Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 78,79 (click to see context) from:
* ''{{Shameless}}'' (US) Kevin grows a few marijuana plants in his basement, mostly for personal consumption. When he decides to put a little more effort and care into this, he ends up with a basement full of high quality marijuana plants, worth thousands of dollars. This means that if caught he will end up in federal prison on major trafficking charges. He is GenreSavvy enough to know that he will never get away with this so [[spoiler: he destroys most of his crop.]]
* In the ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Positive Alex", Alex uses a magical marker to make herself [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin more positive]] to be a better cheerleader and impress her crush. It ends up making her so positive that not only does everyone get sick of her (including her crush) but also gets the cheerleading squad banned from cheering when she cheers for the other team. Thankfully the marker washes off.
* In the ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Positive Alex", Alex uses a magical marker to make herself [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin more positive]] to be a better cheerleader and impress her crush. It ends up making her so positive that not only does everyone get sick of her (including her crush) but also gets the cheerleading squad banned from cheering when she cheers for the other team. Thankfully the marker washes off.
to:
* ''{{Shameless}}'' (US) ''Series/ShamelessUS'' Kevin grows a few marijuana plants in his basement, mostly for personal consumption. When he decides to put a little more effort and care into this, he ends up with a basement full of high quality marijuana plants, worth thousands of dollars. This means that if caught he will end up in federal prison on major trafficking charges. He is GenreSavvy enough to know that he will never get away with this so [[spoiler: he destroys most of his crop.]]
* In the''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Positive Alex", Alex uses a magical marker to make herself [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin more positive]] to be a better cheerleader and impress her crush. It ends up making her so positive that not only does everyone get sick of her (including her crush) but also gets the cheerleading squad banned from cheering when she cheers for the other team. Thankfully the marker washes off.
* In the
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Dany struggles to convince Drogo to conquer the Seven Kingdoms for their son, but when Drogo finally agrees he basically plans to RapePillageAndBurn the entire continent and Dany's later aversion to the same tactics used merely to pay for transport show that she has no taste for Dothraki warfare.
** Cersei does everything in her power to ensure Joffrey sits the Iron Throne. Needless to say, most of Westeros has her to thank for the reign of King Joffrey.
** The masters of Astapor created the Unsullied to be the best soldiers in the world and utterly loyal to whoever owns them. Then, Daenerys takes control of them and turns them on their former masters.
** Dany struggles to convince Drogo to conquer the Seven Kingdoms for their son, but when Drogo finally agrees he basically plans to RapePillageAndBurn the entire continent and Dany's later aversion to the same tactics used merely to pay for transport show that she has no taste for Dothraki warfare.
** Cersei does everything in her power to ensure Joffrey sits the Iron Throne. Needless to say, most of Westeros has her to thank for the reign of King Joffrey.
** The masters of Astapor created the Unsullied to be the best soldiers in the world and utterly loyal to whoever owns them. Then, Daenerys takes control of them and turns them on their former masters.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 93 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Karen Page:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
to:
-->'''Karen Page:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this. Men with guns. Men who think that the law belongs to them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 2 (click to see context) from:
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': At the start of season 3, Mohinder injects himself with a serum to give him powers like the other heroes. He does indeed get powers similar to ''ComicBook/{{Spider-man}}''. Unfortunately, he then starts sticking people in webs. Also in "Villains" the company wanted to get Sylar to kill again so they could analyze his ability. They got him to kill again but they also turned him into a murderous psychopath that ending up killing several of their agents.
to:
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': At the start of season 3, Mohinder injects himself with a serum to give him powers like the other heroes. He does indeed get powers similar to ''ComicBook/{{Spider-man}}''.''ComicBook/SpiderMan''. Unfortunately, he then starts sticking people in webs. Also in "Villains" the company wanted to get Sylar to kill again so they could analyze his ability. They got him to kill again but they also turned him into a murderous psychopath that ending up killing several of their agents.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 92,93 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
-->'''Karen:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
-->'''Karen:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
to:
* In ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In Early in season 2, it's revealed he Karen speculates that Matt's second identity was what inspired former marine captain [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
-->'''Karen:''' -->'''Karen Page:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'': The Five wanted to expand science's borders. Well... they did.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 68 (click to see context) from:
* An early episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'' had Graeme improving the formula for a sleeping aid called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysInTheTin "Snooze"]]. This new formula soon got all of Britain in a deep sleep.
to:
* An early episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'' had Graeme improving the formula for a sleeping aid called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysInTheTin [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Snooze"]]. This new formula soon got all of Britain in a deep sleep.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 40 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Kimberly''': Oh, you NUMBSKULLS! YOU'RE GIVING ME, A HEADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHE!
to:
-->'''Kimberly''': Oh, you NUMBSKULLS! YOU'RE GIVING ME, ME A HEADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHE!
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 5 (click to see context) from:
*** In one of the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] novels (''Vendetta''), they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it [[RevengeBeforeReason all that much scarier]]. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
to:
*** In one of the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] novels (''Vendetta''), Vendetta, they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it [[RevengeBeforeReason all that much scarier]]. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
*** Played to a similar tack in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Arsenal of Freedom". The crew encounters an automated merchant that sold intelligent, adaptable war machines that came in two sizes: anti-personnel and anti-ship. When one was destroyed, the information from that battle was used to automatically build a better one to come at the assailants next. No one appeared to be alive on the planet's surface, leading to the suspicion the machines did their job ''too'' well.
*** Funny thing is, it was all just a demonstration of the weapon's effectiveness. All the people on the planet had to do is [[spoiler:agree to buy, thus putting an end to the demonstration]].
*** Funny thing is, it was all just a demonstration of the weapon's effectiveness. All the people on the planet had to do is [[spoiler:agree to buy, thus putting an end to the demonstration]].
to:
*** Played to a similar tack in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Arsenal of Freedom". The crew encounters an automated merchant that sold intelligent, adaptable war machines that came in two sizes: anti-personnel and anti-ship. When one was destroyed, the information from that battle was used to automatically build a better one to come at the assailants next. No one appeared to be alive on the planet's surface, leading to the suspicion the machines did their job ''too'' well.
*** Funnywell. [[note]]Funny thing is, it was all just a demonstration of the weapon's effectiveness. All the people on the planet had to do is [[spoiler:agree to buy, thus putting an end to the demonstration]]. [[/note]]
*** Funny
Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Tapestry". Picard wishes he'd played it safe in his youth, so he replays a couple days of the beginning of his career (with Q's "help"). This changes the present so he's only a junior lieutenant, because he NEVER took risks.
to:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Tapestry". Picard wishes he'd played it safe in his youth, so he replays a couple days of the beginning of his career (with [[note]]with Q's "help")."help"[[/note]]. This changes the present so he's only a junior lieutenant, because he NEVER took risks.
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it ''worked'' - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) and one guilty one (the criminal who forged the evidence for them).]]
to:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it ''worked'' - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the [[note]] The senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) succeeded [[/note]] and one guilty one (the [[note]] The criminal who forged the evidence for them).them [[/note]].]]
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
** Then there's Khan and his followers. They were only the products of 20th century eugenics, created to be the ultimate representation of the human race (a legion of Napoleons and Alexander the Greats as Kirk explained) and to establish a new world order by conquering the rest of humanity. The only flub was that they were [[AmbitionIsEvil all ambitious]] ("Superior Ability breeds Superior Ambition" or some such) and simultaneously wanted the GodEmperor slot, which resulted in their fighting one another and therefore allowing "normal" humanity to rally against them.
to:
** Then there's Khan and his followers. They were only the products of 20th century eugenics, created to be the ultimate representation of the human race (a [[note]]a legion of Napoleons and Alexander the Greats as Kirk explained) explained [[/note]] and to establish a new world order by conquering the rest of humanity. The only flub was that they were [[AmbitionIsEvil all ambitious]] ("Superior Ability breeds Superior Ambition" or some such) and simultaneously wanted the GodEmperor slot, which resulted in their fighting one another and therefore allowing "normal" humanity to rally against them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Non examples, HOW were they this trope?
