Never Trust a Trailer/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}Examples of [[{{BASEPAGENAME}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
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* A Brazlian cable TV trailer for a ''[[Dawson's Creek]]'' episode had Dawson saying the words ''I love you'' to Pacey, then leaning towards him. The voice-over even joked about ''Dawson borrowing some of Jack's genes'' (all the trailers in that network were really humorous and tongue-in-cheek) It turned out that episode had Dawson and Pacey reading one of Dawson's movie scripts, and he's not leaning towards Pacey, he's just reaching for the script. Though the ''reading the script'' scene was the first one in the episode, so for half a minute you thought Dawson was really professing his love for Pacey.
* A trailer for the newest season of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' used a shot of Olivia looking surprised with a shot of Elliot and Dani about to kiss, adding up to sexual tension at its max. In the actual episode, Olivia never saw the kiss, which was just an [[Accidental Kiss|accidental quickie]] after the two had a few drinks. The trailer made more fans [[Squee]] than the episode.
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*** Benson gets too emotionally involved in a case, does something she shouldn't, jeopardises the case and it could cost her badge.
** One of the USA Network’s standard promo for the show has what appears to be Elliot casually asking Fin what his favorite form of torture is while the two are relaxing and playing cards. However this seen never appeared on the show. The clip of the card game is from the episode Class while the torture question was from Uncle and asked to a suspect Elliot was trying to get to confess.
* Those infamous official Korean [[Sherlock]] trailers that make it appear Sherlock and John's relationship is the focus of the series. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFR_Z30d5nQ Any] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN4xBm44KH0 of] them.
* Nowadays, "[["On the Next..."]]" TV trailers will often include footage and plot points that don't actually appear for several weeks yet. This is [[Egregious]] in ''[[Prison Break]]''-style shows with heavy continuity, as it can give the impression of the story progressing more quickly than it really does. ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is a major offender here; for example, it incorporated material from the entire first season into the trailer for the second episode.
** [[Smallville]] is a worse offender. There have been several trailers that have cut one line of dialog into clips from several seasons past. The trailer for the seventh season finale was entirely a clip of Lex Luthor looking at the Fortress of Solitude. Not only was this teased two weeks previous, it was cut entirely from the episode it was shot for. Ironically, when a recent episode decided to reveal the adaptation of the Superman Suite, many fans believed they were being played (due to the show's "No Tights, No Flights" rule which is the whole reason why it took eight seasons to make something remotely close to Superman's tights) no one believed it. But the footage was used in the episode being teased.
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* ABC Family's trailer of the [[Pretty Little Liars]] season final switched out which characters were in a car accident.
* The episode previews for ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' are usually either uninformative or edit the footage together in a very misleading way. For example, there were numerous previews hinting that [[Fan-Preferred Couple|Amy and Ricky]] had feelings for each other or that they were going to get together long before {{spoiler|they finally became a couple in season three}}.
* ''[[Survivor]]'' has done this. Especially in ''Samoa'', they tried to edit it so that people were thinking about eliminating Russell..except for some incredibly odd reason, seeing the episode brought out ''no'' talks about actually ''doing'' it.
** One of the early seasons of ''Survivor'' featured an episode trailer that vaguely described some kind of horrific accident occurring, while flashing footage of ''crocodiles''. An accident did actually occur (a contestant passed out due to smoke inhalation, was burned by their campfire, and had to be evacuated), but involved no attack by a wild animal of any kind.
* One ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode trailer was particularly bad in this respect, being designed around the line "He violated me" in such a way as to make it sound very much as though Seven was going to be raped by a crew member; the trailer even featured a "Who did it?" sequence with flashes of various male crew members' faces. The actual episode, however, was just about an alien culture trapping her in a laboratory for study and stealing some of her nanoprobes. The plot ''does'' play at [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]], with Borg nanoprobes replacing date rape, but it was still incredibly misleading.
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** Another trailer similarly name-dropped Captain Picard; the interview review The Cynic pithily remarked "dropping Picard's name will not get them Picard's ratings."
** The trailer for one ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' episode showed the Enterprise being destroyed... or so we thought. Turns out it's a ship of the same class, called the ''Odyssey'' (Justified, maybe, in that [[Word of God]] says that the point of it happening in the episode was to tell the viewers "This might very well happen to the ''Enterprise''" and to make them think of the familiar ship in that situation).
