History CombatPragmatist / LiveActionTV

**** When the Operative was on the ground, the audience screamed at him, "Shoot him in the head while he's down, so he never comes back!" Mal, being an honorable fighter, decided to walk away instead.

* In a pirate themed episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Captain Courage (Al) and Rubio the Cruel (Steve) are sword fighting for Scarlett's (Peg) freedom, Rubio boasts, "How can you think to beat me? I was taught swordfighting by the finest teachers of the finest schools in Europe!" Courage simply says: "Oh yeah, I learned in the streets!" and [[GroinAttack knees Rubio in the nads]], winning the battle.
** Bud also applies this trope on a few occasions. When he gets into his first barfight at the nudie bar, a seasoned veteran decides to give the "rookie" a free shot. Bud immediately smashes him over the head with a chair, which makes Al very proud.
* Michael Westen in ''Series/BurnNotice''. As he explains in the Season 3 episode, "Friends and Family", "Spies are not trained to fight fair. Spies are trained to win." He always explains via voice-over what he's doing and why he's doing it. For example, in a car chase, he explains that small-caliber weapons can't penetrate the engine block, so it's best to aim for the windshield, or try to ricochet bullets up from the ground, as it's really hard to drive when you've got bullets coming at you ''from under your car''.

* Sam from ''Series/ICarly'' will cheat as much as possible in any combat related event. She ran around with an extra half-dozen blowtubes for her game of paintball assassin with Spencer.
** Apparently she's also knocked out a trucker with a jug of milk, according to Carly.
* Captain Malcolm Reynolds from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' goes here too. Man cheats in a fight every real chance he gets.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' had a few of these, which is surprising considering that it's high fantasy, and the protagonist is nearly indestructible. Especially when considering how over the top its parent show could be. Probably the best example would be [[spoiler:Lindsey's hand. Lindsey dangles a scroll that Angel desperately needs to save Cordelia over an open fire while goading Angel. So Angel cuts the guy's hand off at the wrist then casually walks over and picks the scroll up]].
** And, lets not forget Russell Winters.
-->[[spoiler:'''Lindsey:''' "So you kicked him out a ''window''."]]
* Or from [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]:
-->'''Buffy:''' "Don't make me do the chick fight thing."
-->'''Kendra:''' "[[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent Cheek faaaiitt?]]" ''(Buffy digs her nails into Kendra's skin.)''
** The best examples from this series comes from the defeat of the Judge and the final battle with Glory. The Judge was an immortal demon (meaning that you could cut him to pieces and he'd return alive as soon as the pieces are reassembled) and invulnerable to forged weapon: Buffy followed Xander's advice and shot him with a ''rocket launcher''. Glory was a goddess too powerful for Buffy to match in normal combat: Buffy and the gang slugged her with the hammer of a troll god and a wrecking ball, and when Glory retreated and left control of the body to Ben Giles calmly walked up and strangled him, killing a goddess in the process.
*** Wait... are you suggesting that there's some kind of [[RunningGag connection between Ben and Glory]]?
* While in ProfessionalWrestling cheating to win a match usually makes you a [[{{Heel}} bad guy]], several noted wrestlers have gotten famous as nontraditional [[{{Face}} babyfaces]] who beat the heels through all manner of dirty tricks. The two most famous examples would probably be EddieGuerrero, who would win matches by (among other things) throwing a chair to an opponent and flopping to the mat as though he had been hit and was one of the most beloved men in the industry despite having "I lie, I cheat, I steal" as his personal slogan, and the legendary RicFlair, world renowned as "The Dirtiest Player in the Game" who would beat the opposition with eye gouges and the dreaded "[[GroinAttack testicular claw]]".

