History Deconstruction / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': When the series first introduced the ComicBook/SuicideSquad it was depicted as highly effective, despite the individual members being shown to be wildly dysfunctional at best. Later episodes deconstruct the government controlled BoxedCrook supervillain team archetype and show what a bad idea outsourcing black ops to criminals really is.
** Cupid and Bronze Tiger are the only two Squad members who survive to work off their sentence and get released. Both almost immediately end up back in prison for other crimes, since the Squad didn't rehabilitate them or even pretend to try. Cupid is seriously mentally ill and goes on a killing spree as soon as she is released. Meanwhile, although it seems like Tiger really did want to become a better person, his extensive criminal record made it basically impossible to reintegrate into normal society.
** Lyla Michaels shuts down the program for moral reasons when Amanda Waller is murdered and she becomes director of ARGUS. When she and John Diggle consider reactivating it, they have to do so in secret because the original Squad was a massive PR embarrassment for ARGUS and they only avoided serious repercussions by claiming that Amanda Waller went rogue and set the whole thing up without the higher-ups' knowledge. It also causes Curtis Holt to quit ARGUS, because he recognises that it is a slippery slope.
** The new squad consists of a ruthless assassin, an unstable lunatic, a murderous psychopath with DaddyIssues and previous season BigBad Ricardo Diaz, all of whom have personal animosity to Lyla and John and also hate each other. Diaz in particular openly admits that if his ExplosiveLeash ever fails he will betray and kill them. Their first mission is an embarrassing failure as Diaz does indeed short out his implant with a defibrillator, warns the target what is happening and tries to murder them.
** After the debacle, the program is shut down again, the Squad members are returned to prison and John has to claim he set up the whole thing behind Lyla's back and resign in disgrace to prevent her being fired.

* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'': A common facet of the series. It ultimately examines how the "wacky" antics seen on typical {{Sitcom}}s would not be as fun if they occurred in real life. In addition, there is no NegativeContinuity in the series, meaning that problems build up and have a lasting effect. Lastly, it breaks down the misogyny that is often inherent to the typical American sitcom, showing how much darkness can be masked with a laugh track.
** When Kevin spends all of his and Allison's savings on a sports memorabilia scam, it's presented as being the immature and reckless act that it is, rather than brushed off as it normally would be in these situations.
** As miserable as she is, you may wonder why Allison doesn't just divorce Kevin and leave. The series lays out exactly why escaping an abusive marriage can be so hard -- it costs money to get a divorce and start over, and he controls what little money they have left. And because he's spent so long isolating and abusing her, all the people Allison sees regularly are ''his'' friends; she doesn't even have anyone who could put her up on their couch for a few weeks or something.
** Patty's casual relationship acquaintance and DoggedNiceGuy Kurt impulsively proposes to her in the aftermath of [[spoiler: her drug supplier getting arrested]]. In a sitcom world, it might have worked, but here we see why that's frequently a terrible idea, as Kurt realizes he knows next-to-nothing about her and rescinds his offer just as Patty's warming up to it.
** [[spoiler: As Patty makes it very clear to Allison, her plan to kill Kevin with pills only has a guaranteed chance of working if she is ''absolutely certain'' Kevin will actually die. There's a chance that he will just wake up the next day after blacking out.]]
** Played with at the end of the finale, where it's actually inverted in that [[spoiler: Neil's sitcom-standard buffoon behavior in falling for Kevin's lie about a hide-and-seek contest ends up with him overhearing that Allison planned to kill Kevin -- then snaps back to this when instead of talking him down, Patty smashes a bottle over his head to keep him from choking Allison out]].

* The finale of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' can easily be viewed as a deconstruction of a HUGE number of tropes, from TV shows to character tropes to audience reactions. It is so biting with how SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome happens that it is a main reason why the GrandFinale was so controversial, all along the irony of the episode name "Last Forever." A brief rundown goes as follows:

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' also deconstructs the {{Mons}} genre with its Invess, as it is made clear that the Invess are dangerous monsters and it's very easy to lose control of them. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs when it turns out that creatures from another world carry diseases totally unknown to the human immune system, which in turn leads to the protagonists being alienated by the public for their participation in the Invess Games. And this in turn leads to another deconstruction of just what happens when you give teenagers superpowers, as one Rider actually sets Invess on the public after they call him out and a group of teens use them to rob banks [[ThenLetMeBeEvil because they might as well with all the bad rap going on]]. A villainous Rider deconstructs the entire premise of Kamen Rider by delivering the following line after [[spoiler: killing a monster who was actually a human transformed by the fruit of Helheim.]]

* ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'' deconstructs the BumblingDad and FoolishHusbandResponsibleWife tropes by showing just how awful it would be for someone to live with or be friends with a person who acted like the the fathers/husbands seen in most sitcoms. The titular Kevin is a completely selfish {{Manchild}} who regularly manipulates and abuse his friends and his wife for his own benefit and amusement and thinks they all love him anyway. This is shown by Kevin's view being seen through a "sitcom filter" where everything in his eyes is all bright and cheerful, he gets a StudioAudience, and thinks he's the center of the world. Outside of the filter, everything and everyone is dour and Kevin's behavior on other people is shown much more realistically. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome It comes to a boil]] in the finale where [[spoiler: Kevin's friends eventually get sick of his antics and abandon him while his wife states she's filing for divorce and will never love him. This sends Kevin into a fit of rage since he's no longer being loved unconditionally or getting any attention anymore, so he attempts to burn his wife's belongings as a form of revenge, only for the fire to spread out of control and kill him in the process.]]

** ''Series/UltramanNexus'' (and prequel movie ''Film/UltramanTheNext'') is a deconstruction of the usual {{Kaiju}} and ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' shows. It shows what will happen if giant aliens and monsters actually appeared in real life and [[ToServeMan no, it isn't pleasant]]. It also explores [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the realities]] behind a human suddenly merging with an alien being to become a superhero and not every host takes it well, along with how people would react if they saw a giant humanoid being suddenly appear to battle the monsters. This is why Nexus is considered DarkerAndEdgier than most Tokusatsu as well as one of the darkest entries in the ''Ultra Series''.

* ''Series/StrangerThings'' deconstructs the EldritchAbomination with its BigBad, the Mind Flayer. Yes, the Mind Flayer is an immensely powerful, wholly unique being, but because it's so powerful and thus so used to getting what it wants, it [[ManChild essentially has the mindset of a toddler]]. It doesn't know how to deal with resistance or setbacks to its plans, only being able to throw a temper tantrum in response. And since it's so unique and self-reliant, it has [[NoSocialSkills no idea how to interact with and blend into a social species like humans]], to the point where it has to effectively leave its hosts on autopilot most of the time, because when it takes them over directly, it [[PaperThinDisguise can't act in a way that doesn't immediately clue every human into what it actually is]]. Furthermore, since its sheer power makes it used to easy victory, whenever it is significantly harmed, or ''especially'' defeated in one of its plans, it will launch into a full-blown [[EvilIsPetty petty revenge]] mode from which it will never leave, [[StupidEvil even when the petty revenge is severely detrimental to its long-term goals]]. In short, while it is powerful and dangerous, it also showcases all the ways that existing as an EldritchAbomination would [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome limit a person psychologically]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': When the series first introduced the ComicBook/SuicideSquad, despite showing the various members to be dysfunctional at best, the Squad itself is depicted as highly effective. Later episodes deconstruct the government controlled BoxedCrook supervillain team archetype and show what a bad idea contracting black ops out to criminals actually is.
** Cupid and Bronze Tiger are the only two Squad members who survive to work off their sentence and get released. Both almost immediately end up back in prison for other crimes, since the Squad didn't rehabilitate them or even pretend to try. Cupid is seriously mentally ill and goes on a killing spree as soon as she is released; meanwhile, although it seems like Tiger really did want to become a better person, his extensive criminal record made it basically impossible to reintegrate into society.
** Lyla Michaels shuts down the program for moral reasons when she becomes director of ARGUS. When she and John Diggle consider reactivating it, they have to do so in secret because the original Squad was a massive PR embarrassment for ARGUS and they only avoided serious repercussions by claiming that Amanda Waller, who is dead, went rogue and set the whole thing up without the higher-ups' knowledge. It also causes Curtis Holt to quit ARGUS, because he recognises that it is a slippery slope.

** Lyla Michaels shuts down the program for moral reasons when she becomes director of ARGUS. When she and John Diggle consider reactivating it, they have to do so in secret because the original Squad was a massive PR embarrassment for ARGUS and they only avoided serious repercussions by claiming Amanda Waller, who is dead, went rogue and set the whole thing up without the higher-ups' knowledge. It also causes Curtis Holt to quit ARGUS, because he recognises that it is a slippery slope.
** The new squad consists of a ruthless assassin, an unstable lunatic, a murderous psychopath with DaddyIssues and previous season BigBad Ricardo Diaz, all of whom have personal animosity to Lyla and John. Diaz in particular openly admits that if his ExplosiveLeash ever fails he will betray and kill them. Their first mission is an embarrassing failure as Diaz does indeed short out his implant with a defibrillator, warns the target what is happening and tries to murder them.
** After the debacle, the program is shut down again, the Squad members are returned to prison and John has to claim he set up the whole thing behind Lyla's back to prevent her being fired.

** Lyla Michaels shuts down the program for moral reasons when she becomes director of ARGUS. When she and John Diggle consider reactivating it, they have to do so in secret because the original Squad was a massive PR embarassment for ARGUS and the higher-ups will shut it down if they catch them. It also causes Curtis Holt to quit ARGUS, because he recognises that it is a slippery slope.