Token Good Teammates in Live-Action TV.
- Behrooz Araz served as this to the antagonists during the fourth season of 24, which included his own parents. He was consistently on the fence about helping them since it meant the deaths of several innocent people, and the last straw that proved he just couldn't work well with them was when they wound up killing his girlfriend. This eventually led his own father to try and kill him as well.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
- When Phil Coulson got his own TV series, it started to become clear that he is this trope to the higher-ups of S.H.I.E.L.D., and indeed to a lot of his fellow agents. The idealist in an organisation of cynics and pragmatists, he brings an invaluable perspective much in the same way as his hero, Captain America, does to the Avengers.
- Among the Inhumans of Afterlife in Season 2, this role falls to Lincoln. He's only tangentially involved in Jiaying's machinations, and never directly opposes the heroes until the finale — and he quickly makes a Heel–Face Turn when confronted by Daisy with how monstrous his superiors really are. By Season 3, he manages to become a full-fledged member of Coulson's team after some initial difficulties. Too bad that doesn’t last too long, since he dies at the end of the next season.
- A.N.T. Farm: Protagonist China Parks, since every other character is either a jerk, an antagonist, or a moron.
- Babylon 5:
- Vir Cotto is the only prominent Centauri who doesn't subscribe to either Realpolitik or Fantastic Racism, and ends up being Londo Mollari's (largely ineffective) Morality Pet. He manages to grow a spine without ever losing his strong moral compass. Part of Londo's Thanatos Gambit at the end is to ensure Vir will succeed him as emperor so that he can lead the Centauri into a brighter future.
- Unfortunately for the good guys, it ends up that Kosh is this for the Vorlons because he doesn't fall into their Black-and-White Insanity and Lawful Stupidity.
- While every character in Battlestar Galactica (2003) is morally compromised to a certain extent, Helo seems to stand out as the only one that can still be considered an exemplar of Honor Before Reason in a society that increasingly embraces the ends justifying the means.
- Also Billy, although he may have been lucky to get shot dead shortly before something that might have really tested his morality.
- Louis Hoshi was one of the few crewmembers from the Battlestar Pegasus not to be a Jerkass or a rapist. This might explain why he got a temporary promotion to Admiral of the civilian fleet in the Grand Finale.
- Manny from Black Books is the only member of the cast with a functioning moral compassion who isn’t completely driven by alcohol and contempt for people he knows and doesn’t know. Though given how Bernard and Fran are, Manny has no real competition when it comes to altruism. He’s also actually happy to be a store owner and enjoys his job.
- The Boys (2019): Starlight is the only one among The Seven who's not in some way morally compromised, and stands out because of it. Queen Maeve appeared to fill that role beforehand, being the least amoral of the group (which, admittedly, is not saying much.)
- In Breaking Bad, Walter “Flynn” White Jr. is the most moral person in Walt’s immediate family not counting the Schraders.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer had Jonathan of the Nerd Trio during its sixth season. Whereas Warren proved himself to be a bastard and Andrew (at the time) was just a suck-up who sided with either of the other two when the situation proved best for it, Jonathan was the only one of the trio with a true conscience and never wanted to actually kill Buffy, even going against Warren several times when he attempted to do so. When Warren winds up killing his (Warren's) ex, this is what goes on to drive a permanent wedge between Jonathan and the others, ultimately leading him to betray Warren by revealing the weakness in his newest plan to stop Buffy late in Season 6.
- In Chernobyl, Boris Shcherbina is probably the most benevolent portrayal of a Soviet government official in an American production. While the majority of the local officials only care about dodging blame and trying to hush everything up, Shcherbina pushes the government to get every resource necessary to contain the disaster. At the end of the series, Legasov assures Shcherbina that his role was the most significant of all because the Kremlin somehow sent the one good man.
