Examples of The Rival in live-action TV series.
- Buffyverse:
- Faith to Buffy. They start out as friendly rivals and friends, with their initial rivalry being mostly a lighthearted contest to see who is the superior slayer, but this soon turns into an philosophical rivalry when Faith's dark side reveals itself, as Faith seeks to convince Buffy that being slayers means they can do whatever they want, while Buffy tries to force Faith to accept the consequences of her actions and show empathy for ordinary people . The rivalry becomes deeper when Faith becomes a dark slayer working for the Mayor, and although they reconcile after Faith's Heel–Face Turn in Season 7, the comic continuation still occasionally has the two at each other's throats.
- Spike to Angel, regardless of whether they're on opposing sides, both good, or both evil. Though Angelus was Spike's original mentor when he first became a vampire, the two frequently clashed with Angelus constantly humiliating Spike and stealing his girlfriend, while Spike in turn sought to outdo him by becoming a notorious slayer killer. In Season 2, Spike opposes Angel when he fights against the Scoobies, only for both to switch sides before the end of the season, with Angel losing his soul and becoming evil again while Spike eventually grows sick of Angelus after he steals his girlfriend again and teams up with Buffy to get rid of him. In Season 5 of Angel, both now have souls and are firmly on the side of good, but end up competing due to the Shanshu prophecy ambiguously stating that a vampire with a soul would play a pivotal role in the apocalypse and be rewarded by becoming human, with the two even fighting for the right to be the hero of the prophecy. However, they remain teammates with similar noble intentions despite their infighting.
- On the side of evil, Lindsey and Lilah are rivals at Wolfram and Hart, constantly trying to one-up each other for promotions and to prove themselves as the Worthy Opponent to Angel and his team. However, there is definitely a lot of mutual respect between the two, and Lindsey even recommends Lilah to their bosses for the promotion that they had fought over when he quits Wolfram and Hart in Season 2.
- In Charite, the rivalries between the various doctors are part of the daily issues that surround their research work. Professor Virchow and Professor Koch are rivals for prestige, Doctor Behring considers Doctor Ehrlich a rival because he got the position in Koch's laboratory first, although Ehrlich is pretty much the only one who keeps out of the power play, and Behring is also sure that Koch sees a rival in him and so attempts to block his scientific process. As it turns out, he's right about the last one. Koch has always known Behring is brilliant, and so didn't want him near himself.
- Each Chouseishin Series usually has one.
- Chouseishin Gransazer has Impactor Logia, the most persistent foe of the Gransazers and in particular Tenma, who he seeks to defeat.
- Genseishin Justiriser has Shiro Jinno/Demon Knight. He's the Justirisers' Evil Counterpart and is set on defeating them to prove himself to Kaiser Hades. He later turns good after getting cured of his memory wipe and joins the good guys.
- Chousei Kantai Sazer X: Takuto has Fire Shogun Blaird, who is dead set on defeating him in a honorable duel, even though Takuto can't even remember his name. Commander Shark also has a rival in Jackall, his comrade-in-arms turned would-be assassin.
- Sharon Raydor shows up as this to Brenda in Season 5 of The Closer, possibly because Commander Taylor is now something of a Lancer. After working together (quite well) to solve a case in the fifth season finale, they agree that they "simply don't like each other." This turns out to be a big fat lie. Raydor went on to take the helm of the Major Case Squad in After Show Major Crimes following Brenda's departure from the LAPD, and has proceeded to kick ass.
- Cobra Kai is littered with these, with the overarching rivalry arguably being Miyagi-Do (and Eagle Fang to a lesser extent) vs. Cobra Kai, even dating back before the events of The Karate Kid film series with Sato Toguchi's (one of the earlier Miyagi-Do practitioners) anger towards Kim Sun-Yung (the progenitor toward the "Way of the Fist" style of karate that Cobra Kai is inspired by).
- Daniel LaRusso vs. Johnny Lawrence is arguably the most recognizable, granted the latter was the reason why Daniel decided to take on karate from Mr. Miyagi; their rivalry reignited when both men reopen as senseis of the dojos they were a part of as students back in the 80s, and escalates when it extends to their students. Even when Johnny defects from Cobra Kai to form Eagle Fang and establish an Enemy Mine with Daniel to take down Kreese's Cobra Kai, they still are at odds with each other and take it out on a tournament-style fight. It takes some of their star students (particularly Sam LaRusso) adopting both of Daniel and Johnny's style in the 51st All-Valley for the two men to finally come to an accord and bury the hatchet. Season 5 avoids the rivalry altogether when Character Development establishes Johnny as a more reasonable man, followed by Johnny himself agreeing to become a co-sensei to both Daniel and Chozen.
