Line #32 GoodAngelBadAngel/LiveActionTV


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings!
4	%%
5	%%%
6
7	* The ''Series/ThirtyRock'' episode "[[Recap/ThirtyRockS1E12BlackTie Black Tie]]" plays with this in a rather surreal way. Pete is about to cheat on his wife when Kenneth pops in through a vent, lit by blue light, and tells him not to. Then Tracy pops through another vent, under red light (he didn't have this trope in mind; he just [[CloudCuckoolander got really, really lost]]), and argues with Kenneth. Finally, Pete turns to dramatically declare "I'm sorry, I can't do this -- I love my wife!" You can see it [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/902/30-rock-dont-do-it here]].
8	* Played straight by ''Series/AdalRamones'' in his monologue "[[http://youtu.be/O1WcKdfqJEM La Primavera]]" (Spring).
9	* ''Series/AustinAndAlly'': Austin ponders whether or not to read Ally's book. Then, a Good Austin and a Bad Austin appear on his shoulders with the Good Austin telling not to read it and the Bad Austin encouraging him to read it. Then Trish dressed in red appears and punches the Good Austin away siding with the Bad Austin.
10	* One of ''Series/BabylonFive'''s major plot arcs is the full-on Psychomachia version of this -- creator Creator/JMichaelStraczynski has even described it as "the battle for the soul of Londo Mollari".
11	* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'''s Six and Baltar. Each sees a spectral version of the other right up until the final episode when both doubles appear together for the first time. Although Six is described as the "angel", [[MindScrew she spends much of her time just messing with Baltar]], and while Baltar [[WordOfGod is alluded to be a "devil" figure]], [[TricksterMentor he actually saves Six's ass a few times]].
12	* Played for laughs in the ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'' episode "Buggin Out".
13	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In the 4th season episode "[[Recap/TheBigBangTheoryS4E4TheHotTrollDeviation The Hot Troll Deviation]]", Howard is trying to decide whether or not to make a move on his then girlfriend Bernadette, and gets conflicting advice from his imaginary friends Creator/KateeSackhoff and Creator/GeorgeTakei, who are sitting in the back seat of his car. George is the "angel" who advises taking it slowly, while Katee is the "devil" who tells him to "just go for it".
14	* The ''Series/{{Brimstone}}'' episode "It's a Helluva Life" has the Devil showing the protagonist all the evil he's done, to convince him he's doomed to Hell. An angel played by the same actor (but dressed like a ceiling painter as opposed to the Devil's suits) tries to convince him otherwise.
15	* In Season 12 of ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'', before the distracted driving demonstration, Andrew is presented with a red devil version of himself on one shoulder and a white angel version on the other. The red devil says that he talks on his cellphone while driving all the time but is a good driver. The white angel says that he knows that even hands-free devices pose too much of a distraction, while the devil starts sending texts and taking selfies.
16	-->'''Andrew:''' Would you ''stop doing that''?
17	* ''Series/TheDailyShow'':
18	** [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=212888&title=Provinces-in-Peril Neatly used in a clip]] in which the "live on location" screens are gradually used to turn Samantha Bee's report on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to dissolve the Canadian Parliament rather than face a vote of no-confidence into a battle between John Oliver (who is English) as the pro-Monarchy "angel" and Aasif Mandvi (who is Indian) as the pro-Independence "angel" over whether Queen Elizabeth II should remain Canada's Head of State, with Bee the confused and indecisive Canadian trying to decide which argument to pick. [[spoiler:Oliver wins by promising a Royal Visit.]]
19	** Jon Stewart has a Tom Brokaw angel and a Don Rickles Devil arguing about whether or not to follow the Congressman Weiner scandal.
20	* In ''Series/DrewCareysImprovAGanza'', Jonathan Mangum gets the idea to do this during "Freeze Tag" when he sees Ryan huddled up to Wayne Brady. Unfortunately, Ryan catches on fast but doesn't act out the right role, leaving Wayne with two shoulder devils...
21	* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' has this trope with Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow in one episode.
22	* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' gives Will two devils. While he's deciding on whether to "borrow" the car keys and sneak out, his shoulder devil appears. After the devil tells him to take the keys Will expectantly turns towards his other shoulder, only to have his other shoulder devil appear and tell him to take the damn keys already.
23	* In ''Series/FullHouse'', [[MakingUseOfTheTwin this naturally happens to Michelle]].
