Line #106 SchmuckBait/LiveActionTV


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6	SchmuckBait in live-action TV.
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8	* The term "[[BuffySpeak Schmuck Bait-y]]" was used in the Creator/MutantEnemy bullpen and by Creator/JossWhedon in [=DVD=] commentaries to describe settings that were dark and gloomy and seemed dangerous. Handy term for places they were ''bound'' to send characters.
9	* Another candid camera (though not that exact show) example: people were made to wait in a room alone for whatever reason, and in that room was a lifesized cardboard cut-out of an extremely attractive member of the opposite sex, with a sticker over their genitals. When people were waiting alone, they would look at it but never touch it, but when two people were waiting, one would invariably dare the other to lift the sticker. As soon as the sticker came off, a loud alarm would sound and the people would desperately try to put it back, which did nothing. Oh, and the cutouts' junk was still obscured.
10	* In an episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Jenna and Tracy are petsitting for Kenneth, and he gives them an ominous but vague warning "don't go into my room." When they do, they find that his room is getting bug-bombed, and they kill his pet bird by letting out the poisonous gas.
11	* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'' has several examples (for obvious reasons), one of which involves a deadbeat dad that picked up a jet fighter pilot seat for his new bachelor pad. [[DontTouchItYouIdiot There was a lever on it.]] [[spoiler:He got curious, and discovered the hard way the ejector system was still live when it launched him through his ceiling, shattering his skull.]]
12	* Creator/DaveAllen: A ''Dave Allen at Large'' sketch shows a man walking by a "Beware of God" sign prominently posted on a front lawn. The man disregards the sign and walks on the lawn - and promptly gets zapped by a bolt of lightning.
13	* On Season 18 of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', the Austria Detour involved "Long Hard Walk" or "Quick and Easy Meal". "Long Hard Walk" involved carrying a large couch down a large stretch of the city while "Quick and Easy Meal" involved eating food on the Prater Ferris Wheel within a strict time limit (one full rotation of the wheel). The only problem with the latter detour was that they did not identify ''how much food you had to eat''. It turned out to be an absolutely massive amount, and the three teams who initially attempted this could not finish and ended up doing the other side of the Detour, as it was not like you could eat any more the second time around.
14	* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': "Schmuck bait" is a term that appears quite regularly in ''{{Series/Buffy\|TheVampireSlayer}}'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' scripts.
15	** In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Why We Fight", Spike mentions to Angel that he, Nostroyev, and the Prince of Lies were apparently captured by the Nazis when they attended a "free virgin blood party".
16	** In "Smile Time" Angel enters a door marked only with the word DON'T. [[PuppetPermutation He gets turned into a puppet.]]
17	* In ''Series/AuctionKings'', that baby-grand piano that Jon was sent to get. It turned out to be a piece of junk. Luckily, Jon came back with several other valuable pieces.
18	** In general, when a piece looks like it could be valuable, but the condition hurts the price.
19	** Paul himself admits that pianos sell terribly at Gallery 63, so he tends to avoid them unless they are unique.
20	* One Season 3 episode of ''Series/BabylonFive'' features a form of Schmuck Bait trap. An automated alien ship happens upon the station and offers advanced technology for those who can solve a set of complex high-tech questions within 24 hours. Otherwise, it'll explode and take out the station. Even while frantic communiques are sent throughout the Earth Alliance for the answers, Captain Sheridan begins to suspect the ship for what it really was: a trap meant to take out civilizations too advanced for someone's good. Turns out he's right, and he prevents all the answers being transmitted until it's in the middle of flying away and well out of blast range.
21	* The premise behind ''Series/BaitCar'', which illustrates amusing examples of would-be car thieves. A car that should gain a nice profit when stolen and resold is set up with a device that will gradually cut off the fuel when a signal is sent (to prevent sudden stops and accidents), doors that will stay locked when they receive a signal, a tracking device, and All the hidden cameras. The first police departments to use them spread the word via extensive media campaigns that they were rigging the cars up and setting them out as bait, mostly to avoid entrapment claims.[[labelnote:Also]]If a cop (undercover or otherwise) basically tells you to take the car, it's entrapment, since you might not have thought of it on your own. But if they see an area where cars are already being stolen, and leave a "bait car" to see ''if'' it gets stolen, and arresting anyone that actually does....[[/labelnote]] Yet after all that, and showings of select videos on dumb criminals shows...
