History NeverLiveItDown / LiveActionTV

*** The scene where Scotty tries to steal an alien's control device by drinking him under the table is so memorable that he's widely remembered by the fanbase as a drunkard, though his fan reputation as party animal is a little at odds with a guy who reads technical manuals for fun. Ironically, Bones, who more than once is shown drinking ''on duty'', tends not to be remembered as a boozer nearly as often.

* ''Series/ICarly'': Viewers will never forgive Sam for nearly killing Freddie by beating him with a tennis racket and throwing him out of a treehouse in "I Meet Fred", all for simply stating he didn't find ''WebVideo/{{Fred}}'' funny. While she did become much nicer to Freddie later on in the series after the "Seddie" arc, her near deadly beating of him in this episode [[MoralEventHorizon put her beyond redemption]] in some viewers' eyes despite her later CharacterDevelopment.

* While ''The Shield'' star David Rees Snell (aka "Ronnie Gardocki") had a manly beard for the bulk of the series, it's not the beard that the actor is most remembered for when it comes to facial hair; it's his magnificent PornStache that David Rees Snell had for the first two seasons of the show.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{QI}}'', Creator/StephenFry asked a question about an ancestor of his, C. B. Fry, who was one of the best athletes of his time and was offered the throne of Albania in the aftermath of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. He mentioned that C. B. had the ability to jump backwards from standing onto a mantelpiece and that was all the panellists wanted to talk about from that point on, refusing to engage with the actual question or any of C. B.'s other impressive achievements, to the point the Stephen eventually just yelled "I wish I'd never mentioned the bloody mantelpiece".

** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has a ChristmasEpisode where one of the Riders, Kiriya Kujo, got killed. Granted, [[OlderThanTheyThink this was not a new thing, since there are other seasons with deaths in Christmas episode]], but what makes it really infamous among the fanbase is that unlike other Christmas episodes, the death hadn't been [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]].

** Daenerys actually did more things in season 2 than run around yelling "Where are my dragons?" It didn't even start until the season's second half. But that second half packed in so much of it, while everyone else was doing much more interesting things, that it really sticks in the mind. Creator/EmiliaClarke herself even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDPLsIpCCB8 poked fun at it]].

* In the Franchise/StargateVerse, the Goa'uld sarchophagus is a healing device that can reverse pretty much any injury seen thus far that does not violate the ChunkySalsaRule. Many characters have been brought back from apparent death by it (Poor Daniel has had several turns in it.) However, there was an episode called "Need" in which the guest star of the week asked Daniel, "Have you ever wondered what happens if you use one while healthy?" Turns out the answer to that is it's like a drug. If you use it repeatedly when healthy, you become addicted and start to go dark side. But try telling that to fans: ever since "Need," the sarcophagus has been treated as an insta-evil-ifying ArtifactOfDoom: imagine the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings One Ring]] and the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Venom Symbiote]], roll 'em together, then make 'em about forty times worse. Never mind that in ''real life'' we have something that promotes healing, but can become quite horrible with overuse, or use when not actually suffering from the condition it's made for; we call it… [[spoiler:''every medication in the history of ever''.]] The writers fall into the trap once (the Tok'ra don't use sarcophagi for fear of becoming like the Goa'uld. Again, ridiculous when "Need," the episode that introduces the drug effect, also makes it abundantly clear that it's only through misuse that this happens!) but later episodes have again had the sarcophagus used on those who really ''did'' need its healing properties, most memorably to allow Baal to horribly torture O'Neill to death over and over and over and restore him for more; Daniel ''feared'' that the sarcophagus might begin to mess with O'Neill's head but it never happened.

* ''Series/ICarly'': Viewers will never forgive Sam for nearly killing Freddie by beating him with a tennis racket and throwing him out of a treehouse in "I Meet Fred", all for simply stating he didn't find WebVideo/{{Fred}} funny. While she did become much nicer to Freddie later on in the series after the "Seddie" arc, her near deadly beating of him in this episode [[MoralEventHorizon put her beyond redemption]] in some viewers' eyes despite her later CharacterDevelopment.

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'':

!!Shows with their own pages:
[[index]]

