History NeverMyFault / LiveActionTV

* Walter White from ''Series/BreakingBad'' has a serious, nearly life-long habit of this. Whether it's the company he founded with his Elliot and Gretchen in college, (a company he walked out on after a tiff, which later [[ThePeteBest became worth billions]]) his feud with Gus, the dissolution of his family, the destruction of his relationship with Jesse, or any number of other examples, Walt has a tendency to take actions out of [[{{Narcissist}} sheer pride and ego]], then point the finger at others when it goes badly. Only in the very final episode of the series does come clean about one of these, when he finally admits that the reason he got into manufacturing and distributing meth never had anything to do with providing for his family, but because [[EvilFeelsGood he enjoyed it]] and it made him feel alive in a way that he hadn't in years, perhaps decades.

* Liz in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' has a minor tendency to blame the "sexist standards" of society for her own incompetence and personal failings. Jack calls her out on it in season 4 when she tries to pull the sexism card to excuse away her inability to get a steady relationship, pointing out that the only thing keeping her from settling down is her obnoxious flaws and childish bitterness.

** Many Narns have the same problem. Certainly G'Kar did early in the show's run; he would often blame the Centauri for problems on his own homeworld. While there may be some truth to his claim, it's certainly not the ''only'' factor; as Londo points out, at least some of the problems on the Narn homeworld are caused by the Narn [[NeverBeHurtAgain aggressively building their war machine]] for "self-protection". G'Kar [[CharacterDevelopment got over it]] as the series went along.

* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'': Mitchell takes this position over the Box Tunnel Massacre when he is confronted with his victims. First he blames Lucy for betraying him, then Daisy for egging him on. When Lia pushes him far enough, he finally takes responsibility and admits that he doesn't deserve forgiveness.

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E5ReptileBoy Reptile Boy]]", Cordelia insists that Buffy go to a party with her, over Buffy's repeated objections. The party turns out to be a trap, and Buffy and Cordelia are captured by demons. Cordelia angrily tells Buffy, ''"I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here!"'' Buffy does nothing but stare at Cordelia incredulously.

** Flashbacks establish that Wilson Fisk's father was one of these kinds of people. Bill's idea of "making a man" out of Wilson involved demeaning him, teaching him to blame others for his problems (including blaming Wilson himself for his own problems) and playing cruel jokes on him. When he lost the city council election, he believed that the reason he lost was because his wife and son didn't show him enough respect at home, not because he was a vile, vicious, petty loser. This led to him beating his wife with a belt, and caused Wilson to snap and kill him with a hammer.

** Nobu has an example of this in "Shadows in the Glass", after his Black Sky is killed by Stick, when he angrily confronts Fisk about not providing the Black Sky more protection. Fisk points out that Nobu only asked for the docks to be cleared of police interference and he held up that end of the deal, and it was Nobu's responsibility to inform Fisk of the importance of the incoming cargo.

** The first season had [[SmugSnake Gus]] bring in a therapist to control the stress levels, and only succeeds in getting everyone more stressed out in the first place (oddly enough, even though it's Gus who's getting them all wound up, they dress the punching bag up like George, the only decent person in the cast). Gus later orders a group session in which he wants two people to describe what they think about each other. Gus decides on Dave and Henry, who had only just had a blazing row over a race horse that Dave talked Henry into buying. Naturally, a punch up takes place. Gus later announces that he blames George for it. Gus then gets extra {{Jerkass}} points for throwing a temper tantrum when George points out that he tried to warn him several times about making Dave and Henry do the exercise.

** An early episode has Frank Underwood dealing with a local political hot potato in his hometown of Gaffney, South Carolina, known as the Peachoid (a real life water tower). Ostensibly, county administrator Oren Chase is trying to have Frank blamed for the death of a teenage girl who crashed her car while texting about what the Peachoid looked like. Apparently, they think that since Frank fought so hard for the creation of the Peachoid, and because the 16-year-old girl crashed her car while texting a joke about what the tower looked like, he's responsible for her death, instead of the obvious - it's her own fault that she's dead because she decided to engage in distracted driving.

** ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'': Prince Vekar is a spoiled prince who prefers giving orders than doing his own dirty work, and then lash out when they make a mistake cause by his own negligence or laziness. Second episode, he asks who would actually set the missiles to be launched hours later. When told it was him, he responded to only listen to his ideas when they're good ones; he then says they all are, except this one. Then the Rangers ruin his plans and he blames everyone else for his obvious screw up.
* The three part "Trilogy" episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' sees Sam leaping through various identities throughout the decades in order to protect a young woman named Abigail as both a child and an adult who is consistently being targeted by an AxCrazy woman named Leta Aider who blames Abigail for the deaths of her husband and daughter and sees her as a cursed hellspawn. During the first part, Sam leaps into Abigail's father and rushes to save her from Leta who has chased Abigail to an abandoned house trying to kill her, and winds up setting it on fire. Sam manages to save Abigail, but his host is killed (Sam barely leaps out of him in time). In part two when Sam confronts Leta over her actions killing Abigail's father in his host, Leta repeatedly insists that she isn't the one to blame for starting the fire. And the deaths of her family, the entire reason Leta persecuted the poor girl ''for over twenty years?'' Turns out it was Leta's fault. She killed them for the insurance money, and it was her deep-seated guilt that drove her over the edge and led her to blame a ten-year-old for something she had nothing to do with. Her inability to get over her resentment of Abigail eventually reaches the point where Leta ''kills herself'' just to try and frame Abigail for it.

** Lucifer sees himself as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, and for the longest time in the show you believe him. He's constantly saying how wrong it is that he was a faithful servant of his father, and his only crime was to not bow down before humans, and with how imperfect they are, you can hardly blame him. Then in "Hammer of the Gods", his younger brother Gabriel reveals the truth: he wasn't forced to bow down before them, it was the fact that [[ParentalFavoritism God loved him most of all]] before transferring his affections to humans. In retaliation, Lucifer twisted a human soul into a demon, trying to get his father to admit they were horrible creations and destroy them, thus getting to be front and center again. [[TheGrimReaper Death]] even refers to him as a bratty child having a temper-tantrum. He gets called out on it again in the season 5 finale, when Lucifer is about to have his climatic showdown with his older brother Michael. He tries to talk Michael out of it by saying that God controls everything, and thus he forced Lucifer to be the devil, so it's not his fault. Michael promptly says that he hasn't changed a bit and he's still blaming everyone but himself for what he did.

* On ''Series/TheTudors'', this is one of Henry VIII's defining character traits. If he no longer loves his wife, it's her fault (and she probably tricked him into marrying her in the first place). If he can't get a divorce from his wife, it's Cardinal Wolsey's fault. If his unborn son was deformed, it was his wife's fault. If he doesn't like Anne of Cleves, it's Cromwell's fault. If he married a woman who wasn't a virgin before she met him (even though she was introduced to him ''as his mistress''), it's the other man's fault. If he comes to regret [[spoiler:banishing]] Wolsey and [[spoiler:executing]] Cromwell, it's the Privy Council's fault. And so on and so forth.

