History GenreDeconstruction / LiveActionTV

** Arguments have been made that the show is much less of a deconstruction, than it is simply a DarkerAndEdgier re-imagining; since it fails to address many of the problems of the original. This may be reinforced by the fact that the Cylons have been changed from an irreconcilable alien ''other'', to an ''Anvilicious'' screed about [[HumansAreBastards mankind being destroyed by their own sins]]; interspersed with plenty of {{Fanservice}} and FetishFuel (two words: "dungeon ship"). Further reinforced by the fact that most of the major characters devote epic amounts of time to their personal dysfunctionalities; and seem to be only tangentially concerned with the fact that their entire race has been almost completely wiped out.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' is a subtle but fairly effective Deconstruction of Spy Fiction and Action Movie cliches. A common situation in Michael Westen's narration is describing a popular Action-Movie solution to a problem, and then promptly explaining why it doesn't actually work. [[AirVentEscape Escape through the air ducts?]] Nope. They're too small, they aren't designed to support that kind of weight and they're full of dangerous and nasty things like engines, dust, and vermin. [[ShootTheFuelTank Blowing up a gas tank with a well-placed pistol shot?]] Nope. Fuel tanks are designed to ''not'' be easy to blow up, and a gunshot won't create a big enough spark on its own to ignite anything. [[WeNeedADistraction Send an attractive woman to distract the guards?]] Nope. The guards will probably want an attractive woman to hang around, which will make extraction problematic. It's better to send someone loud and obnoxious who the guards will actively want to get rid of, and thus will ''actually'' be distracting. And of course, being a spy is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds: it's a lonely life full of regrets and moral compromises, where using people as tools and making reluctant alliances with the ethically challenged is just an everyday affair. Loyalty and friendship only extend as far as the end of the current mission, and TrueCompanions are the exception rather than the rule. Michael tries to comfort himself with the idea that he's serving a greater good, but that often doesn't work, [[spoiler: and by the end of the show it's not clear if there even is such a thing as a "greater good"]]. And on top of all of that, there's a massive amount of sheer ''boredom'' in the business. As he mentions in the very first episode:

* ''Series/AscensionMiniseries'' takes a sledgehammer and a blowtorch to the "Ever Forward" idealistic progressivism of the 1960's SpaceRace. Set aboard a GenerationShip halfway through its century-long journey to Proxima Centauri, it shows the psychological consequences of living in a tin can in the middle of empty space. The first generation of crew may have been [[BoldExplorer Bold Explorers]], but their children are bitter and cynical, fully aware that they are living a life not of their own choosing, and they don't even have the comfort of knowing that they will eventually see a new world (that's what ''their'' children will do). All the negatives about mid-1960's society - sexism, classism, and authoritarianism - are on display aboard the ship along with the positives, and have been grossly magnified. The "stewardesses" are basically high-class prostitutes (as well as a spy ring for the paranoid elites). The limited space and the constant maintenance required means that opportunities for job advancement or career change are extremely rare, and society is rigidly stratified to the point of a caste system, which is about to boil over into a full-on revolution. Birth rates are carefully controlled due to limited resources. Marriages are chosen purely for genetic compatibility, not for love. No one is particularly happy, and everyone is psychologically messed up to one degree or another. And of course, with TheReveal, it turns out [[spoiler: it's all a lie. They never left Earth and this is all a simulation for a completely different, slightly nefarious purpose. Everyone was lied to about their mission and the intentions of their superiors, and they've been living in an illusion.]]

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' is a subtle but fairly effective Deconstruction of Spy Fiction and Action Movie cliches. A common situation in Michael Westen's narration is describing a popular Action-Movie solution to a problem, and then promptly explaining why it doesn't actually work. [[AirVentEscape Escape through the air ducts?]] Nope. They're too small, they aren't designed to support that kind of weight and they're full of dangerous and nasty things like engines, dust, and vermin. [[ShootTheFuelTank Blowing up a gas tank with a well-placed pistol shot?]] Nope. Fuel tanks are designed to ''not'' be easy to blow up, and a gunshot won't create a big enough spark on its own to ignite anything. [[WeNeedADistraction Send an attractive woman to distract the guards?]] Nope. Odds are the guards will want an attractive woman to hang around, and you're gonna have to get her out of there somehow eventually. It's better to send someone loud and obnoxious who will, you know, ''be distracting''. And of course, being a spy is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds: it's a lonely life full of regrets and moral compromises, where using people as tools and making reluctant alliances with the ethically challenged is just an everyday affair. Loyalty and friendship only extend as far as the end of the current mission, and TrueCompanions are the exception rather than the rule. Michael tries to comfort himself with the idea that he's serving a greater good, but that often doesn't work, [[spoiler: and by the end of the show it's not clear if there even is such a thing as a "greater good"]]. And on top of all of that, there's a massive amount of sheer ''boredom'' in the business. As he mentions in the very first episode:

