History AttentionWhore / LiveActionTV

* Damian in ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey'' has elements of this, [[FreudianExcuse because his mother never gave him any]]. (She appears in one episode along with home videos from Damian's childhood, and her CatchPhrase is "Ignore him, he's just doing it to get attention.")

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''- Joy seems to be like this in the second season. When her tricks weren't for Fabian, they were for the spotlight. She couldn't handle the negative attention she received as a result, however.

* Both Nathan and Alisha from ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' pretty much fit the bill, which is probably why they don't like each other much. Although Alisha at least seems to prefer positive attention, and she shamelessly flaunts her body, flirts and simulates sex on inanimate objects[[note]] the "bottle scene", anyone?[[/note]] to get men to notice her and do what she wants (it usually works like a charm... but whenever it doesn't she assumes the man in question is "gay"). Nathan, on the other hand, seems unable to discriminate between positive and negative attention and just desperately needs ''everyone'' to be noticing him ''all the time'' regardless of the circumstances. He occasionally goes to jaw-dropping lengths to make himself impossible to ignore. And usually ends up getting hit by someone.
** Alisha grows up ''a lot'' in season 2, and probably doesn't qualify as an Attention Whore any more (although she definitely did in the beginning). Nathan, on the other hand, is shameless as ever - he thinks nothing of taking a dump on someone's ''bed'' just to prove a point.

* During his guest appearance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', Creator/JimCarrey did a skit wherein he impersonated an elderly Creator/JimmyStewart, who [[TakeThatMe ruthlessly tore into Carrey's need to be the center of attention.]]

* Jenna Maroney of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', due especially to her fear of becoming a WhiteDwarfStarlet. That FreudianExcuse makes her more sympathetic than most examples of this trope... but she still had this exchange:

* In a first-season episode of ''RipperStreet'', the villain is a mass poisoner who, when caught, gloats that JacktheRipper killed "seven, at most", and yet he'll be remembered for a hundred years; ''"Imagine how long they'll talk of me."''

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' also likes lots of attention, and in the first episode he clearly enjoys it when Watson tells him how fantastic his deductions are. Later he says of Moriarty that 'genius needs an audience', to which Watson gives a non-committal answer because Sherlock likes an audience too.

%%!!!'''In General:'''
%%* Pretty much the prime motivation of people on RealityTV shows.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]], [[spoiler:the Master admits that his endless murderous schemes are all to get the Doctor's attention.]]

