History DarkerAndEdgier / LiveActionTV

* ''[[DarkerAndEdgier/Arrowverse Arrowverse]]''

* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'':
** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the [[Series/{{Smallville}} last TV show to air on]] Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
*** And to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
*** Also applies to other superheroes featured in the series. ComicBook/BlackCanary, and in particular Comicbook/{{Huntress}}, both of whom are killers; Huntress, indeed, isn't a superhero in this version, but an outright villain. At best, the protagonists in this series qualify as examples of AntiHero.
*** Ollie is MUCH darker than his comics counterpart. For one, Comics!Ollie might be more than willing to hurt bad guys, but he doesn't break ThouShaltNotKill as blatantly as Arrow!Ollie does. Comics Ollie might have around maybe half a dozen kills in his entire existence as a character. By contrast, Arrow!Ollie might kill a dozen people ''an episode''. Also, his idealism is less politically-motivated and more based on revenge for his father's murder (though he does soften up as the show goes along and graduates into heroism for its own sake on the side of his main mission).
*** It's deconstructed in comparison to ''Series/TheFlash2014''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
*** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least Laurel's apparent return from the dead lightens the mood a little bit.
*** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from it. That last point does not go well.
*** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the upcoming Crisis. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
** Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
*** It got worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] It made even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. The StableTimeLoop was eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]
** ''Series/BlackLightning'': Darker than most of the other CW series, with its themes of racism, gang violence and corruption in the police. Tone-wise it's closest to ''Series/{{Arrow}},'' but even that series has more comic relief. Outside the BloodierAndGorier streaming-only offerings, this is as dark as the DC universe gets on TV.
** ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.

** Series/{{Arrow}}: To the [[Series/{{Smallville}} last TV show to air on]] Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.

** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' Season two and three were darker then the already dark first season. In the second and third seasons, it deals with more mature topics and shows Oliver's weakness. In season two, Oliver's actions created the villain Deathstroke. In season three, Oliver joins the league of shadows and fights his former team, and it is later revealed that he believed that he needed to stop them all on his own. It also shows how Oliver thought the best way to defeat them was to be like them. In season five, the show becomes even darker when it has Oliver refuses to admit his mistakes and the new villain tries to destroy Oliver and everything that he stands for; this is also the season where Oliver decides ThouShaltNotKill isn't quite working, and also has flashbacks to his most violent days in the past, beyond anything in even season one. The reason why season five is one of the darkest seasons is due to season four getting negative press and negative reviews, as it was when they tried to make the show more lighthearted.

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' is the first Star Trek show to receive a TV-MA rating. The fact that the show is airing on a streaming platform (Creator/CBSAllAccess) is a major departure from every other Star Trek show. The trailers show a darker, more violent Star Trek show. The creators of the show have said on multiple occasions that the show will deal with more mature themes.

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' seems to be going the darker edgier route, Star Trek Discovery is the first Star Trek show to receive a TV-MA rating. The fact that the show is airing on a streaming platform is a major departure from every other Star Trek show. The trailers show a darker, more violent Star Trek show. The creators of the show have said on multiple occasions that the show will deal with more mature themes.

