History Anvilicious / LiveActionTV

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Neutral Zone" went anvilicious against the capitalists of the era on its way to demonstrating through Picard's actions that what Kirk did in the corresponding TOS episode was wrong. Gets {{Funny Aneurysm Moment}}s from [[BrokenAesop later events]]; Data proudly announces that the Federation has no television--but it will eventually come out that holodecks are, in their way, worse.

* This trope is subverted in the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode 'My Mentor', where J.D's attempts to get a patient to stop smoking are futile. Dr. Cox tells him that the only thing he can do is keep treating whatever messed people get themselves into, rather than trying to 'save' them.
* The US version of ''QueerAsFolk'' was a tutorial on how to be an 'acceptable' gay person in the US, running along the lines of: get married in Canada, don't be bi, don't be angry at homophobes, remember that God loves you after all, adopt children and be nice to your mother.

* The final scene of the final episode of the remake of ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'' is a ridiculously anvilicious message about the dangers of overdeveloping modern robotics. Or maybe "Treat your creations with respect", or "do not enslave artificial lifeforms".

** The characters in ''TheWestWing'' display at times a tendency to really try and hammer the point they're trying to make home.

* ''{{Glee}}'' personifies this trope. It has a theme practically every episode and does not hesitate to beat you over the head with it. Violently.

* ''{{CSINY}}'' once did an episode about how Nazis and neo-Nazis are evil, and the Holocaust was bad. Not only do they beat you over the head with how horrible the Nazis were at every opportunity, but the climax, where Gary Sinise argues with the episode's culprit (an elderly-Nazi played by Ed Asner) might make you feel like you were hit in the gut with a sledgehammer.

** Ironically, the episode was intended to have a clear moral, as the writers participated in an competition to write a storyline that (realistically) brought up the dangers of drinking... and were disqualified, because every complication is caused by supernatural influences rather than the beer itself.

* The season one finale of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' dropped it really heavy; speeding through a virtual riot in the middle of the night, with cars and people screaming and running in all directions to escape an artificially-made earthquake that's set to level and entire portion of the city in a matter of minutes, one character is seen using his phone while driving, only to be chastised by his girlfriend that "It can wait!" (the current slogan of an anti texting and driving PSA campaign), and grabbing the phone out of his hand saying "it's not worth the risk!" They might as well have flashed the campaign logo up there and had one of them break the fourth wall to tell us to call a hotline for more information.

** The finale of M*A*S*H* deconstructed the concept of WarIsHell by having a mix traumatic and heartwarming events befall several of the main characters to show that war will have its mark on them, as it does to all who suffer (or enjoy) it- and it gives us a stark reminder of what it's really like to say goodbye for good.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is ramping this up with MartinShort as Marshall's new Save-the-Environment Boss, and Marshall having to pull him back to the path of righteousness. The {{Narm}} was very thick.

* This trope is subverted in the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode 'My Mentor', where J.D's attempts to get a patient to stop smoking are futile. Dr. Cox tells him that the only thing he can do is keep treating whatever messes people get themselves into, rather than trying to 'save' them.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and its spin-offs are not noted for subtlety. ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' is probably the crowner. This is particularly sad because it deals with such a sensitive subject and while the writers do mean well, a little subtelty now and then wouldn't hurt them any, one example is how there is more anti-abortion violence shown in the series then there has actually been in real life.

* The act of British TV impressionist ''RoryBremner'' used to involve satirical skits that poked fun at members of the British government. However, after Britain's commitment to the Iraqi war in 2003 the majority of his shows turned into anvilicious anti-war bashing of everyone involved. Whole segments involved Bremner simply standing in front of a microphone and talking mostly in his own voice to criticize then Prime Minister Tony Blair and his cabinet.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'' could be retitled "Charlie Booker spends an hour yelling at you about how technology is ruining the world". Also, humans apparently inherently suck and tech is making it worse. It's a wonder Booker hasn't just burned his house down and taken over the Unibomber's old shack by now.

** Then there have been eps where Gary Sinise worked in his passion for US troops. case in point: 'Fight Night',where a cage fighter fakes his death with the charred body of a homeless vet he may or may not have killed. Mac and someone else talk,and Mac launches into a talk about the problem of America's homeless veterans.

* ''TylerPerry's'' ''MeetTheBrowns'' is chock-full of them: shoplifting, carrying a gun to school, growing marijuana, birth control, drinking, molestation, teen pregnancy, credit card over-reliance, and tons of others. At some point, they made it too obvious to miss. "Meet the Interrogation" touched up on how lotto addictions bleed you dry. "Meet The Christmas Spirit" went as far as to play up the Christmas spirit cliche by having an angel befriend Joaquin. But the real hum-dinger was "Meet the Big Payoff," sugarcoating that texting while driving will get you killed, which was basically a thinly-veiled obligatory public service announcement.

