Moment Killer / Live-Action TV

Moment Killing in live-action TV.

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• 7th Heaven:
  • During Lucy and Jimmy Moon's first unofficial date, the two are watching a romantic French film and about to share a moment when Eric bounds into the room with his guitar. This was actually a revenge ploy by Mary, who was angry at Lucy for some reason or another.
  • Happens with these two again in the Valentine's Day episode. Jimmy's about to give Lucy her first kiss when an usher pops in and announces that Simon, Nigel, Lynn and Ruthie were caught acting up and have been kicked out of the theater.
• On 30 Rock, Liz invokes this trope to get in the way of the weird sexual tension between Jack and his mother-in-law, played by Mary Steenburgen. Liz proudly declares that, "All my life, I have been the third wheel that prevents people from having sex." Apparently she was nicknamed "The Blocker" in college.
  Diana: Oh, you're still here.
  Liz: That's what they all say.
• Alias: Several moments between Sydney and Vaughn were killed: at the end of "The Counteragent", Asst. Director Kendall interrupts a particularly tender moment between the two; at the beginning of "Phase One", Weiss bursts into the "flirting corner" with exceptionally awful timing, though they later fix that, becoming a couple and having a baby together.
• The Andy Griffith Show: Barney Fife renders it all-but-impossible for Andy to have an uninterrupted date with Helen. If he isn't butting in to alert Andy to some kind of crisis (i.e. Opie wants to see a horror movie), he's dropping by just to ask what they're doing.
• Angel:
  • A very unique version happens in the third season finale. Cordelia asked Angel to meet her at romantic spot on the beach to talk about their feelings, and very strange things happen to prevent that from happening. Angel was betrayed by his son, shackled up in a casket and dropped into the ocean. Cordelia Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence. It sorta Makes Sense In Context.
  • There's also the end of "Waiting in the Wings", when Angel is trying to tell Cordy about his feelings for her...and then Groo shows up.
• Ashes to Ashes (2008): Every time Gene and Alex get near each other, Shaz pops in with some vital bit of info or other. Jim Keats manages to pull off one hell of an epic cock block. Mind you, that was accomplished with pictures of Sam Tyler so maybe he deserves the credit after all...
• Batman (1966) episode "The Bat's Kow Tow" concludes with Batman and Catwoman Almost Kiss when Robin off screen shouts out something along the lines of "C'mon, Batman! The police are here!" Catwoman, in a contained fury says, "Boy Blunder!"
• Being Human rather enjoys this trope. While Nina and George are an already established couple, there is a scene in the third series that is just one moment killer after another. They are attempting foreplay and are first interrupted by her hair getting caught on his glasses. Then the pen in his pocket makes it difficult to move. Then Mitchell obliviously walks in, climbs over the bed, takes something off the nightstand, and rushes out. Nina tries to recapture the moment, but George just whines and pouts.
• In the Better Off Ted episode "The Great Repression", Veridian's productivity plummets when Love Is in the Air due to the company's new lenient sexual harassment policy. Ted and Veronica are just about to succumb and start making out too when Ted's daughter walks in and kills the moment. Ted and Veronica realize they can harness the moment-killing power of children, and they have the day-care class marched through the office periodically to make the employees stop thinking about sex and get back to work.
• The Big Bang Theory:
  • Happens plenty of times, usually between Penny and Leonard. The biggest one would be mid-season two, in the Just Friends period between their first date and their official hook up. Leonard's mom, a ruthless neuropsychologist, was visiting and quickly reduced Penny to tears discussing her father issues and just being there incited Leonard's own parental issues. Seeking solace with each other, Leonard and Penny ended up in her apartment doing tequila shooters and other drinking games. One thing led to another and they were in Penny's bed. Leonard was giddy that this was finally happening and referenced how his Mom would interpret the Freudian implications of what was happening (basically they represented each others parents, Leonard was Penny's father and Penny was Leonard's mother). This disturbed Penny enough to ruin the mood, though the next morning they both silently agreed to just not talk about it.
  • Also, Sheldon does this many times by knocking on Leonard's door and interrupting with something unimportant. For example: he wants Leonard to participate in a card trick. He also spent some time with Penny trying to decipher the meaning of a tie on Leonard's doorknob, which Penny explained as "Do Not Disturb." Sheldon ended up calling him to let him know "Message received."