- In Cobra Kai, both Robby and Kenny Payne become this for the titular dojo once it's been taken over by John Kreese and Terry Silver. Robby is a fierce fighter and is out to win by any means necessary, but he doesn't subscribe to the sink-or-swim leave-the-weak-behind mentality of the others and genuinely cares for the well-being of his teammates, especially the young Kenny whom he takes under his wing to train, protect, and comfort. Kenny is a small, but swift, and very young kid who just wants to be able to protect himself against bullies and basically just had the misfortune of being sent to Cobra Kai by his brother (who knows Robby) rather than going to Miyagi-Do or Eagle Fang, which would have done much better for him. Kenny goes from a nice innocent kid to a vicious, cackling, gloating bully in no time, which gives Robby enough of a crisis of conscience that he ends up sobbing in his father's arms, lamenting just how hard it is to mentor someone, how he tried his best to look out for the kid but just couldn't do it, and how he's just so sick of being full of hate.
- In Continuum, Detective Carlos Fonnegra. His partner (the main character) is a well-intentioned fascist, Da Chief has sold out to the corporations, the Playful Hacker is a traitor, and the only other detectives given any time in the spotlight are uncomfortably fond of Police Brutality, but throughout the show, Carlos remains good, decent, and loyal.
- On A Different World, Dwayne and Ron get into a brawl with three students from a rival college. When Ron gives his version of events, he unfairly depicts the one of three who was trying to stop the incident from escalating as just as bigoted and aggressive as his friends. Later, when the true story comes out, he's the only one of the three to apologize.
- In Friends Joey and to a lesser extent Phoebe are easily the most cheerfully friendly of the main six characters and aren’t as so hell-bent on actively messing up their own and other people’s lives as Chandler, Ross, Rachel and Monica are. They most definitely have their rudely selfish traits and bad moments but are still far less jerky overall. The fact they’re both so child-like even compared to the other four is a factor in this.
- Game of Thrones:
- Although all characters are morally ambiguous to some degree, the Lannisters are generally seen as the main villains, especially in the first seasons. As such, Tyrion definitely fulfills this role in his family, as well as Only Sane Man. He's one of the only members of the family who thinks of the common folk's well-being and is consistently disgusted and disturbed by Joffrey's actions. Unlike most of House Lannister, Tyrion is a good man at heart.
- Ned Stark to the Decadent Court of King's Landing.
- Fat Walda to the Boltons, although, given the nature of her husband and her stepson, it wouldn't require a big effort.
- The Smalljon is definitely not good or heroic, but he is the only Northern lord with totally understandable concerns for turning against the Starks aside from greed or vengeance.
- Kevan Lannister, compared to the rest of Tywin's bannermen. He's the brother who inherited some of Lord Tytos's mild traits.
- Glenn of The Good Place is a demon who delights in torturing humans condemned to the Bad Place but when learning that the system of sorting humans in the afterlife has become so screwed up that literally everyone in the last 500 years has been damned he is the only member of the Bad Place demons who does not want to cheat a test that could reform the system because he actually wants to ensure that those subject to torment deserve it.
- Jim Gordon, like his comic incarnation, in Gotham is the only cop in the city who isn't corrupt and is actually aiming to destroy the corruption of the police and the city from within.
- During the later seasons of Grimm, Nick Burkhardt and his Portland-based allies are sometimes uncomfortable with the methods of Hadrian's Wall, a group of Wesen acting against Black Claw who sometimes use more ruthless tactics than the Portland natives would prefer. However, one of the members of Hadrian's Wall is Teresa 'Trubel' Rubel, a younger Grimm who was brought into the fold by Nick and his friends. While it's never explicitly stated, and nobody ever asks Trubel to choose between the two groups, the fact that Nick shares certain secrets with Trubel that were discovered during her absence shows that he and his allies trust Trubel even if they don't trust Hadrian's Wall, and appear sure that she would help the Portland group if it came down to a choice between them or Hadrian's Wall.
- The Handmaid's Tale: Serena Joy for the Wives, maaaaaaaaybe, as well as Mrs. Lawrence, and Joseph Lawrence for the Commanders.
- Heartstopper: Deconstructed with Nick and his friend group. He's much nicer than the other boys, hates them bullying people, and happily bonds with "borderline outcast" Charlie... Which leads to him falling out with the group and finding new friends, demonstrating that a truly good teammate is unlikely to last long amongst toxic people.