** As proof the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, we see Trish take on a lot of her mom's blame-shifting traits in season 2, with her always making excuses for her actions or very weak apologies as she gets more and more addicted to Will Simpson's inhaler.

** However, to illustrate that Lois is in no way blameless, just take a look at the SeriesFinale. Lois deliberately screws Malcolm out of a cushy, well-paying job that had fallen into his lap, and proceeds to inform him that she had planned out his entire life for him, intending him to [[MiseryBuildsCharacter start at nearly the bottom rung of society]], and working his way up to ''becoming President of the United States.'' All because she blames the family's problems on society taking advantage of them because they're poor, even though the whole reason they're poor is because they're selfish and irresponsible people.

* The three part "Trilogy" episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' sees Sam leaping through various identities throughout the decades in order to protect a young woman named Abigail as both a child and an adult who is consistently being targeted by an AxCrazy woman named Leta Aider who blames Abigail for the deaths of her husband and daughter and sees her as a cursed hellspawn. During the first part, Sam leaps into Abigail's father and rushes to save her from Leta who has chased her to an abandoned house trying to kill her, and winds up setting it on fire. Sam manages to save Abigail, but his host is killed (Sam barely leaps out of him in time). In part two when Sam confronts Leta over her actions killing Abigail's father in his host, Leta repeatedly insists that she isn't the one to blame for starting the fire. And the deaths of her family, the entire reason Leta persecuted the poor girl ''for over twenty years?'' Turns out it was Leta's fault. She killed them for the insurance money, and it was her deep-seated guilt that drove her over the edge and led her to blame a ten-year-old for something she had nothing to do with.

** One instance that makes a sick sort of sense is the Drive Plate Disaster that killed everyone on Red Dwarf. He claims that had Lister been there to help him, Rimmer wouldn't have screwed up fixing the drive plate. Given that over the course of the series, Lister has proven to be quite technically savvy and Rimmer is completely incompetent (a resurrected Rimmer says to the resurrected captain that anyone capable of screwing up fixing the plate would have the brain the size of a newt's testicle), he might actually be right. Indeed, in an alternate universe, Lister became captain of Red Dwarf in part because he was able to find and repair the drive plate[[note]]He received shares as a hush payment, and became very rich as a result of a lucky discovery of a Helium-7 moon. Lister would make enough money to buy Red Dwarf[[/note]]. However--as Kryten argues when Rimmer ends up being tried by an automated justice system--the real blame should lie with the smeghead who gave Rimmer the job of fixing a critical drive plate when he's a barely qualified vending machine repairman. Hell, in The Captain's ''own notes'' on Rimmer, it says "There's a saying among the officers; if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to Rimmer."

** First season MonsterOfTheWeek Harry Bollston blames everyone else for having spent his entire life in prison, rather than being the celebrated concert pianist he thinks he ought to have been, when it's really his own damn fault for committing murder out of DisproportionateRetribution (which was also an example of blaming others for his own failings).

*** The man in question is also an example. He refuses to accept any responsibility for knowingly spreading a potentially fatal disease; in fact, he admits that he targets promiscuous women to "teach them a lesson" and sees himself as morally justified -- in his mind, it's ''entirely'' the women's fault if they become infected, never mind that he's the one who's having unprotected sex despite having a communicable disease. It's only when his grandfather [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]]] that he finally realizes [[HeelRealization what kind of a person he's become]].

*** The man in question is also an example. He refuses to accept any responsibility for knowingly spreading a potentially fatal disease; in fact, he admits that he targets promiscuous women to "teach them a lesson" and sees himself as morally justified -- in his mind, it's ''entirely'' the women's fault if they become infected. It's only when his grandfather [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]]] that he finally realizes [[HeelRealization what kind of a person he's become]].

*** The man in question is also an example. He refuses to accept any responsibility for knowingly spreading a potentially fatal disease; in fact, he admits that he targets promiscuous women to "teach them a lesson" and sees himself as morally justified. It's only when his grandfather [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]]]] that he finally realizes the harm he's caused.

* [[spoiler:Grant Ward]] in season two of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' is very quick to blame all of his actions on his messed up family or Garrett. Bobbi finally [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls him on this]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Just like the books, rare is the moment where Cersei ever considers her own fault in any situation and even then it's fleeting. A shining example is the premiere of season 7, where she declares that everyone currently rebelling against her rule is a traitor. She seemingly cannot connect her murder of Olenna's children and grandchildren at the Great Sept to Olenna joining Daenerys, thinks she can threaten Jon Snow into bending the knee after everything her family has done to his, and even considers [[DrivenToSuicide Tommen's suicide]] a betrayal of her rather than a result of her actions. Later she even blames Tyrion for Myrcella and Tommen's deaths, despite the fact that she was the one who had Tyrion arrested (starting the TrialByCombat that eventually led to Myrcella's death) and murdered Tommen's wife in the first place.

* ''Series/Supergirl: General Sam Lane blames Supergirl and the DEO when the former damages the Red Tornado and it activates programming that sends it out of control. Sam Lane, or Dr. Morrow under his command, created Red Tornado. What, did they think it would never, ever get damaged despite being built for combat?

** Part of the problem Kilgrave's victims have with getting people to believe in the existence of his mind control abilities is the fact that they come off as people trying to deflect responsibility off themselves (which itself is a metaphor for various fears and worries about false rape accusations making it harder for real rape victims to take action against their attackers, or VictimBlaming in general).

** Cardassians in general and Gul Dukat in particular have this attitude about the Bajoran Occupation. When called out on their atrocities and brutality during that period, most Cardassian characters insist it was the Bajorans' fault for resisting their efforts to 'civilize' their planet, and for not obediently allowing themselves to be worked to death in labor camps while their planet was strip-mined and their women and children abused and exploited. In "Duet", one Cardassian who was a file clerk at one of the camps tries to get himself tried and executed publicly as a war criminal [[spoiler:by impersonating his evil long-dead superior]] due to guilt over not speaking out against the atrocities of the camp and because he believes Cardassia will never be able to move forward if it does not answer for its crimes against Bajor.

