Happy Ending Overrides in Live-Action TV series.
- 24:
- The series did this for Tony Almeida. During the third season, Tony was forced into some tough choices that saw him lose everything: he was stripped of his job, his wife Michelle left him, and wound up briefly being jailed. Season four went about giving him personal redemption, helping Jack Bauer stop a terrorist threat that ultimately saw a nuclear missile nearly hit L.A., and by the time it was over he'd managed to get his life back in order and get back together with Michelle. So what does season 5 proceed to do? Within the first 15 minutes of the premiere she's killed by a car bomb as part of the antagonists of that Day's plot, leading him to lose it for the rest of the series and eventually sink so low that in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to avenge her death winds up working with terrorists. Yeah. Definitely made the fourth season's happy ending a moot point there.
- The show revealed more than once that Jack had been living happily in the time between seasons and then ripped that apart. Between seasons 3 and 4 he's been working for the Department of Defense and dating his boss's daughter Audrey, but at the end he's forced to fake his death because of a bungled invasion of the Chinese Embassy. Redemption disrupts his quiet life as an aid worker in the African nation of Sangala. Season 8 reveals that he fully recovered from his near death at the end of the previous season, has reconciled with Kim and plans to move from New York to LA to be close to her and her daughter and husband, but he ends up a fugitive wanted by both the American and Russian Governments.
- And Just Like That.... The first Sex and the City movie ended with Steve and Miranda reconciling after his infidelity and the second found them still happy together. By the time this series started, they're back to being in a miserable Sexless Marriage, the very thing that led to his infidelity, with her being the one to cheat this time and their marriage ultimately ending.
- In Season 4 of Baywatch, Cort was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that was slowly causing him to go blind. The Season 5 episode "Baja Run" ended with Cort realizing the inevitability of his condition and seemingly coming to terms with it. This was completely abandoned for his final episode, "Deep Trouble," which revealed that Cort had become a drunken, homeless wreck, and that the knowledge of what was going to happen to him had given him severe depression.
- The Brittas Empire was intended to end after its fifth series, and this involved giving happy fates to the characters - Brittas was going to get a better, potentially less disaster-causing job in Brussels, Julie was going to get married to a rich man who owned a brewery, and Carole was finally going to move away from her life of having to live in the Leisure Centre in favor of becoming a governess in Austria. It's an ending emphasized by the Distant Finale, which showed the staff living fulfilling and rich lives in the future. Then, the show was picked up for two more series with new writers, and Series 6 begins with the reveal that Brittas lost the job due to a stint being dead, Julie kicked out her fiancée, and Carole lost her job as a governess, and had to return to the leisure centre after the man she was due to be working for ran off with a nun. Even the Distant Finale was eventually negated when the final episode revealed that the events of the series were nothing more than one of Brittas' dreams as he was napping on the train.
- Code Lyoko ended with XANA defeated and the Lyoko-Warriors shutting down the Supercomputer before moving on with their life. The very first episode of the live-action sequel Code Lyoko: Evolution reveals XANA survived by turning the Lyoko-Warriors into his Soul Jars, forcing them to reactivate Lyoko and get back to fighting him.
- Mixed together with Sequel Reboot with the season five premiere of Community: the fourth season ended optimistically with Jeff and Pierce graduating in the Fall semester, Shirley's business getting off the ground, Annie picking a major in criminology, and Chang deciding to stay friends with the group as "Kevin". Fast-forward to the next Fall, where Jeff's newly found scruples lead his career as an attorney to ruins, Shirley's family left her because she lost their savings on her failed business, Annie has gotten as job as a sales rep for the same prescription drugs that lead to her breakdown, none of the rest of the group are having any more success, and Chang is on work release for arson. The group decides they still need to learn more, but Greendale is the only place they can go to, while Jeff takes a job as a teacher to get by while he tries to get it in some form of working order.
- Doctor Who:
- Between Series 6 and Series 7 of Doctor Who, Amy and Rory go from Happily Married with Amy completely in awe of Rory's strength and nobility, to divorced and antagonistic. The reason given is that Amy was made infertile as a result of her abuse in the finale of Series 6 and she knew Rory wanted kids so she "gave him up." By the end of the season 7 premiere, they're back together since Rory (predictably) wants Amy more than biological kids.
- In The Keeper of Traken, the Doctor foils the Master's plan to gain a new body for himself in a way that could have destroyed the titular planet, although the Master gets away with a stolen Trakenite body. In the next story, Logopolis, the Master's plan accidentally unleashes an entropy field that destroys a large number of planets. One of the planets destroyed is Traken.
- At the climax of the 2013 anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, all thirteen then-known Doctors combine their forces to save Gallifrey and its inhabitants from destruction at the hands of the Daleks — the culmination of a lifetime's work. Come 2020 and Spyfall, the planet is wrecked and its inhabitants murdered by the Master.