22	-->'''Thief:''' Hope this isn't one of those "Bait Cars"... ''[drives away, followed by police]''
23	* The pilot episode of the Adam West ''Series/{{Batman\|1966}}'' has the Riddler try to steal the Batmobile and hit the clearly-labeled "start" button, which launches a flurry of fireworks.
24	* In the 2015 competition for ''Series/BattleBots'', Complete Control entered its fight against Ghost Raptor holding a mysterious box covered in brightly-colored gift wrap. Despite it looking obviously like a trap, Ghost Raptor immediately attacked the box--and inside was a rope net that jammed Ghost Raptor's spinning blades, rendering it unable to fight.
25	* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' has a meta-aversion to this in the cliffhanger to "Fall", when [[spoiler:Kim Wexler, overexhausted, zones out at the wheel and crashes her car.]] We then see [[spoiler:Kim stagger out of the car, clearly heavily injured.]] [[http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/12/better-call-saul-creator-fall-jimmy-mcgill-kim-crash/ According to]] show co-creator Peter Gould, they had to take steps to avoid schmuck bait.
26	-->''"We had an option that we considered — and if it had been a different TV show, we might have taken — which was to have the crash and then not show her getting out of the car. There’s a phrase that we used to use in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' writers’ room, and we use in the ''Better Call Saul'' writers’ room, and it’s something we try to avoid. We call it schmuck bait, but basically, it means leaving the audience to believe that something enormous has happened to get them to keep watching past the commercial or to the next episode, and then taking it off the table as soon as you get back. We really try to play fair with the audience."''
27	* ''Series/{{Bosch}}'': Midway through season 3, Jerry Edgar returns to his desk and picks up a dollar bill on the floor next to his desk. Bosch snarks to him, "Careful. Might be an IA sting." This gets a callback a few episodes later, when Jerry is leaving his house and notices a dollar bill tucked under the windshield wiper on his car. He refuses to touch it, muttering "Fucking IA, Harry..." which turns out to save his life, as Xavi Moreno planted the bill there as bait so he could blow Jerry's head off with a sniper rifle. Moreno only gets Jerry's left shoulder because Jerry didn't take the bait. Bosch describes the tactic as an old-school Special Forces trick he's seen in combat in the Gulf War and Afghanistan when talking to Irving afterwards.
28	* ''Series/BrainGames'' tried to copy ''Candid Camera's'' "FREE MONEY" giveaway gag. This time, however, the jar of crumpled bills with a "FREE MONEY" sign on it was emptied in a matter of minutes--but only when nobody is around. If there was anyone behind the table encouraging people passing by to take the money, hardly anyone took it, assuming there had to be a catch.
29	* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', Jesse's friend Badger refuses to sell Walt's meth to a sketchy looking guy that approaches him on the street, even pointing out the obvious [[SpiesInAVan law enforcement vans]] with [[PaperThinDisguise poor disguises]]. However, the guy then convinces him that [[BlatantLies undercover cops legally have to admit they're cops if asked]], and the obvious happens.
30	* Creator/DerrenBrown: ''Derren Brown Trick of the Mind'' had an episode all about this trope. He argued that signs telling us not to do something will only encourage us to do it. In the program, he came to a class and told some young children, two at a time in the room, to not press the button on the box. They do, and some stuff flies out from it. He also paints a sign on a wall telling people not to look through the hole. They do, and Derren's there to look right back at them. The programme's climax is him telling a woman to not press a button otherwise it will kill the cat inside of the tank. She presses it, however the cat wasn't killed, the button just turned the lights off if anything (so there's no need to call the RSPCA, OK).
31	* Inversion in ''Series/CandidCamera'', when they put a bowl in a public place full of money with a sign that said "FREE MONEY". Nobody touched it, assuming it was Schmuck Bait. This show runs on the trope, such as getting people to put themselves through an airport baggage scanner in view of a hidden camera. Anyone who takes the Schmuck Bait is told to "smile, you're on ''Candid Camera!''.