** Eddie also had a tendency to do this, as evidenced in the episode "Odd Man In." Finding that he's been asked to judge a bikini contest on the same day he has to work, who does he ask to cover his shift? Steve Urkel, the man who, according to Laura, once ''stabbed himself eating peas.'' When Urkel predictably screws up and gets Eddie fired, Eddie rages at him until Laura calls him for it. Pointing out that he always pushes his responsibilities on other people and blames them when things go wrong.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Just like the books, rare is the moment where Cersei ever considers her own fault in any situation and even then it's fleeting. A shining example is the premiere of season 7, where she declares that everyone currently rebelling against her rule is a traitor. She seemingly cannot connect her murder of Olenna's children and grandchildren at the Great Sept to Olenna joining Daenerys, thinks she can threaten Jon Snow into bending the knee after everything her family has done to his, and even considers [[DrivenToSuicide Tommen's suicide]] a betrayal of her rather than a result of her actions. Later she even blames Tyrion for Myrcella and Tommen's deaths, despite the fact that she was the one who had Tyrion arrested (starting the TrialByCombat that eventually led to Myrcella's death) and murdered Tommen's wife in the first place.
* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': The Trotters have a nasty habit of blaming each other when things go pear-shaped. However, the person being blamed always calls the accuser out on it. One example, in one of the TV specials, quite similar to the Scrooge [=McDuck=] example above: after Cassandra kicks Rodney out for [[NotWhatItLooksLike seemingly taking another woman out to the pictures]], Rodney worries that Cassandra's father is going to fire him, as he's left a message saying that there's something important they need to talk about. [[DuringTheWar Uncle Albert tells one of his war stories]] about an officer who was facing a court-martial and handed in his resignation. In those days, only commissioned officers were allowed to control the radio room. Because he was the only commissioned communications officer on the ship the ship, they couldn't sail without him. [[KarmaHoudini So, they had to refuse his resignation and cancel his court-martial]]. Rodney follows suit, thinking that Cassandra's father will turn down the resignation, since it's so close to Christmas and more orders are coming in. When Rodney meets him, it turns out he just wanted to talk about the extra workload. Then he finds Rodney's resignation and accepts it. Rodney blames Albert.

* ''Series/{{Jessie}}'':
** When Luke and Zuri accidentally crash the B.A.T into the mess hall in "G.I Jessie", they blame Ravi for it just because he didn't try to stop them.
** Shown in "Help Not Wanted". Luke, Ravi, and Zuri blame Jessie for them not being able to spend their allowance even after Jessie calls them out on wasting their bills.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Quark to Rom: "Everything that goes wrong around here is your fault, it says so in your contract!"
** Cardassians in general and Gul Dukat in particular have this attitude about the Bajoran Occupation. When called out on their atrocities and brutality during that period, most Cardassian characters insist it was the Bajorans' fault for resisting their efforts to 'civilize' their planet, and for not obediently allowing themselves to be worked to death in labor camps while their planet was strip-mined and their women and children abused and exploited. In "Duet", one Cardassian who was a file clerk at one of the camps tries to get himself tried and executed publicly as a war criminal [[spoiler:by impersonating his evil long-dead superior]] due to guilt over not speaking out against the atrocities of the camp and because he believes Cardassia will never be able to move forward if it does not answer for its crimes against Bajor.

* ''Series/TeenWolf'': Pop quiz, a child nearly drowns because you were too busy feeding your underage swim team booze to keep him away from the pool. Is it a) your fault for being irresponsible on twenty different levels or b) the child's fault for not knowing how to swim? Nice job, Mr. Lahey; no one will mourn you, especially not Matt.
* In season one of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' Claire tries to cheer Rudy up by baking gingerbread. Claire then announces that it'll be a family project, even though Vanessa's mad at Rudy for bothering her when she was trying to do her homework, and Denise has better things to do. Rudy pours flour all over the floor. An argument erupts ending in Rudy running out of the house claiming that she's not a baby. Claire gets mad at the older girls and says that she hopes they're proud of themselves. She apparently forgot whose bright idea it was to force the gingerbread project on everyone in the first place.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': During Mike Nelson's tenure as the leading man, the bots frequently pulled this on Mike. Most notably when they persuade him (against his better judgment) destroy his eyelash mites with the nanites, then treat him as a glory-hungry GeneralRipper leading a Vietnam-like conflict when things go wrong, '''then'' berate him for how filthy his eyelashes get afterwards and ask why he wanted to get rid of the mites anyway. Plus the times the moments ended with Nelson [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds blowing up planets]].
* ''Series/LoisAndClark'': Humorously played with in the pilot episode, which sees Lois and Clark captured and tied up by the bad guys after Lois has pressured Clark into breaking into a suspicious warehouse. Lois angrily blames Clark for their current situation. Clark angrily points out that ''he's'' not the one who wanted to break into the warehouse in the first place. After a moment's pause, Lois realizes that he's right -- and this triggers an outburst of self-pity about how her recklessness and competitiveness [[FreudianExcuse all stems from her upbringing]], how her father never paid any attention to her and how she competes with everyone and sleeps with guys from work to compensate for her hidden insecurities, thus leading Clark to save their lives out of frustration with her {{wangst}}ing as much as anything else.
* In the ''Series/ShakeItUp'' episode "Merry Merry It Up", [=CeCe=] selfishly causes her mother and Jeremy to break up by yelling at the latter for his Christmas decorations. She is beyond excited about the breakup and refuses to believe she is responsible, repeatedly insisting that "SHE BROKE UP WITH HIM". It wasn't until she has a {{Yet Another Christmas Carol}} that she finally realizes her mistake and gets them back together.
* In the ''Series/Zoey101'' episode "Zoey's Balloon", Chase's ex-girlfriend Rebecca blackmails Zoey into doing humiliating stunts in front of the PCA student body because she blames her for "making Chase break up with her", forgetting that the reason Chase dumped her in the first place was because of her jealousy towards Zoey and controlling behavior.
* A running gag on ''Series/TopGear'' is that Jeremy Clarkson denies all responsibility for things that go wrong, blaming the others or claiming it was unintentional (e.g. "I may have accidentally put a cow on the roof of my car.")
* A subplot in an episode of ''Series/TheWestWing'' revolves around someone suing the President for making a remark about the safety of American cars, following which his wife was killed in an accident when she didn't wear a seatbelt. This inspires Sam to work on proposals for increased safety regulations for the auto industry, only for the President himself to shoot him down, pointing out that as much as he sympathizes with the husband's loss and his need to find someone to blame, he can hardly be held responsible if someone chooses to use an off-the-cuff remark he made as an excuse to ignore common sense safety guidelines.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'':
** Lois is like this often. In one point she gets into an argument with a cop over whether she cut off another car or not and is given video proof that she did, yet still insists that the video is inaccurate. [[spoiler:It was, but she didn't need to know that.]]
** Francis blames most, if not all, of his problems on his mother. When Commandant Spangler asked Francis if there was anything wrong with his life that he didn't blame on Lois, he was stumped. Francis commits unethical behavior ''repeatedly'', including abusing his brothers when they were young and being partially responsible for making them turn out the way they did. His brothers would be much more justified in blaming ''their'' problems on ''him'' rather than him blaming his problems on a mother who ''tried to stop him from spiking her coffee with washing up liquid''.
** However, to illustrate that Lois is in no way blameless, just take a look at the SeriesFinale. Lois deliberately screws Malcolm out of a cushy, well-paying job that had fallen into his lap, and proceeds to inform him that she had planned out his entire life for him, intending him to [[MiseryBuildsCharacter start at nearly the bottom rung of society]], and working his way up to ''becoming President of the United States.'' All because she blames the family's problems on society taking advantage of them because they're poor, even though the whole reason they're poor is because they're selfish and irresponsible people.

