History BrownNote / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E95HocusPocusAndFrisby Hocus-Pocus and Frisby]]", the sound of Somerset Frisby's harmonica paralyzes the aliens with extreme pain and he manages to escape.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Need to Know", anyone who hears a short phrase that reveals the meaning of life goes insane.

* In the ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' online comic, a man with [[MakeMeWannaShout sound control]] powers ("[[MeaningfulName Echo DeMille]]") makes use of the Brown Note. As he puts it, instead of killing the men following him, he lays waste to them.

** An episode involved a virus that downloads itself onto computers (and it's [[NumberOfTheBeast 666 megabytes in size]], go figure). Once it successfully downloads, a popup ad appears on the screen called "What's That Noise?" Clicking on it produces a series of seizure-inducing images that place the viewer in a hypnotic state due to audio waves stimulating the brain. The viewer then hallucinates a ghastly hand coming out of the computer screen, and when it touches them, ''[[{{Squick}} their brains melt into liquid due to overstimulation and flow out of every orifice.]]''
** A later episode had a frequency broadcast over the radio that completely wiped the memories of everyone who heard it. The backstory alluded to a radio broadcast that existed before the existence of radios. The broadcast itself was composed of a random series of numbers spoken in every different language.
** As it turned out, the radio broadcast gave the [[spoiler: co-ordinates to the pieces of the Machine that could bridge/break/destroy universes. Who built the machine? Walter Bishop did. Then he travelled back in time to a prehistoric age, broke the Machine into pieces, buried them across the world and set up the radio broadcast that led to their eventual discovery. Gnarly. The memory-wiping part was put there by agents from the Alternate Universe to capture the attention of the Fringe Division. It wasn't a part of the original broadcast.]]

* ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon'' did a sketch, "Joking Bad", which parodied ''Series/BreakingBad''. In it, Jimmy Fallon ends up trading "the purest joke he ever wrote - it'll make you laugh your ass off" - in order to get all of his other jokes back. The guy he gives it to reads it and starts laughing. The camera pans away and the sound of an explosion is heard. The man walks out of the room and turns around to reveal that he has a hole in his pants and [[LiteralMetaphor no ass]].

* An episode of ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' titled "Cigarette Burns" revolved around a certain film, ''La Fin absolue du Monde'', all copies of which were thought to have been destroyed after its first screening sparked a homicidal riot amongst the audience. It is revealed at the end that the reason for this is that [[spoiler:''La Fin absolue du Monde'' was a video of an angel being mutilated, and the evil of that horror affects all who view the film]].

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' contains tons of objects that are capable of this, without even going into the really dangerous things in [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Dark Vault]], like Sylvia Plath's typewriter, which sucks the will to live out of a person just by looking at it. In fact, all of the artifacts in the Dark Vault are activated by some human sense. Other artifacts include a song that causes a state of euphoric bliss in anyone who hears it, leaving them helpless, a bell that makes people laugh until they asphyxiate, another bell (owned by Ivan Pavlov) that makes a person drool excessively for 24 hours, and Lizzy Borden's Compact, causing whoever looks into the mirror to want to kill the person they love.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep "Fury from the Deep"]]: [[spoiler:[[DistressedDamsel Victoria Waterfield's screaming]] defeats the weed monster.]]

* ''Series/{{Andor}}'': When the Empire [[FinalSolution wiped out]] the Dizonites of the planet Dizon Frey before building a refueling station there, the dying Dizonites cried out with a unique screech that sounded like a "choral, agonized pleading" which had harmful psychological effects on those who heard it. The Imperial officers who were monitoring the proceedings remotely recorded the cries, and were all found huddled underneath their ship's bridge. Due to its value as a torture device, the Empire tested it to select the most effective section for use in torture, and repeated listenings are proven to leave permanent damage. It's used on Bix and Salman.