*** Another Christmas party has him buy Ryan an iPod for a gift exchange with a twenty dollar limit.

*** When he is on board ship and no one is paying attention to him, he goes so far as to claim the ship is sinking!

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor can drift into this at times. He rather likes to be admired and adored, and that's part of both his hero complex and the reason he has companions (besides the [[TheWatson many]], [[MoralityChain many]] other things they do for him.) On the other hand, he does always leave before he can get credit for all the life and universe saving he does.
-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm being extremely clever up here, and if there's no one to stand around and look impressed, what's the point of having you all?!
** The First Doctor is naturally reclusive and secretive out of concern for his own safety, but has his moments of attention-seeking. In the first part of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler "The Time Meddler"]], he very blatantly fishes for attention from Vicki in order to make himself feel less lonely after Ian and Barbara's departures, monopolising her time and ComplimentFishing. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E9TheSavages "The Savages"]], which is the first time the First Doctor lands on a planet which not only knows about his travels but considers him a great hero, he smarms and mugs his way around the planet, ordering his fans about, letting them dress him up in fine clothes, and mentioning to his companions that it's about time someone gave him this sort of treatment.
** The Third Doctor got [[TheDitz Jo Grant]] as a companion because his previous one decided that he didn't actually want qualified help, he just wanted "someone to hand him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he is."
** The Fourth Doctor was by far the most unsubtle one about it. This is noticeable, especially when entering rooms, which he would accompany with striking a pose, or a huge amount of googly-eyed flailing, or usually some mixture of both. If he didn't get a good enough reaction he would sometimes leave the room and do it again. Sometimes, if another character was talking and everyone else was paying attention to them, he'd fidget about and gurn in the background until everyone got distracted, or just blatantly interrupt the other person just so that people would look at him. Like many performers who come out of repertory theatre, [[Creator/TomBaker Tom "I Don't Need a Companion" Baker]] was drilled to shamelessly steal scenes and stand front center at every opportunity.
*** In one episode, he has a FunnyBackgroundEvent where two characters are having a conversation between themselves which happens not to involve him. He stands between and behind them, looking between them with his mouth open ready to interrupt, slowly becoming increasingly distraught that neither of them is paying attention to him, and then shoots them a look of contempt and wanders off.
** In his later episodes at least, the Seventh Doctor tends to eschew attention and prefers to be a more-or-less unnoticed presence in the background [[TheChessmaster quietly manipulating events]] to go the way he wants them before quietly slipping away. While he's not entirely averse to making his presence known, it's usually because his plans happen to call for it or as a distraction to [[ObfuscatingStupidity throw people off his trail]] rather than out of egotism.
** Notably averted by the Ninth Doctor, so far the only Doctor to actively eschew attention — unlike many of his predecessors he tends not to charge in headfirst and start demanding everyone listen to him, instead preferring to hang around in the background using a combination of ObfuscatingStupidity and general invisibility to blend in, observe what problems everyone else is dealing with, and then sneakily sort them out while no-one is looking. Of course, the least attention-seeking Doctor is the one who ends up forced to appear on a sadistic reality television show, which would have caused much egotistical mugging from any of his other incarnations (especially the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Tenth) but is an excruciatingly embarrassing experience for him.
** The Fifth and Second Doctors also prefer to fade into the background, although they don't avoid attention to the extent of Nine.
** Six may not have been as blatant about it as Four, but between the bombastic personality, the exciting voyages round the English language, and [[WTHCostumingDepartment That Coat]], his entire persona seems designed to ensure that nobody can possibly pay attention to things that aren't him.

* ''{{Series/Vida}}'': Lyn is the kind of girl who actively goes looking for drama yet complains that drama always finds her no matter where she goes. Case in point, Lyn was delighted when Johnny's fiancee finds out she was sleeping with him and goes to confront her.

* The host of Series/TheApprentice is an inveterate attention whore on and off the show, constantly bragging about and embellishing his business reputation and outdoing the contestants on the celebrity version in hunger for fame.
* Amy Farrah Fowler of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' tends to fall into this, like when she became Bernadette's Maid of Honor.
-->"Today is not about you! Today is about Howard and Bernadette and me!"\\
--\\
'''Bernadette''': We're just trying on dresses, do we really need to record this?\\
'''Amy''': I’m sorry, are you the maid of honor?\\
'''Bernadette''': I am the bride.\\
'''Amy''': So no.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Euron really enjoys asserting himself on everything every time there's a large gathering just to show-off. Notable instances are the Kingsmoot, savoring the crowds' cheers when delivering Yara, Elaria, and Tyene to Cersei, and mocking Tyrion during a parley, possibly to impress Cersei and not to be "outdone" by the Clegane brothers who made a scene (well, Sandor did) just a few minutes prior. He even enters the Throne Room on horseback as a sign of authority (similar to Tywin).
* The main character of ''Series/{{Selfie}}'', Eliza Dooley, is a little like this. In her everyday life, she doesn't need to be at the center of attention and often ignores her co-workers, who don't really like her. She is, however, all over social media, constantly tweeting, taking pics for Instagram, and so on. It seems to be due to being ugly and alone when she was young, and know she craves affirmation from others, based on shallow things like her looks.

* Jane on ''Series/{{Coupling}}''. When viewed through "subtext vision", all her speech registers as "Let's all talk about ''me!''" Oliver even reasons that Jane says weird things just to seem provocative, and probably isn't even really bisexual, if she were to be completely honest with herself.

%%* Kim from ''Series/KathAndKim''.
* During his guest appearance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', Creator/JimCarrey did a skit wherein he impersonated an elderly Creator/JimmyStewart, who [[TakeThatMe ruthlessly tore into Carrey's need to be the center of attention.]]
%%* Michael Davies from ''Series/TheLatestBuzz''.
* Stephen Colbert's character, Stephen Colbert, from the Colbert Report.