32	* Some of the American episodes of ''Series/{{The Chase\|GameShow}}'' had a Super Offer for the titular Chase round. It was normally double the top offer and always six-figures, but choosing this forced the contestant to play a perfect run of seven tough questions against the Chaser without a single wrong answer. Get a question wrong, and they're out of the game unless the Chaser gets a question wrong himself. Even if it was accomplished, they still have to win the Final Chase to take any of it home, or it goes away anyway.
33	* ''Series/{{Community}}''
34	** After being told under no circumstance should they enter the space simulator by the Dean, it takes about five seconds after he left for Abed and Troy to find their way in.
35	** From episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E08HomeEconomics Home Economics]]", Britta warns Pierce to not talk to Vaughn. Gets predictable results.
36	** Abed sent Jeff a fake invitation to a club opening to ensure his calendar would be open for Troy and Abed's housewarming party.
37	--->'''Jeff:''' ''[reading card]'' There’s no such thing as the “Single Malt Platinum Boobs and Billiards Club"? ...I guess I never said it out loud.
38	* ''Series/TheCrystalMaze'': Some games give the contestant the crystal straight away, but they have to complete the game to avoid being locked in.
39	** In the medieval zone, taking the crystal off a shelf would cause a portcullis to crash down over the door. The contestant then had to build a mechanism to winch it up. Three contestants were locked in this one.
40	** In the futuristic zone, a screen said "When is a safe not safe? Press B to continue." Pressing B released the crystal, and the message "when you are locked in it". A door would then close, and the contestant had to escape by unlocking a complicated "security safe door".
41	** A later series saw the "riddle jail" in the medieval zone. The crystal would be in a jail cell; if the contestant entered, a masked jailer would lock them in, and show them riddles on a scroll which had to be answered correctly before they would be released.
42	* At least one ingredient in Round One of every episode of ''Series/CupcakeWars'' is obvious Schmuck Bait. For example, the oysters, or the olives.
43	* ''Series/TheDailyShow'':
44	** After a "Mahna Mahna" Muppets bit...
45	--->'''Jon Stewart:''' By the way, if you google "muppets" and "scat", that may not be what you get. Go ahead, I'll wait... ''Freaky'' pictures.
46	** People actually did it. Even the correct link is Schmuck Bait.
47	** A more recent one (from him) would be to google "santorum", because of discussing a lesser-known GOP candidate Rick Santorum. The kicker? The guest for that night, Creator/KeiraKnightley actually googled it and felt [[spoiler: that her innocence was taken away from her.]]
48	*** It helps to know that Santorum's name was Google-bombed by liberal radio host Dan Savage to connect it with a really gross phrase.
49	* ''Series/Daredevil2015''. Wilson Fisk arranges for Ray Nadeem to tip off Matt Murdock about an impending meeting he's having with other crime bosses. The meeting is real, but Fisk's FBI escort are now all working for him, so Matt is walking into an ambush. Fisk notes to Nadeem and Dex that Matt will probably suspect a trap but won't be able to resist a chance to nail him. [[GoodIsNotDumb Fortunately however]], Matt takes the opportunity to break into Fisk's penthouse instead and go snooping around.
50	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Let's face it, the entire ''Universe'' is Schmuck Bait when it comes to the Doctor.
51	** At the start of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber "The Mind Robber"]], the Doctor tells both Jamie and Zoe they must stay inside the TARDIS. Guess what Zoe does the instant the other two are out of the control room? And what Jamie does when he comes back and finds her missing?
52	** [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]]: It turns out that Rassilon, ancient founder of the Time Lords, knew a thing or two about Schmuck Bait. [[spoiler:He'd spread stories about a potential path to immortality as a trap for the overly-ambitious. The fact that acquiring it required a visit to Gallifrey's Death Zone should've been a hint it was this trope, yet even ''the Master'' almost stepped right into it.]]
53	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon "Aliens of London"]]: While arguing with the Doctor, who's been addressing him as [[MaliciousMisnaming "Ricky"]], Mickey makes the mistake of saying that he thinks he knows his own name. The Doctor instantly seizes on the chance to insult him further.