Deleted line(s) 2,4 (click to see context) :
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}''
** In ''Vessel'', [[spoiler:Clark stabbing Brainiac with the kryptonian knife.]]
** In ''Doomsday'', [[spoiler:Chloe splitting Davis and Doomsday.]]
** In ''Vessel'', [[spoiler:Clark stabbing Brainiac with the kryptonian knife.]]
** In ''Doomsday'', [[spoiler:Chloe splitting Davis and Doomsday.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 76 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Series/SisterSister'', Tia and Tamera, fearing that Lisa and Ray after dating, would eventually end up having a divorce so bad that would result the twins being separated again, tried to ruin their planned date [[WellIntentionedExtremist to prevent this possibility]] by implying that the respective parents are seeing other people. It worked. Unfortunately, it worked far too well as [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it came very close to having Lisa and Tia move out of Ray and Tamera's house]].
to:
* In ''Series/SisterSister'', Tia and Tamera, fearing that Lisa and Ray after dating, dating would eventually end up having a divorce so bad that would result the twins being separated again, tried to ruin their planned date [[WellIntentionedExtremist to prevent this possibility]] by implying that the respective parents are seeing other people. It worked. Unfortunately, it worked far too well as [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it came very close to having Lisa and Tia move out of Ray and Tamera's house]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Evolution", Wesley's school project involved putting two nannites together to see what would happen. Result: He created a new species that started to consume the Enterprise and jeopardizing a science mission.
to:
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Evolution", Wesley's school project involved putting two nannites nanites together to see what would happen. Result: He created a new species that started to consume the Enterprise and ''Enterprise'', jeopardizing a science mission.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* On ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Leslie and Ben have a SecretRelationship in the last few episodes of season 3. In "The Bubble", Ben has a budget meeting with Leslie's mom Marlene, the head of the Department of Education. Ben ends up being so flustered that he messes up the meeting and causes her to ask the city for more money. Leslie gives Ben tips on how to make the meeting go better, such as her mom's likes and dislikes. This ends up working too well and Marlene hits on Ben.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
* ''CSINewYork'': [[spoiler:A Nazi escaped justice by pretending to be Jewish, even getting a concentration camp tattoo. Things probably got a bit awkward when his son wanted to "rediscover" his family's faith and became very involved with his father's "lapsed" religion...]]
to:
* ''CSINewYork'': ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': [[spoiler:A Nazi escaped justice by pretending to be Jewish, even getting a concentration camp tattoo. Things probably got a bit awkward when his son wanted to "rediscover" his family's faith and became very involved with his father's "lapsed" religion...]]
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* ''TopGear'''s first American road trip has the "Get the others shot or arrested" challenge, where the presenters paint offensive slogans on each others' vehicles ("NASCAR Sucks," "Man-Love Rules OK", etc.) before driving through Alabama. They end up running in terror from a group of angry rednecks when they stop for gas.
to:
* ''TopGear'''s ''Series/TopGear'''s first American road trip has the "Get the others shot or arrested" challenge, where the presenters paint offensive slogans on each others' vehicles ("NASCAR Sucks," "Man-Love Rules OK", etc.) before driving through Alabama. They end up running in terror from a group of angry rednecks when they stop for gas.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Evolution", Wesley's school project involved putting two nannites together to see what would happen. Result: He created a new species that started to consume the Enterprise and jeopardizing a science mission.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* On ''Series/CornerGas'', Lacey adds a new sandwich called the Ruby Club to her menu, and browbeats a few of the other characters into trying it. Eventually, the Ruby Club is the only thing that anyone ever wants to order, and Lacey is just plain sick of making nothing else but Ruby Clubs all day. Eventually she exploits the town's resistance to any sort of change by claiming that all Ruby Club purchases will help fund the new traffic light the mayor wants to add to the town, which immediately gets the townsfolk to stop ordering it (despite still considering it delicious).
-->'''Brent:''' People hate your sandwich? That's great!\\
'''Lacey:''' ''[happily]'' No, people ''love'' my sandwich. They hate ''me''.
-->'''Brent:''' People hate your sandwich? That's great!\\
'''Lacey:''' ''[happily]'' No, people ''love'' my sandwich. They hate ''me''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* After a few years of contestants without winning $1,000,000 on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'''s Million-Dollar Spectaculars, the Drew Carey hosted-episodes changed the format. Instead of the grand prize being won by spinning $1.00 twice in the Showcase Showdown, this changed to the contestant having to win a designated $1,000,000-pricing game or coming within $1,000 (later $500) of their Showcase. The show did not count on ''three'' contestants becoming millionaires under these revised rules.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
*** In one of the novels, they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it all that much scarier. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
to:
*** In one of the novels, [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] novels (''Vendetta''), they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it [[RevengeBeforeReason all that much scarier.scarier]]. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it worked - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) and one guilty one (the criminal who forged the evidence for them).]]
to:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it worked ''worked'' - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) and one guilty one (the criminal who forged the evidence for them).]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
* An episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' has a man working to fake his death with his coroner brother so he can cash in on his $50,000 life insurance policy. He heads to an island, expecting his wife to join him with the rest of the money but she doesn't. As his small amount of cash runs out, he heads home to find her now married to his brother and living off his settlement. When the man tries to get them arrested for insurance fraud, he realizes too late that he did such a good job faking his death that he can't prove he's still alive. In fact, the police are convinced the only way he could know these details is if he's the killer and the man thus ends up arrested, tried, convicted and sent to the electric chair ''for his own murder!''
to:
* An episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' has a man working to fake his death murder with his coroner brother so he can cash in on his $50,000 life insurance policy. He gets plastic surgery to change his features, heads to an island, expecting his wife to join him with the rest of the money but she doesn't. As his small amount of cash runs out, he heads home to find her now married to his brother and living off his settlement. When the man tries to get them arrested for insurance fraud, he realizes too late that he did such a good job faking his death that he can't prove he's still alive. In fact, the police are convinced the only way he could know these details is if he's the killer and the man thus ends up arrested, tried, convicted and sent to the electric chair ''for his own murder!''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* An episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' has a man working to fake his death with his coroner brother so he can cash in on his $50,000 life insurance policy. He heads to an island, expecting his wife to join him with the rest of the money but she doesn't. As his small amount of cash runs out, he heads home to find her now married to his brother and living off his settlement. When the man tries to get them arrested for insurance fraud, he realizes too late that he did such a good job faking his death that he can't prove he's still alive. In fact, the police are convinced the only way he could know these details is if he's the killer and the man thus ends up arrested, tried, convicted and sent to the electric chair ''for his own murder!''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 94 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain Frank Castle to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
to:
* In ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle Castle]] to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 94 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Series/Daredevil2015'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain Frank Castle to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
to:
* In ''Series/Daredevil2015'', ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain Frank Castle to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 94 (click to see context) from:
** In ''Series/Daredevil2015'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain Frank Castle to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** In ''Series/Daredevil2015'', Matt Murdock wanted to inspire others to stand against crime with his vigilante activities. In season 2, it's revealed he inspired former marine captain Frank Castle to do just that, though in Frank's case this involves by killing every last gang member he can find in retaliation for the murder of his wife and daughter.