[[/index]]
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[NeverLiveItDown/DoctorWho Has its own page]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** No one will ever forgive the First Doctor for being a {{Jerkass}} in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild the first episode]], and then for the bit in the third episode when [[WhatTheHellHero Ian caught him apparently about to bash a man's brains in with a rock]]. The fact that he soon gets some CharacterDevelopment, TookALevelInKindness, and quickly develops into TheTrickster who's funny and giggly with a pronounced belief in justice and a [[{{Determinator}} backbone of solid Dalekanium]] is ignored by many people, with the First Doctor popularly known as 'the GrumpyOldMan who once tried to kill someone with a rock'.
** A recurring joke about the Daleks is their inability to go up stairs. Two Classic serials ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase The Chase]]" in 1964 and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" in 1979) have characters pointing this weakness out -- in the latter case, it's key to the Doctor's plan to escape! This weakness was addressed in the 1988 serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]", but the jokes persisted at least up until 2005 when "Dalek" -- which also addressed this point -- was shown. It's perhaps worth pointing out that, by the time the first story aired, the audience of ''Doctor Who'' was roughly three guys and a dog, so it's possible that not enough people actually saw it for the change to sink in.
*** It was addressed before then -- one earlier episode showed them to have ''somehow'' gotten up a staircase without it actually being shown on screen.
*** And in some quarters it's ''still'' what the Daleks are most famous for, despite the fact that the Daleks, in at least the Creator/RussellTDavies era, spend half their time flying around like nobody's business. (A large portion of the Daleks' appearances in the Creator/StevenMoffat era have been inside the Dalek Asylum and on board a Dalek spaceship, though hovering Daleks still make appearances.)
** Similarly, any discussion of "Classic" (1963-89) ''Doctor Who'' will feature a lot of people talking about "shaky sets and monsters made of bubblewrap". One particularly dedicated fan has watched every episode of Classic Who available on DVD (which includes most of the Creator/JonPertwee[=/=]Creator/TomBaker era that most people are recalling) and counted exactly '''one''' incident of each of those.
** The Doctor, especially the Third, is often referenced by his supposed catchphrase: "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!" Which the Third Doctor said exactly two times, ''eleven years apart'', as well as once more in a play. The Fourth and a clone of the Eleventh ([[ItMakesSenseInContext going through other phrases of his incarnations]]) used it once and the Fifth and the Tenth twice.
*** He did say "reverse the polarity" a few times during his initial run, though. Just not the full phrase.
** A lot of traits associated with the Doctor's character in general are actually just traits of the more popular incarnations, usually the Fourth or Tenth -- a sort of vague conglomerate ShallowParody Doctor who wears Victorian clothing and a long scarf, eats jelly babies, is always comically dramatic about everything, suffers great and dramatic internal conflict over [[DirtyBusiness all the genocide he has to do]], kisses teenagers and cries about it, and won't touch a gun. Gareth Roberts (a writer on the New series) pointed out in an interview that there's an idea that the Doctor talks in AntiquatedLinguistics, something only vaguely touched upon by the Fourth and Sixth, and even then only in moments.
** The Fourth Doctor actually wasn't as big on the [[TrademarkFavouriteFood jelly babies]] as people remember -- at least until the Creator/GrahamWilliams era [[LighterAndSofter kicked off]]. He offers some to Sarah and Harry at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]" and tosses the bag to Vira at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]", and a second bag appears amongst various CowTools when turning out his pockets in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]" (in a scene that's really easy to miss). That's it for the whole of Season 12. They don't appear at all in Season 13. In fact, the Doctor uses his ''yo-yo'' gimmick more frequently than the jelly babies in the Hinchcliffe era (making nine appearances versus the jelly babies' six appearances). Somehow, simply because it was featured early on, the jelly baby association stuck enough that featuring more jelly baby scenes in Season 14 ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath The Robots of Death]]" both use jelly babies cleverly) was catering to fan demand (see the letter to Creator/RobertHolmes featured on the DVD of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" in which a fan asks what happened to the Doctor's jelly babies). It's not until Season 15 that the "Hello, I'm the Doctor, would you like a jelly baby?" routine begins to show up, and even then it's still absent more often than it's used.
** The many fans who consider Adric TheScrappy will never, ever, stop talking about the moment in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E2FourToDoomsday Four To Doomsday]]" where the villain Monarch convinces him to support technocratic dictatorship in about three minutes of conversation. This has been blown up into {{Flanderisation}} of him "always siding with the villain", even though the only other times it might be claimed to have happened were [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay two]] obvious [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E3Kinda attempts]] to become [[TheMole a mole]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva one]] when it was very clearly against his will.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E7TheTwinDilemma The Sixth Doctor trying to choke his companion Peri to death after a dodgy regeneration. It's still what many fans remember him for]].
** The fact that the Eighth Doctor was the first Doctor to openly snog his companion is enough that he is strongly associated with snogging in the fandom memory and serves as a target for all the [[{{Squee}} joy]] and horror that implies, even though his successors the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors did more snogging than he did. Each. This reputation was arguably deserved at the time the movie came out, but even after the Ninth Doctor confirmed himself to enjoy sex and snogged a bloke, the Tenth Doctor won awards for an episode about him seducing and shagging a courtesan, the Eleventh Doctor had a whole [[AnArc Arc]] about his marriage and consummation of it with a female character, and the Twelfth Doctor set up a hotel-restaurant via TrickedOutTime solely so that he could spend twenty-four years banging his wife there, the Eighth Doctor is still stereotyped as the sex-maniac.
*** The Doctor from the ninth onward in general. With the original series' NoHuggingNoKissing rule being relaxed in the new series, any sign of him not being completely asexual is treated as him having become a sex maniac to rival [[ExtremeOmnisexual Jack Harkness]]. In fact, he gets kissed, to his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yoi4wM0Jiw hilarious]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsUSx8rfsc bewilderment,]] as a RunningGag and so does a lot of snogging ''whether he wants to or not,'' and has had flirtatious teasing with several characters, and that is quite a change from the classic series, but that's light-years away from "every companion is also a love interest, and he's banging every RecurringCharacter on the side." In fact, a theme that's ''also'' played up more in the revived series is how ancient and alien and alone the "lonely god" is, making the normal idea of a romance with him impossible (as several characters who have loved him have learned. River Song would give ''anything'' for their arc to be about "consummating" anything. Though yes, technically she ''is'' his wife. As always with the Doctor, it's complicated.) ShippingGoggles combine in a very nasty way with the fandom's defensiveness of his asexuality: In most shows, to fans, the two leads being close means they're shagging. In Doctor Who, the two leads being close means they're shagging -- and therefore the Doctor and the series are ruined.
*** From the other direction when it comes to the Doctor's asexuality: The idea that he's ''completely'' asexual and aromantic mostly derives from the Fourth Doctor's line to Countess Scarlioni in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]", "You're a beautiful woman, probably." Since the First Doctor's first companion had been his own ''granddaughter,'' chances are that line wasn't intended to say romance is 100% foreign to him -- and Tom Baker's delivery of the line leaves open the interpretation that he's conveying to her that he's aware that she's trying to use her attractiveness to distract him. (Supporting this is that the line takes place while the two are drinking together, and follows some {{UST}}-laden interactions between them such as the Countess and Count discussing how the 'tall man' must have found her attractive, and the Doctor collapsing into her lap.)
** The Eighth Doctor in ExpandedUniverse works is always losing his memory because it's a memorable (heh) thing that happened in the movie that is his only TV appearance. Thing is, the Doctor is ''always'' [[ResurrectionSickness out of sorts for a while after regenerating]], and what we got in the movie is typical for that period. There's no reason to assume Eight would be particularly susceptible to memory loss, it's just that it was a big part of his only onscreen appearance.
** The Ninth Doctor called humans '[[FantasticRacism stupid apes]]' once, but it's become something very strongly associated with his character -- not just in fanfiction, where he drops 'ape' at least once a fic, but Creator/ChristopherEccleston even did it himself while briefly reprising his role [[CreatorBacklash (!)]] in a guest video for the BFI's ''Doctor Who'' 50th Anniversary party:
--->...I, the Ninth Doctor, vow to save the universe and all you apes in it.
** Rose Tyler eats lots of chips. She doesn't: they're mentioned in her first two episodes, then she eats some in her first finale and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]". But fans are convinced.
** A good part of the fandom remembers Martha Jones only for her unrequited crush on the Doctor, despite having more personality than that and actually getting over it at the end of her season.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode The Shakespeare Code]]", when the Doctor and Martha are confused about what is going on, the former makes the [[InformedAbility odd statement]] that Rose would know what to do or at least say something to inspire a realisation, to Martha's understandable annoyance. The Tenth Doctor never brings up Rose again to Martha yet he's often remembered as spending the entire third season mourning her and gushing about how much better than Martha she was.
** When Donna Noble first appeared in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]", she slapped the Doctor twice (once because she thought she'd been drugged and kidnapped, another time because he was being rather deriding of that). Since then, she's never slapped him again and went through a lot of CharacterDevelopment to become the Doctor's moral compass. Her main characteristic in fanfiction is slapping ''everyone''. Well, that and her [[spoiler:memory loss. That particular plot point created the 'Donna Fix-It' fic.]]
** The Tenth Doctor's last words; "I don't want to go." A {{Tear Jerker}} for some but {{Narm}} for others.
*** It didn't help that this was preceded by Ten being completely horrified of his impending death, acting like he would really die and the next Doctor would be someone entirely different, something ''none'' of the previous Doctors did.
*** Or that he ended his appearance in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the 50th Anniversary special]] by saying it ''again'', for no real in-universe reason.[[note]]The out-of-universe reason likely being to head off fan arguments about what should count as his "real" final words.[[/note]] And then Eleven actually tells Clara "He always says that."
** The Eleventh Doctor only had one main episode where he wore a fez hat, but since then, almost every drawing of him includes him wearing it. (There were a couple of later ContinuityNod moments where he wore a fez for about two seconds each.) This even led to a BrickJoke when a fez he talked about ordering finally arrives two regenerations and billions of years later.
** Amy Pond sexually assaulted the Doctor at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]". Even though she never does it again and remains faithful to her fiancé then husband Rory for the rest of her run, some fans still resent her for this. Steven Moffat quickly came to regret writing the scene and especially playing it for laughs.
** Rory has been referred to ''in-show'' as "the man who dies and dies again." He's only done it for real once. He's just...very good at creating the ''illusion'' of death. By accident. Lots. It's also strange that Rory alone is remembered for this -- Creator/StevenMoffat has a habit of having ''everyone'' die a lot.

