History WrongGenreSavvy / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': While Richard Castle's GenreSavvy skills are often an asset to his crime-fighting, he also likes to play with being Wrong Genre Savvy.

* ''Series/StrangerThings''

** Jason Carver in season four believes he's in a ReligiousHorror story about [[SatanicPanic a Satanic cult terrorizing a community and unleashing the forces of Hell]], with him as [[VigilanteMan the brave hero fighting back]] and liberating his town from their influence. He's right about being in a horror story... [[RightForTheWrongReasons the problem is]], it's a LovecraftLite SciFiHorror story in which the power of Christ does nothing to protect against [[EldritchAbomination inhuman monsters]] from [[EldritchLocation beyond our world]]. He nearly ruins the protagonists' efforts to stop [[BigBad Vecna]] as a result, [[spoiler:and ultimately gets brutally killed]].

** In season two, Bob Newby gives what would be considered excellent advice to Will about facing his fears...if he were in an afterschool special. Unfortunately, the Mind Flayer is no schoolyard bully. And the moment Will tries to face it as Bob suggested, the creature swiftly seizes the opportunity to possess him.

** Jason Carver in season four believes he's in a ReligiousHorror story about [[SatanicPanic a Satanic cult terrorizing a community and unleashing the forces of Hell]], with him as [[VigilanteMan the brave hero fighting back]] and liberating his town from their influence. He's right about being in a horror story... the problem is, it's a LovecraftLite SciFiHorror story in which the power of Christ does nothing to protect against [[EldritchAbomination inhuman monsters]] from [[EldritchLocation beyond our world]]. He nearly ruins the protagonists' efforts to stop [[BigBad Vecna]] as a result, [[spoiler:and ultimately gets brutally killed]].

* Bob Newby in ''Series/StrangerThings'' Season 2 gives what would be considered excellent advice to Will about facing his fears...if he were in an afterschool special. Unfortunately, the Mind Flayer is no schoolyard bully. And the moment Will tries to face it as Bob suggested, the creature swiftly seizes the opportunity to possess him.

* Some ''Series/HellsKitchen'' contestants have tried to pull a number of reality show stunts in an attempt to win the prize of being head chef of a new restaurant, only for Gordon Ramsay to turn it against him. You will not woo him with SexSells (he’s HappilyMarried) and attempts to try and vote out the strongest will, nine times out of ten, have him send them back and pick the one he feels needs to be eliminated.

--->"I broke into Josh's old high school and I made copies of his grades. I 'bumped into' Lourdes at Starbucks and suggested you be a bridesmaid. I blackmailed Valencia's boss, so now I control when she teaches. That's right, I make yoga class schedules! There's no limit to where my reach is."

* Christopher Moltisanti from ''Series/TheSopranos'' tends to live his life like he's in a gangster movie. Technically he is, but ''The Sopranos'' is a series that [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] most of the tropes the genre is known for rather than plays them straight. In the very first episode, after murdering a rival of the family, he wants to place the body in one of their waste management bins to send a message, a la the Luca Brasi scene from ''Film/TheGodfather''. Big Pussy tells him all that would do is bring on a desire for revenge from the family as well as heat from law enforcement and they need to hide the body. He also thinks that once he's a made man, [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster he'll be living on easy street]] like the characters in ''Film/TheGodfather'' and ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}''. Instead, he discovers that it's just like any other full-time job where he has a lot more responsibilities and is under more pressure to earn money. The other gangsters even chastise him for watching 'too many movies'' on a few occasions, like when he thought his made ceremony was a ruse to whack him.

** The entire gang are almost constantly under the wrong impression of what kind of story they're in over the course of the series. In terms of how they view themselves, Dennis thinks of himself as TheAce, a suave ladies man who succeeds at everything, Mac sees himself as a John [=McClane=] style badass action hero, Sweet Dee believes she's a witty, quirky social woman similar to those on Sex In The City, and Charlie thinks he's a lovable down-trodden nice guy. In reality, they're all a group of selfish, morally-bankrupt sociopaths. Frank appears to be the only member of the gang aware of who he really is. Additionally, all of them believe that, should they desire it to, the universe will bend itself to follow the structure of whatever movie or TV series they currently wish to emulate. Similarly, they tend to act as though the world is governed by NegativeContinuity similar to TV shows, and that nothing they do will ever have any lasting consequences.

