History ControlFreak / LiveActionTV

* Detective Rosa Diaz in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. It's subtle, and she keeps it well hidden underneath a tough, intimidating, and no-nonsense exterior, but a closer examination reveals that practically everything about her is designed to rigidly maintain control over every aspect of her life and relationships with others. This includes her job (being a police officer puts her in authority over others), her personality (her intimidating stoicism enables her to control people through fear of her), her personal life (she refuses to divulge any information about herself, no matter how harmless, so that no one has anything they can use against her), her relationships (she only dates certain types of men to ensure that she's always the one to end the relationship) and so on. As with Jeff Winger above, the reason she's able to maintain an unflappable exterior is that she's usually in control; whenever something does go wrong, she tends to melt down quick (she's almost reduced to tears when kids make fun of her instead of being intimidated by her, technology failing on her sends her into a violent tantrum, etc.).

* Cindy from Season 19 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' admitted to being one of these, and pretty much confirmed it by controlling her fiance throughout the season. Before the race she made him prepare with her for any possible situation, including studying geography, intensive language courses, and rock climbing.
* Sheldon Cooper from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' is really bad with this. He made his roommate sign an agreement dictating at what time he could go to the bathroom and that's on the more REASONABLE side of things he's done.

* This is explored with one of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] in ''Series/BurnNotice''. Timo is an extremely skilled thief specializing in banks, armored cars, and other places with a vault, and he's so secretive with his plans that Michael finds it impossible to disrupt them ahead of time, and winds up with Timo holding a gun to his face more than once during the episode for asking basic questions. According to Sam, the approach has worked since Timo's suspected of being behind numerous high-end and unsolved heists yet he's only been arrested once (and the only witness to said crime was "mysteriously" murdered). On the other hand, when Michael makes the job go bad, all he has to do to make the gang turn on Timo is cause Timo to be late to the gang's rendezvous (thanks to a simple flat tire) and plant an explosive nearby. The explosive could come from anywhere, but the idea that Timo's meticulous plans would somehow go wrong ''and'' that Timo would be late is so unfathomable that the entire crew jumps to the conclusion that Timo must have decided to kill them to keep all the money for himself.
* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': Beckett is this for some time, especially at the beginning of the series (with Esposito calling her exactly that), but being with Castle almost every day mellows her out a lot.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': Kay Freestone from "Make Me a Perfect Murder" has shades of this. As a network assistant executive with high goals, she dictates and practically directs a film called ''The Professional'' that the network wants and guarantees it will be a success. When she is asked to temporarily take the position of her deceased superior Mark [[=McAndrews=]], she's shown to be prone to going out to a production to personally direct things or handle problems that crop up, exemplified when a TV special that she pushed for (starring an old friend of hers) runs into problems and on at least two occasions she leaves her office to handle them. The creatives resent her for this, but begrudgingly admit she's pretty good at what she does.
* Ben Chang from ''Series/{{Community}}'' is this when he's not being a PsychopathicManchild.
** Jeff Winger likes to present himself as the cool guy who's permanently in control and laid-back and uncaring about everything. But whenever it starts to look like his position as leader of the group or his command over things is slipping, he gets very uptight and very tense very, very quickly. He later admits that he's one of these, and it's only because he usually is in control that he's able to act so relaxed about things.
** Similar to Jeff's control freak tendencies about leadership are his control freak tendencies about his looks. As long as he feels he's the most attractive male in the room, he is confident and laid back, but the SECOND he feels threatened by another man he freaks out and gets more and more uptight. The most obvious (and pathetic) example is the episode "A Fistful of Paintballs". The moment he encounters the Man in Black (played by Josh Holloway), he gets increasingly childish and upset whenever anyone brings up the Man in Black's good looks, to the point where others straight-up call him out on it.

* Clara Oswald in ''Series/DoctorWho'' can be like this. She once forced the Doctor to pose as her boyfriend to her family at Christmas. He had little choice but to obey. Later, there was this gem of a conversation:

* Kim Kaswell on ''Series/DropDeadDiva'': According to Fred, she's more of a control freak than his last boss. Take note: Fred is an angel; his last boss was ''God''.

* Lois on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' has been called this but doesn't fit it to a T. She did get called out on it by a construction worker in the second season premiere.
* Major Frank Burns on ''Series/{{MASH}}''. There's a reason why Hawkeye absolutely ''hates'' whenever [[TheNeidermeyer Frank]] is left in charge of the camp.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': The reason Bernard King was murdered in "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS16E4 The Flying Club]]": his wife finally snapped after years of being unable to do anything without his permission.