  • When Leonard and Penny end up alone in a hotel room in Big Sur, Raj walks in and climbs into the other bed. He also asks if they want to watch Bridget Jones' Diary.
  • This is a Running Gag in the season three premiere. Leonard's come home from a long trip to the North Pole, and Penny has missed him very much. While there's no shortage of kissing, it's always interrupted, right up until the end of the episode.
• The Bisexual: Leila tries to masturbate, but is turned off by Gabe's student loudly moaning while they have sex.

• The Brady Bunch:
  • Two episodes, both involving Greg and on-and-off girlfriend Rachel at a drive-in movie. Neither progress to sex, but it's clear both are hot to kiss — big time (especially by 1970s standards):
    • "The Big Bet": Greg and Rachel clearly want to kiss. Problem: Greg — as part of losing an earlier bet to his younger brother, Bobby — has been forced to bring him along. Bobby, in this Annoying Younger Sibling tale, is a cross between Random Accident (tearing the top of his dad's convertible) and Deliberate Destruction (when Greg and Rachel begin to snuggle up, Bobby – who is sitting in the back seat – complains that he can't see).
    • In "Greg Gets Grounded", aired a year later, Greg has gotten to ask Rachel out again, and again go to a drive-in movie. Clearly, a huge lip-lock is on both their minds... when suddenly a frog jumps from the back seat onto Rachel's head. Greg, it seemed, had forgotten to remove his brothers' box full of frogs from the back seat; he had taken Peter and Bobby to a frog-jumping contest as part of an earlier agreement. This incident is a Random Accident.
  • The off-screen romance between Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick hit its peak in 1973. Williams details a "Deliberate Destruction" encounter in his book Growing Up Brady, where he and McCormick had gone up to Williams' room (after supper at Williams' parents' house) to listen to records ... as foreplay to you-know-what. The two had all but undressed when – on Williams' stereo — the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon dropped onto the turntable. Williams recalled that his father heard the start of the first song and immediately knew what was about to happen. A stern rap on the door — to announce that dessert was ready, of all things — followed.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Buffy and Angel when they first kiss — Angel vamps out unexpectedly. This is how Buffy finds out about Angel's true nature.
  • A more long-lasting moment killer is when Faith started to teeter towards The Dark Side and Angel managed to capture her before she killed Xander. While talking her down and actually getting her to listen, Wesley burst in with a Watchers Council squad to apprehend her. This effectively ruined any chance to stop her before she made a full Face–Heel Turn. Although this was the start of a unique friendship between her and Angel because they were not so different.
  • The beginning of Season Two. Willow and Xander are out for a nighttime stroll, and Xander playfully dabs Willow's nose with ice cream. He's just about to kiss it off when they are interrupted by a vampire, which Buffy promptly arrives back in town to kill. Willow later attempts to recreate the moment, but by that point, Xander is back to being all hung up over Buffy.
  • Faith spies Scott Hope with another girl, knowing that he had dumped Buffy. So she swings into action and pretends to be an ex who has\had received several STDs during their relationship in a bid to get back at Scott for Buffy.
  • In the Time of your Life storyline Buffy returns to Willow, who it's pretty much canon loves Buffy, just after she had to kill an evil version of her. Enter Kennedy to stop any feelings between the two.
• On Castle, both Castle's mother Martha and Detective Kevin Ryan appear to be separately competing to see who can inadvertently interrupt Castle and Beckett during a warm and fuzzy romantic moment the most.
  • Martha wins — for all time — in "After the Storm", when she comes home from the Hamptons early... the morning after their first time, thus having Beckett make a mad dash for the closet so she wouldn't find out.
  • Although the man dying in the swimming pool just before Castle and Beckett were about to go skinny-dipping in "Murder He Wrote" came close to topping Martha.
• Toward the end of Chuck's second season, Chuck and Sarah finally make out and start to have sex, but when Chuck gets a condom from his wallet, he only finds an IOU from Morgan. This sufficiently kills the moment that their relationship stalls for another season.
• Community: Moment Killers and Cannot Spit It Out are two of the major tools used to keep Jeff and Annie from acting on their mutual love and UST.