* ''Series/MythBusters'' tested [[UrbanLegend the myth of the "brown note"]], specifically the version about a tone around 9hz to 11hz that could cause symptoms including nausea, loss of motor and cognitive functions and, you guessed it, loss of bowel control. For what it's worth, they found certain low frequencies could rattle your ears and stomach, inducing nausea and the testing was producing a physical sensation of anxiety in the chest for some of the crew--but they didn't find any that could loosen your bowels, even when the volume was cranked past 150db, the range of instant hearing loss if Adam and co. were not wearing protection, so they declared it "busted".
* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Music of the Spheres", the titular music is a signal from space which, in addition to being extremely addictive, ends up causing a series of dramatic physical transformations in listeners. Notably, unlike most examples of the Brown Note, [[spoiler: the changes the music causes ultimately turn out to be beneficial - it transforms humans into a form that is resistant to a high-UV environment, which is what the Earth is about to become due to the sun undergoing a "shift".]]
* On ''Series/{{Pixelface}}'', Romford claims to be able to play a tone that will make someone wet themselves.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E5IsThereInTruthNoBeauty}} Is There in Truth No Beauty?]]" Anyone seeing the true form of a Medusan becomes dangerously insane. An example of the [[SurrealHorror surreal]], [[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zoney]], SpaceIsMagic philosophy that ''Franchise/StarTrek'' started out with. The old writers didn't feel any need to [[HandWave "explain"]] everything, much less with the same TechnoBabble every week. The Medusans don't emit dangerous radiation or anything, they're just supposed to ''look so weird that you'll lose your mind if you see one.'' (When traveling among mundanes they hide in little coffins like [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]].) Ironically, despite the madness they induce, the one Medusan we meet is actually pretty friendly and only intentionally exposes himself to a guy trying to kill him, and to telepaths, their minds are stated to be some of the most sublime in the galaxy.

** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E6TheGame}} The Game]]", which features an addictive video game which stimulated the brain's pleasure centers.
** Starfleet developed one of these with the intent of using it against the Borg: a computer graphic of a shape that cannot exist in reality. The theory was that it would spread throughout the Collective as they attempted (and failed) to "solve" it. Picard eventually rejected the plan to inject it into the Collective via a disconnected drone, instead deciding to help "Hugh" gain individuality. In the [[ExpandedUniverse relaunch series of novels]], however, he was directly ordered to use it and all other available weapons against the resurgent, now much more dangerous and aggressive Borg.
* On ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', seeing Castiel's true face (and presumably the true faces of all other angels) causes one's eyes to burn out of their sockets, as seen in the fourth season premiere, and his true voice causes windows to shatter and ears to bleed. In vessel form, however, they can be heard and seen normally.

* Humorously parodied in ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' with the "iJammer", which in-universe MegaCorp Cinco markets as "the first digital music box with two revolutionary dance tones!" Anyone who listens to either of the frequencies from the box--either "iJammer" or "e-Bumper"--suffers from seizures, wildly aggressive behavior, widened eyes, and general addiction. The box also produces an "OOPY DOOPY!" protein paste called "Oh Hungee", which seems designed to hook listeners even more, as they don't need to stop to eat. The kicker? The iJammer is manufactured by Cinco ''Toys''--meaning it's aimed at ''children.''

* In the first season of ''Series/TrueDetective'', the 'King in Yellow' is a recurring reference point (''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' is a short story about a play that drives anyone reading it insane - see on the Literature page), invoking this trope as the heroes encounter a series of witnesses who have been driven mad by their encounter with the central mystery of the season. Towards the finale, [[spoiler:the protagonists finally view a videotape that induces violent reactions in anyone who views it, and argue over whether they should even watch it.]] Because True Detective exists in a MaybeMagicMaybeMundane setting, we get the showrunner's literal interpretation of a tape that can drive people mad: [[spoiler:a record of horrible abuse against a child.]]

* An episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'' ("Drive") involved a secret Navy communication device which generated radio waves that supposedly vibrated at a frequency that matched that of a human skull, filling listeners' head with increasing pressure that would blow out of their ears fatally unless the pressure was relieved surgically.

* 'Series/{{Angel}}'':