History TraumaCongaLine / LiveActionTV

* While not technically the hero, ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'''s Topher seems to be the definition of this trope. Nothing seems to go well for the poor bloke.

* In ''Series/TheHauntingOfBlyManor'', Dani Clayton was raised by a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]] single mother. The one light in her early life was her best friend and neighbor Eddie, but the relationship is complicated when she cannot reciprocate [[ChildhoodFriendRomance his feelings for her]] due to [[spoiler: being a LipstickLesbian. When she eventually comes out to him, he dies in a freak hit-and-run accident]]. She goes abroad to work in England as an au pair to escape her troubles, but ends up working with two [[CreepyChild creepy children] in a HauntedHouse with a murderous ghost. Dani [[spoiler: allows the ghost to possess her to save her charges, but is eventually [[DrivenToSuicide compelled by the spirit]] to become the new ghost "Lady of the Lake"]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Oliver. First, while on his dad's boat, it suddenly tears apart and his friend is ripped away by a current. He makes it to a life raft with his dad and the captain. Subsequently, with supplies dwindling and Oliver refusing to take them all for himself, his father shoots the captain and then himself. Oliver nearly dies of exposure regardless, then makes it to an island and has to bury his father's body. It goes downhill from there. Five years of hell, including watching a child he cares for die horribly and painfully, and he morphs into a cold-blooded killer. Even when he finally returns home, things only get worse: the next four years see him lose his best friend, his mother, his FirstLove's sister (''again''), and eventually said FirstLove herself.

* The sixth and seventh seasons of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' become this for Bobby Goren. His partner is kidnapped and nearly killed (by someone he knows, no less), his mother is diagnosed with cancer, causing him to lose his temper (and very nearly his job) in the middle of a case. His drug-addict brother takes advantage of him (again, or so it's implied), and then he finds out that he may be the product of an affair between his mother and a notorious serial killer -- in the ''same episode'' in which his mother dies. Then, shortly thereafter, his brother reemerges and tells Bobby he has a son who is in prison and afraid for his life; Bobby goes undercover to rescue his nephew and nearly dies, an act which gets him put on indefinate suspension and ending with him being forced to take part in a dangerous undercover in order to get his job back, which leaves Eames steaming at him well into the next episode. And ''then'', as if that weren't enough, his brother is murdered and he finds out that his mentor is responsible. It's a wonder he was still sane by Season 8.

** Hotch gets another one of these with [[MindRape Peter Lewis, aka Mr. Scratch]], which eventually [[spoiler:forces him and Jack into witness protection themselves.]] Outside of the show, this was a way to [[spoiler:[[RealLifeWritesThePlot write Hotch's actor Thomas Gibson off the show]] after he was fired for an onset altercation with a writer.]]

** Hotch gets another one of these with [[MindRape Peter Lewis, aka Mr. Scratch]], which eventually [[spoiler:forces him and Jack into witness protection themselves.]] Outside of the show, this was a way to [[spoiler:[[RealLifeWritesThePlot write Hotch's actor Thomas Gibson off the show]] after he was fired for an onset altercation with a writer.

* Basically everything having to do with George Foyet/the Boston Reaper is this for Hotch on ''Series/CriminalMinds''. It was his first case as head profiler at the BAU and it's haunted him ever since, and when the Reaper returns and Hotch denies his offer to make a deal, he picks him as the focal point for torment. Foyet is captured but escapes from prison and immediately comes and beats up Hotch-- he survives, but Foyet also steals the contact information for Hotch's ex-wife and son, and threatens to go after them next, sending Haley and Jack into witness protection. [[spoiler:He does. Foyet forces Hotch to listen via the phone while he kills Haley, while Hotch is en route to stop him, and it's only through Hotch's quick thinking that Foyet doesn't kill Jack too.]] The icing on the cake is that the bureau opens its own investigation into Hotch's conduct during the Foyet investigation, [[spoiler:because Hotch killed Foyet with his bare hands in a blind rage, immediately after Foyet killed Haley and was going to kill Jack.]]