  • The Dean's interuption of Jeff and Slater in episode "Interpretive Dance", just when they are starting to makeout.
  • Jeff and Annie get interrupted or otherwise distracted in several timelines of "Remedial Chaos Theory".
  • Jeff and Annie get interrupted during a sweet moment by Pierce in "Intro to Political Science".
• On CSI: NY, when Danny follows Lindsay to Montana for moral support, they find themselves alone in the courtroom after the trial and almost have their first kiss...but reporters burst in, snapping pictures and shouting questions.

• Death Valley Billy has two of these with Kirsten. Once When the bomb goes off in the station and again when Stubeck "glock-blocks" him by trying to arrest a secret vampire in the station.. Billy is so upset by the first time that his session with the psychologist is all about it. The deaths of 2 colleagues and the serious wounding of another, not to mention having to fight to survive the night don't get mentioned.

• Doctor Who:
  • "The Shakespeare Code":
    • When the Doctor and Martha are sharing a bed at the inn (fully clothed), Martha looks like she wouldn't mind the Doctor making a romantic pass. He starts rambling on about Rose instead.
    • One instance where the Doctor wasn't involved at all:
      Shakespeare: The Doctor may never kiss you; why not entertain a man who will?
      Martha: I don't know how to tell you this, o great genius, but... your breath doesn't half stink.
  • "The End of Time": In a hearts-to-hearts between the Doctor and the Master, the Doctor almost persuades the Master to come and travel with him through the universe. The Master is going all teary-eyed and mellow, there's a declaration of affection on the Doctor's part — and then Wilfred shouts his way into the conversation.[1]
  • Turnabout is fair play, though, since the Doctor himself is often guilty of this; for instance in "The Lodger", when Craig, his landlord and Hapless Nice Guy, has invited his best friend Sophie around to finally admit to her that he's in love with her. He's just about to blurt it out when cue the Doctor, having decided to rewire the house's electricity.
  • "Time Heist": A student walks in on Clara and Danny nearly kissing. They react swiftly.
  • In "Extremis" Bill, the Doctor's companion and an out lesbian, has brought a girl she fancies, named Penny, to her step-mother's flat. Penny is a bit nervous about the whole thing, and Bill tells her that whatever their relationship is at this point, they have no need to feel guilty about this. Cue the Pope walking into the room, irate and muttering in Italian. The same thing happens in the next episode, this time involving the UN Secretary General.
  • "Orphan 55":
    • Elderly Benni is about to propose to his long-time partner Vilma when Yaz unwittingly interrupts while admiring the scenery.
    • The Doctor and Yaz both interrupt Ryan and Bella flirting with each other during the truck ride.
• A horrifically literal example pops up in the Dollhouse episode "Getting Closer". Topher and Bennett do outright kiss. Moments later, Saunders shoots Bennett in the head.
• Farscape:
  • Aeryn and John are stranded, apparently going to die. So of course they kiss and start taking off their clothes. Then D'Argo shows up, doing his Big Damn Heroes impression - easily a Funny Moment what with Aeryn's pissed-off voice ("Someone's docking?!") and D'Argo's obvious amusement. Also notable is that Aeryn manages to be the moment killer in most of their future romantic moments. Though attacking spaceships, imminent death and Scorpius-take-overs do manage to contribute to aborted romantic moments.
    • In one notable scene, Aeryn suggests they resolve their UST on the spot, despite the fact that they're crawling through a space station that's breaking up at the time. Just as Aeryn is unzipping her top to show she's not wearing a bra, the floor collapses under her.
  • John manages to do this when he walks in on Chiana and D'argo in the... er, middle of things, shall we say. Chiana, being Chiana, doesn't really mind the intrusion, D'argo however does, and calls Crichton on "killing the moment" for them (warning him in non too vague terms to please not do it again).
    John: (panicking and covering his eyes) Sorry! Bad time. Uh, good time. Wrong time!
  • And of course the final episode (before the movies) had John and Aeryn in a row boat with John proposing However an alien species we've never seen before turns up and reduces them to small cubes of flesh.
    Aeryn: You and your timing.
