- 2 Broke Girls: Max is the Dark Feminine (snarky, dark-haired), Caroline is the Light Feminine (blonde, rich, and a bit naïve).
- At the beginning of the second season of Agent Carter, Daniel Sousa is attracted to two women: Violet, his bubbly blonde nurse girlfriend (who bakes), and Peggy, the snarky brunette secret agent coworker for whom he harbors an unresolved crush that hasn't quite gone away.
- In Arabela, we have sisters Xenia (dark, seductive) and Arabela (light, pure).
- In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffy and Faith are Vampire Slayers, the Chosen Two. Bad girl Faith says that killing vampires always makes her hungry and horny contrasted with Buffy who sometimes craves a nonfat yogurt afterward and cares about always doing the right thing. This trope gets a thorough workout when their bodies are switched.
- Conversations with Friends: Frances is more shy, reserved, and vulnerable. Her best friend/former lover Bobbi is bold, confident, and very outspoken. Frances complains about how they clash at times, with Bobbi thinking that she's repressed as her emotional life isn't as strong and open while judging things too much for her tastes. It's a pretty interesting portrayal of an introvert and extrovert being friends, who have realistic difficulties given that. However, even so, Frances movingly tells Bobbi that she's the center of her world.
- Degrassi: The Next Generation has the noble Emma as light and her best friend the provocative Manny as dark.
- Doctor Who: In "The Enemy of the World", the two heroic "Bond girl" characters are Astrid—wholesome, a pilot working for the good guys, optimistic and with a Stiff Upper Lip; and Fariah, a woman heavily implied to have dark secrets in her past. Astrid is innocently charming, very honest, and fights with straightforward Action Girl methods, while Fariah is beguiling, mysterious, and fights with social manipulation. Both Astrid and Fariah flirt with men at one point to get them to do what they want, but when Astrid does it she just ends up gushing to the Doctor about how wonderful he is, while Fariah will smolder on cue if it means Salamander is less likely to suspect her of leaking information.
- Rose Tyler and Lady Cassandra are presented in this fashion. Rose is an honest, fun-loving, and caring humble heroine with a slight selfish streak that loves the Doctor in an almost naive fashion. Lady Cassandra, being a Foil to Rose, is an arrogant, vain, and racist upper-class lady that lived a good part of her life fooling her lovers in order to gain more wealth. The story arc involving the two explores British class warfare, ideas of beauty, and what makes a person "human".
- Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23: Most of the show's storylines are generated by the contrast between the short, trusting, and sweet June and the tall, manipulative, and promiscuous Chloe. Of course, the plot is driven by the fact that June can keep up with Chloe and regularly gives her a taste of her own medicine.
- Euphoria:
- Brunette Maddy and blonde Cassie. The former wears outfits with darker colors like purple while Cassie's outfits have lighter tones like pastel blue. Maddy is more seductive and brooding. Cassie is sweet and desperate for love.
- Rue and Jules similarly have brown vs blonde hair while wearing darker or lighter colors. In Rue's case, she's a troubled drug addict who's pretty cynical and keeps aloof a lot (except for from Jules). Contrasting this, Jules is more light-hearted, open, and wants approval. They date but have a difficult relationship.
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has the Proud Beauty Hilary (dark) and the Nice Girl Ashley (light).
- Gilmore Girls: For a while, Rory unexpectedly enters the role of Dark Feminine in a Betty and Veronica triangle with Lindsay, Dean's wife. Seeing how O.O.C. Is Serious Business, it doesn't last that long and comes with some repercussions.
- The Golden Girls: Rose and Blanche are the most traditionally feminine of the four characters. Where Rose is a sweet, if somewhat ditzy woman, Blanche is self-centered and obsessed with men.
- Gossip Girl: Best friends and sometimes enemies Serena and Blair. Serena is usually the light, and Blair usually the dark, but it's zigzagged & subverted throughout the series. Serena acted as a dark feminine pre-series whereas Blair was fierier but ultimately light feminine before both use both types at different places during the show's run.