* DeflectorShield: Jefferson is able to create an electrical shield with his powers, which he does to protect a crowd of protesters against a gunman sent by the 100. It's not clear if the bullets are bouncing off the shield or are simply disintegrated by the electricity.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' gets progressively darker each season. This reaches its peak in season four due to the introduction of Ghost Rider and the LMD storyline.
*** The second season introduces the Inhumans and showcases their distrust of humanity - not helped by the fact that a radical group called the Watchdogs are trying to wipe them out. The season closes with [[spoiler:Daisy's mother (the leader of the Inhumans) turning on Shield and trying to kill her own daughter.]]
*** Daisy becomes the anti hero known as Quake in season four due to [[spoiler:Lincoln's death]] in season three.
*** Ghost Rider is driven by the spirit of vengeance and straight up kills criminals. Robbie Reyes first becomes the Ghost Rider due to a car crash which [[spoiler: killed him and crippled his younger brother]] and the spirit of vengeance drives him to punish criminals - the very first episode of the season shows him torturing someone for information.
** Most of the Creator/{{Netflix}} original shows have been darker than the movies:
*** ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' takes a far more realistic and down-to-earth tone than any other entry in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Matt's AntiHero traits are played up greatly, emphasizing the BlackAndGrayMorality of the series. At times it feels more like a CriminalProcedural with a definite FilmNoir influence, [[BloodierAndGorier and the violence]] is [[ViolenceIsDisturbing relentlessly brutal and horrific]]. Notably, the creators stated that along with the comics, the biggest influence was ''Series/TheWire''.
*** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' continued this, and is even at times darker than the original ''Series/{{Alias}}'', especially given [[spoiler: in the comics, Killgrave subjected Jessica to MindRape, made her BrainwashedAndCrazy, and [[ForcedToWatch made her watch as he raped other women]], but didn't actually rape Jessica herself. In the series, [[AdaptationNameChange Kilgrave]] did make her a SexSlave.]]
*** ''Series/LukeCage2016'' not only expands on the frustrations of cops dealing with superpowered threats, but season one has a very dark ending, [[spoiler:with the criminals largely escaping with their crimes and Cage sent off to jail for breaking out of jail, in spite of his innocence in all other crimes being proven.]]
*** ''Series/ThePunisher2017'' is dark '''even by Netflix-MCU standards''', and it's the '''darkest''' Marvel television series. Unlike ''Series/Daredevil2015'' and the rest of ''Series/TheDefenders2017'', the fantastic elements are absent here and is much more oriented towards espionage, action, as well as conspiracies that deal with government and corporate corruption. Basically, the series is less MCU and more like ''Series/TwentyFour''.
** ''Series/{{Helstrom}}'' : This series is a more realistic and horror-centric take on the character than the comics, closer to the Creator/{{Netflix}}-MCU shows than the films.

* ''Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}'':

* ''DarkerAndEdgier/Whoniverse''