-->'''Karen:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
-->'''Karen:''' Maybe we created him, all of us. We never stopped to think that Daredevil's actions could open the door for men like this.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** The Eleventh Doctor manages to do this ''twice'' in ''A Christmas Carol''. All he needs to do is get a cold-hearted old man to develop some humanity, so he will use a machine that responds to his brainwaves to save a crashing starship. Piece of cake when you have a time machine; he goes back to the man's childhood to give him better experiences, and even causes him to fall in love with a young woman. Problem is, the woman was dying, and now the old man is just as bitter and cruel, but now it's because of heartbreak. The Doctor does much better at his next attempt, showing the man's past self what he is destined to become, and finally bringing about a HeelFaceTurn...except that his personality has changed so much that the machine he needs to operate no longer recognizes him as the same person.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** In "The Blue Line Job," the team go after a hockey team owner embezzling from his franchise by making him think the World Hockey League is planning a franchise and trick him into investing. However, the "evidence" they provide is so convincing the guy realizes that rather than compete with a "real" team or expose his books to investigators, he'll just declare bankruptcy and close the team down, putting the players, staff and arena workers out of jobs.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* In ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', Skynet ends up making the same mistake that its human creators did. It turns out that its ultimate Terminator, the T-1001, was intelligent and independent enough to turn on its creator ''without'' being reprogrammed by the Resistance. Whether it actually cares one way or the other about the survival of humanity is an open question (it retains all the usual Terminator ruthlessness and doesn't hesitate to murder innocent people just because they got it the way), but it's willing to ally with humans against their common enemy. It even goes so far as to hijack one of Skynet's time machines to arrange for the development of a counter-Skynet AI program in the past.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
** An earlier episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' had the crew trigger an emergency program which set up auto-defenses to stop Bajorans taking over the station. Said program had not been informed that the Cardassians later handed the station over to Bajor and Starfleet peacefully. Dukat then shows up to "help," only to find ''his'' commanders had also built in failsafes to stop him aiding the Bajorans.
to:
** An earlier episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' had the crew trigger an emergency program which set up auto-defenses to stop Bajorans taking over the station. Said program had not been informed that the Cardassians later handed the station over to Bajor and Starfleet peacefully. Dukat then shows up to "help," only to find ''his'' commanders had also built in failsafes to stop him aiding the Bajorans. Or from abandoning his post in the event of a successful Bajoran takeover.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Walter White expected to be able to cook up a few batches of methamphetamine, sell it, use the proceeds to pay for his medical bills and still wind up with a little something left over to leave his family. It turns out there aren't a lot of buyers who have the capacity to deal with multiple-kilogram quantities of USP-grade methamphetamine, and you generally wind up dealing with Very Bad People. He's also forced to come up with some way of explaining plausibly just where all this money is coming from. His wife, who is an accountant, is aghast when she finds out how much there is and at how long it's going to take to believably launder it through an apparently legitimate business.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}''
** In ''Vessel'', [[spoiler:Clark stabbing Brainiac with the kryptonian knife.]]
** In ''Doomsday'', [[spoiler:Chloe splitting Davis and Doomsday.]]
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': At the start of season 3, Mohinder injects himself with a serum to give him powers like the other heroes. He does indeed get powers similar to ''ComicBook/{{Spider-man}}''. Unfortunately, he then starts sticking people in webs. Also in "Villains" the company wanted to get Sylar to kill again so they could analyze his ability. They got him to kill again but they also turned him into a murderous psychopath that ending up killing several of their agents.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has many examples:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': "The Doomsday Machine". An ancient civilization built a war-ending weapon that was invulnerable, warp-capable, and refueled itself from the rubble of planets it destroyed. An unguessable time later, it was still reliably destroying planets.
*** In one of the novels, they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it all that much scarier. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
*** Played to a similar tack in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Arsenal of Freedom". The crew encounters an automated merchant that sold intelligent, adaptable war machines that came in two sizes: anti-personnel and anti-ship. When one was destroyed, the information from that battle was used to automatically build a better one to come at the assailants next. No one appeared to be alive on the planet's surface, leading to the suspicion the machines did their job ''too'' well.
*** Funny thing is, it was all just a demonstration of the weapon's effectiveness. All the people on the planet had to do is [[spoiler:agree to buy, thus putting an end to the demonstration]].
** Similarly, several episodes feature computer-controlled civilizations where the ancient computer is still doing a bang-up job of keeping its people fed, happy and shut up in a bottle.
** And in "A Taste of Armageddon", computerized warfare has enabled two neighboring planets to carry on for centuries in an unending conflict that causes no biohazards, no damage to infrastructure, and hardly even any economic inconvenience...just a few hundred million painless deaths every year.
** Following the events of "Mirror, Mirror," the alternate Spock rises in command and eventually manages to reform the violent Terran Empire into a more peaceful one. Unfortunately, this makes them an easy target for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Tapestry". Picard wishes he'd played it safe in his youth, so he replays a couple days of the beginning of his career (with Q's "help"). This changes the present so he's only a junior lieutenant, because he NEVER took risks.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it worked - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) and one guilty one (the criminal who forged the evidence for them).]]
** An earlier episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' had the crew trigger an emergency program which set up auto-defenses to stop Bajorans taking over the station. Said program had not been informed that the Cardassians later handed the station over to Bajor and Starfleet peacefully. Dukat then shows up to "help," only to find ''his'' commanders had also built in failsafes to stop him aiding the Bajorans.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': "Prototype". Two races at war built robots, and programmed the bots to allow nothing to keep them from fighting each other. Then the races decided that actually, they'd like to end the war and try peace. Both civilizations were wiped out by their own robots.
** Then there's Khan and his followers. They were only the products of 20th century eugenics, created to be the ultimate representation of the human race (a legion of Napoleons and Alexander the Greats as Kirk explained) and to establish a new world order by conquering the rest of humanity. The only flub was that they were [[AmbitionIsEvil all ambitious]] ("Superior Ability breeds Superior Ambition" or some such) and simultaneously wanted the GodEmperor slot, which resulted in their fighting one another and therefore allowing "normal" humanity to rally against them.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''Genesis of the Daleks'', Davros makes his Daleks pitiless, racist, and arrogant. [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Oops]]. He then proceeds to repeat this error in ''every following appearance''.
** In ''The End of Time'' part two, [[spoiler:the Time Lords' 'creation' of the Master.]]
** In ''Planet of the Spiders'', [[spoiler:The Great One meant to give herself infinite power. It did that -- and overloaded her with the arachnid equivalent of Red Rings Of Doom. Thus perished the entire Eight Legs species.]]
** In "The Lazarus Experiment", [[spoiler:Dr. Lazarus wanted to have a longer life. Well, he did...as a horribly mutated human-eating monster.]]
** Borusa sought immortality in "The Five Doctors". He got it... [[spoiler:as a living statue.]]
** In "The Family of Blood":
--->[[spoiler:'''Son of Mine:''' He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing... the fury of the Time Lord... and then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden. He was being kind... He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, to be imprisoned there... forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her... but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's ''always'' her. As for me, I was suspended in time and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England as their protector. We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure we did.]]
** This is a pretty standard result of the Fourth Doctor's meddling, because his main vice is being TooCleverByHalf. Probably the best encapsulation of it is in "Shada", when he convinces a spaceship AI to do whatever he says using [[InsaneTrollLogic a long chain of intentionally faulty logic to convince her that he is dead]]. She agrees to this but decides that since he's dead, this means she can switch the oxygen off. He certainly would have died if his [[TheWatson companion]] Chris hadn't intervened. Other excellent examples are how exploiting a Gallifreyan legal loophole to delay his execution resulted in him becoming Lord President of Gallifrey, a job he then had to weasel out of.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has a few examples:
** Though it's a pretty thin line here between right and wrong, the creation of Adam in season 4 as a super-strong, human/demon/cyborg. He acted like a human/demon/cyborg. Adam claimed late in the season that everything he'd done was what his creator Professor Walsh had intended - except that she thought she'd be alive to witness it. And presumably that the process would be under her control.
** In season 6 Giles' plan is to have the magic he was lent be absorbed, because it will give the wielder [[spoiler: a connection to all humanity, hopefully snapping Willow out of her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Willow absorbs it and feels all humanity's pain, and either because the world just [[CrapsackWorld sucks too much]] or because she's not in a mood to focus on the positives, promptly decides to end their suffering...[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt permanently]]. Subverted, as it turns out that this was in fact part of Giles' plan all along, and it was the magic Willow absorbed that enabled Xander to talk Willow down and get through to her before she could go through with it.]]
** Also discussed earlier in season 6, after [[spoiler: their attempt to bring Buffy back from the dead goes exactly as planned...resulting in Buffy being ripped out of heaven, waking up in a coffin 6 feet under ground, and having to dig her way out of her own grave.]]
