History Series / Dateline

* AdultFear: The dangers that TCAP confronted were very much real-life fears that are among parent's worst nightmares.
* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: For Christmas, Dateline embraced the fact that Keith Morrison sounds like true-crime Santa and released several episodes of him reading classic Christmas tales.

* OhCrap: A very common reaction among the more GenreSavvy predators when Chris shows up. They either realize they were caught in a sting operation or in some cases they've actually ''seen'' TCAP before. A few actually recognize the setup even before Chris shows up and try to bolt -- only to run into the police outside.

* AscendedFanboy: A hilariously unintentional example with the predators. Some of them admit to actually being fans of TCAP when they run into Chris. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Only to now be featured on the show in the worst possible way.]]

->''"Hi there. Why don't you take a seat right over there...''what'' are you doing?"''

->''"I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC, and we're doing a story on [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife tropers.]] If there's any other tropes you'd like to add, feel free to do so. Otherwise, [[http://www.tvtropes.org you're free to leave this page anytime.]]"''

''Dateline'' returned to the spotlight in 2004, when a segment Hansen did with the cyber-vigilante group Perverted Justice catching men attempting to arrange sexual encounters with underage teenagers, "To Catch A Predator," garnered a huge amount of publicity. This led to a whole series of ''Dateline'' "To Catch A Predator" specials and a spin-off, "To Catch A Predator: The Raw Tapes", which shows longer versions of the confrontations between Hansen and the predators. Controversy was sparked, mostly by accusations of entrapment by lawyers for the accused predators and the high profile suicide of a local district attorney caught in the sting (but who did not appear on the show, having discovered prior to his death that he had been exposed). ''Dateline'' and Hansen ultimately achieved MemeticMutation, with parodies appearing on different shows like ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'', etc. Whether because of the legal controversies, the increased popularity making it harder[[note]]the final sting only caught seven men, where earlier ones had ensnared dozens[[/note]] to lure men to the houses, or because the "demographics" of the alleged predators had declined,[[note]]earlier stings caught doctors, teachers, programmers, a rabbi, etc., but later ones nabbed unemployed or menial laborers[[/note]] no new "TCAP" segments were produced after 2007. According to a Facebook comment in 2009, it might return someday. If so, it will likely be without Hansen, who had [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/chris-hansen-sexts-cheating_n_892597.html his own embarrassing scandal]] which resulted in him leaving NBC.

* SchmuckBait: Chris allows the predator to leave just so they can get tackled by the cops. [[GenreBlindness They fall for it every time, even after the show became popular]].

* MorePopularSpinoff: ''To Catch a Predator'', to the point where half this page is about it (you could count the tropes listed for the things that weren't ''To Catch a Predator'' on one hand).

--->'''Predator''': '' "I talk to people in that chatroom that turn out to be guys half the time!"
--->'''Hansen''': '' "So you've talked to people who've said they were 13 before?"

--->'''Predator''': '' "U WANT DO IT RAW?"
--->'''Decoy''': '' "raw?"
--->'''Predator''': '' "YES"
--->'''Decoy''': '' "what's that?"
--->'''Predator''': '' "NO RUBER"

--->'''Predator''': '' "I WANT TO ROMANCE WITH YOU!"
--->'''Decoy''': '' "what kind of romance?"
--->'''Predator''': '' "MOUTH"

--->'''Predator''': '' "Well, 13... 15, well [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud wait a minute]]"

--->'''Hansen''': '' "You are open to the idea of sex?"
--->'''Predator''': '' "No, well up here yes, but would I? No, or maybe alright maybe"

*** Another predator objects in his absurdly squeaky voice "Its a question!" when asked about his chat regarding anal with an underage girl.

*** Another predator objects in his absurdly squeaky voice "Its a question!" when asked about hit chat regarding anal with an underage girl.

''Dateline'', also known as ''Dateline NBC'', is a PrimeTimeNews show and one of the largest, most popular, and most infamous news programs ever. It started airing in 1992 and has never entirely gone away.