* On ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'', Ben Lockwood was a decent college professor who spoke for alien rights. Then he was injured by an alien while stopping a riot, his father's factory was shut down due to cheaper alien materials about, the family home was destroyed in a fight between the Martian Manhunter and a Daxamite, he was fired from his job for increasing anti-alien views and his father died in the quakes set off by the Worldkiller. It all piled up to transform the once-good Ben into the violent alien-hunting Agent Liberty.

* Shawn Hunter in ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', even the showrunner has mentioned how nothing good ever happens for Shawn throughout the entire 7 season run. His mom abandons him, driving away with their trailer (his home) and all his possessions and his dad abandons him trying to get her back. He's basically homeless for a bit before finally settling in with his English teacher for the year(who, of course, gets into a car accident and is never heard from again), then both parents come back only to abandon him AGAIN at some point between seasons 4 and 5 (the muddled timeline makes "when" unclear). Things finally appear to be looking up for him after he starts college; until, in quick succession, he breaks up with his long term girlfriend, his father dies and he learns that the woman he THOUGHT was his mom, wasn't and his real mom was a hooker. It's no wonder he started drinking again.

* Poor James and Abba got hit hard with this in Season 21 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace''. In four consecutive legs: Abba hurt his knee, James’s wife called him and told him that his dad’s cancer was entering its end stages, they got their money stolen by another team, and then one of their passports got stolen which ultimately got them eliminated the next leg. When they finally got home after spending two weeks in Russia because of the passport issue, Abba found out that he’d actually broken both of his tibias.

* Shawn Hunter in ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', even the show runner has mentioned how nothing good ever happens for Shawn throughout the entire 7 season run. His mom abandons him, driving away with their trailer (his home) and all his possessions and his dad abandons him trying to get her back. He's basically homeless for a bit before finally settling in with his English teacher for the year(who, of course, gets into a car accident and is never heard from again), then both parents come back only to abandon him AGAIN at some point between seasons 4 and 5 (the muddled timeline makes "when" unclear). Things finally appear to be looking up for him after he starts college; until, in quick succession, he breaks up with his long term girlfriend, his father dies and he learns that the woman he THOUGHT was his mom, wasn't and his real mom was a hooker. It's no wonder he started drinking again.

** Mike Ehrmantraut doesn't fair much better. He learns that his boss has been killed while recovering from gunshot wounds in Mexico [[spoiler:thus costing him his comfortable job as Gus's muscle]]. After that, the slush funds his boss left behind for hazard pay to keep his imprisoned associates silent, along with his granddaughter's inheritance, are seized by the DEA, thus forcing him to ally with Walt, whom he trusts about as far as he can throw. When the DEA puts pressure on him later, he's forced into retirement with a five million dollar buyout: a lot of money for most, but likely not much after paying off aforementioned imprisoned associates. [[spoiler:Then the DEA gets his money ''again'', and one of his associates flips on him, selling him out and forcing him to flee without even a chance to say goodbye to his granddaughter. Not that he gets very far, anyway: he has one final argument with Walt where he chews him out for being a prideful and selfish son of a bitch, pushing Walt's BerserkButton and driving him to shoot Mike to death. Then, as a final insult to injury, his body is placed in a barrel and dissolved in acid, so no one, much less his family, will ever know what became of him.]]

** Clara gets one during Series 8. First, the Doctor she had come to know [[spoiler:and be mildly attracted to]] disappears and is replaced by someone with a much different personality and appearance, then [[spoiler:she has a violent fallout with the Doctor (they reconcile later), then is helpless as the man she loves dies a stupid death, returns as a Cybermen zombie, and sacrifices himself ''twice'' afterward. Finally the Doctor leaves her to return home...and both have actually lied to each other to facilitate this]]. Things get better, though.

* ''Series/EastEnders'': Ronnie Mitchell. Her time on the show is best described currently as God taking one giant crap on her life. All she wants is a child but if she has one, it ends up dead...and then there is the fact she was raped as a child, her husband shot in the head (although he survived albeit crippled a while), family dysfunction that the former Matriach wants her to look after, [[DespairEventHorizon and she was recently seen banging on the door of her mother's flat screaming "Mummy!" like a scared child after her latest baby died in cot death]]. Her story ended with her getting married and living happily ever after... for the few hours before she and her sister both drowned.

