History TomatoSurprise / LiveActionTV

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E14ThirdFromTheSun Third from the Sun]]", the Sturkas and Ridens steal an experimental ship and travel to another planet [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance 11 million miles away]] in order to escape a nuclear war that is likely to begin within 48 hours. Having picked up [[AliensStealCable radio signals from the planet]], Jerry Riden learns that the natives call it "Earth."

* Jason from ''Series/TheGoodPlace '' talks about someone named “Donkey Doug” from pretty much the beginning of the show. He makes it seem like he’s a buddy of his that comes along for the ride on his misadventures in [[OnlyInFlorida Florida]]. It’s not until season 3 that Jason reveals that Donkey Doug is actually his dad.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'': In "Upgrade", after moving into a new house, Anne [=MacIntosh=] discovers that her dog Zonka has changed breeds and [[RippleEffectProofMemory she is the only one who realizes it]]. She soon finds that her previously obnoxious family, consisting of her husband Philip and two children Sean and Tess, has been similarly replaced. Their physical appearances are entirely different and their personalities have become essentially perfect. Anne can't get anyone to believe her and she is eventually replaced herself. The final scene reveals that Anne and her family are characters in a little girl named Lizzie's ''VideoGame/TheSims''-esque people simulator video game.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E14ThirdFromTheSun Third from the Sun]]", the Sturkas and Ridens steal an experimental ship and travel to another planet [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance 11 million miles away]] in order to escape a nuclear war that is likely to begin within 48 hours. Having picked up [[AliensStealCable radio signals from the planet]], Jerry Riden learns that the natives call it "Earth."
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E42TheEyeOfTheBeholder Eye of the Beholder]]", Janet Tyler, a woman with a horribly misshapen face, is undergoing her eleventh reconstructive surgery to make her appear normal. When her bandages are removed, the doctors discover that the surgery was unsuccessful. It is revealed that, from the audience's perspective, Janet is a beautiful woman and the doctors and nurses are hideously ugly. ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied this episode with a subversion: All the hideous, pig-like people, as well as the narrator, think the "disfigured" woman is totally hot. Except for one nurse, who's the [[OnlySaneMan Only Insane Woman]].
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E51TheInvaders The Invaders]]", an aging farm woman is attacked by tiny creatures from another planet in her cabin. The woman discovers the supposed aliens' spacecraft on her roof. Its markings read "U.S. Air Force Space Probe No. 1." It is revealed that the woman belongs to a race of giants and the "aliens" are astronauts from Earth.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E129Probe7OverAndOut Probe 7, Over and Out]]", an astronaut named Colonel Cook crashlands on a planet 4.3 lightyears from his home system. After contacting his planet, he learns that a nuclear war has begun and a rescue ship will therefore not be sent for him. Shortly afterwards, Cook meets an alien woman. Although they do not speak each other's languages, the woman manages to communicate to him that her name is Norda and that she is the SoleSurvivor of her planet, which left its orbit. Cook tells her that [[AdamAndEvePlot his first name is Adam and learns that hers is Eve]]. They settle in a [[GardenOfEden beautiful garden]] containing [[ForbiddenFruit fruit]] that Eve calls "[[SignificantAnagram seppla]]." Eve decides to call the planet "Earth."

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': has plenty of these. One of the more obvious ones is in the episode ''Shut Up and Dance'' in which a cruel internet troll uses a virus to capture a view of the protagonist watching online pornography and uses it to blackmail him. After he's been required to run into the forest and fight another victim to the death, the viewer may be wondering why he's so desperate to prevent others knowing that he watched porn. Until the ending - in which the video is leaked regardless - reveals that he was watching '''child''' pornography, and the troll was arguably GoodAllAlong, or at least PayEvilUntoEvil.
* Jason from ''Series/TheGoodPlace '' talks about someone named “Donkey Doug” from pretty much the beginning of the show. He makes it seem like he’s a buddy of his that comes along for the ride on his misadventures in [[OnlyInFlorida Florida]]. It’s not until season 3 that Jason reveals that Donkey Doug is actually his dad.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" opens with the Doctor telling Clara about his adventures with her. She doesn't appear to remember any of it (in fact, she doesn't even appear to remember her own name), but at the end, it turns out that it's ''the Doctor'' who doesn't remember. Specifically, he remembers his adventures with Clara, but not what she looks or sounds like. Clara is playing along with the Doctor by pretending not to know who he's talking about; this is because she was revived via TrickedOutTime and after seeing what the Doctor did, went and forced him to move on by having him forget her appearance and voice, all while she travels in a diner-shaped TARDIS traveling through time and space until she reached the point she is supposed to die.

