Broken Record / Live-Action TV

Acting like a Broken Record in Live-Action TV Live-Action TV Live-Action TV Live-Action TV

Standard Televison Standard Television Standard Television

• An iconic clip from America's Funniest Home Videos has a little girl singing “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, except just the first lyrics. Only the first lyrics. Poor Bob Saget had to bury his head under a pillow as she kept going.
• American Gothic (1995): "There's somebody at the door..."
• American Idol brings us a contestant who only knew two lines from a song...
• From the Angel episode "Smile Time": "I wrote a song about courage and pluck. It's called Courage and Pluck. It goes like this: courage and pluck, courage and pluck..."
• During the last season of The A-Team, Murdock infiltrated a mental hospital by pretending he thought he was Frank Sinatra, and singing his songs ad nauseam. When he was put in a straitjacket and locked in a padded room, he sang "Fairy tales can, Fairy tales can, Fairy tales can ..." over and over again.
• The Big Bang Theory: *knock knock knock* "Penny!?" *knock knock knock* "Penny!?" *knock knock knock* "Penny!?"
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine:
  • In "Karen Peralta", Jake lists topics to avoid during Amy's first visit at his mom's place: "Topics to avoid — how my dad left us and ruined our lives, how my dad got remarried twice and ruined our lives, how my dad moved to Canada and ruined our lives."
  • In "Hitchcock & Scully", Charles is being scammed. He was contacted by someone who is supposedly a brother of his adopted son Nikolaj. Jake is like a broken record during one conversation:
    Charles: There were so many warning signs about Dragomir. Nikolaj had never heard of him.
    Jake: He's 45.
    Charles: He asked for money.
    Jake: He's 45.
    Charles: He didn't have a birth certificate.
    Jake: He's 45.
    Charles: He looked older than 15.
    Jake: He's 45.
    Charles: Fine. He was 45.
• El Chapulín Colorado said he learned English thanks to records and proceded to repeat the record, even the part where it broke.
  Chapulín: I have a pencil. I have a book... a book... a book...
• In a Cold Case episode, this occurring is what tips listeners off to the fact that something is wrong at the local radio station. Sure enough, when the DJ's coworkers investigate, they find that he's been murdered.
• A police video featured on Disorderly Conduct, and later World's Dumbest..., consists of a perpetrator arrested for a barroom brawl chanting "False arrest! False arrest! False arrest! False arrest! Victim assaulted! Victim assaulted! Victim assaulted! Yes or no? Yes or no? What is my charge? What is my charge?" etc.
• Doctor Who:
  • There is nothing in the world worse than a Flanderized Dalek. "EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE!"
    • Except, of course, realizing you've become one. Eggs. Stir. Mix. Bake.
  • An early one from "The Ambassadors of Death". "Hello, Space Control, we are not cleared for re-entry."
  • The Marshal's time-looped repetitions of "Fire!" in "The Armageddon Factor".
  • The 1996 TV movie has a record player skipping, repeating one line over and over again until the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) gets up to fix it. Comes back at the end of the movie when the same record skips in the same place. The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) lampshades it by saying "Not again." To be fair though, after the first time the record skipped, The Master's "remains" were breaking free of their jar to set the movie into motion.
  • "The Sontaran Stratagem": Martha interviews a hypnotized factory worker who responds to almost all questions with a monotone "I am here to work."
  • "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead":
    • Once the Vashta Nerada get you, your zombified corpse is left repeating its last words ad infinitem:
      Evangelista: Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream.
      Dave: Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?
      Other Dave: We should go. Doctor! We should go. Doctor! We should go. Doctor!
    • There's also the courtesy node that adopts your face and voice when you're uploaded to the core:
      Node Donna: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved. Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved. Donna Noble has left the library...
  • "Turn Left": In a visual example, when the Doctor and Donna exit the fortune-teller's at the end, all of the writing, including that on the TARDIS, has turned into "BAD WOLF".
  • "Journey's End": The first sign that something's wrong with Donna (or the Doctor-Donna) is when she starts to talk like this during her Doctor-like babble.
  • "The Eleventh Hour": The Atraxis' ultimatum: "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat: Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat: Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat..."
• Exaggerated in an episode of Eye TV, in which Uschi and Dr. Sowieso promote a forgetfulness spray. After a while, Dr. Sowieso uses it on Uschi, who then starts over with the presentation. Then he uses the spray again... and again... He doesn't seem to get tired of it. Later on, both of them are affected and forget what the spray does, so they decide to simply try it out...
• An episode of Farscape features Crichton becoming Unstuck in Time, an experience that begins with D'Argo saying, "Crichton! There's no one else aboard! There's no one else aboard! There's no one else aboard! There's no one else aboard! There's no one else aboard!"
• Father Ted: "Ah, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, GO ON!"
• Henry Danger: In "Grand Theft Otto", Henry must find a way to protect his identity when Piper's class parrot suddenly starts repeating nonstop: "HENRY IS KID DANGER! HENRY IS KID DANGER! HENRY IS KID DANGER!"
• House of the Dragon: As a teen, Rhaenyra wants to listen to the same song on repeat. The technology level means that in order to achieve this, a minstrel must play it again and again. He's tired of it and would like to stop, but she's the princess and she orders him to play it again.
• Played for humor in How I Met Your Mother when Ted's girl of the week assumed Robin and Barney were a couple, to which Robin swiftly answered with "no, no, no, no" repeatedly. Made even more funnier because Robin and Barney date later on.
  Barney: Really? Sixteen no's? Really?
• iCarly: "Nora! This is supposed to be a party. A birthday party. That will go on forever...and ever. And ever...and ever...and ever...and ever...and ever..."
• In Kamen Rider Double, when Shotaro attempts a Double Maximum Drive, the overload lights Double's body on fire while his Memories shout "MAXIMUM DRIVE!" over and over as he screams in pain.
  • A more positive version shortly thereafter: When Double gets CycloneJoker Xtreme, it has the power to use up to four Memories at once safely: "Cyclone, Maximum Drive! Heat, Maximum Drive! Luna, Maximum Drive! Joker! Maximum Drive!"
• Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: After Masamune Dan becomes Kamen Rider Chronus (and the new Big Bad), he convinces Hiiro to undergo a Face–Heel Turn by dangling the possibility of bringing his dead girlfriend Saki back to life in front of his face. After Hiiro accomplishes one of Masamune's tasks, he "rewards" the doctor by reviving Saki...in an incomplete state, flickering like a distorted TV image and saying nothing but "Become the best doctor in the world!" over and over. When Hiiro demands he bring Saki back for real, Masamune says he hasn't earned it yet, and for the next several episodes Saki is standing there in Genm Corporation's server room as motivation (though it's clearly more like twisting the knife for poor Hiiro).
• Legion: In "Chapter 26", while Charles Xavier is visiting the mind of his son David Haller, the latter's multiple personalities exclaim "Daddy!" non-stop. Charles is so disturbed by the growing number of Davids calling out for their father that he has to use his telepathy to escape from David's deranged psyche.
• Monty Python's Flying Circus
  • The Conquistador Coffee sketch is followed by a film of a landscape with a passage of classical music playing. The music starts to skip, and John Cleese comes in and removes the needle from the record. He sits at his desk and says "and now for something completely different-etely different-etely different-etely different-etely different-etely different." The opening titles start and it goes into a repetitive skip halfway through.
  • Spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam. This infamous sketch is actually the origin of the modern meaning of spamming.
• Power Rangers:
  • Power Rangers Operation Overdrive: This is the first step in Mac's Robotic Reveal. "Good thing. Good thing. Good thing."
  • Power Rangers RPM: Hilariously subverted when Doctor K contacts the Rangers via hologram when Colonel Truman is out for her blood. She fakes doing this until he leaves, which takes longer than she would've liked. "After what I've seen - good, I thought he would never leave!"
• Radio Enfer: After Dominique and Jocelyne lie by saying that Germain became a millionaire, Carl keeps saying "Oh boy, oh boy..." in shock. It's only after Maria falsely claims that Claudia Schiffer is in the cafeteria that he snaps out of it.
• Red Dwarf: Holly trying to explain to Lister that "Everybody is dead, Dave" in "The End".
• Lampshaded in Smallville:
  Jimmy: Not to sound like a broken record, but it is Davis Bloome.
• Sherlock: The episode "His Last Vow" ends on a cliffhanger. It appears Moriarty is Not Quite Dead when a static loop of him saying "Did you miss me?" suddenly appears on TV screens across the country.
  • There's a Call-Back to this in "The Final Problem". We realise Eurus has taken electronic control of Sherrinford when the emergency intercom system seems to be malfunctioning as it starts shouting gibberish, before it becomes clear it's actually Moriarty's voice.
    Intercom: Red alert! Red alert! Big red bouncy red alert! Klingons attacking lower decks! Also cowboys in black hats! Darth Vader! Don't be alarmed, I'm here now! Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Miss me? Miss me? Miss me? Miss me? Miss me? ...
• Tin Man: Glitch is called that because he's prone to repeating himself. This, along with most of his personality, is a symptom of having half his brain removed by the Big Bad.
• Perhaps the ultimate example, in terms of simplicity, is the "Cookies" song from the children's programme Today's Special; the song is nothing but the word 'cookies' repeated over and over and over and over and over again 32 times!
• On Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego, the Bonus Round music consists almost entirely of Rockapella chanting "Chip-chi-bambala".