54	--->'''Mickey:''' I think I know my own name!\
55	'''The Doctor:''' You ''think'' you know your own name? How stupid are you?
56	** [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion "The Christmas Invasion"]]:
57	--->'''The Doctor:''' And how am I going to react when I see this: A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstance. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem, cause I really don't know who I am and I don't know where to stop. So when I see a great big threatening button which should never ever ever be pressed, then I just want to do this! ''[presses it]''
58	*** [[spoiler:Subverted in that the Sycorax claim that pressing the button will kill everyone they had under mind control, when in fact it ''releases'' them. The Doctor was calling their bluff.]]
59	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet "The Impossible Planet"]]: An ominous voice tells Toby Zed, "Don't turn around." What do you ''think'' he does? Of course, he was probably doomed anyway.
60	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]]: Don't look away, don't run, and whatever you do, don't blink. Guess what that statement encourages you to do. And when you ''do'' do it, you'll end up decades in the past.
61	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]: The little girl's fiddling with her remote control leads to a wall panel sliding up in the Library while everyone is having a discussion. [[TheDitz Miss Evangelista]], unsurprisingly, is the one that falls for it. [[spoiler:And she dies.]]
62	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: Adams has to warn Rossiter not to fall for this when the Master makes an open broadcast that reaches their spaceship.
63	--->"It's an open broadcast. DON'T reply, he'll know where we are."
64	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]]:
65	*** "Oh, don't mind me! Never could resist a 'Keep Out' sign."
66	*** The [[AC:protest]] button in the voting booth.
67	*** "If this is just the mouth, I'd [[NightmareFetishist love to see the stomach!]] ...though not right now."
68	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]: Rory falls for some verbal schmuck bait offered by the Dream Lord:
69	--->'''Dream Lord:''' If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality.\
70	'''Rory:''' What happens?\
71	'''Dream Lord:''' You ''die'', stupid. That's why it's called reality.
72	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth "The Hungry Earth"]]: So you're alone at night, a mysterious earthquake has rocked your facility, and a strange hole has opened up in the floor. Naturally, Mo's first instinct is to stick his hand in it...
73	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]]: The Doctor tells Craig not to touch the "dry rot" on the ceiling, so guess what he eventually does when he gets annoyed with the Doctor?
74	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: The Doctor seeks out a device that is an advanced prison designed to contain the universe's most powerful and intelligent being, a being feared by the Daleks, Cyberman, Judoon, Silurians, and countless other hostile alien races he's fought against. [[spoiler:It's a prison for the Doctor.]]
75	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]: Ryan Sinclair is attempting to retrieve his bicycle in the woods when a golden glowing thing appears in midair and reveals a button in the middle. Of ''course'' he presses it, summoning a mysterious alien pod with a murderous warrior inside. When he explains what happened later on, his friends chew him out for it — but the Doctor admits she'd have done the same thing.
76	%%** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E3Frontios "Frontios"]], the Doctor lures the Gravis onto the TARDIS, and to reconstitute it, using this. Please do not uncomment before adding context and placing back in the correct order.
77	* On ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', Fargo's GD personnel file contains the phrase "inappropriately pushed button" 37 times. Someone took advantage of this to try and kill Fargo, and nearly succeeded.
78	* Dougal on ''Series/FatherTed'' has had problems at least twice with do-not-push buttons, once (evidently) on a [=SeaLink=] ferry, and then in the cockpit of an airplane.
79	* ''Series/TheGoodies''. While sneaking into a weapons research lab with KEEP OUT signs on various doors, one sign says BoobyTrap Research: Come Right In. Graeme says he's not falling for that one.
80	* In the opening episode of episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' season three, Hiro receives a posthumous video message from his father saying that he must not open the safe in the office. Any one who has watched Hiro for five minutes knows this was idiocy on his father's part. And it was... the fact that the very next thing the message says is "[[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat I told you not to open the safe!]]", while funny, makes it clear that his father actually ''intended'' to make him open the safe.
