History SadisticChoice / LiveActionTV

* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', Walter--who has become increasing less able to focus on the GreaterGood if it means directly hurting someone--is the one to realize that the only way to save two worlds is to shoot someone in the head. [[spoiler: Made considerably worse by that 'someone' being the love of his son's life. Somewhat subverted in that he thinks she'll live thanks to all the drugs in her system.]]

* ''StargateAtlantis'':

** The obvious example: Bareil is Kira's lover and Winn forces her to take command of the investigation. The more evidence she gathers, the more it looks like Bareil is guilty. Eventually, she's forced to choose between protecting her lover and revealing the findings of her investigation to the Vedek Assembly which will destroy Bareil if revealed. She chooses to inform the assembly of her findings. However, when she contacts the assembly to present her findings, she learns Bareil's already spoken to the council so she doesn't need to go through with it. She made the choice, however.
** The less obvious example: Bareil is the favourite for becoming Kai and was also Kai Opaka's first choice for the position. He is faced with the option of confessing to the collaboration which will destroy him, ensure he never becomes Kai and give the position of Kai to a ruthless, power-hungry woman, or he can exonerate himself and take the position of Kai. In the end, he chooses to take the blame for the massacre, withdraws from the running for Kai, leaving Winn to become the new Kai.
** The twist: The reason Bareil took the blame is because the real collaborator was actually Kai Opaka herself. The Cardassians threatened the lives of 1200 innocent Bajorans if the 43 resistance fighters weren't handed over to Cardassian authorities. Opaka was forced to choose between the lives of 43 people (including her own son) or the lives 1200 people. She chose to sacrifice 43 lives to save 1200. Bareil knew the truth and chooses to take the blame both out of respect for Opaka and also to protect the sanctity of the position of Kai which cannot afford to be rocked by a scandal such as a Kai being a Cardassian collaborator.
*** In the ''[=DS9=]'' episode "The Assignment", Chief O'Brien's wife Keiko was possessed by a malevolent alien mind. In a twisted IHaveYourWife version of this trope, the alien, speaking through Keiko, gave O'Brien the choice of sabotaging Deep Space Nine, or watching his wife die. He was able to find a [[TakeTheThirdOption Third Option]] at the last minute.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': In "The Crossing", Shaw only has time to save [[spoiler:Lionel Fusco]] or [[spoiler:his son]] from being killed by HR. She chooses the latter. [[spoiler:Fusco manages to save himself]].

* ''ThreeKingdoms'': The Sun-Liu marriage arc presents Liu Bei with one of these. He either goes to Wu to get married, becoming Zhou Yu's hostage in the process and either ending up dead or losing Jingzhou as a result, or he refuses the marriage proposal, pissing off all of Wu and causing Zhou Yu to declare war. He decides to go anyway and leave Jingzhou in Zhuge Liang's governance, [[spoiler: but through Zhuge Liang's strategic planning, he manages to take a third option and survive the marriage process anyway.]]

** In the Eighth Season finale "The Secret In the Siege" [[spoiler: after Booth accepted Brennan's marriage proposal, Pelant contacted Booth by cell phone, announcing that he would kill five innocent people if Booth didn't break the engagement. So far, no Third Option has presented itself.]]

* ''{{The X-Files}}'':

** [[Recap/RevolutionS1E6SexAndDrugs Episode 6]] reveals that Drexel is fond of these. First he put Charlie up to killing Bill O'Halloran in exchange for Nora Clayton's life...and revealing later that Charlie will get killed off as a result. Then, when Miles went off to stop Charlie, Drexel puts Nora and Aaron Pittman in a pistol duel in retaliation. Aaron fixes by supposedly shooting himself in the chest, and when Drexel got close enough, Aaron killed him off, revealing that his metal canteen is bullet-proof.
** In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E10NobodysFaultButMine episode 10]], Strausser tries to force one on Rachel when he [[spoiler: asks her which of her children she wants to die. Rachel TookAThirdOption by completing the power amplifier and then stabbed Strausser when he tried to rape her]].

** Piper is forced to face another one of these in season five. Phoebe is kidnapped by a demon to use her body as a host for his lover's soul. Cole arranges for Paige to be taken as a host instead, which results in Phoebe being turned into a mummy and Paige being possessed. Cole then goes to Piper and tells her that she gets to choose which sister she gets back: if she chooses Paige, then Phoebe's body will be used as a host, and if she chooses Phoebe, the demon inside of Paige will set her free but keep Paige's body. Piper stresses over this seemingly impossible choice until she fakes choosing Phoebe, TakesAThirdOption by removing the demon's spirit instead of Paige's from Paige's body, and relying on the spell knowledge Paige picks up from sharing the body in order to free Phoebe.

** In ''Series/GreyAnatomy'' had a woman in her late forties who had breast cancer [[LawOfInverseFertility get pregnant after she had long given up trying to.]] She was to undergo chemotherapy, but found out she was pregnant. She initially chose to terminate the pregnancy so she could get treatment for the cancer, but ultimately decided to keep the baby, since she didn't expect to live long anyway (her mother also died of breast cancer at that age) and wanted to live the rest of her life to the fullest. If the she died, her husband would be there to raise the child.

