History IdiotHero / LiveActionTV

->''"Oh, I can't stand any more of this, Smart! I have ''four times'' the intelligence you have, yet time after time now for the last ten years you've managed to ruin my most brilliant schemes with your cunning stupidity!"''

* Pretty much every hero in the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' qualifies. They're extremely prone to trusting the ObviouslyEvil, rejecting help when they really need it, and generally [[NiceJobBreakingItHero making things worse]]. The [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow Legends]] in particular proudly self-identify as screw-ups.

* Series/GiantSaver: Dakong, the Fire Guard [[note]]Red Ranger[[/note]] of the Giant Savers fits the trope to a T. He loves fighting, and is quite good at it, but has the maturity and mental skills of a middle-schooler. This is somewhat fitting, as he's intentionally modeled after Sun Wukong, the Monkey King in Literature/JourneyToTheWest.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': A dramatic example of an Idiot Hero can be found in Peter Petrelli. He's technically the most powerful character in the show, but the writers have accidentally made him TooPowerfulToLive. However this is balanced out by his naiveness and overly trusting nature which ends up getting him and others into a ''lot'' of trouble. For example, in Season 2, KnightTemplar Adam tricks him into releasing a virus that could wipe out mankind (though Peter isn't aware of it) and despite many characters including people he [[TrueCompanions is close to]] telling him Adam was evil, he refused to believe them simply because he just could ''not'' fathom the idea of Adam being evil simply because he helped him.
** This is somewhat justified in-character, as his powers seem to be directly connected to his extremely strong empathy. Hiro acts similar, in that he is an enormously powerful character who acts bizarre because of his childlike nature. In Season 1, we see a version of his character that has matured and [[TookALevelInBadass Taken A Level In Badass]], and it's one of the best plot points.
* The ironically-named [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]] is entirely centered on this trope, especially when he tries to be clever and [[EpicFail fails spectacularly.]]

* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Danny Rand definitely counts. His naivete, lack of self-preservation total and inability to foresee the consequences of his actions causes many troubles for him and other characters.

** Shinji Kido, the protagonist of ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' is belittled as a buffoon by almost the entire the cast. This is mostly justified as the results of him acting without thought or realizing the consequences of his actions, and often beginning from him inciting a cycle of insults with how he derides others after a bad first impression. Shinji's intentions throughout the series are to ''stop'' the fighting, rather than to enjoy or gain some imagined 'prize' from the fabled wish the show's rider war revolved around. However, he does not succeed as each of the Riders die one by one, [[spoiler: including himself]]; alongside Hundreds of Thousands of bystanders. The Irony of the series being that the majority of the deaths in the show are a Direct consequence of Shinji repeatedly making the ''EXACT WRONG DECISION'', and (As confirmed by series writers Yasuko Kobayashi and Toshiki Inoue) had he not gotten involved the war would have concluded far earlier, with a far smaller bodycount.
** Gentaro Kisaragi, the eponymous Series/KamenRiderFourze; he readily admits to being an idiot and gets ludicrously bad marks on tests (the best we've ever seen him accomplish is a 51). Unlike many of his brothers and sisters on this page, however, he already ''is'' MessianicArchetype, with the self-stated goal of befriending everybody, even former MonstersOfTheWeek.
*** In his later appearance during the crossover [[BigDamnMovie movie]] with ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'', we see that Gentaro has somehow managed to become a ''teacher'' during the TimeSkip. The real shocker is he isn't bad at his job, either.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': '''Andrew Maxwell Dwyer'''!! Let’s see, can’t do his own laundry, can’t talk about tampons without giggling, [[GlobalIgnorance thought that Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon were the same place]], is completely SarcasmBlind and generally speaking anytime someone asks him to do ''anything'' another character will almost always have to go with him! Yet [[ManChild Andy]] is such a [[KindHeartedSimpleton lovable goofball]] that you can’t help but, well, love him!
* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Charlie is this to the point of irritating Miles a lot. In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E2ChainedHeat Episode 2]], she convinced Miles to spare the bounty hunter Jacob, only for Jacob to sell them out to the Monroe militia. In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain Episode 5]], she tried following Tom Neville, got caught by him, and Miles had to rescue her as well as make the mission of rescuing Danny harder. This is a DeconstructedTrope, because the trope is played straight and a number of realistic consequences occur. Fortunately, Charlie is becoming smarter, as of [[Recap/RevolutionS1E6SexAndDrugs Episode 6]].

* Earl and Randy on ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''. Earl is really BookDumb, and Randy is an extreme ManChild.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': '''Andrew Maxwell Dwyer'''!! Let’s see, can’t do his own laundry, can’t talk about tampons without giggling, [[GlobalIgnorance thought that Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon were the same place]], is completely SarcasmBlind and generally speaking anytime someone asks him to do ''anything'' another character will almost always have to go with him! Yet [[ManChild Andy]] is such a [[KindHeartedSimpleton lovable goofball]] that you can’t help but, well - love him!

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': '''Andrew Maxwell Dwyer'''!! Let’s see, can’t do his own laundry, can’t talk about tampons without giggling, [[GlobalIgnorance thought that Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon were the same place]], is completely SarcasmBlind and generally speaking anytime someone asks him to do ''anything'' another character will almost always have to go with him! Yet [[ManChild Andy]] is such a [[KindHeartedSimpleton lovable goofball]] that you can’t help but love him!