The series was conceived in 1992 mainly as a cheap schedule filler and about the 73rd attempt to unseat ''Series/SixtyMinutes''. It was hosted by Creator/JanePauley and Creator/StonePhillips. Stone Phillips would become the face of the main ''Dateline.'' The series existed mainly to fill holes in the programming schedule; during the bulk of the 1990s, ''Dateline'' was on more nights than not. Archived (rerun) ''Dateline'' crime stories are used for this same purpose on MSNBC, Investigation Discovery, and TLC during dead periods.

The series drew infamy with its constant stream of fluff stories, YouCanPanicNow stories, and screw-ups -- most notably, an early 1992 episode of the show got into hot water when it falsely claimed that 1973-1987 GM pickup trucks have leaky and explosive gas tanks (when in reality, the only reason they exploded for the cameras is the remote controlled explosives the Creator/{{NBC}} crew put there). This resulted in the firing of a couple ''Dateline'' producers and led to Michele Gillen (the correspondent involved in the segment) [[ReassignedToAntarctica getting transferred from NBC News to NBC's O&O in Miami, WTVJ]], where she became an anchor of the station's evening newscasts.

Recurring segments include ''The Dirty Dozen'' (in which it takes a critical eye to health inspection scores of various fast-food restaurants), CouldThisHappenToYou stories, as well as full length episodes dealing with TrueCrime mysteries (the show has done so many episodes about murder cases involving well-to-do, adulterous suburban types, it was nicknamed "If You Marry a Doctor, You Will Die"). Many of the episodes are narrated by Keith Morrison, whose voice can be described as "[[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mr. Rogers]] as-a-creepy-old-man".

The series began to fade by the late 1990s when NBC began shoring up its late night line-up, which meant fewer nights of ''Dateline.'' Stone Phillips left the series (Jane Pauly left several years earlier) and Creator/AnneCurry and Creator/ChrisHansen took over as main anchors for the series.

The series returned to the spotlight in 2004, when a segment Chris Hansen did with the group Perverted Justice catching men attempting to arrange sexual encounters with underage teenagers, "To Catch A Predator," garnered a huge amount of publicity. This led to a whole series of ''Dateline'' "To Catch A Predator" specials and a spin-off, "To Catch A Predator: The Raw Tapes", which shows longer versions of the confrontations between Chris Hansen and the predators. Controversy was sparked, mostly by accusations of entrapment by lawyers for the accused predators and a high profile suicide of one man caught in the sting (but who did not appear on the show, having discovered prior to his death that he had been nailed in a sting operation). The show and Chris Hansen ultimately achieved MemeticMutation, with parodies appearing on different shows like ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'', etc. Whether because of the legal controversy, the increased popularity making it harder[[note]](the last sting only caught 7 men, where earlier ones had ensnared dozens)[[/note]] to lure men to the houses, or because the "demographics" of the alleged predators had declined,[[note]](earlier stings caught doctors, teachers, programmers, a rabbi, etc., but later ones nabbed unemployed or menial laborers)[[/note]] no new TCAP segments were produced after 2007. According to a Facebook comment in 2009, it might return someday. If so, it will likely be without Chris Hansen, who recently had [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/chris-hansen-sexts-cheating_n_892597.html his own embarrassing scandal.]]

On April 2015, Hansen launched a [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1606694156/hansen-vs-predator Kickstarter campaign]] to promote his successor to the original series, ''Hansen vs. Predator''. The campaign was so successful, Hansen eventually took over as host of the daily syndicated series ''Crime Watch Daily'', of which ''Hansen vs. Predator'' became a recurring segment on the show; his takeover as host boosted the show's ratings.

''Dateline'' is still on the air, now anchored by Lester Holt, in a FridayNightDeathSlot (right before the local news), and also airs on Sundays opposite ''Series/SixtyMinutes'' between season of [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL football]]. It has some internal infamy, as Creator/{{CNBC}} airs ''Series/SixtyMinutes on CNBC'' rather than ''Dateline: Business Edition'' because of the show's lack of any non-tabloid coverage... Though there ''being'' a ''Dateline: Business Edition'' says something.

