Bait and Switch Credits: Difference between revisions

** This was a rather popular type of gag on the series. One episode had the opening at the ''very end'' of the show, followed by ''the credits''. Another ran the opening credits at the beginning of the show... followed ''immediately'' by the closing credits. The Pythons frequently set out to subvert not just the structure of the typical comedy sketch, but also the structure of television programmes themselves.

** Episode 29 opened with the opening credits, music and all, to ''The Money Programme'' ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|a finance and business programme]] [[Long Runners|that has been airing since 1966]]). Only when the presenter was revealed to be a comically money-mad Eric Idle was the veil lifted.

** One step further in the program for ''Spamalot.'' The main section of the play booklet describes a Finnish play that sounds like torture to the audience. Among the notes in the playbook are "There will be three intermissions -- one every two-and-a-half hours" and warnings not to speak Swedish in the theater. After this five-page section comes the real opening.

* ''[[Police Squad!]]'' made the bait-and-switch a [[Running Gag]], introducing and then instantly killing off a "Special Guest Star" during each episode's opening credits. There's also a scene where [[Abraham Lincoln]] (played by and credited to Rex Hamilton) foils his own assassination by pulling out a gun and shooting back. Obviously, that never happens in the show. There were plans to show Mahatma Gandhi wielding an assault rifle if the show had been picked up for a second season.

* ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' was about time travelers from the future, and clips in later versions of the opening showed the characters in different eras like the Wild West, feudal Japan, or prehistoric times. The actual show, however, mostly took place in the present day (where the time travelers were stuck); with only the prehistory clip being from a legit time trip. The rest of the clips came from either ''[[Mirai Sentai Timeranger]]'' [[Stock Footage]], which was never put into the American version, or from an episode where the characters were trapped in various movies showing off different time periods.

* The opening credits for ''[[Dexter]]'' are an [[Affectionate Parody]] of this trope. The viewer sees shots in extreme closeup which appear to be violent and bloody {{spoiler|amusing and wrong because Dexter is a methodical serial killer}}...but turn out to be Dexter only going through his morning routine and having his breakfast.

* ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'' begins its opening sequence with the narration: "The time-traveling train, Denliner. Will its next stop be in the past or the future?" The answer to this question is ALWAYS "the past." At no point in the TV series does Denliner visit the future.

* The opening of ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' promised a smiling and happy woman most of the time. However, during the episodes she was depressed/sad/angry nearly the whole series and only rarely seen in a happy mood.

** Joss wanted to do this for the pilot with Jessie but it was shot down.

* ''[[Torchwood]]'' pulls a fast one on viewers in its first episode. The opening credits to the pilot includes {{spoiler|Indira Varma, who plays Suzie Costello}}. This was done to make it look like {{spoiler|she was a regular cast member. She wasn't, and her character was dead by the end of the episode}}.

* BBC children's comedy series ''[[Out Of Tune]]'', which opened with a title card showing the church in the background, and accompanied by some beautiful choir singing, suddenly transitions mid-music into off-key wailing. The on-screen title begins to collapse as well.

 

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