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Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize: Difference between revisions

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Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize (view source)

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This can become self-subverting when watching reruns; someone high-profile now might've just been starting out when they appeared on the show. ([[Harrison Ford]] has said that, [[Hilarious in Hindsight|early in his career]], he spent a lot of time playing [[The Fugitive (Film)|"the guy that didn't do it"]].)
 
This can also happen in films. If a high-profile actor is playing a supposedly minor role (after becoming high-profile), keep a close eye on this person. Compare [[One -Scene Wonder]], [[Contractual Immortality]]. Some better-funded productions seek to subvert this by making ''all'' of the suspects well known actors, so you know that ''one'' of them did it.
 
See also: [[Hey ItsIt's That Guy]], [[Traitor Shot]], [[Not -So -Small Role]]. Compare also to [[Chekhov's Gunman]], where the viewer is made suspicious by the strange irrelevance to the story of an apparently minor character rather than by the casting of a known actor.
 
Contrast [[Dead Star Walking]], where a well known actor appears to have a major role, but is doomed because they're too expensive to be a regular cast member.
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'''SPOILERS AHOY!'''
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Films -- Live-Action ==
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** Yep... another ''[[Law and Order]]: Criminal Intent'' entry. They interview the woman who ran the prime suspect's foster home, Whoopi Goldberg (with short hair, no less). Guess who's behind the whole thing?
** A well done example is the episode of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' featuring Martin Short. It's never in question that he's the guilty party, and the entire episode is a battle of wits between Short and the detectives as he taunts them to prove it.
** Also, the celebrity unsubs are sometimes under so much make-up that it takes a few minutes before [[Hey ItsIt's That Guy]] kicks in. Prime example: Jamie Kennedy.
** A similar ''SVU'' example involved guest star [[Jerry Lewis]]. Producers must've been particularly aware of the trope this time as even the ''promos'' gave away that he did it, and indeed the crime ultimately committed by his character was done right in front of the eyes of the star detectives -- the episode's plot revolved instead around tension leading up to the crime, whether or not he was justified in his actions and {{spoiler|whether or not mental incompetence played a role.}}
** Just plain [[Averted Trope|averted]] in the episode {{spoiler|Trade}} with guest stars {{spoiler|Matthew Davis and Stephen Collins}}. Neither one of them did it.
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** And another: John Glover not only got to be creepy and suspicious in his appearance as Goren's forensic psychology mentor, he also got to be ''completely innocent''. {{spoiler|At least the first time he was on.}}
** A semi-subversion in a 2010 SVU had 4 famous (from 25+ years ago) guest stars: Ann-Margaret, Jaclyn Smith, Morgan Fairchild and Susan Anton. Only one of them did it. {{spoiler|And in the show, she's no ''angel.''}}
** Yet another ''Criminal Intent'' episode; it featured [[Dylan Baker]], normally a [[Hey ItsIt's That Guy]] character actor as he's been in [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048414/ everything], including three different characters in the mothership show. However, the previews for the episode pointed out that Dylan Baker would be guest starring, somewhat unusual for a character actor to be promoted this way. {{spoiler|And yes, he did it.}}
** [[Double Subverted]] in another 2010 SVU episode, where [[Lost|Henry Ian Cusick]] is not only cleared early in the episode, but doesn't even appear again.{{spoiler|..until the ''next'' episode, in which he ''is'' the culprit.}}
** Subverted in the SVU episode Wet which had David Krumholtz from Numb3rs and [[The Santa Clause]] as an [[Absent -Minded Professor]] who grow poisonous mushrooms and was obsessed with water right seemed like a slam dunk as a perp. Plus it also hade Rosemary Harris who played Aunt May in the [[Spider Man]] movies as a [[Rich Bitch]] who ran the charity were victim was given the poisoned Mushrooms. Add to that the special guest ADA for the episode was played by Paula Patton from [[Precious]] and the defense attorney was played by Michael Boatman from [[Spin City]]. Yet none of them was the kill, however one of them came off as more of a [[Complete Monster]] then the actual murderess, and was responsible for her behavior.
** The SVU episode Mask, which has Jeremy Irons as a sex addict turned psychologist who specializes in treating them... {{spoiler|turns out to be a good guy who helps the main characters after some plot dithering, and also turns out to have NOT committed the terrible crime that he thought he had 20 years ago, namely raping his daughter in a combination of alcoholic blackout and irresistible impulse (it turned out to have been her best friend, and it was consensual, but his daughter, a lesbian, was also in love with the girl and never forgave her father for breaking her heart.}}
** Subverted in the SVU episode Angels: [[Arrested Development (TV)|Will Arnett]] plays one of three pedophiles involved in a sex tourism ring, but he's not the main perp.
** Played with in the ''[[Law and Order|Criminal Intent]]'' episode "Malignant". [[Hey ItsIt's That Guy]] Stephen Toblowski, a character actor who is recognizable enough to qualify for this trope, plays a pharmacist who, it turns out, has absolutely nothing to do with the drug-delivery hijacking/double-murder that opens the episode except peripherally. That said, it turns out that he's scamming his customers by watering down his drugs, thus quadrupling the money he's making on each drug shipment.
* Happens so often on [[Castle]] that lately they've taken to casting at least two familiar faces an episode, so even though you know one of them did it, they at least keep you guessing between which. For the most part it seems to enjoy zigzagging this trope.