- Miguel Diaz and Robby Keene jump between this and Arch-Enemy. In Seasons 1 and 2, the two are karate rivals fighting for opposite dojos and face off in the All Valley Tournament final, in which Miguel defeats Robby, though there is also a personal element to the rivalry as they compete for the affections of their mutual Love Interest Sam and Johnny who is Miguel's surrogate father and Robby's actual father. The rivalry intensifies after Robby accidentally kicks Miguel over a railing in the school brawl and nearly kills him before joining Cobra Kai under Kreese, though the pair are able to work out their issues and become friends in Season 5.
- In the first two seasons, Sam and Aisha have a Friendly Enemy dynamic but nonetheless look to outdo each other in order to earn more business for their respective dojos, with the additional tension of Aisha resenting Sam for her failure to stick up for her when she was being bullied and friendship with the girls bullying her and Sam worrying about the effect Cobra Kai's toxic aggressive mentality and Aisha's friendship with Sam's new Arch-Enemy Tory might have on her old friend.
- Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz and Demetri Alexopoulos. The two start as best friends, but drift apart as Hawk is consumed by Cobra Kai's Testosterone Poisoning and begins to reject Demetri as the embodiment of the nerdy interests he wants to leave behind, while Demetri remains Proud to Be a Geek. While their rivalry becomes deeply personal, both of them end up learning important skills from each other, as Hawk's embarrassing defeat to Demetri (who had barely started learning karate) in the school brawl forces him to realise that he needs to learn some defence and "fight smart" to balance his aggressive fighting style, while Demetri is forced to learn karate to fend off Hawk's bullying, which helps him gain confidence and which he later admits was "the best thing that ever happened to [him]". When the two finally reconcile, they become one of the most effective teams in the series.
- Degrassi: The Next Generation and Lakehurst were rival schools, which caused problems when Lakehurst burns down and the students have to move to Degrassi. One main character even gets stabbed to death by a Lakehurst student. Liberty had a rivalry with Damian, who was to be Lakehurst's valedictorian and became her competition for the position when he became a student at Degrassi.
- Game of Thrones:
- Jaime is Ned's constant antagonist for much of Season 1. Their animosity stems from Ned being vocal against the Lannisters' Sack of King's Landing and Jaime stabbing King Aerys In the Back. However, while Ned strongly dislikes Jaime for this perceived lack of honor, it's clear that Jaime wants to prove himself a Worthy Opponent to Ned and earn his respect, as he greatly resents how Ned's Honor Before Reason mentality means that he villifies Jaime for killing the Mad King, which Jaime considers his most noble act. Jaime even punches one of his own men for intervening in his and Ned's duel and thus robbing him of the chance to legitimately prove himself the better fighter.
- Davos and Melisandre, for the position of Stannis's right hand. Davos is an earthy, pragmatic man who thinks Stannis should focus on winning over powerful houses to his cause, while Melisandre is a mystical Red Priestess who talks Stannis into morally murky actions like blood magic assisted assassinations. Though Melisandre actually respects Davos, Davos hates Melisandre and calls her his enemy to her face. However, Davos's relationship with Melisandre does eventually help him grow out of his Flat-Earth Atheism and accept the existence and occasional necessity of the supernatural.
- The Hound and Bronn have a lot in common, as he points out. He'd also rather like to rip Bronn's head off for no other reason than Bronn working for Tyrion and being a bit grating on the nerves.
- The Good Wife: Cary Agos to Alicia Florrick. In Season 1, the two are competing for a job at Lockhart/Gardner, as the firm has hired both of them provisionally for a year with a view to giving a permanent job to the superior employee at that time. After Alicia gets the job, Cary joins the State's Attorney's office, and the two are on opposing sides of cases almost every week. The pair become true friends and partners after Cary rejoins the firm, and even break away to form their own firm together. However, their relationship begins to sour due to their competing ideals about how to run the firm, and by the end of the series Cary is one of many friends that Alicia seems to have lost the respect of due to her continued defence of her husband, Peter, in the midst of yet another corruption scandal.
- Carter Baizen to Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl.
- Grey's Anatomy: Seattle Grace and Mercy West hospitals. Similar to the Degrassi example, they merged when Mercy West closed down. Some Mercy West characters were killed off, though the others have been accepted as part of Seattle Grace.