* ''{{Psych}}'': Used in the fourth season finale. Shawn is given a choice between saving Abigail or Juliet. He originally chooses to save Juliet, as he doesn't know Abigail's whereabouts. When he solves the clue about Abigail, the team splits up to save them both.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': In one episode, a man is given a choice by a terrorist to either allow his son or wife to leave (he's holding them at gunpoint to force him to pick something up for him). After agonizing about it, he picks his son to be released. The terrorist then releases his wife instead, explaining that he only did that to learn who was ''more'' important as a hostage.

* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'': Several of the tasks have been picking the lesser of two evils. Perhaps the best example came during the China leg of Season 17, ''Both'' challenges were [[LuckBasedMission "Needle in a Haystack"]] challenges, and both of the particularly nasty variety. Teams had to pick either finding a boat with specific markings in the Marina or riding a tram and identifying the right signs, if you didn't get the right signs then you had to ride the Tram again and again. At the time the racers got to the leg it was nighttime; with the former challenge, they had to hold their flashlights over the signs one by one and with the latter, they had to search for specific signs in a sea of neon.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan and Delenn (and, by extension, all the lesser species) are compelled to chose between following one of the two uber-races: the (near-)fascist Vorlons and chaotic murderous Shadows, each of which chooses would eventually result in an endless war. [[spoiler: They choose not to choose at all.]]

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': The serial killer Pelant starts draining Hodgins's massive fortune, using the exact same server that controlled the drone he was using to attack a school in the Middle East. The team is already tapped into the server and could easily shut it down, saving the money, but doing so would prevent them from stopping the drone before it could reach its target. Hodgins doesn't hesitate to choose his own poverty over allowing the children to die.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow and Anya have made a powerful troll angry, and he tries to kill them both, and Xander jumps to their defense, but isn't not much of a match for the troll. The troll is however impressed with his bravery, and offers him to spare one of the girls, if Xander chooses which one of them he shall kill. Xander's response: "I'm not gonna choose between my best friend and my girlfriend! That's InsaneTrollLogic!"

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Not surprisingly, some Unsubs like to use this. An episode had the Unsub lock three friends in an underground chamber to deprive them of food and water. They are told that one of them has to die for them to survive. Even worse, they had to kill the unlucky third friend themselves. With a hammer.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the episode "Family of Blood", the titular family capture both the Doctor's companion, Martha, and his love ([[spoiler:or at least John Smith's love]]), Joan, and then giving him the option of which one to kill first.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Niska captures [[TheCaptain Mal]] and Wash, and has Zoe choose between them. It's subverted when she chooses her husband without stopping to think, ''before he even finishes asking her to choose''. Niska is so irritated at being interrupted in mid-taunt that he decides to be ''extra'' generous and throw in Mal's ''ear''. The director's commentary points out that while sadistic, it's not much of a choice: Not only is choosing Wash the emotional choice, but the pragmatic one as well (since Mal has a greater chance of making his own escape, is more capable of resisting torture, and if the crew is unable to rescue the remainder, Wash's piloting skills in the getaway would be invaluable.)

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': The concept is spoofed in one episode. The topic of "if you had to give up either food or sex" comes up. Immediately Ross says he'd give up food. Phoebe counters with "sex or dinosaurs." Ross's face falls, and he says "it's like Sophie's Choice!"

* In the season 2 finale of the ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' remake, Frank Delano tells Chin Ho that he has targeted Kono and Chin Ho's wife Malia for death, and that he might have time to save one of them if he acts immediately. [[spoiler:He goes after Malia and gets Adam Noshimuri to find Kono. Adam saves Kono from drowning, but Chin Ho is too late to save Malia from being fatally shot.]]

* In one episode of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Snow White drinks cursed water, and is told she'll never be able to have children because of it. Later, Prince Charming's mother is poisoned. To cure both Snow and Charming's mother, they all travel to Lake Nostos, which has water that will fix everything. Only problem is that the lake dried up, thanks to Charming's actions in a previous episode. All that's left is one snail shell worth of water, and only enough to cure one of the two. And the choice is up to Snow White. She chooses to save Charming's mother. [[ForegoneConclusion But Charming's mother fakes drinking it, and instead gives it to Snow White.]]

** Drexler is fond of these.
** Strausser tries to force one on Rachel when he [[spoiler: asks her which of her children she wants to die. Rachel, MamaBear that she is, TookAThirdOption and stabbed Strausser]].

* ''{{Smallville}}'': All the time. See the [[Quotes/SadisticChoice quotes page]].

* ''StargateAtlantis'': Elizabeth Weir gets these ''at least'' once a season. [[{{ShipTease}} Usually involving her co-commader and closest friend John Sheppard]].