** A recent trailer for Deep Space 9 on the CBS Reality channel showed how to do it when you've no idea which show you're talking about. It went on strangely in poetic terms, including the line "When the universe sleeps...Enterprise wakes (and basically saves us all)." Huh?
** The trailer for the ''Enterprise'' episode "Cogenitor", about an alien species with 3 genders, made it look like a comedic sex romp by focusing solely on the brief comic relief moments in the episode, such as Phlox offering to show Trip photos of tri-gendered sex and Malcolm awkwardly flirting with an alien. In actuality, it's one of the darkest episodes in ''Trek'' history, raising complex questions about human rights and moral relativism, capped off with a deeply tragic ending.
** Final ''[[Star Trek]]'' spin-off example: UK TV channel Virgin 1 markets ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' on the basis of the handful of relatively sexy moments that make up the 4 seasons. While it might have featured more blatant sexual situations than the previous ''[[Star Trek]]'' series, the show was still pretty tame by most modern standards.
* During the early 00s, the British [[Soap Opera]] ''[[Eastenders]]'' featured a number of intentionally misleading trailers. For example, one suggested that Saskia would kill club owner Steve; when the actual episode rolled around, the exact opposite happened. Much later, after Matthew was framed by Steve for Saskia's murder, a specially filmed trailer suggested that Matthew would get his revenge by setting up explosive death traps -- in reality, his actual revenge plan was slightly less violent.
* [[FoxFOX]]'s promo monkeys tried to make a contestant's brief moment of discomfort on ''Don't Forget the Lyrics'' much more dramatic than it actually was. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100712004006/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=3155892&view=findpost=8540647 (Source)]
** And also [https://web.archive.org/web/20100712005035/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=3155892&view=findpost=8854345 promoting the same show], they managed to combine this with [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: The promos said that a contestant would win more money than anyone else, and said contestant only actually ''tied'' for the biggest win.
* [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', in which the clips at the end of each episode were almost ''never'' actually featured in the next, but sometimes became important in their own right.
** Sometimes those clips ''would'' appear on the next episode, but the viewer would never expect it [[Peter and The Wolf|because of so many falsities, they would never expect the truth.]]
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*** The old racist lady dies. The narrator made a point to mention it.
*** For the final scene, only that one 5 second part was done live.
** Sadly, this trope may have led to the show's cancellation. The original TV-spots didn't quite present the show as they should have.
* ''[[iCarly]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFTsGQFtM1U Done exceptionally badly for the episode ''iStart A Fan War'']. After months of fandom speculation that this episode would be a [[Shipping|ship-centric]] episode that would involve shipping development, the first trailer appeared to confirm that not only would it involve the ships (using both popular ships by their [[Portmanteau Couple Name]]), but that it would actually end the [[Ship-to-Ship Combat]] in regards to which became canon. This was not what happened, as the show ended with an [[Author Filibuster]] about how shipping was not what the [[Word of God]] wanted to focus on. Obviously, neither ship was even vaguely developed positively.
** The [[Word of God]] released a blog post later that made it appear to be a miscalculation by the marketing department of Nickelodeon, who either didn't realize that the episode didn't actually do anything they claimed, or [[They Just Didn't Care]], and release the trailer like that to hype up the episode.
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** Nickelodeon aired promos for "Crush Week" starring Justin Bieber and the girls from the cast of [[Victorious]]. One thing present there was a new episode of said show called "The Wood". The promos hinted the possibility of Tori and Beck becoming "more than friends" (read: a couple), showing a scene of her calling Beck on her phone, expressing love and offering to tickle his tummy. Almost immediately, fans of the Beck and Jade pairing that is currently present on the show raged and bashed the thought of said idea. Then, when the episode aired, it had next to nothing to do with love or pairings. It was a fusion of two clips-one with Tori calling her aunt about their puppy, another with Beck ordering a pizza. This made Jade think Tori was hitting on Beck, causing them to [[Hilarity Ensues|ensue hilarity]]. Thus, the Beck/Jade shippers got worked up for nothing.
*** Although at least that was what actually happened in the episode itself, with a reality show cutting those two conversations together in-universe, it wasn't created by the promo department.
** The promos for "Jade Gets Crushed" make it seem like the premise of the episode is Jade going on a rampage. Really, she's significantly nicer in the episode than usual.
