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Harsher in Hindsight/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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* The ''[[I Carly]]'' special, iPsycho, shows a depressed Gibby saying that he has nothing better to do than to watch reruns. This episode aired the same week [[Diffrent Strokes|Gary Coleman]] passed away. Considering the "Awww" that came from the canned laughter, it may be possible that they added it at the last minute to pay tribute to him.
* Perhaps the most eerie example was the pilot episode of ''[[The Lone Gunmen]],'' in which [[The Government]] nearly succeeds in crashing an airliner into the World Trade Center and thereby creating a new era of conflict. It aired in March 2001. Yikes.
{{quote| '''BYERS SNR:''' ''[[The Great Politics Mess -Up|The Cold War's over]], John. But with [[Why We're Bummed Communism Fell|no clear enemy to stockpile against]], [[War for Fun And Profit|the arms market's flat]]. But [[False -Flag Operation|bring down a fully loaded 727 into the middle of New York City]] and you'll find a dozen [[Acceptable Targets|tinpot dictators]] all over the world just [[Too Dumb to Live|clamoring to take responsibility]], and [[What an Idiot!|begging]] to be [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|smart-bombed]].''}}
* The BBC children's drama ''[[Grange Hill (TV)|Grange Hill]]'' had a nasty and quite personal example of this back in 2000. The character of Judi Jeffreys was (long story short) locked in a storage room that was on fire. She tried to escape by climbing out of the window onto a nearby fire escape, and ended up falling head first to her death. The actress who played her, Laura Sadler, met her own sad and untimely demise in the exact same way about 3 years later. (That is, she fell head first out of a building to her death; but while drunk and drugged up with vodka and cocaine, not while trying to escape a fire).
* On ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', Doyle's {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice]]}} - just nine episodes into the series - became even more heartbreaking after Glenn Quinn, who played him, died three years later in 2002.
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** In the same season, after Tony learns that Michelle {{spoiler|is trapped inside a hotel whose inhabitants are infected with the Cordilla Virus}}, Ryan Chappelle tells him that the best way to focus is to assume the worst and think about getting revenge. {{spoiler|In season 7, Tony's desire for revenge for Michelle's death at the start of the fifth season leads him to attempt to curry favor with the main antagonists so that he can meet up with and kill the man responsible, even if thousands of innocent civilians die in the process}}.
* The diffusion of the first episode of ''[[Fringe]]'', which contains a plane accident, in France coincided with the Rio-Paris plane crash...The episode was broadcast one week later instead.
* The ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' serial "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S4 E2 The Tenth Planet|The Tenth Planet]]", first shown in 1966, has a spacecraft lost with all hands in 1986.
** The Doctor's [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|"One day, I shall come back"]] speech from ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S2 E2 The Dalek Invasion of Earth|The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]''. {{spoiler|Unless you count the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]], he doesn't come back.}}
** In-universe example: the final scene of "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S3 E10 Blink|Blink]]", which implied that every statue could be a Weeping Angel, was already [[Doctor Who (TV)/Nightmare Fuel|horrific]] enough." "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S31 E04 The Time of Angels|The Time of Angels]]" {{spoiler|turned that concept into reality}}. [[Sarcasm Mode|Have sweet dreams.]]
*** Another one from "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S3 E10 Blink|Blink]]"/"[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S31 E04 The Time of Angels|The Time of Angels]]": Sally gave the Doctor a photo of an angel. Image of an Angel, anyone?
** Another one: the [[Happiness in Slavery]] thing the Ood from "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S2 E8 The Impossible Planet|The Impossible Planet]]"/"[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S2 E9 The Satan Pit|The Satan Pit]]" have going is cringe-inducing enough. Then [[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S4 E3 Planet of the Ood|a couple seasons later]] we find out {{spoiler|it's because they've been lobotomized}}.
** The Doctor's worst fear (introduced in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S7 E4 Inferno|Inferno]]'' and reiterated in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S8 E2 The Mind of Evil|The Mind of Evil]]'') is that of a burning planet. {{spoiler|Guess what [[Shoot the Dog|he had no choice but to do to Gallifrey]] in the Time War.}}
** The episode "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S4 E9 Forest of the Dead|Forest of the Dead]]" ends with {{spoiler|River Song}} making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. At the time, it's pretty sad, but we don't really feel much connection to her since she'd only just been introduced. But as the show continues, we find out more about her and her relationship with the Doctor, and that first episode becomes [[Tear Jerker|simply heartbreaking]] to watch...especially once you realise the Doctor himself should have mourned her death far more than he did, it was just unlucky chance that he didn't know her when she died.