** Earlier, in season 5, Tara cast a spell to prevent the other Scoobies from seeing demons because her [[AbusiveParents father]] tricked her into believing she was half-demon and inherently evil, which might not have been so bad on their own... but around that same time, [[PhysicalGod Glory]] forcibly recruited a pack of Lei-Ach demons to kill Buffy. Thanks to Tara's invisibility spell, they easily enter the Magic Box and nearly kill the gang, but Tara, realizing that the spell had gone awry, immediately breaks it, rendering the demons visible again, which allows Buffy to easily defeat them.
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', "Instinct": Topher alters Echo's biochemistry to give her a strong maternal feeling for the baby she's been imprinted to believe is hers. Turns out it worked so well that Echo wants to protect the baby even after she's wiped--to the point of breaking into the father's house with a knife.
** "In hindsight, triggering lactation may have been a bridge too far..."
** A rare example of this happening to a villain, in "Omega": [[spoiler:Alpha's plan to turn Echo into a composite was a textbook case of Gone Horribly Right. Every imprint Echo ever had was in her brain. However, he was crazy to believe that Composite!Echo would become his ally, especially since most of her imprints were good people. Composite!Echo's first act was to hit Alpha with a pipe.]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** An early episode featured a group of unstoppable {{Super Soldier}}s that were created by a fallen civilization, and set to destroy those who weren't "pure" enough, because their planet was frequently invaded by alien aggressors. Apparently, the criteria were set by religious and ideological fanatics, and proved to be so strict that ''nobody'' fit them, not even their own species.
** In the future, the evil Earth secessionists decided they wanted some extremely accurate sentient holograms to help them convincingly smear the founders of the Interstellar Alliance. Unfortunately for them, the extremely accurate Garibaldi hacked the computer and broadcast the whole recording to the non-secessionist humans, including the part where the secessionists would blitzkrieg their civilian populations. And just to top it off, he also transmitted the secessionist base's location.
*** Unfortunately, as the non-secessionists strike at the secessionists' military bases, the secessionists manage to retaliate. Centuries later, humans are still recovering from the Great Burn [[spoiler:with the help of the Rangers]].
** Londo Mollari and Lord Refa schemed to start a war with the Narn, eliminate their rivals, and put their own chosen man on the Centauri Imperial Throne. They succeeded so well that Londo later had to assassinate their "own chosen man" after he turned out to be a murderous psychopath.
** Every [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Mr. Morden]] turns out this way. [[spoiler: Vir's deal is a subversion, in that it went horribly right for Morden instead of Vir.]]
* Subverted in a Season Two episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' ("Beauty and the Beast"). Goldar kidnaps Kimberly in attempt to turn her into a new queen for Lord Zedd. The spell doesn't work, but Kimberly fakes it by imitating Rita. And a very good imitation it is:
-->'''Kimberly''': Oh, you NUMBSKULLS! YOU'RE GIVING ME, A HEADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHE!
-->'''Goldar''': Maybe this was a bad idea. For once, my spell worked too well!
** In ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', [[DimensionLord Dark Specter]] has [[TheDragon Astronema]] brainwashed to be pure evil [[spoiler:so she won't betray him for her brother, the Red Ranger.]] She immediately starts trying to destroy him so she can take his place. One of her plans to do so also falls victim to this; Astronema creates the PsychoRangers so she can take out both the Power Rangers and Dark Specter. The Psycho Rangers become so [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou obsessed]] with killing their counterparts that they begin to disobey Astronema's orders. This gets them defeated the first time around, but then they come BackFromTheDead, ''twice'', to finish business.
* ''CSINewYork'': [[spoiler:A Nazi escaped justice by pretending to be Jewish, even getting a concentration camp tattoo. Things probably got a bit awkward when his son wanted to "rediscover" his family's faith and became very involved with his father's "lapsed" religion...]]
** Assuming he married a Jewish woman, his son was, in fact, Jewish.
* ''TopGear'''s first American road trip has the "Get the others shot or arrested" challenge, where the presenters paint offensive slogans on each others' vehicles ("NASCAR Sucks," "Man-Love Rules OK", etc.) before driving through Alabama. They end up running in terror from a group of angry rednecks when they stop for gas.
* One of the most frequent ways the ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' team runs into trouble.
** The team does such a great job of making everyone believe that their mark is a true psychic in "The Future Job" that he's kidnapped by some criminals who want the mark's help finding a lost bank heist stash.
** Hardison convinces the Russians in "The Iceman Job" that he's an expert diamond thief - which becomes a problem when they kidnap him and force him to steal a diamond.
** In "The Underground Job," the mine owner is accidentally convinced to fire his workers, shut down his mine, and blow it up - which is a problem since they're trying to help the workers keep their jobs.
** Shows up as early as "The Nigerian Job," - they did everything perfectly, it just turns out that they did it to a good guy.
** In "The Miracle Job," they try to dissuade a real estate developer from shutting down a church and turning the area into a mall by faking a miracle - which convinces the develop to buy the church anyways and set up a Bible-themed entertainment and shopping center instead.
** In "The Three Days of Hunter Job", Sophia wanted to scare Monica Hunter into doing a false news story. She was so scared and driven that she dragged Hardison into breaking into an Army base.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', the eponymous character tries to get Mr. Martin to stop being a corporate stooge and rehire Kenny. It works, but Mr. Martin gets other ideas as well.
-->'''Mr. Martin''': I'm going to march right in there and tell them that we're doing it my way! No more talk.
-->'''Frasier''': Exactly, action!
-->'''Mr. Martin''': No, no more talk radio. From this moment on, the station is all latino music, all the time.
-->'''Frasier''': I beg your pardon?
** To elaborate: Kenny was rehired but Frasier and most of his coworkers were fired.
** In another episode, when he has to go to a Catholic charity as part of his apology about Seattle's climate (ItMakesSenseInContext), he changes one of his jokes so he wouldn't end up repeating a regularly done tasteless joke due to a nun's comments. It worked. Unfortunately, he also ended up unintentionally telling [[FunnyAneurysmMoment an even less tasteful joke relating to a priest and fishermen when Seattle's archbishop was lost at sea]].
* In the first episode of the 1970s drama ''Nanny'' the lead character, Barbara, gets her first job looking after a troubled little boy. She's shocked to find that his rich parents aren't just neglectful, they actually sacked the nanny who raised the boy from birth because she asked for a payrise (then they ''told their son she had died''). Barbara manages to persuade the parents to do better by their son...so they do what's genuinely the best thing they can think of, and rehire his old nanny, putting Barbara out of a job.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': Philip Burton designs a system that will automatically lock down the ARC should any of the creatures get free. The only way to un-lock it is by using his fingerprints and eye scans. Later, [[spoiler:the Lockdown System is accidentally activated by Rex with Philip trapped in another room...good thing Connor [[HollywoodHacking can hack into anything.]] ]]
** This has ramifications in the next episode, when Burton decides to kill off all the creatures kept in the ARC, as they are inherently unsafe (even the friendly Rex). Luckily, Lester (being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold) blackmails Burton into backing off.
* Until 2003, ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' champions could win up to 5 games before being retired. Starting in the 2003-04 season, the producers instituted a "sky's the limit" rule, where champions could go on and on winning until being defeated. Towards the season's end, Ken Jennings came along and went on a 74-game winning streak that lasted into the next season. Of course, given that Jennings' incredible winning streak was great for ratings, paying him $2,520,700 in prize money was probably well worth it, especially since there's no difference in paying that cash to one person or 30 over the course of a season.
** Some have also theorized that this also happened to Jennings himself, [[VictoryIsBoring who grew tired of his constant victories]]. But, as Jennings pointed out in a Reddit thread, "Have you ever quit a job where you were making like $75K an hour?"
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', Chuck and Sarah get conned and don't have enough authority to find the conwoman themselves. Chuck fakes a flash to get the general to go after her and accidentally links her to a notorious terrorist. The general puts ALL resources into finding her. Chuck and Sarah are forced to confess the truth...only for Chuck to get a REAL flash of the woman involved with a terrorist but the general doesn't believe them.
