History ThePollyanna / LiveActionTV

* PlayedForDrama (of course) on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' where one was a pregnant borderline PuritySue that worked as a janitor on the subway without complaint and cured Stabler's cold [[HealingHands by merely touching him]] [[BreakTheCutie finally lost it]] when she was reunited with the father of her baby, a serial rapist who quickly confessed to everything [[StalkerWithACrush and believed they'd live happily ever after.]] Ouch.

* There was a 1989 made-for-TV {{Race Lift}}ed (black) remake of Pollyanna, called ''Polly''. Near the climax, [[spoiler:the main character falls out of a tree, is seriously hurt, and is morose from there on out. By this point, she's cheered the town up so much that they try and get ''her'' to cheer up, by creating a "Polly Day". [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming It works]].]] Something very similar to that happens in the original story, too.

** Dr. Molly Clock (Heather Graham) Drs. Cox and Kelso decide to teach her that we live in a WorldHalfEmpty. [[spoiler: It doesn't work]].

* Erin on ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. She's Pam's replacement as receptionist at Dunder Mifflin. She's more upbeat and cheerful than her co-workers and actually seems to enjoy working for Michael (but It could be because she's new). She somehow manages to find the positive in Michael lying to a group of underprivileged teens about paying their college tuitions in "Scott's Tots". We also learn in "Koi Pond" that she's an orphan.

* Jane from the BritCom ''Series/WaitingForGod'' is a mix of this and suffering from StockholmSyndrome given her seemingly pathological infatuation with the smarmy weasel Harvey Baines.

* ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': Nogami Airi (the main hero's sister) suffers from selective amnesia. Apparently it has the side-effect of leaving her in a permanent state of semi-creepy, almost RainMan-like cheerfulness.

* The teacher in the ''MrShow'' sketch "The Chip-on-the-Shoulder Club." All the kids are jaded and none of them want to be there, but the teacher is still determined to get the students to be motivated about something (school, their future) even when all of them are [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] to him.

* Sue Heck of ''TheMiddle''.
* Erin on ''TheOffice''. She's Pam's replacement as receptionist at Dunder Mifflin. She's more upbeat and cheerful than her co-workers and actually seems to enjoy working for Michael (but It could be because she's new). She somehow manages to find the positive in Michael lying to a group of underprivileged teens about paying their college tuitions in "Scott's Tots". We also learn in "Koi Pond" that she's an orphan.

* Erin on ''TheOffice''. She's Pam's replacement as receptionist at Dunder Mifflin. She's more upbeat and cheerful than her co-workers and actually seems to enjoy working for Michael(but It could be because she's new). She somehow manages to find the positive in Michael lying to a group of underprivileged teens about paying their college tuitions in "Scott's Tots". We also learn in "Koi Pond" that she's an orphan.

* Dr. Molly Clock (Heather Graham) in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. Drs. Cox and Kelso decide to teach her that we live in a WorldHalfEmpty. [[spoiler: It doesn't work]].

* Basi from the Nigerian TV show ''BasiAndCompany'' is remarkably cheerful for a broke, unemployed (and unemployable) man living in a one-room apartment (which he insists on calling "Basi's Palace"). Basi's landlady wants him out, but he's so sunny that nothing she does, including taking his only mattress, can get him to leave.
* ''{{Budoy}}'', from the 2011 Filipino drama of the same name, is an interesting RareMaleExample. Interesting in that, while he does have the sunny disposition of the pollyanna, this one might actually be partly due to the fact that he is suffering from Angelman Syndrome, a mental disorder that does create the happy and childish personality that he exhibits.

%%* Sue Heck on ''TheMiddle''.

* Jane from the BritCom ''Series/WaitingForGod'' is a mix of this and suffering from StockholmSyndrome given her seemingly pathological infatuation with the smarmy weasel Harvey Baines.
* George the Loner (played by Mark [=McKinney=]) in a ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' sketch. He's always smiling despite the fact that he doesn't have any friends and he often gets drunk. When he stubbed his toe and no one told him to go to the hospital, which resulted in his toe becoming [[{{Squick}} infected]] and his leg going numb.
* The teacher in the ''MrShow'' sketch "The Chip-on-the-Shoulder Club." All the kids are jaded and none of them want to be there, but the teacher is still determined to get the students to be motivated about something (school, their future) even when all of them are [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]] to him.
* The ditzy Nymphs from the ''Series/{{Charmed}} episode; "Nymphs Just Wanna Have Fun".
%%* Kelsey from Series/{{Good Luck Charlie}}
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' : Phoebe's boyfriend Parker (Alec Baldwin), who annoys the rest of the gang and eventually Phoebe herself.
* Kimmy in ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt''. Kidnapped by a cult and kept in a hole for decades, but due to having experienced the most horrible thing that would ever happen to her she remains relentlessly cheery about everything else.

* Jane from the BritCom ''WaitingForGod'' is a mix of this and suffering from StockholmSyndrome given her seemingly pathological infatuation with the smarmy weasel Harvey Baines.

--->'''Chris:''' When I was born, the doctors told my parents I had three weeks to live. Now here I am, some two thousand odd weeks later, and I have enjoyed every single one of them.

* Leslie Knope on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''. The world does not agree with her.