** ''Series/DoctorWho'':
*** After Creator/VerityLambert's tenure where the companions enjoyed time travel for the most part and there's a happy ending every single time (except in the story [[BottleEpisode where the Doctor never shows up]]), John Wiles' tenure as producer was characterized by extreme and nasty {{Downer Ending}}s, the Doctor [[WhatTheHellHero constantly getting called out for his more morally dubious actions]], suffering after the departure of his favorite companions, and being defined by his relative powerlessness. And unlike Lambert's tenure of producing quirky stories with [[GenreRoulette outrageous variety in setting and tone]], most of Wiles' tenure was clearly in the SpaceOpera genre, with {{Arc}}-based plots for the first time and a colossal body count. When Innes Lloyd took over he reversed a lot of these changes and [[YoungerAndHipper recast the companions and even the Doctor with younger and trendier people]].
*** Season 7 boosts the darkness considerably, due to the "real world" Earthbound setting (except for a trip to an alternate universe Earth at the end of the season), the stories featuring more military attacks and harder science fiction, GreyAndGreyMorality and HumansAreBastards becoming a major theme of the show which had previously been very much about how HumansAreSpecial, and a new, more serious Doctor to contrast with the comedic Second Doctor. The second-to-last episode ends with an alternate version of Earth getting destroyed and the Doctor unable to save them.
*** Season 12 ended up much darker due to introducing a "detached" new Doctor who was unfamiliar to the child audience and had a more [[BreakTheBadass fragile personality]], which created a feeling of genuine danger rather than the EscapistCharacter runarounds of previous seasons. The fact that the new Doctor was also ''funnier'' than the previous one, and the lighthearted companion team of Sarah Jane and Harry, kept everything fun enough to prevent DarknessInducedAudienceApathy.
*** Season 14 amped up the gore and horror from the previous two seasons as much as possible, and combined it with the departure of the Fourth Doctor's very popular and long-serving companion Sarah Jane, making the atmosphere a lot less cozy. Her replacement was a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race Girl]] in a {{Stripperific}} outfit who [[BloodierAndGorier liked to stab people]], and her relationship with the Doctor was more distant and vertical, making the Doctor come across as a lot colder. The writing became more cynical, and half the stories were different genres of murder mystery. The Doctor was made a ''lot'' funnier to distract from the gore and horror, but it didn't work and the production team got fired due to MoralGuardian pressure.
*** The Master's portrayal in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]". Up until this point he had been a [[AffablyEvil charismatic and almost friendly adversary]] to the Doctor played by Roger Delgado. This was the first time the character wasn't played by Delgado, and instead was made a rotting husk at the edge of his life and driven purely by hatred, especially for the Doctor. By the same token, the Doctor has none of the compassion for the Master he had before, culminating in a fight to the death after which the Doctor even admits that he hopes the Master has gone for good.
*** The stage play adaptation of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath The Robots of Death]]" is even darker than the unusually dark story, partly due to ExiledFromContinuity issues as the playwright did not have permission to use the character of the Doctor or the companions in the story. The result of this is to change the central character from a CloudCuckooLander ScienceHero who's only there to explore and have a good time into a DeadpanSnarker assassin placed there specifically to murder one of the other characters. The ending also goes from a darkly funny hard-science solution that fits the Doctor's irreverent and ingenious personality to a [[OutsideContextProblem last-minute hijack from the Fendahl]] resulting in a gun battle.
*** Season 18, due to a new script editor who wanted to make harder sci-fi about [[RippedFromTheHeadlines contemporary computer science]], a producer responding to fanboy criticism that Season 17 was too [[LighterAndSofter fluffy and flippant]] and [[CreatorBreakdown a lead actor whose mental issues were starting to bleed into the character]]. The cute RobotDog and the funny MetaGuy [[ShooOutTheClowns get]] PutOnABus, the Doctor is no longer an InvincibleHero and GothicHorror elements like the 'zombie' Master and vampires start showing up after a long absence.
*** The mid-1980s period where Eric Saward went to town with his "gritty realism" ideals, which led to a lot of stories with [[BlackAndGrayMorality hardly any truly sympathetic guest characters]], [[BloodierAndGorier on-screen gore]] and [[KillEmAll almost all of the guest characters dying]], and a Doctor who tried to kill his companion in a fit of homicidal mania and developed a nasty habit of making the odd BondOneLiner.
*** The last two seasons of the Classic series focused heavily on increasing the emotional realism, with characters having more realistic reactions to the also-increasing horror and gore. It also began expanding the Doctor's mythos. The Doctor's TheChessmaster quality was cranked up to the point where even his friends may become pieces on the board. It's when IDidWhatIHadToDo moments become an explicit part of his character.
*** Many of the adult fan-aimed parts of the [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], especially the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' and some of the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' sub-series.
*** When Creator/StevenMoffat became the head writer/showrunner and the Eleventh Doctor was introduced, the whole show became quite a bit darker — he's pretty much the undisputed king of NightmareFuel in ''Doctor Who'', with many of his episodes bordering on pure horror. It stops short of an "every episode is ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink 'Blink']]''"-level of ramping it up, but it's a scarier galaxy under his pen. The Series 5-7 MythArc deconstructs the Doctor's MO and his enemies sincerely believe he will be the undoing of the universe. Interestingly, while the stories get darker, the whimsical character of the Eleventh Doctor and Moff's sitcom-esque dialog maintain humor.
