Shirtless Scene / Live-Action TV

Next step: Drop the towel.

• 10 Things I Hate About You: This show is full of gratuitous shirtless scenes.
• 24:
  • Jack Bauer gets a few of these and even spends an episode in season two naked. Of course, said episode also has him being brutally tortured the whole time...
  • Near the end of Day 4, Tony Almeida. Hello.
  • Live Another Day sees one for Steve Navarro in his last appearance.
• Accidentally On Purpose: Zack has a few.
• And Then There Were None (2015) uses a scene where everyone's belongings and clothes need to be searched as an excuse to show Aiden Turner wearing nothing but a towel even as all the other (markedly older and less attractive) men are shown wearing dressing gowns instead.
• Andor
  • In "The Axe Forgets", Cassian has a brief chat with a shirtless Skeen, revealing his prison tattoos. Cassian, who has also been in prison, recognizes what most of them mean, and it serves as a moment of connection between the two, especially at a point when the other Rebels don't really seem to trust Cassian.
  • "Announcement" features a brief, literally steamy scene of Cassian running the shower to hide the sound of him digging through his lockbox from his latest girlfriend, gratuitously shirtless and wearing just his trousers. Unlike Skeen's earlier scene, there was zero plot-related reason to have Cassian put on just his pants, but not his shirt before he grabbed his money out of the lockbox, other than a brief moment of levity and seeing Cassian relaxed for once before his life goes to hell again, literally minutes later.
  • A Fan Disservice version occurs in "Narkina 5", when a despondent Cassian plus the 49 other men in his block in prison are standing naked in a giant decontamination chamber that strongly resembles a futuristic version of a gas chamber at a Nazi concentration camp.
• Angel:
  • In "Rm w/a Vu", Angel comes to the door of his apartment wearing a towel and nothing else. In the DVD Commentary by Jane Espenson, she notes, "I put that scene in there because, frankly, I knew there wouldn't be a woman on the planet who wouldn't enjoy seeing David [Boreanaz] shirtless and dripping wet." The series is absolutely full of shirtless scenes for the titular hero.
  • Wesley gets them once he starts sleeping with Lilah. Particularly in "Deep Down" where after sex with her, he reveals he has Justine tied up in his closet, and only puts his pants back on.
  • The season 5 episode "Hellbound", where Spike ends up naked.
  • Lindsey goes shirtless during the fight scene in "You're Welcome". For no apparent reason, while making a penis euphemism.
• All the Action Guys of Arrow go shirtless quite often, though Ollie deserves special mention for getting at least one Shirtless Scene per episode. Hell, the cover of the first season even features Oliver Queen without a shirt! (though there's a plot reason for this as well). Lampshaded when Oliver finally goes on a date with Felicity Smoak in Season 3, and she quips that she's already seen him with his shirt off many times.
• The Avengers (1960s) was known primarily for Emma Peel providing Fanservice but John Steed provided some by way of this. In "Mr Teddy Bear" he goes shirtless as his clothes are being checked for booby traps. In "Castle of De'ath" he strips to a speedo when he goes swimming in the loch. And in "Immortal Clay" he's getting exposition while in a sauna.
• Average Joe: Shirts vs. Skins basketball and dodgeball were played. The Joes were always the Shirts team and the Hunks were the Skins team.
• Band of Brothers:
  • Dick Winters for the sake of a bath when he's on leave in Paris. He gets another one while in Austria, as he goes swimming in the lake. Nixon forgoes shirtlessness and jumps in fully clothed.
  • Showers are allowed in "The Last Patrol", so Malarkey and a few of the others get a Shower of Angst.
• Battlestar Galactica (1978): The original series: Starbuck and Boomer each have one shirtless scene (in "The Young Lords" and "The Hand of God", respectively).
• Battlestar Galactica (2003) features some truly spectacular ones:
  • Most notably Lee Adama's towel-dropping scene.^note Apparently yet another favorite trope of actor Jamie Bamber, who has a handful of these sprinkled across his TV appearances as well as in a print ad for PETA—the photo of him that adorns this page is actually the least revealing of the series of pictures that it was selected from.
  • Helo had a nice one late in season three.
  • It was Fan Disservice in the season 3 opener "Occupation". Though Fat Apollo does seem to have a few fans.
  • Used dramatically in other as the elder Adama studies his surgical scar and (now healed) bullet wounds in the mirror.
• Britain's Got Talent: Featured a martial arts duo called Strike in its second series, who took their shirts off during their audition and went rippy in their semi-final and final performances. Amanda Holden got reduced to fangirl level.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Spike during the last two seasons. Sometimes even his pants came off. James Marsters has, in fact, referred to his costume in season six as "pretty much a sock." Lampshaded by the First Evil (using Buffy's appearance) when she uses Spike's blood to open the Seal. "She" mentions that the original plan was to use Andrew, "but you look better with your shirt off."
  • Angel didn't wear a shirt at all during the third season. If Marti Noxon is writing the episode you can be assured that Angel will take off his shirt at some point. Or be shown partially stripped. And dripping with sweat. During a torture scene. Whilst shackled to a bed...
  • In "First Date", Xander gets a shirtless scene. And he wears nothing but a red speedo in "Go Fish". Also in "The Zeppo" he has impromptu sex with Faith, and is promptly turfed outside while still shirtless.
  • Oz is shirtless for a good amount of time in "Wild at Heart". Any episodes that revolve around his werewolf transformation will usually have one.
• Cagney & Lacey even put the Shirtless scene for Martin Kove in the title sequence, so they had it Once an Episode.
• Californication: It would be quicker to list the episodes where David Duchovny's character Hank Moody doesn't take his shirt off.
• Charlie's Angels: The "Toni's Boys" episode features a feminist commentary about shirtless scenes. In one scene set at a male strip club, male Angel Bob Sorenson is asked by Jade Allen, the owner of the strip club to take his shirt off. Which he does while Kris Munroe eyes him like a hungry lioness.◊ While watching a male stripper rehearse, she asks Kris "I think it's time for us ladies to have something yummy to look at. Don't you think?" "Mmmm!" was Kris' answer.
