History TheLancer / LiveACtionTV

* ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'': Hawk is this to Buck Rogers in the second season of this show.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Sam Axe.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': Warrick Brown fills this.
* ''Series/{{CSI Miami}}'': Ryan Wolfe has qualities of this. However, Eric Delko is a better example of the Lancer to Horatio's hero. Womanizer, leader, outgoing, and willing to take initiative on his own to further the team. Add to that he's completely loyal to Horatio.
* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'': Danny Messer.

* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'': Deputy Jo Lupo to Jack Carter.

* ''Hotel Babylon'': In this British series, the concierge Tony is a seasoned pro at the hotel business and very well-respected among his colleagues. When a general manager strays, he's usually one of the first to stand up for the good of the hotel or its staff and let a manager know he's going in the wrong direction.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': Detective Olivia Benson for Detective Elliot Stabler.
** With Stabler's departure, Benson has been moved up to TheHero and new addition Nick Amaro takes the role of Lancer.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'':
** Tony Dinozzo is The Lancer to Gibbs' leadership, though according to Ducky, Gibbs used to be much like Tony.
** In the rare episode where Tony is TheHero, Timothy [=McGee=] is the lancer.
** And even Abby, usually TheHeart, will go that way.

* ''Series/Numb3rs'': David is this to Don.
** At [=CalSci=] Larry is this to Charlie.

* ''Series/{{Parks and Recreation}}'': Ron Swanson and Ann Perkins take turns being Leslie Knope's lancer.

* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': Stephen Hart [[spoiler: later Abby Maitland]].

* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': Stephen Finch is this to TheHero Olivia Pope.

* ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'': Patrick Harper.

*** In Seasons 4 and 5, after they split from the main survivors and when the Oceanic Six leave the Island, Locke becomes TheLeader of his own faction with Sawyer as his Lancer. Locke is a straight-talking mystic who is searching for answers to the Island's mysteries, while Sawyer is a duplicitous ConMan who only cares about surviving and regards Locke's faith in the Island and its powers who skepticism. However, Sawyer grows to gain respect and UndyingLoyalty for Locke, promising to wait "as long as it takes" for Locke to return when he leaves the Island to bring back the Oceanic Six.

** Season 6 had the people on the island divided in two camps: Jacob's group and the Man in Black's group. Ben served this purpose to [[TheLeader Ilana]]/Jacob's group as of "Dr. Linus" (Ilana didn't really trust him earlier than that), while [[TookALevelInBadass Claire]] and [[FaceHeelTurn Sayid]] alternate to serve the Man in Black as this.
* ''{{Series/Mash}}'': Trapper John (Seasons 1-3) and B.J. (Seasons 4-11) serve as this to Hawkeye.

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': [[NominalHero Sherlock Holmes]] from this BBC TV series: NoSocialSkills; SurroundedByIdiots (according to him, at least); {{Byronic| Hero}}, CelibateHero; self-professed sociopath; NightmareFetishist. His Lancer and {{deuteragonist}}, John Watson: TheSocialExpert; the OnlySaneMan; DeadpanSnarker; occasional MoralityChain; occasional ButtMonkey; TheCharmer; UnfazedEveryman.
** Surprisingly, even though it DIDN'T happen, there was an uh-oh moment for Sherlock AND the viewers-when we see John with a bomb vest strapped to him. That would DEFINETELY be a "you've got to be kidding me" moment for a detective. Understandable, John ''is'' [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's best friend.]] No wonder the guy thinking [[OhCrap "Oh, man. I have got to get my best friend out of this mess."]] Than guess what happens? Despite the fact that [[BadassAdorable John]] has a BOMB VEST strapped to him (which, mind you would be pretty down-right creepy), he grabs on to [[AxeCrazy Moriarty]] and tells Sherlock to R-U-N, which basically MEANS he's offering his life! Whoa. Cue Buffy-speak from Sherlock when he's trying to compliment on John's bravery after that.
** John is Sherlock's assistant, and helps that John, of course, is [[FridgeBrilliance pretty smart in his own right.]]
** Also, if Sherlock [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim does something he REALLY doesn't want to do, it's for his friend's sake.]]
** And when [[OhCrap Sherlock finds out from]] [[BadassAdorable Mary]] [[NightmareFuel that John was thrown into a bonfire]] cue him doing something about it.
** Plus, he stops himself from being clinically dead for his friend.