* In 2006, [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] reported that Hungary was holding an online naming poll for a new bridge, for which the then-leading entry was the "Chuck Norris Bridge". He then proceeded to suggest that his fans should [[VoteEarlyVoteOften stuff the ballot box]] with "Stephen Colbert Bridge". This trope took effect when the Hungarian officials were tipped off by the fact that "Stephen Colbert Bridge" had over 17 million votes - about 7 million more than the entire population of Hungary at the time.
* An early episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'' had Graeme improving the formula for a sleeping aid called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysInTheTin "Snooze"]]. This new formula soon got all of Britain in a deep sleep.
* In ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'', George and Angie try to teach Max a lesson about how hard it is to make money and where he will end up working if he doesn't improve his grades by getting him a job in the factory. Unfortunately, he appreciates the experience so much that he decides he wants to drop out and work there. At first, George didn't want to stop him because he knows that Max has trouble in school, but he then has a FlashForward of a 50-year-old Max having no options after the factory lays him off.
* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Operation Frankenstein was a project that was to create an ultimate assassination unit that won't question or hesitate in assassinating his targets. It worked all right. Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of the project, Lt. Cobbs, aka the Port-to-Port killer, decided to do assassinations that ''weren't'' sanctioned by his bosses at all, and is thinking his creators would make a nice addition to his body count.
* In ''Series/SisterSister'', Tia and Tamera, fearing that Lisa and Ray after dating, would eventually end up having a divorce so bad that would result the twins being separated again, tried to ruin their planned date [[WellIntentionedExtremist to prevent this possibility]] by implying that the respective parents are seeing other people. It worked. Unfortunately, it worked far too well as [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it came very close to having Lisa and Tia move out of Ray and Tamera's house]].
* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm tries to have Dewey fail the IQ Test because he doesn't want Dewey to end up suffering the same bad experience he did as a Krelboyne student. It worked all right, unfortunately, because he let Reese come up with the answers for Dewey to give, it resulted in him being placed with the Buseys, the class equivalent of an insane asylum.
* ''{{Shameless}}'' (US) Kevin grows a few marijuana plants in his basement, mostly for personal consumption. When he decides to put a little more effort and care into this, he ends up with a basement full of high quality marijuana plants, worth thousands of dollars. This means that if caught he will end up in federal prison on major trafficking charges. He is GenreSavvy enough to know that he will never get away with this so [[spoiler: he destroys most of his crop.]]
* In the ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Positive Alex", Alex uses a magical marker to make herself [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin more positive]] to be a better cheerleader and impress her crush. It ends up making her so positive that not only does everyone get sick of her (including her crush) but also gets the cheerleading squad banned from cheering when she cheers for the other team. Thankfully the marker washes off.
* In ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'' Hal wanted to turn Cutler into a better vampire (a monster by the standards of most people) and he succeeded after [[spoiler: killing Cutler's wife (who Cutler had refused to kill) and tricking Cutler into drinking her blood.]] It works, but Hal switches sides and, over fifty years later, Hal meets Cutler again. Cutler [[spoiler: pulls the same trick Hal pulled on him all those years ago.]]
* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily The New Addams Family]]'': When Morticia became a decorator, she expected to express her creativity by doing a different thing at each house she visited. However, she did such a great work at her first customer's home her next potential customers insisted she did the same thing at their homes.
* At the end of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s season six, [[spoiler:Castiel's actions throughout the season--]] working with [[DealWithTheDevil Crowley]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist betraying]] and [[MoralEventHorizon killing friends]][[spoiler:, and [[KickTheDog breaking Sam's mind]] as a distraction all so he can gain the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity power]] from purgatory's souls--]], ''does'' give him the power to prevent the apocalypse from being restarted. In season seven, it turns out this power [[spoiler:leads him to [[AGodAmI declare himself the new god]], smite ''all'' [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope angels who sided against him]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution humans he disapproves of]], and]] has the side effect of unleashing [[EldritchAbomination unkillable monsters]] on the world.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' season 2: CorruptCorporateExecutive Holland Manners goes out of his way with a plan to corrupt Angel, first bringing his sire Darla BackFromTheDead as a human, and then hiring [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]] Drusilla to turn Darla back into a vampire right after Angel just went through hell and back to save her and convince her to live out her life as a human, while pinning Angel down and forcing him to watch Drusilla do so. Subsequently, he arranges a wine tasting, only for Drusilla and Darla to crash the party with the intent to slaughter him and the rest of the Wolfram & Hart employees there as revenge for being used as pawns. When Angel shows up, Manners begs him to [[SaveTheVillain save them]], but Angel instead throws an IronicEcho at him, locks the doors, and lets Drusilla and Darla do as they please. He definitely succeeded in corrupting Angel, all right.
* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'': Andy left Barney as the sheriff for one afternoon, telling him to just keep the peace. Andy was surprised to find the town was ''too'' peaceful and quiet when he returned. Barney had arrested '''every''' person in town.
* One of the major plot drivers in later seasons of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is the race between the Peacekeepers and Scarrans to acquire wormhole technology, in order to build a weapon. Crichton has knowledge of this technology locked away in his brain, making him a prime target for both sides. By the end of the series, [[spoiler: he's so fed up with this constant pursuit that he gives them exactly what they want: he builds and activates a wormhole weapon, and threatens to destroy the entire universe with it unless they agree to a truce.]] Naturally, he gets asked WhatTheHellHero and delivers a devastating rebuttal that he did exactly as everyone wanted him to do.
-->"What... did you ask me to do, Sparky? [='=]''Crichton, please make the wormhole so we can all have peace. Crichton, you gotta make the wormhole, we all want peace! '''Crichton, make the damn wormhole, we gotta have peace!'''''[='=] '''HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU SAY THAT, SPARKY?!'''"
* The ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Born Bad" has a lawyer argue that her young client had the cards stacked against him, as he has a genetic predisposition towards violence. Unfortunately, the trial doesn't end as she was expecting -- [[spoiler: her argument is so convincing that the ''kid'' buys it, and pleads out for the maximum sentence.]]
* The events of ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', depending on your point of view. [[spoiler:Namely, John Smith's plan to severely weaken Jennings & Rall and its hooks in the US government.]]
* ''Series/ThePrisoner'': In the episode "Checkmate" Number 6 thinks he's worked out a perfect method for telling prisoners from warders, and uses it to plan an escape attempt. Unfortunately the plan fails because one of his accomplices applies the technique to Number 6 himself and concludes that ''he'' must be a warder.
* ''Series/AlmostHuman'': Dorian is an older model of cyborg that was designed to mimic human behavior as convincingly as possible. It was decommissioned because it defeated the purpose of cyborgs by being prone to unpredictable mood swings, just like humans.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica 2003}}'': The Cylons, believing that love is the key to sexual reproduction, set up Helo with a copy of his Galactica crewmate Boomer (a Cylon sleeper agent in reality). Not only is the experiment a success, but as Caprica-Boomer has fallen in love with Helo, she helps him to escape to Galactica and defects to the humans, bringing valuable information about the Cylons and denying the Cylons access to her child (although the child would change hand a few times between the humans and the Cylons). Eventually she becomes an officer on the Galactica, and plays a pivotal role in rescuing the humans from New Caprica. [[spoiler: The final battle between Galactica and Cavil's Cylons is a human mission to rescue her daughter, which ends in the destruction of Cavil's Cylon forces. Her daughter would become the Mitochondrial Eve, the matrilineal most recent common ancestor of all living human beings.]]
* ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' had the APEC stunt. Basically, the intention was to approach the motel where the delegates were staying, and be stopped at the outermost fence line cordoning off the motel from the public. They [[CrazyPrepared went out of their way to make sure the guards knew their motorcade was a fake]] (fake passes, runners beside the main motorcade car, etc). They approached the first gate...and got in. Gate two yielded the same results, and they finally found themselves inside the main motel area, so they decided to turn around. But, The Chaser being The Chaser, they decided to let Chas (who was dressed as Osama bin Laden) out of the car. ''Then'' [[PoliceAreUseless the guards realised]], and arrested the entire lot. (Julian Morrow actually called the trope by name after he walked out of the court room.)