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': ''The Collaborator'' is one episode with ''three'' examples of this trope in a single plot. It's two days before Kai [[MessianicArchetype Opaka's]] replacement (the spiritual leader of Bajor) is to be chosen and the front-runners are Vedek [[TheMessiah Bareil]] and Vedek [[AmbitionIsEvil Winn]]. Then a collaborator (a Bajoran that helped the Cardassians with the occupation of Bajor) accuses Vedek Bareil of having collaborated with the Cardassians in a massacre that killed 43 [[LaResistance terrorists]] (including Opaka's son). The episode's plot is spent following [[HotBlooded Kira]] who has to gather evidence that will prove Bareil's innocence or guilt. The three examples of the trope are:

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': ''Latent Image'': This trope turned LogicBomb when The Doctor [[spoiler:is forced to choose between saving Kim's life or Jetal's life after an accident. They have the same chance of survival, but he doesn't have time to treat them both. He instinctively picks the one he knows best, something not covered by his programming, and suffers a nervous collapse.]]

* ''{{The X-Files}}'': It's at least very strongly implied that Mulder's father [[spoiler: had to choose if his son or his daughter would be taken for experimentation]].

* In ''Series/House Of Anubis'' Joy and Fabian are given a choice at the end of season 3- the mask or their trapped friends. They chose their friends.

* ''TheDeadZone'': A variant occurs in one episode, in which the villain is fate. After some visions, Johnny is forced to choose which of his old friends die. Does he let one friend get a heart transplant at the cost of the other friend's life? He keeps trying to try the third option, but it never works out. Leads to some very TearJerker moments.

* ''{{MASH}}'': In one episode, B.J. is forced to choose between cutting a rope that a wounded soldier is using to climb up into the helicopter he's riding in, or let the helicopter be shot down. He chooses to cut the rope. This drives him into a deep funk, especially after he tries and fails to find out whether or not the guy made it out alive. Then the Army awards him the Bronze Star...

* In the season 2 finale of the ''HawaiiFiveO'' remake, Frank Delano tells Chin Ho that he has targeted Kono and Chin Ho's wife Malia for death, and that he might have time to save one of them if he acts immediately. [[spoiler:He goes after Malia and gets Adam Noshimuri to find Kono. Adam saves Kono from drowning, but Chin Ho is too late to save Malia from being fatally shot.]]

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': The concept is spoofed in one episode. The topic of "if you had to give up either food or sex" comes up. Immediately Ross says he'd give up food. Phoebe counters with "sex or dinosaurs." Ross's face falls, and he says "it's like Sophie's Choice!"
** [[BigEater Joey]], realizing choosing sex or food was hard, replied: "I want girls on bread!" A similar dialogue occurs in an earlier episode:
-->'''Chandler''': Hey, Joe, I gotta ask. The girl from the Xerox place buck naked (holds up one hand), or, or a big tub of jam. (holds up the other hand)
-->'''Joey''': Put your hands together.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow and Anya have made a powerful troll angry, and he tries to kill them both, and Xander jumps to their defense, but isn't not much of a match for the troll. The troll is however impressed with his bravery, and offers him to spare one of the girls, if Xander chooses which one of them he shall kill. Xander's response: "I'm not gonna choose between my best friend and my girlfriend! That's InsaneTrollLogic!"
** And in the season five finale, Buffy has to chose between [[spoiler:her sister, or the whole of reality. She takes the third option - HeroicSacrifice.]]