* A preview for the ''[[Lost]]'' episode "Stranger in a Strange Land" promised that three huge questions would be answered in it. These turned out to be the meaning of Jack's tattoos, what happened to the children the Others kidnapped and what happened to Cindy the flight attendant. Those last two have the same answer so many viewers argued they shouldn't count as separate questions, and it's not like many people were chomping at the bit about the first one either. The producers immediately said they never intended the episode to be one that was full of reveals like that, and blamed the network for unduly raising the viewers' hopes when it became one of the show's most unpopular episodes.
** A preview for the episode "Outlaws" made it look like Sawyer was pointing a gun at Jack. The clips of Sawyer pointing the gun and the clips of Jack looking scared were actually taken from two entirely different scenes. Sawyer spent the entire episode hunting a freakin' boar.
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** Season 5 does this a ''lot''. Near the end there's a cliffhanger that's resolved immediately the next week.
** ''Any time'' you see an ambulance or fire engine in the "Next on". Expect it to be either A. a complete over-dramatization of something minor (with no ambulance or fire engine in the actual episode) or B. part of a challenge.
* Bravo is notoriously bad for doing this with their reality TV shows. Misleading episode descriptions, cut n' paste editing, mismatched dialogue--they've used every trick in the book.
* An interesting case on ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'': the trailer featured D'Anna {{spoiler|telling Roslin that she's the final Cylon who has yet to be revealed. However, the cut revealing who she was talking to caused some speculation that Roslin actually wasn't the person she said it to. It turned out D'Anna ''was'' talking to Roslin, but was just playing a prank on her. Of course, had Roslin been the final Cylon}} this would have been a major case of both [[Trailers Always Spoil]] and [[Lying Creator]] (as showrunner and producer Ron Moore had officially declared that {{spoiler|Roslin is ''not'' a Cylon}}).
* A preview for an episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' revolving around the team being trapped in an unpleasant version of a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], with the trailer using Carter's line "How do we know this is real?" as if it were a serious question and dramatic concern. In the actual episode, this is just the set-up for a final joke to cap off what's otherwise a particularly dark episode.
** For several weeks there, the trailers for ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' alluded to replicator involvement. "Or is it a Replicator trap?" "Is he really back from the dead, or is it another Replicator?" Needless to say, Replicators weren't even mentioned in those episodes.
** ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' follows the trend for a recent episode. Footage of the crew running down the hallway is accompanied by the usual urgent voice overs, as if they're running to avert some disaster. In the actual episode, it turns out it's just the crew working out during the opening montage.
** Two particular examples for the original ''[[Stargate SG-1]].'' One, where it was hyped up that a team member would end up dying and a clip of O'Neill falling to the ground wounded in battle was shown(It ended up being the doctor who died). The second was set up with Carter finding herself alone on a ship with only illusions to help her. The trailer made it look like she and O'Neill would end up kissing, but in the actual episode it was only a fantasy of hers that passed through her mind for a second- two at the most.
*** To be fair, in the first example, the episode itself actually implied that up until the last five minutes or so. So it wasn't just the creators of the ad, but the writers as well who intended the audience to be misled.
* The trailers for the NBC miniseries ''Merlin'' implied there was going to be a big huge battle between the title character and [[The Fair Folk|Queen Mab]]. In reality, while there was some shrieking, a few fireballs thrown, and other cool magical effects, the whole thing actually ended with {{spoiler|[[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|everyone just turning their backs on her and forgetting her]], [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|refusing to believe in her]]}}. A very effective and creative way to defeat a villain, but it was probably rather disappointing for those who wanted to see Mab turned into a crispy critter.
* On the subject of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', a trailer for one episode of the BBC series had Merlin dramatically reveal to the court that he was a wizard. In the actual episode, no one believed him and the scene had no impact on the plot.
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'''House''': I'm giving you a choice.
Turns out, he was just trying to prove that she was still suicidal to extend her psychiatric watch. }}
** The ad for the sixth season, showed Cuddy with House's voice saying that ''she had said yes, but he heard no'' which could be seen as that House had proposed to Cuddy and she had said yes. {{spoiler|Turns out that he was talking to Wilson about how Cuddy had given him permission for an insane treatment on his patient and House was having second thoughts about it}}.
* Season 5 of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations was bloated with this. Every episode pointed out that he was going to have a bad time at his destination but on the actual show, it was always just a minor moment of discomfort that took place in the first half of the episode, surrounded by Tony loving the place.
