History SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' play with the scale but ultimately has a more optimistic and insightful leaning despite the fact that it toys with as many sitcom, story, and genre conventions as possible and has a lot of HeroicComedicSociopaths.

* The 2004 ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series is much more cynical than [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 the original]], with the robotic Cylons as implacable enemies despite the presence of forces within the fleet who think they can be negotiated with. But the show also functions as a raging battlefield of cynicism vs. idealism, as a rapidly declining population, hunted continuously by intelligent killing machines and running short on supplies, must determine if they should rely upon a visionary leader (whose prophecies may be nothing more than fevered rantings as a side effect of cancer medication) to lead them to a mythical promised land. Political debate and impassioned entreaties on faith abound.

* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'' swings wildly on this scale with the running theme that noble beliefs are useless until put into action. Even the worst people in the show are genuine in their beliefs and unwavering in their patriotism. Only David Rosen and President Grant are traditional idealists, though, and in the end can only be such because they are supported by the cynics. In fact Grant's success turns out to come entirely from [[spoiler:his friends rigging the election without his knowledge]].

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'' is an odd combination of idealism and cynicism. On the one hand, it's very idealistic about human nature, with just about every character having a deep desire to do the right thing and help their people survive. However, it's quite cynical about people's ability to actually ''accomplish'' anything good, with most victories coming at the cost of tremendous sacrifice or by committing horrible acts against people who were ''also'' just trying to do the right thing to help ''their'' people survive.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' swings all over the place in this one, especially in the Heisei era (2000 onwards). Early Heisei shows like ''[[Series/KamenRiderRyuki Ryuki]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'' and ''[[Series/KamenRiderBlade Blade]]'' go purely cynical with a couple of [[WideEyedIdealist idealists]] who winds up sacrificing themselves for everyone else; it also marks the introduction of evil but NotBrainwashed Kamen Riders (compare to ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', above). More recent Heisei series like ''[[Series/KamenRiderDenO Den-O]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderOOO OOO]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderFourze Fourze]]'' are much more idealistic worlds where only the {{Big Bad}}s are truly evil, and the MonstersOfTheWeek result from the desires of people who are good but misguided or manipulated into bad choices. This isn't cut-and-dried, however; the recent ''[[Series/KamenRiderDouble Double]]'' had its dark moments but is ultimately cautiously hopeful.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' really likes to straddle the line throughout its run. It starts out as a goofy, idealistic story of {{Mon}} battles, but soon plunges into a cynical deconstruction of Kamen Rider, turning it into a CosmicHorrorStory about an unstoppable force that can only be stopped by beings who couldn't give a damn about whether we die or not. If that weren't enough, many people turn into monsters and never go back; the one man with enough power to stop all off this is considering mass genocide to save what they can and is secretly being manipulated by his coworkers, who couldn't care less about his desire to save the world; the protagonist always ends up with allies that betray him, get separated, or ditch him when it's no longer useful. However, in spite of its nightmarishly large amount of darkness, it's not completely on the cynical end; Kouta's hope is shown to not be as stupid as others make it out to be and helps him go on in spite of all the crap that goes his way; Oren and Jounouchi, who were once selfish assholes that couldn't give half a damn about anyone else before, grow up and fight for altruistic goals; truly irredeemable characters get their end while those with hints of redemption don't always live, but still go out redeemed; the once unstoppable force is taken to a place by Kouta where it can't harm anyone and allows him to create new lives instead of end others; if Kouta is needed on earth, there's still little in his way of helping them. Ultimately, Gaim is a long tunnel of darkness, but there's still a light at the end of that tunnel that can be earned if one is willing to go that far.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' leans somewhere in the middle. While the show does feature the main protagonist's descent into depravity, other characters such as Jesse show more noble sides and [[spoiler: in Jesse's case, he ultimately quits the industry, survives and gets another chance at a new life]]. Additionally, [[spoiler: while Walt does die, he does so on his own terms, having secured financial stability for his family and defeated his even nastier adversaries]].

** ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' is somewhere in the middle. The series opens with a ranger actually DYING (He gets better), with a mutant criminal terrorists escaping to rewrite history and a dark background with revenge and hatred. On the other hand, the rangers don't actually kill their enemies. Rather they shrink them down for reimprisonment. And at the end of the series, the villain actually surrenders to the rangers, seeing what he has done to his family.

