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We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:technicaldifficulties.png|link=Homestar Runner|thumb|
When something really shocking happens on the air, especially if it happens [[Dead Line News|in the newsroom]] itself, the program being shown will suddenly switch to this message or something similar.
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On other occasions, the message is used even if the difficulty is not technical in nature, such as a fight breaking out on live TV or a performer (or news anchor) having an emotional breakdown, disrobing on live TV, [[Dead Line News|dying]], or saying something so controversial that it will cause backlash from the [[Moral Guardians|network censors or, worse, the FCC]]. When this message appears in fiction, usually one of those things is exactly what happened. Actual technical difficulties are vanishingly rare in fictionland.
In
Compare with [[Relax-O-Vision]] and [[Do Not Adjust Your Set]].
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* The original ''[[Gojira (film)|Gojira]]'' has this when a radio newsreader is killed. Interestingly, we see the scene from his perspective.
* A humorous example in the film ''I Am Curious (Yellow)'': Lena and her friend Börje are about to make love in her archive room. There's no bed, so they drag in a mattress and some sheets and pillows from another room, and make all sorts of elaborate preparations. At the moment they actually begin intercourse, a test pattern flips up on the screen. Cut to a pleasant looking announcer fixing her hair, not realizing she's already on camera. She says "We regret that we have had some technical difficulties owing to erection fault" (or "faulty coupling", depending on the translation).
* ''[[Network]]'' lampshades this and references the Chris Chubbuck tragedy after Howard Beale sarcastically announces that he's going to commit suicide on camera. At first the studio staff don't realize he's said it, mumbling gossip while the commercial is on; then panic, they open the studio mike to communicate with Howard, the immortal words "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON" go out to 67 affiliates, he replies that he can't hear what they're saying, they come back from commercial and Howard is being pulled away from his desk by the floor
* Happens in a bonus feature on ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' when Jean-Michel Cousteau loses it thanks to Nemo, Dory and Marlin.
* In ''[[Terminator]] 3'' a
* ''[[Problem Child]] 2'' has a patriotic puppet show suddenly hijacked, with the Uncle Sam puppet explaining "We are experiencing technical difficulties," and the bald eagle puppet chiming in with "Yeah - I had to scratch my butt!" Naturally, Ben assumes that Junior is the culprit - but he's not.
== [[Literature]] ==
* This has happened at least twice in the ''William Weaver'' series of novels by [[John Ringo]]. Once it was in connection with [[Dead Line News]], another time a reporter [[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)|"failed a SAN check"]] and started to scream, "I'm reading this on my TelePrompTer, but it's not really happening!"
* Happens in Stephen King's novel ''[[The Stand]]'' with the offending scene being a live assassination game show.
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* Played for laughs on an episode of ''[[Empty Nest]]''. Womanizer Charlie Dietz becomes a meteorologist on the local news and compares the size of some hailstones to the anchorwoman's breasts. Cue the trope.
* A common subtrope for British shows that use this is to cut away to the classic Test Card F girl or a humorously modified version to fit the show. Used for example in ''[[Zero Punctuation]]''.
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in real life with [[wikipedia:Christine Chubbuck|Christine Chubbucks's suicide]]: after she shot herself, the prevailing camera stayed focused on her while slowly fading to black. The camerawoman simply could not believe this wasn't a stunt or gag on Christine's part, but more likely because the producer of a 10am show in Sarasota in the early 70's usually doesn't get a lesson on "What to do if your host shoots themselves on the air".▼
** Outright [[Averted Trope|averted]] with the similar suicide of Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania Republican treasurer who was convicted of a lot of fraud charges, including embezzlement.▼
* British one-off [[Halloween Special]] ''[[Ghostwatch]] does'' this just as things start heating up in the [[Haunted House]]
* In the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "Severed Dreams", an ISN reporter interrupts the news broadcast to announce that several Earth colonies have seceded in protest of President Clark's bombing of Mars and that armed troops have invaded ISN headquarters. An explosion is heard, then the broadcast goes off the air and is replaced by a network logo (without an explicit "Technical Difficulties" message, but with the same implications).
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'':
** A
** Another ''SNL'' example: on the season 35 episode hosted by Drew Barrymore (for the sixth time, making her the show's most frequent female celebrity host), there was a sketch featuring a cooking show on the roof of a building. The show cuts to a "Please Stand By" placard every time the show hosts (played by [[Drew Barrymore]] and [[Andy Samberg]]) are attacked by crows (which are attracted to the bread crumbs the two are using for chicken parmigiana).
* In one rather hilarious example on ''[[Bill Nye the Science Guy]]'' this happens when Bill flicks a red-kneed tarantula onto the cameraman, causing the cameraman to drop the camera onto the floor. The cameraman screams "THE TARANTULA'S CRAWLING IN MY PANTS!!" while the trope name is broadcast on the screen.
* ''[[Dead Set]]'' features any number of them. In this case the hopelessly non-descript "PLEASE STAND BY" of the messages serve to underline just how quickly and violently overrun everything was.
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* On 4 June 1989, what was then known as Radio Beijing began its shortwave broadcast with a brief statement that protesters in Tiananmen Square had been killed by army troops. The announcer then apologized for not being able to provide any more information or to continue the regularly scheduled broadcast and then played classical music without interruption for the rest of the hour.
** Roughly 2005 or so, in Chinese news, there was a statement, "Censorship has relaxed in China, however, it is still present, as in the case of..." The screen blanked out for two minutes, presumably when they were going to talk of something like, perhaps {{spoiler|Tiananmen Square}}. Nobody died though, as the reporter was still around to announce the news.
* In the 60's, WLBT 3 (the [[wikipedia:WLBT|NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi]]) was run by white segregationists. It and a cross-town competitor (CBS 12) were the only stations in the market. Much to the dismay of the [[Hopeless Boss Fight|NBC network brass]] the station would routinely have sudden "technical difficulties" (and throw up a slide to that effect) whenever a network news report about the Civil Rights movement and its activities would be broadcast. The station, which was owned by an insurance company, sought to deny the [[Civil Rights Movement]] was happening and protect the interests of Jackson's white business community (which was hotly opposed to the movement). Even NBC primetime programming which showed African-Americans in any positive light would suddenly be knocked off the air due to "a network problem". With three networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) competing for space on two stations, NBC had a limited margin of manoeuvre locally. Ultimately, civil rights groups got a court order directing the FCC to enforce its Broadcast Fairness Rule – ultimately making Lamar Broadcasting (in
* While not quite technical difficulties per se
** That depends on the channel. Many stations transmitting from New York City would've had huge technical difficulties because the main transmitters were mostly at Ground Zero.
▲* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]]
▲** Outright [[Averted Trope|averted]] with the similar suicide of Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania Republican treasurer who was convicted of a lot of fraud charges, including embezzlement.
* At 8:30pm ET on 5 February 1969, ABC broadcast its first and last episode of ''[[wikipedia:Turn-On|Turn-On]]'', a [[Short Runners|short-lived programme]] intended to compete with ''[[Laugh In]]''. The content offended E. W. Scripps Co. (WEWS-TV 5 [[Cleveland]]) badly enough that they dumped the show after the first commercial break, going to a black screen with live organ music in the background. The Cleveland affiliate then sent a blunt telegram to ABC network brass: "If your naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don't use our walls. Turn-On is turned off, as far as WEWS is concerned."
{{reflist}}
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