- On Heroes, Bob points out that Mohinder is valuable to the Company because he's the only one there with a sense of ethics. Although maybe he's just baiting him with the idea that they need him to keep them in line until they can get inside his head and convince him to be just as morally compromised as all the rest of them. And there's the fact that the decisions he makes, out of innocence and good intentions, end up being just as morally questionable as what the rest of them would have done anyway...
- How to Rock: Grace King is the least mean of the Perfs, Kacie's original popular girl clique until she is thrown out. Unlike Molly, she doesn't seem to have it in her to be mean and is often falling off-task.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Charlie Kelly is the only member of the gang to show any kind of empathy for other people and is not an asshole most of the time. Most of the instances when he acts like a jerk are because he's too stupid to know any better or because of his association with The Gang, though he also has his genuinely cruel moments ("Charlie Has Cancer", "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom", and "Charlie and Dee Find Love") and is a Stalker with a Crush.
- Moss from The IT Crowd is definitely this for the main trio. Although he is comically dorky and socially inept, compared to Roy and Jen who are utterly self-serving and jerky (often to Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist levels) Moss is a genuine Nice Guy who can’t even swear, he says “flip” instead of “fuck” and while he does have moments of being bad it’s almost always spurred on by Roy and Jen’s influence.
- Kamen Rider
- Kamen Rider Ryuki: Shinji Kido and Miyuki Tezuka are the only Nice Guys in cast of riders that range from Anti Heroes to Ax-Crazy Psychopathic Manchildren.
- Most of the villainous ensembles of Kamen Rider Gaim have one team member who is at least somewhat decent.
- Of the four Ygdrassil Riders, Takatora Kureshima is the only one who acts to preserve the human race when the incoming apocalypse arrives, while the rest of his team only acts in self interest, the human race be damned.
- DJ Sagara seems to be this for the Ygdrassil organization as a whole. While he does work for them, he does help Kouta from time to time, even breaking him out of an Ygdrassil holding cell and providing him with multiple power-ups. Appears is the right word here, as Sagara is the Big Bad of the show and a godly entity who causes an apocalypse that would cause civilization to collapse. The reason why Sagara helped Kouta is that he doesn't like one side having all the cards in hand in dealing with the apocalypse.
- Roshuo, the leader of the last survivors of the Femshinmu race, is the only one who regrets his past actions that lead up to the collapse of his civilization and near extinction of his race. The other survivors of this race are very psychopathic and relish in causing as much pain and destruction as possible.
- Like his name suggests, Heart from Kamen Rider Drive fits this trope. Heart genuinely cares for his own race, the Roidmudes and is prepared to give up his own life if it means their continued survival. He is also visibly upset when a Roidmude is destroyed and absolutely abhors sacrificing other Roidmudes for his own gain. Heart also prefers to fight directly, instead of sending others to do his jobs for him. His team members, Brain and Medic, actually like to employ underhanded tactics and have no qualms about sacrificing other Roidmudes if it fits their plans.
- Emu Hojo, the titular Kamen Rider Ex-Aid is the only rider in the series who actually cares about the emotional well being of the Victim of the Week.
- Kingdom (2019): The only good member of the prominent Haewon Cho clan is Beom-pal, who's a pretty kind guy and actually does wish to help people rather than use them as tools. Unfortunately, he's a doormat for bad advisors and he's loyal to the clan, including the evil Cho Hak-ju, so ends causing as much death as his crueller relatives (he's responsible for a lot of deaths at Jiyulheon and his acting on Cho Hak-ju's orders leads directly to Mu-yeong's death).
- Kingdom Adventure: Vibes is a minstrel, a musician who works for The Dragon, Pitts, but who also is loyal to the Emperor and sometimes (often reluctantly) puts himself in danger to help the heroes.
- Knight Squad: Among the members of Kracken Squad, Buttercup is the nicest member and is always ditzy and carefree.