* An episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has Jerry and George ask Elaine which of the two would win in a fight. Elaine says George, on the basis that he would fight dirty. George happily admits it, and Jerry happily accepts it. This is confirmed in a later episode where the three of them fight, and George does win.
* Starbuck in the re-imagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'', particularly during the episode Scar, wherein Viper pilots are confronted with a deadly, newly-motivated enemy sortie, who utilises all sorts of tricks and decoys.
-->'''Starbuck:''' 'This isn't dueling pistols at dawn, this is war. You never wanna fight fair. You wanna sneak up behind your enemy, and club 'em over the head. You see, Scar understands that. And so do I. So, that's why I'm gonna kill him.'
** Of course, the most pragmatic thing Starbuck ends up doing in that fight is [[spoiler: swallowing her pride and luring Scar into an ambush so that someone else can take the kill and get the glory]].
** Colonel Tigh took this trope to a much wider field during the occupation of New Caprica. Suicide bombers, random violence -- "I'm on the side of the demons."
* ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' Jack Bauer especially but also many of his opponents. He'll use sneak attacks and break bones, kick in kneecaps, and shoot to incapacitate or coerce. His fighting style is brutal with little or no flourish.
** This gets taken to utterly pants-shitting levels at times. Early in Day 6 whilst tied to a chair and being tortured, he waits until the mook has his back turned, and removes the cuff on his EKG from his arm, causing it to flatline. He plays dead while the mook comes over to check on him and then [[ImAHumanitarian TAKES A CHOMP]] [[CrazyAwesome OUT OF]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice THE DUDE'S]] [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] [[RefugeInAudacity NECK.]]
* A producer's write-up on ''Series/TheAvengers''' John Steed, to guide writers of episodes, specifically stated that "he fights like a cad and uses every dirty trick in the book..."
* If you take out the wacky sound effect frames and just look at how Series/{{Batman}} fights in the 60s TV show, you'll see that he gets fairly brutal. At one point, he rips a lead pipe off a wall and beats a {{mook}} with it.
* ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'': [[TheKirk Captain Kirk]], despite fighting dirty whenever possible, is still seen as one of the most honorable men in the galaxy.
* Garak from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. It's best summed up in this exchange.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': John Sheridan used a distress signal to lure a Minbari capital ship in an asteroid field mined with fusion bombs. Garibaldi put it best:
-->'''Garibaldi:''' "[...] Right now, according to his file, Sheridan is a good tactical thinker. He can take an inferior defensive force and turn it into an offensive force capable of taking on a better-equipped enemy. Now, he did it with the ''Black Star'', he did it during the Mars riots. Now, you ask me, he is the one chance we've got to make it through this thing alive."
** Do note that in the incident with ''Black Star'', he's actually sending out REAL distress signal.
** Note that Sheridan was merely beating the Minbari at their own game, the Black Star wasn't coming to help. Minbari tactics were to listen for human distress calls then come to finish them off even though they're crippled and no threat. Dirty play indeed.
* [[RobotGirl Cameron]] of ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'' does not know of any ''other'' way to fight. For example, at one point she casually shoves another Terminator through a wall and blows its prone body apart with a grenade launcher. She also has no qualms with dropping a Terminator down an elevator shaft, and then dropping the ''elevator'' on said Terminator. Being a Terminator herself and given the kind of opponents she faces, this pretty much comes with the territory.
* ''TheRockfordFiles'': Jim Rockford definitely fits. Whether it's low blows, improvised weapons, or distractions, he uses any dirty fighting technique he can think of. {{Lampshaded}} in one case, where he makes sure he has the {{Mook}}'s attention, goes into the bathroom, spreads soap all over the floor, slips a roll of quarters into his hand to up the impact on his punch, and, when the guy follows him in, goads him into attacking first so he'll slip and be easier to cold-cock. He then tells the recumbent idiot that "the problem with Karate is it's based on the ludicrous notion that the other guy is gonna fight fair."
* Odd case in ''DeadliestWarrior''. For the choreographed fight scenes at the end of each episode, if somebody has a ranged weapon, they immediately use it, and it never succeeds in making a kill, typically for implausible reasons (except in Pirate vs. Knight where tests earlier in the show showed that the pirate's guns could not pierce the knight's armor). Note however, that those fights are [[RuleOfCool only for show and have nothing to do with how with how the fights in the simulated program turn out, not matter how onesided the scores of kills are.]] The fights in the simulator program actually work under the example of the fighters being an example of this trope [[spoiler: in Apache vs. Gladiator, more then a fifth of the fights ended with the Apache just killing the gladiator with his bow.]]