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': In one episode, a man is given a choice by a terrorist to either allow his son or wife to leave (he's holding them at gunpoint to force him to pick something up for him). After agonizing about it, he picks his son to be released. The terrorist then releases his wife instead, explaining that he only did that to learn who was ''more'' important as a hostage.
** Nearly the entire first season is a series of Sadistic Choices for Jack.
* ''{{Spooks}}'': In one episode, Fiona and Danny have been taken hostage and Fiona has to [[spoiler: choose between her husband Adam (a fellow spy) and her son, she has no choice but to lure Adam into the abductors' trap. Adam then has to choose which one will die. But before Adam gets to choose, Danny sacrifices himself.]]
* ''{{The X-Files}}'': It's at least very strongly implied that Mulder's father [[spoiler: had to choose if his son or his daughter would be taken for experimentation]].
** In Season 8, Krycek gives Skinner a choice. He will give Skinner the antidote against the virus that is killing Mulder (recently returned from being abducted), but Skinner has to kill Scully's unborn child. In the end, he chooses [[spoiler: to kill Mulder by unplugging his life support, which leads to the realization that the life support was only incubating the virus. A strong course of antivirals later, and both Mulder and baby are very much alive.]]
* ''Series/BloodTies'': In the series finale, a demon makes Vicki choose between the life of one of her friends, or the power to save the world, which includes reversal of her near-blindness. [[spoiler:She chooses her friend.]]
* ''{{Smallville}}'': All the time. See the [[Quotes/SadisticChoice quotes page]].
** In the much darker Season 8, [[TheChessmaster Lex]], who wants to pay back Clark and Lana for his [[EvilCripple condition]] reveals that the suit Lana stole in an earlier episode (which was meant to heal Lex) absorbs Kryptonite radiation. He then offers the sadistic choice- let Lana absorb the fuel in a kryptonite bomb on the top of the ''Daily Planet'' building and never be able to come near Clark again, or walk away and let the bomb go off, taking half of Metropolis with it.
** In Season 9, Amanda Waller shows Clark a TV screen depicting an agent holding a gun to Chloe's head and demands that he serve Checkmate or watch her die. [[spoiler: The gunman makes the fatal mistake of talking, allowing Clark to hear him and figure out his location. Then, he simply speeds over to him and takes him out.]]
** LX-13 does this in the Season 10 opening. Tying Lois Lane up in a field, he sets fire to the crops around her; he's already left a bomb in the ''Daily Planet' building. He then confronts Clark, asking him whether he'll let his girlfriend die, or sacrifice thousands of people in the streets of Metropolis. Clark [[spoiler:saves them both]].
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}: Children of Earth'': [[spoiler: The alien 456 demands 10% of the earth's children or they'll kill everyone. Captain Jack Harkness does eventually figure out how to stop them, but has only moments to choose between sacrificing his own grandson (whilst his daughter, the child's mother, watches) or letting the 456 take 10% of Earth's children]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan and Delenn (and, by extension, all the lesser species) are compelled to chose between following one of the two uber-races: the (near-)fascist Vorlons and chaotic murderous Shadows, each of which chooses would eventually result in an endless war. [[spoiler: They choose not to choose at all.]]
** In a less obvious way Sheridan himself inadvertently gives this to Kosh: either he helps the Alliance to fight Shadows (and face an inevitable and lethal retribution for breaking the no-direct-confrontation agreement the two races had) or he would have to kill Sheridan, who firmly refused to take "No" for an answer (and was crucial to any victory over the Shadows). [[spoiler: He chose the former.]]
** ''Series/BabylonFive'' loved this trope. It's revealed that the Minbari (or at least, some of them) knew of the Shadow invasion, and deliberately did not help the Narns when they were invaded by the Centauri with the help of the Shadows. But they held back because if they had moved to stop the Shadows, the Shadows would have started attacking openly sooner than they eventually did. As Delenn states in the episode "Ship of Tears", it was a choice between the lives of millions (on the Narn homeworld) and the lives of ''billions'' (on entire planets that could be destroyed by the Shadows, as they later proved capable of doing). [[spoiler:The Minbari choice bought enough time for the Alliance to find a weakness of the Shadows...but only just enough.]]
*** And earlier, Sheridan (in the episode "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum"), who was facing the decision of whether or not to release the dangerous [[ManipulativeBastard Mr. Morden]] from the station's holding cells, made a reference to the attack on Coventry in World War II, repeating a rumor of the time that Churchill had deliberately allowed the attack to go through simply to keep their knowledge of the Enigma cipher secret (in actuality, action ''was'' likely taken, but went wrong; Straczynski admitted that the Coventry example wasn't a certain one, but it made for a good story and illustrated his point well). As one character comments in that same episode: "How many lives is a secret worth?" [[spoiler:Sheridan lets him go, as to keep him would have revealed the "secret" and cost billions of lives, as the Minbari decision showed above.]]
* ''TheDeadZone'': A variant occurs in one episode, in which the villain is fate. After some visions, Johnny is forced to choose which of his old friends die. Does he let one friend get a heart transplant at the cost of the other friend's life? He keeps trying to try the third option, but it never works out. Leads to some very TearJerker moments.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the episode "Family of Blood", the titular family capture both the Doctor's companion, Martha, and his love ([[spoiler:or at least John Smith's love]]), Joan, and then giving him the option of which one to kill first.
-->'''Son of Mine:''' Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or matron? Your friend, or your lover? Your choice.
** [[spoiler: And then Martha goes and [[TakeAThirdOption rescues herself]] ''[[TakeAThirdOption and]]'' [[TakeAThirdOption Joan]]. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Give her a medal!]]]]
** ''The Fires of Pompeii'' counts as one of the hardest choices the Doctor was forced to take, as he had to choose between [[spoiler: sacrificing Pompeii or let the villains ruin the world. Worse, ''it was a fixed point in time.'']]
** Later on in "Victory of the Daleks", the Doctor has to choose between destroying the last five Daleks or preventing Earth from being blown up by a Dalek bomb. [[spoiler: There is no [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] - the Doctor saves Earth and the Daleks escape after gloating about his weakness being his compassion.]]
-->'''Supreme Dalek:''' Then choose, Doctor. Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth.