* ''[[Psych]]''
** The first episode has the father of the kidnapped {{spoiler|and then murdered}} young man played by Don S. Davis -- who spent eight years on ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' as Gen. Hammond. {{spoiler|He did it.}}
** One of the season finales had the guy who played Cameron in ''[[Ferris BuellersBueller's Day Off (Film)|Ferris Bueller]]'' as a bank robber. {{spoiler|Turns out he was being forced into it; the real baddies had his wife held hostage.}}
** Double subverted in a different episode guest-starring Rachael Leigh Cook as an old flame of Shawn's who agrees to go on a date with him...the same day he is taunted by a [[Criminal Mind Games|clue-leaving serial killer]]. {{spoiler|Cook ends up nearly being a ''victim''; the killer turns out to be played by Ally Sheedy, who the viewer had not seen yet, and didn't even realize until later had been hiding in nearly every scene of the episode.}}
** When David Naughton guest-starred in a Halloween episode themed around [[An American Werewolf in London|werewolves]], {{spoiler|it's easy to guess that he did it. Especially when [[Take That|his character was named after an ''Entertainment Weekly'' TV critic who doesn't particularly like the show.]]}}
** {{spoiler|[[Battlestar Galactica|Saul Tigh]]}} recently showed up as a grizzled old fisherman and was promptly ignored by the main cast for the majority of the episode. {{spoiler|He did it.}} Although, to be frank, you have to have watched {{spoiler|''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''}} to get it. Otherwise, he's just another character actor.
** Surprisingly subverted with Joey McIntyre (yes, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Block that] Joey McIntyre) since he played a police officer new to the precinct and Shawn kept going on about how the perpetrator, a vigilante taking down members of a crime syndicate, had to be someone inside the SBPD. To be fair, though, it was a comic book themed episode and you don't have to be a fan of the genre to realize the {{spoiler|reporter in glasses would turn out to be the superhero.}}
* In an episode of ''[[Strong Medicine]]'', a flood of patients from a train derailment caused by a car on the track was followed by a frantic and confused young woman coming into the hospital. Nothing special, except that it was Delia Fisher from ''[[My So -Called Life]]''. She did it, but she didn't know she did it.
* ''[[Cold Case (TV)|Cold Case]]'':
** An episode had Daveigh Chase ([[Creepy Child|Samara Morgan]] from ''[[The Ring]]'') guest star as one of the suspects. Guess who the killer was?
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** Subverted in a sense in one episode, where the killer was not the mildly famous person (Spencer Breslin); however, he did turn out to be {{spoiler|the father of all those babies, including the unborn child of the victim}}.
** Subverted fabulously in a an episode where Robert Englund, who's famous for playing Freddy Krueger in the ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' movies, played a janitor. He also did not do it. Furthermore, the first crime featured the story of a cannibal who killed his victims for their delicious flesh. Robert Englund's character offers Bones and Booth some delicious ribs.
** As opposed to the ''Castle'' ep below, Miss Farrell ''did'' do it in "The Man in the Mud" ... but the episode also had [[Lost|Tom Friendly]], [[My So -Called Life|Delia Fisher]], and Joey Lawrence's little brother to choose from.
** The season 5 episode "The X In the File" featured Dean Haglund, who played a recurring character on ''[[The X Files]]'' (Langly, one of The Lone Gunmen). {{spoiler|he did it.}}
** Averted in one episode, where it turns out {{spoiler|Xander Berkeley}} DIDN'T do it for the first time in his career.
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* In the pilot episode of ''[[Blue Bloods]]'', Corey Feldman is there for 30 seconds as a doll reviewer(!) and to create the illlusion of 'they caught they bad guy real early' until we realize we've been mislead by the [[Stunt Casting|stunt casting]]
* Averted by an episode of the remake of ''[[Hawaii Five-O]]'', in which {{spoiler|D.B. Sweeney}} is a murder suspect. It turns out {{spoiler|his wife did it}}.
* This is generally averted on ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', which makes frequent usage of [[Hey ItsIt's That Guy]] actors as supporting characters, but rarely has them turn out to be the Unsub, except in the cases where a well-known actor is cast specifically to play a major villain whose identity is shown from the beginning of the episode.
* Done ''twice'' in ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', in both case during the overarching [[Story Arc]]:
** In the first season, the murderer was the character played by {{spoiler|Harry Hamlin, of ''L.A. Law'' and ''Clash of the Titans'' fame}}—only a recurrent character.
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