24	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
25	** Stannis Baratheon's main advisors are Ser Davos Seaworth (the angel) and Lady Melisandre (the demon). Where Melisandre counsels using force to achieve his goals, Ser Davos advises restraint. When Stannis and Davos speak on the ship to King's Landing, Davos walks along with him on his right side. When Stannis looks into the flames at Mel's urging, she is clutching his left shoulder. Melisandre even dresses in bright red robes, while Davos wears humble grey roughspun clothing. At first played straight, then subverted in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS3E10Mhysa Mhysa]]", when both are left in the background of a close-up of Stannis trying to decide on a new course of action, one over each shoulder, each one trying to pull him the other way. However, this is shortly subverted when Melisandre agrees with Davos about going to defend the Wall, which makes it basically the first time in the entire show that they've ever agreed (even they look surprised).
26	** A similar shot is also used for Ned contemplating going south in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E1WinterIsComing Winter is Coming]]", with Catelyn and Maester Luwin arguing the two ambiguous choices.
27	* In ''Series/GoodOmens2019'', Aziriphale and Crowley end up acting like good and bad angels (which they literally are) for [[AntiAntiChrist Adam]]. Played with in that they share the same goal, to cancel the Apocalypse. [[spoiler:In the finale, when Adam confronts Satan, we see Aziriphale and Crowley standing behind him, Aziriphale over his right shoulder and Crowley over his left.]]
28	* Blair of ''Series/GossipGirl'' at one point uses two of her mean girls as shoulder angel and shoulder devil when trying to decide whether or not to destroy a teacher who put her chances of getting into Yale at risk. The devil wins the argument, with the angel griping about how boring it is to play the good part.
29	* ''Series/HannahMontana'': When Robby Ray learns about and disapproves of Jackson's scam to get accepted into the college Santa Barbera, Jack is confronted by his shoulder angel and devil. His shoulder angel tells him not to break his father's heart while the shoulder devil tells him "You know what to do, just do it!"
30	* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': In the episode "My Imaginary Friend", [[spoiler:David and Travis are imaginary friends who play the good angel and bad angel to Shawn]]. In the end, [[spoiler:he outgrows the need for either]].
31	* ''Series/HermansHead'' is an entire series based on Good Angel, Bad Angel. Herman's thought processes are personified by a set of characters that represent his psychological characteristics and debate his every action, though most of the conflict was between Angel (Herman's sensitive side) and Animal (Herman's lust).
32	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': At a Halloween party, Barney (dressed as a devil) and another guest (dressed as an angel) argue about whether or not Ted should urinate from the roof... at least until the angel asks Ted and Barney for marijuana.
33	* One episode of ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'' has "Mom Jane" and "Fun Jane" as the Angel and Devil, respectively.
34	* In ''Series/JustShootMe'', Finch is confused when only his Bad Angel appears, and the latter explains that he is too depraved to even have a Good one. He convinces him to switch the cards on Maya's and Eliot's presents quite easily.
35	-->'''Finch's Bad Angel:''' Excellent work. Now kill them all.\
36	'''Finch:''' What are you talking about?!\
37	'''Finch's Bad Angel:''' Sorry. Sorry. Baby steps.
38	* ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': Late in the series, the heroes have a barbecue and Kazumi notices a towel that (he assumes) belongs to his one-sided crush Misora sitting on the back of a chair. He mentally debates rubbing it on his face for the whole IndirectKiss thing; his Good Conscience (Himself chained up) points out how creepy and inappropriate it is, while his Bad Conscience (Himself in a beach chair with a Misora body pillow) observes that if she didn't want people using it, she shouldn't have left it out. Bad Conscience wins... and then he finds out that the towel doesn't belong to Misora, but rather their ally Gentoku, which prompts him to pejoratively ask why Gentoku smells so nice.
39	* ''Series/LateNightWithConanOBrien'':
40	** A recurring sketch is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKQ-pvm0f3I "Moral Dilemma"]], in which Conan is faced with a small moral dilemma -- e.g., finding a wallet full of cash and deciding whether or not to keep it or return it to its rightful owner. Suddenly, a little devil urging him to do the wrong choice appears on one shoulder. On the other shoulder, instead of an angel, it's something like a bear or an astronaut, giving advice pertaining to that character.
41	** Another sketch warns tourists not to play three-card monte in the subway, with Satan egging a guy on and Jesus assuring him that the game is rigged and no good can come of gambling. The tourist eventually agrees and hands his wallet to Jesus for safekeeping, only for him to run away with it.
42	* Played with in one episode of ''Series/LifeGoesOn'' when Becca is making decisions on several issues during the episode. The Bad Angel smokes and uses a black {{Stripperiffic}} attire, whilst the Good Angel uses glasses and is dress in white.