* ''Series/TheMagicians'' Deconstructs the concept of the WizardingSchool by ''taking it seriously''. Magic in this world is a natural force like any other, bound by immutable laws and limitations, and students need to learn what those are, or else they're just a danger to themselves and others. Wizard-ing is not easy, even for naturally-gifted students, and our heroes frequently screw up spells badly due to lack of experience. Instructors are hard on their students because they ''need to be''; learning to use magic properly and safely is essential. Hedge Witches, non-trained rogue practitioners, usually end up addicted to the power high and treat magic more like a drug or a status symbol, and often get themselves and those around them into serious trouble. And the "sorting" process for students also contains a psychological component: it's not enough to be able to do magic; you need to be able to handle it mentally.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' could be said to be a deconstruction of all the classic family SitCom tropes. Instead of being cute and innocent, the kids are evil little troublemakers. Instead of being a stern authority figure the father is a spineless coward. Instead of being a kind loving Matriarch, the mother is strict, arbitrary, unreasonable, and has a volcanic temper. Instead of living in a nice, pristine, two-story suburban house, they live in a small, trashed-out home. (though it does look nice when it's clean) The parents have actual financial trouble, struggling to take care of three to four children while the dad works a dinky office job and the mom, instead of staying at home like most sitcom moms, works in a grocery store. Oh, and of course the lack of a LaughTrack. Malcolm was only following in the footsteps of ''TheSimpsons'' and ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', making this more a case of SeinfeldIsUnfunny, as Malcolm definitely took it further.

* Many people believe that ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is a {{deconstruction}} of traditional musicals. Unlike other musicals, in ''Glee'' most of the musical numbers take place either during a performance or in the character's imaginations, and sometimes both. When a character does try singing their feelings in real life to help their problems, it doesn't work out so well. Other people see ''Glee'' as a {{deconstruction}} of ''HighSchoolMusical''. Whereas ''HighSchoolMusical'', being a Creator/DisneyChannel program for young children, doesn't show many real life high school problems, ''Glee'' deals with teen sex, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, homophobia, and drug use. This, however, is unintentional, as the creator of the show, Ryan Murphy, has stated that he's never seen ''HighSchoolMusical''.

** The show also deconstructs [[TheAce the Ace pilot]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a heart of gold]] -- Starbuck, and how messed up such a person would really be.

** Specifically, ''Deep Space Nine'' is legendary for taking away from its protagonists all the "cushions" of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' that come with "The starship and crew encounter people, interact with them, have a conflict, resolve it by causing some kind of change in said people--and then warp off to have another adventure". Specifically, by securing the protagonists in a fixed location (a space station, as opposed to a ship), they now have to deal with the ''consequences'' of whatever changes they have a part in creating--and eventually the consequences ''of'' those consequences. Unlike in the previous two shows, Sisko and company are forced to live with what their actions bring about--and find themselves having to weigh their options accordingly.
*** In the two-part episode "The Maquis", Sisko himself deconstructs the RousseauWasRight attitudes that had become commonplace in Starfleet--and ''Star Trek'' as a whole--by the time of the "Next-Gen" era, with his "It's easy to be a saint in Paradise" speech. As the show writers often noted, this speech, more than anything else, determined the direction for the rest of the show.

* Many people believe that ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is a {{deconstruction}} of traditional musicals. Unlike other musicals, in ''Glee'' most of the musical numbers take place either during a performance or in the character's imaginations, and sometimes both. When a character does try singing their feelings in real life to help their problems, it doesn't work out so well. Other people see ''Glee'' as a {{deconstruction}} of ''HighSchoolMusical''. Whereas ''HighSchoolMusical'', being a DisneyChannel program for young children, doesn't show many real life high school problems, ''Glee'' deals with teen sex, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, homophobia, and drug use. This, however, is unintentional, as the creator of the show, Ryan Murphy, has stated that he's never seen ''HighSchoolMusical''.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' is a subtle but fairly effective Deconstruction of Spy Fiction and Action Movie cliches. A common situation in Michael Westen's narration is describing a popular Action-Movie solution to a problem, and then promptly explaining why it doesn't actually work. [[AirVentEscape Escape through the air ducts?]] Nope. They're too small, they aren't designed to support that kind of weight and they're full of dangerous and nasty things like engines, dust, and vermin. [[ShootTheFuelTank Blowing up a gas tank with a well-placed pistol shot?]] Nope. Fuel tanks are designed to ''not'' be easy to blow up, and a gunshot won't create a big enough spark on its own to ignite anything. [[WeNeedADistraction Send an attractive woman to distract the guards?]] Nope. Odds are the guards will want an attractive woman to hang around, and you're gonna have to get her out of there somehow eventually. It's better to send someone loud and obnoxious who will, you know, ''be distracting''. And of course, being a spy is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds. As he mentions in the very first episode:

