History Main / Spoiler

When a spoiler becomes CommonKnowledge in the mainstream — such as [[LukeIAmYourFather Darth Vader turning out to be Luke Skywalker's father]] — it's no longer spoiler fodder and gets demoted to ItWasHisSled. When a sequel to a work spoils its predecessors, it's a LateArrivalSpoiler. Not to be confused with a spoiler that happens [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler early or late in the work]].

* ''Magazine/TVGuide'' Spoiler -- An episode review makes a big emphasis on the fact of a major revelation or character death. They'll say it is being closely kept under wraps. Except, obviously, it isn't. For example, in Britain, TV guides for the following week (Sat-Fri) go on sale on the previous Tuesday. If the episode with the mysterious revelation is on Wednesday, all you have to do is look at next week's episode guide and the revelation is revealed.

* Preview Tapes Not Available -- critics are sent tapes of the episodes before they're shown so they can review them. However, producers want to keep stuff under wraps will not give out preview tapes, as has happened with ''Series/DoctorWho''. By season 4, they came up with another way to prevent spoilers-cutting out the most shocking bit when showing it to critics...and hoping the critics don't complain about the episode seemingly not having an ending.

When a spoiler becomes CommonKnowledge in the mainstream -- such as [[LukeIAmYourFather Darth Vader turning out to be Luke Skywalker's father]] -- it's no longer spoiler fodder and gets demoted to ItWasHisSled. When a sequel to a work spoils its predecessors, it's a LateArrivalSpoiler. Not to be confused with a spoiler that happens [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler early or late in the work]].

!!In-Story Examples

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* ''Series/DoctorWho'': River Song, another time traveler who has already met the Doctor (in her timestream) [[LovesSecrecy teasingly refuses]] to talk about stuff that has already happened to her but is still in the future for the Doctor. As such, "Spoilers." is basically her catchphrase. And when the Doctor meets an early version of River Song, her first time meeting him, he repeats this back to her.
* The famous "No Hiding Place" episode of BritCom ''Series/WhateverHappenedToTheLikelyLads'' features the two main characters trying to avoid spoilers for the final result of an England football match, so they can watch the highlights later on. Naturally a friend takes great delight in trying to spoil it to them.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** There's an episode in which the main characters attempt to NOT find out what the score of the Super Bowl was.
** Another episode, entitled ''Spoiler Alert'', was all about pointing out someone's incredibly irritating habit which had gone unnoticed (for example, Ted's new girlfriend never stops talking, Robin constantly misuses the term "literally", Ted is always correcting people over small details, and Barney's entire personality is completely obnoxious). Once these annoying traits are pointed out to people, they become impossible to ignore (thus "spoiling" the person) and the gang is quickly at each others throats.

-->'''Daphne:''' Oh, I just love that movie. Is there any more heartbreaking moment in all of film than when Humphrey Bogart tells Ingrid Bergman to get on that plane with Victor Laszlo, even though Bogey loves her? Oh, what an ending.\\

* In an episode of ''Series/SavedbytheBell'', Screech and Tori go on a date to the movies[[note]] It was a bet made by Lisa - if Tori can tolerate Screech's antics through the whole movie, she (Lisa) will act nicer towards him.[[/note]]. During a conversation, Screech blurts out the ending of the movie, which is "the big surprise where the monster blows up", and a couple sitting behind them is seen angrily leaving the theater.
* In ''Series/TheITCrowd'', Roy is desperate to see a pirated copy of the latest Tarantino movie unspoiled. [[ItMakesSenseInContext This eventually culminates in him slapping a police officer.]]
* An episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' begins with Dr. Cox ruining the end of ''Film/TheSixthSense'' for the Janitor [[spoiler:(He was dead the entire time!)]] In revenge, the Janitor spends most of the episode threatening to ruin the score of the basketball game Dr. Cox had recorded. [[spoiler: Cox talks him out of it, only for Dr Kelso to spoil it anyway.]]
* In an episode of the fifth season of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', Morgan has forgotten the ''Franchise/StarWars'' saga completely, and as he heads to re-watch them, Casey (who's still bitter after his incredibly jerkish attitude in the previous episode) spoils the truth about [[spoiler: Darth Vader being Luke's father and Leia his sister.]]