• Charmed (1998) has tons of them:
  • Cole is shirtless for half of "Enter the Demon" as he spars with Phoebe. He's also inexplicably shirtless when the Siren is seducing him and also appears shirtless in one of his own nightmares.
  • Leo stopped getting them after the third season but Phoebe walks in on him shirtless while making out with Piper. Prue also walked in on him in the shower.
  • The prince from "A Knight To Remember" spends the climax of the episode shirtless, as the Evil Enchantress is trying to conceive his heir.
• Chuck:
  • The minor character Devon (better known as Captain Awesome) is regularly shirtless, apparently because that's how the character wants to dress. For Halloween, we saw him costumed as Adam, in flesh-colored briefs with a large green fig leaf.
  • Generally averted with Chuck himself who is rarely shirtless, which is probably because the actor is better built than the character.
  • We do get an extended shirtless Chuck sequence in the third season.
  • Every spy love interest for Sarah goes shirtless at some point: Bryce and Cole at least have the injury excuse. Shaw walks around in a towel just because.
• Community: Jeff, and to a lesser extent the rest of the study group, have found themselves stripping down in some rather bizarre situations. Possibly the weirdest was being involved in a game of pool that to prove a point was being played naked.
• COPS: Watch any episode. Chances are at least one of the suspects will be shirtless.
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The men tend to get shirtless: Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes in the wedding episode, and Greg Sanders in the shower scene....
• CSI: NY as well.
  • Danny Messer on several occasions.
  • Mac Taylor on three: changing t-shirts after having been injured in an explosion in the season 2 finale, in bed with Peyton in the season 3 opener, and swimming in the (season 5) 100th episode, "My Name Is Mac Taylor."
  • Stella's boyfriend Frankie once, when they're in bed.
  • Fan Disservice with Don Flack's gaping wound in the above-mentioned explosion, then in his A.W.O.L. episode when he lifts his shirt to reveal severe bruising from a brutal beatdown on the subway.
  • Also Disservice with several apartment dwellers when they're doing canvasses:
    Stella: If I see one more heavyset guy without a shirt or in boxers and a wifebeater...
    [Another canvas has an overweight tenant wearing only tighty-whities who answers the door and looks dreamily at Don while scratching his chest. Don just says "Nevermind" and moves on.]
• The Daily Show: This Moment of Zen has Jon Stewart, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert all posing shirtless for the (imaginary) new reality show Temptation Pitch. Colbert has also done multiple shirtless scenes on The Colbert Report and appeared totally naked in Strangers with Candy.
• Dancing with the Stars:
  • Maskim Cherkovskiy when dancing the samba with Erin Andrews.
  • Now has been done with both the Cherkovskiy brothers, even in the same week (the week, incidentally, when the celebrities had artistic control of the routines).
• Dante's Cove: Very frequent. Even when people aren't having sex, they have a tendency to leave their shirts unbuttoned or off altogether (possibly justified by the tropical setting), and Adam only actually seems to wear a shirt three times, twice unbuttoned. Lampshaded by Grace once.
  Grace: Aren't you with that other one, now? The one that says "dude" and appears not to own a shirt?
• Davy Crockett: Georgie gets one in this mini-series, when Indians capture him.
• Desperate Housewives: Jesse Metcalfe as John Rowland.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Third Doctor gets a shower scene in his first episode.
  • The Fourth Doctor comes very close to getting a shirtless scene in "The Deadly Assassin". He spends the entirety of the episode wearing a loose, low-necked, partially see-through white shirt, which gets torn, dirt-stained, blood-stained, AND soaking wet while he's in the mind matrix world. Alas, he is never seen completely without it. Not even when he's being TORTURED — they passed up a lot of good opportunities in that episode.
  • Peter Davison sort of got one in "Mawdryn Undead". Although it turned out it wasn't actually Fivey. It was Mawdryn, who had somehow managed to take Fivey's form.
  • Turlough in "Planet of Fire" (Peri's first appearance). Though he's not so much shirtless as trouserless...
  • In the Made-for-TV Movie, Eight has three scenes where you get to see his chest. His smooth, pale, hairless, well-muscled chest... The second one is rather Fan Disservice-y, involving something on the milder end of Body Horror.
  • "Dalek": The Ninth Doctor, though van Statten torturing him drains some of the fanservice out of it.
  • "Bad Wolf": Captain Jack Harkness, thanks to a "defabricator". Ironically, it's conveniently placed in such a way to block a full nudity shot.
  Jack: Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?
  Trine-E and Zu-Zana: Absolutely!
  Jack: Ladies, your viewing figures just went up.
  • "Rise of the Cybermen": When Mickey gets caught by the Preachers after they realize he's not his Alternate Universe counterpart Ricky, he gets stripped down to his underwear and tied to a chair.
  • Elton in "Love & Monsters". Television Without Pity recapper Jacob lampshaded the scene:
    "He stands, arms akimbo, a... hell of a lot easier to take with his shirt off."
  • Davros, briefly during "The Stolen Earth", though unlike most examples, it was played up for sheer Body Horror.
  • The Tenth Doctor's half-human clone from "Journey's End" is Naked on Arrival, much to Donna's embarrassment.
  • John Simm's Master in "The End of Time" (the writers made sure to get every bit of Fanservice they could out of him. Shirtless, bondage, and cross-dressing all in two episodes.)
  • The Eleventh Doctor got one straight away. He also got a striptease! For charity.
  • Eleven gets another in "The Lodger". It's actually a Shower Scene. There were many ways they could have done the scene. They opted for the sexiest option. The Matt Smith fangirls rejoiced.
  • Rory got a very nice shirtless scene in "The Curse of the Black Spot".
• Dollhouse:
  • Ballard has had several quite extended such scenes (a show on the brink needs all the help it can get), including a fairly pointless scene of him sparring in a boxing ring in the re shot pilot, which did little else but show he is ripped. It is worth pointing out Ballard is played by Helo from Battlestar Galactica and really rocks the shirtless look.
  • Victor, courtesy of the community showers in the Dollhouse.