Puppet Shows Puppet Shows Puppet Shows Puppet Shows Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street:
  • There is a "muppet" called Sam the Robot who will tell anyone who is around that Machines Are Perfect... except he'd always get stuck so he'd say "Machines are perfec-are perfec-are perfec-are perfec..."
  • Let's not forget the Martians. "YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP. UH HUH. UH HUH."
  • Then there's Julia, a new Muppet with autism. She has a bit of echolalia when communicating with other characters, but also repeating what she, herself, says. For example, she says "Play, play, play" and "Boing, boing, boing", etc.
• Spitting Image: "The Chicken Song (12 Hour Version)" uses this deliberately. The end of the record was made as a locked groove, meaning that (due to the way the song is laid out for maximum annoyance) the first bar repeats forever until you stop it.
• At the end of The Muppet Show guest starring Ruth Buzzi, the Mechanical Wind-up TV Show Host closes out the show by thanking "Buth Ruzzi...Buth Ruzzi...Buth Ruzzi..."

Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling Pro Wrestling

• After Brock Lesnar broke The Undertaker's Streak at WrestleMania XXX, Paul Heyman would use this trope to gloat about his client.
  Paul Heyman: "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to remind you that... My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania! My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania!"

Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio

• On I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, there is a regular game called "Pick-Up Song", where each panelist takes it in turn to sing along with a song, the music is faded out and they continue singing, then the music is faded back in to see how well they've been able to keep in time with the original song. The game still used a record player up until 2006, and this resulted in several moments where the music came back to reveal the needle had got stuck, such as when Graeme Garden was seemingly doing a pretty good job with "Nellie the Elephant", only for the sound to come up with "was never seen again... was never seen again... was never seen again... was never seen again..."

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