** Davos outlives Matthos, Shireen, Stannis and Jon Snow. Jon comes BackFromTheDead, but the others don't.

** Season 5's Stannis arc becomes almost a BlackComedy for how much successive misfortune it piles on the man. After he spent the previous two seasons sulking on Dragonstone following his defeat at Blackwater Bay, [[BigDamnHeroes Stannis and his forces heroically come to the rescue of the Night's Watch]] at the end of season 4 to defeat the Wildlings. Then in season 5, Stannis: tries to convince Jon Snow to join him when he takes back Winterfel from the Boltons, but fails; tries to convince Mance Rayder to bend the knee so he can recruit his men, who refuses; tries to execute Mance to make an example of him, only to be interrupted by Jon Snow killing him prematurely; marches on Winterfel, but gets stuck in a snowstorm; finds his supplies destroyed by Ramsay Bolton and his twenty men; [[spoiler:executes his own daughter as part of a human sacrifice at Melisandre's urging; wants to march on Winterfel after the snows melt but half his men have abandoned him and taken ALL the horses; is told that his wife committed suicide and Melisandre has fled; is crushed with his remnant army in a spectacularly one-sided battle; is finally hunted down by Brienne of Tarth, who kills him for his previous murder of Renly.]] Yeesh.

* Kurt Hummel from ''Series/{{Glee}}'' comes to mind, incidents including but not limited to: His mother dying at a young age, being bullied by his peers, his dad almost dying, getting sexually harassed and threatened with death, getting humiliated at prom, getting sexually assaulted by his boyfriend, not being accepted into his dream school while his friend/rival is, said boyfriend cheating on him, his dad almost dying again, the death of his step-brother and most recently getting gay bashed and hit over the head with a brick. Despite all this he is more often than not a kind and compassionate person.
* Izzie Stevens in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', who can fall into categories A, C and E at times. She started off being sexually harassed at work by her peers for being beautiful and minor hazing stuff from other doctors including a rather cruel learning experiment from a doctor she looked up to by giving her a patient she knew was going to die and making her responsible for seeing the patient through the night. Later on in the season Izzie lost the love of her life a heart patient at the hospital. She quit her job and became catatonic for days. She also went through a very realistic process of grief. A few seasons later they gave her cancer, killed off her best friend, fired her from her job, dissolved her marriage and then put her on a bus to never been seen again.

** Elliot Alderson. He lost his father to leukemia. He suffers from depression, anxiety, drug addiction and possibly PTSD after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his mother. As the series progresses, he also loses his best friend/girlfriend at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer, he finds out that Mr. Robot, the man who recruited him into fsociety is actually a figment of his imagination and his split personality that manipulated him into starting 5/9 hack. And while he is prison, he gets emotionally and mentally tortured by Mr. Robot, gets beaten to a pulp, almost gets raped etc. But as he gets out, it doesn't end there. He gets shot in the belly by his stalker for trying to stop a terror attack from happening, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale gets psychologically and later emotionally abused by his only best friend/crush]], tries to work hard to stop the said terror attack only to find out that it was successful in 71 other buildings, almost tried to kill himself and almost got killed along with his sister by the terrorists. People watching this show wonder how is he able to survive the hell he is put through.
** Dominique "Dom" Dipierro. She's dealt with crippling social anxiety and depression all her life, and has a history of sabotaging her relationships with others due to a fear of commitment. As her investigation into fsociety delves deeper, she survives two separate mass shootings that were at least indirectly intended to kill her, forcing her to cope with witnessing firsthand the deaths of her coworkers and few friends. She finally manages to forge a genuine connection with someone, only for the object of her affection to betray her and reveal that the only reason she ever feigned interest in her was to steal her FBI credentials. Dom is then kidnapped, subjected to psychological torture, and forced to work as an informant for the Dark Army (the same group that organized the hits on her and is behind the terrorism she's been investigating for the entirety of the show) under threat of them tracking down and murdering her family - made all the more dire by the Dark Army dismembering her boss with an axe right in front of her. It's safe to say that she ''really'' isn't having a great year.
* Happens to Tommy in ''Series/RescueMe'' nearly every episode, although some are worse than others. He's a Type F, and remains a lying, scheming, womanizing, short-tempered, alcoholic, self-centered asshole for seven seasons.