** It should be pointed out that, in several instances, one side of the fight or the other actually called foul over the fact that these tactics ''weren't'' factored into the calculations. Most spectacularly was the Ninja Vs Spartan battle; the ninja was hopelessly outmatched in "honorable", head-to-head combat, to which the representative team [[StrawmanHasAPoint quite rightly pointed out]] that the ninja was equipped for stealthy, quick, brutal and surprising attacks after which he would (hopefully) escape.
* Methos in ''HighlanderTheSeries''. If the fight's going against him, Methos is not above feigning helplessness (such as pretending to slip) and then, when his opponent moves in for the kill, drawing a hidden dagger and stabbing him.
* In ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' Malcolm, Dewey and Reese teach Craig how to win a fight by any means necessary.
-->'''Reese:''' So, once you've taken out his eyes, you can take your time and ''really'' get creative. Personally, I like to leave at least one sense working, so he can tell what's happening to him.
* On ''Series/TheVampireDiaries', everyone.
* On ''TheWestWing,'' campaign consultants Bruno Giannelli and Lou are political equivalents of this, in contrast to most of the other protagonists, who are more principled and idealistic.
* On ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' [[{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] of all people does not believe in a fair fight. His usual strategy boils down to "clock you in the head from behind at 500 miles an hour."
** [[DarkActionGirl Tess Mercer]] is just as bad, if not worse.
* Pierce in ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E12ComparativeReligion Comparative Religion]] claims to be using this to try and help teach Jeff fighting, but ''actually'' he just wanted an excuse to kick Jeff (and Troy) in the shin.
* Gawain in ''Series/{{Camelot}}'' explains the philosophy of pragmatic combat to Arthur and his merry men. It takes them a while to accept the idea.
* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', the duel between Michael and Dwight proves the point. While Dwight uses honorable combat and martial arts, he gets easily [[CurbstompBattle defeated]] by Michael's schoolyard bully tactics.
** Plus there was that ''other'' duel Dwight fought against Andy. Dwight again tried to fight honorably, but Andy opted to use his electric (and therefore silent) car to sneak up on Dwight and pin him against a fence.
* In an episode of ''LegendOfTheSeeker,'' Kahlan is kidnapped and kept in a dungeon. She finally escapes after the guards give her a plate of stale bread to eat. She takes the metal plate, folds it in half, creating a sharp corner, and stabs her guards with it. StayInTheKitchen does not work on this woman.
* Eliot can be like this on ''Series/{{Leverage}}''. Mr. Quinn and Roper are as well, with the former comboing TalkToTheFist with KickThemWhileTheyAreDown and the latter deliberately targeting a concussed Eliot in a hall of mirrors.
* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' In the Season 10 episode, "Crush", Stabler attempts to question an arrogant suspect in a gym in a boxing ring, only for the guy to tell Stabler to wait until he's done. Stabler gets into the ring, and the guy to takes a swing at him. Stabler dodges it and knocks him down, to which the suspect yells that it was a cheap shot, to which Stabler replies, "I though it was a street fight".
* In ''Series/RedDwarf'' Rimmer tries to persuade Lister to be this:
---->'''Rimmer:''' "What are you waiting for? Gloop him."
---->'''Lister:''' "I can't. He's not armed."
---->'''Rimmer:''' "Lister, this isn't a Scout meeting. We're not trying to win the
----> Best-Behaved Troop flag. Gloop him."
---->'''Lister:''' "What? In the back?"
---->'''Rimmer:''' "Of course in the back. It's only a pity he's awake."
---->'''Lister:''' "You mean you could happily kill him if he was asleep?"
---->'''Rimmer:''' "I could happily kill him if he was on the job. Gloop him."
** The Simulant he's up against is also this:
---->'''Simulant:''' (Pulls out knife) "ILied."
---->'''Lister:''' (Pulls out lead pipe) "So did I."
---->'''Simulant:''' (Pulls out gun) [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy "But I lied twice"]].
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor usually [[TechnicalPacifist shys away from guns]]. Not so for the Sixth Doctor, who upon faced with an army of Cybermen simply picks up a blaster and dispatches the lot.
* One of the Nietzschean's [[PlanetOfHats hats]] in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', Nietzschean crewmembers Tyr Anasazi and later Telemachus Rhade are usually the first ones to suggest retreating and/or [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder selling out their allies]] when a situation appears hopeless. It might seem odd considering their ProudWarriorRace status but meshes quite well with their SocialDarwinism, especially considering that their definition of "fittest" is "lives longest and sires the most children".
* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Miles prefers to just kill his enemies, so they don't bother him later.
* {{Series/Merlin}} is enough of a MagicKnight to give lower enemies a fair fight with a sword...but why would he do that when he could just use his magic to hit you with your own weapon, trip you up, drop tree branches on you, or disarm you and let his MasterSwordsman best friend KingArthur clobber you? He even cheats for Arthur in a few occasions, breaking the saddle girth on mounted knights and disarming Arthur's opponents even if it looks like Arthur could handle them, just in case.
* In an early episode of ''StargateAtlantis'', Teyla hands Sheppard's ass to him in a sparring match with melee weapons, and Teyla remarks that if it were a real fight, he'd be dead by now. Sheppard replies that if it were a real fight, he would have shot her by now. You don't bring a couple of sticks to a gun fight.