* In a ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' episode, the Solomons saw an AlienInvasion movie and were upset by the portrayal of aliens as evil monsters. Harry decided to warn the people waiting to see the movie how inaccurate it was:
-->'''Harry''': Attention, ticket holders. Listen up! At the end of the movie [[TomatoSurprise when the President turns out to be an alien]] ''[crowd groans]'' and he barbecues all the Congressmen, don't believe it, okay? [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne Because aliens hate barbecue!]]
* ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'' has an entire sketch centered on spoilers. Spoiled items include, ''Film/TheSixthSense'', ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', ''Series/TheWire'', ''Series/TrueBlood'', and ''Series/{{Dexter}}''.
-->'''Fred:''' Michael C. Hall in the van!
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', "The Spoiler Alert Segmentation": Leonard fights with Sheldon after Sheldon spoils the ending of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book that Leonard is reading, and Penny reveals how relationships developed. Finally, Sheldon gives away a major plot-point from ''Series/TheWalkingDead''. The concept of spoilers is used and played with in this episode.
* In season 6 episode of ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', Dr. Emily Grace is vexed when her boyfriend Constable George Crabtree tells her the whole plot of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. She bought tickets to see a theatre adaptation, and he has read the book and enthusiastically told her the whole thing, never realizing that she wouldn't want to.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Jerry avoids spoiling a baseball game he had taped, even going as far as answering phone calls with "If you know what happened in the Mets-game, don't say anything, I taped it"... and then Kramer spoils it for him anyway.
* In the ''Series/{{Bizaardvark}}'' episode "Promposal Problems", Dave has to duck out of watching the finale of ShowWithinAShow "Cali Beach High", as he's promised to watch it with his brother. Naturally, he spends the episode ''besieged'' by spoilers.

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* During the 2012 London Olympics, NBC was showing the time delayed segment of a Woman's swim event. They cut to commercial asking "And will Misty win Gold in the final? Stay tuned to find out" and ''immediately'' cut to the promo of the Today show interviewing Misty and asking her how she felt winning gold.
* ''Series/TheBill'' has this happen frequently.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' fans call this [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil Previews Always Spoil]].

* In advertising the championship match of the 2006 ''World Series of Pop Culture'', [=VH1=] put up the names of the teams who would battle it out... even though one of the semifinal matches was not finished yet.
* Brazillian [[SoapOpera soap operas]]: at least 80% of the newspapers have a complete spoiler of the current episodes of ''all'' the soap operas airing on open TV. Oddly enough, most of the audience actually reads the spoilers and watches the show anyway.
* British TV guides and women's magazines love to discuss upcoming plots. The first episode of the notorious flop ''Eldorado''. This involved characters talking about their friend Bunny, who was returning to Spain from England with his new wife. The thinking was that they knew Bunny, but we didn't, so they could drip-feed us information about him, while they were as in the dark about his new wife Fizz, as we were. This would keep viewers hooked throughout the episode, and they'd be shocked at the end when chubby, middle-aged Bunny turned up with beautiful young Fizz in tow. The reality was that Bunny and Fizz were heavily featured in all the publicity, to the extent that Fizz was the cover star of that week's Radio Times, so the viewers already knew everything. The non-existent mystery made for a very boring episode indeed. ''Eldorado'' never recovered.
* OnTheNext trailers are a frequent source of spoilers, to the degree that many fans refuse to watch them in order to remain "pure". ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' and ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' are major offenders in that category.

