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Too Dumb to Live/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions
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== Note: As a [[Death Trope]], [[Handling Spoilers|all spoilers on this page are unmarked]]. ==
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* ''[[Andromeda]]'': In [http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Immaculate_Perception "Immaculate Perception"] Tyr says sending the DNA of Tamerlane Anasazi for comparision with Drago Museveni's could not be [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is0JRDsskyY kept a secret]. He says that he is leaving with his son and wife while the rest of the pride can perish from it's stupidity.
* ''[[1000 Ways to Die]]'' features a lot of deaths that come from sheer stupidity: Some highlights:
** The guy who broke the cardinal safety rule when working with a woodchipper (i.e., "Don't stick a body part in the machine unless you want it to come out the other end ground into bits").
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*** To be fair they probably thought since it's a popular cuisine they were safe too eat, but that's still stupid to do.
** The guy who pissed on an electric fence.
*** Though ''[[
** Two [[Ozzy Osbourne]] fans heard a story about how Ozzy snorted ''ants'' to prove how "hardcore" he was; they decided to do the same because they wanted to be "hardcore" like their idol. Pretty damn sure that Ozzy was smart enough to not use '''fire ants'''.
** A chef working at a black market restaurant which served endangered animals tried to recapture a King Cobra, by hand. While getting his face near the giant poisonous snake.
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** And then there's Dawn who is way too eager to get out of the house at nighttime either alone or with strangers, despite knowing perfectly well what lurks outside. For her defense, she's a teenager, a species not known for its rationality. [[Alternative Character Interpretation|There may also be]] [[Death Seeker|other reasons]].
** Principal Snyder nearly succeeds in this nomination when he attempts to leave a safe room besieged by vampires and then succeeds with flying colours when he attempts to explain a 20-feet long serpentine demon that its behavior is "unacceptable".
** Spike does a lot of crazy things because he's a little psychologically unbalanced and (from series four onwards) vaguely suicidal, but he gets special props here for constantly setting himself on fire by going out in daylight. He also gets bored and pulls a [[Leeroy Jenkins]] on his own scheme ("I had a plan. A good plan. But then I got bored") and he [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|dated Harmony and invites her along on his schemes]], despite how she messes up every one. Harmony holds the [[Idiot Ball]] everytime the two work together. Also, it's revealed in ''[[Angel]]'' that he was once captured by the Secret Service because they invited him to a ''free virgin blood party''. He tells Angel never to go to one of those parties later because "[[Captain Obvious|it's probably a trap]]". When he tries to stake himself, he goes about it in such a stupid fashion that it obviously won't work, so he might also be Too Stupid To Die. At other times, he's pretty perceptive and comes up with decent schemes, so his shenanigans might have something to do with boredom and his suicidal tendencies rather than terminal idiocy. [[The Ditz|Harmony]] should get special mention, too, for trying to kill Buffy by using nothing but three [[Mook|vampire mooks]], long after much larger groups of vampires had ceased to be a serious threat.
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in "[[Musical Episode|Once More With Feeling]]" when Xander reads a newspaper with the headline "Mayhem Caused: Monsters certainly not involved, [[Police Are Useless|officials]] say."
** And that's not counting the countless vampires who decide they'll be the ones to kill the Slayer.
* The entire cast of the British comedy ''[[The Young Ones]]'' falls into this trope. The amount they don't know, and then the amount they presume to know, boggles the mind, but it's all harmless fun. Watching them try to sell a nuke to Libyan dictators was especially hilarious.
{{quote|'''Vyvyan''': * hits bomb* Why won't it go off, Mike?}}
** Luckily for them, they [[Negative Continuity|never permanently die]]. The permanence of their deaths in the series finale is debatable, though.
* [[The Ghost|Sam's mom]] on ''[[iCarly]]'' (she was driving a car ''after having laser eye surgery'' and crashed through a school wall).
* [[Kenan and Kel|Kel]].
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* Agent Mulder, several times during the run of ''[[The X-Files]]''. It's a miracle he only died twice in the nine years the show was on the air.
** In possibly the worst example, he learns that there are shapeshifters who are immune to gunshots and other conventional attacks and whose blood releases a toxic gas when exposed to air. Later in the same two-parter, he handcuffs himself to a suspect, who then changes to look like someone else. Mulder's response? He shoots him!
** Also, anyone who tries to separate Mulder and Scully to get them to do something. Seriously, it happens at least once a season. Since "someone is always watching", shouldn't they know that it doesn't work? Do they all have a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|death wish]]?! You would think after a few times of it just inciting bloodshed rather than cooperation, they'd find another tactic.