* In ''Series/TheOffice'' (US), the duel between Michael and Dwight proves the point. While Dwight uses honorable combat and martial arts, he gets easily [[CurbstompBattle defeated]] by Michael's schoolyard bully tactics.

** And, lets not forget Russel Winters.

** And, lets not forget Russel Winters,[[spoiler:'''Lindsey:''' "So you kicked him out a ''window''."]]

* {{Series/Merlin}} is enough of a MagicKnight to give lower enemies a fair fight with a sword...but why would he do that when he could just use his magic to hit you with your own weapon, trip you up, drop tree branches on you, or disarm you and let his MasterSwordsman best friend KingArthur clobber you? He even cheats for Arthur in a few occasions, breaking the saddle girth on mounted knights and disarming Arthur's opponents even if it looks like Arthur could handle them, just in case.

** The only person who fights even remotely fair is Simon in ''Safe'', and ''that'' was only because he was unarmed, outnumbered, and had never been in a fight before. Simon might be one of those people who actually read the Marquis of Fantailler (above). Though he isn't adverse to choking a guy to unconsciousness with his knee.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Miles prefers to just kill his enemies, so they don't bother him later.

* One of the Nietzschean's [[PlanetOfHats hats]] in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', Nietzschean crewmembers Tyr Anasazi and later Telemachus Rhade are usually the first ones to suggest retreating and/or [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder selling out their allies]] when a situation appears hopeless. It might seem odd considering their ProudWarriorRace status but meshes quite well with their SocialDarwinism, especially considering that their definition of "fittest" is "lives longest and sires the most children".

*** Deep Space Nine didn't shy away from calling the Bajoran Resistance fighters ''terrorists''. [[HistoryMarchesOn Terrorism is generally referred to as perfectly legitimate tactics, and not just in the back story.]]

** He once used a copy of Cat Fancy magazine to beat up some loan shark thugs. In another episode, he teaches self-protection techniques to a kid with a bully problem, including feigning submission and headbutting

** You can call this a gutless rationalization if you like, but technically Eddie's chair trick wasn't illegal because it didn't require him to touch his opponent. The only three actions that can get a wrestler disqualified are 1) hitting your opponent in the groin or using another dirty strike, or using a dirty grapple and not releasing it in five seconds; 2) hitting the referee; or 3) hitting someone not involved in the match, in which case you essentially get disqualified for being a dick. You can also get disqualified if ''another person'' hits your opponent or the referee, which isn't really fair.

**** When the Opterative was on the ground, the audience screamed at him, "Shoot him in the head while he's down, so he never comes back!" Mal, being an honorable fighter, decided to walk away instead.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor usually [[TechnicalPacifist shys away from guns]]. Not so for the Sixth Doctor, who upon faced with an army of Cybermen simply picks up a blaster and dispatches the lot.

* Sam from ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' will cheat as much as possible in any combat related event. She ran around with an extra half-dozen blowtubes for her game of paintball assassin with Spencer.

-->'''Kendra:''' "[[{{WhatTheHellIsThatAccent}} Cheek faaaiitt?]]" ''(Buffy digs her nails into Kendra's skin.)''

** Finlay, in his current {{WWE}} run, is a more recent example. To Finlay, every part of the ring is a weapon, including the ''apron'' (which he utilizes as a net to trap wrestlers trying daring-leap-to-the-outside or baseball-slide maneuvers). And, just in case things start really going south and he needs a real weapon, he always has his shillelagh waiting for him in the corner. And did we mention he's a {{Face}}?

* ''{{Babylon 5}}'': John Sheridan used a distress signal to lure a Minbari capital ship in an asteroid field mined with fusion bombs. Garibaldi put it best:

* In ''{{Malcolm in the Middle}}'' Malcolm, Dewey and Reese teach Craig how to win a fight by any means necessary.

---->'''Simulant:''' (Pulls out gun) [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy "But I lied twice"]].

---->'''Simulant:''' [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy But I lied twice]].

---->'''Rimmer:''' "I could happily kill him if he was on the job. Gloop him."

* ''Series/StarTrek'': [[TheKirk Captain Kirk]], despite fighting dirty whenever possible, is still seen as one of the most honorable men in the galaxy.

*** And once made it perfectly clear to Jayne on a later occasion (while Jayne was restrained and medicated in the sickbay due to a back injury) that he was not to be trifled with because Jayne ''[[TheMedic depended on Simon when he was most vulnerable]]''. Simon doesn't fight dirty because, when given a choice, Simon ''doesn't fight''. He's [[BadassBookworm smart enough]] to just slip you something that will make you fall asleep. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel If you're lucky.]]
*** It also helps that [[spoiler: his sister can [[MemeticBadass kill you with her mind. And her everything else too.]]]]

* In ''RedDwarf'' Rimmer tries to persuade Lister to be this:

* If you take out the wacky sound effect frames and just look at how {{Batman}} fights in the 60s TV show, you'll see that he gets fairly brutal. At one point, he rips a lead pipe off a wall and beats a {{mook}} with it.

* ''Series/Babylon5'': John Sheridan used a distress signal to lure a Minbari capital ship in an asteroid field mined with fusion bombs. Garibaldi put it best:

* ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' In the Season 10 episode, "Crush", Stabler attempts to question an arrogant suspect in a gym in a boxing ring, only for the guy to tell Stabler to wait until he's done. Stabler gets into the ring, and the guy to takes a swing at him. Stabler dodges it and knocks him down, to which the suspect yells that it was a cheap shot, to which Stabler replies, "I though it was a street fight".