*** Then there's the ''Twelfth'' Doctor. Series 8 alone has Clara Oswald and the Doctor having numerous arguments, her throwing his TARDIS keys into a volcano in an attempt to blackmail him over [[spoiler: her boyfriend's death]] (good thing it's in a dream state), and the season's BigBad imprisoning dead people in a false Heaven (a stretch that included the infamous "Don't cremate me" line) as a precursor to turning them into an army of Cybermen. Creator/PeterCapaldi also gives a far darker portrayal of the Doctor than the last couple of incarnations; he's much more rude, alien, and aloof even when people are dying around him. Over time it becomes clear he is actually amazingly empathetic and compassionate, and he grows even warmer and more whimsical in Series 9... just in time for near-nonstop emotional trauma involving many near-death experiences for him ''and'' Clara and the long-term consequences of many of his well-meant decisions. This culminates in a three-episode SeasonFinale in which his inability to cope with both a cruel betrayal and [[spoiler:Clara's actual death]], exacerbated by imprisonment in a torture chamber, result in him temporarily becoming TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. A most BittersweetEnding follows.
*** Also, companions becoming more badass as time goes on is portrayed as not a good thing in this era. (Yeah, we had Davros ''saying'' he makes people into weapons in Series 4, but, well, ''it's Davros''.) Going back to the final Eleventh Doctor episodes, Clara takes the usual progression from civilian who's a little smarter than the average governess to someone able to keep up with what's going on around her, but starting with [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline "Flatline"]] she does a good job of stepping into the Doctor's role — [[TheChessmaster too good]], in his opinion — and becomes increasingly willing to gamble her life, directly leading to his aforementioned climactic ordeal in Series 9.
*** Series 10 plays with this. The first third is LighterAndSofter as new companion Bill Potts is broken in, but come [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E5Oxygen "Oxygen"]] things get grim again, with the Monks Trilogy that follows showing things going from bad to worse for a ''long'' while before a happy ending is managed. The Vault StoryArc involving [[spoiler:Missy's possible redemption]] serves as a dark backdrop to the whole season, culminating in the SeasonFinale [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], which unleashes Hell on the Doctor and '''especially''' Bill on the way to a denouement flush with death, destruction, and straight-up tragedy even as the Doctor reaches new heights of ''goodness''. '''And then''' there's a RayOfHopeEnding for the broken, death-seeking Doctor, leading directly into a GrandFinale ([[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]]) in which he helps inspire his ''original'' self to regenerate, faces an antagonist who [[spoiler:isn't actually an antagonist]], gets positive closure regarding the fates of [[spoiler:all three companions]], sees that [[spoiler:EverybodyLives]], and finally decides to regenerate and keep living to help others — using his FinalSpeech to encourage his next self to "Run fast, laugh hard, be kind." Thus, unlike most Doctors, his MythArc sees him become a more uplifting character as it progresses, ending with him proudly embodying '''kindness''' ([[GoodIsNotNice just not niceness]]).
*** Series 11 was a light season of the show, with a much friendlier Doctor than how Twelve started out. The stories were fairly low key, with the majority of the drama focusing on Graham and Ryan's reconcilation as a family. There wasn't much continuity shifts either, as Chibnall wanted to ease new viewers into the show. ''Then'' Season 12 opens with [[spoiler: the unexpected return of the Master ''and'' Gallifrey being destroyed for a second time]]. This sets the tone for the series and we see the friendly Thirteen retreating into herself as becoming more somber and ruthless. The first part of the three-part arc that ends this also has severe BodyHorror in a Gothic-inspired story with a partially converted Cyberman who helps maintain a grim tone throughout all three episodes. And then, the season finale severely darkens both the Doctor's backstory and the Time Lord's motivations as the Timeless Child is revealed.
** The YA-aimed ''Series/DoctorWho'' spin-off show ''Series/Class2016'' was rather darker than the parent show, though not as dark as ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. The show featured two out of five regulars being LastOfHisKind (and one of them being the actual slave of the other), late-teens characters being clearly depicted as sexually-active, a lot of on-screen gore, and towards the end of the series a grim deconstruction of RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude that sees the characters becoming increasingly traumatised and finally committing [[spoiler:[[FinalSolution full-blown genocide]] on the AlwaysChaoticEvil recurring villain species.]] The BBC's discomfort with all this may have led to the show receiving [[ScrewedByTheNetwork little promotion and low-profile scheduling]], and being cancelled after a single season.
** ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', a spinoff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', was billed as "Darker and Edgier" than its family-aimed parent, which amounted to quite a bit of sex and violence. While not as overt, series 2 still had far more sensitive material than could ever be shown at 7 pm, and the miniseries ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' upped the depression and utter hopelessness of the show to eleven.
*** And then they took it to an entirely new level with the ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' in 2011. "Dark" doesn't begin to describe it. It may have gotten too dark though, as in 2014, there was no information on new Torchwood.