** In the Series 5 episode "Amy's Choice", the Dream Lord forces Amy to choose between her nice, reliable, dull boyfriend Rory and the dashing, unreliable, charismatic Doctor.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the episode "The Empath", Kirk was given the choice to choose either Spock or [=McCoy=] to go through torture. His captors informed him that [=McCoy=] would likely die if he went through with it and Spock would likely go insane if he went through with it. And interestingly enough, Kirk probably would have [[TakeAThirdOption chosen himself]] to go through the torture ''again'' if [=McCoy=] hadn't knocked him out first.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Wesley is due to be executed for a [[AllCrimesAreEqual trivial crime]]. The orbiting "God" wants to hold Picard to his own rule about obeying the Prime Directive, which would apparently forbid rescuing Wesley. Picard chooses to [[spoiler:[[TakeAThirdOption "bend" the rules]] and the entity buys it]].
* Another early TNG episode, "Skin of Evil," (the one where an evil oil slick kills Tasha Yar) features this. The evil oil slick, Armus, takes control of Data's arm (which is holding a phaser) and tells Dr. Crusher that she gets to choose who gets shot. Dr. Crusher chooses herself, and the entity quickly becomes bored with this game because none of the Enterprise's crew are giving in to the creature's desire to be tormented for its entertainment.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': ''The Collaborator'' is one episode with ''three'' examples of this trope in a single plot. It's two days before Kai [[MessianicArchetype Opaka's]] replacement (the spiritual leader of Bajor) is to be chosen and the front-runners are Vedek [[TheMessiah Bareil]] and Vedek [[AmbitionIsEvil Winn]]. Then a collaborator (a Bajoran that helped the Cardassians with the occupation of Bajor) accuses Vedek Bareil of having collaborated with the Cardassians in a massacre that killed 43 [[LaResistance terrorists]] (including Opaka's son). The episode's plot is spent following [[HotBlooded Kira]] who has to gather evidence that will prove Bareil's innocence or guilt. The three examples of the trope are:
** The obvious example: Bareil is Kira's lover and Winn forces her to take command of the investigation. The more evidence she gathers, the more it looks like Bareil is guilty. Eventually, she's forced to choose between protecting her lover and revealing the findings of her investigation to the Vedek Assembly which will destroy Bareil if revealed. She chooses to inform the assembly of her findings. However, when she contacts the assembly to present her findings, she learns Bareil's already spoken to the council so she doesn't need to go through with it. She made the choice, however.
** The less obvious example: Bareil is the favourite for becoming Kai and was also Kai Opaka's first choice for the position. He is faced with the option of confessing to the collaboration which will destroy him, ensure he never becomes Kai and give the position of Kai to a ruthless, power-hungry woman, or he can exonerate himself and take the position of Kai. In the end, he chooses to take the blame for the massacre, withdraws from the running for Kai, leaving Winn to become the new Kai.
** The twist: The reason Bareil took the blame is because the real collaborator was actually Kai Opaka herself. The Cardassians threatened the lives of 1200 innocent Bajorans if the 43 resistance fighters weren't handed over to Cardassian authorities. Opaka was forced to choose between the lives of 43 people (including her own son) or the lives 1200 people. She chose to sacrifice 43 lives to save 1200. Bareil knew the truth and chooses to take the blame both out of respect for Opaka and also to protect the sanctity of the position of Kai which cannot afford to be rocked by a scandal such as a Kai being a Cardassian collaborator.
*** In the ''[=DS9=]'' episode "The Assignment", Chief O'Brien's wife Keiko was possessed by a malevolent alien mind. In a twisted IHaveYourWife version of this trope, the alien, speaking through Keiko, gave O'Brien the choice of sabotaging Deep Space Nine, or watching his wife die. He was able to find a [[TakeTheThirdOption Third Option]] at the last minute.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': ''Latent Image'': This trope turned LogicBomb when The Doctor [[spoiler:is forced to choose between saving Kim's life or Jetal's life after an accident. They have the same chance of survival, but he doesn't have time to treat them both. He instinctively picks the one he knows best, something not covered by his programming, and suffers a nervous collapse.]]
** A somewhat undermined one happens in the pilot. Janeway is seemingly given the choice: use the Caretaker Array to go home, or destroy it and save the Ocampa (ignoring the use of a time bomb in that choice). Thing is, Tuvok had earlier stated that without the Caretaker, it would take several hours to activate, and with Kazon reinforcements on the way, keeping it for several hours given the state of their ship was looking less an option (and that's not counting the fact that the Array might have had other parts damaged, not just the self-destruct when the Kazon ship crashed into it). A better SadisticChoice would have been Janeway agonizing over negotiating the Array as a bargaining chip to the Kazon, vs just blowing it up.
* ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': [[spoiler: A psychiatrist forces couples to choose to save themselves and kill their spouse or be killed and let their spouse live. He did this ''nine times'' and only an elderly couple choose the "altruistic" choice. Ironically the killer was inspired by the sadistic choice put to his father and grandparents ''during the Holocaust''. Yes, he was called out on it, and no, he didn't get it ("I'm doing ''real'' science! It's ''documented'' and everything!").]]
* ''LoisAndClark'': In one episode, a mysterious couple kidnaps [[TheScrappy Jimmy]] and Clark's adoptive parents. They then tie Jimmy to a bomb in an undisclosed location, while doing the same with Clark's parents in another location. The bombs are set to go off at the same time. They give Superman a choice of saving his friend or his parents, as he only has enough time to find and disarm one bomb. Sipes decides to TakeAThirdOption and uses a beam splitter to fry both bombs with his [[EyeBeam laser vision]] from the sky. The kidnappers are not happy, as [[spoiler:they are actually [[HumanAliens Kryptonians]] sent to test Kal-El's qualifications for leadership of their LostColony. Their goal was to force him to make a tough choice]].

* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'': Several of the tasks have been picking the lesser of two evils. Perhaps the best example came during the China leg of Season 17, ''Both'' challenges were [[LuckBasedMission "Needle in a Haystack"]] challenges, and both of the particularly nasty variety. Teams had to pick either finding a boat with specific markings in the Marina or riding a tram and identifying the right signs, if you didn't get the right signs then you had to ride the Tram again and again. At the time the racers got to the leg it was nighttime; with the former challenge, they had to hold their flashlights over the signs one by one and with the latter, they had to search for specific signs in a sea of neon.
** Amazing Race 21 features searching for books in Cryllic, or learning a synchronized swimming routine

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Not surprisingly, some Unsubs like to use this. An episode had the Unsub lock three friends in an underground chamber to deprive them of food and water. They are told that one of them has to die for them to survive. Even worse, they had to kill the unlucky third friend themselves. With a hammer.
** Notably, Reid is forced into this twice in ''Revelations''. In one instance, he is shown four computer screens of complete strangers and is told to pick one to live and one to die (logically, he's picking one to live and three to die - Reid brings this up almost immediately, though not in so many words). If he doesn't choose, they all die. Reid eventually gives in and arbitrarily picks a victim to live and is [[ForcedToWatch left to watch]] the others be murdered. Later, [[SplitPersonality Rafael]] tells Reid to choose one of his colleagues to die. If he doesn't choose, Rafael will shoot Reid. He uses this to his advantage in one of the cleverest maneuvers Reid has ever made, [[TVGenius which is saying something]].
* ''{{MASH}}'': In one episode, B.J. is forced to choose between cutting a rope that a wounded soldier is using to climb up into the helicopter he's riding in, or let the helicopter be shot down. He chooses to cut the rope. This drives him into a deep funk, especially after he tries and fails to find out whether or not the guy made it out alive. Then the Army awards him the Bronze Star...
* ''TwinPeaks'': In the second part of the second season, Agent Cooper is forced to play a game of chess with Windom Earle. Whenever Cooper loses a piece, Earle commits another murder.
* ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': In the "Return of an Old Friend" two-parter, Goldar says that he'll free the teens' parents (who had been captured by Rita Repulsa prior...) if they give up their Power Coins to him. They comply, but naturally, Goldar doesn't [[ILied hold up]] his end of the bargain.
* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'': Near the end, [[spoiler:the insanely massive Zangyack invasion fleet, something that the previous 34 SuperSentai teams could only delay for a few years by sacrificing their powers, returns to Earth. The Gokaiger can either face the fleet by themselves, a task which is the next thing to suicide, or use the Greatest Treasure in the Universe to [[CosmicRetcon retroactively wipe Zangyack from the face of existence]] -- at the cost of doing the same to every Super Sentai. They end up destroying the Treasure and resolving to face the impossible odds, because that's what Super Sentai members do.]]
* ''Series/{{Awake}}'': In the pilot episode, it is suggested to Michael that once he comes to realize which reality is true he will stop dreaming the other. Or, as he put it, once he decides who has died (his wife or his son), he'll never see him/her again.
* ''StargateAtlantis'': Elizabeth Weir gets these ''at least'' once a season. [[{{ShipTease}} Usually involving her co-commader and closest friend John Sheppard]].
** So far, she's chosen between: Saving the entire expedition or John. Saving a new alliance or John. Saving the Puddle Jumpers or John. Saving a valuable collaborator or...you guessed it...John!
** Normally, she finds a ThirdOption but even so... poor woman needs a break!

* ''MyWifeAndKids'': One episode has a hypothetical version where Michael's wife and sister, who have never gotten along, ask him which one they would save if they were both drowning. Michael's response ("[[TakeAThirdOption I'd probably]] [[HeroicSacrifice kill myself]] [[EverybodyLives trying to save both of you!]]") is what makes them finally patch things up.

* ''{{Farscape}}'': The "Look at the Princess" trilogy revolves around Crichton being pressured into marrying an alien princess since he is the only one who can give her healthy children (a prerequisite for becoming empress.) To...encourage...John to make the right choice, the current empress invites Scorpius to the proceedings and tells John, "My daughter, or that abomination. Choose." Not much of a choice given that Scorpius would dissect John's brain and whatnot.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': In the episode ''A Scandal in Belgravia'', Irene shows Sherlock an email she stole from a Ministry of Defense employee. Sherlock uses this, and Mycroft's earlier comment on the phone, to deduce that [[spoiler:terrorists are about to put a bomb on a plane]]. The government knows about this but doesn't want to spook [[spoiler:the terrorists into finding leaks in their organization]], so they are forced to allow the event to take place. The Coventry Blitz is mentioned as an inspiration. However, the government decides to TakeAThirdOption by [[spoiler:loading the plane with dead bodies and piloting it remotely]]. Unfortunately, Sherlock inadvertantly foils the government's plan.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': The serial killer Pelant starts draining Hodgins's massive fortune, using the exact same server that controlled the drone he was using to attack a school in the Middle East. The team is already tapped into the server and could easily shut it down, saving the money, but doing so would prevent them from stopping the drone before it could reach its target. Hodgins doesn't hesitate to choose his own poverty over allowing the children to die.
** In the Eighth Season finale "The Secret In the Siege" [[spoiler: after Booth accepted Brennan's marriage proposal, Pelant contacted Booth by cell phone, announcing that he would kill five innocent people if Booth didn't break the engagement. So far, no Third Option has presented itself.]]