* On ''Literature/GossipGirl'' Blair seems to think she's entirely innocent in her and Serena's friendship falling apart in season five. Even though this happened because Blair began to date the love of Serena's life (moments after encouraging Serena to go after him) even though she doesn't have feelings for him. During the course of her relationship with Dan she makes out with him right in front of Serena at the hospital ''just when Serena's grandmother had died'', whines to Serena about the things that aren't working in the relationship, makes Serena pretend to be Blair for a couple's interview and generally rubs the relationship in Serena's face more or less all the time. Serena is not innocent in this whole mess either but Blair's offenses are worse since they happen repeatedly and with no consideration whatsoever for Serena's feelings. And, Serena at least owns up to what she does, unlike Blair.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', Rimmer's fundamental character is based around blaming everyone else for his own shortcomings, failures and inability to make anything of his life; while he didn't exactly [[FreudianExcuse have an easy upbringing to begin with]], it's clear to everyone around him that he just uses this as an excuse not to have to face up to the fact that most of the time it's his own fault he's such a loser. For example:
** In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIMe2 Me2]]", where Rimmer is moving out of the sleeping quarters, and states his belief that without Lister holding him back he should finally be able to succeed. Lister lampshades this trope by calling Rimmer out on always pinning the blame for his lack of success on everything but himself. In the same episode, it's also revealed that he blames his lack of career mobility on an embarrassing ''faux pas'' he once made when he was invited to join the captain's table, where he sent back a bowl of gazpacho soup to be heated up because he didn't realize it was supposed to be served cold. It should be noted, he made this faux pas ''fourteen years into a fifteen-year career''.
** Rimmer would probably be more justified than most in blaming many of his issues on his family, particularly his father. However, whenever he recounts his father's bizarre actions (like stretching him as a child so that he'd grow up to be tall), he apparently regards them as perfectly natural and even praiseworthy, which is messed up in a different way.
** One instance that makes a sick sort of sense is the Drive Plate Disaster that killed everyone on Red Dwarf. He claims that had Lister been there to help him, Rimmer wouldn't have screwed up fixing the drive plate. Given that over the course of the series, Lister has proven to be quite technically savvy and Rimmer is completely incompetent (a resurrected Rimmer says to the resurrected captain that anyone capable of screwing up fixing the plate would have the brain the size of a newt's testicle), he might actually be right. Indeed, in an alternate universe, Lister became captain of Red Dwarf in part because he was able to find and repair the drive plate[[note]]He received shares as a hush payment, and became very rich as a result of a lucky discovery of a Helium-7 moon. Lister would make enough money to buy Red Dwarf[[/note]]. However--as Kryten argues when Rimmer ends up being tried by an automated justice system--the real blame should lie with the smeghead who gave Rimmer the job of fixing a critical drive plate when he's a barely qualified vending machine repairman. Hell, in The Captain's ''own notes'' on Rimmer, it says "There's a saying among the officers; if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to Rimmer."
** This idea that Rimmer's only shortcoming is his inability to accept responsibility is reinforced by the existence of his successful counterpart, Ace Rimmer; when Rimmer was eight years old, he faced the prospect of being kept down a year at school, with the Rimmer we are familiar with avoiding that fate while Ace ''was'' kept back. As a result, Rimmer spent the rest of his life making excuses, while Ace recognised that he had to rely on himself and stepped up to try harder.

* [[GuiltComplex Believe it or not]], [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] started off this way. He was the first to point fingers when things went kablooey, both when it was his fault and when no one was to blame. Notable examples include shouting at and insulting [[KickTheDog his own granddaughter]] when Barbara and Ian stumbled into the TARDIS and accusing the aforementioned ''humans'' of ''sabotaging the TARDIS''. Yeah, he was kind of a {{Jerkass}}.
* Ricky in ''Series/TrailerParkBoys'' is always saying this about the harm he's caused. Except for one time when it actually ''isn't'' his fault.

* In ''Series/BlackBooks'' this is Bernard's default attitude. One episode involves around a quarrel between Bernard and Manny that isn't resolved until one of them has the strength to apologize:
--> '''Manny:''' Bernard I'm sorry! It was my fault you toasted my hand!
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', Dr. Kelso wants Dr. Cox to give him a physical examination for health insurance purposes. Cox is reluctant, but J.D convinces him to do it. It turns out Kelso has high blood pressure which will cost him an extra six grand in insurance premiums. He angrily punishes Cox for finding it, who, in turn, blames J.D for putting him up to it in the first place.
* Uther Pendragon in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' had Nimueh use her magic to conceive Arthur. Nimueh warned him that a birth would require a death, but since he was desperate for an heir, he ignored her. The death wound up being Ygraine, his wife. Instead of pulling a MyGodWhatHaveIDone upon realizing that his actions have killed his wife, he decides that magic is evil and genocides every single magic user he can find. Yes, even children. It isn't until his [[spoiler: daughter Morgana]] has a FaceHeelTurn and says to his face. "I'm not evil because of magic, I'm evil because you made me that way." that he realizes what he's done, and as a result [[spoiler:spends his last year as a broken shell of a man]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E5ReptileBoy Reptile Boy]]", Cordelia insists that Buffy go to a party with her, over Buffy's repeated objections. The party turns out to be a trap, and Buffy and Cordelia are captured by demons. Cordelia angrily tells Buffy, ''"I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here!"'' Buffy does nothing but stare at Cordelia incredulously.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty Dead Man's Party]]", Joyce all but openly dismisses the fact that her ultimatum to Buffy in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E22BecomingPart2 the second season finale]] was instrumental in Buffy's decision to run away. However, unlike most other examples, she admits that she reacted badly, but still states that didn't give Buffy the excuse to run.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E13BloodTies}} Blood Ties]]", Buffy's immediate reaction upon finding out that Spike helped Dawn break into the Magic Box is to storm off to his crypt and start to beat the crap out of him, blaming him for Dawn finding out about being the Key in the worst possible way. However, Spike quickly turns the tables on her, pointing out that not only did ''[[LockedOutOfTheLoop he]]'' [[LockedOutOfTheLoop not know that Dawn was the Key before then]], but ''[[PoorCommunicationKills Buffy]]'' [[PoorCommunicationKills was the one who kept it from her in the first place]]. When Dawn later runs away, Buffy admits that [[JerkassHasAPoint he was right]] and the whole mess is her fault.
* Buffy and by extension the Scooby Gang have this attitude in regards to Faith's FaceHeelTurn. They constantly act like Faith should shoulder all the blame and responsibility for Alan Finch's death despite Buffy literally handing him to her and their treating her like a commodity rather than a friend played no part in her turn to the dark side.