** When Jack and five other survivors [[spoiler: leave the island]] in the Season 4 finale, Sawyer becomes TheLeader with Juliet as TheLancer. In fact, Juliet's "I have your back" to Sawyer and acting like she meant it became a pretty important part of Season 5 that leads to the two of them [[PairTheSpares getting together]].

** When Jack and five other survivors [[spoiler: leave the island]] in the Season 4 finale, Sawyer becomes TheLeader with Juliet as TheLancer. In fact, Juliet's "I have your back" to Sawyer and acting like she meant it became a pretty important part of Season 5 that leads to the two of them [[PairTheSpares getting together]].
** And talking about Jack's group in Season 5; Sayid, taking jobs for [[spoiler: [[TokenEvilTeammate Ben]]]] as an assassin, becomes TheBigGuy, which moved Kate to TheLancer of the group.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Locke and Sayid alternated on this role towards [[TheLeader Jack]] until Locke leaves the group in Season 4. Ana Lucia also served as this for a brief time in Season 2, before [[spoiler: she was killed by Michael.]]

** ''Series/ChouseishinGransazer'': Mika, Akira and Makoto all serve as Lancers to [[TheLeader Tenma]] to varying degrees. Mika has a more stern and responsible personality to contrast his impulsiveness, Akira is much calmer and more practical than Tenma, and Makoto starts off aloof and distrustful towards Tenma, although he eventually grows to acknowledge Tenma as leader.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': While he's not the first officer, Tuvok fulfills this role for Captain Janeway. He's calm and rational while Captain Janeway is usually very emotional. In later seasons, Seven of Nine plays the role.

** Cordelia was Interim Lancer between Doyle's death and Wesley's integration into the main cast, and was always Angel's real foil, despite being TheChick throughout.

* ''Series/NoahsArc'': Ricky, as a very clear foil to [[TheHero Noah]]. While Noah is very moral, relationship-oriented, romantic, and holds the group together, Ricky is much more pragmatic, highly promiscuous, sexually detached, and more than willing to abandon the group over a one-night stand. The stark contrast between them is [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] by both of them at different points in the series. Also, Ricky, Noah and [[TheChick Wade]] are [[spoiler:involved in a love triangle highlighted in the movie]].

** Several characters have Lancer qualities. Doyle was the initial one, but for most of the series, Wesley fulfilled this role as well as TheSmartGuy. Gunn also filled this role for a time late season 3 and early season 4, but was usually TheBigGuy. Connor fit for much of season 4. Easily the best fit that doesn't overlap with any other roles is Spike in Season 5.

** Ivanova is the pessimistic - sorry, make that [[InsistentTerminology Realistic]] [[DeadpanSnarker dry-witted]] executive officer. She's remarkably tenacious, [[LargeHam hammy]] when angered, and a [[TheSpymaster spy master]] on par with Garibaldi at his best. Her fiery personality particularly contrasts with the original commander, Sinclair.

** Once Morgan joined the team in the back half of season three, he was often the Lancer to Casey.

** Second is William Bush, Horatio's best friend from the novels. The dynamic is much different--Bush is a cautious, steady, and thoroughly reliable officer who does not tolerate indiscipline. Though not a genius or a MilitaryMaverick like Horatio, Bush can face most troubles with a straight face and has very little in the way of self-doubt, which makes him an excellent NumberTwo. He's also much more perceptive than Horatio in certain areas.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Locke and Sayid alternated on this role towards [[TheLeader Jack]] until Locke leaves the group in season 4. Ana Lucia also served as this for a brief time in season 2, before [[spoiler: she was killed by Michael.]]
** When Jack and five other survivors [[spoiler: leave the island]] in the season 4 finale, Sawyer becomes TheLeader with Juliet as TheLancer. In fact, Juliet's "I have your back" to Sawyer and acting like she meant it became a pretty important part of season 5 that leads to the two of them [[PairTheSpares getting together]].
** And talking about Jack's group in season 5; Sayid, taking jobs for [[spoiler: [[TokenEvilTeammate Ben]]]] as an assassin, becomes TheBigGuy, which moved Kate to TheLancer of the group.

* ''{{Series/Mash}}'': Trapper John (seasons 1-3) and B.J. (seasons 4-11) serve as this to Hawkeye.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': In season two, Red is this to Charming's [[TheHero Hero]], especially with [[spoiler: Snow stuck in the Enchanted Forest]].