** Less so (because they are only static images with no action or dialogue) ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' starts each segment after a commercial break with a frozen black and white version of the final frame from that segment. In some cases they can still reveal what's about to happen, though ... and nearly always reveal something that's ''not'' going to happen; if you see Gibbs in the image doing something other than lying on the ground in a pool of blood, you can be reasonably certain that the guy holding his gun to Gibbs' head in the segment is ''not'' going to actually kill him.
* The British TV guide ''Magazine/RadioTimes'' is bad at this; so bad, in fact, that one of the writers of ''Series/DoctorWho'', Steven Moffat, once went onto a massive ''Doctor Who'' forum and warned everyone to stay away from it. Ironically, said magazine is made by the same people who make ''Doctor Who'' in the first place.
* Many ''Doctor Who'' stories have been spoilt by the ''title'', particularly when featuring popular and prominent villains such as the Daleks and the Cybermen. As such, many a big dramatic surprise reveal and cliffhanger that these feared adversaries appeared in would be completely ruined by the fact that the story was titled '(Something) of the Daleks / Cybermen', thus priming the audience to expect them to appear at some point. The new series isn't entirely free of this; guess what appears in the episode called 'Dalek'?
** Creator/RussellTDavies caught some flak for them putting Dalek Sec on the front cover, he'd decided to go for the cover than the surprise.
** "Bad Wolf" did not have its title revealed until some weeks into Series 1. The same thing happened with "The Stolen Earth" in Series 4.
** In "Silence in the Library" the Doctor berates Donna for trying to look in some history books from the future as they'd contain spoilers for reality. The episode's subsequent 'Next Time' trailer then ended with two characters repeating the word "spoilers", followed by a third shouting "No, don't tell, you mustn't tell!" into the camera. Knowing what Steven Moffat's like, it's not hard to imagine that the trailer was edited that way deliberately.
** A notable aversion occurred in 1982, when the Cybermen returned to the series for the first time in seven years. The episode title ("Earthshock") doesn't mention them, the TV guide listings were carefully crafted to avoid TV Guide Spoilers, and the then producer actually turned down a ''Radio Times'' cover story in order to keep the surprise.
** Another clever aversion from "Earthshock" came in the fact that the companion Adric was listed in the cast for the next story, so that viewers would think nothing untoward was going to happen. In fact, the Adric in the latter story was just a vision, preserving the shock of Adric being killed off.
* The Jon Pertwee serial "Invasion of the Dinosaurs": The title of the first episode was simply "Invasion" until the big reveal, after which the complete title was shown.

* The March 24th, 2008 episode preview for two game shows - ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' and ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'' - revealed the results of the games.

-->'''Vala:''' [[TheReveal I don't think anyone will see this coming]].
-->'''Daniel:''' There'll be [[spoiler:[[{{Spoiler}} spoilers]]]].
-->'''Sam:''' Are you kidding? [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil It'll be in the commercial]].

* Complete scene by scene spoilers for ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s 3rd and 4th season finales made it to the internet before those episodes aired. In the case of season 4, some fans thought the spoiler was actually a foiler [[spoiler:because the "frozen donkey wheel" seemed so crazy.]] In an effort to keep the whole thing from being spoiled, multiple versions of the [[spoiler:revelation that it's Locke in the coffin]] were filmed, with various characters.
* A plot-point concerning the winners of Prom in an upcoming episode of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' was just very publicly spoiled over Website/{{Twitter}}. Creator RyanMurphy has made it very clear that he is not happy with the leak.

* Most RealityShows have previews for next week's episode DURING the episode we are watching. When an elimination-style show is trying to make us believe that someone might be going home, it's spoiled by seeing footage of that person still playing the following week.
* There was a reveal in a season 5 episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' which was genuinely out of left field and, with no foreshadowing before the very brief scene to which it belonged, was pretty much impossible to guess. However, a fan saw some of the filming of the episode and posted it on the internet. Fortunately they did so in such a way that no one would have read it accidentally. As most people don't intentionally spoil shows for themselves (and especially so back then), the reveal was not widely known until after the episode aired.

* Back in the late 90's, Rosie O'Donnell came under fire during her talk show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' when she venomously shared her hatred of the movie ''Film/FightClub'', and without remorse spoiled the TwistEnding on national television just to get her point across about why she disliked it so much.
* ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' was pretty blatant about this with the preview of Episode 45, which didn't just [[SomeoneDiesTonight tease a character's death]] but openly told the audience '''which''' character was going to die, showed '''how''' they died, and their final moments. While one might think this would kill any dramatic impact, fans still found it quite effective because of all the build-up involved.

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* Some fans got the series 7 finale of ''Series/DoctorWho'' early when the [=DVDs=] were accidentally shipped out a week early. Moffat requested that people not talk about the final scene and, surprisingly, people obeyed.
** Yet again upheld when a rough cut of the entire first episode of series 8- the first adventure with the Twelfth Doctor- leaked on the internet.