*** {{spoiler|And remember, the Doctor KNOWS River's fate. He knows the date and destiny of the daughter of Amy and Rory Pond. As uplifting a note as the episode "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 E7 A Good Man Goes to War|A Good Man Goes To War]]" ends on, remembering that the Doctor already knows when it is that she dies, and that she dies for him, can be quite the [[Fridge Horror]] moment - the daughter of the companions that he has come to look at as his family died for him before he knew who she was or even met her parents.}}
**** ''And'' it was probably intentional
** The Seventh Doctor, distraught over the {{spoiler|apparent death of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,}} tells him "You should have died in bed!" Fast forward to "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 E13 The Wedding of River Song|The Wedding of River Song]]"...
** Ten's heartwarming "Goodbye - ''my Sarah Jane!!''" from "School Reunion" becomes absolutely heartbreaking after [[Elisabeth Sladen]]'s untimely death. Just...ouch. ''Ouch.''
** The conclusion of ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S6 E7 The War Games|The War Games]]'' where the Doctor is forced to "change his appearance" before doing into exile is now seen as being forced to use one of his 12 regenerations. Ergo, the modern viewer would see this as the Doctor being ''executed'' after a fashion by shortening his lifespan.
* ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures (TV)|The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' story ''Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith'' is about Sarah Jane struggling with senility brought on by a terminal illness. {{spoiler|In fact, the illness was fabricated by Sarah Jane's replacement, and once she's defeated, Sarah Jane instantly recovers.}}) And to think [[Elisabeth Sladen]] must have known she was ill when she filmed them.
* At the end of season two of ''[[Dexter]]'', Dexter {{spoiler|has trapped James Doakes in a cage inside a remote cabin in the Everglades after he found out Dexter was a serial killer.}} Trying to convince his captor to turn himself in, {{spoiler|Doakes}} describes Dexter's urge to kill as being "like a cancer - and in case you haven't noticed, it's spreading". Michael C. Hall contracted Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2010, before recovering later that year.
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** In a season 16 episode of ''[[Law and Order]]'', after a hit list is discovered with Jack's name on it, Alexandra Borgia advises him to hand the case off to someone else because it might save his life. Five months later {{spoiler|she's tortured and killed because of a case she's working on.}} What's more, Arthur Branch tells Jack she would have fought him tooth and nail if he'd tried to take her off the case.
*** Another example would be an early episode called "Second Opinion", where the victim was killed by a quack remedy for her cancer, and Lt. Van Buren and Detective Briscoe are discussing the woman's condition. Briscoe's actor, Jerry Orbach, died of cancer, and a final season story arc involved Van Buren receiving a scare about possible cancer.
** In an April 2009 episode of ''[[Law and Order Criminal Intent]]'' entitled "Rock Star", a musician falls to his death in an elevator shaft in a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In November of that same year, [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Fuchs:Jerry Fuchs|Jerry Fuchs]], the drummer for various indie rock bands such as !!! and The Juan Maclean, [http://www.avclub.com/newyork/articles/drummer-jerry-fuchs-dead-after-fall-down-elevator,35122/ died pretty much the same way in a similar building in the same neighborhood]. However, unlike in the episode, {{spoiler|where the musician was ''pushed'' down the shaft}}, Fuchs actually fell while trying to jump from a stalled elevator to the next floor. Still pretty damn eerie.
** ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' : [[Life Imitates Art]], although at least one version might have been deliberate: An episode about a pedophile coach aired a few weeks before the Penn State scandal broke and an episode about a couple faking a kidnapping to cover up the {{spoiler|accidental}} death of their baby may have caused a real-life woman to try and do the same thing {{spoiler|maybe she missed the end where they couple was caught}}. Fortunately [[Rule of Three|the next episode]] (about a pair of killers who {{spoiler|kill their classmate and almost succeed in pinning it on a feeble-minded neighbor}}) hasn't happened... as far as we know...
** ''[[Law and Order UK]]: An episode in which the detectives are investigating the shooting death of an officer has DS Matt Devlin musing to partner Ronnie Brooks that it must be tough to lose a partner, then immediately cringing as he remembers that Ronnie ''has'' lost a partner to violence. Another episode that also involved the shooting death of an officer had Ronnie stating, "God forbid Matty here got himself shot, I'd be out there straightaway trying to find who did it and string him up myself"
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** Shock Therapy is widely misrepresented in fiction and isn't nearly as horrible as portrayed.