- Downton Abbey season 2 ended with Sybil and Tom moving away to Ireland, getting married and making a baby announcement on Christmas. In season 3, political upheaval forces them to go back to Downton where Sybil dies from childbirth.
- Frasier:
- Cheers had ended with Frasier and Lilith reuniting, their marriage rocky but apparently recovering. By the beginning of Frasier, the marriage had turned sour again (with Frasier's only explanation being that it was "excruciating"), eventually resulting in their separating and Frasier moving to Seattle.
- Played for Laughs regarding Rebecca Howe in the episode "The One Where Sam Shows Up." Sam describes how everyone at Cheers has been getting along since Frasier moved to Seattle. Rebecca, who was last seen happily married to a plumber at the end of Cheers, had been divorced when her husband struck rich.Sam: She's back at the bar.
Frasier: Working at Cheers again?
Sam: No...Just back at the bar.
- The end of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys has Zeus, Hera, and Hercules in the middle of patching up their differences, as Hercules and Iolaus continue to have adventures. Come the Twilight of the Gods arc of Xena: Warrior Princess, which comes after the end of its parent show, Zeus kills Hera, and Hercules in turn is forced to kill Zeus, destroying any reconciliation the three may have had.
- Between the first and second season of Heroes, Matt Parkman's forgiveness of his wife and the happy reunion of Niki with DL were both undone. So was Sylar's death, but this had been heavily implied to begin with.
- In the Dark:
- A variation. While the first season finale still had Murphy being threatened by Nia, Dean was arrested after Murphy got a confession for his murdering Tyson. The second season has Dean using Loophole Abuse to avoid being arrested and gets his murder covered up by the police while Murphy and her friends are forced to work for Nia or face death.
- It also happens to Darnell who's freed from jail for Tyson's murder only to find Jules dead in a faked suicide.
- Intimate: One storyline sees Max founding his own clothing line and trying to promote it to stores with no success. At the end of episode five, he is down in the dumps, having been unable to sell a single product (and his girlfriend telling him they need to open up their relationship on top of that) when he suddenly receives a large order for his sweaters. Three minutes into the next episode, he finds the entire stash of clothes in the closet of the guys' shared apartment; it turns out that his friends ordered them out of pity, and Max was still unable to actually gain a single real customer. The storyline is then dropped for the rest of the season.
- In the series finale of JAG, Harm and Mac (who have been in a loooong will-they-or-won't-they relationship) are flipping a coin to see which assignment they will take together as a couple, having long agreed to have a child together. However, the much-later spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles (all the NCIS shows are spin offs of JAG) reveals that they're divorced, both still single, and childless, with Harm now serving on a navy ship at sea and Mac in San Diego.
- Kamen Rider:
- Defied when it comes to Kamen Rider Kuuga. Kamen Rider Agito was originally supposed to be a sequel series, but Kuuga's writers vetoed it on the grounds it'd have made Kuuga's battles meaningless. As a result, while there's some suggestion it's a sequel, it's primarily intended as an alternate universe.
- Kamen Rider Ryuki ends with the resident The Chessmaster realising the whole Rider War is pointless and hitting the Reset Button, allowing everyone to live at the cost of his sister’s life. Kamen Rider Zi-O’s spin-off has a new Rider Battle being started to stop a murder spree implied to be perpetrated by the chessmaster. And this time, only two of the Riders make it out alive and one of them is a nigh-unkillable Evil Doppelgänger to the other.
- Zig-zagged with Kamen Rider Build and its post-series movies. The series itself ends on a bittersweet but optimistic note, with all the destruction that occurred throughout the series being undone and even though most the main cast have lost their memories of what happened, Sento and Ryuga still remember everything and decide to explore the "new world" together. Come NEW WORLD: Cross-Z however, the rest of Sento and Ryuga's friends regain their memories and reunite with them. The only problem? The Big Bad also comes back and gets away at the end, meaning that a planet-devouring Omnicidal Maniac is currently at large in outer space in the Kamen Rider universe.
- The ending of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Manhattan Vigil" has about as happy an ending as you can get in a case where there was a murder: the perp is caught and makes a full confession, the primary Victim of the Week is rescued unharmed and returned to his parents (the murder was in an older case that was part of the same serial pattern), and said parents (who are divorced) seem to be on the road to reconciliation, or at least a more amicable relationship. Three seasons later, the follow-up episode "Depravity Standard" has the perp recanting his confession and claiming it was coerced, the perp's trial ends with a hung jury, and just to top the whole thing off, the victim's mother indicates that she and her ex are back at each other's throats. However, this episode also ends on a hopeful note, with Barba potentially getting what he needs to get a conviction in the retrial, so at least all is not totally lost.
- Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure does one for H₂O: Just Add Water. According to Rikki, she and her friends grew distant after graduation and found other interests to occupy their time. Rikki herself is even more jaded than before, to the point where she initially refuses to help the new mermaid trio despite the news of a Water Dragon attacking mermaids, something the teenage Rikki would've been all over.
- The Mandalorian
- Season 1 shows that Moff Gideon has possession of the Darksaber. This seems to imply that after Star Wars Rebels passed the Darksaber and leadership of the Mandalorian rebels from Sabine to Bo-Katan, the rebels were defeated by the Empire, who then proceeded to purge the Mandalorians.
- Season 3 commits Bittersweet Ending Override on Season 2. In the latter's finale, Din Djarin turns Moff Gideon in to the New Republic's officers, then reveals his own human face to Grogu. In Season 3, Din atones for revealing his face to another living thing, depriving Grogu of another chance to see it, and learns that the New Republic failed to keep Gideon locked up.
- Played with in the Season 3 finale of M*A*S*H. The episode starts with Radar coming into the OR with news that Henry is going home. Everyone is thrilled; parties, gifts, the whole 9 yards. Henry's last day in camp is sad because of all the goodbye's, but it's still happy since he is GOING HOME. But later, back in the OR, Radar comes in with a new report: Henry's plane was shot down...there were no survivors.
- Nirvana in Fire 2: The original series had a Bittersweet Ending as Mei Changsu cleared his family's name, defeated his enemies and put Jingyan on the throne before he died. The plot of this series starts with, once again, an army getting caught up in political intrigue — the very thing that led to Lin Shu becoming Mei Changsu and set off the original series' plot.
- Once Upon a Time:
- Season 6 ended with the characters finally earning their happy endings, especially the reformed villains. Season 7 is a soft reboot set in another town with Dark Curse versions of characters from a different fairy tale universe...except Henry, Regina, Killian and Rumplestiltskin have got caught up in it too. And it looks like Rumple's taken yet another spin through the Heel–Face Revolving Door.
- Turns out to be averted in the case of Killian Jones- the one in Hyperion Heights is not the one from previous seasons, but his doppelganger from the alternate Enchanted Forest created by Regina's wish. The 'real' Hook, as far as we know, is still living happily with Emma.
- The supposedly final episode of Only Fools and Horses ended with the Trotters finally becoming millionaires, just as Del had always dreamed. Then the first episode of the renewal sees Del lose all their money with a bad investment, and moving back to Nelson Mandela House.
- The beginning of Power Rangers Zeo uniquely overrides a happy ending for the villains. At the conclusion of Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers (which was also the conclusion of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) Rito Revolto and Goldar appear to succeed in securing the Zeo Crystal and setting off an implosive device that destroys the Command Centre as well as Zordon and Alpha. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa celebrate, but their victory is short-lived as King Mondo and the Machine Empire seize the opportunity to attack their lunar palace and drive them off of the moon completely. What's worse, Rito and Goldar couldn't escape the destruction of the Command Centre in time and were left stricken with a bout of amnesia, they also dropped the Zeo Crystal, the Rangers are able to recover it, and are bestowed with new powers. Zordon and Alpha are also revealed to be alive and secure inside the emergency Power Chamber. The Zeo Crystal then repairs the Command Centre building. While Zedd and Rita would reunite with Goldar and Rito and gain a measure of revenge on the Machine Empire by Zeo's finale, they were never a major threat to the Rangers again for the duration of the Zordon era.
- Power Rangers in Space:
- Zordon's sacrifice in the finale goes from destroying all evil in the universe to merely Dark Specter and his forces (Rita, Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema). Otherwise Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (and all subsequent series) couldn't happen.
- Lord Zedd's happy ending was overridden twice, the first was in the video game Power Rangers Super Legends, where a future version of Zedd reached out into the past and corrupted his purified human self, and another in Power Rangers Dino Fury where he at his most evil self was brought back into existence.
- Done multiple ways with Roseanne.
- The original Grand Finale episode starts out with everything super-happy: Dan and Roseanne's marriage is repaired, David and Darlene's baby is healthy and they're staying with the family for a while, Leon and Scott are adopting a little girl, Mark and Becky are pregnant after years of trying and she's considering medical school, everyone has good jobs and the family is still wealthy from their lottery winnings.
- Then, in one of the most infamous Wham Episode twists in television, the finale ends by retconning much of the show as being nothing but Roseanne's happy fantasy of how things should have gone, and actually the family is still poor, Darlene married Mark and Becky married David, and Dan died of a heart attack.