  • Daniel Perrin gets two shirtless scenes in as many episodes, the second one being possibly the most gratuitous bit of fanservice this show has ever done (and that's saying something, considering the overtly sexual nature of the show). For some unknown reason Daniel and Echo had to take off their shirts before removing the GPS chips from the backs of their necks, even though the procedure involved making a small cut at the base of the skull, with relatively little bleeding. The soft music and the intense close-ups only serve to add to the erotic feel of the scene. Thank you, Joss Whedon.
• Due South: Constable Benton Fraser is shown bare-chested a few times throughout the series.
• The Dukes of Hazzard: Bo and Luke Duke often appeared with their shirts off.
• The Electric Company (1971): All of the adult male cast members appeared shirtless at one point or another. Even Bill Cosby.
• Elementary: Has Sherlock Holmes shirtless in his very first scene. He's shirtless again two episodes later while looking through a case file. In the latter case, he remembers wearing a shirt when he started, but can't remember why he took it off. One of Holmes' irregulars, Harlan Emple, is a Mathematician who frequently works shirtless so nothing comes between him and the numbers.
• Farscape: John appears shirtless a few times to the delight of fangirls.
• Firefly:
  • Joss Whedon points out how happy female viewers probably are about Simon Tam's shirtless scene in the commentary of the "Objects in Space" episode.
  • Captain Malcolm Reynolds spends some time completely naked in "Trash".
  • Jayne Cobb is shirtless at the start of "Jaynestown".
  • In commentary for The Movie, meanwhile, he apologizes for having Mal only shirtless in one scene and then only showing him from his neck up for most of it.
• The Flash (2014): As you might expect from the protagonist of a superhero show, Barry is frequently seen without a shirt , especially whenever Caitlin is performing medical tests on him or patching him up after a fight. In fact, shirtless scenes while Caitlin performs medical tests seem to be mandatory for any new hero, as both Ronnie-as-Firestorm and Hunter Zolomon posing as Jay Garrick also get this treatment.
• FlashForward (2009): Both Demetri and Mark have gotten shirtless scenes. The fangirls are not complaining one bit.
• Flash Gordon (1954). Steve Holland (as the title character) always had a mandatory scene Once per Episode where he'd enter the cabin of his rocketship while still changing his shirt, revealing a well-muscled chest.
• Fox Sports: Soccer player Nani, while giving this postgame interview.
• The Frog Prince: Robin Williams in the Faerie Tale Theatre production of...The Frog Prince is naked when he transforms back into a man, covered only by a Modesty Bedsheet.
• Galavant: A fairly epic musical number called "Off With His Shirt" was all about this.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Lord Renly Baratheon and his lover Ser Loras Tyrell are shirtless during their intimate scenes together, such as the one in "The Wolf and the Lion", during which Loras urges Renly to make a claim for the throne, and in "What is Dead May Never Die," where they argue about Brienne of Tarth. Loras has a third one in "Kissed By Fire" when he beds Olyvar.
  • Jon Snow, Robb Stark, and Theon Greyjoy share one as they wait for a shave in "Winter is Coming." Word of God is that this was specifically put in to balance out the amount of gratuitous female nudity in the episode (Daenerys, Ros and the rest of the whores all go full frontal).
  • Gendry does the Hot Men at Work version while forging a sword in "The Ghost of Harrenhal."
  • Joffrey goes shirtless between trying on outfits in the Season 3 episode "Dark Wings, Dark Words."
  • Ramsay fights off Yara's rescue attempt of Theon while shirtless.
  • Prince Oberyn is naturally shirtless when he's about to have a fivesome - until Tywin interrupts. He remains shirtless for a few moments to clearly mock him, before putting a robe on.
  • The male prostitute Olyvar will often be shirtless when he appears.
  • Gregor in "Mockingbird" when he's shown training for his Duel to the Death by massacring prisoners at the Red Keep.
  • Jon Snow is shirtless while he's being resurrected by Melisandre.
  • Grey Worm first when he's recovering from a brutal fight with the Sons of the Harpy, and then right before he and Missandei have a passionate love scene. They had previously seen each other naked when they were both bathing in the river.
• Glee:
  • Has Puck and now Sam, who seems to have more shirtless scenes than regular ones.
  • Not that anyone minds seeing Sam shirtless in nearly every scene. Though the show's creators seem to tone his shirtlessness down in later episodes.
  • Finn and Will also had shirtless scenes in the "Rocky Horror Glee Show". Curiously, Kurt did not.
  • Blaine, taking a shower after boxing.
  • By the end of the series every single male Glee Club member (besides the Season 6 newbies and Artie) that was in the club for more than a few episodes has had their chests lovingly exposed on camera at least once.
• Green Wing: Has one with Mac and Guy wrestling shirtless in front of a large fireplace in one of Mac's dream sequences.
• Grey's Anatomy:
  • The scene where Dr Mark Sloan, AKA Mc Steamy, walks out of, appropriately, a cloud of steam, wearing the smallest amount of coverage possible to avoid the censors. Fanservice if ever there was one.
  • One episode in the sixth season features a plot for Alex Karev that seems designed mostly to have him shirtless for most of the episode.
• Grimm: Renard has had shirtless scenes in at least two episodes, much to the pleasure of fans oriented toward being attracted to men.
• H₂O: Just Add Water:
  • Byron was frequently shirtless in the first season for the sake of swimming practice.
  • Inverted for Zane, who was on the show for all three seasons and never got one. Especially notable in an episode with a swimming contest. Zane is the only swimmer wearing a full bodysuit.
  • Lewis got a couple in Season 2 after he was caught in a storm and needed to dry his clothes on a beach.
  • Will's first scene is him swimming into the moon pool on Mako Island. He is of course shirtless. He gets several more scenes like this since he's a swimmer.
  • Needless to say this is doubled down in the sequel series Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure, featuring as it does a merman named Zac (who works as a beach lifeguard with his buddy Cam). More mermen show up in seasons 2 and 3.
