Shaming the Mob in Live-Action TV series.
- Sykes does this in The Movie premiere of Alien Nation, when the mob takes Fantastic Racism too far for even his tastes. Better yet was one of the mob was a black man in his mid to late 30s. The series is based in the the late 80s and early 90s. Sykes truly shamed him as he lived at the birth of the Civil Rights movement.
- Amazing Stories "Mummy Daddy" episode has a subversion; An actor in a highly-restricting mummy-suit is caught by a lynch-mob of bloodthirsty Redneck Hicks. As they are preparing to hang him, a local woman comes forth dragging her kid along with her, and makes a plea for them to stop. The kid then makes a contribution:Kid: ...He looks like a good mummy...
Actor: (muffled by bandages) I am! I am a good mummy!
Kid: Of course he could be a bad one! I say we hang 'im just in case!
Actor: (epic Oh, Crap! expression) - Andy does this a couple times to the citizens of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. Seeing as this is Mayberry we're talking about, the "danger" any mob poses to a target is never more serious than humiliating or making someone feel bad about themselves, though.
- In the Cadfael episode "The Sanctuary Sparrow," the monks are doing evening mass when a young man bursts in, steps ahead of an angry mob who think he killed a local man. The youth grabs the altar cloth to claim sanctuary just as they reach him. The monks push them away with the Abbott snapping at "how dare you bring violence to a House of God!" The son of the victim is about to stab the youth but Cadfael snaps to put the dagger away "or court your soul's damnation!" The Abbott tells the mob that the youth is now under the protection of the church for 40 days and forces them to back down.
- Played with in the Pilot of Deadwood, a Mob has come to kill a prisoner and the Sheriff tries to talk them down. They're having none of it, so the Sheriff hangs the prisoner right there (even helping to break his neck) so the mob wouldn't have the satisfaction of torturing him.
- Father Brown: Father Brown does this in "The Standing Stones", delivering a speech to a group of villagers who were planning a human sacrifice in an attempt to stop an outbreak of polio. While it does not sway the leader, it gives most of them pause, and make one of them switch sides and cut Father Brown's bonds so he can escape.
- FBI: Most Wanted: In "Rangeland", Sheriff Molly Franklin is able to talk down the armed ranchers holding her and Remy at gunpoint by appealing to them as their friend and neighbour who knows them as individuals.
- Firefly episode "Safe" zigzags all over the place. A mob has gathered to burn River, who they believe is a witch. Simon attempts to shame them out of it by yelling that she's just a girl. It seems to be working, as the town elder acquiesces...and then River brings up a shameful thing from his past that she couldn't have known. Commence burnination, although Simon interrupts again—this time by accepting River's fate and climbing up to the stake so he can be burned with her. This causes them to hesitate just long enough for The Team to show up in the trope-naming Big Damn Heroes moment. Mal does not bother talking to them. He not only has Jayne cover the townsfolk with a really big gun, but he puts the town elder at gunpoint himself to force the issue.Patron: The girl is a witch.
Mal: Yeah, but she's our witch.
[cocks shotgun and aims at Town Patron]
Mal: So cut her the hell down. - Friends: In one holiday episode Monica starts making candy to give to the neighbors as a way of getting to know them. The neighbors quickly become obsessed and start showing up in the middle of the night to demand more of it. Eventually a crowd forms in the hallway badgering her to deliver faster. Chandler takes one look at how stressed she is, turns to the crowd and tells them off for the way they've been behaving which convinces them all to go home. This is especially notable because Chandler is usually shown to be rather timid with confrontation outside the core group, but go after Monica and all bets are off.Chandler: This woman was trying to do something nice for you all, so she could get to know you better, and I bet not one of you can tell me her name.
- Funky Squad: In "The Wrong Side of the Tracks", a rumble is going down between the Skulls and the Bandits. The Skulls think the Bandits started it, and the Bandits think the Skulls started it. Funky Squad know corrupt property developer Stricklen started it, but try telling that to an unruly mob. Stix intervenes and reveals himself as a former gang leader and singlehandedly talks the two sides into a truce.Stix: I quit when I realised I was fighting for nothing. Tearing the streets apart - my own turf, my own home...
- Game of Thrones: At the gathering in Winterfell following the retaking, Lyanna Mormont firmly reminds the other Northern lords that they didn't do anything to help the Starks after the Red Wedding and after they were betrayed by the Boltons and Freys. Lord Manderly admits she's right.