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': Naturally, this franchise follows suit. This position is usually held by the blue ranger, but sometimes the green ranger or black ranger hold it. [[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Wes and Jen]] were a slight twist - they fit TheHero and TheLancer respectively, but Jen was still the official team leader, even after Wes came into his own as a Ranger. Then there's [[Series/PowerRangersSPD Sky]], [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Dillon]]...

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Riker was intended to perform the action roles that Picard (as TheCaptain) really should not be doing. Especially in season 1, he was a Kirk clone. After GrowingTheBeard, his role on the bridge was to anticipate Picard's orders and issue them so that the captain wouldn't have to. Contrasts with Picard in Riker being a womanizer (Picard is not very successful with women) and somewhat impulsive (Picard is fairly cautious). Riker also fits the role in easily being the more gregarious and social (he plays in the ship's jazz group and runs the senior officers' poker games) while Picard is the more private and prefers solitary pursuits such as reading and archeology. Oddly enough, while Riker is obviously supposed to be the more physical (being younger and larger) compared to Picard's more intellectual, Picard tends to be the one who ends up in the most physical confrontations over the span of the series and movies.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Kira is Sisko's lancer in every aspect of the trope. If it were up to her, there wouldn't be any Starfleet personnel on the station and ''she'' would be in command. In early seasons, she's yelling at Sisko every other episode and often completely ignores his orders when she believes she can handle things better. She grows to trust him in later seasons, but she always remains the person who challenges the captain's orders the most--somewhat unusually, considering that, as the Emissary of the Prophets, he's the equivalent of a saint or prophet of her religion.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Shane Walsh for the first two seasons. [[BreakoutCharacter Daryl Dixon]] from season 3 onwards. Until season 3, Andrea is this to Lori for the women. Michonne also becomes one to Rick starting the second half of Season 4.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': Naturally, this franchise follows suit. [[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Wes and Jen]] were a slight twist - they fit TheHero and TheLancer respectively, but Jen was still the official team leader, even after Wes came into his own as a Ranger. Then there's [[Series/PowerRangersSPD Sky]], [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Dillon]]...

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': [[TheSpock Spock]] is all over this trope. Indeed, he is by all counts equally as competent as [[TheKirk Kirk]]. But where [[TheKirk Kirk]] will go with guts and daring, [[TheSpock Spock]] will ''always'' be cool, calculating, and logical. And yes, when the chips are down, [[TheSpock Spock]] is ready at a moments notice to die for the cause (as seen in ''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}''). Also, in cases where [[TheSpock Spock]] devoted most of his screen time as TheSmartGuy, [[TheMcCoy Dr. McCoy]] picked up the role.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Kira is Sisko's lancer in every aspect of the trope. If it were up to her, there wouldn't be any Starfleet personel on the station and ''she'' would be in command. In early seasons, she's yelling at Sisko every other episode and often completely ignores his orders when she believes she can handle things better. She grows to trust him in later seasons, but she always remains the person who challenges the captain's orders the most--somewhat unusually, considering that, as the Emissary of the Prophets, he's the equivalent of a saint or prophet of her religion.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Riker was intended to perform the action roles that Picard (as TheCaptain) really should not be doing. Especially in season 1, he was a Kirk clone. After GrowingTheBeard, his role on the bridge was to anticipate Picard's orders and issue them so that the captain wouldn't have to.
** Contrasts with Picard in Riker being a womanizer (Picard is not very successful with women) and somewhat impulsive (Picard is fairly cautious). Riker also fits the role in easily being the more gregarious and social (he plays in the ship's jazz group and runs the senior officers' poker games) while Picard is the more private and prefers solitary pursuits such as reading and archeology. Oddly enough, while Riker is obviously supposed to be the more physical (being younger and larger) compared to Picard's more intellectual, Picard tends to be the one who ends up in the most physical confrontations over the span of the series and movies.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': While he's not the first officer, Tuvok fulfills this role for Captain Janeway. He's calm and rational while Captain Janeway is usually very emotional. In later years, Seven of Nine plays the role.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'': Lucas plays this role in contrast to Mike, acting as an {{Agent Scully}} to Mike’s {{Agent Mulder}}. He’s strongly distrusting of Eleven compared to Mike believing everything she has to say and they end up seriously butting heads over their disagreements, especially when it comes to her.
** Their rivalry also comes up when they have a much more light-hearted disagreement in the second season. Both of them decided to dress as [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 Peter Venkman]] for Halloween. Mike said that there can’t be “two Venkmans” and that he thought Lucas was going to be [[TokenMinority Winston]] despite Lucas “specifically agree[ing] not to be Winston.”