- Twenty years later the revival undoes THAT, reinstating most of the events of the original show except for the lottery win. Dan is still alive, and the original couples are the real ones. Except where the original finale had them Happily Married, it's now revealed that Mark died young and childless, leaving Becky a broken wreck with a drinking problem who never went back to school, David had a breakdown and abandoned Darlene and their kids, and Darlene's career has crashed and burned. All the prospects that seemed so bright completely failed during the Time Skip, forcing everyone to move back in with their parents and be miserable again. note
- Star Trek: In the Original Series episode "Mirror, Mirror", Kirk convinces the Spock of an alternate universe (in which the Federation is The Empire) to work for peace. In Deep Space Nine, that world is revisited, and it turns out that Spock took Kirk's advice, and succeeded...leading to the destruction of the Empire by its enemies. Humans, and presumably Vulcans, are now slaves. Word of God is that the episode was specifically intended to mock Kirk by changing Kirk's triumph in "Mirror, Mirror" into a bitter failure, thereby vilifying Kirk as the man singularly responsible for ruining the lives of all humanity in another universe. Later episodes in the mirror universe de-emphasized (or ignored altogether) this motive, making it more of a standard rebellion-against-alien-oppressors situation. And the Expanded Universe Star Trek: Mirror Universe novels subverted it, revealing Mirror!Spock was playing a really long game which finally succeeded over a century later, so Kirk's advice did work after all.
- Star Trek: Picard:
- The series does this with Star Trek: Nemesis. Nemesis had Data perish in a Heroic Sacrifice, but the ending provided a glimmer of hope by implying that Data may have transferred his memories to his "brother" B4. Picard then reveals that while Data had tried to do this, the process ultimately failed because B4's brain wasn't advanced enough to copy Data's mind. As far as anyone knows, Data truly is dead, a fact that weighs very heavily on Picard. As it turns out, Data has been "alive" after all, as is his active mind is contained inside a simulation in the laboratory of Dr. Soong's son.
- Likewise, Nemesis suggested that things with the Federation and the Romulans might be improving after decades of cold war hostility. Come Picard, and the Romulans are right back to being manipulative, paranoid, xenophobic schemers (however, Discovery shows that a few centuries down the line, the Romulans do mellow out. So it's only a temporary override.)
- Seven of Nine gets hit hard. In the time between Star Trek: Voyager and Picard, she was ostracized for being an ex-Borg, refused to serve with Starfleet, her adopted son Icheb is brutally vivisected and killed, and her relationships with the Voyager crew are totally non-existent to the extent Seven declares herself "alone". Thankfully, season 3 showed things turning around, serving as first officer aboard the USS Titan-A, getting back in touch with Admiral Janeway and now-Captain Tuvok, and the series ends with Seven getting promoted to captain of the Titan, which is subsequently rechristened the Enterprise-G.
- Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine also suffers this trope. DS9 ended with Odo returning to the Great Link, teaching his fellow Founders to shed their warmongering, xenophobic ways. Then, season 3 of Picard reveals that, despite Odo's efforts, there was a Renegade Splinter Faction that emerged among the Founders who refused to recognize their treaty with the Federation due to the Federation seemingly thinking nothing of Section 31 having inflicted the mutagenic virus against the Great Link and torturing Founders that they'd captured, going as far as allying with the Borg to get back at them.
- Star Trek: Voyager: Kes leaves Voyager as she Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence. Which inexplicably doesn't mean she stops aging, as we see when she returns nearly three years later. On top of that, she's bitter and delusional, thinking her friends abandoned her when she chose to leave. In the end, she decides to return to her home planet, a broken-down old woman.
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which is an Alternate Timeline to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, similarly revealed that Sarah's hopes that Terminator 2: Judgment Day had averted Skynet were false. The overall tone of the series, however, was more positive than the third film, with the revelation that there is a second Machine faction opposing Skynet who might ally with humanity and the overall implication that it might be possible to somehow alter the future to avert war between humans and A.I.s without preventing the creation of the latter.
- In Witches of East End, the Season 2 finale is bittersweet, due to one of the characters sacrificing themselves for someone they love, but otherwise the protagonists defeat almost all obstacles and come out on top. Then, the last 5 minutes of the last episode set out the complications for Season 3, which never happened - thus defeating or negating almost everything the protagonists have just achieved.
- The Hong Kong TVB drama, Witness to a Prosecution, takes this trope to the absolute extreme — in the final episode, the protagonist, Sung-Chi, ends up Happily Married with both his wives, as well as being granted a promotion with a leading position of authority as the city's lead forensics judge and head physician. In the pilot episode of the sequel (within the first five minutes!), Witness to a Prosecution 2, an enemy of Sung-Chi, due to a case of Misplaced Retribution, poisoned his wives — both which are pregnant with his babies — and sets the inn Sung's family is staying at on fire, effectively taking four lives in one fell swoop. The disgraced Sung-Chi, having lost his entire family, is forced to resign his new position in authority and flee the city, where he ends up nearly drowning in a storm before ending up in the outskirts of a rural town where nobody knows him, effectively flushing the previous season's happy ending down the drain.