** The fourth season episode "Fall" does something similar. Previous scenes set in [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Arendelle]] were established as taking place before David the shepherd boy became Prince Charming or Belle met Rumpelstiltskin; the previous episode said it was 1985 in our world. When Anna and Kristoff defrost in the first Arendelle scene of the episode, we assume that this happened when the Snow Queen left the realm, shortly after they were frozen. It's not until the reveal that Blackbeard now captains the Jolly Roger that we realise they've been {{Human Popsicle}}s for thirty years.

** The flash-forwards of the Season 4 finale reveal that the man in the coffin from the flash-forward in Season 3 was the mysterious "Jeremy Bentham", who had been alluded to in most of the Season 4 flash-forwards, who in turn was revealed to be John Locke.

* ''Series/BooBitch'' follows Erika Vu, a high school senior who's become a ghost after she's killed the same night she and her best friend Gia are attending a party. While Erika is struggling to understand why everyone can see and hear her despite being a ghost and what her unfinished business is, Gia is consistently ignored by almost everyone except Erika. It isn't until Episode 6 that it's revealed that ''Gia'' was the one who died and became a ghost that night, not Erika. The reason Erika assumed she was a ghost was because Gia placed Erika's shoes on her corpse to keep her from finding out. Gia is able to finally move on to the afterlife when she attends prom with Gavin and Erika makes a speech about what a good friend she was.

* ''Series/BooBitch'' follows Erika Vu, who's become a ghost after she's killed the same night she and her best friend Gia are attending a party. While Erika is struggling to understand why everyone can see and hear her despite being a ghost and what her unfinished business is, Gia is consistently ignored by almost everyone except Erika. It isn't until Episode 6 that it's revealed that ''Gia'' was the one who died and became a ghost that night, not Erika. The reason Erika assumed she was a ghost was because Gia placed Erika's shoes on her corpse to keep her from finding out. Gia is able to finally move on to the afterlife when she attends prom with Gavin and Erika makes a speech about what a good friend she was.

* ''Series/BooBitch'' follows Erika Vu, who's become a ghost after she's killed the same night she and her best friend Gia are attending a party. While Erika is struggling to understand what being a ghost entails and what her unfinished business is, Gia is consistently ignored by almost everyone except Erika. It isn't until Episode 6 that it's revealed that ''Gia'' was the one who died and became a ghost that night, not Erika. Gia is able to finally ascend when she attends prom with Gavin and Erika makes a speech about what a good friend she was.

* ''Series/BooBitch'' follows Erika Vu who's become a ghost after she's killed the same night she and her best friend Gia are attending a party. While Erika is struggling to understand what being a ghost entails and what her unfinished business is, Gia is consistently ignored by everyone except Erika. It isn't until Episode 6 that it's revealed that ''Gia'' was the one who died and became a ghost that night, not Erika.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] opens with the Doctor telling Clara about his adventures with her. She doesn't appear to remember any of it (in fact, she doesn't even appear to remember her own name), [[spoiler:but at the end, it turns out that it's ''the Doctor'' who doesn't remember. Specifically, he remembers his adventures with Clara, but not what she looks or sounds like. Clara is playing along with the Doctor by pretending not to know who he's talking about; this is because she was revived via TrickedOutTime and after seeing what the Doctor did, went and forced him to move on by having him forget her appearance and voice, all while she travels in a diner-shaped TARDIS traveling through time and space until she reached the point she is supposed to die.]]
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' once had an InUniverse example. While Niles and Maris are going through a rough patch, Frasier finds their mother's journals which seemingly depict her observations of their development as children. The observations aren't very flattering of Niles. Deciding to go against this, Niles files for divorce from Maris. Frasier continues reading the journals. [[spoiler:It turns out their mother was observing the behavior of her lab rats who she also named Frasier and Niles. She named her sons after them.]]