*** The scene where Scotty tries to steal an alien's control device by drinking him under the table is so memorable that he's widely remembered by the fanbase as a drunkard, though his fan reputation as party animal is a little at odds with a guy who reads technical manuals for fun.

** Jaime raping Cersei in "Breaker of Chains." The viewers will never let him live that down, no matter what he did afterward or what character development he got. Made even worse by the episode's director insisting it was supposed to be a consensual sex scene even though he was aggressive and she resisted at first and refused to acknowledge that it could possibly be seen as anything but that. The show still carried on with him having his usual PetTheDog moments and acting his usual self with nobody in the show making a big deal out of it, but [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil the fandom will never forget it]], no matter what good things he may have done afterward. The writers tried really hard to make him likable again after that, but nothing could redeem him in some viewers' eyes.

* ''Series/TheHoneymooners'': In a meta-example, Creator/JackieGleason had this trope in mind when he first learned about ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', which was essentially "''The Honeymooners'' with cave people." Gleason initially considered suing but realized that if he did, he'd be remembered forever as "the guy who pulled Fred Flintstone off the air." He wisely decided to leave the situation alone to preserve his reputation.

*** James T. Kirk is well known as a [[BoldlyComing space-traveling playboy]] who has more notches than bedpost (including an infamous scene in "Wink of an Eye" which has him putting on his boots as the alien leader lady combs her hair). Apart from some brief flirtation with various space babes, this reputation largely hinges on three instances where he is confirmed or implied to have had sex with the babe of the week.

*** "Wesley Crusher" saves the ship on only about six occasions over the course of his four seasons with the show, but this became the biggest focal point for the anti-Wesley backlash due to fans balking at the idea of a precocious kid genius outsmarting seasoned Federation officers in the first place.

*** Dr Pulaski was the only character in the show who actually received a flaw for her to [[CharacterDevelopment work through]], namely being prejudiced against Data for being an android. She learns the error of her ways about halfway through the season and thereafter treats Data as a respected comrade and friend, but viewers were simply never able to forgive her and tend to remember her as that mean, racist doctor.

*** Talk about Kira Nerys and there's a fairly good chance that the subject will turn to that one time she beat up a serial killer while [[PregnantBadass heavily pregnant']].

*** Talk about Kira Nerys and there's a fairly good chance that the subject will turn to that one time she beat up a serial killer while [[PregnantBadass heavily pregnant']]. nine months pregnant]]''.