- Many of the secondary Riders of the Heisei era in Kamen Rider play this role at first, then eventually become an ally or a true foe.
- Kamen Rider Build: Night Rogue is a consistent enemy to Sento Kiryu/Kamen Rider Build throughout the show, first helming the Nebulous Evil Organisation Sento is going up against and later reappearing as Seito's trump card, Kamen Rider Rogue. It's shown best in their face-off at the final round of the Representative Match, which features them clashing philosophically as much as physically.
- Kikaider:
- Saburo/Hakaider is one of the most famous examples in Toku, being Kikaider's "brother" who's dead set on being the one to defeat him. Meaning he won't abide by any other Destructoid trying to do so.
- Kikaider 01 has Waruder, a robot samurai who seeks to defeat him in an honorable duel. After he develops feelings for Mari, he begins to view 01 as a Love Rival as well.
- Lost:
- Jack Shephard and John Locke frequently clash due to their fundamentally different beliefs and goals, with Jack being the man of science who just wants to escape the Island, while Locke is the man of faith who wants to uncover its mysteries. Through all of their infighting, it's clear that Locke has an enormous amount of respect for Jack's natural leadership qualities and compassion, and pushes him to set aside his skepticism in order to reach his full potential while occasionally resenting that Jack doesn't seem to return his respect. Jack is much more antagonistic towards Locke, and tragically only accepts that Locke was right all along after Locke's death, at which point he accepts Locke as a true friend and ironically starts to echo his beliefs.
- Jack and Sawyer are rivals not only for Kate's affections, but in an ideological sense. Jack is a respectable doctor who is instantly beloved by the rest of the camp and chosen as their leader, while Sawyer is a lowly con man who nobody likes for his Jerkass behaviour and hoarding supplies. Though the two are at each other's throats for nearly the entire series, they learn important skills from each other, with Jack becoming more duplicitous and capable of getting his hands dirty, while Sawyer becomes more empathetic and becomes a leader to the survivors himself when Jack leaves the Island.
- Locke and Benjamin Linus. While Jack and Widmore's rivalries with Ben are much more personal and based on genuine hatred (one-sided on Jack's end, mutual between Ben and Widmore), Ben and Locke's rivalry has a greater level of mutual respect, and usually consists of the two attempting to one-up each other to prove themselves more in tune with the Island and worthy of leading the Others. While Ben does eventually kill Locke out of jealousy, he feels a deep remorse for this crime that he doesn't express for most of the other horrible things he has done.
- A considerably more benign version of this trope is Prince Arthur and Lancelot from Merlin. Both of them respect the other, but both are painfully aware of their mutual feelings for Guinevere.
- Never Have I Ever: Ben and Devi have been at each other's throats (and grades) since they were young.
- Pipo De Clown: Dikke to Klukkluk, as he actually tries to take his spot as the leader of the Native American tribe. This is even though Klukkluk is the son of their leader. For some reason, the Native Americans don't bat an eye at a stranger making such a demand, and actually consider him as a candidate alongside Klukkluk.
- Eric to Wes in Power Rangers Time Force. Plus For Rivals Team Up and Eric becoming The Lancer.
- Deker to Jayden in Power Rangers Samurai counts as well.
- Jason and Goldar...accept no substitutes.
- Our Miss Brooks: Miss Brooks has Miss Enright, her rival for Mr. Boynton's affections and the position of head of the English Department.
- For each series of Retro Game Master Arino does multiple games on. Most are simply the Big Bad of multiple games, such as Bowser, but some are enemies he has a lot of trouble with, most notably Red Arimer/Red Areemer/Firebrand and the birds.
- Turk had a rival in Bonnie during the early seasons of Scrubs.
- So Random and Mackenzie Falls are rival television programs on Sonny with a Chance.
- Super Sentai:
- Hikari Sentai Maskman: Prince Igam is Takeru's main rival on the villain side, being the foe he fights the most and seeking to kill him for dishonoring the Tube family name after he and Princess Ial fell in love.
- Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger: The Gouraigers come from the rival ninja school of Hayate's Way and thus are this to the Hurricanegers. They take in a step further by throwing their lot in with Jakanja.
- Bimpe from Tinsel is Telema Duke's rival, both in the industry and for Soji. Kwame is Soji's rival. Brenda Mensah is Fred Ade-Williams's rival.
- Lex from The Tribe is a rival to Bray, as well as most other males on the show with any authority. He's also a thug and a petty criminal who thinks he's much more of a Magnificent Bastard than he really is.