81	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Hyperdrive}}'', the Captain falls for a "Hero Trap", believing that an ancient society needs help, and will give him great rewards, despite his security officer repeatedly telling him what an obvious trap it is.
82	* ''Series/IronChef'' and ''Series/IronChefAmerica'' both have the Ice Cream Machines. The Iron Chefs seemingly can't resist trying to make ice cream or other frozen dishes out of ingredients like trout and cod roe (I.C. French Hiriyuki Sakai seems particularly vulnerable to the machine's siren song). 9 times out of 10, this earns them scolding from the judging panel (if not outright {{Squick}}).
83	** In the Creator/FoodNetwork reality chef competition series ''Series/{{Chopped}}'', there is always a bottle of truffle oil in the pantry. The judges hate truffle oil, and severely chastise chefs who have the temerity to use the stuff in their dishes... Like with other flavoring oils (i.e. sesame oil) the problem tends to be the extreme overuse of the oil causing it to overpower the mystery ingredients.
84	** In a different way, the biggest schmuck baits are puff pastry and bread pudding. Both are incredibly difficult things to accomplish in the short amount of time available and fail to complete 75% of the time.
85	* The RCG closing logo in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' features a different backwards message each season. The first season's message was "You're stupid for playing this forward, you're stupid for playing this forward."
86	* In ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' episode 31, [[FallenHero Micchy]] and [[SmugSnake Sid]] come upon one of the Overlords, who surrenders after a brief fight and promises to take them to the one who possesses the [[MacGuffin Forbidden Fruit]]. Just before they arrive, Micchy refuses to go any further, saying that it's a blatantly obvious trap. Sid, however, lets his {{Greed}} get the better of him and goes on ahead; this results in him encountering the Overlords' leader, who absolutely [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] Sid and [[TheWallsAreClosingIn crushes him inside a stone cliff face]].
87	* In the first episode of the CBBC comedy ''Kevin's Cousins'', Molly warns Kevin not to open her trunk. Kevin and his friends promptly attempt to open it, and find themselves on the receiving end of a BucketBoobyTrap.
88	* ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' is all about tricking people with bait in order to get them to foolishly give up what they could have won. It's all in good fun.
89	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s island is covered in Schmuck Bait. In the early days of the series, the characters were constantly traipsing into the jungle even though they knew the "monster" was out there. In the episode "Walkabout", Jack and Sawyer go into the plane's fuselage to investigate ''growling''. David Fury, late of Mutant Enemy, referred to this as "Schmuck Bait" on the DVD commentary.
90	* ''Series/TheMiddleman'' warns Wendy there are three [[BerserkButton things she should never, ever bring up]] in conversation with Sensei Ping. The minute said sensei pisses her off...
91	* ''Series/OddSquad'':
92	** The end of "Odd Outbreak" has [[BigEater Otto]] growing hungry after eating one of the Noisemaker's chocolates. He then proceeds to pull out another one of the chocolates from his pocket and eats it despite the cries of everyone else in the Medical Bay. The newest noise he makes is that of a harp, which is quite soothing and beneficial for most everyone, but it's never explained how Otto managed to acquire another chocolate from Oscar when his initial first attempt to get one failed.
93	** Remarking on how light your workload is by mentioning that you and/or your partner haven't had a case yet is prime Schmuck Bait. It doesn't matter where you are or how you say it -- Oprah ''will'' find you and she ''will'' give you a case to work on.
94	** The Centigurp containment unit, with one sole adorable Centigurp roaming about inside, also pure Schmuck Bait, but offers a unique example in that it's ''expected'' for agents to open the container and release all the Centigurps, lest they be fired.
95	* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', "Save Henry". Regina, Snow White, and Emma are hunting down Peter Pan when they see PandorasBox just sitting on the ground. Seeing as how the box is a FateWorseThanDeath for anyone inside it, and [[spoiler:Rumplestiltskin]] ''is'' inside it, Regina ''immediately'' deduces it's a trap. Snow White doesn't listen, goes to the box, and sets off the trap.
96	* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "The Heist", soldiers raid a secret government armory, but the guard they capture begs them not to open a box. They open it, and unleash an alien that kills them all and continues to the outside world.
