History Main / FadeToBlack

* In some countries whenever a news program reports on the recent death of a very famous person, the report ends with a fade to black before proceeding to the next story. Some Russian weekly news programs also use this in their end-of-the-year broadcasts, where they include [[ReallyDeadMontage a slide show of photos of the celebrities that died during the year]].

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': FOX has software that automatically runs commercials over any black screen to eliminate this in favor of more advertising time. Joss Whedon felt that a moment of black at the end of one act of the pilot episode was important enough for the dramatic tension to salvage, so he had it fade to the darkest brown possible that wouldn't be picked up by FOX's computers.
* Subverted in the "A Scandal in Belgravia" epsiode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. John Watson is told by Mycroft Holmes that Irene Adler has been captured and executed by a terrorist cell in Pakistan. John elects to tell Sherlock that she's in witness protection instead. Sherlock appears to buy that but, after John leaves, has a flashback to the executions scene. The terrorists let Irene send a goodbye text to Sherlock as the executioner (all covered in black) walks up with a sword. She closes her eyes, and the screen fades to black. Then we hear the erotic moan she put on Sherlock's phone as her ringtone. The screen "unfades". The "executioner" tells her "When I say 'run', run!" and swings his sword at a terrorist.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In "200", Martin mentions that Act 3 "just ends" due to budget cuts, during act three of the actual episode. Although the show normally fades to black, this time it did a hard cut to black, as a nice bit of metahumor.
* The opening credits of the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Power Down" end with the usual shot of the Capitol going dark because of a power outage, mimicking what actually happens in the episode
* Cop workplace comedy ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' uses a brief fade to/fade from black as a transition into/out of every CutawayGag, combined with a "psshhh" walkie-talkie sound effect.

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Just about every episode ended with a SmashToBlack, except for fifth-season finale "[[Recap/CheersS5E26 I Do, Adieu]]". That episode was the end of Creator/ShelleyLong's five years on the show and the end of the Sam-Diane romance as Diane leaves Boston to write her book. The show ends with an ImagineSpot of an elderly, HappilyMarried Sam and Diane dancing, with the fade to black emphasizing the DownerEnding melancholy of a happy marriage that will never be.

* ''VideoGame/{{BARK}}'': The game fades to black whenever you move to the next time to wake up.

* The ''WesternAnimation/PinkPanther'' cartoon "Pink Outs" is made up of blackout gags, except the screen fades to pink instead.

Compare FadeOut, when the screen going black marks the end of a scene. , not an important moment.

* Music/{{Evanescence}}'s "My Last Breath" has "Holding me, holding me as you fade...to black!"

* Music/{{Skillet}}'s "Everything Goes Black" has several TitleDrops in the chorus. "It hurts til you come back/Everything goes black".

* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' sometimes treats the black screen as a stage curtain that can be lifted or peered around. An entire cartoon was made up of "blackout gags"; brief, self-sustained skits that fade out after the punchline and fade into the next. The term originated in {{Vaudeville}}, where the lights were turned off after each joke to punctuate the humor and give the audience a pause for laughing.