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': Jack Crawford hired decorated trainee Miriam Lass to find the Chesapeake Ripper. She does. And ends up held in captivity, having one arm removed, and brainwashed by him.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'': In the finale of Season 1, the BigBad and the Dragon decide to have TheMole tell Jack his daughter is dead. They think this will make Jack attack them in a blind rage, making him easier to kill. He attacks in [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a rage all right]], by driving a truck into the warehouse, wielding GunsAkimbo, killing Mooks right and left. [[spoiler: The Dragon is unceremoniously gunned down in the process, before Jack empties his clip into the ''surrendering'' BigBad]].
----
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}''
** In ''Vessel'', [[spoiler:Clark stabbing Brainiac with the kryptonian knife.]]
** In ''Doomsday'', [[spoiler:Chloe splitting Davis and Doomsday.]]
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': At the start of season 3, Mohinder injects himself with a serum to give him powers like the other heroes. He does indeed get powers similar to ''ComicBook/{{Spider-man}}''. Unfortunately, he then starts sticking people in webs. Also in "Villains" the company wanted to get Sylar to kill again so they could analyze his ability. They got him to kill again but they also turned him into a murderous psychopath that ending up killing several of their agents.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has many examples:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': "The Doomsday Machine". An ancient civilization built a war-ending weapon that was invulnerable, warp-capable, and refueled itself from the rubble of planets it destroyed. An unguessable time later, it was still reliably destroying planets.
*** In one of the novels, they deal with a second version of the Doomsday Machine and discover that it (and the TOS era one) wasn't actually a case of Gone Horribly Right, it was functioning ''exactly as intended.'' Which made it all that much scarier. Its original goal was to eradicate the Borg, regardless of the cost incurred while getting to that goal.
*** Played to a similar tack in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Arsenal of Freedom". The crew encounters an automated merchant that sold intelligent, adaptable war machines that came in two sizes: anti-personnel and anti-ship. When one was destroyed, the information from that battle was used to automatically build a better one to come at the assailants next. No one appeared to be alive on the planet's surface, leading to the suspicion the machines did their job ''too'' well.
*** Funny thing is, it was all just a demonstration of the weapon's effectiveness. All the people on the planet had to do is [[spoiler:agree to buy, thus putting an end to the demonstration]].
** Similarly, several episodes feature computer-controlled civilizations where the ancient computer is still doing a bang-up job of keeping its people fed, happy and shut up in a bottle.
** And in "A Taste of Armageddon", computerized warfare has enabled two neighboring planets to carry on for centuries in an unending conflict that causes no biohazards, no damage to infrastructure, and hardly even any economic inconvenience...just a few hundred million painless deaths every year.
** Following the events of "Mirror, Mirror," the alternate Spock rises in command and eventually manages to reform the violent Terran Empire into a more peaceful one. Unfortunately, this makes them an easy target for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Tapestry". Picard wishes he'd played it safe in his youth, so he replays a couple days of the beginning of his career (with Q's "help"). This changes the present so he's only a junior lieutenant, because he NEVER took risks.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "In the Pale Moonlight". Sisko starts a personal log and describes (in a world-weary, depressed tone) his attempt to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War as a Federation ally. We spend the whole episode waiting to see how it had GoneHorriblyWrong, only to find that [[spoiler:it worked - but the plan became such a game of XanatosSpeedChess that in the end, it required fabricating evidence, bribing criminals, lying to enemies and allies alike, and eventually killing three innocent men (the senator and his two aides-- Garak and Sisko apparently completely forgot that the latter two were on the shuttle after finding out that the plan succeeded) and one guilty one (the criminal who forged the evidence for them).]]
** An earlier episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' had the crew trigger an emergency program which set up auto-defenses to stop Bajorans taking over the station. Said program had not been informed that the Cardassians later handed the station over to Bajor and Starfleet peacefully. Dukat then shows up to "help," only to find ''his'' commanders had also built in failsafes to stop him aiding the Bajorans.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': "Prototype". Two races at war built robots, and programmed the bots to allow nothing to keep them from fighting each other. Then the races decided that actually, they'd like to end the war and try peace. Both civilizations were wiped out by their own robots.
** Then there's Khan and his followers. They were only the products of 20th century eugenics, created to be the ultimate representation of the human race (a legion of Napoleons and Alexander the Greats as Kirk explained) and to establish a new world order by conquering the rest of humanity. The only flub was that they were [[AmbitionIsEvil all ambitious]] ("Superior Ability breeds Superior Ambition" or some such) and simultaneously wanted the GodEmperor slot, which resulted in their fighting one another and therefore allowing "normal" humanity to rally against them.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''Genesis of the Daleks'', Davros makes his Daleks pitiless, racist, and arrogant. [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Oops]]. He then proceeds to repeat this error in ''every following appearance''.
** In ''The End of Time'' part two, [[spoiler:the Time Lords' 'creation' of the Master.]]
** In ''Planet of the Spiders'', [[spoiler:The Great One meant to give herself infinite power. It did that -- and overloaded her with the arachnid equivalent of Red Rings Of Doom. Thus perished the entire Eight Legs species.]]
** In "The Lazarus Experiment", [[spoiler:Dr. Lazarus wanted to have a longer life. Well, he did...as a horribly mutated human-eating monster.]]
** Borusa sought immortality in "The Five Doctors". He got it... [[spoiler:as a living statue.]]
** In "The Family of Blood":
--->[[spoiler:'''Son of Mine:''' He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing... the fury of the Time Lord... and then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden. He was being kind... He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, to be imprisoned there... forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her... but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's ''always'' her. As for me, I was suspended in time and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England as their protector. We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure we did.]]
** This is a pretty standard result of the Fourth Doctor's meddling, because his main vice is being TooCleverByHalf. Probably the best encapsulation of it is in "Shada", when he convinces a spaceship AI to do whatever he says using [[InsaneTrollLogic a long chain of intentionally faulty logic to convince her that he is dead]]. She agrees to this but decides that since he's dead, this means she can switch the oxygen off. He certainly would have died if his [[TheWatson companion]] Chris hadn't intervened. Other excellent examples are how exploiting a Gallifreyan legal loophole to delay his execution resulted in him becoming Lord President of Gallifrey, a job he then had to weasel out of.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has a few examples:
** Though it's a pretty thin line here between right and wrong, the creation of Adam in season 4 as a super-strong, human/demon/cyborg. He acted like a human/demon/cyborg. Adam claimed late in the season that everything he'd done was what his creator Professor Walsh had intended - except that she thought she'd be alive to witness it. And presumably that the process would be under her control.
** In season 6 Giles' plan is to have the magic he was lent be absorbed, because it will give the wielder [[spoiler: a connection to all humanity, hopefully snapping Willow out of her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Willow absorbs it and feels all humanity's pain, and either because the world just [[CrapsackWorld sucks too much]] or because she's not in a mood to focus on the positives, promptly decides to end their suffering...[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt permanently]]. Subverted, as it turns out that this was in fact part of Giles' plan all along, and it was the magic Willow absorbed that enabled Xander to talk Willow down and get through to her before she could go through with it.]]
** Also discussed earlier in season 6, after [[spoiler: their attempt to bring Buffy back from the dead goes exactly as planned...resulting in Buffy being ripped out of heaven, waking up in a coffin 6 feet under ground, and having to dig her way out of her own grave.]]
** Earlier, in season 5, Tara cast a spell to prevent the other Scoobies from seeing demons because her [[AbusiveParents father]] tricked her into believing she was half-demon and inherently evil, which might not have been so bad on their own... but around that same time, [[PhysicalGod Glory]] forcibly recruited a pack of Lei-Ach demons to kill Buffy. Thanks to Tara's invisibility spell, they easily enter the Magic Box and nearly kill the gang, but Tara, realizing that the spell had gone awry, immediately breaks it, rendering the demons visible again, which allows Buffy to easily defeat them.
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', "Instinct": Topher alters Echo's biochemistry to give her a strong maternal feeling for the baby she's been imprinted to believe is hers. Turns out it worked so well that Echo wants to protect the baby even after she's wiped--to the point of breaking into the father's house with a knife.