• Hallo K 3:
  • Bas gets two shirtless scenes in season 1 in the first two episodes! The first one is where he just comes out of his shower and talks to Josje, and the second one is Karen dreaming.
  • In episode 2 of Season 2 Bas got two shirtless scenes in one episode. The first one is him training, and the second one is Kristel daydreaming. Bas also gets another shirtless scene in episode 8 when he is in his underwear. And Bas gets yet another shirtless scene in the first episode of season 3, where he takes of his shirt for a massage.
  • Marcel also gets a shirtless scene, but this is more of a Fan Disservice since Marcel is a really old man.
• Happy Endings: Of the three male cast members, only Brad doesn't get a shirtless scene. Dave has a few, but Max has the most less out of sexiness and more because he's just that lazy. The girls invoke one with Max's boyfriend Grant, 'accidentally' spilling soda on him.
  Max: Why do you have a picture of me in my underwear?
  Jane: You're always in your underwear. Its hard to find a picture where you're clothed.
• The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Hoooo, brother, where to start? Luckily, both male stars had great bodies for it:
  • "Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom": Frank Hardy (aka Parker Stevenson) walks into the room fresh from the shower, clad only in a towel.
  • "Life on the Line": Frank strips off his shirt inside his trailer.
  • "Sole Survivor": Joe Hardy (aka Shaun Cassidy) spends most of the episode in a sweat-jacket unzipped halfway down.
• Hawaii Five-O: Steve, aka Alex Mc Loughlin, frequently shows off his buff chest.
• Hawaii News Now: This segment about the Spartan Race.
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys:
  • Hercules gets several of these during the series, but is exemplified in the episode "...and Fancy Free", with both the Girl of the Week and a cross-dressing Iolaus (playing another character) watching the hero do some heavy lifting, then douse himself with a bucket of water, filmed in slow motion and deliberately sexy camera shots, all to a nicely-done song called "Hunk O' Herc".
  • Even as a teenager, Hercules got one shirtless scene. And he wasn't the only one. Iolaus (played by the lovely and talented Dean O'Gorman) had at least three, and Jason (played by the equally-if-not-moreso lovely and talented Chris Conrad)...well, it's easier to find episodes where he isn't shirtless, really.
• Heroes: Every major male character has gotten at least one shirtless scene (save for the Haitian, depending on your definition of 'major').
  • Teasers for Season 3 that included a shot of Mohinder's bare torso were met with fangirlish screams of, "About damn time!"
  • Peter Petrelli and Sylar are infamous for this; they've been seen without their shirts on at least once every season. They even got one together in season three (fine, so Sylar was wearing an undershirt, but close enough to count).
  • Hiro gets a shirtless scene in season four when he steals a t-shirt in order to cover up the hospital robe.
• HEX: Quite a bit, apparently. Some of the male cast members manage to take them on and off every other scene.
• Duncan got at least one or two a season in Highlander. Often they were love scenes, but other examples like a shirtless Duncan battling an immortal Mountain Man in the woods also exist. As Adrian Paul is a good Mr. Fanservice example, the fans were quite pleased.
• Hornblower really takes this trope to new levels.
  • Horatio Hornblower is shirtless or almost shirtless a lot. He takes off his shirt when he dives in "The Even Chance" (he later walks shirtless and wet!); he runs about the ship shirtless in "The Examination for Lieutenant" when he stresses about being properly dressed; and he loses all clothes when he decides to get a shower on deck in "Mutiny". And we got to see him a lot in his sleeping clothes.
  • Captain Pellew has some 'loose shirt scenes' when he's getting dressed or undressed. Fan girls wished the shirt went off completely...
  • Archie Kennedy was shirtless a lot, or had scenes with his shirt open. Sometimes it was clouded by his being seriously ill or injured, but he still looked mighty attractive. Fan webpage Archieology 101 kept counting scores.
  • Mr Bush gets 'open shirt scenes' and 'shirtless scenes' in "Mutiny"/"Retribution" when he and Hornblower practice firing cannonballs, or when he sleeps in his cabin (sadly only open shirt), or when he gets injured and treated. The wound makes it a bit disservice-y.
• House:
  • We get at least one shot of Hugh Laurie shirtless per season.
  • Chase also had one.
  • Foreman, too.
• How I Met Your Mother: Thanks to his womanizing ways, Barney Stinson gets his fair share of these scenes. Hell, one episode (episode 10 of season 4, for those of you taking notes) is all about getting naked. (Since he's played by Neil Patrick Harris, it's very much appreciated.)
• Hustle: Danny Blue used to appear shirtless on a pretty regular basis (as well as going completely nude a few times). It also happened a couple of times with Mickey Stone, including a scene in season 3 which featured both boys being dropped off in the middle of London completely naked - perhaps unsurprisingly given their respective track records of onscreen nudity, Mickey was the first one to find himself something to wear.
• iCarly: Gibby. He shows up without a shirt, or removes in his scenes more than he ends up with it still on. It does not matter where it is. School. A party. A restaurant. On a live webshow. The shirt comes off. Rawr. Played straight with some of the guys Carly dates, such as Griffin in one of the extended episodes, using a motorcycle accident as an excuse.
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: This show wasn't exactly known for its fanservice, but even then Nathaniel Parker (yes, the same one from Merlin), playing the title character, got a chance to whip his shirt off a few times. The most notable was in "One Guilty Deed", in which he was dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel. It was precisely as glorious as you would expect.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022):
  • Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac are bare-chested whenever they undress, either for sex or while they're getting ready for bed (well, coffin) and they choose not to wear an undershirt or a pyjama top underneath their robe.
  • "Is My Very Nature That of a Devil": Jonah Macon is shirtless when he performs oral sex on Louis at the bayou.
• The IT Crowd:
  • In one scene, Jen tries to distract an office full of women by telling them that a builder outside the window has taken his shirt off, "just like in ads" (a reference to the Diet Coke Hunk). It's true — but the builder is not hunky.