* A use of TrailersAlwaysSpoil is used for ''WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama'', where the first commercial for the movie gives away [[PlotTwist the surprise of Kim and Ron dancing together at the prom]]. Of course, the trailers left it ambiguous if that scene happened in the middle of the movie and they were kind enough not give away the shot of Kim and Ron's [[BigDamnKiss Big Damn]] FirstKiss. As a plus, however, it might've been what incentivized so many fans to see the movie.

* Weaponized during a sparring match in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' -- Naruto figures out that the best way to beat his teacher Kakashi is by threatening to spoil the next Icha-Icha book;[[note]]which he would know, since for the last two and a half years he's been studying under the series' author Jiraiya, who's had Naruto proofreading the books for him[[/note]] Kakashi panics, shouting "No spoilers!" and covers his ears. When he realizes that his [[MagicalEye Sharingan]] lets him read lips, he closes his eyes too, which allows Naruto and Sakura to win.

* A show aired overseas first and overseas fans were talking about it.

* A use of TrailersAlwaysSpoil is used for ''WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama'', where the first commercial for the movie gives away [[TheTwist the surprise of Kim and Ron dancing together at the prom]]. Of course, the trailers left it ambiguous if that scene happened in the middle of the movie and they were kind enough not give away the shot of Kim and Ron's [[BigDamnKiss Big Damn]] FirstKiss. As a plus, however, it might've been what incentivized so many fans to see the movie.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "Sozin's Comet" was originally supposed to be a shocking and incredible series finale. Unfortunately, the third midseason was back scheduled to fill out Nickelodeon's summer schedule. Even more unfortunate, was that nobody told the publishers of the ''junior novelization of said series finale,'' as they released on schedule, [[HypeBacklash causing people to say "They were talking about it as if it were gold, but it was shit"]].

* A use of TrailersAlwaysSpoil is used for ''WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama'', where the first commercial for the movie gives away the surprise of Kim and Ron dancing together at the prom. Of course, the trailers left it ambiguous if that scene happened in the middle of the movie and they were kind enough not give away the shot of Kim and Ron's [[BigDamnKiss Big Damn]] FirstKiss. As a plus, however, it might've been what incentivized so many fans to see the movie.

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* UsefulNotes/{{New Zealand}}ers ''really'' know how to keep their mouths shut. While the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale episode "Graduation" has already aired there, none of the lucky fans who got to see it said even a single word, and no trace of the episode appeared at any internet file-sharing sites.

* After having nearly 25 years to think about it, director JamesCameron has apparently come to the conclusion that giving away the fact that Robert Patrick's character was also a terminator in the promo material for ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' was probably a mistake.

* In the early WholeEpisodeFlashback of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' that depicted Homer and Marge's pre-marriage relationship, wedding and Bart's birth, taking place in [[TheEighties the early 80s]], there's a scene of the couple leaving their movie date with Homer inadvertently spoiling a huge bunch of people waiting in line to see [[Film/StarWars The Empire Strikes Back]] that, what else, [[LukeIAmYourFather Darth Vader is Luke's father]].

* One such deliberately-revealed spoiler occurred with the canonical continuation comics for ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', though funnily enough, Creator/JossWhedon claimed it to be a JustifiedTrope, saying that he felt it was only fair to release the spoiler ahead of time so that comics shops would ''know'' ahead of time to order extra copies of the issue in question to meet demand for [[spoiler:the issue where Buffy, who turns out to be bicurious, sleeps with a fellow Slayer]]. This didn't stop anybody from automatically assuming of course that it was a stunt to drum up sales; after all, [[spoiler: GirlOnGirlIsHot - ironically, though, ''that'' trope is seemingly averted, since at best we see them cuddling afterwards under sheets; it's their reactions to the impulsive act, and the reactions of the people who inevitably walk in on them, that are the bulk of the issue's content]].

* ''Website/CollegeHumor'' provides a comprehensive video "Official Spoiler Rules" which tries to establish spoiler etiquette. You know, so that we could stop fighting and enjoy talking about our favourite shows. [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6739482/official-spoiler-rules See it here.]] The video is spoiler free.