** The Winchester brothers and other Hunters occasionally encounter amateur hunters or {{Vampire Vannabe}}s who base their knowledge of monsters on popular books like ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. The Hunters treat these amateurs with derision and reveal real monsters are nothing like their books, so they'll likely get themselves killed.

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', this happens with Amanda [=LaRusso=]. At first she's the StraightMan and OnlySaneMan, constantly StatingTheSimpleSolution like "rather than beat each other up, let's just talk it out" or "rather than beat each other up, let's just go to the cops". Problem is, she's not in a series that's rooted in reality: she's in a karate series based on ''Franchise/TheKarateKid'' films rife with {{Arrogant Kung Fu Guy}}s where the only real solution to any problem is either LetsYouAndHimFight or winning the InevitableTournament. Naturally the effectiveness of her "solutions" drops lower and lower with every season, and even ''she'' ends up [[NotSoAboveItAll slapping Kreese across the mouth at one point and encouraging Daniel to kick Silver's ass]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]]: When Amy and Rory are accosted by the [[ActuallyNotAVampire "vampire"]] Francesco, Rory attempts to use two candlesticks to form a cross to drive him away. Francesco just swats them aside, and Amy calls Rory out on that because they already knew the "vampires" were actually fish aliens who wouldn't have that weakness.

* ''Series/{{Galavant}}'':
** Gareth is trying to be on a show like ''Series/GameOfThrones'' but he is in a musical comedy series instead.

* In ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' the entire gang does this almost constantly. In terms of how they view themselves, Dennis thinks of himself as TheAce, a suave ladies man who succeeds at everything, Mac sees himself as a John [=McClane=] style badass action hero, Sweet Dee believes she's a witty, quirky social woman similar to those on Sex In The City, and Charlie thinks he's a lovable down-trodden nice guy. In reality, they're all a group of selfish, morally-bankrupt sociopaths. Frank appears to be the only member of the gang aware of who he really is. Additionally, all of them believe that, should they desire it to, the universe will bend itself to follow the structure of whatever movie or TV series they currently wish to emulate. Similarly, they tend to act as though the world is governed by NegativeContinuity similar to TV shows, and that nothing they do will ever have any lasting consequences.

* Bob Newby in ''Series/StrangerThings'' Season 2 gives excellent advice to Will about facing his fears, if he were in an afterschool special. Unfortunately the Mind Flayer is no schoolyard bully and seizes the opportunity to possess Will the moment he tries to face it.

* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': Over the course of the pilot episode, Skye initially thinks herself the hero in a ConspiracyThriller, with S.H.I.E.L.D. being the sinister government organization whose evil secrets she and her organization of hackers called The Rising Tide are trying to expose to the world for the greater good. In reality, she's in a superhero action comedy, and S.H.I.E.L.D. are actually the good guys. And while she initially takes advantage of the opportunity to spy on S.H.I.E.L.D. from within after getting captured and subsequently recruited by them, she eventually grows out of it and becomes a loyal agent to the organization once she'd spent enough time with them to learn how she and the Rising Tide misjudged them, and with that information the fact that there are far worse threats out there that she could be devoting her energy against.

** In "Regional Holiday Music", Abed thinks he's in a Very Special ChristmasEpisode where, with help from a life-affirming musical mentor, he has to stop his killjoy friends from forgetting The TrueMeaningOfChristmas through the Power of Song. He's ''actually'' in a BlackComedy parody of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' where trying to force his friends to be cheerful is played out like an alien mind control AssimilationPlot where they become soulless {{Stepford Smiler}}s, and the life-affirming musical mentor is a complete maniac.