Merlin has nothing but contempt for the people of Britain, describing them as "a chorus of fools". His nemesis, [[EvilIsSexy Lady Morgan]], on the other hand is a thoroughly [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]], and at one point he ends up being towed behind her carriage with a rope around his wrists, resulting in a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Almost every single antagonist, be it terrorist or whoever arrives to CSU that season to play "TyrantTakesTheHelm". As an example, Hiram Bauer--the fact that he's Jack's father makes him believe that he will be let go for being a terrorist mastermind, or will be BeneathSuspicion to Jack. Not so much...

** Lilah herself only slowly evolved into a MagnificentBastard; earlier in the show she was definitely a Smug Snake, even ending up with a promotion - and thus her life - solely because Lindsey contemptuously tossed it away.

** Spike was this through Season 2 up to Season 6 (and a little of S7, at times). As a villain though, particularly in Season 4, he had several bouts of incompetence, viewed by the characters as [[BigBadWannabe more of a pest than a diabolical villain]].

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': Conrad Ecklie, at least for the first half or so of the show. He's TheRival to Grissom and is only in the law enforcement business for money and glory; in an early appearance he worked to get Nick convicted of the murder of his HookerWithAHeartOfGold girlfriend, even though the woman's pimp was a more likely suspect, just to piss Grissom off. He changes in the season 5 finale after his actions to split up Grissom's team lead to one of them being horrifically tortured.

** Plenty of villains from the classic series, including [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan Mavic Chen]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon Soldeed]], qualify — the two mentioned are both overconfident and both only ''think'' they have control over their respective VillainOfTheWeek, when said villains are obviously playing them like harps.

*** Henry van Statten is a CorruptCorporateExecutive and BadBoss with an unbelievably callous disregard for the lives of his security personnel, who are massacred by the Dalek as van Statten, seeing it as the prize of his [[CollectorOfTheStrange collection]], yells at them not to shoot at it because he doesn't want a scratch on its bodywork. In addition, he has a truly ''massive'' ego. All of this makes him incredibly unlikeable, and [[spoiler:his subordinates overthrowing him at the end very satisfying.]]

** For all his cunning, Ramsay has a pretty inflated opinion of his own intelligence and importance compared to his father. Consider that ''all'' of the people he's terrorized and tortured were unarmed and incapable of fighting back: the Ironborn at Winterfell surrendered in good faith, the civilians at Winterfell when he torched it and put them to the sword, torturing Theon while chained up in his dungeons, hunting ''unarmed girls'' for sport while armed with a bow and hunting dogs, and then massacring the Greyjoy garrison at Moat Cailin (again, ''after'' they surrendered). He's a capable fighter on a personal level, but he's never won an actual "battle" (apart from turning back Yara's Leeroy Jenkins-style sneak raid on the Dreadfort, invented for the TV show; even this wasn't a full scale attack but only 50 men against an entire castle garrison, relying on the element of surprise, which soon evaporated). Ramsay genuinely thinks that flaying unarmed girls alive who are chained up in his dungeon makes him "cunning" - but any idiot can pull the wings off a fly.

* ''Series/GoldRush'': Dakota Fred easily qualifies, acting like a douchebag when working with the Hoffmans in the first season, then backstabbing them and buying the claim out from under them in season 2, forcing them to find another site to mine.

* ''Series/HawaiiFive0'': Marco Reyes in season 5. This Colombian drug lord thinks it is a good idea to kidnap Danny's brother Matt, and asks Danno for the money Matt Williams has stolen from him. Every time he interacts with Danno, a notoriously hot-blooded Five-0 officer, it's with a smug smirk on his face -- which get him punched in the gut a few times. [[spoiler:When Danny and [=McGarret=] finally bring him the money, he gives back Matt -- inside a barrel. And Reyes doesn't even bother eliminating Danny, despite the later swearing he'd kill him, thinking threatening his daughter is enough to insure safety. Danny and [=McGarret=] promptly overpower his bodyguards, and Danno puts a bullet in Reyes's head.]]

** Eric Doyle, the creepy puppet-master from season 3 also qualifies. Creepy and smarmy, he's the kind of villain audiences just love to hate.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Many, many, villains of the week, because the team specializes in taking down people who are clever enough to work themselves into positions where they can do real damage and confident enough that they ''think'' the law can't touch them - but who aren't smart enough to avoid falling for the team's schemes.