* Both Nathan and Alisha from ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' pretty much fit the bill, which is probably why they don't like each other much. Although Alisha at least seems to prefer positive attention, and she shamelessly flaunts her body, flirts and simulates sex on inanimate objects[[note]] the "bottle scene", anyone?[[/note]] to get men to notice her and do what she wants (it usually works like a charm... but whenever it doesn't she assumes the man in question is "gay"). Nathan, on the other hand, seems unable to discriminate between positive and negative attention and just desperately needs ''everyone'' to be noticing him ''all the time'' regardless of the circumstances. He occasionally goes to jaw-dropping lengths to make himself impossible to ignore. And usually ends up getting hit by someone.
** Alisha grows up ''a lot'' in season 2, and probably doesn't qualify as an Attention Whore any more (although she definitely did in the beginning). Nathan, on the other hand, is shameless as ever - he thinks nothing of taking a dump on someone's ''bed'' just to prove a point.
%%* Vince Noir of ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' has elements of this.
%%* Mahna Mahna from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' is an example of this trope.
* Trina from ''Series/{{Victorious}}''. This actually goes to the point where she sells the song that Tori wrote for her "birthweek" and passes it off as her singing, despite not being a good singer at all.
* Ricky of ''Series/NoahsArc'', whose promiscuity is at least in part due to this. In fact, when his employee doesn't actively pursue him, he relentlessly tries to understand why by actually confronting the employee about it.
* Pretty much the prime motivation of people on RealityTV shows.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' features this in spades. One notable instance is in the episode "Murder 2.0", where a serial killer broadcasts his murders on a Website/YouTube expy, all for becoming famous.

* This type of character makes up the vast, ''vast'' majority of Rik Mayall's body of work. [[https://youtu.be/r3NiKO8hYBk This live appearance]] at Comic Relief in the mid-'80s says it all.
* The Doctor of ''Series/DoctorWho'' can drift into this at times. He rather likes to be admired and adored, and that's part of both his hero complex and the reason he has companions (besides the [[TheWatson many]], [[MoralityChain many]] other things they do for him.) On the other hand, he does always leave before he can get credit for all the life and universe saving he does.
-->'''Doctor''': I'm being extremely clever up here, and if there's no one to stand around and look impressed, what's the point of having you all?!
** The First Doctor is naturally reclusive and secretive out of concern for his own safety but has his moments of attention-seeking. In the first part of "The Time Meddler", he very blatantly fishes for attention from Vicki in order to make himself feel less lonely after Ian and Barbara's departures, monopolising her time and ComplimentFishing. In "The Savages", which is the first time the First Doctor lands on a planet which not only knows about his travels but considers him a great hero, he smarms and mugs his way around the planet, ordering his fans about, letting them dress him up in fine clothes, and mentioning to his companions that it's about time someone gave him this sort of treatment.
** The Third Doctor got [[TheDitz Jo Grant]] as a Companion because his previous one decided that he didn't actually want qualified help, he just wanted "someone to hand him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he is."
** The Fourth Doctor was by far the most unsubtle one about it. This is noticeable, especially when entering rooms, which he would accompany with striking a pose, or a huge amount of googly-eyed flailing, or usually some mixture of both. If he didn't get a good enough reaction he would sometimes leave the room and do it again. Sometimes, if another character was talking and everyone else was paying attention to them, he'd fidget about and gurn in the background until everyone got distracted, or just blatantly interrupt the other person just so that people would look at him. Like many performers who come out of repertory theater, [[Creator/TomBaker Tom "I Don't Need a Companion" Baker]] was drilled to shamelessly steal scenes and stand front center at every opportunity.
*** In one episode, he has a FunnyBackgroundEvent where two characters are having a conversation between themselves which happens not to involve him. He stands between and behind them, looking between them with his mouth open ready to interrupt, slowly becoming increasingly distraught that neither of them is paying attention to him, and then shoots them a look of contempt and wanders off.
** In his later episodes at least, the Seventh Doctor tends to eschew attention and prefers to be a more-or-less unnoticed presence in the background [[TheChessmaster quietly manipulating events]] to go the way he wants them before quietly slipping away. While he's not entirely averse to making his presence known, it's usually because his plans happen to call for it or as a distraction to [[ObfuscatingStupidity throw people off his trail]] rather than out of egotism.
** Notably averted by the Ninth Doctor, so far the only Doctor to actively eschew attention - unlike many of his predecessors he tends not to charge in headfirst and start demanding everyone listen to him, instead preferring to hang around in the background using a combination of ObfuscatingStupidity and general invisibility to blend in, observe what problems everyone else is dealing with, and then sneakily sort them out while no-one is looking. Of course, the least attention-seeking Doctor is the one who ends up forced to appear on a sadistic reality television show, which would have caused much egotistical mugging from any of his other incarnations (especially the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Tenth) but is an excruciatingly embarrassing experience for him.
** The Fifth and Second Doctors also prefer to fade into the background, although they don't avoid attention to the extent of Ninth.
** Sixth may not have been as blatant about it as Fourth, but between the bombastic personality, the exciting voyages round the English language, and That Coat, his entire persona seems designed to ensure that nobody can possibly pay attention to things that aren't him.
%%* Monena the prostitute in the ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' episode "The Car Pool Lane".
* Series/{{Sherlock}} also likes lots of attention, and in the first episode he clearly enjoys it when Watson tells him how fantastic his deductions are. Later he says of Moriarty that 'genius needs an audience', to which Watson gives a non-committal answer because Sherlock likes an audience too.
%%* Ted Baxter, the hilariously inept WJM news anchor on ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow''.
* Damian in ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey'' has elements of this, [[FreudianExcuse because his mother never gave him any]]. (She appears in one episode along with home videos from Damian's childhood, and her CatchPhrase is "Ignore him, he's just doing it to get attention.")
* Tim becomes one in one episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'' when Al temporarily takes over for a cooking show with Tim as his assistant. Despite the role reversal, Tim continues to try to be the center of attention like he does on Tool Time and eventually has to learn to back off and let Al have the spotlight (at which point they suddenly switch roles again, with Al becoming the clumsy lead and Tim being the StraightMan sidekick.)
* Creator/VanKootenEnDeBie:
** Tjolk Hekking, the deputy of major Hans Van der Vaart, who always tries to get attention by placing himself in front of the major and SpikingTheCamera.
** Arie Temmes, who brags about his act of resistance during World War Two, while he actually did nothing else besides telling a German officer the wrong direction to the station. Despite this, Arie still fantasizes how this deed might have changed the outcome of the war.
** Prof. dr. ir. Akkermans, who invites the press to his home because he claims his "name was mentioned" for about every important business position.
* ''Series/TheWhitestKidsUKnow'' has a sketch about Zach having this problem. He calls it attention deficit disorder.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''- Joy seems to be like this in the second season. When her tricks weren't for Fabian, they were for the spotlight. She couldn't handle the negative attention she received as a result, however.