** ''Series/{{Helstrom}}'' is a SuperheroHorror series that introduces ''demons'' into the main MCU.

*** Season 12 ended up much darker due to introducing a "detached" new Doctor who was unfamiliar to the child audience and had a more [[BreakTheBadass fragile personality]], which created a feeling of genuine danger rather than the EscapistCharacter runarounds of previous seasons. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace "The Ark in Space"]] and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]" were both unusually dark stories even by the standards of modern ''Who'', incorporating themes of BodyHorror, BlueAndOrangeMorality, DarkMessiah symbolism and fascism. The fact that the new Doctor was also ''funnier'' than the previous one, and the lighthearted companion team of Sarah Jane and Harry, kept everything fun enough to prevent DarknessInducedAudienceApathy.

* While ''Franchise/KamenRider'' as a whole could be viewed as the darker counterpart to ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' or ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', some entries stick out, like ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'', whose rival is his brother and both are to fight to the death, or the {{deconstruction}} ''Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue'', whose Rider's FinishingMove is a spine rip that wouldn't look out of place in ''Franchise/MortalKombat''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbreujMg3Rk&feature=player_embedded See for yourself.]]
** Among the Heisei era of ''Kamen Rider'', the darkest series to date was not ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' but ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' as even in ''Kuuga'' most of the protagonists were definitely good and the main character is a by the book Showa type hero who doesn't get put down for being a WideEyedIdealist. ''Ryuki'' however has most of the Riders as bad as their monsters they fight - it's ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' as a {{Toku}} series and ''revolves'' around humans trying to kill humans more than anything else; some have sympathetic reasons for seeking the wish the winner will receive but are still trying to kill people; some are as murderous as any villain. Of thirteen Riders, fifteen if the Alternatives count, there are ''two'' that you would consider pure "good guys" and they spend most of the series unable to actually steer the course of events as the BigBad holds all the cards. [[spoiler: In the end, everyone dies, and to reset it, one of the remaining main characters must also die. It's complicated, but not only is she gone, but in the new, reset world, no one will ever know that she was their friend, or what she did to save them. One of the final scenes is her aunt, all alone in the LocalHangout that they once ran together.]]
** Some believed that ''Series/KamenRider555'' was the darkest of the Heisei era, as you had [[AnyoneCanDie important characters dying]] on a regular basis by dissolving to ash, tragic monsters who are ''all'' as human as you or me and often are being coerced into attacking humans by the {{Big Bad}}s, one of the "good guys" being good ''purely'' in that he doesn't want the villains to kill all humans and take over the world - but outside that, he's a ManipulativeBastard who'll do ''anything'' to ''anyone'' to get what he feels he deserves, and the even ''darker'' novel (double the FamilyUnfriendlyViolence and add a dose of rape.) Regardly, both ''Ryuki'' and ''555'' are commonly accepted as being the darkest rider series of them all.
** While it greatly tones down the blood, graphic violence and terrifying content of its predecessor ''555'', ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'' still has its fair share of dramatic moments. The first arc of the series deals with Tachibana making a DealWithTheDevil with Isaka to help rid of his fear at the cost of becoming his unwilling soldier which culminated in Sayoko being killed by the Undead when she tried to cure her lover. Even after that's done, there's also the factor of the improperly sealed Spider Undead repeatedly and gradually corrupting Mutsuki until he becomes fully evil with the heroes failing to save him in spite of their efforts. Other factors include Hajime's reveal as the Joker, whose presence as the last standing Undead destroys the world, Kenzaki's rapid unstable evolution by the time he attained King Form, and in the end, [[spoiler:Kenzaki forgoes his humanity and becomes a Joker to ensure the planet's safety and Hajime's happiness at the cost of the two having to stay away from each other]].
** In a similar tone to the Japanese ''Kamen Rider'' series, ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'' is this for North American tokusatsu. ''KRDK'' regularly dealt with betrayal, distrust, questionable motives and underlying truths in initially good-looking characters, and the [[TheMenInBlack MIB]] were "good guys" with highly questionable methods and even played a part in TheSociopath JTC's StartOfDarkness. It also did away with the formulaic MonsterOfTheWeek in lieu of the "season-long movie chopped into episode-length segments" format the Japanese KR series used from ''Kuuga'' through ''Kabuto.'' There was comic relief in the form of Lacey, Trent, and Aunt Grace, but Aunt Grace got ChuckCunninghamSyndrome midseason and Lacey said ScrewThisImOuttaHere once things started to get too hot. They had to deal with NeverSayDie... and did it by replacing death with ''something worse.'' While still considerably lighter than ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'', ''KRDK'' deserves mention for making itself a name in tokusatsu circles as an attempt to make a US ''Kamen Rider'' without tampering with what makes a Kamen Rider a Kamen Rider by toning it down to a ''Power Rangers'' rip-off/copy.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' might have a bright fruit theme to it, but its head writer is Creator/GenUrobuchi of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' infamy. For those not familiar with ''Madoka Magica'', the fact that he's nicknamed [[AnyoneCanDie "Urobutcher"]] and that he specifically named ''Black, Ryuki'' and ''Faiz'' as influences on ''Gaim'' should start ringing alarm bells. It starts out with {{Deconstruction}}s of {{Mons}} and the KidHero before getting to a situation similar to ''Ryuki'' with multiple Riders of which only Gaim himself has a fully functional moral compass; the rest range from {{AntiVillain}}s using questionable methods for good goals to {{Social Darwinist}}s pursuing power at any cost to a {{Jerkass}} who uses his influence to pick on children. But the real trap was sprung a quarter of the way in: [[spoiler:a supporting character is turned into a monster, but unlike other recent Rider series he ''isn't saved'' and is killed despite Gaim's best efforts. The one who did the deed proceeds to rub it in by stating he did a heroic thing by eliminating a threat to innocents. And even as Gaim asserts that he [[ThouShaltNotKill can't kill]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman a human]], we find out that some of the monsters are ''also'' transformed humans - one (the first one he faced, in fact) was even a friend of his that had gone missing.]] A few episodes later makes it even worse - [[spoiler:it's a CosmicHorrorStory, the thing making the monsters had already overtaken at least one alien world (meaning that even the monsters that weren't once human were still people), and Earth will likely be overtaken within ten years.]] Even its BittersweetEnding has some ominousness: [[spoiler: Specifically, while the heroes do save the world, the CosmicHorrorStory elements are something that will ''always'' continue on other worlds, and there's no restoring those who were lost.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'', while [[LighterAndSofter not as dark]] as ''Gaim'', also qualifies as this. It has [[DownerBeginning the most brutal opening scene]] in ''Kamen Rider'' history and its plot gets progressively darker in the second half, especially [[spoiler:after Banno is introduced]]. The Roidmudes' backstory only makes it even worse.
** Taken to [[UpToEleven frightening extremes]] with the adult-oriented ''Series/KamenRiderAmazons'', the darkest ''Kamen Rider'' entry in the ENTIRE franchise overall (even more so than ''[[Film/ShinKamenRiderPrologue Shin]]''), as the Amazon Riders brutally kill their enemies. The original ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'' was already this, a BloodierAndGorier series where AllOfTheOtherReindeer means the public is often against him to boot, but its SpiritualSuccessor takes it UpToEleven, with the story running on GreyAndGreyMorality. The second season is full of {{Tragedy}}, being bleaker and more violent than the first due to increasing amounts of Amazons.
** Despite the gaming theme, ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has managed to take on darker tone similar to the earlier Heisei era Kamen Rider such as ''555'' as it resembles a medical drama rather than a regular heroes show. Bugsters are SeriousBusiness in this [[CrapsaccharineWorld setting]], most of the Riders are either amoral [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] or flat-out {{Jerkass}}es as they are forced to make difficult disease in medicine just like RealLife, a special surgery is required to become a Rider, the [[spoiler: Proto Gashats]] having severe side effects if overused, [[spoiler: which leads to the permanent death of the user]] .
*** The medical theme means we do sometimes encounter real life diseases. It's the only series where you have one Rider keeping the monster outside a hospital so the other can perform surgery on a cancer patient whose disease was so far along that other surgeons had ''refused to treat him because his inevitable death would [[ItsAllAboutMe tarnish their reputations]].'' Dear God. Worse, it was pancreatic cancer, which in RealLife has a habit of popping up again and killing sufferers right on schedule even when doctors are sure it's been eliminated. This isn't discussed, but anyone familiar with the disease will expect Hiiro to not really have bought the patient a great deal of time despite the successful procedure, ''and'' to know that Hiiro and the patient both know this. Due to the comparison, the ending was treated rather realistically as the patients who died from the disease do not return from the dead but despite that still ends with a [[HopeSpringsEternal hopeful]] note that one day such diseases can be cured.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' starts off with a DownerBeginning which is easily the darkest of all the TV Kamen Rider series, topped only by the aforementioned ''Amazons'' in-franchise. It features unethical human experimentation, humans being turned into [[MonsterOfTheWeek Smashes]], one of the main characters being framed for murder - and mind you, that's just within ''the first episode''. For comparison's sake, the aforementioned ''Gaim'' and ''Ex-Aid'' started out light-hearted (the former revolving around street dancing at first, the latter started by having the main character treat sick patients successfully), but eventually, things took a turn for the worse later on. Things manage to get even worse here as well. The first part of the series ends with the villains finally managing to spark the civil war that's been brewing, and the show does not hesitate to demonstrate that WarIsHell. In addition, the heroes end up feeling responsible for the rapidly escalating conflict due to having played right into the villains' hands. And it still gets worse - [[spoiler: like Gaim, this series is also a CosmicHorrorStory. TheStarscream DragonWithAnAgenda turns out to an alien who goes around destroying planets for fun, just because he can, and everything, including the war, has been part of a years-long plan to not only regain his world-destroying power so that he can do so to Earth, but also become powerful enough to destroy the ''universe''.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' has its [[Main/TheHero titular Rider]] being an Main/EvilOverlord that caused a [[Main/BadFuture dystopian future]] in which he [[Main/TakeOverTheWorld took over the world]] and had many time travelers from that future come to the present time and prevent it from happening. Even with its fair share of lighthearted moments, [=Zi-O=] [[Main/CerebusSyndrome eventually became more intense]] with [[spoiler: Sougo finally coming face to face with Oma Zi-O, resulting in his temporary Main/HeroicBSOD, White Woz's presence in the show, [[Main/ChronicBackstabbingDisorder the zero amount of loyalty among the Time Jackers]], Sougo spending about 5 episodes with Geiz and Tsukuyomi against him, the fact that Sougo [[Main/FriendlessBackground never had friends prior to them]], and the [[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]] tribute in general. Not to mention how Sougo and Hiryu lost his parents plus more of Tsukuyomi's past, all courtesy of [[Main/TheChessmaster Swartz]] himself; the fact that he was Tsukuyomi's brother and erased her memories out of the fact that she was next in line to rule instead of him as well as being responsible for the accident that led to loss of those parents and being the reason Sougo had time powers and how Oma Zi-O's future came to be - all so he can become king himself and obtain power. Plus the final arc deals with time paradoxes that leads to monsters from all over the Heisei area in one world with Tsukasa dealing with the possibiity of destroying Zi-O's world and unlike previous final battles, the climax of Sougo's involves Geiz [[HeroicSacrifice taking a critical hit for him from Swartz and dying]], prompting Sougo to tearfully become Oma Zi-O and viciously finishing Swartz off once he decimates Tsukuyomi for her deception.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' initially started out fairly light with an optimistic perspective on technology and AI. As the show goes on, it continuously gets more depressing with each consecutive arc, with losses becoming more common for the main characters and villains coming out victorious more often than not. Even with the many victories that come for the heroes after the Workplace Competition Arc, [[spoiler:the Ark-Zero and Ark-One arcs completely erase all of those victories with the revival of the Ark]]. Aptly put, the trajectory of the series' main plot goes from a optimistic PostCyberpunk story revolving around a AllLovingHero trying to fight for the future of AI to a downright tragic story revolving around a [[spoiler:FallenHero and TragicVillain, driven by loss and revenge]].