* In the Franchise/StargateVerse, the Goa'uld sarchophagus is a healing device that can reverse pretty much any injury seen thus far that does not violate the ChunkySalsaRule. Many characters have been brought back from apparent death by it (Poor Daniel has had several turns in it.) However, there was an episode called "Need" in which the guest star of the week asked Daniel, "Have you ever wondered what happens if you use one while healthy?" Turns out the answer to that is it's like a drug. ''If you use it '''repeatedly''' when '''healthy,''''' you become addicted and start to go dark side. But try telling that to fans: ever since "Need," the sarcophagus has been treated as an insta-evil-ifying ArtifactOfDoom: imagine the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings One Ring]] and the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Venom Symbiote]], roll 'em together, then make 'em about forty times worse. Never mind that in ''real life'' we have something that promotes healing, but can become quite horrible with overuse, or use when not actually suffering from the condition it's made for; we call it… [[spoiler:''every medication in the history of ever''.]] The writers fall into the trap once (the Tok'ra don't use sarcophagi for fear of becoming like the Goa'uld. Again, ridiculous when "Need," the episode that introduces the drug effect, also makes it abundantly clear that it's only through misuse that this happens!) but later episodes have again had the sarcophagus used on those who really ''did'' need its healing properties, most memorably to allow Baal to horribly torture O'Neill to death over and over and over and restore him for more; Daniel ''feared'' that the sarcophagus might begin to mess with O'Neill's head but it never happened.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''' James T. Kirk is well known as a [[BoldlyComing space-traveling playboy]] who has more notches than bedpost (including an infamous scene in "Wink of an Eye" which has him putting on his boots as the alien leader lady combs her hair). Despite [[GaussianGirl liberal use of soft lens and hey-look-a-pretty-girl music]], Kirk usually got involved with these women because of mind control or it was (conveniently) part of his attempt to save the ship. Even then, there were only three instances where it actually led to confirmed or implied sex; the rest was just kissing and flirting. Even when looking at Kirk's backstory, there is not much support for this reading of his character either; he has been in confirmed relationships with five women prior to the series proper, but all of these are described as serious, long-term, and highly emotional affairs rather than mere random trysts, and they all (with the notable exception of Janice Lester who went insane) ended their relationship with Kirk on {{amicable|Exes}} terms.
*** To add more to this: Despite Kirk having a borderline memetic status in pop culture as a notorious charmer of {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s (aka Orion women) such a thing never actually happens in the series. The closest thing to this happens in the "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E14WhomGodsDestroy Whom Gods Destroy]]" episode, where said Orion woman is the one ''who tries to seduce Kirk'', but fails when he proves able to IgnoreTheFanservice, and she is then [[YouHaveFailedMe killed by her boss for this failure]]. In general it's far more common for Kirk to be the one (initially, he doesn't often say no) pursued by the woman and not the other way around, in-universe, ''Chekov'' takes the initiative with women more frequently than Kirk does.
** The fact that Kirk is a [[SmarterThanYouLook bonafide nerd]] who came fourth from, top of his class in the academy and hacked an unwinnable computer scenario because he was too stubborn to accept failure, are aspects of his character that are often missed.
*** The portrayal of Kirk as a universal cad is probably in part related to the fact he is usually presented against [[TheStoic Spock: who is consistently unflappable and unemotional]], making Kirk's reactions seem more extreme by comparison. Contrast this with the same Captain-Number One relationship in TNG wherein the serious-seeming Picard looks far more stuffy alongside the more outgoing, flirtatious Riker.
** Kirk is also notorious in and out of universe for violating the Prime Directive. However, in many such cases, Kirk is responding to situations where it has ''already been broken'' -- either by other Starfleet officers, civilian spacers, or worse hostile forces such as the Klingons -- and is merely trying to repair or minimize the damage without making it worse. Additionally, at other times Kirk would gladly comply with the Directive and be on his way... only to be ''ordered'' to violate planetary sovereignty by his superiors (see "A Taste of Armageddon").
** Scotty isn't actually shown as drunk or drinking to excess very often, but the scene where he tries to steal an alien's control device by drinking him under the table is so memorable that fanfiction turns him into the ship's go-to guy for booze. (In actuality, you're more likely to find it in Dr. [=McCoy's=] office.) His image as a boozy Scottish party animal is a little at odds with a guy who reads technical manuals for fun.
** Say the name "Wesley Crusher" in a room full of nerds and someone is guaranteed to bring up the myth that at least every other episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' he's the one who "saved the ship" or came up with the needed solution despite being only 16 and being in a crew specifically made up of the best of Starfleet that includes an Android with total recall. He probably did "save the day" too often, but still, the number of times he actually did so, in less than four seasons, totals ''six'', which is hardly "every other episode." Not to mention that his almost unnatural brilliance was part of the character. If ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' had attempted something similar with Jake, who was meant to be of average intelligence, it would have been far less appropriate.
** That one time that Beverly Crusher had sex with a space ghost who [[{{Squick}} also had sex with her grandmother]] and numerous other of her female ancestors will forever live in infamy.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s Captain Sisko can never live down the events in "For the Uniform." After Maquis defector Michael Eddington spends half the episode comparing himself to [[Literature/LesMiserables Jean Valjean]], Sisko (who takes Eddington's betrayal [[ItsPersonal very, very personally]]) decides he's going to damn well be Javert and fires a bioweapon into the atmosphere of a Maquis planet that renders it uninhabitable to humans, forcing Eddington to surrender. Viewers will frequently call this decision "genocidal," even though Sisko allowed an evacuation and really just made them swap back with the Cardassians because ''poisoning planets was Eddington's idea in the first place''.
** An in-wiki example - throw a metaphorical dart at the examples featuring ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'''s Kira Nerys, and there's a fairly good chance the example you hit will mention the fact that she once ''beat the shit out of a serial killer'' while the equivalent of ''[[PregnantBadass nine months pregnant]]''.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Fans never let Counselor Troi live down [[CaptainCrash crashing]] the ''Enterprise'' in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', usually prompting a WomenDrivers joke.[[note]]Which itself is an example of this trope since in the actual show there have been numerous female helmswomen, none of whom crashed the ship in the process.[[/note]] In her defense, in ''Generations'', the main hull had just blown up and the saucer section was effectively out of control for even the most experienced pilot, and in ''Nemesis'', she was ordered directly by Picard to do so [[RammingAlwaysWorks to try and stop the Scimitar]]. There's also the fact that, when looked at in context, the fact she was able to carry out an emergency crash landing of a galaxy class starship that was completely out of control and do so with ZERO FATALITIES, is REALLY impressive.
** Another Deep Space Nine example is O'Brien, who is most known for [[ButtMonkey having bad luck]], to the point where saying he "must suffer" is a meme.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' :
** Many fans tend to ignore Michael's more positive (or at least less negative) traits after his MoralEventHorizon moment in season 2 (i.e. [[spoiler: murdering Ana Lucia and Libby]]). While the act was certainly indefensible (which makes this a partial case of JustifiedTrope), fans gloss over the fact that having your son kidnapped by strangers on a weird island doesn't exactly make a loving parent rational, nor did the fans acknowledge what he did AFTERWARD, which contradicts the assumption that he's an amoral, heartless bastard. This includes neverending guilt for doing the aforementioned act, which sparked numerous suicide attempts, and a last-ditch effort to help the friends he betrayed on the island. Hell, even Hurley later forgave Michael for what he did, despite him [[spoiler: killing Hurley's girlfriend Libby]]. Good luck finding fans who feel the same way Hurley did. Or maybe after screaming "WAAAAALT" too much, people started considering him only as The Guy Who Screams "Walt", even after he built two rafts, or after Walt and him stopped sharing any screentime.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': MSTings have a RunningGag dubbed "Crow Syndrome", where Crow (or another character) almost constantly makes sexually suggestive riffs and gets a FirstNameUltimatum from the TeamDad. This seems to be based entirely on the episode ''[[Series/GeminiMan Riding with Death]]'', where '''everyone''' uses the film's trucking scenes as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything sex metaphors]]; Crow is just the one who takes it a hair too far and gets chewed out by Mike. Of course, usually he displays PingPongNaivete; compare to the episode where he puts together a presentation about how women don't exist, despite interacting with Pearl Forrester for years. In regards to [=MSTings=], Crow Syndrome has become a DiscreditedMeme and is now viewed as something to be avoided.