** In an in-universe example, a conversation between Hotch and Prentiss about the importance of family and how Hotch is trying his best for Hayley and Jack becomes heartbreaking after having watched season 5, in which {{spoiler|Hayley is murdered}}.
* A 1979 episode of ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)|Blakes Seven]]'' called "Shadow" has the gang of rebels trying to bribe a drug dealing mob to help them in their fight against the Federation, only to find out that despite their public anti-drug stance the Federation is the secret head of the mob. It seems that they want to control both sides of the law. Of course, a modern, enlightened democracy would never stoop to selling illegal drugs to their own people to further their political ends. [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_Contras_cocaine_trafficking_in_the_US:CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US|Oh wait.]]
* In the episode of ''[[Friends]]'' where Monica and Chandler went on their honeymoon, their entire storyline had to be re-written and re-shot at the last minute. The original storyline involved the two of them getting arrested by airport security because Chandler made a joke about a bomb. The re-shoot version of their storyline involved a sort of one-sided competition for free upgrades with another honeymooning couple, with several of the original gags recycled. The episode aired October 11, 2001.
** Although the deleted scenes were eventually made available on Youtube.
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* In the ''[[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek TOS]]'' episode "Assignment: Earth", Spock mentions that one of the events that occurred during the Enterprise's visit to Earth in 1968 was an assassination. The episode was first aired on March 29, 1968. Six days later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. Robert F. Kennedy was killed that year as well.
* The ''[[Route 66]]'' episode "I'm Here to Kill a King" has Tod and Linc encountering a would-be political assassin who [[Evil Twin|looks just like Tod]]. The episode was originally scheduled to air on the night of November 29, 1963; after the real-life assassination of President [[John F Kennedy]] exactly one week earlier, CBS pulled the episode from its schedule, and it was not seen until the series went into syndication several years later.
* [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]]'s astronaut training clips are a bit less funny since the wife of the shuttle pilot who helped him was [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting:2011 Tucson shooting|targeted for assassination]] -- she was shot in the head but survived; unfortunately the mentally unstable shooter killed six other people, including a federal judge and a little girl who was born on 9/11 who had just been elected class president.
* The ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'' season one episode "Life, Death, Eternity, Etc." features the sudden death of a secondary character due to ill health, causing Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (perhaps the most beloved character in the series, played by Michael Conrad) to ponder the transient nature of life. Michael Conrad would die three years later at the age of 57 due to cancer, with Sgt. Esterhaus dying in a special episode timed to correspond with the actor's death.
* The ''[[MASH]]'' episode "Blood Brothers" features Patrick Swayze as Pvt. Sturgis, a wounded soldier diagnosed with leukemia (which in the 1950s had a much higher mortality rate than it does now). Almost thirty years after the episode aired, Swayze himself died of cancer.
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* Hearing Captain Phil say during the 6th season of ''[[Deadliest Catch]]'' that he hopes "my dumb ass will be around for a while" when talking about his kids is a bit of a stab in the heart considering what happened to him.
** Pretty much ''anything'' that focused on Phil in Season 6, to deliberate effect. 'Catch' fans knew that Phil's death was going to be documented and thought the four months between his death and the showing would help steel themselves, but it still made it all the more unnerving when it happened on TV. One particular moment: In the episode "Valhalla", which documented the fleet's reactions to the death of Phil, Sig Hansen goes to meet ''Cornelia Marie'' relief captain Derek Ray in Saint Paul. While talking with Sig, Derek commented he could only take up so much of Phil's space in the wheelhouse so the only thing he removed was the ashtray. Sig joked that Phil would find that funny. Problem was, none of the fleet knew that Phil had passed yet, so Derek broke the news. It was awkward from that point on.
** This year's ''After The Catch'' is/was in [[New Orleans]], where that area's fishermen are experiencing some very bad times due to the Gulf Coast oil spill. This is addressed a few episodes later when the captains see the effects of the spill up close; having lived through the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill:Exxon Valdez oil spill|Exxon Valdez oil spill]] themselves the Gulf spill is especially disturbing. It's also noted that all the fishing-related activities they did have since been shut down indefinitely.
** In the home video of a crew not associated with the show, one man jokingly said that his friends ought to be on ''Deadliest Catch''. The video aired as part of a special episode after the ship sank with either one or no survivors.