43	* Played with in the ''Series/Lucifer2016'' episode "[[Recap/Lucifer2016S05E08SpoilerAlert Spoiler Alert]]", in that A) the two angels are full-sized, and just happen to be standing behind and to either side of the character they're advising, B) the "good" angel in this context is Lucifer, a.k.a. the Devil, while the "bad" angel is the Archangel Michael, and C) the person they're advising, Amenadiel, is ''also'' an angel.
44	* Subverted in the ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode "Oldies but Young 'Uns", in which Kelly's new boyfriend, Vinnie doesn't dare to touch her, because he's [[BoyfriendBlockingDad afraid of Al]]. A miniature devil and angel appear on his shoulders, and the devil says: "Oh, grab her, you've got worse beatings for less." When Vinnie turns to the angel, the angel says: "What you looking at me for? If I wasn't so tiny, I would be wild-thinging her myself!"
45	* ''Maybe It's Me'' invokes this trope as a comedic exaggeration once. Grant, a guy whose main character trait is his religious faith, has to make a decision. First, he looks to his shoulder angel, who calmly describes what he should do. His shoulder devil sits sulking, and when Grant turns to him, the devil grumbles "Why are you even looking over here? You never listen to what I say anyway."
46	* Parodied in ''Series/MindOfMencia''. Carlos' angel and devil are representatives of him growing up in different parts of California; his angel is him from Encino and his devil is him from Los Angeles.
47	* ''Series/ModernFamily'': Done hilariously when Haley is working at a country club. Her brother Luke (who hired her) tries to convince her (via walkie-talkie) to stick to her responsibilities, while a club member (played by Creator/VanessaWilliams), on her cell phone, tries to talk her into playing hooky. We see the two of them in the background: Luke, in his white uniform, over Haley's right shoulder, and Williams, in a red dress, over her left.
48	* In ''Series/{{Mom}}'', while Bonnie is suffering painkiller withdrawal, she starts hallucinating personifications of her drug addicted side and the bit of her that wants to be better, dressed as a stripper and Glinda the Good Witch respectively, trying to convince her to resume her old life of sex and drugs or sober up. Eventually Bonnie gets tired of their sniping at each other and demands to speak to someone higher up, at which point Jesus shows up and shoos both of them out.
49	* In ''Series/NedAndStacey'', Ned's bad angel encourages him to sleep with Stacey's boss. His good angel concurs.
50	* In a [[TheNineties nineties]] episode of ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', Julie Martin has the full-size versions discussing whether or not she should cheat during an exam. They aren't dressed as an angel and devil, but the intention is clearly the same.
51	* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' has Ned trying to decide whether or not to cheat on a history test -- and miniature versions of Benedict Arnold and Abraham Lincoln stand on his shoulders to argue the case. (Arnold's argument quickly devolves into crude jokes about how ugly Abe's hat is.) This was a result of a machine designed to put information from his history book directly into his brain blowing up. In a later episode he talks about the machine, saying something along the lines of:
52	-->'''Ned:''' That thing brainwashed me. Now whenever I have a moral dilemma, Abe Lincoln and Benedict Arnold appear on my shoulders.
53	* In the 2011 series of ''Series/RabCNesbitt'', while trying to resist the demon drink, a devil appears on Rab's shoulder in the form of his mate Jamesie Cotter. Rab is GenreSavvy enough to know that he should wait for his good angel to appear (and [[NoFourthWall tells the audience as much]]). The second angel duly appears in the form of [[Music/ThePogues Shane MacGowan]], telling him "No luck mate, you've got ''two'' bad angels."
54	* In ''Series/ReadingRainbow'''s take on ''The Tortoise and the Hare'', this happens to Creator/LeVarBurton as he struggles to pedal a bike up a hill in a race. The angel on the left wearing all white waves pom-poms and encourages him to not give up and keep trying. The devil on the right, dressed in black and floating on a cloud of red, tells him to stop and smell the flowers and relax. When [=LeVar=] rejects this idea, the angel gives a cheer of "L-E-V-A-R, pedal that bike and we'll go far!" The devil doesn't give up, though, telling him that by the time he gets up the hill, everyone else will have crossed the finish line. [=LeVar=] rejects that too, saying that even if he loses, he'll feel like a winner for trying. The two later make a brief reappearance as [=LeVar=] trains on an obstacle course. Once again, [=LeVar=] listens to the angel. At the end, when [=LeVar=] finishes the race, the angel tells him that he knew he could do it.