* Both Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska are this on ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', unsurprisingly, as they are the show's [[DecompositeCharacter two main]] [[CaptainErsatz takes]] on [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker]]. [[AxCrazy Jerome]] has to be the center of attention all the time, while [[EvilGenius Jeremiah]] is actually pretty introverted at first, but is this when it comes to his [[StalkerWithoutACrush truly disturbing obsession]] with [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Bruce Wayne/Batman]]. Even in season 5, when [[SanitySlippage he becomes the leader of a cult]] that he [[AGodAmI actually names "The Church of Jeremiah Valeska"]], it turns out that he isn't actually as interested in having ordinary people worshipping him as it seems, because he only wants devoted followers so he can [[spoiler: use them to build something that will further his plans to connect he and Bruce forever as enemies.]]

* Both Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska are this on ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', unsurprisingly, as they are the show's [[DecompositeCharacter two main]] [[CaptainErsatz takes]] on [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker]]. [[AxCrazy Jerome]] has to be the center of attention all the time, while [[EvilGenius Jeremiah]] is actually pretty introverted at first, but is this when it comes to his [[StalkerWithoutACrush truly disturbing obsession]] with [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Bruce Wayne/Batman]].

* Both Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska are this on ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', unsurprisingly, as they are the show's [[DecompositeCharacter two main]] [[CaptainErsatz takes]] on [[ComicBook/TheJoker]]. Jerome has to be the center of attention all the time, while Jeremiah is actually pretty introverted at first, but is this when it comes to his [[StalkerWithoutACrush truly disturbing obsession]] with [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Bruce Wayne/Batman]].

-->"Today is not about you! Today is about Howard and Bernadette and me!"

