History ParentalSubstitute / LiveActionTV

** During the episode "Dead Air", Tony and [=McGee=] have been teasing her about not knowing much about baseball. At the end of the episode, this exchange ensues:

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': After Nynaeve met Lan's tribe, she muses over the old man who treated Lan as his son. Lan explains that he was one of his father's bodyguards who was given the task to smuggle him out, the infant heir, from Malkier while the King, Queen and the rest of the rest of the Kingdom succumbed to the Blight.

* ''Series/AbbottElementary'': Janine sees her fellow teacher Barbara as one, looking up to the older woman and treating her as a mentor. Janine's actual mother barely talks to her and was never very involved, leaving her craving maternal affection, often acting as if Barb is her mother. She even admits to feeling envious of Barb's actual daughter. Barb herself sometimes finds this weird, but likes Janine and, after finding out what her childhood was like, becomes more willing to mother and guide her.

** Since Rose's dad died when she was just six months old, she never got a chance to know him until the Doctor took her back in time to see him on the day of his death. Rose seems to look up to the Ninth Doctor as a parental substitute. In "Rise of the Cybermen," the Tenth Doctor is initially adamant against Rose going to see a parallel-universe version of her dad who became a successful businessman, but eventually caves in when she gives him puppy eyes.

** It's revealed that Johnny's stepfather is an abusive rich prick and that he viewed Kreese as a father figure, [[NotSoDifferent not unlike Daniel and Mr. Miyagi]]. [[spoiler:After learning this Daniel actually briefly bonds with Johnny, and though events conspire to make sure they stay enemies he at least develops a newfound understanding of the man, acknowledging that there's a lot more to the man than simply being a bully and realizing that he's a good man in his own right who just has some serious demons to deal with]].

* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', it is revealed that Sarah Jane's parents died when she was only three months old, and she was raised by her Aunt Lavinia. Exactly how much of a mother figure Lavinia was is somewhat debatable, as Sarah Jane once described her as "always so busy, never in one place long enough to lick a stamp". It can be argued, of course, that that doesn't necessarily mean that she was uncaring or uninvolved. In fact, the pilot for the failed spin-off series ''K9 & Company'' gives us a small glimpse into their relationship, and they do generally seem to care about one another (and has Lavinia use [[NotSoDifferent exactly that phrase to describe Sarah Jane]]).

* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'':
** Jimmy looked up to Chuck in this way, viewing Chuck as a successful hard worker unlike their dad who was susceptible to con artists. [[spoiler:Which all ends when he finds out how Chuck secretly resents him for merely existing]].
** Mike functions as one towards his daughter-in-law Stacey, ever since the death of her husband (Mike's son).
* Capt. Holt, and, by extension, his husband Kevin, are this to Jake in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. In a Season 1 ColdOpening, Jake calls Holt "dad" by accident, much to the amusement of the entire precinct but everyone comes to embrace the dynamic later in the series.

** Willow and Tara were surrogate mothers to Dawn for a short time after [[spoiler: Buffy's death.]]

* During the TimeSkip between seasons 4 and 5 of ''Series/The100'', Clarke found and adopted a young Nightblood girl named Madi. They didn't start off on the friendliest terms, since Madi's parents had died recently, but eventually became quite close, though it helps that [[spoiler:they were the only people left on the Earth's surface after the Primfaya wave]]. However, once [[spoiler:they regain contact with other survivors]], Clarke's MamaBear instincts come out nearly full-time as she futilely tries to keep Madi out of danger, and occasionally veers into full-blown KnightTemplarParent when Clarke is willing to directly work against her allies in the belief it will keep Madi safe.
** Abby, Clarke's mother, and Raven form a friendship on the Ark that eventually becomes a Mother-Daughter type bond as the series progresses which is helped by the fact that Raven's biological mother was an alcoholic absentee parent. Unfortunately their relationship becomes strained in season 5 [[spoiler:after Abby's drug addiction causes her to manipulate and hurt Raven]] but the two reconcile in season 6 [[spoiler:shortly before Abby's death]] with Abby telling Raven that she is her family. [[spoiler:In the final episode [[GodInHumansClothing the Judge]] comments that while Abby may not be Raven's biological mother her opinion of her matters far more.]]

* Capt. Holt, and, by extension, his husband Kevin, are this to Jake in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. In a season one ColdOpening, Jake calls Holt "dad" by accident, much to the amusement of the entire precinct but everyone comes to embrace the dynamic later in the series.

** Willow and Xander are similar, as well. Willow's parents are away for months at a time and have virtually abandoned her, rarely seeing her at all. Xander's parents are drunk and too busy yelling at each other to notice him most of the time. Giles often serves as a surrogate father to them both. It makes Giles' somewhat dismissive and snippy treatment of Xander in early seasons kind of upsetting--for instance, in a season 3 episode, he is angry at Xander for sleeping during "Oz-watch", but later seems to find it almost endearing when Buffy does the same.