** Surprisingly, even though it DIDN'T happen, there was an uh-oh moment for Sherlock AND the viewers-when we see John with a bomb vest strapped to him. That would DEFINETELY be a "you've got to be kidding me" moment for a detective. Understandable, John ''is'' [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's best friend.]] No wonder the guy thinking [[OhCrap "Oh, man. I have got to get my best friend out of this mess."]] Than guess what happens? Despite the fact that [[BadassAdorable John]] has a BOMB VEST strapped to him (which, mind you would be pretty down-right creepy), he grabs on to [[AxeCrazy Moriarty]] and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome tells Sherlock to R-U-N,]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments which basically MEANS he's offering his life!]] Whoa. Cue Buffy-speak from Sherlock when he's trying to [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments compliment on John's bravery after that.]]

** And when [[OhCrap Sherlock finds out from]] [[BadassAdorable Mary]] [[NightmareFuel that John was thrown into a bonfire]] cue him [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome doing something about it.]]

* ''Series/HappyDays'': The Fonz fits the definition so well it's almost scary. What made the show a hit was the contrast between super-cool ladies' man and high school dropout [[BreakoutCharacter Fonzie]], and the gutsy, strait-laced, all-American [[TheHero Richie Cunningham]]. As shown in a flashback, the two didn't initially see eye-to-eye, with The Fonz being in a gang. However, he is impressed that Richie had the courage to stand up to him, and quit the gang he was in because of Richie's speculation that he was cool enough without a gang jacket to show for it; afterwards, the two became close friends and, when Richie left to pursue his dream of being a screenwriter, his final words were to Fonzie, who he dubbed a brother and a protector.

** Surprisingly, even though it DIDN'T happen, there was an uh-oh moment for Sherlock AND the viewers-when we see John with a bomb vest strapped to him. That would DEFINETELY be a "you've got to be kidding me" moment for a detective. Understandable, John ''is'' [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Sherlock's best friend.]] No wonder the guy thinking [[OhCrap "Oh, man. I have got to get my best friend out of this mess."]] Than guess what happens? Despite the fact that [[BadassAdorable John]] has a BOMB VEST strapped to him (which, mind you would be pretty down-right creepy), he grabs on to [[AxeCrazy Moriarty]] and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome tells Sherlock to R-U-N,]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming which basically MEANS he's offering his life!]] Whoa. Cue Buffy-speak from Sherlock when he's trying to [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming compliment on John's bravery after that.]]

** And when [[OhCrap Sherlock finds out from]] [[BadassAdorable Mary]] [[NightmareFuel that John was thrown into a bonfire]] cue him [[CrowningMomentofAwesome doing something about it.]]

* ''TopGear'': Richard Hammond to [[TheCaptain Jeremy Clarkson]]. Hammond is a head shorter, a decade younger, and physically tough but emotionally fragile compared to Clarkson, yet they are [[HeterosexualLifePartners inseparably bonded]] by a mutual love of fast, powerful cars. The third presenter, James May, acts a bit like a Lancer to Clarkson but they are more of an OddCouple.

* ''TheSecretCircle'': Faye Chamberlain is this to both Cassie and Diana during their times as leaders. She was the most strongly against binding the circle and functions as the bad girl of the circle.
* ''{{Sharpe}}'': Patrick Harper.

** Their rivalry also comes up when they have a much more light-hearted disagreement in the second season. Both of them decided to dress as [[Film/Ghostbusters Peter Venkman]] for Halloween. Mike said that there can’t be “two Venkmans” and that he thought Lucas was going to be [[TokenMinority Winston]] despite Lucas “specifically agree[ing] not to be Winston.”

** Though when Gibbs goes OffTheReservation and Tony is TheLeader, Ziva David and Tim usually play TagTeam as TheLancer.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Shane Walsh for the first two seasons. [[BreakoutCharacter Daryl Dixon]] from season 3 onwards. Until season 3, Andrea is this to Lori for the women.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon.