History EarnYourHappyEnding / LiveActionTV

** In season 2, Anthony Bridgerton went through a lot in his youth: watched his father died right before his very own eyes, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after his mistress, Siena, dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate Sharma, his deepest wish finally come true; marrying the woman he genuinely loves with his family's blessings. The same goes with Kate; after spending her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and earns a place in her stepmother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledge her as their granddaughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely love her and asks her to marry him.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 1, Simon Basset has a tragic childhood; his mother died right after his birth and as he grew up his own father disowned him due to his stammer. After declaring himself to never marry nor to have children to end his father's line, when he finally gives in to Daphne's love, he eventually earns his happiness he never thought he deserves.
** In season 2, Anthony Bridgerton went through a lot in his youth: watched his father died right in front of his very own eyes, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after his mistress, Siena, dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate Sharma, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he genuinely loves with his family's blessings. The same goes with Kate; after spending her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and find a place in her stepmother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledge her as their granddaughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely love her and asks her to marry him.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 1, Simon Basset has a tragic childhood; his mother died right after his birth and as he grew up his own father disowned him due to his stammer. After declaring himself to never marry nor to have children to end his father's line, when he finally gives in to Daphne's love, he eventually earns his happiness that he never thought he deserves.
** In season 2, Anthony Bridgerton went through a lot in his youth: watched his father died, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after his mistress, Siena, dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate Sharma, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he genuinely loves with his family's blessings. The same with Kate; after spending her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and find a place in her stepmother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledges her as their granddaughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely love her and asks her to marry him.

** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father died, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after his mistress, Siena, dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he genuinely loves with his family's blessings. The same with Kate; after spending her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and find a place in her stepmother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledges her as their granddaughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely love her and asks her to marry him.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 1, Simon Basset has a tragic childhood; his mother died right after his birth and as he grew up his own father disowned him due to his stammer. After declaring himself to never marry nor to have children to end his father's line, when he finally gives in to Daphne's love, he eventually earns his happiness that he thought he doesn't deserve.
** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father die, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after his mistress, Siena, dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he truly loves. Similar to Kate; after spent her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and find a place in her step-mother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledges her as their grand-daughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely fall in love with her and asks her to marry him.

** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father die, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after Siena dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he truly loves. Similar to Kate; after spent her youth sacrificing her own desires in order to make her family happy (especially to Edwina) and find a place in her step-mother's family[[note]]her maternal step-grandparents never acknowledges her as their grand-daughter[[/note]], she finally earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely fall in love with her and asks her to marry him.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': In season 1, Simon Basset has a tragic childhood; lost his mother right after his birth and as he grows up is disowned by his own father due to his stammer. After declaring himself to never marry nor to have children to end his father's line, when he finally gives in to Daphne's love, he eventually earns his happiness that he thought he doesn't deserve.
** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father die, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after Siena dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness; marrying the woman he truly loves. Similar to Kate; after spent her youth sacrificing her own desires to find a place in her step-mother's family[[note]]her step maternal grandparents never acknowledges her as their grand-daughter[[/note]] and to make them happy, especially her younger step-sister, Edwina, she eventually earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely fall in love with her and asks her to marry him.

** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father die, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after Siena dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note]] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness. Similar to Kate; after spent her youth sacrificing her own desires to find a place in her step-mother's family[[note]]her step maternal grandparents never acknowledges her as their grand-daughter[[/note]], especially her younger step-sister, Edwina, she eventually earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely fall in love with her and asks her to marry her.

** In season 2, Anthony went through a lot in his youth: watched his father die, was parentified and thrusted into the position of viscount with no time or space to grieve, nearly had to choose between his mother and baby sister's lives, all while taking on the baggage of his mother's human though no less upsetting reaction to loss. Thus, he let his fear of love got the best of him, especially after Siena dumped him in season 1. When he finally overcome his longtime fear[[note]]love[[/note] and gives in to his love for Kate, he eventually gains his true happiness. Similar to Kate; after spent her youth sacrificing her own desires to find a place in her step-mother's family[[note]]her step maternal grandparents never acknowledges her as their grand-daughter[[/note]], especially her younger step-sister, Edwina, she eventually earns happiness when Anthony admits to genuinely fall in love with her and asks her to marry her.