* The three part "Trilogy" episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' sees Sam leaping through various identities throughout the decades in order to protect a young woman named Abigail as both a child and an adult who is consistently being targeted by an AxCrazy woman named Leta Aider who blames Abigail for the deaths of her husband and daughter and sees her as a cursed hellspawn. During the first part, Sam leaps into Abigail's father and rushes to save her from Leta who has chased her to an abandoned house trying to kill her, and winds up setting it on fire. Sam manages to save Abigail, but his host is killed (Sam barely leaps out of him in time). In part two when Sam confronts Leta over her actions killing Abigail's father in his host, Leta repeatedly insists that she isn't the one to blame for starting the fire. And the deaths of her family, the entire reason Leta persecuted the poor girl ''for over twenty years?'' Turns out it was Leta's fault. She killed them for the insurance money, and it was her deep-seated guilt that drove her over the edge and led her to blame a ten-year-old for something she had nothing to do with.
%%* Pike from ''Series/DadsArmy'' was a compulsive blame-shifter.
* ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'': Mitchell takes this position over the Box Tunnel Massacre when he is confronted with his victims. First he blames Lucy for betraying him, then Daisy for egging him on. When Lia pushes him far enough, he finally takes responsibility and admits that he doesn't deserve forgiveness.
* Jimmy [=McNulty=] from ''Series/TheWire'' is a CowboyCop with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder; nonetheless, the line "What the fuck did I do?" usually with an air of injured innocence, is practically his CatchPhrase.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'''s Kerry Weaver, rarely, if ever, took any responsibility for the contentious relationship that she had with the rest of the staff, despite the strict, patronizing way she tended to treat nearly everyone. The worst example might be when she not only allowed, but actively schemed to make two doctors take the full blame for the death of a patient, knowing full well that as their supervisor, she should have been present to correct their mistakes. When one of the doctors finally calls her on this, not only does she display no remorse for her actions, she seems to think she was completely justified in what she did because of the others errors.
* Amy Duncan from ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' exemplifies this trope in "Amy Needs A Shower," when she arranges her own baby shower, badmouths ''the people she invited'' within earshot of Charlie who then repeats what she said about them to their faces, and when this fails to end well blithely says "It's nobody's fault." Twice. Er, actually it's your fault, Amy.
* On ''Series/{{Moesha}}'', her stepmother signed her up for modeling classes without telling her. Her father asked Moesha as a personal favor to go along with it to keep the peace. She has fun at first, but finds both her discipline and her patience with the stepmom trying to live a modeling career through her running out. When she angrily backs out of going along with this any further, the stepmother asks why Moesha ever asked her to sign her up. Flabbergasted, Moesha reminds her she *never* asked for any of this, to which the stepmom sarcastically treats her as being ungrateful. Now, could this have been avoided if Dad had just cut it off to start? Maybe. But now he steps in and plays peacemaker, looking good for doing so. Combines this trope with KarmaHoudini, to say the least.
* In ''Series/FreshMeat'', Josie has shades of this, particularly in the episode where she breaks another girl's arm in a fit of jealousy:
-->'''Josie:''' We had to take her to the hospital because her arm got broken.\\
'''Kingsley:''' How did her arm get broken?\\
'''Sabine:''' Josie broke her arm.\\
'''Kingsley:''' Why did you break her arm?\\
'''Josie:''' I didn't break her arm! I used her own weight against her, so in a way, she broke her own arm.\\
'''Kingsley:''' She broke her own arm?\\
'''Vod:''' No, Josie broke her arm.\\
'''Josie:''' No, I was doing self-defense on her. Sabine showed me, so Sabine must have shown me wrong.\\
'''Sabine:''' You were aggressive. I told you not to be aggressive.\\
'''Josie:''' Anyway, Heather attacked me, I defended myself, and her arm got broken.\\
'''Vod:''' Defense is the best form of attack.\\
'''Josie:''' I didn't attack. I did defense. Because defense is the best form of defense.\\
'''Kingsley:''' How bad is it?\\
'''Vod:''' Oh, it's really bad. Monster mash, mate.\\
'''Josie:''' Yes, but, you know what they say: Broken bones may break my bones, but they will never hurt me!\\
'''Sabine:''' They don't say that because it's not true. And doesn't make sense.
* In ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', when Roseanne confronts her mother Bev over the latter's alcoholism, Bev goes on a rant, blaming everyone around her for her problems. Roseanne shoots back "Well, that's good, Mom. The first step is admitting that ''everyone else'' has a problem." Not that Roseanne is exactly [[HypocriticalHumor immune]] from this trope herself...
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari has problems apologizing, stemming in part from the fact that he indirectly caused the deaths of millions as a result of his political maneuverings. However, because the dead were Narns, and to most of Londo's people [[FantasticRacism Narns are seen as vile, aggressive, uncivilized animals]], he compensates for his private shame by being more aggressively anti-Narn in public. Even after his conscience catches up with him and he uses his influence to free Narn, he makes up excuses that it was for the good of the Centauri, and had nothing to do with feeling sorry for the Narns. After that, it takes him a year before he can apologize to anyone about what he did. When he finally does, he admits, "I've never apologized for anything in my life." He was just too prideful and ashamed to admit that he was sorry, even to himself.
** Many Narns have the same problem. Certainly G'Kar did early in the show's run; he would often blame the Centauri for problems on his own homeworld. While there may be some truth to his claim, it's certainly not the ''only'' factor; as Londo points out, at least some of the problems on the Narn homeworld are caused by the Narn [[NeverBeHurtAgain aggressively building their war machine]] for "self-protection". G'Kar [[CharacterDevelopment got over it]] as the series went along.
** In an early scene that neatly sums up their relationship at that point, Londo and G'kar are waiting for an elevator when they get into an argument about the Narn/Centauri war. Their discussion becomes so heated that both of them miss the arrival and departure of the elevator. Upon realising, they simultaneously yell at each other "Look at what you made me do!".
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Lt. Williams in "Desert Son" is incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions. [[spoiler: His dying words are "Why me?", unable to accept that everything that has happened to him has been his own doing.]]
* In episode 8 of ''Series/TheMusketeers'', the Red Guard were quick to pin the blame of their captain's death on the Musketeers for not helping them, despite the Musketeers warning them that the prisoner Labarge wasn't to be taken lightly and it was the resulting fight between Labarge and the Red Guard that led to a Guard accidentally killing the captain.
* Piper on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack''. She ''thinks'' that she's an OnlySaneMan but in reality she's a whiny, self-absorbed, and pampered idiot who often causes her own problems. For example, she [[BullyingADragon belittles and insults]] the AxCrazy Pennsatucky's beliefs, then seems surprised when Pennsatucky attempts to retaliate. She initially claims that prison is causing her to act like this, but later in the show it's increasingly suggested that Piper was ''always'' a selfish idiot/jerk; she was just better at hiding it outside of prison.
* ''Series/LivAndMaddie'': Maddie says she can't get a driver's license because the driving school discriminates against people who can't turn left.
* Liz in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' has a minor tendency to blame the "sexist standards" of society for her own incompetence and personal failings. Jack calls her out on it in season 4 when she tries to pull the sexism card to excuse away her inability to get a steady relationship, pointing out that the only thing keeping her from settling down is her obnoxious flaws and childish bitterness.
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'':
** One of Urkel's {{Catchphrase}}s, always delivered right after a set of slapstick hijinks had played themselves out, was "Look what you did." And yes, Urkel was usually the one ultimately to blame for the mess.
** Eddie also had a tendency to do this, as evidenced in the episode "Odd Man In." Finding that he's been asked to judge a bikini contest on the same day he has to work, who does he ask to cover his shift? Steve Urkel, the man who, according to Laura, once ''stabbed himself eating peas.'' When Urkel predictably screws up and gets Eddie fired, Eddie rages at him until Laura calls him for it. Pointing out that he always pushes his responsibilities on other people and blames them when things go wrong.
--->'''Laura:''' You know, Eddie, you always do this. You shirk, and then you blame. Shirk, blame, shirk, blame.\\
'''Eddie:''' I had something else to do!\\
'''Laura:''' Shirk...\\
'''Eddie:''' Well, he screwed up!\\
'''Laura:''' ...blame.
* [[spoiler: Grant Ward]] in season two of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' is very quick to blame all of his actions on his messed up family or Garrett. Bobbi finally [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls him on this]].
* This was Wheels' M.O. in ''Series/DegrassiHigh''. In [[TheMovie the conclusion movie]], ''School's Out!'', after Wheels [[spoiler: gets drunk, drives with Lucy behind the wheel with him, critically injures her and kills a three-year-old boy]], upon being [[spoiler: in jail]], he ''still'' tells Joey this: "It's not my fault [[spoiler: that kid wasn't wearing a seatbelt,]] or that [[spoiler: Lucy]] wanted chips!" By the time of ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', however, he does accept full responsibility for what happens, though.