55	* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
56	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIConfidenceAndParanoia Confidence and Paranoia]]", Lister's two internal voices (his Confidence and his Paranoia) become actual people thanks to a mutated disease. His Confidence tells him he's a cool guy who can become whatever he wants while his Paranoia constantly puts him down.
57	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVTerrorform Terrorform]]", Rimmer gets to do the rare, full-on "all virtues vs. all vices" version on a moon where YourMindMakesItReal.
58	* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': Rita's internal thoughts are represented by a version of her wearing blue and white feather earrings that have a halo and angel wings on them, and a version of her wearing black and red feather earrings with a devil's pitchfork on them.
59	* In the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' wedding episode, Sherlock realizes that someone is plotting murder during the reception. From his ImagineSpot, we see his Inner Mycroft chastising him to hurry up and narrow down suspects. After slapping himself (not mentally), he decides to trade Inner Mycroft for [[TheHeart Inner Watson]], because the situation requires him not to solve the puzzle but to save someone's life.
60	* In one episode of ''Series/SisterSister'', Lisa is visited by a shoulder angel and devil of her own. At the end of the episode, they come back to her while she's eating ice cream. The good angel tells her it's not healthy for her while the bad Angel tells her to keep eating. Lisa then just decides "I'm hungry", flicks the good angel away and keeps eating.
61	* Subverted in episode 5 of ''Series/{{Skins}}''. Sid is deciding whether to skip class or not when two of his friends appear, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Skins%20Angel%20Devil.jpg one with horns and another with a halo]] they stole from the drama department. After initially playing their roles, the (pill-popping) angel sides with the devil and says he should skip class and get stoned with them instead.
62	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
63	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E5Alice Alice]]", when Tom Paris is lured by the shuttlecraft's female avatar (of whom he has given the name Alice) to drive himself straight into a particle fountain, which is said to destroy ships that venture too close to it, Tom has a tug of war between ''Alice'' as the Bad Angel and B'elanna Torres (who appears beside him through a mental comm link) as the Good Angel struggling for control of him so that ''Alice'' would lower its shields long enough for Tom to be transported out of the shuttlecraft.
64	** Implied in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E16Collective Collective]]" in a scene where Captain Janeway is hunched over a console while the satanic-looking Tuvok on one side of her, and the EMH on the other, argue whether they should use a pathogen to kill the Borg children.
65	* In ''Series/StudioC'', shoulder angels and devils are portrayed by full-size actors who have to awkwardly clamber up the person they're counseling so they can sit on a shoulder. Then sometimes they have to switch to a different person.
66	* Heavily played with in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
67	** Season 4 opens with Dean having been rescued from Hell [[spoiler:by the angel Castiel, while Sam has begun a full-on affair with the demon Ruby while Dean was away]]. Throughout Season 4, Sam is pulled further toward the dark side, believing its power can help stop the Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Dean works with the angels, eventually pledging his loyalty to them despite suspecting they are an example of LightIsNotGood. Castiel, in early episodes, appears as a straightforward version of this trope, encouraging Dean and offering support [[spoiler:until his sympathies cause him to be recalled to Heaven and tortured into submission]]. The brothers both want to kill the demon Lilith to stop the rise of Lucifer, but [[spoiler:they are both played by either side since Ruby and the angels all wanted Lucifer freed and were manipulating the brothers to make it happen]].
68	** Season 5 reveals that Sam and Dean are destined to [[spoiler:be the vessels for the archangels Lucifer and Michael, respectively, and fight to the death. Sam and Dean, along with Castiel, reject this destiny in favor of free will]]. Lucifer appears to Sam and Michael to Dean, with the light and dark angels attempting to win the brothers over.
69	* Parodied in the ''Series/That70sShow'' episode "Roller Disco", in which Fez is tempted to take advantage of a drunken Jackie. Instead of Angel vs. Devil, he's got [[Series/Batman1966 Batman vs. Riddler]].
70	* ''Series/TheThundermans'': In the episode "Can't Spy Me Love", Phoebe is torn about whether to use a superhero app to find a boy she had a crush on. She had good and bad angels discussing it on the counter with both agreeing to do it. Bad Angel then revealed that IT Phoebe already got everything ready.
71	* In the UK run of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Creator/GregProops has to act out both angel and devil roles for "host" Tony Slattery in "Party Quirks".
72	* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "A Lobster, an Armadillo, and a Way Bigger Number", Connie and Dale appear to Georgie while making out with Mandy in his van, with Connie as the good angel and Dale as the bad (or at least indifferent) angel. They both disappear the moment Mandy takes off her top.

Context GoodAngelBadAngel / LiveActionTV