• George on Feel Good manages an escalating Moment Killer after Mae comes home to find her dressed in a sexy cop uniform, attempting roleplay. It starts with her telling Mae they're under arrest for "war crimes" (hastily corrected to "for being too fit for the streets"); then Mae asks if they get a lawyer and George uses the excuse that the lawyer has the day off because "his kid's got ALS"; then it culminates in George giving her sexy cop name: "Detective Rosa Parks".
• Firefly:
  • In "Objects in Space", Simon and Kaylee are talking, one thing leads to another, they both lean in, about to kiss for the first time, and then Book interrupts by accident.
  • Simon also has the dubious distinction of having killed at least one moment on his own, though. When alone with Kaylee, in a freak show of sorts, he gives as reason that he is attracted to her, that she is the only woman in his life who is neither married, a "professional," or a close blood relative. He is, of course, trying to say that Kaylee is the only girl for him, but Kaylee completely misunderstands and Simon's unable to articulate himself well-enough to clear up the confusion. The ensuing mess is best summed up by Wash, "Oh my God! It's grotesque! Oh, and there's something in a jar." Kaylee walks off muttering something in Chinese; the 'Cussifly' app actually translates it as "Why don't you tell the cow about its beautiful eyes...?", which is a nice touch, as "cow eyes" are used to describe "unstated romantic attraction".
  • Mal had another moment, compounded by Kaylee's reaction. Simon and Kaylee get drunk. Next morning, Mal finds them fast asleep in the bar, cuddled up together. He pauses to double-take then deliberately kicks them awake. Even Kaylee's a little startled by the situation she and Simon find themselves in - Simon naturally panics and tries to reassure Mal that he would never do anything disrespectful to Kaylee such as randomly sleeping around with her. It's fairly obvious what he means but Kaylee misinterprets it as him not wanting to sleep with her and takes it so badly she abandons him at the bar.
• For All Mankind: In "The Weight", during the intro when Tracy is having a moment looking out onto the moonscape, and the music cuts out when the cameraman says he thinks the camera wasn't on.
• In Forever, Jo is dating Isaac, a rich, handsome man who offers to take her to Paris for a few days. Henry is happy for her and recommends seeing the city by "getting lost," just wandering and exploring. When Jo gets in her boyfriend's car to go to the airport (to take his private jet), she is visibly turned off by him planning out their entire trip down to the second. When she asks if there's any chance they could just "get lost", her boyfriend misinterprets it and says he would never let that happen to them. Cut to Jo showing up on Henry's doorstep, suitcase in tow, and she explains that she realized she didn't want to go to Paris...with Isaac. Just before she can tell Henry who she does want to go to Paris with, Abe walks in and totally ruins the moment. To be fair, Abe does have a very good reason.
• Frasier:
  • Constantly occurring in the seventh season finale. Nearly every supporting character from the episode enters at one point or another, interrupting Niles confessing his feelings for Daphne.
  • Also in the seventh season, Frasier and Roz come quite close to hooking up when Kenny barges in unknowingly interrupting them. Of course Frasier and Roz do eventually sleep together in season 9, the aftermath of which can be seen as closure for Frasier/Roz shippers who can now see that they are better suited as Just Friends.
• Friends:
  • Ross and Rachel. In "The One with the Blackout", Ross is about to declare his feelings to Rachel on the balcony, then gets attacked by a psycho cat who belongs, of course, to Paolo.
  • Also, in "The One Where the Monkey Gets Away", Ross is about to declare his feelings to Rachel again, when her ex-fiance barges into the apartment.
  • This happens again with Rachel in The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs when she is about to reveal her feeling to her assistant Tag until he realizes that his car is being stolen.

• Full House:
  • Through a combination of unconscious design and Idiot Matchmaker, 5-year-old Michelle — desperate to have a mother — tries to match her father with her kindergarten teacher. To set the mood, she makes them both peanut butter sandwiches ... then, a few minutes later (through 5-year-old patience), innocently asks "Are you in lllllooooooooovvvvvvvvvvveeeeee yet?" (Of course, the 35-year-old Danny realizes what's going on and explains to his disappointed daughter that her teacher — who is in her late 50s — is married and that romance isn't going to happen.)
  • In another episode, Jesse and Becky are trying to have sex, but Michelle keeps innocently knocking on their door every few minutes asking them to play with her, even in the middle of the night.
