History Main / TVNeverLies

* Robert Zemeckis once jokingly told interviewers that the hoverboards in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'' were real prototypes created by Mattel but kept off the market because of pressure from parental watchdog groups who felt they were unsafe. Naturally, a bunch of people fell for it, and Mattel was inundated with letters and phone calls begging them to sell the hoverboards. Sometimes they'd tell the truth; other times they would tell the would-be hoverboarders to "wait until 2015". That date drawing near, WebSite/FunnyOrDie produced a fake commercial for them in 2014 featuring Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.

* Robert Zemeckis once jokingly told interviewers that the hoverboards in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'' were real prototypes created by Mattel but kept off the market because of pressure from parental watchdog groups who felt they were unsafe. Naturally, a bunch of people fell for it, and Mattel was inundated with letters and phone calls begging them to sell the hoverboards. Sometimes they'd tell the truth; other times they would tell the would-be hoverboarders to "wait until 2015". That date drawing near, WebVideo/FunnyOrDie produced a fake commercial for them in 2014 featuring Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.

* Robert Zemeckis once jokingly told interviewers that the hoverboards in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'' were real prototypes created by Mattel but kept off the market because of pressure from parental watchdog groups who felt they were unsafe. Naturally, a bunch of people fell for it, and Mattel was inundated with letters and phone calls begging them to sell the hoverboards. Sometimes they'd tell the truth; other times they would tell the would-be hoverboarders to "wait until 2015". That date drawing near, WebOriginal/FunnyOrDie produced a fake commercial for them in 2014 featuring Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd.

** In "Deep Space Homer", when they're watching Homer's shuttle make an emergency landing back on Earth:
-->'''Lisa:''' Please make it, dad.\\
'''Grampa:''' Of course he'll make it, it's TV.

* Played straight in VideoGame/DeadRising2. After a zombie outbreak, the news plays a grainy, low resolution tape of a guy in a biker's outfit releasing the zombies, saying that the one in the tape is Chuck Greene (the PlayerCharacter). This is taken as absolute evidence by ''Every. Single. Survivor.'' that Chuck is responsible. To be fair, when Chuck protests that it's not his fault, they quickly give him the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, the [[BossBattle Psychopaths]] aren't so quick to forgive.

* Creator/ShirleyJackson's ''Literature/TheLottery'', a chilling parable of [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil senseless brutality]] set in wholesome [[TownWithADarkSecret small-town America]], prompted a flood of letters from confused and angry readers asking if the [[LotteryOfDoom barbaric ritual]] described in the story was real, and if so, [[HumansAreBastards where they could go to watch it]]. The story was published in the ''New Yorker'', which at the time did not clearly label its fiction and non-fiction pieces, but the flood of "wide-eyed, shocked innocence" (as she put it) still prompted Jackson to do some major facepalming.

* The inverse to this is explored by DaveBarry in a column, who says that Russians (today it would probably be Chinese) always know what's going on by reading their newspapers and assuming that the ''exact opposite'' is true. They thus have an advantage over Americans, who can't tell which parts of the newspapers are true and which are complete lies.\\

* Played straight in DeadRising2. After a zombie outbreak, the news plays a grainy, low resolution tape of a guy in a biker's outfit releasing the zombies, saying that the one in the tape is Chuck Greene (the PlayerCharacter). This is taken as absolute evidence by ''Every. Single. Survivor.'' that Chuck is responsible. To be fair, when Chuck protests that it's not his fault, they quickly give him the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, the [[BossBattle Psychopaths]] aren't so quick to forgive.

* The {{Mythbusters}} are occasionally wrong, rarely censored, and routinely facetious, but they've never out-and-out lied to the viewer (lying to Adam and Tory is okay though, because it's funny when they injure themselves).
* British knockoff BrainiacScienceAbuse, by contrast, has been known to fudge results in the name of RuleOfFunny (and, on one occasion, to collect on a rather sizable golf bet when an experiment in probability fails to obey the law of averages).

* And proving that the stupidity of Middle America knows no bounds, when ''Series/GilligansIsland'' first aired, the TV stations were tlooded with angry letters demanding to know why the camera crew wasn't helping the castaways get off the island. Of course, nowadays they would probably assume it was a reality show.

* The inverse to this is explored by DaveBarry in a column, who says that Russians (today it would probably be Chinese) always know what's going on by reading their newspapers and assuming that the ''exact opposite'' is true. They thus have an advantage over Americans, who can't tell which parts of the newspapers are true and which are complete lies.
** The above statement was actually true in the USSR. Everyone with half a brain "read between the lines" - searched for hidden meaning behind the official version [[PropagandaMachine printed in the newspapers and broadcast on TV]]. It was generally assumed that [[TVNeverLies TV and Other Media]] [[InvertedTrope Always]] [[TVNeverLies Lie In Some Way]]. Even inverted, this trope managed to backfire though: [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the collapsing USSR]] took the PropagandaMachine with itself, and the assorted media has since become identical to that of any other developed country; this gives those who haven't dropped their habits [[SarcasmMode some great times]] trying to guess what the hell is going on, as different channels/newspapers/etc tend to have different points of view. Then there's the Internet...
*** Good thing Putin is working so hard to restore media order then.
* Creator/ShirleyJackson's ''Literature/TheLottery'', a chilling parable of [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil senseless brutality]] set in wholesome [[TownWithADarkSecret small-town America]], prompted a flood of letters from confused and angry readers asking if the [[LotteryOfDoom barbaric ritual]] described in the story was real, and if so, [[HumansAreBastards where they could go to watch it]]. In fairness, the story was published in the New Yorker, which at the time did not clearly label its fiction and non-fiction pieces, but the flood of "wide-eyed, shocked innocence" (as she put it) still prompted Jackson to do some major facepalming.