* A flashback on ''Series/{{Suits}}'' reveals that this is why Mike never got into law school. Apparently, after Trevor convinced him to memorize test answers, so Trevor could sell them, the latter got caught selling them to none other than the dean's daughter. Trevor chooses to take the fall, not naming Mike as his accomplice, but Mike confesses to the dean. The dean, angry that his daughter is now blacklisted as a cheater, and that his own career is threatened as a result, blames Mike for everything, even though there is plenty of blame to go around (not the least being the fact that his daughter ''chose'' to cheat), and uses his contacts to blacklist Mike from every law school.
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'':
** [[Creator/DavidTennant Kilgrave]] is so terrifying because [[MindRape he can verbally command people to do anything]], even [[PsychicAssistedSuicide commit suicide]] or horribly mutilate themselves. Which means he never has to ''physically'' force anyone to do anything. He reasons that because he doesn't physically force someone to do something (steal something, sleep with him, murder someone), it was ''their'' fault for doing it. Kilgrave is what happens when you combine superpowers with all the behaviors of typical abusers - impulsiveness, short temper, blaming others for his actions, his total lack of understanding of consent or others' feelings, etc.
** Part of the problem Kilgrave's victims have with getting people to believe in the existence of his mind control abilities is the fact that they come off as people trying to deflect responsibility off themselves (which itself is a metaphor for various fears and worries about false rape accusations making it harder for real rape victims to take action against their attackers, or VictimBlaming in general).
** Trish's interview of Hope on ''Trish Talk'' turns Kilgrave into the most popular alibi in the city. To the point that when Jeri Hogarth and Jessica make a public request for people who've been controlled by Kilgrave to set up an appointment with HC&B, they're flooded with so many accusers that they have to [[TerribleIntervieweesMontage work through each and every one of them]] to determine which ones are comically obvious frauds and which ones are legitimate. The frauds include a stoner that claims Kilgrave was this YellowPeril guy who made him rob a 7-Eleven at gunpoint, a junkie who claims Kilgrave made him [[AssShove shove a purple staff up his ass]], and a conservative mother trying to claim that Kilgrave was this perpetually shirtless gardener who managed to charm her daughter and every girl on their block into sleeping with him.
** A non-Kilgrave case is Trish Walker's abusive mom Dorothy. The only times Dorothy does accepts blame for something is when she thinks it will benefit her, such as admitting to a drinking problem or being a terrible mother to guilt-trip her daughters. Everyone can see through it, though:
--->'''Dorothy Walker:''' So! To what do I owe the pleasure?\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' It's about Trish.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' Why? What's happened? Is she on drugs again?\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' She hasn't touched drugs since I dragged her away from you.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' I had no idea that doctor was over-prescribing.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' Still no responsibility or remorse. [[SarcasmMode I wish I could be like that.]]\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' “No responsibility,” hmm? I took you in. You were an orphan. That's gotta count for something.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' You don't get credit for doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' I cared about-\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' About publicity. I was a strategic play to further the Patsy Walker brand. Trish is fine. She has security like Fort Knox and she's savvy enough not to let anyone sneak up on her, except you. She has no defenses against you.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' She doesn't need defenses. I'm her mother.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' You're her ''pimp''!\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' I haven't seen her in three years.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' Except for when you "accidentally" ran into her?\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' It's a small city.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' And leave long, drunken messages for her?\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' What is it you want from me?\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' I want you to stick to the agreement. Because no matter where I am, even if I'm behind bars, if you try anything, I will find out. I will come for you, and it will hurt.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' People can change, Jessie.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' It doesn't make the bad shit you did go away.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' I just... had a problem. I got help.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' And royalty checks.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' I earned those!\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' If you want them to keep coming, you'll respect Trish's wishes... which I will enforce.\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' "And it will hurt.” You need a better tagline.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' Five hundred feet. Just like a real restraining order. Five hundred feet away from her. Do you understand?\\
'''Dorothy Walker:''' Yes. Taking you in was the worst decision of my life.\\
'''Jessica Jones:''' [[SarcasmMode Thanks, Mom]].
** Jessica also sometimes blames her less endearing qualities on being traumatized by Kilgrave. While her experience was traumatic, flashbacks in season 1 and season 2 show that her prickly personality, excessive drinking and resulting employment problems were things that were all part of her well before she ever crossed paths with Kilgrave. In fact, many of them started with the death of her first boyfriend Stirling at the hands of her mom.
** Early in season 2, Jessica sidelines Trish by calling the paparazzi on her and claiming Trish and Griffin are on the outs. When an embarrassing picture of Trish and Malcolm appears on the front page of the tabloids, Jessica gets angry at Malcolm for not keeping Trish in her home like she told him to. When he tries to explain himself, she just gets more angrier at him. Trish calls her out for pulling the paparazzi crap in the first place, but Jessica just moves the discussion along. Of course, Jessica feels she wouldn't have done it at all if Trish didn't try to get herself involved.
** Following Detective Sunday's murder at the hands of Jessica's mom, Dorothy refuses to take responsibility for publicly announcing Trish's location and blames Jessica instead for that death.
** As proof the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, we see Trish take on a lot of her mom's blame-shifting traits in season 2, with her always making excuses for her actions or very weak apologies as she gets more and more addicted to Will Simpson's inhaler.
** Jessica's mom is a [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagging]] version of this; Dr. Karl Malus's experiments have left her with the impulse control of a hummingbird, which would be bad enough even if they hadn't also given her superhuman strength. Each time she demolishes something -- or some''one'' -- she is immediately sorry and accepts punishment and restraint... until the ''next'' time she flies off the handle and twists off someone's head like a toothpaste cap.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'':
** In "Obscene" a woman was on a [[MoralGuardian crusade to censor offensive content in the media]]. Her son was a huge fan of a shock jock she was crusading against, [[InformedAttribute whose show was apparently very offensive]], and raped an actress on a show his mother was also campaigning against to impress the shock jock. The woman did not blame herself for spending so much time on her crusade that she spent almost none with her kids, or the fact that she dehumanized the victim with her SlutShaming campaign. She didn't even [[MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal blame her son for committing the rape]]. She only blamed the shock jock and thought that she could shoot him and the jury [[EntitledBitch would sympathize with her and acquit her]]. Unfortunately, she was right about the jury.
** In "Quickie" an HIV positive man was giving HIV to as many women as possible. One of the women he infected [[EntitledBitch felt entitled]] to throw acid in his face, despite the fact that the sex, and the non-use of protection were consensual, and the man was already facing criminal charges for criminal distribution of HIV. Like the above example, she assumed the jury would sympathize with her and acquit. This time the charges against her were dismissed so there is no way to know what the jury would have done.
* The ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' episode "The Gas Man" is a VillainProtagonist episode revolving around Victor, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a gas man]] who was arrested by Frank Pembleton and sent to prison for negligent homicide when a gas heater he installed killed a family, stalking Pembleton to gain revenge. Although he blames Pembleton for his life going wrong, it quickly becomes apparent that Victor just can't take responsibility for his own actions, as his co-conspirator Danny [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech points out]] when he eventually comes to respect Pembleton:
-->'''Danny:''' We've been following Frank Pembleton. And what do we see? Frank slaving away at the office. Frank at the morgue. Frank interviewing the gypsy's neighbors. Frank buying flowers for his wife. Frank humiliating himself so that they can have babies. Frank Pembleton takes responsibility for himself, for his family. Hell, he even takes responsibility for dead people. It's about time I started taking responsibility for my own life. I'm not going with you, Victor.