97	* ''Series/PawnStars''
98	** In one episode, someone attempts to sell an old fighter plane ejection seat they had sitting in their living room for years. Frighteningly, it was still functional -- in all that time, no-one had ever pressed the "eject" button, which would have ''slammed them into the ceiling at a hundred miles an hour.''
99	** Another episode has someone selling an old rifle. When the owner cycles the bolt, a live shell falls out.
100	* A segment of ''Police Videos'' shows an operation where fake flyers were mailed to suspects saying they won a free cruise if they came to the location on the flyer. The place looked like a party room for all the prize winners but when they tried to leave they would arrest them.
101	* In an episode of ''Series/ThePretender'', Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle are investigating one of Jarod's "lairs" (a shipping container) when they see a BigRedButton with a sign saying "DANGER - DO NOT PUSH" in Jarod's handwriting. Parker tells Lyle not to push it, saying it's probably a trap. Lyle pushes it...and it IS a trap.
102	** Inverted with the lever marked "Do not pull lever" that opens the side door.
103	* In the ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episode "Mr. Yin Presents...", a note next to a tap says "Draft us a couple cold ones and let's make a toast to you falling head over heels for me." Guess what happens when someone follows instructions left by a serial killer. Justified in this case, as Yin and Yang liked to set up elaborate "games" where the detectives had to solve puzzles and follow instructions left in riddles in order to find and rescue the victims before they were killed. This forced them to choose between [[ScyllaAndCharybdis taking the schmuck bait and leaving the victims to die.]]
104	* ''Series/{{QI}}'' runs on this trope, since it is primarily about debunking commonly held beliefs.
105	** Panellists will be greeted with a siren and point deduction if they give the generally-known, obvious and WRONG answer to a question. Most panellists have come expect this and avoid obvious answers, unless it would be funny. Alan Davis is the preferred target for Schmuck Bait, receiving a siren for [[spoiler:incorrectly]] answering a "How do you do?" with "Fine, thanks." and once for simply pressing his buzzer when prompted.
106	** So the panellists know that obvious questions are schmuck bait. [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow But the question setters know that the panellists know]], so set schmuck bait questions that aren't. The panelists won't answer, so Stephen has to force the answer out of them, cajoling them until one says they will 'take the bullet for the team', and being surprised the obvious answer is the correct answer, leading to one of Creator/{{David Mitchell\|Actor}}'s rants. Of course when Stephen has to cajole the answer, and refuses to move on it must be because the answer IS right, so they know to give it. The production team know that the panellists know this. So the obvious answer IS wrong...
107	--->'''Stephen Fry''': How old are you?\
108	''[long silence]''\
109	'''David Mitchell''': Just shows you the effect of this game. You ask a question to which all four of us think "''That'' is something I ''definitely'' know the answer to!", but we've been made so uncertain, that I'm unwilling to give my own age, name, or address!
110	* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
111	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVTheInquisitor The Inquisitor]]", Lister pretends to think he's outsmarted the titular time-erasing simulant, and gives him his time gauntlet back. The Inquisitor falls for it, and ends up deleting himself from the entire space-time continuum.
112	** The M.O. of the [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]], who appear as whatever their target finds beautiful, usually a lusty, beautiful, scantily clad woman in dire need of sex... and when the target's distracted, they stick a straw in their ears. Even people who know full well the Psirens are hideous bug-monsters can't help but fall for it. The distractions don't even need to be very fool-proof: The one used on the Cat would've worked if it hadn't been for everyone else.
113	--->'''Rimmer:''' Well, if that's the best they can do, I hardly think we're in any trouble of being bewitched.\
114	'''Kryten:''' If I may, sir, that was merely the level of sophistication required to ensnare [[TheDitz the Cat]]. And it ''worked''. Had we not been here to stop him, he would now be ''on'' one of those asteroids crawling around without a brain trying to write "oh, boy, was I suckered!" with his own intestinal tract.