** Davos Seaworth was the closest thing to a decent parental figure Shireen Baratheon had -- her actual parents being crazy Lord of Light zealots who spent a lot of time burning people when things weren't going well for them during the War of Five Kings. He admits that [[LikeASonToMe he loved her as if she were his own child]] [[spoiler:when confronting Melisandre over her role in Shireen being burned as a sacrifice.]]

** Lampshaded in season three:

* Since John Winchester of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' spent a lot of time away from his boys when they were young and [[spoiler:died at the beginning of the show's second season]], fellow hunter [[OnlySaneMan Bobby Singer]] has served as Sam and Dean's adviser, backup, and primary father figure throughout the series. Dean even says on two occasions (in season three's "Dream A Little Dream of Me" and season four's "Lazarus Rising") that Bobby's been like a father to him.

** For his part, Bobby seems to see the boys as [[LikeASonToMe surrogate sons]], saying in the season three finale, "No Rest for the Wicked", that "family don't end with blood".
** [[CoolOldGuy Bobby]] seems to have been this to an extent even when the boys were kids. He is, for example, the only person who ever took Dean out to play ball, and it's shown that Dean and Sam knew him as "Uncle Bobby" when they were young. Interestingly, before Bobby's introduction at the end of season one, they had spent an unspecified amount of time estranged from one another (apparently Bobby had chased John off his property with a shotgun).

** Sam also sees Dean as a father figure. As stated above, John Winchester used to disappear for weeks at a time, leaving young Dean in charge of little Sam. It's no wonder Dean treats Sam like his kid sometimes, calling him "Sammy" and reminiscing fondly on the days Sam was smaller and dependent on him.
** Sam, Dean '''and''' (especially) Castiel act as surrogate parents to Jack [[spoiler:the Nephilim and son of Lucifer]].

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': [[Literature/RedRidingHood Red]] was obviously [[RaisedByGrandparents raised by her grandmother]], but Granny is also implied to be a parental substitute for Literature/{{Snow White|and the Seven Dwarfs}}.

* ''Series/TrueBlood'': Bill Compton is a parental substitute for his vampire progeny Jessica Hamby. [[IHateYouVampireDad It's rough at first]] but Jessica does come to see Bill as a better father than her abusive human father.

* In ''Series/{{TheMandalorian}}'', the Mandalorian himself quickly becomes this to Grogu (aka The Child/Baby Yoda). Other characters even refer to Grogu as "his kid".

* During the TimeSkip between seasons 4 and 5 of ''Series/The100'', Clarke found and adopted a young Nightblood girl named Madi. They didn't start off on the friendliest terms, since Madi's parents had died recently, but eventually became quite close, though it helps that [[spoiler:they were the only people left on the Earth's surface after the Primfaya wave]]. However, once [[spoiler:they regain contact with other survivors]], Clarke's MamaBear instincts come out nearly full-time as she futilely tries to keep Madi out of danger, and occasionally veers into full-blown KnightTemplarParent when Clarke is willing to directly work against her alliesin the belief it will keep Madi safe.

*** Especially the case whenever the changes in status quo had overwhelmed Sheldon to where he needed to go on his own to recover. Leonard was utterly worried and it took Penny to calm him down and to trust Sheldon. Later, Leonard is the one whi picks up Sheldon up soon.

** This is further enhanced in Season 2, when Skye's ''actual'' father The Doctor (aka [[spoiler: Cal Zabo/Mr. Hyde]]) shows up. While he desperately tries to connect with her, she rightfully calls him out as a monster (which he [[SelfDeprecation regretfully admits to]]), and clings even closer to Coulson as a result. To say that this [[BerserkButton pisses the Doctor off]] is [[UnstoppableRage an understatement]].

* In ''Series/CobraKai'' it's revealed that Johnny's stepfather is an abusive rich prick and that he viewed Kreese as a father figure, [[NotSoDifferent not unlike Daniel and Mr. Miyagi]]. [[spoiler:After learning this Daniel actually briefly bonds with Johnny, and though events conspire to make sure they stay enemies he at least develops a newfound understanding of the man, acknowledging that there's a lot more to the man than simply being a bully and realizing that he's a good man in his own right who just has some serious demons to deal with]].

** In Season 6, when Sam wants to avoid [[spoiler:regaining his soul, which he fears will destroy him by bringing back memories of his time in Hell]], he is told that he can prevent this by committing a grievous sin, specifically patricide. Literal patricide is obviously out of the question (since his is already dead), but Sam is reassured that "it needs the father's blood, but the ''father'' need not ''be'' blood", leading him to chase Bobby violently through his own house in the attempt to commit the murder. (Keep in mind that Sam [[CameBackWrong isn't himself at the time]]. He knows enough to identify Bobby as his father figure, but not enough to be horrified by the thought of killing him.) The episode also gave us the hilarious FridgeHorror line "Nobody kills me in my house but me!"