  • Roy loses his T-shirt because of Moss's trick (he spilled coffee on it), and he had to lend his jacket to a lady who was cold (an emergency situation). He ended up running crazily in the premises. He's just an average geeky guy — not an extremely handsome Mr Fanservice, but it's not Fan Disservice either.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
  • Dennis is obsessed with "popping off his shirt". Due to his narcissism he believes this will charm any woman - but this does not work.
  • Mac, in the season 7 finale, in form of Fan Disservice, as he has gotten fat.
  • Mac, again, several times in season 13 after getting ripped. Fanservice, but In-Universe ridiculed.
• JAG: Harmon Rabb got quite a few in earlier seasons.
• Just Shoot Me!: Parodied. Maya dated a guy who liked to take off his shirt a little too much. She finally breaks up with him when she found him shirtless in public. Turns out he just saved a little girl who fell into the sewer.
• Kamen Rider Kiva: The opening.
• KTLA News: This interview with Ryan Lochte.
• Kung Fu (1972) It is absolutely astonishing the amount of times Caine gets his shirt soaked, torn, ripped, sliced, etc. And then, of course, there's nothing to do but take it off...
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Common for Chris Meloni as Elliot Stabler. Olivia Benson once walked into "the crib" as he was changing out of a ripped shirt and commented, "I like that shirt." More likely she enjoyed seeing it off. Or the birthday-shirt he had on under it.
  • When Tutuola and his partner bust a meth lab, they're both exposed to toxic vapors. Cue some Fanservice of the partner stripped to a skin-hugging undershirt that's transparent from the decontamination shower.
• Legend of the Seeker: Craig Horner gets into a lot of shirtless action (well, not like that) as Richard Rahl in this TV series. Probably for good reason.
• Leverage: Eliot goes shirtless in the boxing episode. TNT.com, while listing their top 10 Leverage episodes, includes the shirtlessness as a reason for "The Tap-Out Job" making it.
• Life as We Know It: All of the 3 male leads get one at some point.
• Lois & Clark: Had a few through the series. Clark once answered the door of his apartment wearing nothing but a towel.
• Lost:
  • Plenty of guys have gotten this: Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin (who is absolutely ripped by the way!)...
  • An excellent example from the Lost season 4 finale: jumping out of the helicopter and swimming to shore apparently knocks Sawyer's shirt right off.
  • Desmond being naked after the hatch implodes... and who doesn't seem to know how to work his shirt buttons when he is wearing one, like Linc from Prison Break.
• Lost Girl:
  • Dyson gets this a lot.
  • In the episode with the lich, Hale ends up getting vomit onto the front of his shirt from the girl he's supposed to watch, forcing Kenzi to take it off. Straight women and gay men were never more grateful for vomit.
• Mad Men: Has too many to count, mostly involving Don.
• Mad TV:
  • The Abercrombie & Fitch employees sketch.
  • Also from Mad TV: Eddie Thundercloud.
• Magnum, P.I.: Tom Selleck had regular shirtless scenes. The pilot even begins with one.
• Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild finds an excuse to take off his shirt, and sometimes his pants, in just about every single episode, sometimes multiple times per episode. Yes, even in arctic conditions.
  • And, to keep it in the Discovery Channel family, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. Here he takes a mudbath. Shirtless goodness starts at 4:30
• The Man Show: Also parodied. The no shirt guy ''Needusattention Showum Nipplus''.
• Married... with Children: In the episode Al on the Rocks, Al and Jefferson have a job as a topless bartender.
• M*A*S*H: Regularly showed characters in the showers, depending on the actor this was either fanservice or Squick.
• Match Game '73: In one episode, McLean Stevenson didn't wear a shirt.
• The title character of McCloud, seemingly once an episode.
• Melrose Place: In this scene from the premiere episode, the first thing Billy does after moving in is to take his shirt off much to Alison's delight.
• Merlin (2008):
  • Still along BBC lines, this show just doesn't seem to be Merlin these days without Arthur popping up shirtless at least once every couple of episodes.
  • Case in point: "The Lady of the Lake" in season 2, where the future king is quite stunningly naked, save a towel, for the sake of a bath which he never takes and which serves the plot in no very obvious way.
  • In 3x08, Arthur beats all his records, showing up shirtless at five seconds in! It's pretty much the first thing you see. He also had a shirtless scene in the previous episode.
  • It has reached the point where Colin Morgan and Bradley James are now mocking the gratuitousness of this on the commentaries.
  • In season 3 we met Gwaine. Wibble.
  • As of Lancelot du Lac, Lancelot has one too.
  • How do we know Merlin's the main character? He was the first one to get a Shirtless Scene.
  • Likewise, Leon's role as a series regular is cemented when he gets to go shirtless for the first time. It's like a Coming of Age ritual on this show. Ditto for Mordred (though he's partially wrapped in torso bandages).
  • In series 5, Percival and Gwaine spend the entire first two episodes sans shirt (they were enslaved by Morgana and forced to work in a mine - naturally this involved a lot of pick-axing and heavy lifting. It was practically an Excuse Plot built solely around giving them a semi-justifiable reason to whip their shirts off).
  • Anthony Head and Nathaniel Parker have both had a chance to take their shirts off. They're significantly older than the rest of the Cast Full of Pretty Boys, but... yeah, they've still got it.
• The Middleman: When Sensei Ping prepares for battle, his shirt spontaneously flies away from his body, apparently propelled by sheer badassery. The fact that the Middleman himself is in a bicep-baring tank top by that point just makes the scene all that more delightful.
• Midsomer Murders: In "Happy Families", Winter's clothes get wet so he has to wear borrowed pajama bottoms and no shirt. Winter also showcases he is not wearing underwear under the pajama bottoms.
• Moon Lovers:
  • Most of the princes are shirtless during the bathing scene in episode one.
  • Wang So is shirtless when Ha-jin stumbles upon him bathing in episode two.
• Mork & Mindy: Mork in the episodes "Mork's Seduction", "Mork In Wonderland", and "Putting The Ork Back In Mork". He also wore a Denver Broncos Cheerleader uniform in "Hold That Mork", which isn't totally shirtlessness, but it doesn't cover a lot of his torso....
