Characters who are Sour Outside, Sad Inside in Live-Action TV series.
- The Andy Griffith Show: In the first season episode "Christmas Story," the apparently misanthropic businessman Ben Weaver is an example of this. After Ben makes everyone's lives miserable for the first part of the episode by insisting that the Sheriff enforce the letter of the law (such as by demanding that a moonshiner serve out his jail sentence, rather than getting a temporary leave of absence to spend Christmas with his family), he then embarks on a blatant spree of Christmas Eve misdemeanors. Sheriff Andy realizes that this is a purposeful attempt on Ben's part to get himself arrested so that he can join the jailhouse Christmas party that is underway rather than spending Christmas alone (To ensure that the audience does not miss this trope, in one scene Ben stands on a trash can behind the jail and wistfully watches through a barred window as those present at the Christmas party sing "Away in a Manger," with Andy leading on the guitar). Andy obliges in arresting him, allowing Ben to first go home to get some things that he'll need for his jail stay. Ben returns with an assortment of gifts for those present, which he pretends to have brought by accident.
- Charmed: Piper came off this way for a while after Prue's death, throwing herself into demon-hunting, coldly brushes Paige off (when she's not outright dismissive), and won't let anyone talk to her about it. She eventually mellows out to her old self and comes to accept Prue's death, and Paige's place in the family. This appears in Centennial Charmed when we see an alternate reality where Paige never met her; the Power of Three was never reconstituted, and she becomes a cluster of raw nerves and leather in her Roaring Rampage of Revenge for Prue's death.
- Cobra Kai: Hawk is a particularly sad example. He spent most of his life being bullied for his cleft palate scar. After joining Cobra Kai, his life gets better, but he's still incredibly insecure and hurting due to his past bullying so he responds to anyone who hurts him with Unstoppable Rage which alienates those closest to him and allows him to be manipulated by Kreese.
- Game of Thrones: Sandor "The Hound" Clegane's unpleasant personality is rooted in the traumatic incident from his youth that literally burned all the idealism out of him, as well as the lingering guilt for some of the things he has done in life. Tormund Giantsbane outright calls him this trope.Tormund: I don't think you're really mean. You have sad eyes.
Sandor: You want to suck my dick, is that it? - Peter Quinn from Homeland is this. He's coolly hostile to his co-workers and was brought in specifically because he's good at not getting emotionally involved. Despite his bluntness, willingness to put people down, and inability to trust or be trusted, by season three it's clear the majority of his issues stem from constantly being on the move due to CIA work and being haunted by the number of people he's killed. Even though he claims and acts as if he dislikes the people he's working with, he finds excuses to be around them and manages a few conversations that are non-work related, during which he's about as nice as any of the main cast.
- House: The good doctor's constant snark and occasional callousness stem from his own deep-seated belief that he is worthless, despite being a genius level diagnostician.
- Kevin Can F**k Himself: Patty is an abrasive snarker and seems to have little regard for anyone else or their feelings, but she starts to to show a softer side to Allison and Tammy. In truth, she's a very lonely individual who feels trapped in her unhappy life, but sees no escape, and embraces cynicism and sarcasm to cope.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel has a habit of becoming very defensive and lashing out at other people to hide her depression and trauma from seeing her loved ones dying. Despite being told numerous time that her behavior is not doing her any service, Galadriel continues to seek revenge as a way to relieve her trauma.
- Red Dwarf: Arnold Rimmer can best be described as a Dirty Coward, a Jerkass and in general, not a nice person to be around due to him being nasty to everyone else. However, it has also been shown that Rimmer is genuinely lonely and wants to be loved, and thanks to his upbringing, has a very warped sense of other people and believes himself to be worthless. "Better Than Life" (which has him unintentionally destroy everyone's fun) also shows that deep down, he doesn't believe that he deserves to be happy.
- Scrubs: Dr. Cox may have his good moments, but on an average day, he's mostly condescending towards everyone, dealing with a huge superiority complex, and thinking that people are bastard-coated bastards with a bastard filling. However, he's also repeatedly shown to genuinely care for his patients (and co-workers) even though even he isn't willing to admit it, and he absolutely breaks down when he knows he can't be the person some people expect him to be, or worse, when he loses a loved one.
- In Smallville, Oliver may be this, especially in season nine. Chloe might be a mild example on her worst days, but with what she has gone through...
- Captain Liam Shaw from Star Trek: Picard admits that he became a jerkass to cover his massive Survivor's Guilt after watching 40 of his friends die at the Battle of Wolf 359.
- Derek Hale from Teen Wolf mainly communicates through aloofness and threats of bodily harm. Which makes a lot of sense when you remember he was sexually manipulated as a kid. By a grown woman. Who then burned down his home with most of his family in it.
- The Twilight Zone (1959) had Fitzgerald Fortune in the episode "A Piano in the House", where the titular player-piano could bring out the "true self" of someone whose "true" personality fit the music being played. He delights in using it to humiliate a heavyset, jovial woman named Marge at a dinner party, then wants to play something that would "call forth the devil" - except his wife swaps out the planned song for Brahms' "Lullaby". This song affects Fitzgerald himself, revealing that, at his heart, he's actually a "small frightened boy, that only likes to hurt people
", lashing out at anyone he feels envious of. - Yellowjackets has Natalie Scatorccio. This trope is more evident in the 2021 storyline. Soon after her most recent stint at rehab, she relapses into alcohol and drug use to deal with the trauma from the 1996 plane crash and the things she and her fellow team members did to survive 19 months in the wilderness. Most of the time she is a Perpetual Frowner. By the end of Season 1, the only thing that stops her from taking her life is the people who break into her room and kidnap her.