-->'''Annie''': Ugh! [[EightDeadlyWords Do these people ever die or what?!]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1''. Applies to the series as a whole, but most particularly in season nine and ten. World after world bows down to the Ori, SG team members getting killed left and right (even a lot of normal people on earth thanks to the Prior plague), villains constantly getting away scot-free and in two years, barely a dent is made in the Ori attack. Then ''Film/TheArkOfTruth'' kicks down the DownerEnding's door, beats it up with some Moments of Awesome and proceeds to give the team the HappyEnding they deserve.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* ''Series/{{Nashville}}'': Here's ''some'' of what Juliette Barnes through during its three-season run [[spoiler: - he had a drug-addicted mother who pimped her out to adult men when she was a child; her remorseful mother trying to clean up her act ... but her counselor Dante slept with Juliette, eyeing control over Juliette's career (and money), blackmailing her with a sex tape... Then her guilt-stricken mother kills Dante, [[DrivenToSuicide and then herself]]. And then she gets into a potentially career-ending scandal over a manipulated clip... and then there's her incredibly troubled pregnancy... her being the sole survivor when her plane crashes... her indoctrination into a cult and being held in against her will in UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} by said cult. The series ends with a pregnant Juliette living peacefully on a farm just outside Tennessee with daughter Cadence, having retired from country music, and about to reunite with her husband Avery. Well, just about ''all'' the remaining regulars get a happy ending in the SeriesFinale, but Juliette's is particularly earned.]]

* ''Series/{{Nashville}}'': Here's ''some'' of what Juliette Barnes through during its three-season run - he had a drug-addicted mother who pimped her out to adult men when she was a child; her remorseful mother trying to clean up her act ... but her counselor Dante slept with Juliette, eyeing control over Juliette's career (and money), blackmailing her with a sex tape... Then her guilt-stricken mother kills Dante, [[DrivenToSuicide and then herself]]. And then she gets into a potentially career-ending scandal over a manipulated clip... and then there's her incredibly troubled pregnancy... her being the sole survivor when her plane crashes... her indoctrination into a cult and being held in against her will in UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} by said cult. The series ends with a pregnant Juliette living peacefully on a farm just outside Tennessee with daughter Cadence, having retired from country music, and about to reunite with her husband Avery.[[note]]Well just about ''all'' the remaining regulars get a happy ending in the SeriesFinale, but Juliette's is particularly earned.[[/note]]

* ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' starts with Japan being split into three by an alien artifact and the three regions on the brink of civil war, with both a terrorist group and a war profiteer willing to light the powderkeg. War does indeed break out and the heroes are devastated by the horrors of war as well as the fact that they, as [[UnwittingPawn Unwitting Pawns]], helped make the war possible. Then it's revealed [[spoiler: that the alien artifact is a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets, and its owner is an alien who's used it to destroy countless civilizations, is planning to do so to Earth, and is far more powerful than everyone else, dealing the heroes defeat after defeat as he gets closer to fulfilling his plans]]. And all the while, countless innocents are caught in the crossfire as the heroes desperately try, and fail, to bring the fighting to an end. Eventually though, after much struggle, [[spoiler: Sento manages to undo everything that the BigBad did by erasing him from existence, and creates a new world where none of the horrible atrocities he committed ever happened. Everyone, even people who died during the series, is shown alive and living happy lives, and while Sento and Ryuga, anomalies of the new world due to the fact that their existences were so tied to all the things the BigBad did, are left as the only people who remember what happened, they at least still have each other for company and the series ends with the two of them setting out to find a new place for them in the new world, [[VitriolicBestFriends bickering the entire way]].]]

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' (which doesn't tend to have happy endings), the episode "A Penny For Your Thoughts", ends with the main character going out with a co-worker who was attracted to him, getting his job back with a promotion after warning the boss about an embezzler, getting a vacation for a man he wrongly (though justifiably) accused of plotting to rob the bank, and lost his powers (which was good because he hated them).

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' (which doesn't tend to have happy endings) episode "A Penny For Your Thoughts", ends with the main character going out with a co-worker who was attracted to him, getting his job back after warning the boss about an embezzler with a promotion, getting a vacation for a man he wrongly (though justifiably) accused of plotting to rob the bank, and lost his powers (which was good because he hated them).