** British knockoff BrainiacScienceAbuse, by contrast, has been known to fudge results in the name of RuleOfFunny (and, on one occasion, to collect on a rather sizable golf bet when an experiment in probability fails to obey the law of averages).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did one of these in one of their first post-pilot episodes, where they met the Pack, who were heroes on TV but mercenaries in real life. To be fair, the gargoyles were from the Middle Ages and still adjusting to the twentieth century and its media.

** "The Daily Prophet'', the British Wizarding World's [[PlotHole only]] "legitimate" newspaper, is a perfect example. Everything in it is taken as gospel truth, especially jarring when it outright contradicts itself: in ''The Order of the Phoenix'', Harry is an insane schizophrenic and Dumbledore is a senile old fool; in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', Dumbledore is the greatest Wizard EVAH and Harry is a MessianicArchetype; in ''The Deathly Hallows'', [[spoiler: Harry is evil and wanted for questioning on Dumbledore's death, and Voldemort is really quite a nice fellow, really, just remember to report any [[strike:Mudbloods]] ''Muggle-borns'' to the Ministry.]]

* ''[[Literature/HarryPotter The Daily Prophet]]'', the Wizarding World's [[PlotHole only]] "legitimate" newspaper, is a perfect example. Everything in it is taken as gospel truth, especially jarring when it outright contradicts itself: in ''The Order of the Phoenix'', Harry is an insane schizophrenic and Dumbledore is a senile old fool; in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', Dumbledore is the greatest Wizard EVAH and Harry is a MessianicArchetype; in ''The Deathly Hallows'', [[spoiler: Harry is evil and wanted for questioning on Dumbledore's death, and Voldemort is really quite a nice fellow, really, just remember to report any [[strike:Mudbloods]] ''Muggle-borns'' to the Ministry.]]

** The Daily Prophet is ''Britain's'' only legitimate wizarding newspaper, as far as we can tell, so it's not that much of a plot hole. Certainly played straight, though.

* There are other, smaller newspapers and periodicals, i.e., ''Witch Weekly'' (apparently a "women's magazine") and the ''Quibbler'' (a tabloid-type magazine) but these don't have near the circulation nor impact of the Daily Prophet

Compare ThisIsReality. See also StockAesops, TruthInTelevision. Not a rejected title for ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies''[[note]]although it would have worked for ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''...[[/note]]. If this happens in RealLife it can be because RealityIsUnrealistic.

Usually happens after a particularly {{anvilicious}} episode about either a main character using the school newspaper to print libel to boost circulation (and having it backfire painfully in a FawltyTowersPlot) or the AlphaBitch using similar means to besmirch the lead, fool her classmates, or even [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwash]] the school/town into doing her bidding. After the show proper ends, an epilogue tells the viewers not to believe everything they see on TV. May be [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] or lampooned in comedy shows, after which the main characters tune in to watch their favorite shows uncritically.

* Creator/ShirleyJackson's ''Literature/TheLottery'', a chilling parable of [[Peer Pressure Makes You Evil senseless brutality]] set in wholesome [[TownWithADarkSecret small-town America]], prompted a flood of letters from confused and angry readers asking if the [[LotteryOfDoom barbaric ritual]] described in the story was real, and if so, [[HumansAreBastards where they could go to watch it]]. In fairness, the story was published in the New Yorker, which at the time did not clearly label its fiction and non-fiction pieces, but the flood of "wide-eyed, shocked innocence" (as she put it) still prompted Jackson to do some major facepalming.

Compare ThisIsReality. See also StockAesops, TruthInTelevision. Not a rejected title for ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies''[[hottip:* :although it would have worked for ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''...]]. If this happens in RealLife it can be because RealityIsUnrealistic.

* Played straight in DeadRising2. After a zombie outbreak, the news plays a grainy, low resolution tape of a guy in a biker's outfit releasing the zombies, saying that the one in the tape is Chuck Greene (the PlayerCharacter). This is taken as absolute evidence by ''Every. Single. Survivor.'' that Chuck is responsible.

* ''[[HarryPotter The Daily Prophet]]'', the Wizarding World's [[PlotHole only]] "legitimate" newspaper, is a perfect example. Everything in it is taken as gospel truth, especially jarring when it outright contradicts itself: in ''The Order of the Phoenix'', Harry is an insane schizophrenic and Dumbledore is a senile old fool; in ''Half Blood Prince'', Dumbledore is the greatest Wizard EVAH and Harry is a MessianicArchetype; in ''The Deathly Hallows'', [[spoiler: Harry is evil and wanted for questioning on Dumbledore's death, and Voldemort is really quite a nice fellow, really, just remember to report any [[strike:Mudbloods]] ''Muggle-borns'' to the Ministry.]]

* Of course Mr. Krabs has to learn things the hard way on ''SpongeBobSquarePants. After printing several scandalous issues of the Krusty Krab's own ''Krusty Khronicle'', which features nothing but wild rumors, he incurs the wrath of everyone in town but refuses to stop the presses. Then SpongeBob prints another issue focusing solely on Mr. Krabs himself.