Many people believe that simply getting exposed to the world of television will make them instantly popular, even if they are a Geek with no friends.
For people who do manage to get themselves exposed in the local news or something similar, it only lasts very briefly, usually in seconds. This is where the old saying "15 minutes/seconds of fame" comes into play. People who do get themselves exposed to the world will usually either say hello to their mother or do something extremely stupid or moronic to make their short exposure much more glamorous; they think people will remember them for a long time, when in fact people will quickly forget them and move on. If this happens, the person may sometimes try to bug people into remembering that he or she was on TV.
Examples:
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Anime And Manga
- One episode of Hell Girl had a man tracking down and murdering a bunch of people who did this during a news report talking about the death of his wife and son in an accident.
Comic Books
- The Powerpuff Girls comic book story "Drama-O-Rama" (DC Comics, issue #48) has Sedusa staging a reality TV show throughout Townsville, knowing that everybody—even the girls—will be mugging for the cameras so much that she'll be able to rob Townsville blind.
Film
- Crank: High Voltage had a guy flaunt Eve's panties to the camera.
- Scary Movie: Gail is reporting on the brutal murder of Drew Decker, only for a teenage boy to make goofy faces behind her in an attempt to get on TV. Gail eventually gets so annoyed that she shoots him.
Gail: A small college town is in shock after the unthinkable has happened: a brutal killing spree that left one teen dead- that's it! <shoots the annoying kid> Two teens dead, and this small town shaken and stirred.
Literature
- Mike Teevee, the TV junkie from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He thinks that getting himself shrunk in order to appear on Wonka's screens is totally worth it!
- Marco in Animorphs uses this trope at one point to let an Andalite general know that the entire Andalite civilian population is watching their conversation before the general has time to say anything in front of them that he won't be able to take back. As an unfortunate consequence, humanity's first direct words to the larger universe are, "Hey, everybody! Howard Stern rules! Yah!"
Live Action TV
- In one episode of Dinosaurs, there's a TV report about a meteor about to fall on the Sinclair home. Earl and the kids look out the window and wave at the camera as the meteor plummets towards them.
- Dead Ringers once had a sketch where John Prescott does this.
- One sketch in Mr. Show has a news crew reporting on a roller coaster that's killing people, to the point where people are leaving town and boarding up their doors to try to get away from the roller coaster. Naturally, when the news crew is reporting from the line, all those people are there and waving at the camera.
- In Babylon 5 episode "And Now For A Word" humans and aliens on the title station move behind a reporter on the station as she is filming.
- Both My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope have an InsideProbe episode featuring the main cast of their respective series. Earl also has an episode of COPS (fittingly called “Our COPS Is On!”) that has the main characters treated like hometown celebrities
Music
- Girls' Generation: Yuri on Entertainment Tonight News.
Soooyoung: I actually personally really like Girls' Generation.MC: Is there someone you like in particular?Sooyoung: Personally... They're all trying to show me their merits and charm... but Yuri who is right in front of me.MC: Can someone be more tacky?Yuri: (waves to the camera) Mom, I'm on TV!
Other Sites
- Fundies Say the Darndest Things: Usually inverted in that the fundies say things over news reels or get quoted on news websites only to appear on the site afterwards. However, there was the case of Xiao-Feng-Fury (see Rogues Gallery), who made national news over her Macy's incident
.
Video Games
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: When the Shinra Middle Manager is interviewed by a reporter in Junon, he excitedly uses the camera to greet his wife and daughter, and keeps trying to talk to them even when the reporter tries to leave.
- Serious Sam: "Look ma, I'm a lumberjack!"
Western Animation
- Spongebob Squarepants: "Spongebob's Last Stand". One Bikini Bottomite overdoes it while the news reporter is not amused.
Bill: Hi Mom, hi Dad. Hey Dr. Slieen. [SpongeBob is seen running away from jellyfish in the background] Hey Jennifer, hey Sally, hey Francis, hey Mable, hey Julie, hey Abigail.
- Twice Upon a Time: Rod Rescueman shouts "Hey look, I'm on camera!" when he sees himself on Ibor's screen, just before Ibor knocks him out.
- An Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy episode had Augie bragging to a friend that Doggie Daddy was a TV star. Owning up to it, Augie films Doggie Daddy in various and unsuccessful feats of daring with the idea of getting a TV station to show it. At the end, Doggie Daddy is not only on TV, he's in the TV.
- Cartoon Planet: One of Space Ghost's musical interludes Everybody Wants To Be Space Ghost" begins with this...
Everybody wants to be Space Ghost / Everybody near and far / Hey, ma, look at me / I'm on TV / Everybody wants to be a star
- The Veggietales Christmas Spectacular: On learning their film has gone missing, Bob ever so gently reminds Larry that they're on network TV. Larry then sees he's on camera and flashes a big, excited smile.