* Gareth Keenan, ''Series/{{The Office|UK}}'' (and his counterpart on the [[Series/TheOfficeUS American version]] of same, Dwight Schrute).
** So is Angela Martin as the head of the party planning committee.
* Mr. Conklin, the principal of Madison High School on ''Series/OurMissBrooks''. Miss Brooks once even refers to him as Madison's "beloved dictator". In "Project X", he goes so far as to bug every room in the entire school, so he can listen in from his office. The audio system works both ways, Mr. Conklin can issue orders through it as well!
* Carlton Lassiter from ''Series/{{Psych}}''.
** And also Henry Spencer, [[FollowInMyFootsteps who once informed his son Shawn that Shawn wanted to be a cop]]. Shawn did not agree.
** It's implied several times that had Henry not spent so much time pushing Shawn to be a cop, "training" an 8-year-old in police techniques and such, Shawn might have decided to become one after all. [[CommanderContrarian But all that pressure caused Shawn to rebel]] for a different life. In one episode, Henry and Lassiter go fishing and Henry spends the entire time criticizing Lassiter on his technique and what he should be doing instead. When he sees Shawn again, Lassiter admits [[ThisExplainsSoMuch he now understands Shawn a bit better]].
* ''Series/AlRawabiSchoolForGirls'': Layan's brother Hakeem. He doesn't treat Layan like she's her own person and implies that she's a slut, because she dared to talk on the phone with someone he wasn't familiar with. Layan goes out of her way to hide her boyfriend because she knows he'll blow the gasket.
* Arnold Rimmer from ''Series/RedDwarf''. For example, he insists on meticulously inventorying the ship's massive food stocks, even though there are only two living creatures left on board and he isn't actually one of them.
* ''Series/TheShield'': Vic Mackey of the Strike Team, who believes that he, and only he, knows best. Not just for himself and his [[DirtyCop crooked buddies]], but ''everyone''. This tendency also ends up coming back to bite him at several points throughout the series, as he arrogantly presumes that he can control anybody that he allies with or does business with, regardless of who they are or how their specific interests might diverge from his own. This makes his IronicHell in the final episode that much more ironic [[note]] He seems to be a KarmaHoudini in that he gets a cushy desk job... except everyone else in the department knows what a backstabbing snake he is and want nothing to do with him, meaning he has absolutely no control over ''anything'' [[/note]].
* Chloe in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. She starts believing in Orwellian methods to "protect" Metropolis and the world after [[spoiler: her fiance is killed]]. This could possibly be seen as a manifestation of PTSD as a result of the aforementioned tragedy.

** Which is nothing compared to ComicBook/LexLuthor and the lengths ''he'' goes to. Lex gradually seemed to come to the conclusion that the only way he could secure a happy existence for himself is if the people in his life are completely under his control (he himself would probably view it as "guidance", but that's a case of BelievingTheirOwnLies). Lex, like Lana, wants to know Clark's secret and is willing to go to life-threatening lengths to obtain it: sending superpowered murderers to hold Clark's family hostage in an attempt to force him to reveal any superpowers he may have (this ends up being what breaks his and Clarks' friendship). He's willing to let his dad stick around, but only as long as he's subordinate to Lex. He also misses his deceased brother and clones him so that he can have him back... but gets insanely angry when the clone no longer wants to follow the script that Lex wants him to live by. Terrifyingly, it is implied that Lex [[spoiler: has the clone killed, viewing him as a failed experiment.]] And, of course, there's the horrifying twist of late Season 6 where we learn that Lex [[spoiler: chemically-manipulated Lana's body with hormones to simulate a pregnancy, in order to help push her into marrying him, and then letting her believe that she had miscarried afterwards]], causing her to fall into a deep depression. Through it all, Lex maintains that this is all okay because he views it as simply carving out his world and the people in it to be the way he wants them to be, and he [[{{BelievingTheirOwnLies}} tells himself that it's for their own good anyway]].
** Lex's beliefs that influence his behavior this way are possibly best summed up at the end of Season 5's Christmas episode "Lexmas", where -- after considering it all episode -- he decides to use dirty tricks to try and win the election he's in, saying "What I want more than anything is to live HappilyEverAfter. And do you know what the secret to living happily ever after is? *pause* ''Power.'' Money and power. See, once you have those two things, you can secure everything else. And ''keep'' it that way. I want to be Senator. ''I want it all.''"

** In the Mirror Universe, Mirror!Odo is a sadistic slave overseer who imposes his "Rules of Obedience" on the Terran slaves, so he's got some serious power and control issues.

* Any competitive reality game show that forces people to work together will always have at least one person being the control freak of the group that pisses everyone else off to no end.

* ''Series/YouMeHer'': Nina feels driven to dictate to other people and frequently micromanages things when she has any control at all (or pushes herself into that position otherwise as well pretty often).

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Beckett is this for some time, especially at the beginning of the series (with Esposito calling her exactly that), but being with Castle almost every day mellows her out a lot.

* [[spoiler:[[BigBad Masamune Dan/Kamen Rider Cronus]]]] of ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' makes a big deal of stating how he controls everyone's fates and seems to take pleasure in doing so. In fact, his intended goal for "[[TheMostDangerousVideoGame Kamen Rider Chronicle]]" is basically to get as many human lives under his control as possible. Notably, the only thing that seems to anger him is that control slipping.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the Mirror Universe, Mirror!Odo is a sadistic slave overseer who imposes his "Rules of Obedience" on the Terran slaves, so he's got some serious power and control issues.