* ''Series/MurderOne'': Malcolm Dietrich in season two was a very, very obvious attempt to replicate the magic the show had with Richard Cross, the MagnificentBastard from the first season. For whatever reason it just didn't work, though undoubtedly at least part of this was due to not being able to score as good an actor as Stanley Tucci, who had played Cross.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Root exemplifies this trope in season 2. She is undoubtedly intelligent and pulls of an incredible BatmanGambit in the finale of season 1, in which she puts out a contract on herself so that she can get close to [[TheSmartGuy Finch]], knowing that [[VigilanteMan Reese]] would make a heroic stand and that she could eventually get close to Finch. However she makes the fatal mistake of [[UnderestimatingBadassery underestimating Reese's intelligence]], leading to her failure. Once she gains access to [[InstantAIJustAddWater The Machine]], she gets even worse, failing to plan ahead as she becomes reliant on The Machine doing it for her.

* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': Lester is a curious case, he starts off as an archetypal Smug Snake, but it's revealed that this is more an act than anything else. His awesome powers of [[DeadpanSnarker Sarcasm]] really shine through in season 2 when he's given his own SmugSnake nemesis in his [[EvilChancellor assistant]] and [[TheStarscream Starscream wannabe]], Leek and by season 3 his return from a TenMinuteRetirement is given a [[Awesome/{{Primeval}} Standing Ovation]], and yet all the time he retains his aura of smug self-satisfaction. A rare heroic Smug Snake perhaps.

** Brad Bellick in the season 1 practically embodies this trope. As a corrupt correctional officer, he certainly acts like a MagnificentBastard. He deals with former mob-boss Abruzzi, has a history of inmate abuse, insults T-Bag to his face and interrupts Michael's plans quite often. But at the same time, he's obnoxious, sleazy, importunate, and cowardly.
** Agent Kim from season 2 is another notorious example, lording and sneering over our heroes while being generally inept in almost all of his endeavors, then getting done in by the most unlikely of culprits.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': While not really a villain, new med student Cole in season 9 fits the bill. Due to his wealthy family contributing tons of money to the school, Cole sees himself as "untouchable" no matter what he does, always has a smug smile on his face and a smarmy tone in his voice, and is involved in an emotionally unhealthy relationship with [[TheWoobie Lucy]]. Recent developments indicate he may have [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a decent side to him]] but even this might be further manipulation.

** Kai Winn is the ''queen'' of Smug Snakes, especially in her first appearance. She and Weyoun actually meet and have a Smug-off in late season five.

** George Boleyn fancies himself as being cleverer than Cromwell. But when Henry accuses Cromwell--very loudly, in public--of being an untrustworthy schemer out only for himself, George can't resist visiting Cromwell to gloat about it and thus tipping him off about who put those words in Henry's mouth. He also falls neatly into a ReversePsychology trap when he's put on trial for treason by reading a page of insults about Henry that Cromwell tells him ''not'' to... only to realize that he's just taken ownership of the words and condemned himself.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': former lawyer Jeff Winger is aloof, sarcastic and condescending. However, forced to attend community college and coexist with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits... he is ''exactly'' the same after six seasons.

* ''Series/{{Camelot}}'': In this Starz TV series, Merlin comes across as a condescending, ill-tempered and unpleasant character, in contrast to his lovably {{Adorkable}} counterpart in ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. The Sword in the Stone was just a ruse staged by him to trick the people of Camelot into accepting Arthur as their king. Merlin has a {{Yandere}}-like obsession with Arthur, believing him to be the indisputable ruler of the land, even though this Arthur is portrayed as a [[{{Wangst}} whiny]], [[SmallNameBigEgo self-centered]] {{Jerkass}}. Merlin has nothing but contempt for the people of Britain, describing them as "a chorus of fools". His nemesis, [[EvilIsSexy Lady Morgan]], on the other hand is a thoroughly [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]], and at one point he ends up being towed behind her carriage with a rope around his wrists, resulting in a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

** Chloe Sullivan is a rare heroic example. She may be Adorkable, but her smirk and condescending attitude sometimes just make you want to reach through the television and punch her in the face. In "Truth," she temporarily gains the ability to compel people to tell her the truth about their secrets, instantly becomes Drunk with Power and starts prancing around the school with a smirk on her face as she casually forces hapless students to reveal their innermost secrets and then announces them to the entire school in the newest edition of the Torch. Actually lampshaded in-universe in Season 10. In the episode where Desaad attempts to corrupt Clark's allies by exploiting each of their greatest character flaws, Desaad (who can read minds) notes that Chloe's greatest character flaw is arrogance. That being said, Chloe is usually nice enough that it's forgivable. Plus, she still overcame that particular temptation.