The launch of ''Rock Center with Brian Williams'' in November 2011 suggests that NBC knows that ''Dateline'' should never be omnipresent on the main network schedule again.

* LongRunners: Has aired since 1992. Furthermore, it was also NBC's first successful news magazine after failed attempts such as ''Prime Time Saturday/Sunday''[[note]]not to be confused with the long-running ABC news magazine ''UsefulNotes/PrimeTime Live''[[/note]]; ''NBC Magazine''[[note]]best known for being the final NBC series for iconic anchor David Brinkley before his departure for ABC[[/note]] and ''Monitor''[[note]]named after a long-running [[Radio/{{Monitor}} NBC radio news and variety show]][[/note]].

* LongRunners: Has aired since 1992. Furthermore, it was also NBC's first successful news magazine after failed attempts such as ''Prime Time Saturday/Sunday''[[note]]not to be confused with the long-running ABC news magazine ''UsefulNotes/PrimeTime Live''[[/note]]; ''NBC Magazine''[[note]]best known for being the final NBC series for iconic anchor David Brinkley before his departure for ABC[[/note]] and ''Monitor''[[note]]named after a long-running [[Radio/{{Monitor}} NBC radio news and variety show]][[/note]].

** "It wasn't me that sent that message that was a friend at a party; I don't know why they used my name" (they had pictures of him he had sent to the decoy)**

* BlatantLies: Hansen usually gave the predators a chance to explain what innocuous purpose they had for being there... before he reveals that he has the (very incriminating) chat logs.

*** "U WANT DO IT RAW?" "raw?" "YES" "what's that?" "NO RUBER"
*** "I WANT TO ROMANCE WITH YOU!" "what kind of romance?" "MOUTH"
*** "I WANNA BE TOP"

*** Antony Palumbo drops several gold ones, aside from his bizarre obsession with [[NoIndoorVoice "PUHTIN DA BHER IN DA REFRIGERATOR"]], he also shouts [[BlatantLies "I just stop buy!"]] and [[SkewedPriorities "I'm not gay or anything"]]

* SyndicationTitle: Many of the hourlong true-crime documentaries are rebroadcast on Creator/{{MSNBC}} under individual titles without the ''Dateline'' branding.

* TheStoic: Chris Hansen keeps a straight face at all times.

The series was conceived in 1992 mainly as a cheap schedule filler and about the 73rd attempt to unseat ''Series/SixtyMinutes''. It was hosted by Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips. Stone Phillips would become the face of the main ''Dateline.'' The series existed mainly to fill holes in the programming schedule; during the bulk of the 1990s, ''Dateline'' was on more nights than not. Archived (rerun) ''Dateline'' crime stories are used for this same purpose on MSNBC, Investigation Discovery, and TLC during dead periods.

The series began to fade by the late 1990s when NBC began shoring up its late night line-up, which meant fewer nights of ''Dateline.'' Stone Phillips left the series (Jane Pauly left several years earlier) and Anne Curry and Chris Hansen took over as main anchors for the series.

* AdultFear: The dangers that TCAP confronted were very much real life fears that are among parent's worst nightmares.

** PreAsskickingOneLiner "Why don't you have a seat right over there?" Used just before a predator is caught.

* FalseReassurance: Predators frequently asked whether Chris was a cop or whether he would arrest them- "I'm not a cop" or "I'm not going to arrest you" aren't untrue statements, because he isn't and can't. The actual cops that are waiting outside will do the arresting. He also sometimes added a variant of "You're free to go", but only from ''him'', not the cops waiting right outside.

* OhCrap: A very common reaction among the more GenreSavvy predators when Chris shows up. They either realize they were caught in a sting operation or in some cases they've actually ''seen'' TCAP before.

** PreAssKickingOneLiner "Why don't you have a seat right over there?" Used just before a predator is caught.

* SchmuckBait: Chris allows the predator to leave just so they can get tackled by the cops. [[GenreBlind They fall for it every time, even after the show became popular]].