* Shane Vendrell from ''[[The Shield]]''. He put his and his entire corrupt team's necks on the line due to his attempts to work the system like his mentor, Vic Mackey. Never mind that twice, those schemes have cost innocent lives and given the worse guys reams of blackmail material. Oh, and he killed teammate Lem because he was afraid Lem was going to rat them out to the Feds. Never mind that they were making plans to sneak Lem to Mexico.
* In the ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Boom" from season 1, the team is investigating a bombing and receives offers of help from a guy who says he's a real amateur bomb enthusiast. Said guy is, of course, the primary suspect. The guy ends up blowing himself up by going to retrieve a bomb the real bomber placed in a high school.
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* Susan Mayer from ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' is way Too Dumb to Live. Add her uncanny ability to misinterpret absolutely everything about everyone with her ungodly clumsiness and you just ask yourself how did she manage to live up to be twelve (let alone thirty... something). Oh, the characters of the series also ask themselves the very same thing.
* Most of the cast of ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' suffers from this trope to some extent, but by far the best example is Bill. Whether it's pouring gasoline into a go-cart while the engine is still running, using his finger to test the sharpness of an axe, carrying chainsaws around in his coveralls, attempting to pole-vault off the roof of a moving vehicle, or sitting on a beanbag chair filled with propane and using a lit match to blow himself into the air to catch something that had drifted off into the sky, it's a miracle that Bill is not only still alive, but has all his limbs still intact.
* Robin Maxwell in ''[[V (TV series)|V]]: The Original Miniseries''. First she wanders out of hiding, to be discovered by collaborator Daniel, which leads to the Maxwells having to move, Daniel's parents being arrested, and his grandfather being killed. Having learned nothing, she leaves hiding ''again'', this time getting captured by the Visitors, which leads to the Resistance camp being attacked and her mother being killed. Not to mention actually falling for one of the Visitors' sweet talk -- very dumb, even if it did lead to a useful [[Half-Human Hybrid]].
** In the series that followed the mini-series, Robin passed this trait on to her daughter, Elizabeth.
* Marshall Wheeler of ''[[Black Hole High]]'', who never seemed to realize that taking old technology made by a company known for suspicious dealings from the basement of a school that ''has a wormhole in it'' might not be the safest idea.
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** And in Redemption Island, Russell Hantz comes back for the third time. He doesn't have the advantage of being a newcomer/not having any of the other players view ''Samoa'' like he did the previous times. So now everybody knows his game and has ''finally'' learned to keep an eye on him and watch out for his harem. Russell then tells them he's playing the game differently... only to assemble his usual harem and hunt for the idol without even making sure he ''wasn't'' in plain sight or being tailed by people who want his ass gone. Then he tried to ask someone to flip and vote out someone who is ''physically strong'' while making them become a ''third wheel'' in the alliance. (Oh yes, you're going to take her to the finals? When you already have ''two'' people with you, there can only be three in the finals? No Shambo here. And no Natalie W or Parvati, either.) Amazing - one of the most [[Manipulative Bastard]] types in the game who is often considered the best fitting in this category? The Galu tribe probably got a great big hoot out of ''that.''
*** And one of his girls, Stephanie, intentionally proceeded to put a ''huge'' target on her back. She's already in the minority because almost everyone else wants Russell Hantz gone, knowing how [[Sarcasm Mode|good]] he is at the game (and that the producers [[Creator's Pet|will forget about everyone else]].) So what do you do? Say that everyone else will backstab each other and that Russell ''wouldn't...'' Uh, Stephanie? Claiming a guy who wantonly bullied and betrayed his way through ''two'' seasons in a row is ''not'' going to backstab anyone? There's a reason they threw that challenge (which wasn't too bright, either).
** The Ometepe somehow managed to [[Up to Eleven|outdo the cast of Samoa]] in terms of pure stupidity and [[Reality Show Genre Blindness]]. You're put on a show with someone who is one of the most ''[[Creator's Pet|famous players]]'', known for being [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]. What do you do? Only Kristina had the insight to ''get him out ASAP'', while everyone else ''shut off their brains'' and practically handed Rob the million. [[Ruined FOREVER|Much to the fandom's displeasure]].
** Oh, and then there's Brandon Hantz, from the South Pacific season. Wins immunity with only a few players remaining. Erik Reichenbach probably got a good laugh out of what happened next.