• Mortal Kombat: Conquest: While this show focuses mostly on female-based fanservice, there are a number of shirtless male scenes. Shang Tsung doesn't even wear a shirt, he just goes around in a vest most of the time.
• Briefly lampshaded by Jane in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024) when John doesn't put on a shirt before coming to say goodnight to her.
  Jane: You lost your shirt?
  • Lampshaded again shortly afterwards by John as he tries to give her different reasons to justify why he wasn't wearing a shirt: it's warmer downstairs, it's colder in her room, etc.
• Mr. Show: The opening of one episode features Bob and David removing their shirts, believing they're catering to their all-female audience. This leads to a feminist group trying to kill them.
• The Muppet Show: Some of the guests got a chance. The late Rudolf Nureyev would be the standout here, performing a duet with Miss Piggy clad in only a towel.
• MythBusters has indulged in this as well. Every single male MB has appeared stripped to underwear/swimtrunks at least once on the show. (Not counting at least three episodes where Jamie goes shirtless but has pants on.)
• Night Man: Hunky Matt McColm, playing the titular superhero, gets a post-shower shirtless scene very early on that makes it into the opening titles as his main credit clip.
• This segment about good-looking men on Nine News Australia.
• Noah's Arc: Happens at least Once an Episode.
• NRL Footy Show: Beau Ryan of the Cornulla-Sutherland Sharks does the show in the nude.NSFW
• The O.C.:
  • Ryan Atwood. That dude has big arms, for an alleged 16-years-old, so half his wardrobe is, naturally, tank tops.
  • Also done in the second season with DJ the pool boy. And then in season three with all of those surfer guys. Okay, pretty much anyone Marissa was ever involved with, except Oliver and Alex.
• Out of the Unknown: Anthony Ainley, better known as The Master of the show Doctor Who, had a very brief one◊ in this BBC series episode "Welcome Home" and another◊ in "Spyder's Web" series.
• Passions: Every episode of this Soap Opera was full of shirtless scenes.
• Oz: Chris Meloni as his character on Oz, where he's often shirtless (but that isn't the only clothing he takes off).
• Pride and Prejudice: In the miniseries adaptation, Darcy has a bath. Open and wet shirt? Excessive hotness! Areas below the waist are conveniently hidden.
• Psych: Lou Diamond Phillips gets one of these at the end of one episode. At first the scene is played as an Imagine Spot of O'Hara, who has been ogling the guy throughout the episode, fantasizing but then we see that the character is actually walking around with his shirt off.
• Pushing Daisies: In one episode, Ned is shown shirtless, with the justification being that he and Chuck are bringing Chuck's bees back to life and it's efficient to just pour the dead bees on him.
• Quantum Leap: Has Scott Bakula shirtless in every other episode, as well.
• Queen of Swords: Captain Grisham got several shirtless scenes, one of which was used in the opening credits montage.
• Queer as Folk (US): Brian Kinney adores the living hell out of this trope. He goes shirtless and pours a whole bottle of water on himself in slow motion twenty minutes into the pilot episode. In fact, there doesn't seem to be a single character on the show who hasn't gone shirtless, or even full frontal, at some point - including Emmett's 70-something-year-old boyfriend.
• Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: Strangely, there's a scene with Gordon Ramsay putting his shirt on in almost every single episode. He really doesn't have the build for it. It's the excessive confidence that compels him to take his shirt off so often. Gordon Ramsay definitely calls out his own name during sex. The title sequence of Ramsay's The F Word is a protracted sequence of Gordon taking off his civilian shirt and putting on his chefs coat, showing off his bare chest in the progress. Ramsay's definitely a fan of this trope.
• Red Dwarf: Chris Barrie went to the gym for his two shirtless scenes in series 5. Craig Charles also gets a few, which are definitely Fan Disservice.
• Revolution: Neville gets one in "Soul Train", as he and his men are in the Noblesville bar boxing. Predictably, he takes the opportunity to vent his frustrations on Danny.
• Robin Hood: Became something of an art-form. Every single male cast member (except, tragically, Will Scarlett) had a shirtless scene. Of course, this was a double-edged sword: although Robin, Guy and Allan had their shirts off, so did the Sheriff, Little John and Tuck; as did Much. Equally artistic were the reasons for their shirtlessness: most of the time it was because the men were getting tortured or tied up in some way, though there is a priceless scene in which Guy is putting on armour over his bare skin.
• Sanctuary: Had a very nice one with the male scientist protagonist, Will, where he strips to his skivvies so the Invisible Girl won't feel self-conscious when she has to take off her clothes to become invisible and complete a task. "Why would a scientist be that ripped?"
• Scream Queens (2015):
  • Chad whenever he has sex with Chanel. In fact, it's outlined that the Dickie Dollar Scholars all need to have a "killer ab routine".
  • Season 2 also has a homoerotically charged scene where both Chad and Dr Cassidy square off in the shower.
  Chad: I think our weiners just touched.
• Schitt's Creek: Mutt is shirtless a great deal of his screentime in the first two seasons. Jake comes out of David's bathroom in nothing but a towel to David's mortification because his amused and delighted mother has stopped by. Ted is revealed to be taking everything off after his run and in front of his office's bunny cam, to the delight of viewers including David and Alexis.
• Scrubs:
  • Turk, Dr. Cox, The Todd and JD have gotten Shirtless Scenes.
  • JD's chest isn't as delicious. In S8 he has a couple, in one instance repeating a fantasy with him and Turk but with the shirtlessness reversed, explicitly (when dream Turk questions this) because he has been working out a little.
  • Cox's case is lampshaded by Jordan:
    Jordan: We all got it, you love your body. Now put a shirt on.
  • Cox also asks Carla to describe what just happened - an in-universe Moment of Awesome for him - as happening with him shirtless.
  • Keith gets one when he offers JD his shirt after he gets splashed with coffee.
• Search: Dong-jin is introduced playing basketball while shirtless.
• The Secret Circle: Nick. Lampshaded by Cassie when she wonders if he even owns a shirt.
• Seize The Day: Robin Williams in the PBS Great Performances production of this show. Probably not intended as Fanservice, but compared to shirtless Jerry Stiller....