** ''Series/TheNewsroom'' has this as one of two primary criticisms: many critics argue that Sorkin seems to be just lecturing everyone about the "proper role" of the news media without really knowing what he's talking about (apparently, his "ideal" news show involves the host being...a highly opinionated ''commentator''), and belittling the actual work of journalists by having his fictional ones make long, elaborate speeches about what to do and always be right. (The other criticism is [[MostWritersAreMale a failure to write strong, convincing, and convincingly strong female characters]].)

** As Ben Shapiro noted in ''Primetime Propaganda'', this was actually due to ExecutiveMeddling, as CAIR had started to raise holy heck when Season 4 established a central part of the season's "threat", from the beginning, as an Islamist sleeper cell...and the BigBad is NOT a white CorruptCorporateExecutive like in Season 2.

...etc.\\

* Creator/NormanLear practically pioneered the trope for American prime-time TV. ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', ''Series/{{Maude}}'', ''Series/GoodTimes'', ''SanfordAndSon'', ''Series/OneDayAtATime'', and ''Series/TheJeffersons'' were all thick with Anvilicious plots and [[AuthorTract Points To Be Made.]] So were his later series, but by then people had become less tolerant of his anvils. Then again, 'Series/'AllInTheFamily,'' ''Series/SanfordAndSon,'' and ''Series/TheJeffersons'' had highly sympathetic bigots, which lightened the intended anvils in those series. Which in many ways led to the extreme right-wing and/or racist {{Misaimed Fandom}}s that followed Archie, Fred, George, etc. to the point where paid-up Democrat Carroll O'Connor {{lampshaded}} and subverted the trope in an anti-racist PublicServiceAnnouncement for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3HBR4r9r-g B'Nai B'rith]] in 1990.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' during the years that Andrew Cartmel was script editor (1987-1989) had a tendency to be a bit on-the-nose about how 'right-on' the show was. In 2010 this was admitted by people who worked on the show and who claimed they had filled the [=McCoy=]/Seventh era (1987-89) with attacks on the Thatcher government. This "revelation" was largely treated with derision, firstly for the sheer hubris of those involved (''Doctor Who'''s days as a national favourite were well behind it and the audience by the late '80s consisted of hardcore fans and kids, neither of whom were a large voting block) and secondly because this was barely a secret since the attacks on Thatcherism had all the subtlety of, well, an anvil. Add in the fact that a LOT of shows were attacking Thatcher, so it was also a bit of "yeah, you and a thousand other blokes."

** An Enterprise episode featured religious fanatics whose planet was a smoking ruin because of a schism over whether creation was nine days or ten. The Aesop being, of course, "[[TheSimpsons The little stupid differences are nothing compared to the big stupid similarities!]]", but worked in with a loud thudding sound.

** Historical references, too: In one episode, after signing a treaty with the Centauri an Earth diplomat says, [[NevilleChamberlain "There will be peace in our time."]] Three guesses as to what happens next.

* ''TheAndromedaStrain 2008'' remake as a TV miniseries changed the novel's white scientists to a race-mixed cast with one homosexual member who keeps his head cool when others don't. Director Robert Shenkkan, true to form, claimed it was his "obligation" to do so.[[note]] Shenkkan's full quote: "If you're going to update the story, which is our mandate, you have an obligation to reflect the world as it is." There are gay scientists, there are scientists who aren't white. There wasn't a line where someone went 'Hey, isn't it great we work in such a diverse environment 'cos we'd sure as hell stand no chance of defeating this killer virus from the stars if we was all straight honkies', was there, hmmmmmnn?[[/note]]

** "Beer Bad" was also anvilicious, but at least had the decency to [[LampshadeHanging hang an amusing lampshade]] on that aspect of the episode:

** ''House of Payne'' was the same way: drug use, the pitfalls of teen sex, teen pregnancy, STD's, sexual abuse, divorce, cancer, choosing family over career, going back to school at an older age, pursuing your dreams ONLY AFTER your family is grown and out of your house, autism, interracial relationships, the evils of single parenting, not being a selfish JerkAss, guns, skipping school, the importance of having the Christmas Spirit (complete with a visit from Madea), death, etc.

** Noting that all the androgynous aliens were portrayed by women [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17317_star-treks-6-most-ridiculous-alien-races_p2.html Cracked.com]] notes: "The episode's message ends up completely garbled. Intended as a condemnation of homophobia, the episode instead comes off as the story of one woman's brave quest for cock in the face of lesbian tyranny."

** Another tale mentioned in several sources (including [[WilliamShatner Shatner's]] autobiography Star Trek Memories) has it that the network's ultimatum was the alien Spock or the woman officer. Roddenberry went with Spock.

_> "But Sam don't you see? This is so serious I'm going to quote a load of statistics at you so the audience know how serious it is."

** -> "But Sam don't you see? This is so serious I'm going to quote a load of statistics at you so the audience know how serious it is."

-> "But Sam don't you see? This is so serious I'm going to quote a load of statistics at you so the audience know how serious it is."