* In the Franchise/StargateVerse, the Goa'uld sarchophagus is a healing device that can reverse pretty much any injury seen thus far that does not violate the ChunkySalsaRule. Many characters have been brought back from apparent death by it (Poor Daniel has had several turns in it.) However, there was an episode called "Need" in which the guest star of the week asked Daniel, "Have you ever wondered what happens if you use one while healthy?" Turns out the answer to that is it's like a drug. ''If you use it '''repeatedly''' when '''healthy,''''' you become addicted and start to go dark side. But try telling that to fans: ever since "Need," the sarcophagus has been treated as an insta-evil-ifying ArtifactOfDoom: imagine the [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings One Ring]] and the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Venom Symbiote]], roll 'em together, then make 'em about forty times worse. Never mind that in ''real life'' we have something that promotes healing, but can become quite horrible with overuse, or use when not actually suffering from the condition it's made for; we call it… [[spoiler: ''every medication in the history of ever''.]] The writers fall into the trap once (the Tok'ra don't use sarcophagi for fear of becoming like the Goa'uld. Again, ridiculous when "Need," the episode that introduces the drug effect, also makes it abundantly clear that it's only through misuse that this happens!) but later episodes have again had the sarcophagus used on those who really ''did'' need its healing properties, most memorably to allow Baal to horribly torture O'Neill to death over and over and over and restore him for more; Daniel ''feared'' that the sarcophagus might begin to mess with O'Neill's head but it never happened.

** Jack? Yeah, he's that guy who dies once an episode, right? Now, not to say he ''doesn't'' die often, but saying he does so ''that'' frequently on the show is definitely stretching the truth. The ''Children of Earth'' miniseries is a special exception, but realise that most of Jack's team didn't even know he was immortal until the final episode of series 1. Prior to [[spoiler: his constant state of suffocation and rebirth]] in "Exit Wounds" (which is another special example where [[spoiler:he feasibly died millions of times while buried alive]]), he died nine times in seven episodes, plus twice in a flashback of one of those episodes; barely a quarter of the episodes that had aired up to that point. [[spoiler:Following ''Children of Earth'', there were only two episodes in ''[[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Miracle Day]]'' where he was shown to die, due to his new state of being mortal for much of that series, and one of those was only in a flashback]].

* People are never going to let ''Series/TheDatingGame'' live down the fact that they let Rodney Alcala, a registered sex offender who later turned out to be a serial killer, not only get on the show but win the episode he was in.[[note]]While they obviously didn't know that, he had enough of a criminal record that a background check should have disqualified him. He only won the televised game; the woman who picked him backed out almost immediately due to his creepy behavior and is thankfully alive and safe. You may think a serial killer wouldn't [[TooStupidToLive murder someone he appeared alongside on national television]], but one look at his CourtroomAntics after he was caught shows that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was irrational even for a serial killer]].

** Guinevere's reputation as a useless DistressedDamsel. She had a total of two episodes in five years dedicated to rescuing her, and both times she was extremely outmatched. Other times, she [[ActionGirl spends most of her time rescuing other people.]]

