History Main / SadistShow

* ''{{Nichijou}}''. For starters, we have Nano, who finds it embarrassing that she's a robot and has to wear a key on her back all the time, and Sakamoto, who is prone to getting hurt by some thing or another. Then there's everything that happens to Yuko, Mio, and Mai during the series. [[{{TheGadfly}} Mio's older sister]] is just one more problem that Mio herself has to deal with.

* ''Manga/LuckyStar'', somewhat. While a lot of it ''is'' fluff and cuteness, the girls ''do'' tend to find themselves in awkward situations much of the time. Examples? [[spoiler: Tsukasa having no say when Konata and Kagami go to see a slasher movie, the three girls (not much later in the same episode) finding themselves in a jam at a cake buffet, Miyuki missing a dentist appointment while waiting inside the lobby, Yui barging in drunk just when Konata and Soujiro are about to have a nice, heartwarming moment, more than one instance of Kuroi-sensei appearing online and telling Konata to go study instead of gaming, Konata scaring Tsukasa while they're sleeping at the beachhouse, and let's not even get started on [[ChewToy Hiyori]] or the Lucky Channel segments!]]
** Then there's the spinoff, Miyakawa-ke no Kuufuku, which is all about how Hikage, the younger of two sisters, is always starving to death because she and her sister can barely afford food due to said sister's wasteful spending habits.
* ''The Melancholy of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is this at times, probably peaking at the infamous "Haruhi steals a computer by threatening to frame a bunch of hapless nerds for gang-rape" scene. She spends a lot of time harassing Mikuru, too. But most of the characters are likable, Haruhi doesn't seem outright malicious as much as self centered, and things get significantly better after her CharacterDevelopment.

* YMMV on whether ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' counts. The protagonist has no backbone and is nearly everyone's ExtremeDoormat, the EmotionlessGirl is easy to sympathize with [[MisaimedFandom (but she isn't supposed to be)]], and so is the FieryRedhead despite being one of the people that contributes towards making said doormat's life a living hell.

* Played for drama in ''BreakingBad.'' The show opens with Walt deciding to use his scientific expertise to make a batch of meth so he can pay for his cancer treatments. His life spirals downward from there, further and further, as the expense of treatment draws Walt deeper and deeper into the drug world.

* ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', the semireal tales of a mangaka who went through a loss of humiliation and abuse.

** -> "MARI, MARI! Sweeter than a cherry. Head is kinda airy. SHE LOVES YOU!!! KARI, KARI! Horrible and Scary! If you mess with Mari; SHE'LL KILL YOU!!"

* ''MadTV''

** Or shows like ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' and ''CupcakeWars'' which is a stage by stage elimination show where 3 out of 4 chefs dreams gets crushed one chef at a time.

** Or shows like ''{{Chopped}}'' and ''CupcakeWars'' which is a stage by stage elimination show where 3 out of 4 chefs dreams gets crushed one chef at a time.

* Pretty much any of Paul Verhoeven's movies. Even the 'heroes' are unlikeable and amoral, tending to use sex as a weapon against others. Bad things happen to his characters, and you can't really find a reason to care. (The SFX are usually pretty entertaining, though.)

Often overlaps with the GrossoutShow. An ImmoralRealityShow will usually be this in-universe. May be the [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil result]], [[HumansAreBastards cause]] or overlap a WorldHalfEmpty. Essentially the basic premise of a DarkFic. Compare KafkaKomedy. Compare and contrast PointAndLaughShow (RealLife {{Jerkass}}es, but dispensing with the torture in favor of just laughing at their existence).

* ''TheMuppets''. Have you ever seen a group of characters get shat upon as badly as Kermit and the gang does in this movie? Even the ending is more or less a depressingly unhappy one.

* ''AmazingNurseNanako''. One of the few shows starring a female ButtMonkey. And it's played for laughs, too.

** And then there's that Japanese game show in ''Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo'', which involves things like skunks, human pinatas, lightning, volcanoes, and scorpions.

* ''ItsNotMyFaultImNotPopular'', the semireal tales of a mangaka who went through a loss of humiliation and abuse.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'', for both the parents (whose teenage son drives them crazy), and for said son (whom they [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents deliberately humiliate]], as if that's an acceptable way to run ''any'' relationship). Though, to their credit, at least they're not nearly as abusive as [[Magazine/{{MAD}} Monroe's]] parents.

* ''MeetTheParents'' and its sequels have one thing after another go wrong for BenStiller's character. Even after his [[EarnYourHappyEnding happy ending]] in the first movie, he is embarrassed once more during the credits.

->''"Why is everybody we know depressing?"''
-->--'''[[FamilyGuy Stewie Griffin]]''', "Grumpy Old Man"

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The protagonist has no backbone and is nearly everyone's ExtremeDoormat, the EmotionlessGirl is easy to sympathize with [[MisaimedFandom (but she isn't supposed to be)]], and so is the FieryRedhead despite being one of the people that contributes towards making said doormat's life a living hell.

There's a German word, ''{{Schadenfreude}}.'' It means "the joy you get at seeing other people's misfortune" (Schaden = "damage", Freude = "joy"). The SadistShow is built on it, mainly for psychopaths. In this kind of show, there are no sympathetic characters whatsoever, and nobody will ever PetTheDog. Everybody is both obnoxious and incompetent, beyond even the UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist. The audience can't really root for them, so the fun is in seeing the characters [[DeusAngstMachina suffer more than they deserve]], more than Job, [[TheChewToy more than possibly everybody in the history of the human race combined]]. In short, it's a comedy, but not in the Shakespearean sense.

* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays''. Maybe the ONLY harem series that takes itself seriously.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The protagonist has no backbone and is nearly everyone's ExtremeDoormat, the EmotionlessGirl is easy to sympathize with, and so is the FieryRedhead despite being one of the people that contributes making said doormat's life a living hell.

* ''The Melancholy of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. The eponymous character is God! Absolutely everything has to go her way, at all costs. And that's mainly so that she can fondle Mikuru and treat her as her dress-up doll as much as she wants to. [[spoiler: The last episode is ''all'' about that.]] (Kyon is better off than Mikuru, but not much.)
** On the other hand, most of the characters are likable, Haruhi doesn't seem outright malicious as much as self centered, and things get significantly better after her CharacterDevelopment.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. The rules of the universe were made specifically to make all girls who contract with [[WeaselMascot Kyubey]] as miserable as possible for the rest of their lives. Those last five words take on a whole new meaning too: [[spoiler: It means they'll become witches once they lose all hope for life, if they don't get killed by any first.]]

* The ''When They Cry'' series, but to be fair, it's all because of [[spoiler:the HatePlague]].

* ''Manga/LoveHina''. Everything bad that happens to the main protaganist is meant to be funny.
* ''Manga/GirlsBravo'' takes that [[UpToEleven to the point where its own protagonist becomes allergic to females]].

* ''JigokuShoujo''. That. is. all.

** Snigger.