** More than once, JD has wryly noted that sometimes the hospital doesn't space out tragedies and disasters so that the doctors have time to pull themselves together after each one--sometimes it just piles the suckitude on until you can't take it any more (for example, "My Lunch").

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'''s second season, despite reinstating Michael Burnham to rank and position, winds up being a very bad time. Two different crewmates asked her for a MercyKill--one being Saru, her PlatonicLifePartner. He ultimately survived, but [[spoiler:poor Airiam didn't, and someone else had to do the deed to save everyone else from being killed]]. Her relationship with Amanda is severely strained, her reunion with Spock is an utter disaster when he retaliates for her misguided attempt to protect him by saying a number of things calculated to emotionally wound her, she learns a couple of {{Awful Truth}}s about her birth parents, her birth mother [[spoiler:comes back through time, but attempts to forcibly maintain distance and is then stranded in the future]]... by the finale, she could really give [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Miles O'Brien]] a run for his money.

* Throughout ''Series/StargateSG1'', the eponymous team are on the receiving end of a seemingly endless series of pain and suffering and defeat, and it's fortunate ThereAreNoTherapists, because if they were real people someone would be making a fortune off of their PTSD. And Daniel Jackson manages to not only suffer more than the other three members ''combined'', but each instance is even more devastating. After all, all of them have had love interests die, but Daniel is the only one who had them ''shot to death in front of him''[[note]] By one of his good friends. Because she was about to kill him, losing her grip on her own actions because of a Puppeteer Parasite. After she had been lost to him since the beginning of the series and the reason he signed on to be on SG1 in the first place, so he could look for her. Seriously, DANG[[/note]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Oliver. First, while on his dad's boat, it suddenly tears apart and his friend is ripped away by a current. He makes it to a life raft with his dad and the captain. Subsequently, with supplies dwindling and Oliver refusing to take them all for himself, his father shoots the captain and then himself. Oliver nearly dies of exposure regardless, then makes it to an island and has to bury his father's body. It goes downhill from there. Five years of hell, including a watching child he cares for die horribly and painfully, and he morphs into a cold-blooded killer. Even when he finally returns home, things only get worse: the next four years see him lose his best friend, his mother, his FirstLove's sister (''again''), and eventually said FirstLove herself.

** Elliot has the biggest one out of other characters on the show. He lost his father to leukemia. He suffers from depression, anxiety, drug addiction and possibly PTSD after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his mother. As the series progresses, he also loses his best friend/girlfriend at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer, he finds out that Mr. Robot, the man who recruited him into fsociety is actually a figment of his imagination and his split personality that manipulated him into starting 5/9 hack. And while he is prison, he gets emotionally and mentally tortured by Mr. Robot, gets beaten to a pulp, almost gets raped etc. But as he gets out, it doesn't end there. He gets shot in the belly by his stalker for trying to stop a terror attack from happening, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale gets psychologically and later emotionally abused by his only best friend/crush]], tries to work hard to stop the said terror attack only to find out that it was successful in 71 other buildings, almost tried to kill himself and almost got killed along with his sister by the terrorists. People watching this show wonder how is he able to survive the hell he is put through.