-->'''Bernadette''': We’re just trying on dresses, do we really need to record this?
-->'''Amy''': I’m sorry, are you the maid of honor?
-->'''Bernadette''': I am the bride.
-->'''Amy''': So no.

* The main character of ''Series/{{Selfie}}'', Eliza Dooley, is a little like this. In her every day life, she doesn't need to be at the center of attention, and often ignores her co-workers, who don't really like her. She is however, all over social media, constantly tweeting, taking instagram pics, and so on. It seems to be due to being ugly and alone when she was young, and know she craves affirmation from others, based on shallow things like her looks.

--->'''Jenna''': Last night was a disaster, and not the good kind where I get to sing at a benefit.

* Ricky of ''Series/NoahsArc'', whose promiscuity is at least in part due to this. In fact when his employee doesn't actively pursue him he relentlessly tries to understand why, actually confronting the employee about it.

** The First Doctor is naturally reclusive and secretive out of concern for his own safety, but has his moments of attention-seeking. In the first part of "The Time Meddler", he very blatantly fishes for attention from Vicki in order to make himself feel less lonely after Ian and Barbara's departures, monopolising her time and ComplimentFishing. In "The Savages", which is the first time the First Doctor lands on a planet which not only knows about his travels but considers him a great hero, he smarms and mugs his way around the planet, ordering his fans about, letting them dress him up in fine clothes, and mentioning to his companions that it's about time someone gave him this sort of treatment.

** The Fourth Doctor was by far the most unsubtle one about it. This is noticeable especially when entering rooms, which he would accompany with striking a pose, or a huge amount of googly-eyed flailing, or usually some mixture of both. If he didn't get a good enough reaction he would sometimes leave the room and do it again. Sometimes, if another character was talking and everyone else was paying attention to them, he'd fidget about and gurn in the background until everyone got distracted, or just blatantly interrupt the other person just so that people would look at him. Like many performers who come out of repertory theater, [[Creator/TomBaker Tom "I Don't Need a Companion" Baker]] was drilled to shamelessly steal scenes and stand front center at every opportunity.
*** In one episode, he has a FunnyBackgroundEvent where two characters are having a conversation between themselves which happens not to involve him. He stands between and behind them, looking between them with his mouth open ready to interrupt, slowly becoming increasingly distraught that neither of them are paying attention to him, and then shoots them a look of contempt and wanders off.
** In his later episodes at least, the Seventh Doctor tends to eschew attention and prefers to be a more-or-less unnoticed presence in the background [[TheChessmaster quietly manipulating events]] to go the way he wants them before quietly slipping away. While he's not entirely adverse to making his presence known, it's usually because his plans happen to call for it or as a distraction to [[ObfuscatingStupidity throw people off his trail]] rather than out of egotism.

* Series/{{Sherlock}} also likes lots of attention, and in the first episode he clearly enjoys it when Watson tells him how fantastic his deduction are. Later he says of Moriarty that 'genius needs an audience', to which Watson gives a non-committal answer, because Sherlock likes an audience too.

* Tim becomes one in one episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'' when Al temporarily takes over for a cooking show with Tim as his assistant. Despite the role reversal, Tim continues to try to be the center of attention like he does on Tool Time, and eventually has to learn to back off and let Al have the spotlight (at which point they suddenly switch roles again, with Al becoming the clumsy lead and Tim being the StraightMan sidekick.)

* Dr Cox in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has elements of this; his self-image as a maverick who bends the rules relies on everyone else seeing him that way as well. In the episode where J.D. gives the entire cast an ''epic'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, one of his points about Dr. Cox is "Oh, no! Jordan's paying attention to the baby! That must be so hard for Dr Look At Me!"

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' features this in spades. One notable instance is in the episode "Murder 2.0", where a serial killer broadcasts his murders on a YouTube expy, all for becoming famous.
* Jen from ''Series/{{The IT Crowd}}'' doesn't always act like this, but her behavior includes singing loudly (and badly) to announce her newest relationship, complaining constantly about problems to her (usually uncaring) co-workers, and pretending to speak Italian when she can't because no one was paying attention to her and because another woman's performance at work was outshining her own.

* This type of character makes up the vast, ''vast'' majority of Rik Mayall's body of work. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3NiKO8hYBk This live appearance]] at Comic Relief in the mid-'80s says it all.