• Sharpe: Usually at least once per episode. At one point, Sharpe attempts to improve his squad's firing rate while he has his shirt off. Not completely gratuitous because he does it to show the soldiers the whip scars on his back which attest he came up from the ranks and has no pretensions on being better than them and that he knows exactly what they are going through and isn't demanding anything he hasn't done himself.
• Shoestring: Eddie gets one in "An Uncertain Circle" while he's being treated for burns.
• Skins: At least in the first season every guys have shirtless scene.
• Smallville: Is there any male character on that show that hasn't had a shirtless scene?
  • Tom Welling has not only gotten his fair share of shirtless scenes as Clark Kent but wet T-shirt scenes.
  • Clark Kent's shirt comes off, too, after he's so conveniently thrown in a furnace and all his clothing is burned away.
  • There were a few shirtless scenes with Michael Rosenbaum as well, which were most definitely appreciated.
  • Hot-Doomsday DAVIS when he was stabbing himself in the chest which apparently requires shirtlessness.
• Sons of Anarchy: Jax Teller gets these from time to time.
• So Random!: Parodied in a Wheel of Fortune skit: "Jacob" is suddenly shirtless inbetween shots. "Pat Sajak" asks why he took his shirt off, and "Jacob" asks the same thing. We go back to "Pat" to see him suddenly shirtless.
• So You Think You Can Dance: Began to embrace this trope with Season 3 contestant Pasha and it has since become a staple in subsequent seasons. Lampshaded in earliest instances by judge and exec. producer Nigel Lythgoe with jokes about costume department issues/budgets.
  • During season 2 Dmitry Chaplin was the unofficial king of this given to frequent shirtless solos.
• Spooks: Lucas North in first episode of season 7.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • Dr. Daniel Jackson winds up completely naked following de-ascension from a higher plane of existence — not even once, but twice.
  • Teal'c is seen shirtless in later seasons once Junior (his symbiote) is gone and the freaky symbiote pouch has disappeared.
  • There was that time when Colonel Mitchell was handcuffed to a bed wearing only his boxers. Sexy.
  • Jack O'Neill managed to be shirtless once.
• Starsky & Hutch: Has a few of these, most of which feature the titular characters themselves.
• Star Trek: The Original Series:
  • A classic TV example is William Shatner as Captain Kirk. This was so common an occurrence in the series that the spin-off trading card game actually included an official "Shirtless Kirk" card.
  • Spock got one, too, in "Patterns of Force". And he never, ever got one again.
  • Sulu got one in "The Naked Time".
  • Poked fun of in Galaxy Quest when Jason, an obvious stand-in for Kirk, manages to lose his shirt during a battle, leading to a Lampshade Hanging where Alexander snidely tells him, "I see you managed to get your shirt off."
  • Parodied in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", where Shatner specifically tears his shirt before getting into a fight due to the power of the trope in Star Trek fandom.
• Star Trek: Enterprise:
  • Archer, Tucker, Reed, and Mayweather run around in their skivvies on that show A LOT.
  • Archer and Tucker in the episode "Desert Crossing", but in their defense it was a desert world.
  • Every decon scene deserves a mention. Except for the one in "Bounty" with Phlox. Squick.
  • Bakula loses his shirt on a very, very regular basis. Liquification of those attracted to the male gender occurs.
  • Then there's the episode "Shockwave," which is rather (in)famous for when Hoshi loses her shirt in a Rare Female Example and covers her chest with her hands until she gets a shirt.
• Star Trek: Picard: Cristóbal Rios is shirtless in his very first scene ("The End Is the Beginning") because the EMH has to remove a large piece of shrapnel which is embedded in his shoulder. He's also bare-chested when practicing soccer moves in "The Impossible Box."
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: In the series premiere, Spock is shirtless when he's about to make love with T'Pring. Coitus Interruptus ensues.
• Sunrise On 7: This news segment on the Australian men's water polo team.
• Stranger Things: In "The Dive" Steve takes his shirt and shoes off to look for the Gate in the lake, planning to keep them dry to put back on. He ends up grabbed by the ankle and yanked through the gate getting stuck in the Upside Down with no shirt. While Eddie tosses him a vest an episode later Steve doesn't wear it closed.
• Supernatural:
  • Had Sam show up in just a towel in "Hell House". Good times.
  • Because the writers are twisted, the shapeshifter taking Dean's form in "Skin" takes his shirt off (Fantastic!) and then takes his skin off, with his teeth falling out, turning it into Fan Disservice.
  • Castiel got a very quick shirtless scene. He lures four angels who are about to kill him, and opens his shirt revealing Blood Magic Angel-Be-Gone sigil, using it to banish the four angels and himself.
    • Speaking of Castiel shirtless scenes, in the aptly named episode "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here", his clothes get damaged, leading to a shirtless (and pantless!) scene at a laundromat where Castiel strips down to his boxers to wash his clothes.
  • "The Third Man" opens with Sam working out with no shirt on. It's so distracting that the prostitute he just slept with nearly walks off without him paying.
• Super Sentai/Power Rangers:
  • Both have a good amount of shirtless scenes in every series.
  • One of the notable shirtless scene is Doggie "Boss" Krueger's Transformation Sequence in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. His robes actually dissolve revealing his (furry) body which slowly gets covered in his Dekamaster outfit.
  • Notable instance is Leo from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, tearing his shirt off...only to morph a moment later. This one is so iconic, it's included in the opening theme from the second version onward.
  • Ryan in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue has a less fun shirtless scene: the villains remove his shirt so they can put a death curse on him. Every time he uses his powers, the cobra tattoo inches farther up his body until it bites him in the neck.
  • Cole from Power Rangers Wild Force got a couple as well, ripping off his shirt Leo-style during the final episode's Battle in the Rain.
  • Jason and Tommy both went topless in a two-on-two martial arts competition in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - specifically, the episode "Gung Ho!", where they had to learn how to work together and which also introduced Titanus the Brachiosaurus carrier Zord.