* The ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' adaptation ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' is a more modern and dark take on the original sentimental, Americana-fueled comics and characters.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' season 3. [[spoiler:Carter dies and Team Machine fails to stop Samaritan from activating]].
** Samaritan makes things get and ''stay'' darker, as the gang is on the run and in constant danger.

** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' initially started out fairly light with an optimistic perspective on technology and AI. As the show goes on, it continuously gets more depressing with each consecutive arc, with losses becoming more common for the main characters and villains coming out victorious more often than not. Even with the many victories that come for the heroes after the Workplace Competition Arc, [[spoiler:the Ark-Zero and Ark-One arcs completely erase all of those victories with the revival of the Ark]]. Aptly put, the trajectory of the series' main plot goes from a optimistic Post-Cyberpunk story revolving around a All-Loving Hero trying to fight for the future of AI to a downright tragic story revolving around a [[spoiler:Fallen Hero and Tragic Villain, driven by loss and revenge]].

** Despite the PostCyberPunk elements and the possibilities of humans and robots coexisting, ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' has managed to become more bleaker than Takahashi's [[Series/KamenRiderExAid previous Rider show]]. This series exhibits a CrapsaccharineWorld tone with [[KillerRobot Killer Robots]] and realistic business issues. The Workplace Competition Arc even features [[spoiler:Aruto's initial struggle over Metal Cluster Hopper due to the Ark's corruption of him and controlling his body [[AndIMustScream while being unable to do anything about it but scream]], the reveal of the A.I.M.S. Riders having chips in their heads for transformation compatibility, which Gai has total access to and tried to corrupt Isamu into Naki having control over the soldier's body, and by the end of it, not only does ZAIA win the competition and Gai having control over Hiden Intelligence, but also with [[HeroWithBadPublicity Aruto now having the public against him]], only having Izu and Isamu by his side and forming an unlikely alliance with Jin to save as many [=HumaGears=] from being shut down.]]

** ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' is largely a ShotForShotRemake of the darker ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger,'' and while it loses some of the darkness (the occasional VictimOfTheWeek has his sad backstory toned down, Deker is ''so'' not Juzo) it ''adds some more of its own'' when diverging from the source material. We have villains who are made stronger by human sadness, so the enemy plans are most often "make a whole lot of people suffer." Serrator's LongGame manipulations make him a KnightOfCerebus extraordinaire. Deker is so not Juzo… [[spoiler: and has to die anyway. His last words are "Finally… I'm free."]] Dayu is brought to [[spoiler: such despair by his loss that she is able to revive Xandred with her sadness alone, and is willing to because by now she just doesn't care what happens to the world, ''or'' herself, as she doesn't resist when he absorbs her to become part human and gain immunity to the sealing symbol.]]
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' seasons V to VIII.

** ''Series/UltramanGeed'' (2017) takes ''Leo'''s DownerBeginning UpToEleven with the ''entire galaxy'' being destroyed, only being restored by the efforts of Ultraman King, and the titular Ultraman is the son of [[SatanicArchetype Ultraman Belial]], having to face an uphill battle with only the help of a seriously wounded Franchise/UltramanZero. If it isn't enough and if director Koichi Sakamoto's words to be believed, there's an implication that Geed's Earth is the same as Ultra Brothers, and the whole society in its current state are no longer believes in Ultraman and other past attack teams, thanks to the aforementioned DownerBeginning.

** ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', a spinoff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', was billed as "Darker and Edgier" than its family-aimed parent, which amounted to quite a bit of sex and violence. While not as overt, series 2 still had far more sensitive material than could ever be shown at 7 pm, and the miniseries ''Children of Earth'' upped the depression and utter hopelessness of the show to eleven.

*** The TV series is '''way''' "Darker and Edgier" than the movie, which was a high-camp spoof of horror movies. Though most viewers agree that the tone of the TV series was a marked improvement, the series continually ''topped'' itself with even moodier stories.