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has a great example in the episode "Whispers". Carson and an alien are trapped in a room, being hunted by a group of blind creatures with incredible hearing. It has been established multiple times that these creatures hunt by sound. The other guy starts ''yelling'' at Carson, refusing to quiet down despite Carson reminding him (once again) of this fact, and is abruptly eaten, to the relief of the audience. If they had been on Earth, then this guy would have surely been nominated for a Darwin Award.
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** All of these are from ''one episode'' in a montage showing why the brothers are well known to the hospital emergency ward staff.
* Several of the marks in ''[[Leverage]]'', after the team gets through with them. But especially the judge who, after disarming a pair of bank robbers, ''held everyone in the bank at gunpoint''.
* [[Flash Gordon (TV series)|Flash Gordon]]: [http://flashgordon.wikia.com/wiki/Joe_Wylee Joe Wylee], the police detective, attempts to expose Mongo’s existence without reliable evidence and is [http://flashgordon.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_112:_Secrets_and_Lies surprised] when he is [http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2007/11/flash-gordon-vs-the-blue-men-group.html suspended]. Later he [http://flashgordon.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_115:_Possession steals] a rift key to gather evidence and nearly [http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2007/11/flash-gordon-vs-the-body-snatcher.html dies] on Mongo.
** He never considers that his evidence will be viewed as a [[We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future|forgery]]. However, after traveling to Mongo he does say that he would not have believed the truth about the rift portals if he had not experienced it.
* Princess Michelle Benjamin in ''[[Kings]]''. A bunch of armed religious fanatics holed up in a warhouse, what does she do? Walk in sans body guard or wire to negotiate with them. What do they do? Take her hostage. Then in another episode she goes to comfort a ''quarantined plague victim'' without any protective gear!
** Taking naked pictures of yourself on your phone when your father is the King and has found out and gone into a murderous rage over pettier shit before, while noting this fact jokingly, is by far the dumbest thing she's ever done.
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* [[The Ditz|Eric]] in the [[Slasher Movie]]-themed episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', where it is [[Played for Laughs]]. He agrees to stand out in the hallway by himself when he knows there is a killer running around the school. However, this is not what actually kills him.
* In the pilot of ''[[Lost]]'', some of the survivors find the cockpit of the crashed plane complete with pilot, who is still alive. Suddenly, they hear something that is obviously a very, very large animal crashing around outside, roaring and generally acting seriously pissed off. So what does the pilot do? He sticks his head and upper body out through the broken cockpit window to see what it is. Seriously, is anyone REALLY surprised when he gets dragged out through the cockpit window to his death?
* How did Jason Stackhouse of ''[[True Blood]]'' manage to keep himself alive? It's almost offensive, especially since [[Karma Houdini|never has to answer for the terrible things he does]]. One example: In series one, just before helping his sociopathic girlfriend Amy abduct and murder a vampire ( a pretty stupid decision itself, considering that the whole thing could be fairly easily traced to him) , he wonders into a vampire bar and asks for the drug V ( vampire blood), knowing that vampires kill anybody who uses, then completely botches up any attempt his girlfriend makes to cover his tracks.
** Sookie and Bill fit here too. Sookie is just a little over eager to associate with people who want to eat her, although that might just be a [[Death Seeker]] thing. At the end of series one, when Sookie has been captured by the serial killer (Arlene's boyfriend Rene)) , he pulls himself out of the ground in broad daylight to go rescue her. He's a vampire- what exactly does he think that scenario is going to end?
* In S3 of ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'', vampire Caroline has been imprisoned in a dark cell and manacled to a chair by her estranged father. And if that wasn't enough, a debilitating vervain gas has been pumped into the cell to further weaken her and she's been starved of blood. Dad asks how she is able to walk in sunlight without harm. Caroline...tells him. Honestly, is anyone surprised by what happens next? he opens a metal plate covering a window and begins torturing her with sunlight.
* In the series finale epilogue of ''[[Caprica]]'', Clarice Willow. She may have genuinely believed that it was God's will to convert the "differently sentient" (Cylon robots) to monotheism, but when she outright encourages a robot rebellion and declares that there will be "a day of reckoning" for humanity during her prophecy can be described as misguided at best and suicidal at worst. Or she just forgot what species she belonged to.
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* ''[[Canada's Worst Driver|Canadas Worst Driver]]'' show some SHOCKINGLY clueless drivers. Some of them are lucky to be alive.
* ''[[Rescue 911]]'' features some rather surprising cases:
** Sealant overdose. A kid huffs butane and scotch guard.
** Three inexperienced cave divers explore a cave without training. Two survive.
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