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'' deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom nor a WorkCom; which means no marriage, suburban family home with TheCouch, kids, workplace, or any other typical pre-Seinfeld sitcom settings. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. Some Sitcom conventions remain, such as the LaughTrack. [[FollowTheLeader As many other sitcoms have followed the concept]], ''Seinfeld'' became the TropeNamer of ''SeinfeldIsUnfunny''.

* Good luck watching another [[CopShow crime drama]], even [[PoliceProcedural a relatively realistic one]], after watching ''Series/TheWire'''s deconstruction of the genre. Then again, the earlier ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' started the process.

* Good luck watching another [[CopShow crime drama]], even [[PoliceProcedural a relatively realistic one]], after watching ''TheWire'''s deconstruction of the genre. Then again, the earlier ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' started the process.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' could be said to be a deconstruction of all the classic family SitCom tropes. Instead of being cute and innocent, the kids are evil little troublemakers. Instead of being a stern authority figure the father is a spineless coward. Instead of being a kind loving Matriarch, the mother is strict, arbitrary, unreasonable, and has a volcanic temper. Instead of living in a nice, pristine, two-story suburban house, they live in a small, trashed-out home. (though it does look nice when it's clean) The parents have actual financial trouble, struggling to take care of three to four children while the dad works a dinky office job and the mom, instead of staying at home like most sitcom moms, works in a grocery store. Oh, and of course the lack of a LaughTrack. Malcolm was only following in the footsteps of ''TheSimpsons'' and ''MarriedWithChildren'', making this more a case of SeinfeldIsUnfunny, as Malcolm definitely took it further.
* A dark deconstruction of a typical DomCom can be found in ''{{Titus}}'' in which it shows how a dysfunctional family can be messed up in the real world. It also plays around with several other tropes. For example; Titus' and friends' antics lead to bad publicity for their garage, leading to their biggest client demanding his money back, leading to the garage in financial trouble, leading to him drinking to drive Erin away, and so on. In most sitcoms, the guys would just make idiots of themselves publicly, learn A Lesson, then it would be forgotten by the next episode.

* The new ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' massively deconstructed [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic the old one]], by showing how it "really" would look like if the last people were fleeing from a genocide. By proxy, the show also deconstructed "light" sci-fi like ''StarWars''.

* Good luck watching another [[CopShow crime drama]], even [[PoliceProcedural a relatively realistic one]], after watching ''TheWire'''s deconstruction of the genre.
** The earlier ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' started the process.

* ''TheGruenTransfer'' analyzes and deconstructs advertising.
** Similarly, the "Ad Road Test" segment in ''TheChasersWarOnEverything'' took situations in ads to see how they would work in the real world.

* ''Series/{{Naeturvaktin}}'' is a fairly standard WorkCom CringeComedy centring around Georg, a ControlFreak PointyHairedBoss with awful politics. The sequel ''{{Dagvaktin}}'' is about just how awful and non-wacky it would be to have to work with someone like that in real life, ''and'' how [[CryForTheDevil genuinely messed-up they would have to be to become that kind of person in the first place.]] Several episodes of ''{{Dagvaktin}}'' are [[GenreShift straight-up drama with no jokes at all]], dealing realistically with the spiral of bullying, abuse, child abuse and murder which Georg ends up perpetrating.

** ''{{Series/Survivor}}'' deconstructs the {{Robinsonade}}.
** ''TheBachelor'' and other dating shows deconstruct the RomanceNovel.
** ''TheMakeover'' in reality shows is a deconstruction of the ComingOfAgeStory.