* A [["On the Next..."]] trailer for ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' showed (in order): A woman looking into her hand mirror and realizing that [[Our Vampires Are Different|Mitchell has no reflection]], A [[Torches and Pitchforks]] mob of neighbors shouting and throwing things at the outside of the main characters house, and George saying "We were kidding ourselves to believe we could fit in here. We.. are MONSTERS!". The not so subtle implication was that the Vampire, Werewolf and Ghost would all be outed and they'd have to deal with the ramifications of that. In the episode itself Mitchell was accused of pedophilia because the woman's son accidentally borrowed a vampire porn/snuff film from him. [[The Masquerade]] remaines unbroken, except for the boy and his mum finding out about Mitchell at the end [[Status Quo Is God|before promptly leaving and telling the neighbors that they made a mistake]].
* In the network promo for the Season 4 episode of [[The West Wing]] "Election Night," there is a shot of Democratic strategist Will Bailey standing outside the campaign office in a thunderous rainstorm, shouting "NOOO" to the high heavens. In the actual episode, he is in fact shouting "NOW" in an attempt, however serious, to predict (and possibly cause?) the torrential rain that begins seconds later, thus leading to depressed voter turnout and increasing the chances that his liberal candidate, who is dead, might actually win in conservative Orange County.
* A trailer for an episode of the New Zealand TV show [[Go Girls]] has a main character being told by her boyfriend that she's fat, ugly, and that he's gay. In actuality, this was a daydream of what she was expecting him to say-- what he actually does is ask her to marry him.
* A [[Desperate Housewives]] preview ended by promising "a twist so shocking, we can only hint at it," followed by the first line from the chorus of Kate Perry's "I Kissed a Girl": "I kissed a girl, and I liked it." The obvious implication was that one of the housewives would become a lesbian, or at least question her sexuality for a while. The episode did at least follow through with ''two'' lengthy girl on girl kisses, but it was part of a minor comic relief subplot where Susan's lesbian boss mistakes her for being interested, and the misunderstanding is entirely cleared up at the end never to be brought up again.
** Not sure if it counts since it wasn't exactly a trailer, but an animated ad on the internet.
* The fourth season of [[Oz]] went on hiatus following the stunning death of Simon Adebisi at the hands of the formerly pacifistic Kareem Said. When the show returned, one of the promos featured Said shouting "Adebisi lives!" In the actual episode the line didn't signify that Adebisi was actually alive; Said said it after killing someone else as a statement that his years in prison had turned him into a violent murderer just like Adebisi. It was still a powerful scene, but the previews had viewers feeling ripped off anyway.
* Trailer for the seventh season finale of [[Monk]]. Narrator: "You'll never believe what he finds [at the site of his wife's murder]..." What did he find? {{spoiler|Nothing. In fact, the episode was about him admitting that there wasn't anything to find.}} Though to be fair, no one believed it.
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** {{spoiler|Anything involving Capt. Phil and emergencies is now [[Harsher in Hindsight]] now that he's dead, although that happened while he was in port.}}
* The trailers for ''[[Secret Girlfriend]]'' implied that the show would primarily be about two pervy slacker guys trying to get women to perform activities of a sexual or suggestive nature, completely ignoring the fact that the ''viewer'' is experiencing the ''actual'' protagonist's experiences (kind of like ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'') and is about the nameless protagonist's attempts to deal with a psycho near-ex-girlfriend who won't stay broken up, a cute girl he likes but wants to protect from the first woman, and the zany antics of his two best friends (the aforementioned slackers).
* Cracked.com has this trope listed as #1 of the "5 Cheap Tricks TV Shows Use To Keep You Watching" found [http://www.cracked.com/article_16593_p2.html here].
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8grPGqH3IHI This preview] for the ''[[NCIS]]'' season six finale made it look like Ziva was going to kill Tony on her father's orders. Pretty shifty of CBS, but at least the episode itself was good.
** Under Covers, which has a giveaway title as it is, was played out as being an actual hookup between Tony and Ziva. It's really too bad that the big reveal was five minutes in, and that it was a repeat.
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* Can't say anything for the trailers (I wasn't a fan at the time), but the Verizon FiOS info for a particular episode of ''[[Bones]]'' states that the cast is working undercover at a bar to help solve a case; additionally, ads hyped the fact that [[UST|Booth and Bones would wind up in bed]]. Actually {{spoiler|the episode was [[All Just a Dream]] because a comatose Booth was hearing Bones read the rough draft of her latest novel and his mind was inserting his friends as various characters, including himself and Bones as a [[Happily Married]] couple.}}
** The trailers were, in fact, just as deceptive for that episode.
** FiOS's info is at it again: All of [[Tom Hanks]]' appearances on talk shows in March 2010 are descibed as "[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3's Tom Hanks" even though he's doing PR for ''[[The Pacific]]'' while ''Toy Story 3'' doesn't bow until June and never gets mentioned. Clearly, FiOS' info writers know what their viewers ''[[Adult Child|really]]'' like to watch.