• Game of Thrones: The foreplay between King Renly Baratheon and Ser Loras Tyrell is unexpectedly interrupted after Renly starts kissing the bruises on Loras' chest. This reminds Loras of the humiliating defeat he suffered at the melee competition earlier in the day, and it kills the mood.
• Happens a few times in early episodes of Get Smart - in the pilot, Smart realizes 99 is a girl (after quite awhile), they draw closer, closer, and his dog Fang lets out a bark. 99 says "He's right." and they go after the bad guys.
• Gilmore Girls had Kirk and his night terrors interrupting Luke and Lorelai's first real kiss.
• Finn for Puck and Quinn, twice, in the same episode of Glee. First when the two were about to kiss, and then when Puck tells her he wants to be with her and their baby and she tells him he's special.
• Gossip Girl:
  • Dan for Blair and Chuck in the season two episode where she has decided to take the chance and tell Chuck that she loves him. Ironic since she originally turned to Dan for help on how to get Chuck into bed without telling him she loved him (he refused to put out unless she confessed love and she didn't want to let him win) and Dan gave her a little speech that convinced her that it was better to take the chance and risk her pride for a shot at happiness. Dan then does a 180 and realizes he hates Blair so he intercepts her on her way to see Chuck and basically tells her she's doomed if she confesses love to Chuck Bass. She tells him he's wrong, but when she's face to face with Chuck she loses nerve and they end up arguing instead.
  • Also Vanessa in season one, when Dan and Serena try to have sex for the first time. Dan does it to Chuck and Blair again in the season three finale. Chuck's on one knee, box in hand, says "Blair, will you-" and then Dan punches Chuck for sleeping with his sister hours before.
• Happy Days: Two instances, both in the opening credits, are well known to fans:
  • Seasons 1-2: Ralph and a girl are making out at the drive-in... only for the car door to accidentally open and the two to fall out. Richie and Potsie, who are in the car parked next to them, witness the incident; Potsie is amused and laughing his ass off, but Richie doesn't see what's so funny.
  • Season 10: One of the clips shows Fonzie moving in for a kiss with girlfriend Ashley Pfister (Linda Purl) ... only for Ashley's daughter, Heather (Heather O'Rourke) to pop in unexpectedly. Both Fonzie and Ashley just laugh, as Heather is sooooooooooo adorable! (Perhaps the intent of the producers was to pass off the character of Heather O'Rourke as adorable.)
• House of Anubis: Aggravatingly often, usually something mundane. It's a favorite trick of the writers, and has happened to basically every pairing on the show at least once. Lampshaded by Nina in the season one finale, just before Fabian asks her to the prom.
  Nina: Now hurry up before there's an earthquake, or a swarm of locusts, or anything else that stops you from asking.
• House of Cards (US): Remy and Jackie are making out and about to have sex when Remy asks Jackie — an army veteran-turned-politician — about the meaning of a tattoo she sports. He loses his libido when she says she got the tattoo because the pain of it helped her deal with all the people she had to kill as a soldier.
• How I Met Your Mother:
  • In the season seven premiere, Robin is about confess her resurfaced feelings for Barney when his phone rings. This puts a serious damper on the moment, seeing as the caller is Barney's new romantic interest and Robin actually ends up Playing Cyrano for them.
  • Similarly, in the S7 episode "Disaster Averted", we see an almost-kiss in the rain between Robin and Barney interupted by Robin's dad calling her.
  • In the fifth season finale, after Robin crashes at Ted's after being dumped by Don, the two come close to kissing after having too much to drink while Ted is trying to comfort her. However, at the last moment, Robin accidentally knocks off his baseball cap to reveal his hair, which he had bleached hideously blond on a dare earlier in the episode, causing both of them burst out laughing hysterically. Future!Ted notes that "And that's how dying my hair stopped your Aunt Robin and I from doing something we both would have regretted."
  • And in the season eight episode "Splitsville", they have another Almost Kiss that was interrupted by — wait for it — another telephone call, this one with the news that Barney accidentally made good on a threat he'd previously made to Robin. No-one hates cell phones quite like a Swarkles shipper.
