No Hoper Repeat: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

* The other American networks used to attempt to compete with the Super Bowl, but now that they broadcast the NFL in some way or another, they don't even try. Fox sacrificed new episodes of ''[[Til Death]]'' on Super Bowl night 2010 for instance, knowing that nobody would miss a show which was only airing because the producers wanted to get it into syndication.

* When the famous ''[[Dallas]]'' "Who Shot J.R.?" episode was first broadcast, NBC officials joked that opposite it they would run only a card reading, "We're watching it too."

** In Australia, ''Seinfeld'' was run on two channels--one new episodes, one reruns--at about the same time. When the finale was shown here, the other channel showed only a black screen.

* In many local markets it was assumed that either ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show|Oprah]]'' or ''[[Judge Judy]]'' will win the 4pm timeslot, so the other stations either showed local news, sitcoms, or a talk show they know won't win but will hopefully keep their viewer momentum going.

** One year, [[MTV 2]] showed a split-screen simulcast, with the MTV feed in one corner and three other "behind-the-scenes" cameras in the other boxes.

* The ''[[Beauty Pageant|Miss Venezuela]]'' gala is the Venezuelan equivalent of the [[Super Bowl]], and attracts a wide share; the other channels know this, and either keep their usual programmation or play movies of the national and/or controversial variety. One year, the members of a popular late show decided that the best way to compete would be [[Drinking Game|organizing a party]] to [[MST|watch and mock]] the beauty contest, and broadcast it simultaneously. In some moments, the special got higher ratings than the contest they were watching.

** ITV did actually put some effort into competing against ''Doctor Who'' in the show's first relaunched season in 2005. ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' aired against the first four episodes of the revival, and while it didn't beat ''Doctor Who'', it still performed pretty well in the ratings, all things considered. ITV's next effort, ''Celebrity Wrestling'' got utterly ripped to shreds in the ratings though, and became a national joke within days. ITV subsequently realised that shows like ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' were best saved for when the BBC themselves were broadcasting No Hoper Repeats, and since then have mostly aired old films and clip shows against ''Doctor Who''.

** Ironically, Doctor Who was ''itself'' an example of this trope when it was broadcast against ITV's ''[[Coronation Street]]'' from 1987--1989.

** And Animal Planet created an Olympic-themed variant of the Puppy Bowl just for the Olympics (the Puppy Games) to run opposite the opening and closing ceremonies.

** During the 2004 (or perhaps 2000?) Olympics, they just showed ''[[Simpsons]]'' episodes during the day. That's right, at least ''six hours'' of ''Simpsons'' episodes a ''day''.

** This phenomenon was itself mentioned in ''[[Futurama]]'', when Professor Farnsworth mentions he paid to have their commercial aired during the Superbowl. Not on that channel of course.

** Likewise, in ''[[King of the Hill]]'', the first episode with Luanne's Manger Babies puppets has her getting airtime on Channel 86...opposite the Super Bowl, which puts Hank (cast to play God by Luanne) on a tough spot.

** One of the few bits of original programming that did air in the week following the tragedy was, of all things, [[Professional Wrestling]]: in a move that was criticized by many people, [[WWE]] (then the WWF) held a special live edition of ''SmackDown!'' just two days after 9/11 that featured matches put on just to entertain the fans (no storylines were advanced). [[Vince McMahon]] came out at the top of the show to beam with pride that it was the first such large gathering since the attacks, and painted it as a defiant showing to the terrorists that "We are not afraid!" Incidentally, the reason it was a "special live edition" was that the show was originally scheduled to tape on Tuesday... September 11. That event, naturally, got cancelled.

** HGTV and Food Network left the air completely with still screens for two days, knowing nobody was in the mood to be instructed on anything.

** Subverted by ''[[The Funday Pawpet Show]]'', which usually runs on Sunday nights. The cast of the interactive show quickly gathered together that Tuesday night and did a live broadcast discussing the incident and calming people down. Both out of respect and the fact that it wasn't a 'show' perse, it was not recorded by the creators, the only known recording being a viewer made one.

* Parodied on ''[[Late Night|LateNight With Conan O'Brien]]'' which, playing opposite the Olympics on [[CBS]], ran a segment called "Nobody's Watching", which featured antics such as Conan and Andy smoking cigarettes, Conan revealing that he wore a Hanson t-shirt under his shirt and tie, and Al Roker stopping by to confess that he hated being a weatherman.

** The following week, Jeremy Clarkson admitted even he didn't watch it, as he was in Johannesburg at the final at the time.

* In Australia, immediately after an election is called, the leaders of the major parties are obliged to take part in a televised debate. Unfortunately, due to bad planning, the 2010 debate ran on the same night as the finale of ''MasterChef'', [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|the most watched programme in Australian TV history]]. Eventually, everyone decided to hold the debate before the MasterChef finale so people could watch both.<ref>Not that anyone watched the debate anyway, but it's the thought that counts.</ref>

* TV networks often do this to avoid competing with themselves. During important shows, other channels belonging to the same ownership group will air reruns or bottom-tier programs.

* NBC used [[The Monkees]] special ''33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee'' as this, scheduling it against the 1969 Academy Awards.

* British soap operas ''[[Eastenders]]'' and ''[[Coronation Street]]'' used to battle it out in the ratings, but now none of the soaps from the main three terrestrial channels run simultaneously. In fact, you can watch ''[[Holly Oaks]]'', ''Coronation Street'', ''[[Eastenders]]'' and then ''[[Emmerdale]]'' one after another.