History HarmlessVillain / LiveActionTV

** Somewhat subverted by, of all people, the Penguin! The Penguin was one of the few Batman villains more closely resembling mob bosses in the ComicStrip/DickTracy style than murderous psychopaths of pulp era, and writers had been writing such characters for decades on television despite the limits of violence allowed. The Penguin's crimes were still over the top, but he was usually the ringleader in stories with multiple villains, and his crimes, while still campy, were typically more threatening than his fellows', like stealing a nuclear sub or engaging in brainwashing and blackmail. It's telling that the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] Creator/TimBurton appearance of the character surprised so many people, as many fans thought the Penguin needed little such change.

-->'''Buffy:''' Harmony, when you tried to be head cheerleader, you were bad. When you tried to chair the Homecoming Committee, you were ''really'' bad. But when you try to ''be'' bad? [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech YOU SUCK]].

** Most vampires. They act tough, and do regularly murder people, but only handful last more than one appearance before being dusted, posing little threat to Buffy.

* Nevel of ''Series/ICarly''. Starts out trying to steal a kiss from Carly, then upgrades to...trying to destroy iCarly. [[SarcasmMode Great villain.]]

* Robbie Rotten from ''Series/LazyTown''. His primary goal is to get the rest of the town to be lazy like him. His schemes to do so are never successful, despite almost everyone there already being lazy to begin with, and the fact that his nemesis is an InvincibleHero doesn't help. As Wiki/TheOtherWiki points out, his overly-complex schemes tend to result in him [[{{Irony}} being more active than anyone else in town.]]

* Josh Koscheck was all set to be the villain of ''Series/TheUltimateFighter'''s Season 12, having graduated the first season as a JerkAss who'd defeated the sympathetic Chris Leben and remained perpetually at the top echelon of his division (despite stinging losses to Georges St-Pierre and Paulo Thiago), and even openly admitted that he was playing the villain to hype the eventual title fight with St-Pierre...only to appear as one of the show's worst-ever coaches, gullible enough to abandon his intended first draft pick [[WhatAnIdiot because he saw another fighter atop GSP's "draft list" in big bold letters]], an advocate of "mindless training", unable to impart his own winning ways onto his roster, encouraging his team to behave disrespectfully (culminating in the team banging on the wall separating the teams to taunt the losing Team GSP fighter), and whose attempted insults or pranks were almost always effortlessly brushed off, leaving Koscheck either looking like an inept high school jock stereotype or oddly fixated on GSP's tight short-shorts and body, and wanting to get his hands on GSP's sixth-picked fighter. So much for OlderAndWiser...

* Josh Koscheck was all set to be the villain of ''Series/TheUltimateFighter'''s Season 12, having graduated the first season as a JerkAss who'd defeated the sympathetic Chris Leben and remained perpetually at the top echelon of his division (despite stinging losses to Georges St-Pierre and Paulo Thiago), and even openly admitted that he was playing the villain to hype the eventual title fight with St-Pierre...only to appear as one of the show's worst-ever coaches, gullible enough to abandon his intended first draft pick [[WhatAnIdiot because he saw another fighter atop GSP's "draft list" in big bold letters]], an advocate of "mindless training", unable to impart his own winning ways onto his roster, encouraging his team to behave disrespectfully (culminating in the team banging on the wall separating the teams to taunt the losing Team GSP fighter), and whose attempted insults or pranks were almost always effortlessly brushed off, leaving Koscheck either looking like an inept high school jock stereotype or [[FoeYay oddly fixated on GSP's tight short-shorts and body, and wanting to get his hands on GSP's sixth-picked fighter]]. So much for OlderAndWiser...

%%** And the lookalikes he hires in an episode are [[MinionWithAnFInEvil even worse]].

** And the lookalikes he hires in an episode are [[MinionWithAnFInEvil even worse]].

** DependingOnTheWriter, they could turn out to be {{Not so Harmless Villain}}s and subvert this especially in those early episodes. Bear in mind most episodes ''do'' end with a cliffhanger in which the heroes are placed in a DeathTrap of an often quite violent nature; even if they always escape it in the next one, that doesn't mean the villains are harmless, only that Batman and Robin are just that awesome / lucky / [[BoringInvincibleHero invincible]]. The Riddler in particular is a giggling '''psychopath''' worse than even ComicBook/TheJoker (who is not as harmless as he is popularly remembered either, though) and is the one who most clearly enjoys his attempts to kill the duo horribly.

* All of the ''Series/{{Batman}}'' villains from the 60s television series qualify for this trope at times. Very much so.

* [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition]]!
** And from the same show, the team of villains who commit such dastardly crimes as acquiring valuable watches by paying the exact price for them.