* [[spoiler:[[BigBad Manasume Dan/Kamen Rider Cronus]]]] of ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' makes a big deal of stating how he controls everyone's fates and seems to take pleasure in doing so. In fact, his intended goal for "[[TheMostDangerousVideoGame Kamen Rider Chronicle]]" is basically to get as many human lives under his control as possible. Notably, the only thing that seems to anger him is that control slipping.

* Detective Rosa Diaz in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. It's subtle, and she keeps it well hidden underneath a tough, intimidating and no-nonsense exterior, but a closer examination reveals that practically everything about her is designed to rigidly maintain control over every aspect of her life and relationships with others. This includes her job (being a police officer puts her in authority over others), her personality (her intimidating stoicism enables her to control people through fear of her), her personal life (she refuses to divulge any information about herself, no matter how harmless, so that no one has anything they can use against her), her relationships (she only dates certain types of men to ensure that she's always the one to end the relationship) and so on. As with Jeff Winger above, the reason she's able to maintain an unflappable exterior is that she's usually in control; whenever something does go wrong, she tends to melt down quick (she's almost reduced to tears when kids make fun of her instead of being intimidated by her, technology failing on her sends her into a violent tantrum, etc.).
* This is explored with one of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] in ''Series/BurnNotice''. Timo is an extremely skilled thief specializing in banks, armored cars and other places with a vault, and he's so secretive with his plans that Michael finds it impossible to disrupt them ahead of time, and winds up with Timo holding a gun to his face more than once during the episode for asking basic questions. According to Sam, the approach has worked since Timo's suspected of being behind numerous high-end and unsolved heists yet he's only been arrested once (and the only witness to said crime was "mysteriously" murdered). On the other hand, when Michael makes the job go bad, all he has to do to make the gang turn on Timo is cause Timo to be late to the gang's rendezvous (thanks to a simple flat tire) and plant an explosive nearby. The explosive could come from anywhere, but the idea that Timo's meticulous plans would somehow go wrong ''and'' that Timo would be late is so unfathomable that the entire crew jumps to the conclusion that Timo must have decided to kill them to keep all the money for himself.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'': Kay Freestone from "Make Me a Perfect Murder" has shades of this. As a network assistant executive with high goals, she dictates and practically directs a film called The Professional that the network wants and guarantees it will be a success. When she is asked to temporarily take the position of her deceased superior Mark [[=McAndrews=]], she's shown to be prone to going out to a production to personally direct things or handle problems that crop up, exemplified when a TV special that she pushed for (starring an old friend of her's) runs into problems and on at least two occasions she leaves her office to handle them. The creatives resent her for this, but begrudgingly admit she's pretty good at what she does.

** Similar to Jeff’s control freak tendencies about leadership are his control freak tendencies about his looks. As long as he feels he’s the most attractive male in the room, he is confident and laid back, but the SECOND he feels threatened by another man he freaks out and gets more and more uptight. The most obvious (and pathetic) example is the episode “A Fistful of Paintballs”. The moment he encounters the Man in Black (played by Josh Holloway), he gets increasingly childish and upset whenever anyone brings up the Man in Black’s good looks, to the point where others straight up call him out on it.

* ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'': Debra and Marie are both this trope. Marie has been pulling this on the whole family for decades, using guilt to get everyone to go along with her wishes. Debra is also this trope, wanting Ray to be completely under her control, telling him when he's "allowed" to relax or spend time with his friends, beating him and emotionally tormenting him when she doesn't get her way. Arguably, a large amount of the conflict between Marie and Debra could be chalked up to the fact that they're both control freaks with competing agendas: each wants complete, uncontested control of Ray for herself, and since they can't both have this, they end up fighting, while poor Ray ends up living a miserable existence between the two of them.

--> '''Basil:''' (On the phone) Yes, I picked it up. No I haven't, I've been at it solidly ever since I got back. Yes I will, yes. No I haven't yet, but I will, yes. I know it is, yes. Anything else, I mean, would you like the hotel moved a bit to the left? Enjoy the operation, dear, let's hope nothing goes wrong. (Slams phone down) I wish it was an ingrowing tongue.
* Monica Geller, ''Series/{{Friends}}''. She often "accepts" the job of organising things, and is just as often annoyed or stressed out when things don't go according to plan. This is also one of the things that causes friction with [[DeadpanSnarker Chandler]] even after they get together, as he is much more laidback and willing to take things as they come and isn't shy about making fun of her.

* Major Frank Burns, ''Series/{{MASH}}''. There's a reason for why Hawkeye absolutely ''hates'' whenever Frank is left in charge of the camp.

* ''Series/TheShield'': Vic Mackey of the Strike Team, who believes that he, and only he, knows best. Not just for himself and his [[DirtyCop crooked buddies]], but ''everyone''. This tendency also ends up coming back to bite him at several points throughout the series, as he arrogantly presumes that he can control anybody that he allies with or does business with, regardless of who they are or how their specific interests might diverge from his own. This makes his IronicHell in the final episode that much more ironic [[note]] He seems to be a KarmaHoudini in that he gets a cushy desk job... except everyone else in the department knows what a backstabbing snake he is and want nothing to do with him, meaning he has absolutely not control over ''anything'' [[/note]].