** Elliot has the biggest one out of other characters on the show. He lost his father to leukemia. He suffers from depression, anxiety, drug addiction and possibly PTSD after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his mother. As the series progresses, he also loses his best friend/girlfriend at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer, [[spoiler: he finds out that Mr. Robot, the man who recruited him into fsociety is actually a figment of his imagination and his split personality that manipulated him into starting 5/9 hack. And while he is prison, he gets emotionally and mentally tortured by Mr. Robot, gets beaten to a pulp, almost gets raped etc.]] But as he gets out, it doesn't end there. [[spoiler: He gets shot in the belly by his stalker for trying to stop a terror attack from happening, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale gets psychologically and later emotionally abused by his only best friend/crush]], tries to work hard to stop the said terror attack only to find out that it was successful in 71 other buildings, almost tried to kill himself and almost got killed along with his sister by the terrorists.]] People watching this show wonder how is he able to survive the hell he is put through.

* In ''Series/MrRobot'', Elliot has the biggest one out of other characters on the show. He lost his father to leukemia. He suffers from depression, anxiety, drug addiction and possibly PTSD after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his mother. As the series progresses, he also loses his best friend/girlfriend at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer, [[spoiler: he finds out that Mr. Robot, the man who recruited him into fsociety is actually a figment of his imagination and his split personality that manipulated him into starting 5/9 hack. And while he is prison, he gets emotionally and mentally tortured by Mr. Robot, gets beaten to a pulp, almost gets raped etc.]] But as he gets out, it doesn't end there. [[spoiler: He gets shot in the belly by his stalker for trying to stop a terror attack from happening, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale gets psychologically and later emotionally abused by his only best friend/crush]], tries to work hard to stop the said terror attack only to find out that it was successful in 71 other buildings, almost tried to kill himself and almost got killed along with his sister by the terrorists.]] People watching this show wonder how is he able to survive the hell he is put through.

** Season 5 is almost hilarious in how much successive misfortune suddenly falls on Stannis. After he spent the previous two seasons sulking on Dragonstone following his defeat at Blackwater Bay, [[BigDamnHeroes Stannis and his forces heroically come to the rescue of the Night's Watch]] at the end of season 4 to defeat the Wildlings. Then in season 5, Stannis: tries to convince Jon Snow to join him when he takes back Winterfel from the Boltons, but fails; tries to convince Mance Rayder to bend the knee so he can recruit his men, who refuses; tries to execute Mance to make an example of him, only to be interrupted by Jon Snow killing him prematurely; marches on Winterfel, but gets stuck in a snowstorm; finds his supplies destroyed by Ramsay Bolton and his twenty men; [[spoiler:executes his own daughter as part of a human sacrifice at Melisandre's urging; wants to march on Winterfel after the snows melt but half his men have abandoned him and taken ALL the horses; is told that his wife committed suicide and Melisandre has fled; is crushed with his remnant army in a spectacularly one-sided battle; is finally hunted down by Brienne of Tarth, who kills him for his previous murder of Renly.]] Yeesh.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Oliver. First, while on his dad's boat, it suddenly tears apart and his friend is ripped away by a current. He makes it to a life raft with his dad and the captain. Subsequently, with supplies dwindling and Oliver refusing to take them all for himself, his father shoots the captain and then himself. Oliver nearly dies of exposure regardless, then makes it to an island and has to bury his father's body. It goes downhill from there. Five years of hell, including a watching child he cares for die horribly and painfully, and he morphs into a cold-blooded killer.

* In ''Series/MrRobot'', Elliot has the biggest one out of other characters on the show. He lost his father to leukemia. He suffers from depression, anxiety, drug addiction and possibly PTSD after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his mother. As the series progresses, he also loses his best friend/girlfriend at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer, [[spoiler: he finds out that Mr. Robot, the man who recruited him into fsociety is actually a figment of his imagination and his split personality that manipulated him into starting 5/9 hack. And while he is prison, he gets emotionally and mentally tortured by Mr. Robot, gets beaten to a pulp, almost gets raped etc.]] But as he gets out, it doesn't end there. [[spoiler: He gets shot in the belly by his stalker for trying to stop a terror attack from happening, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale gets psychologically and later emotionally abused by his only best friend/crush, tries to work hard to stop the said terror attack only to find out that it was successful in 71 other buildings, almost tried to kill himself and almost got killed along with his sister by the terrorists.]] People watching this show wonder how is he able to survive the hell he is put through.