** Downplayed for the Twelfth Doctor at the end of his MythArc. He wants to die for good instead of regenerating at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], having lost everyone important to him and believing he failed in his quest to [[spoiler: redeem Missy]], but then he encounters his '''original''' self, who ''also'' didn't want to regenerate. The GrandFinale that follows ([[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]]) has a crisis but [[spoiler:it's all a misunderstanding]], he manages to convince the First Doctor that he should embrace his future by looking to the good he can do and not the suffering that will come with it, he learns that [[spoiler: Bill got a happy ending after all]], and finally he [[spoiler:has his memories of Clara restored]] as a gift from [[spoiler: the antagonist that isn't]]. From there, though he remains alone and longs for a final rest, he decides that helping others is WorthLivingFor and regenerates with peaceful, accepting hearts into Thirteen.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': Parodied and Deconstructed with Abed's story in "[[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps]": from what he says after he finishes telling it (a story in which a couple completely and utterly defy every single slasher film victim trope), he seems to think that "earning" it would be the characters following a number of logical steps to not get killed by the book. Annie fires back disgust at not seeing the characters actually having any ''obstacles'' to fight off to go along with the logical decisions (seriously, after so much set-up that there is a SerialKiller on the loose nearby, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse the couple does not even encounters him]]), and thus the audience is bored.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]], the Series 10 finale, has this for [[spoiler: Bill Potts]], who in the previous episode "World Enough and Time" was [[spoiler: mortally wounded, forced to wait in hospital for the Doctor for ten years (while only minutes passed for him), and — just as he was arriving — Cyber-converted by a false friend who did this solely to torment him. Traditionally this dooms someone to a Mercy Kill, Heroic Sacrifice, or suicide]], and there's nothing the Doctor can do to help under the circumstances. Nonetheless, the poor soul [[spoiler: stands with him in a final battle against other Cybermen. As she weeps over his seemingly dead body her long-lost sweetheart Heather, "The Pilot" of the season premiere, returns and turns Bill into a fellow time-and-space-travelling shapeshifter with her refined/expanded powers. After leaving the Doctor's body in the TARDIS, Bill and Heather explore the universe together]]. The only down point of this ending for is that [[spoiler:she may never know that he lived, as she hoped]].

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Monica and Chandler. Both had difficult childhoods, Monica was TheUnfavourite and Chandler underwent ParentalNeglect, leaving them emotionally damaged. Together they overcame their personal insecurities, and despite their early marriage being fraught with unemployment and [[spoiler: infertility]] they continue to support each other and [[spoiler: eventually adopt children]] and get the family they always wanted. They also provide a much-needed contrast to the tumultuous [[{{TheMasochismTango}} Ross and Rachel]] showing a couple who actually work at their relationship and make each other stronger. They end the series blissfully happy, very much in-love and boy have they earned it.

* Throughout the run of ''Series/GoodTimes'', the Evanses have seen just about every attempt to make a better life for themselves and get out of the projects end in utter disappointment. At the end of the series, Keith's leg gets better and he signs a contract with the Chicago Bears, allowing he and Thelma (who's pregnant) to buy an apartment in a swanky building and they invite Florida to live with them. Willona is promoted to head buyer at The Boutique and is also able to buy an apartment in the same building for herself and Penny, making them neighbors. JJ designs a new comic book character and is picked up by a publisher, who gives him an advance large enough for him to move out on his own. With everyone else financially secure, Michael decides to move into a dorm on campus. After five and a half seasons of struggling to make it, the family has definitely lived up to this trope!

* Kelly in ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' is noteworthy as the only one of the original five leads to get a proper happy ending. [[spoiler:Nathan ends up in jail in Las Vegas after using his powers to beat the house at a casino and getting caught in the act; Simon and Alisha are trapped forever chasing each other through a time loop in which they are forced to endure one another's deaths, over and over again, possibly forever, as the price of being together; and Curtis commits suicide when he realises his power of resurrection will result in a ZombieApocalypse if it goes unchecked.]] But for Kelly - though she endures at least as much as the other four during the actual series - there's a happier end note: [[spoiler:she and her LoveInterest Seth work things out, and she's using her powers to defuse mines and save children in Africa.]]

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Joyride", the UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} astronaut Colonel Theodore Harris saw a strange violet light while onboard the ''Aspire 7'' on September 16, 1963. The light enveloped the capsule and he aborted the mission. His steadfast claim that he had encountered aliens while in space was not taken seriously and the NASA psychological assessment determined that it had merely been a hallucination. Harris was completely discredited. The continual accusations that he was mentally unstable led him to check himself into a psychiatric institution for a brief period. On one occasion, he even hacked into a computer at UsefulNotes/ThePentagon in order to access his file but the charges were dropped. Harris is furious when he learns that his old friend and fellow astronaut Wayne caught a glimpse of similar lights during an orbit of Earth but kept it to himself for the sake of his career. In the words of his wife Madelaine, he was a "one man train wreck". Although she left him because she could no longer handle the stress, they never stopped loving each other. On a second trip to space aboard the ''Daedalus'' XL-141 in 2001, Harris once again encountered the aliens. As their intention had been to observe but not interfere, they send him back in time to 1963 and alter history so that his mission was successful. He has the opportunity to live his life over again and avoid making the same mistakes.