** In the episode "Three Days of Snow", Future!Ted tells three stories at the same time: (1) Robin taking Marshall to welcome Lily at the airport, (2) Ted and Barney taking care of the bar, and (3) Lily trying to get some beers to give to Marshall when he welcomes her in the airport. But just when Lily and Marshall get to the airport, Future!Ted reveals that [[spoiler:the three stories are taking place on three ''different days'', so Marshall did not meet Lily on day one, he mourned at Ted and Barney's "bar" on day two, and ''seemingly'' nobody was in the airport to welcome Lily on day three. But then Marshall surprises Lily by bringing an entire band to greet her.)]]
*** This is particularly effective as it's a fake ActorAllusion to Creator/AlysonHannigan. In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Hannigan's character had been involved in a similar plot, [[spoiler:only in that case it ''was'' actually the same day and she couldn't see her friends because of an accidental use of magic.]] %% BTVS episode isn't a spoiler on its own, but because of its relevance to the HIMYM spoiler, it's tagged here.
** Also, the series finale, where it turns out that [[spoiler:the mother died six years ago, as both the narrator and his kids hearing the story knew all along; the story was never about her, it was future Ted reminiscing about Robin in an attempt to move on]].
** The episode "Symphony of Illumination" begins, as a change of formula, with Robin telling her children about how she told their father that she was pregnant. However, the episode is actually about [[spoiler:her discovering that she can't have children, and she's actually talking to herself as she tries to come to terms with the news]].
* One plot thread of ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' comes to an unexpected conclusion when it is revealed that [[spoiler:Iris and Mrs. Levison are really mother and daughter.]] The stage show ups the ante by revealing that [[spoiler:they're really father and son.]]

** The season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass", features a series of seemingly traditional flashbacks for Jack, one of the main characters... until he [[spoiler:meets Kate at the end of the episode, revealing that all the "flashback" scenes in this episode were actually flash-''forwards''.]]
** The season 4 episode "Ji Yeon" appears to feature [[spoiler:flash-forwards for Jin and Sun, who apparently both left the island... until it turns out that Jin's scenes are actually flash''backs'', and he never left the island but is considered ''dead'' by his wife Sun.]]
* The second season of ''Series/MrRobot'' shows Elliott after the hacking job [[spoiler:that brought down E-Corp.]] He tries to go on with his life, makes friends with a pair of men with criminal backgrounds, starts attending a church group, and runs afoul of a gang of white supremacists. It isn't until episode seven that it's revealed this all happens [[spoiler:while he's in prison.]]

** The second season premiere "Broken" appears to follow the same episode format as the first season, with the point of view switching between the Enchanted Forest in the past and a parallel story in Storybrook in the present. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Enchanted Forest segments do not take place in the past. They are actually taking place in the present (actually ''after'' the Storybrook segments).]]
** The fourth season episode "Fall" does something similar. [[spoiler:Previous scenes set in [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Arendelle]] were established as taking place before David the shepherd boy became Prince Charming or Belle met Rumpelstiltskin; the previous episode said it was 1985 in our world. When Anna and Kristoff defrost in the first Arendelle scene of the episode, we assume that this happened when the Snow Queen left the realm, shortly after they were frozen. It's not until the reveal that Blackbeard now captains the Jolly Roger that we realise they've been {{Human Popsicle}}s for thirty years.]]

* In the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Screwup" we find out at the end of the episode that [[spoiler:Ben is actually the patient that died and Dr. Cox has just been seeing Ben in his head.]]
** There is one hint for eagle-eyed viewers that at first appears to be a continuity error - [[spoiler:the man implied to have died through the whole episode appears in the background of one scene.]]
** Another hint pops up throughout the episode, but it's so subtle that the viewer is unlikely to pick up on it until the second watch - [[spoiler:The only person who directly interacts with Ben from the time he dies until the end of the episode is Dr. Cox. Everyone else talks directly to Cox while Ben offers him advice on how to respond.]]
** And of course, Ben's line [[spoiler:that he'll carry his camera "until the day I die", and that he doesn't have his camera for the latter part of the episode.]]

** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S4E21DoubleJeopardy Double Jeopardy]]", the audience is led to believe that it is the normal version of SG-1 that arrives on Juna...[[spoiler:until Darien kills Daniel with a staff weapon and his head comes off, revealing that he is a robot. In the next scene, Harlan contacts the SGC, confirming that they are the robot duplicates from "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E18TinMan Tin Man]]".]]
** "Heroes" has a big one. Some off-world scenes are shown, and Jack O'Neill is shown getting shot. The episode is from the point of view of a reporter in the SGC. For the rest of the episode, the entire team is very obviously in distress because someone has died. The entire episode leads you to believe [[spoiler:Jack died, but the ending reveals he was wearing an experimental new energy-absorbing vest and survived. It was actually the doctor, Janet Frazier, who was killed.]] The characters obviously knew this the entire time, but it was concealed from the audience until the end.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': "Doctor's Orders" has Phlox and T'Pol the only people awake on the ship as the rest of the crew has to be put into a comatose state to pass through a radiation cloud. It's revealed at the end that [[spoiler:T'Pol had been asleep too; Phlox was hallucinating her to help with his isolation]]. Like the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' example above, [[spoiler:T'Pol never physically interacts with anything]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaDZGjO30VU One Sketch]] appears to show a ridiculously drawn-out quiz show. Turns out [[spoiler:they are on a space ship and the "contestants" are being held captive by the "host", a terminally ill billionaire who, refusing to die alone, is flying the space ship into the sun and is making every last second count.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suQ-MCLO_9Q Another sketch]] starts out as a parody of a relaxation DVD. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that robots who have taken over the world made the DVD so the human resistance fighters wouldn't have the energy to fight them.]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E14ThirdFromTheSun Third from the Sun]]", the Sturkas and Ridens steal an experimental ship and travel to another planet [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance 11 million miles away]] in order to escape a nuclear war that is likely to begin within 48 hours. [[spoiler: Having picked up [[AliensStealCable radio signals from the planet]], Jerry Riden learns that the natives call it "Earth."]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E42TheEyeOfTheBeholder Eye of the Beholder]]", Janet Tyler, a woman with a horribly misshapen face, is undergoing her eleventh reconstructive surgery to make her appear normal. When her bandages are removed, the doctors discover that the surgery was unsuccessful. [[spoiler: It is revealed that, from the audience's perspective, Janet is a beautiful woman and the doctors and nurses are hideously ugly.]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied this episode by subverting the trope: [[spoiler:All the hideous, pig-like people, as well as the narrator, think the "disfigured" woman is totally hot. Except for one nurse, who's the [[OnlySaneMan Only Insane Woman]].]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E51TheInvaders The Invaders]]", an aging farm woman is attacked by tiny creatures from another planet in her cabin. [[spoiler: The woman discovers the supposed aliens' spacecraft on her roof. Its markings read "U.S. Air Force Space Probe No. 1." It is revealed that the woman belongs to a race of giants and the "aliens" are astronauts from Earth.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E129Probe7OverAndOut Probe 7, Over and Out]]", an astronaut named Colonel Cook crashlands on a planet 4.3 lightyears from his home system. After contacting his planet, he learns that a nuclear war has begun and a rescue ship will therefore not be sent for him. Shortly afterwards, Cook meets an alien woman. Although they do not speak each other's languages, the woman manages to communicate to him that her name is Norda and that she is the SoleSurvivor of her planet, which left its orbit. [[spoiler: Cook tells her that [[AdamAndEvePlot his first name is Adam and learns that hers is Eve]]. They settle in a [[GardenOfEden beautiful garden]] containing [[ForbiddenFruit fruit]] that Eve calls "[[SignificantAnagram seppla]]." Eve decides to call the planet "Earth."]]
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'': In "Upgrade", after moving into a new house, Anne [=MacIntosh=] discovers that her dog Zonka has changed breeds and [[RippleEffectProofMemory she is the only one who realizes it]]. She soon finds that her previously obnoxious family, consisting of her husband Philip and two children Sean and Tess, has been similarly replaced. Their physical appearances are entirely different and their personalities have become essentially perfect. Anne can't get anyone to believe her and she is eventually replaced herself. [[spoiler: The final scene reveals that Anne and her family are characters in a little girl named Lizzie's ''VideoGame/TheSims''-esque people simulator VideoGame.]]
* ''Series/BlackMirror'': has plenty of these. One of the more obvious ones is in the episode ''Shut Up and Dance'' in which a cruel internet troll uses a virus to capture a view of the protagonist watching online pornography and uses it to blackmail him. After he's been required to run into the forest and fight another victim to the death, the viewer may be wondering why he's so desperate to prevent others knowing that he watched porn. Until the ending - in which the video is leaked regardless - reveals that [[spoiler:he was watching '''child''' pornography, and the troll was arguably GoodAllAlong, or at least PayEvilUntoEvil.]]