* Felicity was one of the most popular characters in the first two seasons of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', which ironically proved to be her undoing in Season 3. After their killing off Sara Lance in the season premiere went over horribly with the fans, the writers essentially made Felicity their mouthpiece to defend the storytelling choice, having her make completely out of character statements that Sara's sister Laurel deserved to be Black Canary far more than her, apparently banking on her popularity to get the fans on board with it. It backfired big time as many fans turned on Felicity as well, and even the ones who still liked her hated those scenes and simply argued that the writers should be blamed rather than the character. Ultimately the backlash became so huge that they brought Sara BackFromTheDead for the spinoff ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''.

** ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'': [[spoiler:The double wedding, in which Barry and Iris, whose first attempt at a wedding had already been ruined by the invasion from Earth-X, are finally about to exchange their vows, and Felicity pipes up, deciding that she and Oliver should take advantage of the situation and get married at the exact same time]]. Granted, for many it was just the straw the broke the camel's back after having to endure three and a half seasons of Felicity being a CreatorsPet / EscapistCharacter, being never called out on her selfishness (though on the following episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Barry and Iris [[TakeThatScrappy throw some subtle shade on her and Oliver, by returning their wedding present]]), and talked up as if she were the most perfect person in all of the Arrowverse. Either way, that moment forever cemented Felicity Smoak as one of the most hated characters on television ''not'' to be a villain or an antagonist of some fashion, and the most hated character in the Arrowverse overall.
* In ''Series/AuctionKings'', Jon bringing in the banged up piano. Cindy hurting herself on the gasoline-powered pogo-stick or electrocuting herself on the 1920s vibrator. Paul forgetting to pay for a piece of art and ending up on the Wall of Shame. The fake signed first-edition first-printing of ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind''. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when another signed first-edition first-printing of ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' shows up and the same expert appraises it.
* Burt Newton's infamous line about Muhummad Ali at the Australian Logies: ''I like the boy''. Meant without any malice at all, but he will be forever known (outside of Australia) as 'That racist guy who nearly got beat up by Muhummad Ali'.

* In ''Series/TheBradyBunch'', Jan only said, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" ONCE in the whole series. The line underwent MemeticMutation thanks to a series of early-'90s "Weekend Update" sketches on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', in which Melanie Hutsell's unhinged Jan appeared as an editorial commentator. Its iconic status was further sealed by ''[[TheFilmOfTheSeries The Brady Bunch Movie]]''.
* Most casual fans of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' know the titular heroine as a high school cheerleader who kills vampires. The last time Buffy shows any interest in cheerleading ''at all'' is in the third episode of the very first season. After that she practically never mentions it again. The identification of Buffy as a cheerleader seems to have been a holdover from the [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer original movie]] which featured it much more prominently. The first season's opening also features Buffy as a cheerleader.

* People are never going to let ''Series/TheDatingGame'' live down the fact that they let Rodney Alcala, a registered sex offender who later turned out to be a serial killer, not only get on the show, but win the episode he was in.[[note]]While they obviously didn't know that, he had enough of a criminal record that a background check should have disqualified him. He only won the televised game; the woman who picked him backed out almost immediately due to his creepy behavior and is thankfully alive and safe. You may think a serial killer wouldn't [[TooStupidToLive murder someone he appeared alongside on national television]], but one look at his CourtroomAntics after he was caught shows that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was irrational even for a serial killer]].

** No-one will ever forgive the First Doctor for being a {{Jerkass}} in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild the first episode]], and then for the bit in the third episode when [[WhatTheHellHero Ian caught him apparently about to bash a man's brains in with a rock]]. The fact that he soon gets some CharacterDevelopment, TookALevelInKindness and quickly develops into TheTrickster who's funny and giggly with a pronounced belief in justice and a [[{{Determinator}} backbone of solid Dalekanium]] is ignored by many people, with the First Doctor popularly known as 'the GrumpyOldMan who once tried to kill someone with a rock'.
** A recurring joke about the Daleks is their inability to go up stairs. Two Classic serials ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase The Chase]]" in 1964 and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" in 1979) have characters pointing this weakness out -- in the latter case, it's key to the Doctor's plan to escape! This weakness was addressed in the 1988 serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]", but the jokes persisted at least up until 2005, when "Dalek" -- which also addressed this point -- was shown. It's perhaps worth pointing out that, by the time the first story aired, the audience of ''Doctor Who'' was roughly three guys and a dog, so it's possible that not enough people actually saw it for the change to sink in.
*** It was addressed before then -- one earlier episode showed them to have ''somehow'' got up a staircase without it actually being shown on screen.

** Similarly, any discussion of "Classic" (1963-89) ''Doctor Who'' will feature a lot of people talking about "shaky sets and monsters made of bubblewrap". One particularly dedicated fan has watched every episode of Classic Who available on DVD (which includes most of the Creator/JonPertwee[=/=]Creator/TomBaker era that most people are recalling), and counted exactly '''one''' incident of each of those.

** The Eighth Doctor in ExpandedUniverse works is always losing his memory, because it's a memorable (heh) thing that happened in the movie that is his only TV appearance. Thing is, the Doctor is ''always'' [[ResurrectionSickness out of sorts for a while after regenerating]], and what we got in the movie is typical for that period. There's no reason to assume Eight would be particularly susceptible to memory loss, it's just that it was a big part of his only onscreen appearance.

** When Donna Noble first appeared in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]", she slapped the Doctor twice (once because she thought she'd been drugged and kidnapped, another time because he was being rather deriding of that). Since then, she's never slapped him again, and went through a lot of CharacterDevelopment to become the Doctor's moral compass. Her main characteristic in fanfiction is slapping ''everyone''. Well, that and her [[spoiler: memory loss. That particular plot point created the 'Donna Fix-It' fic.]]