- In Grey's Anatomy, there are several distinct duos. Lexie, The Ingenue, is the light to her friend Sadie, who has all the markings of The Tease, as well as Julia, Mark's other love interest at this point. Ellis Grey, the bossy former mistress of Richard is the dark to his wife, Adele. In a similar fashion, and in a rare example where the protagonist is played in some way as the dark half of this duo, Meredith is played for a while as the dark to Addison's light.
- Hawkeye (2021) has a case that twists the visual reference, in that Kate Bishop, who loves dark colors (specially purple) is the cheerful optimist, while Yelena Belova dresses in bright colors (aside from her black tactical suit) yet is cynical and distrustful.
- HEX has a little fun with this trope.
- Bookish, virginal Cassie, kindly teacher Jo, and nice Series 2 Beta Bitch Alex start out as the Light. Yet Cassie under Azazeal's control becomes a full-blown vamp for a while and then sacrifices herself to protect the resulting son. Jo also falls for Azazeal's charms and undergoes a Face–Heel Turn for his sake. Alex goes darker when Malachi grants her wish to supplant Roxanne as the Queen Bee and is turned into a succubus as a result.
- Roxanne, Gemma and Ella all lean towards the Dark with the first two being more concerned about sex than relationships and the latter being willing to use Leon as demon bait. Gemma becomes the Light as she leaves the school when Troy does, realising she really does love him, Roxanne undergoes a moral awakening late in Series 2 and Ella comes to realise how much she really does love Leon, and spends the last moments of the series making out with him as the apocalypse begins.
- It's Okay to Not Be Okay: Nam Ju-ri is the Light to Ko Moon-young's Dark. Ju-ri is a kind, shy nurse from a modest background. Moon-young is an antisocial, elegant dark children's book author often dressed in haute couture.
- Merlin (2008):
- The series has Guinevere, the good-hearted heroine, and Morgana, the villainess. Interestingly, Gwen is linked more with desire than Morgana, who (despite a couple of early Femme Fatale scenes) almost comes across as asexual in her complete lack of interest in men. And as an added ironic bonus, Guinevere (light) is played by mixed-race Angel Coulby, and Morgana (dark) is played by extremely pale Katie McGrath—though with very dark hair.
- In the episode The Hunter's Heart, Guinevere gets a turn at playing the dark feminine in contrast to visiting Princess Mithian's light.
- In Mr. Robot, Angela Moss is the Light Feminine to Darlene Alderson's Dark Feminine. Angela is blonde, innocent, even-tempered, in a steady relationship, and holding a steady job with a cybersecurity company. Darlene is dark-haired, flirty, hot-tempered, unafraid of casual sexual encounters, and involved with a radical hacker group. Their first scene together, in a ballet class, subtly highlights this: Angela wears a traditional pink leotard with a skirt, while Darlene wears provocative black short-shorts with a gothic-looking black mesh top.
- No Tomorrow: Evie is sweet, cheerful, naive, and only wants to have a monogamous, committed relationship. Kareema, her best friend, is a sarcastic nihilist who (before Sofia) only engages in casual sex.
- In Parks and Recreation, the bubbly and optimistic blonde Leslie is the epitome of Light Feminine. Her foil is the brunette Ann Perkins, who is realistic and snarky, as is Leslie's protégée April Ludgate.
- Pretty Little Liars has two pairs among the four main characters: Hanna and Emily are light, while Aria and Spencer are dark—they are more flirtatious and employ different degrees of the Fille Fatale trope.
- Allison is a Dark feminine contrast both to Emily herself when they enter a relationship, and to Paige - her rivaling love interest for Emily. Paige is also the light to Maya's dark before Maya is killed.
- There is also a similar contrast between Paige's love interests: Nice Girl Emily and Shana the Wild Card, who is an aggressive flirt as well as a total psycho.
- Allison is also the dark to Aria's light as Ezra's love interests.