115	* On the old Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} show ''Series/SaluteYourShorts'', the main counselor Dr. Kahn's niece Ellen, a BrattyHalfPint that bordered on EnfantTerrible, visited and caused problems for all the campers. They eventually figured out that she liked seeing them upset, so they ignore her but tell her she will be punished if she pushes a button. It turns out the button activated a RubeGoldbergDevice designed to give her a HumiliationConga complete with ProducePelting and a BucketBoobyTrap leaving the nasty little girl CoveredInGunge.
116	* ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'': In "[[Recap/SharpeS1E1SharpesRifles Sharpe's Rifles]]", Sharpe gets Harris to make a sign reading "Keep Out" in French, and puts it at the entrance of a booby-trapped building. Sure enough, the next French cavalrymen to pass fall for it.
117	* An episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' features an Earth who treats trial-by-jury as a game show. One of their methods of finding new "contestants?" Leave a money-filled wallet on the street and arrest whoever picks it up.
118	* ''South Beach Tow's'' ChristmasEpisode ''begins'' with this as a ChekhovsGun with anonymous box of Christmas cookies that [[FatIdiot Rob Jr.]] eats despite his [[WomenAreWiser sister's]] paranoia about where they came from. [[PottyEmergency Cue bad gas and emergency bathroom run]] during a heated bilingual exchange with the owners of a [[PintsizedPowerhouse car that despite being hitched up]] ''drags the entire tow truck'' to who-knows-where. Then, [[HumiliationConga he returns to HQ sans truck where he's chewed out by his dad, loses out to]] Eddie [[TooDumbToLive who ALSO ate the cookies after Christine's warning,]] [[PottyEmergency hogged the company bathroom, leaving]] [[GassHole Rob to nearly shit himself on the floor as his dad]] [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity fires him]] [[MagnificentBitch after the anonymous baker, a former tow victim, calls to rub it in.]]
119	* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E11WinkOfAnEye Wink of an Eye]]", the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Alien of the Week]] tells Kirk not to touch a certain device. He touches it, and gets shocked. So what does he do? ''Puts both hands on it and keeps getting shocked.'' The reason is that the device in question is putting his crew into deep freeze to be preserved as potential breeding stock for the Alien. Kirk is willing to endure pain if he can only switch it off.
120	* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS5E4TheEnd The End]]" has Future!Dean trying to shoot Lucifer with the Colt. In the DVD commentary, the writers and producers describe this as a meta example of "schmuck bait", taking great pleasure at the outraged fans complaining about how stupid it would be to shoot the devil in the face.
121	* The ''Series/SweetGenius'' pantry contains a few prepared ingredients, such as pastry dough. Using any of them is likely to earn you a scolding for taking the easy path rather than making the pastry yourself.
122	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the episode "Button, Button", A couple is given a box with a button on it. They're warned that if they push the button they'll receive $200,000, and a person they don't know will die. They finally push the button and receive the money. Then they're told that the box will be re-programmed and given to ''someone they don't know''.
123	* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': In "Cell Block", Sikowitz challenges Tori and the gang who can go the longest without using any of their electronic devices. After he changes the challenge to a GirlsVsBoysPlot, a lost girl shows up at the Vega household and asks Tori if she could use her phone to call her home. Tori assumes the boys sent the girl as a [[TheMole mole]] to entice them into using their devices and guarantee the boys a victory, and slams the door on her. But the girl has no idea about the contest, and she doesn't even bring up the girl to the boys, implying she was lost for real. The lost girl wasn't even mentioned afterwards.
124	* ''Series/Warehouse13'' is full of really cool artifacts with mystic powers but dangerous side effects. Pete Lattimer is well aware of this, but still touches anything and everything where the downside isn't immediately apparent.
125	* A stunt on the 90s Nick show ''[[Series/WhatWouldYouDoNickelodeon What Would You Do?]]'' had kids alone in a room with a box that has a sign saying "Adults Only". It's actually a black-eye telescope.
126	* In ''Series/ZekeAndLuther'', Zeke takes a bath in a hotel. Near the tub is a sign saying [[RuleOfFunny Don't stick fingers in the faucet]]. He does it and it remains stuck, forcing him to do a stunt with a faucet stuck to his toe. Better than the other idea, though (which was to saw his toe off.)
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Context SchmuckBait / LiveActionTV