*** Or that he ended his appearance in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the 50th Anniversary special]] by saying it ''again'', for no real in-universe reason.[[note]]The out of universe reason likely being to head off fan arguments about what should count as his "real" final words.[[/note]] And then Eleven actually tells Clara "He always says that."
** The Eleventh Doctor only had one main episode where he wore a fez hat, but since then, almost every drawing of him includes him wearing it. (There were a couple later ContinuityNod moments where he wore a fez for about two seconds each.) This even led to a BrickJoke when a fez he talked about ordering finally arrives two regenerations and billions of years later.
** Amy Pond sexually assaulted the Doctor at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]". Even though she never does it again and remains faithful to her fiancé then husband Rory for the rest of her run, some fans still resent her for this. Steven Moffat quickly came to regret writing the scene, and especially playing it for laughs.
** Rory has been referred to ''in-show'' as "the man who dies and dies again." He's only done it for real once. He's just... very good at creating the ''illusion'' of death. By accident. Lots. It's also strange that Rory alone is remembered for this -- Creator/StevenMoffat has a habit of having ''everyone'' die a lot.

** The infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sggmx8vysoc "bad pussy"]] line uttered by Tyene Sand to Bronn is forever associated to the poorly-received Dorne arc in Season 5. This line became a FanNickname for Tyene.
** Sansa is still remembered for her [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter crush]] on [[TheSociopath Joffrey]] in Season 1, particularly for lying about him attacking a butcher's boy, and blaming her little sister Arya for defending the boy and publicly calling Joffrey out for his actions. Since then, Sansa's probably had the most CharacterDevelopment in the whole cast, but from the amount this story pops up you'd think she was throwing servant boys under the bus every other episode.
** Jaime raping Cersei in "Breaker of Chains." The viewers will never let him live that down, no matter what he did afterward or what character development he got. Made even worse by the episode's director insisting it was supposed to be a consensual sex scene even though he was aggressive and she resisted at first, and refusing to acknowledge that it could possibly be seen as anything but that. The show still carried on with him having his usual PetTheDog moments and acting his usual self with nobody in the show making a big deal out of it, but the fandom will never forget it, no matter what good things he may have done afterward. The writers tried really hard to make him likable again after that, but nothing could redeem him in some viewers' eyes.
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'': Gilligan is so infamous for "always" accidentally ruining the Castaways' plans to get off the island that JustEatGilligan became a meme and then a trope. But a dedicated fan decided to watch every episode and make note of the number of episodes the castaways tried to get off the island and the number of those episodes where their plans were ruined by Gilligan. It turns out Gilligan bungles their plans in exactly 17 episodes. Which is still a lot, but it's less than half of the number of episodes the Castaways tried to escape, 37. More importantly, there were 98 episodes in total. So Gilligan botched the Castaways rescue/escape attempts less than half the time they tried and in only a little more than a sixth of all episodes.

** Fandom will probably never forgive Finn for inadvertently causing Santana to be outed not only to the entire school, but the entire ''town''. It just goes to show how selective fandom's memory can be, since Finn only snapped back after being bullied by Santana all day and had no idea that he was being filmed by someone who was out to get [[ItMakesSenseInContext Sue Sylvester.]]

* ''Series/TheHoneymooners'': In a meta-example, Creator/JackieGleason had this trope in mind when he first learned about ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', which was essentially "''The Honeymooners'' with cave people." Gleason initially considered suing, but realized that if he did, he'd be remembered forever as "the guy who pulled Fred Flintstone off the air." He wisely decided to leave the situation alone to preserve his reputation.

** Many fans tend to ignore Michael's more positive (or at least less negative) traits after his MoralEventHorizon moment in season 2 (i.e. [[spoiler: murdering Ana Lucia and Libby]]). While the act was certainly indefensible (which makes this a partial case of JustifiedTrope), fans gloss over the fact that having your son kidnapped by strangers on a weird island doesn't exactly make a loving parent rational, nor did the fans acknowledge what he did AFTERWARD, which contradicts the assumption that he's an amoral, heartless bastard. This includes neverending guilt for doing the aforementioned act, which sparked numerous suicide attempts, and a last ditch effort to help the friends he betrayed on the island. Hell, even Hurley later forgave Michael for what he did, despite him [[spoiler: killing Hurley's girlfriend Libby]]. Good luck finding fans who feel the same way Hurley did. Or maybe after screaming "WAAAAALT" too much, people started considering him only as The Guy Who Screams "Walt", even after he built two rafts, or after Walt and him stopped sharing any screentime.

* Poor Northern Calloway. He served 18 seasons on ''Series/SesameStreet'' as one of the human cast members and appeared in a few specials like "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" & "Don't Eat the Pictures." And yet, all people remember about him is that he had a mental breakdown [[note]]during which he did some questionable things, but keep in mind he had very well known and legitimate mental troubles.[[/note]] which forced him off the show, and died. It probably doesn't help that, unlike much of the rest of the human cast, his character David was basically TheGenericGuy and had nothing that really helped him stand out from the others.

** Despite being a minor character, Tommy's [[RealLifeRelative brother]], David, is most remembered for being disappointed that he lost a sparring match with Tommy.
** Likewise, ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' will never live down that one episode where the Rangers got baked into a giant pizza. It even got a good-natured jab in the 10th anniversary episode.

* One of the biggest pricing game flops on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' was a mid-90s game called "Split Decision". It has a reputation for being the game where ''nothing'' worked right and the board was constantly falling apart. In truth, there was ''one'' playing where two of the numbers fell off their markers (a rule change taking place on the game's next occurrence likely because its clock broke didn't help matters). The game's short life was due to the fact that contestants simply had trouble understanding the rules.

* While ''The Shield'' star David Rees Snell (aka "Ronnie Gardocki") had a manly beard for the bulk of the series, it's not the beard that the actor is most remembered for facial hairwise; it's his magnificent PornStache that David Rees Snell had for the first two seasons of the show.