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': has plenty of these. One of the more obvious ones is in the episode ''Shut Up and Dance'' in which a cruel internet troll uses a virus to capture a view of the protagonist watching online pornography and uses it to blackmail him. After he's been required to run into the forest and fight another victim to the death, the viewer may be wondering why he's so desperate to prevent other knowings that he watched porn. Until the ending - in which the video is leaked regardless - reveals that [[spoiler:he was watching '''child''' pornography, and the troll was arguably GoodAllAlong, or at least PayEvilUntilEvil.]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E42TheEyeOfTheBeholder Eye of the Beholder]]", currently pictured above, Janet Tyler, a woman with a horribly misshapen face, is undergoing her eleventh reconstructive surgery to make her appear normal. When her bandages are removed, the doctors discover that the surgery was unsuccessful. [[spoiler: It is revealed that, from the audience's perspective, Janet is a beautiful woman and the doctors and nurses are hideously ugly.]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied this episode by subverting the trope: [[spoiler:All the hideous, pig-like people, as well as the narrator, think the "disfigured" woman is totally hot. Except for one nurse, who's the [[OnlySaneMan Only Insane Woman]].]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E1WhereIsEverybody Where is Everybody?]]", a man finds himself walking on a dirt road with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He encounters a nearby town that seems to be devoid of all life and in startled when he finds a shelf fulls of copies of the book ''The Last Man on Earth''. As his loneliness sets in he becomes paranoid and panicked, desperate for human contact. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that it was AllJustADream. The man, who is in the Air Force, has spent several weeks in isolation as a test to see if he's fit to be an astronaut and his mind created the simulation out of boredom. His superiors wake him up when his trauma becomes apparent and they all reflect that lengthy space travel has everything to keep a man alive, but cannot provide the basic human need for companionship.]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E79FiveCharactersInSearchOfAnExit Five Characters in Search of an Exit]]", an army major, a ballerina, a clown, a hobo, and a bagpiper find themselves trapped in a large cylinder with no memory of who they are or how they got there. [[spoiler: The final scene reveals that the five of them are dolls in a donation barrel for a girls' orphanage.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E75TheMidnightSun The Midnight Sun]]", Earth is moving closer and closer towards UsefulNotes/TheSun and society is breaking down as people are dying of heatstroke. [[spoiler: The final scene reveals that it was AllJustADream of the protagonist Norma. The world is in fact moving further away from the Sun and the world's population is rapidly freezing to death.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E129Probe7OverAndOut Probe 7, Over and Out]]", an astronaut named Colonel Cook crashlands on a planet 4.3 lightyears from his home system. After contacting his planet, he learns that a nuclear war has begun and a rescue ship will therefore not be sent for him. Shortly afterwards, Cook meets an alien woman. Although they do not speak each other's languages, the woman manages to communicate to him that her name is Norda and that she is the SoleSurvivor of her planet, which left its orbit. [[spoiler: Cook tells her that [[AdamAndEvePlot his first name is Adam and learns that hers is Eve]]. They settle in a [[GardenOfEden beautiful garden]] containing [[ForbiddenFruit fruit]] that Eve calls "[[SignificantAnagram seppla]]." Eve decides to call the planet "Earth."]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]", a married couple named Bob and Millie Frazier wake up in a strange house, hungover after a party the previous night. They discover that almost everything in the house and the surrounding neighborhood is fake such as a prop phone, a stuffed squirrel in a tree and papier-mâché grass. [[spoiler: In the final scene, the Fraziers see a giant girl and realize that they are in her model village. The girl is a member of a race of giants whose father traveled to Earth and brought the two of them back for her to play with.]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E1WhereIsEverybody Where is Everybody?]]", a man finds himself walking on a dirt road with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He encounters a nearby town that seems to be devoid of all life and in startled when he finds a shelf fulls of copies of the book ''The Last Man on Earth''. As his loneliness sets in he becomes paranoid and panicked, desperate for human contact. [[spoiler:It's then revealed that it was AllJustADream. The man, who is in the Air Force, has spent several weeks in sensory deprivation as a test to see if he's fit to be an astronaut and his mind created the simulation out of boredom. His superiors wake him up when his trauma becomes apparent and they all reflect that lengthy space travel has everything to keep a man alive, but cannot provide the basic human need for companionship.]]