- In the Mexican series La Familia P Luche, Bibi P.Luche is the only member of the titular family who isn't a greedy Jerkass obsessed with money and finding new ways to take advantage of stupid or forgetful people. She is instead a sweet, friendly Nice Girl with a strong morality compass. Because of this, most get annoyed with her and constantly tell her why she's wrong about her statements (often using Insane Troll Logic) all while rhetorically asking her why she can´t be a "normal girl". Heck, she's this to the entire town, as Bibi is noticeably the only inhabitant of Peluche City who doesn't wear clothes made of plush.
- Nate Ford to the rest of the Leverage team. He was specifically hired to be the "one honest man" on a crew of thieves. However, the distinction gets fuzzier as time goes by, as Nate begins to almost relish his role of criminal mastermind and the rest of the team discovers they enjoy using their skills to help people. Sophie especially is pointed out to be his moral compass later in the series.
- Freddy Rumsen in Mad Men is one of the few men at Sterling Cooper who doesn't try to grope his female colleagues — contrast Ken's crude move on Peggy in "Ladies' Room" with Freddy chastely dancing with her in "The Hobo Code". Notably, during the focus group test for Belle Jolie lipstick, he doesn't make degrading remarks about the secretarial pool, instead becoming the first to notice Peggy's talent for words and push for her to be given the task of writing copy for the ad campaign. He is, however, an alcoholic who gets fired after passing out and pissing himself just before a big meeting, although he later comes back as a freelancer.
- In Married... with Children Bud Bundy is usually this with his family. However, it's always Depending on the Writer whether he truly lives up to this trope.
- During One Life to Live's infamous gang rape storyline of 1993, one of the three rapists in question, Powell Lord the III, was repeatedly shown to be the only one who had any remorse over what they had done. Indeed, he's bullied by the other two into participating and is so plagued with guilt that he eventually tries to kill himself before finally pulling himself together and confessing. However, a year later, it is revealed that he is the serial rapist who's been terrorizing the local hospital, leaving viewers to wonder if his guilt drove him insane or if he was secretly like this already before the gang rape unleashed the demon lurking inside.
- Oz: Hill, Beecher, and eventually Said serve as this for the prisoners, being the most consistently noble and compassionate out of them all. Which isn't to say that they're goody two-shoes, but they're leagues above everyone else.
- Power Rangers: In the first six seasons, the bad guys worked under Dark Spector and were part of the United Alliance of Evil. None of them were actually good, but Astronema was the only Big Bad of the group to show some humanity and bordered on being an Anti-Villain in the first half of In Space even before her Heel–Face Turn (subverted late in the season when she becomes Brainwashed and Crazy). She's only marginally less cruel than Rita, Zedd, Master Vile, King Mondo, and Divatox, but she's twice as effective and showed less of a dismissive attitude towards collateral damage.
- Princess Agents: Wei Shu Ye is the only one of Yan Xun's so-called friends who truly is his friend, and who tries to save him when he learns he's in danger.
- The Princess Wei Young: Min De, Chang Ru and Old Granny Li are the only members of the Li family to treat Xin Er well. Though Min De isn't really part of the family, and Chang Ru turns out to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- The Secret World of Alex Mack has the titular super-powered protagonist hiding from Danielle Atron and Vince her chief of security, both of whom want to experiment on and/or kill her. Also working with them is Nice Guy Dave, the trucker who caused the accident that gave Alex superpowers. He only wants to catch her because she was exposed to an unstable chemical and wants to help her. When he figures out the truth, he keeps it to himself, having overheard Atron's real plans earlier.
- Kryten Red Dwarf being a Benevolent A.I. is this among the main four Dwarfers, as he completely lacks the lazy, vindictive and narcissistic traits of Lister, Rimmer and Cat and is generally friendly and docile (barring episodes like “Polymorph” where he gets his guilt removed). Unfortunately this results in poor Kryten getting frequently manipulated mercilessly by the Magnificent Bastard that is Rimmer into doing his bidding, something he always deeply apologetic for: “I had to obey him. It's in my programming to obey all humans. No matter how insane.” Funnily enough Lister wants Kryten to avert this, teaching him to lie and insult people thinking he will be defenceless otherwise, which does result in Kryten being more flawed though regardless he’s still easily the nicest crew member onboard.
- Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld is the only one of the four main characters who is consistently shown to have a conscience. While he slips up every now and then, he almost always tries to lend a helping hand to people in need. Unfortunately, many of these attempts fail and make things worse.
- Jack from Sprung (2022) is a former weed dealer who thinks stealing is morally wrong. However, he's living with Barb, who makes participation in her thefts a stipulation of his continued stay. Since he has no place else to go, he finds a compromise by t about his actions that he goes out and shares the spoils with deserving people.
- Supernatural:
- Death is the only one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse who doesn't seem to derive any pleasure from causing destruction, only doing so because it's necessary for the natural order. In his first appearance, he also hates that he's bound by Lucifer, though that's mostly because he sees Lucifer as beneath him (and for good reason) and so it bugs him that he is Lucifer's subordinate.
- Michael is a downplayed example for the Archangels. He's still a villain, but he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist and Anti-Villain who is far, far more pleasant than Lucifer, Gabriel, and Raphael. Gabriel becomes a straight example after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Prometheus is so far the only god in the series to avert Jerkass Gods. Fittingly, as he was the god (a titan to be specific) from Greek mythology who was the champion of mankind and not only created them from clay but defied the gods to gift mankind with fire.
- Super Sentai:
- Grey from Choujin Sentai Jetman is this for the Dimensional War Party Vyram. While the rest of this group are sadistic jerks who enjoy making humans suffer as part of a sick twisted game, as well as making each other suffer, Grey refrains from this by fighting honorably and visibly caring for Maria even after she reverts back to being Rie. One could say he is the most human of the Vyram members, which is ironic, as he is a robot.
- Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, for once in Super Sentai history, is a team filled with not-so-clean heroes who are not in for helping people or promoting justice, but minding their own business (since they're pirates)... except for Princess Ahim de Famille/Gokai Pink, who's the cleanest, purest person who always can't resist to help other people in need. Until the team is joined by Sixth Ranger Gai Ikari, a hyperactive young man with a burning desire to become a selfless superhero.
- The Evil Army Shadow Line from Ressha Sentai Toqger is a Decadent Court where its members are scheming against each other as much as against the rangers with the only exception being Gritta. In contrast to her scheming peers, Gritta is an innocent young girl who actually bears no ill will against the rangers at all. The worst thing she did against them was switching bodies with the yellow ranger, but this stemmed from a desire to escape being used as a pawn in her mother's political schemes.
- In Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Sandra is on the Villain tribe, but she repeatedly tries to team up with the Heroes.I should not even be here! I should be with the Heroes!
- Taken: In "Dropping the Dishes", Lt. Pierce becomes very fond of Allie while reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to her and comes to believe that it is wrong to use a little girl as bait for an alien ship. In "John", Pierce helps Allie, Charlie and Lisa to escape. He later claims that they overpowered him.
- Titans (2018): This trope is deconstructed with Eve Watson, a Cadmus scientist who helped create Superboy. Eve insists that she joined Cadmus to reign in their more unethical actions, but the truth is that she just wanted to see if creating a Kryptonian clone was possible. It is also implied that she has become an alcoholic to cope with the guilt of what she has done. Even ultimately has a Heel–Face Turn and helps Superboy escape Cadmus.
- Lisa is becoming this on V (2009), which is very bad news considering her mother is the Big Bad.
- Joshua is probably a more clear-cut example of this, at least until the Season 1 finale.
- Milton is this for the Governor's forces in The Walking Dead (2010). He's the only one who advocates a peaceful solution between the Governor and Rick Grimes. He doesn't fully defy the Governor until Andrea opens up his eyes to the reality of the situation.
- The Umbrella Academy: Overlapping with White Sheep, Sloan is the only member of the Sparrows who isn’t a massive Smug Super douche snozzle being instead a genuinely friendly Nice Girl. Her good nature leads her to falling in love with the equally compassionate Luther and them getting married by the end of the season.