* The concept is spoofed in an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}''. The topic of "if you had to give up either food or sex" comes up. Immediately Ross says he'd give up food. Phoebe counters with "sex or dinosaurs." Ross's face falls, and he says "it's like Sophie's Choice!"

* In an episode of ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', a man is given a choice by a terrorist to either allow his son or wife to leave (he's holding them at gunpoint to force him to pick something up for him). After agonizing about it, he picks his son to be released. The terrorist then releases his wife instead, explaining that he only did that to learn who was ''more'' important as a hostage.

* In an episode of ''{{Spooks}}'', Fiona and Danny have been taken hostage and Fiona has to [[spoiler: choose between her husband Adam (a fellow spy) and her son, she has no choice but to lure Adam into the abductors' trap. Adam then has to choose which one will die. But before Adam gets to choose, Danny sacrifices himself.]]
* In ''{{The X-Files}}'', it's at least very strongly implied that Mulder's father [[spoiler: had to choose if his son or his daughter would be taken for experimentation]].

* In the series finale of ''Series/BloodTies'', a demon makes Vicki choose between the life of one of her friends, or the power to save the world, which includes reversal of her near-blindness. [[spoiler:She chooses her friend.]]
* ''{{Smallville}}''. All the time. See the [[Quotes/SadisticChoice quotes page]].

* In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}: Children of Earth'' [[spoiler: The alien 456 demands 10% of the earth's children or they'll kill everyone. Captain Jack Harkness does eventually figure out how to stop them, but has only moments to choose between sacrificing his own grandson (whilst his daughter, the child's mother, watches) or letting the 456 take 10% of Earth's children]]
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' Sheridan and Delenn (and, by extension, all the lesser species) are compelled to chose between following one of the two uber-races: the (near-)fascist Vorlons and chaotic murderous Shadows, each of which chooses would eventually result in an endless war. [[spoiler: They choose not to choose at all.]]

* A variant occurs in one episode of ''TheDeadZone'', in which the villain is fate. After some visions, Johnny is forced to choose which of his old friends die. Does he let one friend get a heart transplant at the cost of the other friend's life? He keeps trying to try the third option, but it never works out. Leads to some very TearJerker moments.
* ''{{Frasier}}'' episode ''Out With Dad''.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Family of Blood", the titular family capture both the Doctor's companion, Martha, and his love ([[spoiler:or at least John Smith's love]]), Joan, and then giving him the option of which one to kill first.

* ''NashBridges'' was given one of these in the first episode of the sixth (and final) season. The VillainOfTheWeek managed to get the drop on Joe and Cassidy and take them hostage. He then has Nash chose between them while showing them chained up on internet camera. (The implication is that the one he doesn't choose will be left to die.) Nash choses [[spoiler:Cassidy. But after the villain hangs up, Nash reveals it was because Joe would be easier to find because the graffiti behind him belongs to a particular street gang.]]
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Empath", Kirk was given the choice to choose either Spock or [=McCoy=] to go through torture. His captors informed him that [=McCoy=] would likely die if he went through with it and Spock would likely go insane if he went through with it. And interestingly enough, Kirk probably would have [[TakeAThirdOption chosen himself]] to go through the torture ''again'' if [=McCoy=] hadn't knocked him out first.

* In an episode of ''LoisAndClark'', a mysterious couple kidnaps [[TheScrappy Jimmy]] and Clark's adoptive parents. They then tie Jimmy to a bomb in an undisclosed location, while doing the same with Clark's parents in another location. The bombs are set to go off at the same time. They give Superman a choice of saving his friend or his parents, as he only has enough time to find and disarm one bomb. Sipes decides to TakeAThirdOption and uses a beam splitter to fry both bombs with his [[EyeBeam laser vision]] from the sky. The kidnappers are not happy, as [[spoiler:they are actually [[HumanAliens Kryptonians]] sent to test Kal-El's qualifications for leadership of their LostColony. Their goal was to force him to make a tough choice]].
* In the opener of the ''{{NCIS}}'' episode "Requiem," Tony is presented with a difficult decision (although it wasn't forced on him by an enemy). Gibbs and the childhood best friend of his deceased daughter are in a car that goes off a dock. Tony dives in and pulls both of them out, but neither is breathing. He begins CPR on Gibbs, and then looks over at the young woman lying on the dock. He goes over to her, glances back to Gibbs, who still isn't breathing. Tony makes the agonizing decision to begin CPR on the girl, instead of continuing with Gibbs. It's a subtle moment, but an important one: it shows that Tony knows Gibbs well enough to know that Gibbs would not want to be saved at the cost of the young woman's life, and that [[HandsomeLech the womanizing]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity goofy]], [[JerkJock often annoying]] NCIS agent is mature enough to make the hard choice. Fortunately for everyone involved, both Gibbs and the girl are saved.
* Several of the tasks on ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' have been picking the lesser of two evils. Perhaps the best example came during the China leg of Season 17, ''Both'' challenges were [[LuckBasedMission "Needle in a Haystack"]] challenges, and both of the particularly nasty variety. Teams had to pick either finding a boat with specific markings in the Marina or riding a tram and identifying the right signs, if you didn't get the right signs then you had to ride the Tram again and again. At the time the racers got to the leg it was nighttime; with the former challenge, they had to hold their flashlights over the signs one by one and with the latter, they had to search for specific signs in a sea of neon.