** While ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' kinda falls somewhere in the middle (battle-hardened mentor Dr. Tommy Oliver and a bunch of teens from vastly different worlds as the show's Power Ranger team) what sets this series apart from most of [[''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Tommy's]] [[''Series/PowerRangersZeo''other]] [[''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' series]] is primarily comparing ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' with Tommy's first appearance in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''; while both shows have the new (and adopted) kid in town as the evil Ranger of their respective shows, while Tommy is accepted right away as a new team member by Jason, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, and Zack in MMPR, it takes Conner, Kira, and Ethan quite some time to accept Trent as one of them after ''his'' time as an evil Ranger. Trent keeping the fact that his dad, Dr. Anton Mercer, is in a JekellAndHyde situation with show villain Mesogog a secret from the rest of them doesn't help matters, as he finds out towards the end of the season.

** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' is probably the most cynical of the whole franchise. The series starts with an announcement that the sentient computervirus Venjix took over the entire internet and managed to build a huge army of robotic soldiers which wiped out the majority of humanity. The survivors took refuge in the domed city of Corinth, the only place on earth not taken over by Venjix. Here, the rangers all have obvious flaws that they need to overcome, while also being the last hope of humanity's survival. The villains form a credible threat, as even a simple MonsterOfTheWeek would be enough to wipe out all remaining human life on the planet.
* ''Series/{{Sesamstraat}}'', the Dutch adaptation to ''Series/SesameStreet'' was actually considered to be too idealistic by critics during its early years, since everyone just got along a bit too well. Critics felt that the program lacked what they called "a snake in the paradise". As a result, the character of Mr. Aart was added to ''Sesamstraat'', who is a dignified, but egotistical and GrumpyOldMan who always has a complaint about the child-like Muppet characters.

** ''Series/{{Angel}}'' on the other hand, tends toward cynicism: the [[UltimateEvil Senior Partners]] can never be defeated, only temporarily inconvenienced, Wolfram and Hart will always exist because human evil will always exist, and the universe is shown to be as equally heartless to an EldritchAbomination as anyone else.

** It might as well be the perfectly other way around; the series seems so [[TastesLikeDiabetes sugar-sweet and sugarbowl-like]] to outsiders, but the [[CruelAndUnusualDeath gruesome]] [[GallowsHumor context and happenings]], which are the center of attention for nearly every episode, don't fit into the picture ''so much'' anymore.

** There's also the show that could be called the anti-West Wing, the US version of [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS House of Cards]]. For all the idealism and focus on the good government can do in The West Wing, House of Cards is the opposite, focusing on using political power solely for your own gain at the expense of everyone else.

* And then Kiefer Sutherland's next series, ''{{Series/Touch}}'', is well on the idealistic side, at least for the single-episode plotlines, which always end up for the best; whether this is true for the larger series arc remains to be seen, but given the optimistic outcome of the individual stories, one can reasonably expect the same of the larger arc.

** As far as the couples go: in the first generation, [[spoiler: Tony/Michelle couldn't make it work, Sid/Cassie had an ambiguous ending, and Chris/Jal were broken up by Chris's death]]. In the second generation, though, [[spoiler: there was a HappyEnding for the SchoolgirlLesbians with Naomi's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove to Emily, and it's more than implied that Thomas and Pandora will get one, too, as they head off to Harvard. So only Freddie/Effy get screwed, but considering that Cook/Effy were the FanPreferredCouple anyway...]]

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' is somewhere in the middle. The thesis of the show is that a decent milquetoast chemistry teacher with a loving family can enter the criminal underworld under the pretense of needing the money and end up becoming a hardened criminal who continues on with his work despite being given multiple opportunities to stop engaging in criminal activity. [[spoiler:Ultimately, his empire falls and while he secures the future of his family, he does not survive the ordeal.]] However, several characters have more noble reasons for their involvement in the trade and [[spoiler:Jesse's case, he ultimately survives and manages to start a new life.]] While [[spoiler:Walt does die, he does so on his own terms and defeats his even nastier adversaries]], so the series isn't entirely without idealism.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' is firmly on the cynical side of things. The thesis of the show is that a decent milquetoast chemistry teacher with a loving family can enter the criminal underworld under the pretense of needing the money and end up becoming a hardened criminal who continues on with his work despite being given multiple opportunities to stop engaging in criminal activity. [[spoiler:Ultimately, his empire falls and while he secures the future of his family, he does not survive the ordeal.]]