** ''Series/TheColony'' is a ZombieApocalpyse (or some other viral apocalypse scenario) with the zombies cut out.

* Many people believe that ''{{Glee}}'' is a {{deconstruction}} of traditional musicals. Unlike other musicals, in ''Glee'' most of the musical numbers take place either during a performance or in the character's imaginations, and sometimes both. When a character does try singing their feelings in real life to help their problems, it doesn't work out so well. Other people see ''Glee'' as a {{deconstruction}} of ''HighSchoolMusical''. Whereas ''HighSchoolMusical'', being a DisneyChannel program for young children, doesn't show many real life high school problems, ''Glee'' deals with teen sex, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, homophobia, and drug use. This, however, is unintentional, as the creator of the show, Ryan Murphy, has stated that he's never seen ''HighSchoolMusical''.

* ''Series/AscensionMiniseries'' takes a sledgehammer and a blowtorch to the "Ever Forward" idealistic progressivism of the 1960's SpaceRace. Set aboard a GenerationShip halfway through its century-long journey to Proxima Centauri, it shows the psychological consequences of living in a tin can in the middle of empty space. The first generation of crew may have been [[BoldExplorer Bold Explorers]], but the second generation is bitter and cynical, fully aware that they are living a life not of their own choosing, and they don't even have the comfort of knowing that they will eventually see a new world (that's what ''their'' children will do). Society is rigidly stratified and the class struggle is about to bubble over into a full-on revolution. Birth rates are controlled and marriages are chosen purely for genetic compatibility, not for love. No one is particularly happy, and everyone is psychologically messed up to one degree or another. And of course, with TheReveal, it turns out [[spoiler: it's all a lie. They never left Earth and this is all a simulation for a completely different purpose. Everyone was lied to about their mission and the intentions of their superiors, and they've been living in an illusion.]]

* {{Seinfeld}} deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom nor a WorkCom; which means no marriage, suburban family home with TheCouch, kids, workplace, or any other typical pre-Seinfeld sitcom settings. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. Some Sitcom conventions remain, such as the LaughTrack. [[FollowTheLeader As many other sitcoms have followed the concept]], ''Seinfeld'' became the TropeNamer of SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* {{Seinfeld}} deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom nor a WorkCom; which means no marriage, suburban family home, kids, workplace, or any other typical pre-Seinfeld sitcom settings. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. Some Sitcom conventions remain, such as the LaughTrack. [[FollowTheLeader As many other sitcoms have followed the concept]], ''Seinfeld'' became the TropeNamer of SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' is a subtle but fairly effective Deconstruction of Spy Fiction and Action Movie cliches. A common situation in Michael Westen's narration is describing a popular Spy-Fiction solution to a problem, and then promptly explaining why it wouldn't actually work. Escape through the air ducts? Nope. They're too small, they aren't designed to support that kind of weight and they're full of dangerous and nasty things like engines, dust, and vermin. Blowing up a gas tank with a well-placed pistol shot? Nope. A gunshot won't create a big enough spark on its own to ignite anything. Send an attractive woman to distract the guards? Nope; guards want an attractive woman to hang around, and you're gonna have to get her out of there somehow eventually. It's better to send someone loud and obnoxious. And of course, being a spy is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds. As he mentions in the very first episode:

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' is a subtle but fairly effective Deconstruction of Spy Fiction and Action Movie cliches. A common situation in Michael Westen's narration is describing a popular Spy-Fiction solution to a problem, and then promptly explaining why it wouldn't actually work. Escape through the air ducts? Nope. They're too small, they aren't designed to support that kind of weight and they're full of dangerous and nasty things like engines, dust, and vermin. Blowing up a gas tank with a well-placed pistol shot? Nope. A gunshot won't create a big enough spark on its own to ignite anything. And of course, being a spy is nowhere near as glamorous as it sounds. As he mentions in the very first episode:

* {{Seinfeld}} deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom or WorkCom; which means no marriage, suburban family home, kids, workplace, or any other typical pre-Seinfeld sitcom settings. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. The LaughTrack remains, however. [[FollowTheLeader As many other sitcoms have followed the concept]], ''Seinfeld'' became the TropeNamer of SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* {{Seinfeld}} deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom or WorkCom; which means no marriage, suburban family home, kids, workplace, or any other typical pre-Seinfeld sitcom settings. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. The LaughTrack remains, however, [[FollowTheLeader Many others have followed.]]

* {{Seinfeld}} deconstructed the {{Sitcom}}, breaking with many conventions of the genre, though the LaughTrack remains. Self-described as a series about nothing; neither a DomCom, KidCom or WorkCom. The title character exists in RealLife, and there is barely any continuous plot. [[FollowTheLeader Many others have followed.]]