- In Riverdale, the OG Betty and Veronica are a pretty obvious case of light and dark - Betty is the chaste Girl Next Door and a Stepford Smiler, while Veronica is a flirty Spicy Latina from the Big Applesauce.
- Later in the season, a new Betty and Veronica duo appears - Valerie is the light feminine, girly, and a bit of a pushover, while Miss Grundy is the Hot for Student cougar with a Dark and Troubled Past. Veronica is also later contrasted as the dark to Valerie's light both as her short-term replacement with the Pussycats and as Archie's eventual love interest.
- After the reveal of their family bond, Betty and Cheryl can be an example as well as Betty is the light while Cheryl is the dark.
- Robin Hood:
- The first 2 series has Marian as the light feminine, who was replaced by Isabella, the dark feminine.
- In the third series, in which Isabella and Kate are rivals for Robin's affection, Kate would also count as the light feminine in contrast to Isabella's dark. However, after Isabella's Face–Heel Turn it became a blatant Madonna-Whore Complex.
- In Runaways (2017), Nico the surly brunette goth girl with black magic powers, and Karolina the blonde smiling sweetie with an alien heritage. They're an item.
- Schitt's Creek:
- Moira's hair color changes with her wigs, but she often has dark hair and dresses in black and white clothes, and she has a melodramatic, self-centered personality. Her friend Jocelyn, on the other hand, is a blond, Stepford Smiler who often puts the needs of others above her own, at least until she reaches her Rage Breaking Point.
- Dark-haired Stevie is an introverted, cynical, and pessimistic young woman, while the blond Alexis is a bubbly, cheerful, optimistic, and energetic young woman.
- At the beginning of Smash, sweet, Midwestern Naïve Everygirl Karen is the Light Feminine to sexy, jaded, and been-around-the-block Ivy's Dark Feminine. In a variation on the usual corresponding physical tropes, Karen is tall and brunette while Ivy is short and blonde. As the series goes on and Karen comes face-to-face with the ruthless ambition required to be a star on Broadway, her wide-eyed innocence fades.
- Star Trek: Picard: Jurati is the light to Raffi's dark. Jurati is bubbly and talkative while Raffi is a brooding drug addict. Subverted, however, when Jurati proves to be less light than she seems.
- Supernatural has a very literal version of this trope in Season 4, which sees Sam Winchester enter into a destructive love affair with a dark-haired, manipulative demon named Ruby while his brother Dean has a fling with a kind, idealistic, red-headed Fallen Angel named Anna. In a twist, when Ruby and Anna spend time together, they get along quite well.
- The Tudors has the seductive, manipulative, and tragic Anne Boleyn (dark-haired) contrasting with the good-hearted, subservient, and also tragic Jane Seymour (light-haired). Exaggerated though it may be for fiction, this fits the traditional views of both doomed women.
- The Vampire Diaries: Elena is the Light Feminine and Katherine is the Dark Feminine. Elena and Katherine, who are both doppelgangers, share an uncanny physical resemblance, but in terms of morals, Elena is known as good and moral, while Katherine is known as bad and immoral.
- A Veronica Mars episode plays the dark/light contrast between Meg and Veronica herself (who also serve as a Betty and Veronica triangle for Princely Young Man Duncan), in his own dream. Veronica is wearing a skimpy black outfit—Meg is in an angelic white dress. Veronica gags Meg who scolds Duncan for forgetting about the love they had and then goes off on Duncan for his childish feelings for Meg.Veronica: Is that really what you want? Teddy bears and mash notes. Grow up. Grow up and get over it!
- Xena: Warrior Princess (dark, being a warrior) and Gabrielle (light, being more of a diplomat). Granted, Xena was a Tomboy Princess, but in her first appearance, she was also quite decidedly The Vamp.
- On a meta level are two female-targeted cable networks—Hallmark Channel (light) specializes in light Romance and heartwarming drama, while Lifetime (dark) has a lot of Thriller and Crime Drama material (though both channels devote every December to Christmas Romantic Comedy). Many production companies contribute starkly contrasting original movies to both channels.