- Get Smart. At Max's bachelor party it's discovered KAOS has planted a bomb inside Hymie the robot, and all the guests start to flee in panic. The Chief stops them and angrily reprimands their unprofessional conduct, reminding a few of them how Hymie had saved their lives. As the guests hang their heads in shame, the Chief concludes by saying he's going to forget he ever saw that spectacle...whereupon they continue fleeing.
- Inverted in The Middle's fifth-season episode "The Award". Mike, being feted for his 20 years on the job at the quarrynote , gives a speech at the dinner honoring him that depresses a happy crowd, reminding all present that he had recently had to lay people off and that anyone's job could be ended at any time, preventing them from reaching the same milestone.
- Midsomer Murders: In "Night of the Stag", Barnaby has to talk down an angry mob that the murderer has whipped into a frenzy and is sending to kill Barnaby and Jones. By revealing the murderer's true motivation for the crimes, he is able to buy enough time to regain control of the situation.
- Parks and Recreation: After seven seasons of the media misinterpreting some of her most innocuous actions in the most moronic ways possible, Leslie finally gets her revenge on the unruly crowd of reporters and concerned citizens and she and Ben tell them once and for all what stupid, gullible idiots they all are. Whether or not the mob is actually shamed by this, it sure makes the two of them feel a lot better.
- Picket Fences: An unusual example, as Bone shames a group celebrating a girl escaping punishment for selling drugs. She'd been charged at the local level after admitting to trying the drugs and then attempting to sell the remainder of her supply to classmates after she determined that she didn't like them. But the Feds wanted to make an example of her that they treated white drug dealers just as harshly as minorities. John Littleton, who'd made that very point in the hearing, sabotages the case because he felt the federal mandatory punishment of ten years was too harsh for a teenager who did something stupid and ignorant rather than acting maliciously. But when everyone starts celebrating that the case being sabotaged meant she was getting off Scot-free, Bone reminds her sharply that she was, in fact, guilty and deserved punishment, and was only being spared because of Littleton's mercy, not for anything just or righteous on her part.
- On Salem Cotton Mather successfully gets a mob to refrain from killing a family suspected of witchcraft. He's a zealous witch hunter, but he does believe suspects have the right to a fair trial and to face their accusers.
- The classic Star Trek episode, "The Devil in the Dark" had Kirk and Spock protect a horta from vengeful miners by telling them that the Monster Is a Mommy and had legitimate reasons for attacking them since they were inadvertently destroying her eggs. Fortunately, the combination of shame of the miners realizing the carnage they caused and the exciting proposal that the hortas can help them mine is enough to turn the mob around.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode "The House of Quark", Quark finds himself forced to fight against the wicked Klingon D'Ghor as a matter of honor after being convinced not to run away. Rather than fight, however, Quark throws his weapon aside and calls out the Klingons in attendance — including Chancellor Gowron, himself — for basically arranging an execution, since Quark had no hope of winning in a duel against D'Ghor. It works better than he could've hoped: Gowron not only intercedes and stops the "duel", but calls out D'Ghor on his dishonorable conduct and has him summarily discommendated.
- Walker, Texas Ranger:
- In Season 4's "The Lynching", Walker and Trivette are investigating whether or not Jonah Nelson, a special needs man living with a popular woman, was responsible for her murder. While Walker and the sheriff try to protect the supposed culprit from a bloodthirsty lynch mob, Trivette and Alex are responsible for the legwork in finding the true culprit. By the time the mob has cornered them in a shed, which they then burn down, but the three luckily survive, at which point the real killer is revealed to be Jonah's uncle, Earl. After the real killer is caught, Walker calls out the mob on their actions and that they almost killed an innocent man before commanding them to leave.Walker: Listen up, everyone! That's why we have laws! You almost killed an innocent man! Now, go home!
- In Season 4's "The Lynching", Walker and Trivette are investigating whether or not Jonah Nelson, a special needs man living with a popular woman, was responsible for her murder. While Walker and the sheriff try to protect the supposed culprit from a bloodthirsty lynch mob, Trivette and Alex are responsible for the legwork in finding the true culprit. By the time the mob has cornered them in a shed, which they then burn down, but the three luckily survive, at which point the real killer is revealed to be Jonah's uncle, Earl. After the real killer is caught, Walker calls out the mob on their actions and that they almost killed an innocent man before commanding them to leave.
- The X-Files: “War of the Coprophages”: Scully attempts to control the mob with a speech about how they are giving in to panic. The mob ignores her and creates havoc. [1]
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