** "In hindsight, triggering lactation may have been a bridge too far..."
** A rare example of this happening to a villain, in "Omega": [[spoiler:Alpha's plan to turn Echo into a composite was a textbook case of Gone Horribly Right. Every imprint Echo ever had was in her brain. However, he was crazy to believe that Composite!Echo would become his ally, especially since most of her imprints were good people. Composite!Echo's first act was to hit Alpha with a pipe.]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** An early episode featured a group of unstoppable {{Super Soldier}}s that were created by a fallen civilization, and set to destroy those who weren't "pure" enough, because their planet was frequently invaded by alien aggressors. Apparently, the criteria were set by religious and ideological fanatics, and proved to be so strict that ''nobody'' fit them, not even their own species.
** In the future, the evil Earth secessionists decided they wanted some extremely accurate sentient holograms to help them convincingly smear the founders of the Interstellar Alliance. Unfortunately for them, the extremely accurate Garibaldi hacked the computer and broadcast the whole recording to the non-secessionist humans, including the part where the secessionists would blitzkrieg their civilian populations. And just to top it off, he also transmitted the secessionist base's location.
*** Unfortunately, as the non-secessionists strike at the secessionists' military bases, the secessionists manage to retaliate. Centuries later, humans are still recovering from the Great Burn [[spoiler:with the help of the Rangers]].
** Londo Mollari and Lord Refa schemed to start a war with the Narn, eliminate their rivals, and put their own chosen man on the Centauri Imperial Throne. They succeeded so well that Londo later had to assassinate their "own chosen man" after he turned out to be a murderous psychopath.
** Every [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Mr. Morden]] turns out this way. [[spoiler: Vir's deal is a subversion, in that it went horribly right for Morden instead of Vir.]]
* Subverted in a Season Two episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' ("Beauty and the Beast"). Goldar kidnaps Kimberly in attempt to turn her into a new queen for Lord Zedd. The spell doesn't work, but Kimberly fakes it by imitating Rita. And a very good imitation it is:
-->'''Kimberly''': Oh, you NUMBSKULLS! YOU'RE GIVING ME, A HEADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHE!
-->'''Goldar''': Maybe this was a bad idea. For once, my spell worked too well!
** In ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', [[DimensionLord Dark Specter]] has [[TheDragon Astronema]] brainwashed to be pure evil [[spoiler:so she won't betray him for her brother, the Red Ranger.]] She immediately starts trying to destroy him so she can take his place. One of her plans to do so also falls victim to this; Astronema creates the PsychoRangers so she can take out both the Power Rangers and Dark Specter. The Psycho Rangers become so [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou obsessed]] with killing their counterparts that they begin to disobey Astronema's orders. This gets them defeated the first time around, but then they come BackFromTheDead, ''twice'', to finish business.
* ''CSINewYork'': [[spoiler:A Nazi escaped justice by pretending to be Jewish, even getting a concentration camp tattoo. Things probably got a bit awkward when his son wanted to "rediscover" his family's faith and became very involved with his father's "lapsed" religion...]]
** Assuming he married a Jewish woman, his son was, in fact, Jewish.
* ''TopGear'''s first American road trip has the "Get the others shot or arrested" challenge, where the presenters paint offensive slogans on each others' vehicles ("NASCAR Sucks," "Man-Love Rules OK", etc.) before driving through Alabama. They end up running in terror from a group of angry rednecks when they stop for gas.
* One of the most frequent ways the ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' team runs into trouble.
** The team does such a great job of making everyone believe that their mark is a true psychic in "The Future Job" that he's kidnapped by some criminals who want the mark's help finding a lost bank heist stash.
** Hardison convinces the Russians in "The Iceman Job" that he's an expert diamond thief - which becomes a problem when they kidnap him and force him to steal a diamond.
** In "The Underground Job," the mine owner is accidentally convinced to fire his workers, shut down his mine, and blow it up - which is a problem since they're trying to help the workers keep their jobs.
** Shows up as early as "The Nigerian Job," - they did everything perfectly, it just turns out that they did it to a good guy.
** In "The Miracle Job," they try to dissuade a real estate developer from shutting down a church and turning the area into a mall by faking a miracle - which convinces the develop to buy the church anyways and set up a Bible-themed entertainment and shopping center instead.
** In "The Three Days of Hunter Job", Sophia wanted to scare Monica Hunter into doing a false news story. She was so scared and driven that she dragged Hardison into breaking into an Army base.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', the eponymous character tries to get Mr. Martin to stop being a corporate stooge and rehire Kenny. It works, but Mr. Martin gets other ideas as well.
-->'''Mr. Martin''': I'm going to march right in there and tell them that we're doing it my way! No more talk.
-->'''Frasier''': Exactly, action!
-->'''Mr. Martin''': No, no more talk radio. From this moment on, the station is all latino music, all the time.
-->'''Frasier''': I beg your pardon?
** To elaborate: Kenny was rehired but Frasier and most of his coworkers were fired.
** In another episode, when he has to go to a Catholic charity as part of his apology about Seattle's climate (ItMakesSenseInContext), he changes one of his jokes so he wouldn't end up repeating a regularly done tasteless joke due to a nun's comments. It worked. Unfortunately, he also ended up unintentionally telling [[FunnyAneurysmMoment an even less tasteful joke relating to a priest and fishermen when Seattle's archbishop was lost at sea]].
* In the first episode of the 1970s drama ''Nanny'' the lead character, Barbara, gets her first job looking after a troubled little boy. She's shocked to find that his rich parents aren't just neglectful, they actually sacked the nanny who raised the boy from birth because she asked for a payrise (then they ''told their son she had died''). Barbara manages to persuade the parents to do better by their son...so they do what's genuinely the best thing they can think of, and rehire his old nanny, putting Barbara out of a job.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': Philip Burton designs a system that will automatically lock down the ARC should any of the creatures get free. The only way to un-lock it is by using his fingerprints and eye scans. Later, [[spoiler:the Lockdown System is accidentally activated by Rex with Philip trapped in another room...good thing Connor [[HollywoodHacking can hack into anything.]] ]]
** This has ramifications in the next episode, when Burton decides to kill off all the creatures kept in the ARC, as they are inherently unsafe (even the friendly Rex). Luckily, Lester (being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold) blackmails Burton into backing off.
* Until 2003, ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' champions could win up to 5 games before being retired. Starting in the 2003-04 season, the producers instituted a "sky's the limit" rule, where champions could go on and on winning until being defeated. Towards the season's end, Ken Jennings came along and went on a 74-game winning streak that lasted into the next season. Of course, given that Jennings' incredible winning streak was great for ratings, paying him $2,520,700 in prize money was probably well worth it, especially since there's no difference in paying that cash to one person or 30 over the course of a season.
** Some have also theorized that this also happened to Jennings himself, [[VictoryIsBoring who grew tired of his constant victories]]. But, as Jennings pointed out in a Reddit thread, "Have you ever quit a job where you were making like $75K an hour?"
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', Chuck and Sarah get conned and don't have enough authority to find the conwoman themselves. Chuck fakes a flash to get the general to go after her and accidentally links her to a notorious terrorist. The general puts ALL resources into finding her. Chuck and Sarah are forced to confess the truth...only for Chuck to get a REAL flash of the woman involved with a terrorist but the general doesn't believe them.
* In 2006, [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] reported that Hungary was holding an online naming poll for a new bridge, for which the then-leading entry was the "Chuck Norris Bridge". He then proceeded to suggest that his fans should [[VoteEarlyVoteOften stuff the ballot box]] with "Stephen Colbert Bridge". This trope took effect when the Hungarian officials were tipped off by the fact that "Stephen Colbert Bridge" had over 17 million votes - about 7 million more than the entire population of Hungary at the time.
* An early episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'' had Graeme improving the formula for a sleeping aid called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysInTheTin "Snooze"]]. This new formula soon got all of Britain in a deep sleep.