* Laurel Lance in Season 2 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. She blames everything wrong in her life -- her drug addiction, her alcoholism, her abusing her authority at her job, her poor performance at the same and her only being spared arrest on charges of stealing her cop father's pain medication and DUI due to his influence (though she is still fired after trying to use her position to get out of said DUI) -- on her ex-boyfriend Oliver Queen and sister Sara Lance. She gets better about this later, however.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Much like the Joker, Zoom maintains that his personal tragedies made him what he is and that if Barry experiences the same, it will turn him into a psychotic murderer as well.
* ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'':
** The show's {{archenemy}}, William Ray "Pudface" Morgan, was disfigured in an accident he caused. However, the minute he sees [=RoboCop=], it's clear he blames Murphy for it and not himself.
** A CorruptCorporateExecutive and StrawFeminist named Rochelle Carney who was fired in the episode "Inside Crime" after being in league in the aforementioned Pudface as part of a ratings stunt for the episode's titular ShowWithinAShow. However, while her boss was indeed hitting on her, she chose to blame his behavior and her being a woman for the reason she was fired rather than what actually got her fired, which was being in league with a well-known criminal.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Flashbacks establish that Wilson Fisk's father was one of these kinds of people. Bill's idea of "making a man" out of Wilson involved demeaning him, teaching him to blame others for his problems (including blaming Wilson himself for his own problems) and playing cruel jokes on him. When he lost the city council election, he believed that the reason he lost was because his wife and son didn't show him enough respect at home, not because he was a vile, vicious, petty loser. This led to him beating his wife with a belt, and caused Wilson to snap and kill him with a hammer.
** In the present day, Fisk tends to operate on the principle that he should do the opposite of what his father would do in a situation. As such he owns up to his mistakes and then moves on, eventually. With one exception: In the season 1 finale, after Matt Murdock foils Fisk's attempt to escape from police custody, Fisk goes on a villainous rant, clearly blaming Matt for the downfall of his operation. While it is true that Matt was the driving force, both in his civilian and vigilante lives, behind Fisk getting arrested, this is ignoring that the major factors that led to his descent were due to his own temper tantrums for minor slights (to elaborate, a string of events that began with Fisk brutally murdering Anatoly Ranskahov for simply crashing Fisk's date with Vanessa, which led to Fisk bombing the Russian mafia's hideouts, then sending in corrupt cops to finish off the survivors, then ordering the shooting of Detective Blake for accidentally leaking info to Matt, having Blake be killed in the hospital by his own partner Hoffman when this fails, Hoffman being stashed away by Leland Owlsley, then Hoffman selling Fisk out to the FBI after Fisk kills Leland in another tantrum). Not to mention the fact that he's, y'know, a ''criminal'', and thus deserves to get arrested.
** Nobu has an example of this in "Shadows in the Glass," after his Black Sky is killed by Stick, when he angrily confronts Fisk about not providing the Black Sky more protection. Fisk points out that Nobu only asked for the docks to be cleared of police interference and he held up that end of the deal, and it was Nobu's responsibility to inform Fisk of the importance of the incoming cargo.
* ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS''
** An early episode has Frank Underwood dealing with a local political hot potato in his hometown of Gaffney, South Carolina, known as the Peachoid (a real life water tower). Ostensibly, county administrator Oren Chase is trying to have Frank blamed for the death of a teenage girl who crashed her car while texting about what the Peachoid looked like. Apparently, they think that since Frank fought so hard for the creation of the Peachoid, and because the 16-year-old girl crashed her car while texting a joke about what the tower looked like, he's responsible for her death, instead of the obvious - it's her own fault that she's dead because she decided to engage in distracted driving.
** Frank takes up this sort of attitude in season 3 when he's barely holding things together as President. This culminates in most of his inner circle turning against him.
* ''Series/BeyondBeliefFactOrFiction'': Sonny Rhodes of the segment "Used Car Salesman" made a living off ripping off customers and making the honest salesman of the dealership look bad. When selling a van with damaged brakes to a small man group that was in a hurry to make it to Vegas, he decides to sell it without having it inspected. They die on the road due to the faulty brakes. When his co-workers confront him on this, he coldly rejects any responsibility, saying that the buyer was in a hurry and that their time was up. Unshockingly, he ends up an AssholeVictim by [[spoiler:possessed cars]].
* Walter White from ''Series/BreakingBad'' has a serious, nearly life-long habit of this. Whether it's the company he founded with his Elliot and Gretchen in college, (a company he walked out on after a tiff, which later [[ThePeteBest became worth billions]]) his feud with Gus, the dissolution of his family, the destruction of his relationship with Jesse, or any number of other examples, Walt has a tendency to take actions out of [[{{Narcissist}} sheer pride and ego]], then point the finger at others when it goes badly. Only in the very final episode of the series does come clean about one of these, when he finally admits that the reason he got into manufacturing and distributing meth never had anything to do with providing for his family, but because [[EvilFeelsGood he enjoyed it]] and it made him feel alive in a way that he hadn't in years, perhaps decades.
* ''Series/{{Beyond}}'': Frost blames Willa for Celeste's death, but it was actually his experimental attempt to revive her from a coma (which giving birth left her in, though that's not Willa's fault either) which killed her.
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'':
** Women receive blame for the fall in birthrates due to their wickedness, promiscuity, and subsequent lack of fertility;[[spoiler: however, when Offred goes to see a doctor for a checkup, he claims that most (if not all) of the Commanders are also sterile]].
** Later, Fred refuses to take responsibility for his affair with Offred, blaming Serena for bringing her in as a temptation.
* ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn'': Dawn (being the egomaniac she is) never accepts the blame for her own doings, and would rather blame her brothers.
* The comedic appeal of ''Series/FawltyTowers'' revolves around snobbish hotel owner Basil Fawlty's inability to take responsibility for anything, or, for that matter, [[{{FawltyTowersPlot}} tell the truth]] at all.
--> '''Basil Fawlty:''' *practicing* I'm so sorry I made a mistake, I'm so sorry I made a mistake...
-->*opens door to guest's room*
-->'''Basil Fawlty:''' I'm so sorry, ''my wife'' made a mistake!
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon Cooper insists that because he is smarter than everyone he is automatically right about everything, no matter how [[BrutalHonesty he might word it]]. If he causes trouble for others it is their own fault for being too dumb not to understand his advice or not being able to control their anger. Most of his own problems he could fix just by swallowing his pride and apologizing or admitting he was wrong, but he usually just tries to work around the problem to avoid doing this or gives a BackhandedApology to avoid taking complete blame. Once, when Leonard finally had enough of his shit when he spoils a Literature/HarryPotter book Leonard was reading and instead of apologizing, even when Leonard points out [[{{Hypocrite}} Sheldon would be mad if he were in the same position]], says Leonard is just nagging him and being annoying ''again'', Leonard decided to move out and move in with Penny. Once Amy decided to move in with Sheldon and he couldn't find a reason to say no, he tried to get Leonard to come back by saying that their argument was all over nothing and ''he'' forgives ''Leonard''. Leonard slams the door in his face. Sheldon eventually told Amy she couldn't move in with him because Penny didn't want Leonard to move in with her, neither of the girls were happy that he was once again avoiding blame.
** There was one rare time where he realized that it was all his fault Howard didn't get security clearance for his new project, because while he was complaining to the FBI agent about Howard he accidentally lets slip that Howard once crashed the Mars rover. Leonard and Raj take the blame at first because they embarrassed themselves in front of the agent, but Sheldon eventually comes clean that it was his fault. But, he expects Howard to simply accept "I'm sorry" as an appropriate apology for setting his work back two years and doesn't understand why he won't forgive him. Though in this case, Howard is even more guilty of this trope because he puts all the blame on Sheldon for telling the FBI, and not on himself for actually crashing the Mars rover in the first place.
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'': Alexis Davisin regards to her sister Kristina's death. After having an affair with Sonny and finding out she was pregnant, Alexis decided she didn't want Sonny to know about the child. So Ned agreed to pass himself off as the baby's father. The thing is that Ned was dating Kristina at the time, and both Alexis and Ned led Kristina to believe that Ned had cheated on her with Alexis and that Alexis had stolen her boyfriend. When Kristina found out the truth, she became so angry that she rushed to Sonny's warehouse, thinking he was there, to expose Alexis's lies. Unfortunately for Kristina, Luis Alcazar planted a bomb in the warehouse and she was killed in the blast. Had Alexis been honest with her sister, then Kristina wouldn't have died. But to this day, Alexis has ''never'' accepted responsibility for her role in Kristina's death and has placed the blame squarely on Sonny's shoulders.
** Alexis gets another moment during a 2006 storyline, when [[StalkerWithACrush Manny Ruiz]] kidnaps Sam, who was recently discovered to be Alexis' biological daughter. She goes on a rant and criticizes the cops for not finding them, but Mac shuts her up with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, reminding her that ''she'' was the one who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero defended Manny in court and put him back on the streets in the first place]].