* ''[[Burn Notice]]'': S1, Episode 9, "Wanted Man". The Libyan spy that Michael is cultivating comments, "The security forces of my country are not known for being gentle." This has been dramatically proven; as of the day of this edit, the 2011 Libyan Uprising riots are being suppressed--with gunship strafing.
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* Tori Spelling's short-lived sitcom ''So NoTorious'' was a self-parodying look at her life as a struggling actress and daughter of Hollywood royalty. It featured caricatured versions of her parents: her mother as a glamorous yet passive-aggressive nutjob, and her father as...basically the speakerbox from ''[[Charlies Angels]]''. A year later, Aaron Spelling dies, and Candy Spelling basically disinherits Tori. Maybe she hit a nerve there...
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'': In one episode, Jon Stewart was commenting on the rising unemployment rates, the increasing deficit, and lack of solid political leadership with a very simple "We're doomed!". The day that episode aired? September 10th, 2001.
* The Japanese game show ''[[DERO]]!'' had a round where a team of contestants is put inside a room a bit more than 2 meters tall, and have to solve a series of puzzles via [[Linked -List Clue Methodology]] involving various objects in the room, while water is pumped into the room, gradually making it harder to find and reach those objects. They win money if they successfully complete the challenge in time, but if the water level reaches a height of 2 meters first (leaving them with a couple inches of breathing room), the water stops, the game ends in failure, and the team gets nothing (besides wet) from the round. This game suddenly became considerably less fun and exciting a year later when the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster left a ton of houses in Sendai underwater and drowned many of their residents. It got so bad that the show was immediately pulled off the air with its [[Missing Episode|remaining taped episodes never aired, including a two-hour special]]. The production team ended up [[Retool|Retooling]] the show into ''[[TORE]]!'', a [[Spiritual Successor]] which premiered 4 months later.
* The already unsettling ''[[Millennium (TV)|Millennium]]'' episode "TEOTWAWKI" became even more disturbing to watch after a certain high school massacre.
* On ''[[The Glee Project]]'' two contestants had to sing the song "Valerie" as covered by Amy Winehouse to avoid elimination. The judges made a couple goodhearted jokes at Ms. Winehouse's expense. Amy Winehouse died less than a week later and the episode did not air online until three days after her death.
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* In a later season episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', newly-married Cory and Topanga try to buy a starter home so they can leave their ramshackle apartment despite barely having any money. The realter draws up a special mortgage plan for them so they can buy the house but the plan requires signatures from the parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Matthews refuse to sign it because thy don't think Cory and Topanga will be able to make the payments. The [[An Aesop|moral]] of the episode is that you need to work to earn what you buy and not rely on others for help. This episode aired in 1999, many years before the late 2000s economic recession which was caused in part by this kind of financial behavior: young couples buying homes they couldn't afford through subprime mortgage payments.
* The Glee episode "Duets" makes one feel for poor Quinn because of her parents, a father who wants only a perfect daughter and a mother who ignores any problems. After Home and Born This Way, you realize just how bad those traits were, as her mother had turned a eye as Quinn went on crazy diets (including starving herself to the point of passing out) and her father allowed {{spoiler|his thirteen year old daughter to get a nose job}}
* A short-lived USA Network reality show called ''Combat Missions'' pitted former soldiers, sailors, Marines, and cops against each other in various mock combat scenarios. One of the contestants was [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Helvenston:Scott Helvenston|Scott Helvenston]], a US Navy SEAL. Through the contacts he made on the show, he later joined [[Private Military Contractors|Blackwater USA]] and was sent to Iraq. His convoy was ambushed in Fallujah, and his body along with his colleagues' were publicly desecrated, leading to the First Battle of Fallujah later that week.
* The original TV version of [[Edge of Darkness]] features Bob Peck as the lead character, who through the course of events contracts and subsequently dies of radiation poisoning. Peck himself died of Cancer some years later, making the slow decline of his character due to radiation rather tragic. In addition to this, it's established his character's wife died of Cancer some years previous, making a number of scenes where he reflects on this downright uncomfortable now.
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'', Yuuto Sakurai/Kamen Rider Zeronos' [[Super Mode]] is powered by special cards that {{spoiler|erase the memories of his younger self}}. While it was a fairly ominous idea then, it becomes more depressing knowing that Yuuto's actor, Yuichi Nakamura, has had his future in showbusiness erased since he was forced to retire due to chronic back pain.
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