* ''Series/TheSopranos'' is remembered as a great show, but the main thing that it's known for fading to black mid-scene at the end of the SeriesFinale.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Rodney [=McKay=] blew up a solar system (''though he'd like to remind you that it was actually just five sixths of it'').

*** To add more to this: Despite Kirk having a borderline memetic status in pop culture as a notorious charmer of {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s (aka Orion women) such a thing never actually happens in the series. The closest thing to this happens in the "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E14WhomGodsDestroy Whom Gods Destroy]]" episode, where said Orion woman is the one ''who tries to seduce Kirk'', but fails when he proves able to IgnoreTheFanservice, and she is then [[YouHaveFailedMe killed by her boss for this failure]]. In general it's far more common for Kirk to be the one (initially, he doesn't often say no) pursued by the woman and not the other way around, in universe ''Chekov'' takes the initiative with women more frequently than Kirk does.

** Kirk is also notorious in and out of universe for violating the Prime Directive. However in many such cases, Kirk is responding to situations where it has ''already been broken'' -- either by other Starfleet officers, civilian spacers, or worse hostile forces such as the Klingons -- and is merely trying to repair or minimize the damage without making it worse. Additionally, at other times Kirk would gladly comply with the Directive and be on his way... only to be ''ordered'' to violate planetary sovereignty by his superiors (see "A Taste of Armageddon").

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s Captain Sisko can never live down the events in "For the Uniform." After Maquis defector Michael Eddington spends half the episode comparing himself to [[Literature/LesMiserables Jean Valjean]], Sisko (who takes Eddington's betrayal [[ItsPersonal very, very personally]]) decides he's going to damn well be Javert and fires a bioweapon into the atmosphere of a Maquis planet that renders it uninhabitable to humans, forcing Eddington to surrender. Viewers will frequently call this decision "genocidal," even though Sisko allowed an evacuation and really just made them swap back with the Cardassians, because ''poisoning planets was Eddington's idea in the first place''.

*** Type "Hoshi Sato" into Google, and one of the first few search suggestions is "loses shirt". This happened exactly ''once'' in the series.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Fans never let Counselor Troi live down [[CaptainCrash crashing]] the ''Enterprise'' in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', usually prompting a WomenDrivers joke.[[note]]Which itself is an example of this trope, since in the actual show there have been numerous female helmswomen, none of whom crashed the ship in the process.[[/note]] In her defense, in ''Generations'', the main hull had just blown up and the saucer section was effectively out of control for even the most experienced pilot, and in ''Nemesis'', she was ordered directly by Picard to do so [[RammingAlwaysWorks to try and stop the Scimitar]]. There's also the fact that, when looked at in context, the fact she was able carry out an emergency crash landing of a galaxy class starship which was completely out of control and do so with ZERO FATALITIES, is REALLY impressive.

** For a show created by and for straight guys, meant to be a broish answer to Buffy, the show sure is famous for its HomoeroticSubtext. Seriously, people who know nothing else about the show probably know about the controversy over making Destiel canon, the [[IncestYay incestuous subtext]] or the long debate about the show's queerbaiting. In fact, after 15 seasons, the most talked-about element of the final season was the [[BuryYourGays inept]] attempt to make Destiel sort of canon.
** The show is also notorious for its crappy treatment of female characters, especially love interests. More than one was killed off because the writers listened to the loudest internet fans, many of whom were YaoiFangirl types who hated any female that threatened their slash fantasies. Plenty of fans, in fact, liked ''some'' of those characters and new fans are often bewildered by the abrupt exit/gruesome deaths of female characters. This was so egregious that at least [[Creator/MishaCollins one actor]] called out the show for it. On top of that, the show had a habit of producing meta episodes with TakeThat stories about their fans that were played off as good-natured ribbing but can come off as the writers bitterly resenting the same fans they continuously appeased. On top of that, the writers created a lesbian friend for the Winchesters to serve as a surrogate sister that would not inspire the jealous rage of fangirls, and she was gruesomely [[BuryYourGays killed off]] in a manner that offended both fans and nonfans of the character.

** Castiel becoming the BigBad of Season 6 could have been avoided if he had just revealed his plans to Sam and Dean rather than concealing his deal with Crowley. Instead, he betrays his friends, backstabs Crowley and goes insane with power. Some fans are still resentful the writers turned a popular character so dark, and despite the redemption arc he was given some fans don't forget.

** Also, ''Series/DaiSentaiGoggleFive'' is actually a show based on science, about good science vs bad science in order to create a better future. But because their weapons are based on gymnastic apparatus (and only one of them ([[TheSmurfettePrinciple the sole girl of the team, Miki Momozono/Goggle Pink]]) is the actual gymnast), they were mistakenly thought as a team of rhythmic gymnasts and every single Sentai references are going will remember them as a gymnastic team (their actual jobs, aside of Miki, are as follows: Explorer, chess player, hockey athlete and zoo worker). Even ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' makes fun of it!

** Lucky from ''Series/UchuuSentaiKyuranger'' has "Talk about Lucky" as his catchphrase. While he ''does'' say it a lot more than other examples on the page (especially early on), if you listen to fans of the show, you'd swear it's ''the only thing'' he says. Strangely, this doesn't apply to Tsurugi from the same show, who has a similar catch phrase ("Holy Moly"), despite him saying it almost as much as Lucky does.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': The fandom will never forget about Carla making JD move out of the apartment (that was his to begin with) once she and Turk got married.

** Daniel Jackson's many deaths/resurrections/ascensions (although that last one only happened twice). It's lampshaded in the series itself. Wiki/TheOtherWiki used to list them; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Jackson_(Stargate)&oldid=236270772 it's about 22 times.]] And Samantha Carter [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun blew up a sun]].