  • Power Rangers Dino Charge: Blue Ranger Koda has a rather blasé attitude towards shirts, justified by his Contemporary Caveman status. Not that the viewers much minded.
• Teen Wolf: This series on MTV has taken shirtless-scenes past gratuitous and into pure art-form. Every episode, hell, every scene, there are better than even odds that one of the male stars (who are all ridiculously attractive) will take their shirts off. If you made it into a drinking game, you'd have alcohol poisoning by the end of the first episode. And you'd probably be paralytic before the first break.
  • Derek Hale seems to get it the most. Every episode gives us either Derek shirtless flexing, Derek shirtless working out, Derek shirtless captured, Derek shirtless injured, or Stiles using Derek shirtless to goad a gay character into helping him. When the Argent family of werewolf hunters capture him, the very first thing they do is remove his shirt, for no apparent reason. Although he is played by Tyler Hoechlin, and that's probably reason enough.
  • Stiles is the only male character to have kept his shirt on for the entire first season. It's become something of a meta Running Gag, with Stiles pulling his shirt off in the locker room... only for the entire view to be blocked by Scott's locker door.
  Dylan O'Brien: I just don't want to take my shirt off on national TV.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: In the episode "Vick's Chip", we are treated to resident Derek Reese having a shower scene.
• Terra Nova: Several scenes in the first few episodes have Jason O Mara taking of his shirt. As a result, I have nicknamed the Jim Shannon character as Abs-daddy.
• Tinsel: Kwame Mensah showed us just what he'd been hiding all those scenes he spent in the wheelchair. Yum!
• "The Tomorrow People" - Robbie Amell has his shirt off almost every episode. When he keeps his shirt on, Luke Mitchell has his shirt off. Only two episodes in the entire season run was neither shirtless. It was often gratuitous, such as Robbie Amell coming out of the shower or Luke Mitchell exercising. The one time it made sense for Mike Pellegrino to be shirtless, in bed with his girlfriend, he wore a tank top. Only the young male leads got to be shirtless for the fan girls.
• Today: Tonga's 2016 Olympic flag bearer Pita Taufalofua appears shirtless in this segment and gets oiled up by Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager
• Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness again, along with Ianto: Jack in both "Small Worlds" and "Adrift," Ianto in "Adrift." Technically, both are naked in "Adrift," but there are some conveniently placed plants.
• Total Divas has John Cena and Daniel Bryan going shirtless for the sake of a wood-chopping contest. The Bella Twins respond by donning push-up bras. Given the wrestling elements of the show, you frequently see the men shirtless either during workouts or in their ring gear.
• Trailer Park Boys: Parodied, where Randy is always shirtless, despite being hairy and overweight.
• True Blood:
  • Jason Stackhouse spends most of his onscreen time naked. Even when he wears clothes, the shirts almost never have sleeves.
  • Chris Meloni gets to take his shirt off as Roman.
  • There's also Bill, Eric, and Sam, who have all gone butt-naked at some point in the series.
• TV3 Sports in Spain: Soccer player Bojan Krkic is shirtless while giving this postgame interview.
• The Vampire Diaries: This show must have a "one shirtless scene per episode" clause in, um, all of its male actor's contracts. Because the two male leads are played by the gorgeous, hunky, and ripped Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, this is very much appreciated by the large female fanbase. Damon and Stefan aren't the only ones running around sans shirt on the show either; Elena's younger brother Jeremy (who is suspiciously ripped for a ostensible sixteen-year-old) is frequently shown shirtless, as is her good friend Matt. And most male characters run around in tank tops when not completely shirtless. Responsible for keeping many a fan watching until the show grew its beard and became more than just eye-candy and melodrama.
• Veronica Mars: Several of the male characters get a shirtless scene: Weevil, Cassidy ("Not Pictured"), Sheriff Don Lamb,... There was a moment in "Welcome Wagon" when Dick Casablancas, wearing only Union Jack underwear and a balaclava, dances with a blow-up doll dressed in a French maid's uniform.
• Vows of Deception: Michael Woolson in this Made-for-TV Movie. Much to Cheryl Ladd's delight.
• Warehouse 13: Agent Pete Lattimer will accept more or less any excuse to take his shirt off. Get in a fight? Oops, all the buttons gave way. Dangerous VR video game? I'm playing the gladiator! Learn your new colleague is gay? Strip off so he can enjoy the hotness. Body-swap with your female partner? We get to see him walking around half-naked holding his hands over his nipples.
• The West Wing: The teaser of the episode "The Crackpots and These Women" features a handful of sweaty male staffers playing basketball with the President. It's notable that while Toby and Bartlet are dressed in humorous alumni sweatshirts to underline their interactions in the scene, Charlie happens to be in a nearly transparent t-shirt, and Josh in a ratty wife beater which reveals the most Perverse Sexual Lust-inducing arms ever sported by an overworked political operative.
• White Collar:
  • Neal gets one of these every few episodes.
  • Peter got one in the pilot episode, and didn't get another one until the fourth season, where he got two shirtless scenes in the space of three episodes.
  • Mozzie also got one in season three, but...eh, no.
• Why Women Kill: Scooter deliberately gets a stain on his shirt as an excuse to strip it off in front of Catherine, so she's enticed by his Carpet of Virility and muscular torso.
• Wings: In the "Friends or Lovers?" episode, Joe has one.
• Wives and Daughters: One might get truly nice Shirtless Scenes in Costume Period Drama set in late Regency England/ early Victorian period. The following are courtesy of this show:
  • Osborne is ill and lies in bed shirtless while his wife tries to nurse him.
  • Roger is shirtless when he's hurt and taken care of in Africa during his expedition.
• Wizards of Waverly Place: Justin Russo gets one in the Wizards On Deck with Hannah Montana crossover.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Pretty much the ENTIRETY of the episode "Old Ares had a Farm".
• The X-Files:
  • Agent Fox Mulder was shirtless fairly often, among other things.
  • AD Skinner had several glorious Shirtless Scenes when he was caught dressing up in his apartment or working out.
• Quite a few in Zoey 101, despite the underage cast. Logan is the main perpetrator.

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