* In the lead-up to the ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' 3-parter "The Wedding," in which Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa get married, Fox did a promo of the "Someone's getting married...who could it be?" variety, and seemed to suggest that it might be one of the Rangers, perhaps Billy, or even [[Official Couple|Tommy and Kimberly!]] Never mind the fact that they're all supposed to be [[Squick|teenagers]]...
* One promo for an episode of ''[[One Tree Hill]]'' outright stated that Peyton was going to once again have feelings for Nathan. Cue the episode where Nathan and Peyton become partners on a project and spend the rest of the episode having fun with no mention of romance at all.
* During the middle of its run ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' had an intro sequence that made it look more like some kind of high-adventure show than an irreverent comedy with a sci-fi backdrop.
* On a sleazier note, a trailer for the less-than-stellar dramedy ''Wildfire'' showed one character inviting another to a [[Two-Person Pool Party]], with a clear implication of sex. Since this was on primetime TV before the [[Watershed]], in the actual episode the line was immediately followed by a blunt refusal.
* One episode preview for ''Airwolf'' has Dom complaining about how low they're flying, followed by a cactus being splattered against the window. The cactus was removed from the actual episode.
* During its last few seasons, ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' was notoriously misleading with its advertisements. In one particular episode, Jill catches her her oldest son Brad in a compromising position with his girlfriend Ashley. The advert shows Brad getting caught in the act, followed by Jill asking, "Is Ashley pregnant?"; we see Brad's serious facial expression--and a ''shocked'' reaction from his mother. The reality? {{spoiler|Ashley isn't pregnant, and the two didn't even have sex; the episode actually centers around Brad's frustration with his mother for constantly butting into his private life.}} Not that you'd know it, of course.
** In another episode from a later season, Jill hires a professional (played by Tom Wopat) to install granite countertops; the handyman turns be the same guy who once flirted with her at the gym and tried to ask her out. Nothing happens between them, and Jill actually ''fires'' the guy because his behavior makes her so uncomfortable. The advertisement, on the other hand, shows the two of them kissing passionately (which actually happened during a [[Dream Sequence]] in a previous episode), Jill tearfully confessing "He ''kissed'' me!" (which he ''did''--briefly, without her consent, right before she fired him), and Tim opening the front door and coming face to face with the flirtatious handyman (who actually just came back to get his tools).
* During the hype blitz in the lead-up to the 2010 ''[[Juno Awards]]'', the trailers stated that [[Nickelback]] and Hedley would be giving performances. [[Foregone Conclusion|Neither of them did]]. Nickelback didn't even show up (though that may have been caused by the fog...), but Hedley did and even PRESENTED ONE OF THE AWARDS and TOOK PART IN THE FINAL PERFORMANCE (Wavin' Flag, FYI).
* Most trailers for [[My Name Is Earl]] will always show footage from the flashback scenes, giving you the impression the show is just about an idiot doing stupid things.
** This isn't really deceptive, the show got a lot of mileage out of pretending it didn't approve of Earl being a colossal jackass for [[Rule of Funny]] because he could fix it in the non-flashback part of the episode.
* The trailer for a recent episode of [[The Big Bang Theory]] had the narrator announce "this is the episode you've been waiting for", then showed scenes of a hot woman in the guys's apartment and a scene of Sheldon giggling, making it look like he was attracted to her. Needless to say, or it wouldn't be in this category, Sheldon had no romantic interest in the woman whatsoever (she was a fellow physicist he invited to stay with him) and the giggling was taken out of context. (Said woman did have sex, but with Leonard, and later, Raj).
** (But not Howard, or for that matter Leonard, Howard and Raj at the same time. [[Really Gets Around|Though not for lack of trying.]])
* Possibly overlaps with [[Tonight Someone Dies]]: an episode of ''[[Cold Case]]'' had a plot where one of the detectives had gone missing and the others were looking for him. The trailer had a scene where they encounter a body, with one of them pulling away the sheet and reacting appropriately. {{spoiler|of course, it wasn't their friend, but a homeless guy who had jumped off a building, and had no importance to the plot whatsoever}}.