** Jessica also sometimes blames her less endearing qualities on being traumatized by Kilgrave. While her experience was traumatic, flashbacks show that her prickly personality, excessive drinking and resulting employment problems all came before Kilgrave. In fact, many of them started with the death of her first boyfriend Stirling at the hands of her mother.

** One instance that makes a sick sort of sense is the Drive Plate Disaster that killed everyone on Red Dwarf. He claims that had Lister been there to help him, Rimmer wouldn't have screwed up fixing the drive plate. Given that over the course of the series, Lister has proven to be quite technically savvy and Rimmer is completely incompetent (a resurrected Rimmer says to the resurrected captain that anyone capable of screwing up fixing the plate would have the brain the size of a newt's testicle), he might actually be right. However--as Kryten argues when Rimmer ends up being tried by an automated justice system--the real blame should lie with the smeghead who gave Rimmer the job of fixing a critical drive plate when he's a barely qualified vending machine repairman. Hell, in The Captain's ''own notes'' on Rimmer, it says "There's a saying among the officers; if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. If it's not worth doing, give it to Rimmer."

** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E5ReptileBoy}} Reptile Boy]]", Cordelia insists that Buffy go to a party with her, over Buffy's repeated objections. The party turns out to be a trap, and Buffy and Cordelia are captured by demons. Cordelia angrily tells Buffy, ''"I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here!"'' Buffy does nothing but stare at Cordelia incredulously.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E2DeadMansParty}} Dead Man's Party]]", Joyce all but openly dismisses the fact that her ultimatum to Buffy in [[[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E22BecomingPart2 the second season finale]] was instrumental in Buffy's decision to run away. However, unlike most other examples, she admits that she reacted badly, but still states that didn't give Buffy the excuse to run.