* ''Website/CollegeHumor'' provides a comprehensive video "Official Spoiler Rules" which tries to establish spoiler etiquette. You know, so that we could stop fighting and enjoy talking about our favourite shows. [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6739482/official-spoiler-rules See it here]]. The video is spoiler free.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', Foreman is trying to prep Taub for an up-coming medical examination, but Taub is not interested in preparing for it and instead asks Foreman if he wants to watch ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', since he hasn't seen it yet. Foreman, annoyed by Taub's procrastination, simply tells him to enjoy the movie. Then, as he is leaving, he blurts out: [[spoiler:"Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soze!"]].

* Weaponized during a sparring match in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' -- Naruto figures out that the best way to beat his teacher Kakashi is by threatening to spoil the next Icha-Icha book[[note]]which he would know, since for the last two and a half years he's been studying under the series' author Jiraiya, who's had Naruto proofreading the books for him[[/note]]; Kakashi panics, shouting "No spoilers!" and covers his ears. When he realizes that his [[MagicalEye Sharingan]] lets him read lips, he closes his eyes too, which allows Naruto and Sakura to win.

* In Film/AirForceOne the President is telling everyone not to say anything about the football game he wasn't able to watch while he was giving an important speech. He asks the crew to run the tape of the game, and one of the staffers who didn't know not to say anything, comes in and says, "12-13 Michigan, what a game Mr. President!"

* In an episode of ''Series/{{SavedbytheBell}}'', Screech and Tori go on a date to the movies[[note]] It was a bet made by Lisa - if Tori can tolerate Screech's antics through the whole movie, she (Lisa) will act nicer towards him.[[/note]]. During a conversation, Screech blurts out the ending of the movie, which is "the big surprise where the monster blows up", and a couple sitting behind them is seen angrily leaving the theater.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "Sozin's Comet" was originally supposed to be a shocking and incredible series finale. Unfortunately, the third midseason was back scheduled to fill out Nickelodeon's summer schedule. Even more unfortunate, was that nobody told the publishers of the ''junior novelization of said series finale,'' as they released on schedule, [[HypeBacklash causing the internet to explode.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "Sozin's Comet" was originally supposed to be a shocking and incredible SERIES finale. Unfortunately, the third midseason was back scheduled to fill out Nickelodeon's summer schedule. Even more unfortunate, was that nobody told the publishers of the ''junior novelization of said series finale,'' as they released on schedule. [[HypeBacklash Boom.]]
* Leave it to [[CloudCuckoolander Pinkie Pie]] to spoil the events of episode 16 of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' all the way back in episode 5! Of course, you're just as liable as Twilight Sparkle to disregard the whole conversation as it is tucked away in TheTeaser.

* In the Franchise/{{Batman}} comic books, the Cluemaster, [[CriminalMindgames a B-grade Riddler knockoff]], got over his compulsion to leave hints behind at crime scenes after thorough psychiatric counseling ("[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Thank you, Arkham]]"). Stephanie Brown, his daughter, became disgusted with his villainy and decided to give up the information in his place, calling herself "the Spoiler." The name, however, became an ArtifactTitle soon afterwards as Stephanie continued to fight criminals beyond her father and no longer left hints or clues, instead directly intervening herself. She eventually became the [[LegacyCharacter fourth Robin]] and then ComicBook/{{Batgirl| 2009}}.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': River Song, another time traveler who has already met the Doctor (in her timestream) refuses to talk about stuff that has already happened to her but is still in the future for the Doctor. As such, "Spoilers." is basically her catchphrase. And when the Doctor meets an early version of River Song, her first time meeting him, he repeats this back to her.

** Harley Quinn later lampshades the name when she first met Stephanie during ''Joker's Last Laugh'', asking if her power is to ruin the endings of movies for people.

** Not strange at all. When major market media spoils the plot of an upcoming comic book, the reason is because the comic's publisher sent them the spoiler as a press release in order to increase sales. This was especially common during the speculator bubble of the 90's, with the Death of Superman being the most glaring example.

** In another, Niles brings over some videos to watch on a rainy night. Daphne, Frasier and Martin manage to comprehensively spoil Casablanca, plus the ending of The Way We Were.
-->'''Daphne:''' Oh, I just love that movie. Is there any more heartbreaking moment in all of film than when Humphrey Bogart tells Ingrid Bergman to get on that plane with Victor Laszlo, even though Bogey loves her? Oh, what an ending.
-->'''Niles:''' Well, there goes my need to finally see that one.