* One episode of ''[[So You Think You Can Dance]]'' was promoted by [[FoxFOX]] with a clip of Nigel Lythgoe shouting "Get off the stage!", suggesting that he was so angry at a contestant's performance he wanted them to leave. As shown in the actual episode, however, he was shouting out of enjoyment, and telling them to get off the stage because they'd made it to the next round.
** One of the later episodes of the Australian version's first season was promoted with the audience booing and leaving the set, with the voiceover saying that someone would perform so badly that the audience would walk out. What actually happened was that the judges asked the audience to leave for a short amount of time (I can't remember why, I think it had something to do with the voting).
* At the end of the cliffhanger finale of ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'', a fifteen-second trailer for [[The Movie]] that would end of the story aired. The trailer shows an [[Evil Twin]] of the main character, the sidekick (who closed out the series [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]) with his arm buried up to the elbow in [[The Rival]]'s gut, the female lead trying to kill the hero with a sniper rifle, and more. In the actual film, none of this happened as depicted, though two concepts (the female lead opposing the hero and a tagalong character becoming a Rider) were merged together. It didn't help that it looked like a much better finale than what we actually got.
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* ''[[America's Got Talent]]'' usually includes a teaser featuring a mediocre contestant crying during an elimination round, bookended with clips of the judges admonishing someone. 95% of the time, the contestant is actually crying [[Tears of Joy]] because they're so happy to have made it through.
** Teasers for upcoming episodes also sometimes feature contestants who never appear or only pop up weeks later.
* The commercials for the U.S. version of ''Masterchef'' only featured Gordon Ramsey as the judge. They completely failed to mention that there's two other judges involved in this.
* Teen Nick mastered this trope for ''[[Degrassi]]'' promos. Season 10 has a lot of blatant examples. Fiona standing at the edge of the roof (is not a suicide attempt, she just finds it dramatic to think on the roof). Anya's pregnant (no she's not), Clare's getting a boobjob (no she isn't). In the final episode of 2010, they showed Jenna looking like she was in labor at a party(she wasn't) Then they continue with this in the trailers for the 2011 premiere, as if everybody forgot what the actual situation was. The best being an ad playing on [[Ship Tease]], with the two actors ''practicing'' on the copier for the show. That couple never happened in the series, ever.
* [[Everybody Hates Chris]] did this all the time in the later seasons. They weren't even subtle. No editing, just stuff that didn't happen. One episode trailer had Drew in a school talent show, getting booed off the stage and people throwing things at him. Never happened, not even if a dream before hand about how things might go. He just showed up and rocked.
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* ''Glee'' does this a lot by leaking songs for the upcoming episodes...reading too much into the lyrics and what they may or may not indicate about your favorite couple is not advised.
* ''[[Pawn Stars]]'' and ''[[American Restoration (TV)|American Restoration]]'' both History Channel Shows, do this for their opening previews. They mix and match scenes and voice overs to make up events that never happen in the show. For example making something seem to be a fake in [[Pawn Stars]] or breaking something in [[American Restoration (TV)|American Restoration]].
* One trailer for ''[[WWE Tough Enough]]'' featured some [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] Divas as guest stars, and showed one of them slapping Jeremiah with the implication that he'd done something untoward to deserve it. In truth, he was just drunk and being goofy, and ''asked'' to be slapped in a moment of euphoria.
* ''[[Mad Men]]'''s main character Don Draper [[Dead Person Impersonation|changed identities with a dead guy during the Korean War]] and has been hiding it ever since. A promo for the season two episode "A Night to Remember" had Joan Holloway announcing, "Someone people think is dead is not dead," in a context intended to make it look like she was going to find out his secret and out him (or threaten to, or something). In fact, she'd spent the episode reading TV scripts for work and was talking about an upcoming storyline on a soap opera.
* It is pretty much a guarantee on the HGTV reality show ''Design Star'' that whoever looks like they are in trouble at the end of the episode is fine, and vice versa. For example, in a recent episode, the judges say, "This is not your best work" and it cuts to a dismayed-looking {{spoiler|Karl}}. In the actual episode, {{spoiler|the criticism is directed at Kellie, who ends up going home, and Karl's look is his stunned relief in having been declared "safe" for the next week}}.
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* Late in the run of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' the trailers practically guaranteed that a particular episode was the finale of the series. Turns out Hercules ''did'' retire...for about five seconds.
 
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Never Trust a Trailer]]
[[Category:Live Action TV]]
[[Category:Never Trust A Trailer]]