* PlayedForDrama (of course) on ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' where one was a pregnant borderline PuritySue that worked as a janitor on the subway without complaint and cured Stabler's cold [[HealingHands by merely touching him]] [[BreakTheCutie finally lost it]] when she was reunited with the father of her baby, a serial rapist who quickly confessed to everything [[StalkerWithACrush and believed they'd live happily ever after.]] Ouch.

* George the Loner (played by Mark [=McKinney=]) in a ''KidsInTheHall'' sketch. He's always smiling despite the fact that he doesn't have any friends and he often gets drunk. When he stubbed his toe and no one told him to go to the hospital, which resulted in his toe becoming [[{{Squick}} infected]] and his leg going numb.

* Leslie Knope on ''ParksAndRecreation''. The world does not agree with her.

* Kimmy in ''Series/TheUnbreakableKimmySchmidt''. Kidnapped by a cult and kept in a hole for decades, but due to having experienced the most horrible thing that would ever happen to her she remains relentlessly cheery about everything else.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' : Phoebe's boyfriend Parker (Alec Baldwin), who annoys the rest of the gang and eventually Phoebe herself.

* There was a 1989 made-for-TV {{Race Lift}}ed (black) remake of Pollyanna, called ''Polly''. Near the climax, [[spoiler:the main character falls out of a tree, is seriously hurt, and is morose from there on out. By this point, she's cheered the town up so much that they try and get ''her'' to cheer up, by creating a "Polly Day". [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming It works]].]]
** Something very similar to that happens in the original, too.
* Dr. Molly Clock (Heather Graham) in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. Drs. Cox and Kelso decide to teach her that we live in a WorldHalfEmpty.
** [[spoiler: It doesn't work]].
* Sue Heck on ''TheMiddle''.

* Kelsey from Series/{{Good Luck Charlie}}

* PlayedForDrama (of course) on ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' where one was a pregnant borderline PuritySue that worked as a janitor on the subway without complaint [[HealingHands and cured Stabler's cold by merely touching him]] [[BreakTheCutie finally lost it when she was reunited with the father of her baby, a serial rapist who quickly confessed to everything]] [[StalkerWithACrush and believed they'd live happily ever after.]] Ouch.

* Kelsey from Series/{{Good Luck Charlie}}

* Kelsey from "Series/{{GoodLuckCharlie}}

----

* ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'': Nogami Airi (the main hero's sister) suffers from selective amnesia. Apparently it has the side-effect of leaving her in a permanent state of semi-creepy, almost RainMan-like cheerfulness.

* There's not a power in the 'verse that can stop [[{{Firefly}} Kaylee]] from being cheerful.
** And if she isn't cheerful, shit has already hit the fan.

* George the Loner (played by Mark McKinney) in a ''KidsInTheHall'' sketch. He's always smiling despite the fact that he doesn't have any friends and he often gets drunk. When he stubbed his toe and no one told him to go to the hospital, which resulted in his toe becoming [[{{Squick}} infected]] and his leg going numb.

* Jane from the BritCom ''WaitingForGod'' is a mix of this and suffering from StockholmSyndrome given her seemingly pathological infatuation with the smarmy weasel Harvey Baines

* {{Budoy}}, from the 2011 Filipino drama of the same name, is an interesting RareMaleExample. Interesting in that, while he does have the sunny disposition of the pollyanna, this one might actually be partly due to the fact that he is suffering from Angelman Syndrome, a mental disorder that does create the happy and childish personality that he exhibits.
* ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'': Nogami Airi (the main hero's sister) suffers from selective amnesia. Apparently it has the side-effect of leaving her in a permanent state of semi-creepy, almost RainMan-like cheerfulness.
* Kenneth Parcell in ''Series/ThirtyRock''. "My mother always told me that even when things seem bad, there's someone else who's having a worse day. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Like being stung by a bee or getting a splinter or being chained to a wall in someone's sex dungeon.]]"
* The British airmen from ''Series/AlloAllo'' remain upbeat no matter how many times their attempts to get home are foiled.

** [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
* Leslie Knope on ''ParksAndRecreation''. The world does not agree with her.

* There's not a power in the 'verse that can stop [[{{Firefly}} Kaylee]] from being cheerful.
** And if she isn't cheerful, shit has already hit the fan.
* Annie in ''Series/{{Community}}''. Pollyanna was even used as a nickname by Jeff, when Annie's attempt to help Pierce with his ex-step-daughter backfires.
* PlayedForDrama (of course) on ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' where one was a pregnant borderline PuritySue that worked as a janitor on the subway without complaint [[HealingHands and cured Stabler's cold by merely touching him]] [[BreakTheCutie finally lost it when she was reunited with the father of her baby, a serial rapist who quickly confessed to everything]] [[StalkerWithACrush and believed they'd live happily ever after.]] Ouch.
* Ted from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', whose unwavering (and often irrational) amount of optimism and belief in love and friendship persists through a ridiculous amount of cynicism-inducing crap. Especially true in the field of romance, including a high school girlfriend who abandoned him immediately after tricking him into giving up his virginity for her, a college girlfriend who cheated on him constantly, having to break up with Robin even though he was in love with her, and a fiancee who left him at the altar. Oh, and he fully believed he could make it rain through ThePowerOfLove, and ''succeeded''. When he finally expresses a measure of pessimism in the season 7 premiere, it's a pretty disquieting moment.
* Sue Heck on ''TheMiddle''.