* In ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'', George and Angie try to teach Max a lesson about how hard it is to make money and where he will end up working if he doesn't improve his grades by getting him a job in the factory. Unfortunately, he appreciates the experience so much that he decides he wants to drop out and work there. At first, George didn't want to stop him because he knows that Max has trouble in school, but he then has a FlashForward of a 50-year-old Max having no options after the factory lays him off.
* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Operation Frankenstein was a project that was to create an ultimate assassination unit that won't question or hesitate in assassinating his targets. It worked all right. Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of the project, Lt. Cobbs, aka the Port-to-Port killer, decided to do assassinations that ''weren't'' sanctioned by his bosses at all, and is thinking his creators would make a nice addition to his body count.
* In ''Series/SisterSister'', Tia and Tamera, fearing that Lisa and Ray after dating, would eventually end up having a divorce so bad that would result the twins being separated again, tried to ruin their planned date [[WellIntentionedExtremist to prevent this possibility]] by implying that the respective parents are seeing other people. It worked. Unfortunately, it worked far too well as [[SelfFulfillingProphecy it came very close to having Lisa and Tia move out of Ray and Tamera's house]].
* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm tries to have Dewey fail the IQ Test because he doesn't want Dewey to end up suffering the same bad experience he did as a Krelboyne student. It worked all right, unfortunately, because he let Reese come up with the answers for Dewey to give, it resulted in him being placed with the Buseys, the class equivalent of an insane asylum.
* ''{{Shameless}}'' (US) Kevin grows a few marijuana plants in his basement, mostly for personal consumption. When he decides to put a little more effort and care into this, he ends up with a basement full of high quality marijuana plants, worth thousands of dollars. This means that if caught he will end up in federal prison on major trafficking charges. He is GenreSavvy enough to know that he will never get away with this so [[spoiler: he destroys most of his crop.]]
* In the ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' episode "Positive Alex", Alex uses a magical marker to make herself [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin more positive]] to be a better cheerleader and impress her crush. It ends up making her so positive that not only does everyone get sick of her (including her crush) but also gets the cheerleading squad banned from cheering when she cheers for the other team. Thankfully the marker washes off.
* In ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'' Hal wanted to turn Cutler into a better vampire (a monster by the standards of most people) and he succeeded after [[spoiler: killing Cutler's wife (who Cutler had refused to kill) and tricking Cutler into drinking her blood.]] It works, but Hal switches sides and, over fifty years later, Hal meets Cutler again. Cutler [[spoiler: pulls the same trick Hal pulled on him all those years ago.]]
* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily The New Addams Family]]'': When Morticia became a decorator, she expected to express her creativity by doing a different thing at each house she visited. However, she did such a great work at her first customer's home her next potential customers insisted she did the same thing at their homes.
* At the end of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s season six, [[spoiler:Castiel's actions throughout the season--]] working with [[DealWithTheDevil Crowley]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist betraying]] and [[MoralEventHorizon killing friends]][[spoiler:, and [[KickTheDog breaking Sam's mind]] as a distraction all so he can gain the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity power]] from purgatory's souls--]], ''does'' give him the power to prevent the apocalypse from being restarted. In season seven, it turns out this power [[spoiler:leads him to [[AGodAmI declare himself the new god]], smite ''all'' [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope angels who sided against him]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution humans he disapproves of]], and]] has the side effect of unleashing [[EldritchAbomination unkillable monsters]] on the world.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' season 2: CorruptCorporateExecutive Holland Manners goes out of his way with a plan to corrupt Angel, first bringing his sire Darla BackFromTheDead as a human, and then hiring [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]] Drusilla to turn Darla back into a vampire right after Angel just went through hell and back to save her and convince her to live out her life as a human, while pinning Angel down and forcing him to watch Drusilla do so. Subsequently, he arranges a wine tasting, only for Drusilla and Darla to crash the party with the intent to slaughter him and the rest of the Wolfram & Hart employees there as revenge for being used as pawns. When Angel shows up, Manners begs him to [[SaveTheVillain save them]], but Angel instead throws an IronicEcho at him, locks the doors, and lets Drusilla and Darla do as they please. He definitely succeeded in corrupting Angel, all right.
* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'': Andy left Barney as the sheriff for one afternoon, telling him to just keep the peace. Andy was surprised to find the town was ''too'' peaceful and quiet when he returned. Barney had arrested '''every''' person in town.
* One of the major plot drivers in later seasons of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is the race between the Peacekeepers and Scarrans to acquire wormhole technology, in order to build a weapon. Crichton has knowledge of this technology locked away in his brain, making him a prime target for both sides. By the end of the series, [[spoiler: he's so fed up with this constant pursuit that he gives them exactly what they want: he builds and activates a wormhole weapon, and threatens to destroy the entire universe with it unless they agree to a truce.]] Naturally, he gets asked WhatTheHellHero and delivers a devastating rebuttal that he did exactly as everyone wanted him to do.
-->"What... did you ask me to do, Sparky? [='=]''Crichton, please make the wormhole so we can all have peace. Crichton, you gotta make the wormhole, we all want peace! '''Crichton, make the damn wormhole, we gotta have peace!'''''[='=] '''HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU SAY THAT, SPARKY?!'''"
* The ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Born Bad" has a lawyer argue that her young client had the cards stacked against him, as he has a genetic predisposition towards violence. Unfortunately, the trial doesn't end as she was expecting -- [[spoiler: her argument is so convincing that the ''kid'' buys it, and pleads out for the maximum sentence.]]
* The events of ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', depending on your point of view. [[spoiler:Namely, John Smith's plan to severely weaken Jennings & Rall and its hooks in the US government.]]
* ''Series/ThePrisoner'': In the episode "Checkmate" Number 6 thinks he's worked out a perfect method for telling prisoners from warders, and uses it to plan an escape attempt. Unfortunately the plan fails because one of his accomplices applies the technique to Number 6 himself and concludes that ''he'' must be a warder.
* ''Series/AlmostHuman'': Dorian is an older model of cyborg that was designed to mimic human behavior as convincingly as possible. It was decommissioned because it defeated the purpose of cyborgs by being prone to unpredictable mood swings, just like humans.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica 2003}}'': The Cylons, believing that love is the key to sexual reproduction, set up Helo with a copy of his Galactica crewmate Boomer (a Cylon sleeper agent in reality). Not only is the experiment a success, but as Caprica-Boomer has fallen in love with Helo, she helps him to escape to Galactica and defects to the humans, bringing valuable information about the Cylons and denying the Cylons access to her child (although the child would change hand a few times between the humans and the Cylons). Eventually she becomes an officer on the Galactica, and plays a pivotal role in rescuing the humans from New Caprica. [[spoiler: The final battle between Galactica and Cavil's Cylons is a human mission to rescue her daughter, which ends in the destruction of Cavil's Cylon forces. Her daughter would become the Mitochondrial Eve, the matrilineal most recent common ancestor of all living human beings.]]
* ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' had the APEC stunt. Basically, the intention was to approach the motel where the delegates were staying, and be stopped at the outermost fence line cordoning off the motel from the public. They [[CrazyPrepared went out of their way to make sure the guards knew their motorcade was a fake]] (fake passes, runners beside the main motorcade car, etc). They approached the first gate...and got in. Gate two yielded the same results, and they finally found themselves inside the main motel area, so they decided to turn around. But, The Chaser being The Chaser, they decided to let Chas (who was dressed as Osama bin Laden) out of the car. ''Then'' [[PoliceAreUseless the guards realised]], and arrested the entire lot. (Julian Morrow actually called the trope by name after he walked out of the court room.)
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': Jack Crawford hired decorated trainee Miriam Lass to find the Chesapeake Ripper. She does. And ends up held in captivity, having one arm removed, and brainwashed by him.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'': In the finale of Season 1, the BigBad and the Dragon decide to have TheMole tell Jack his daughter is dead. They think this will make Jack attack them in a blind rage, making him easier to kill. He attacks in [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a rage all right]], by driving a truck into the warehouse, wielding GunsAkimbo, killing Mooks right and left. [[spoiler: The Dragon is unceremoniously gunned down in the process, before Jack empties his clip into the ''surrendering'' BigBad]].
----