* Not surprisingly, some Unsubs like to use this in ''Series/CriminalMinds''. An episode had the Unsub lock three friends in an underground chamber to deprive them of food and water. They are told that one of them has to die for them to survive. Even worse, they had to kill the unlucky third friend themselves. With a hammer.

* On an episode of ''{{MASH}}'', B.J. is forced to choose between cutting a rope that a wounded soldier is using to climb up into the helicopter he's riding in, or let the helicopter be shot down. He chooses to cut the rope. This drives him into a deep funk, especially after he tries and fails to find out whether or not the guy made it out alive. Then the Army awards him the Bronze Star...
* In the second part of the second season of TwinPeaks, Agent Cooper is forced to play a game of chess with Windom Earle. Whenever Cooper loses a piece, Earle commits another murder.
* In the "Return of an Old Friend" two-parter of ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Goldar says that he'll free the teens' parents (who had been captured by Rita Repulsa prior...) if they give up their Power Coins to him. They comply, but naturally, Goldar doesn't [[ILied hold up]] his end of the bargain.
* Near the end of ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', [[spoiler:the insanely massive Zangyack invasion fleet, something that the previous 34 SuperSentai teams could only delay for a few years by sacrificing their powers, returns to Earth. The Gokaiger can either face the fleet by themselves, a task which is the next thing to suicide, or use the Greatest Treasure in the Universe to [[CosmicRetcon retroactively wipe Zangyack from the face of existence]] -- at the cost of doing the same to every Super Sentai. They end up destroying the Treasure and resolving to face the impossible odds, because that's what Super Sentai members do.]]
* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Awake}}'', it is suggested to Michael that once he comes to realize which reality is true he will stop dreaming the other. Or, as he put it, once he decides who has died (his wife or his son), he'll never see him/her again.
* StargateAtlantis: Elizabeth Weir gets these ''at least'' once a season. [[{{ShipTease}} Usually involving her co-commader and closest friend John Sheppard]].

* Use in the ''{{Psych}}'' fourth season finale. Shawn is given a choice between saving Abigail or Juliet. He originally chooses to save Juliet, as he doesn't know Abigail's whereabouts. When he solves the clue about Abigail, the team splits up to save them both.
* An episode of ''MyWifeAndKids'' has a hypothetical version where Michael's wife and sister, who have never gotten along, ask him which one they would save if they were both drowning. Michael's response ("[[TakeAThirdOption I'd probably]] [[HeroicSacrifice kill myself]] [[EverybodyLives trying to save both of you!]]") is what makes them finally patch things up.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' loves hitting Sam and Dean (''especially'' [[BreakTheCutie Dean]]) with this, particularly during season 5. Either say yes to being meat suits for asshole archangels and condemn billions of people to death, or we'll torture you and your brother with either a) stage 4 stomach cancer, b) broken legs, c) missing lungs, d) watching your loved ones die/suffer/do the torturing, e) a good old-fashioned, super strength beatdown, etc. Whatever suits the mood, really.
* {{Farscape}}: The "Look at the Princess" trilogy revolves around Crichton being pressured into marrying an alien princess since he is the only one who can give her healthy children (a prerequisite for becoming empress.) To...encourage...John to make the right choice, the current empress invites Scorpius to the proceedings and tells John, "My daughter, or that abomination. Choose." Not much of a choice given that Scorpius would dissect John's brain and whatnot.
* In the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode ''A Scandal in Belgravia'', Irene shows Sherlock an email she stole from a Ministry of Defense employee. Sherlock uses this, and Mycroft's earlier comment on the phone, to deduce that [[spoiler:terrorists are about to put a bomb on a plane]]. The government knows about this but doesn't want to spook [[spoiler:the terrorists into finding leaks in their organization]], so they are forced to allow the event to take place. The Coventry Blitz is mentioned as an inspiration. However, the government decides to TakeAThirdOption by [[spoiler:loading the plane with dead bodies and piloting it remotely]]. Unfortunately, Sherlock inadvertantly foils the government's plan.
* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'', the serial killer Pelant starts draining Hodgins's massive fortune, using the exact same server that controlled the drone he was using to attack a school in the Middle East. The team is already tapped into the server and could easily shut it down, saving the money, but doing so would prevent them from stopping the drone before it could reach its target. Hodgins doesn't hesitate to choose his own poverty over allowing the children to die.