  • In season nine Ted is trying to hook up with a woman at the wedding and things are going well till she gets a phone call that she was fired from her job as a school teacher because all the kids hated her. Things go downhill from there and the woman quickly becomes a sobbing wreck. Ted then tries to extricate himself from the situation but he keeps missing the right moment and get interrupted every time. Then the woman wants to have sex with him to forget all the bad things that happened to her but Ted is too much of a gentleman and kills the moment himself. The next day it seems that he will be able to hook up with the only other available woman at the wedding when he makes a toast to honor the church minister who just died. However, it turns out that the minister was the first woman's uncle and Ted once again has to comfort the crying woman and give up any chance of having sex that weekend.
• iCarly:
  • Spencer does this to all 3 of them: he cockblocks Carly hard in her attempt to kiss Shane in iSaw Him First; when Freddie hits on Carly in iDon't Wanna Fight, a flush is heard from Spencer's toilet; and as for Seddie fans, Spencer breaking in to find his banjo before they even answer Carly's question if Sam and Freddie liked their kiss.
  • The episode iSaw Him First is quite full of moment killers where both girls attempt to kiss Shane first in all futility.
  • In iSaved Your Life Mrs. Benson abruptly interrupts as Carly and Freddie are in the middle of a heated make out session. In his bed. With Freddie having just come out of the shower, wearing only a bathrobe.
• Happens between Maddy and Jonathan in several episodes of Jonathan Creek. Most of them interrupted by someone from the case calling or showing up on their doorstep or a small misunderstanding turned up to eleven by Maddie (finding a pulse monitor on Jonathan when they're about to have sex, spotting him in another woman's car on the eve of his birthday).
• A Running Gag in Kaamelott is for Arthur to be relaxing in the bath only for someone to drop by on business without regard for him, well, being in the bath.
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien had a character played by Jon Glaser who could ruin any moment by saying one word. That word? Pubes.
• Law & Order: UK: James Steel and Alesha Philips are walking down the street, him having just resigned as CP. They chat idly for a while, then stop as he whispers her name, making the viewer think that we're surely going to get The Big Damn Kiss or Anguished Declaration of Love… and then Alesha's phone rings and she's called back to work. James laughs bitterly at this and sadly watches her walk away.
• Life on Mars:
  • This happens quite literally: Sam Tyler is leaning over the table to kiss WPC Cartwright... when his future self has an induced heart attack.
  • Count how many times Gene Hunt interrupts a heart-to-heart talk between Sam and Annie throughout both seasons. He's paid back in Ashes to Ashes (2008), though.
• Lizzie McGuire: In "Clueless", when Sam McGuire inadvertently interrupts Lizzie and Gordo to tell Lizzie about an eel-cooking competition on TV just as Gordo is finally about to ask her out.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: After Galadriel confesses that she enjoyed the feeling of fighting by his side just as much, Halbrand is touched by her confession. Too bad they are interrupted by a soldier sent by Miriel, before they could continue their discussion. Halbrand leaves with a deep sigh, clearly not liking that they were interrupted.
• In the second season Lucifer episode Stewardess Interruptus, Lucifer and Chloe were on the verge of admitting their feelings for each other when a random woman Lucifer had slept with in the past burst in on them, looking for a hookup. Chloe actually believes Lucifer when he protests that he did not know the woman was coming and had only intended to have a quiet dinner with Chloe, but the damage was already done at that point.
• From Mad TV, "My Gay Dad" which is about a girl whose gay dad steals her boyfriends.
• On Malcolm in the Middle, Malcolm and Cynthia are plagued by this when she's first introduced, whether it's her offputting habits or his Digging Yourself Deeper.
• Merlin (2008):
  • Merlin accidently interrupts a tender moment between Gwen and Arthur.
  • Merlin and Arthur constantly serve as their own moment killers. The two of them are always stumbling into tender moments, only for one of them to freak out and toss a sarcastic mood-breaker into the conversation at the last minute. However, Arthur doesn't quite succeed at it in The Tears of Uther Pendragon, while Merlin is helping Arthur on with his armor before the battle... the moment happens, and the moment-killing element is too little, too late.
    Arthur: It's not like you to get nervous, is it, Merlin?
    Merlin: I'm not nervous.
    Arthur: No?
    Merlin: Because I trust in your destiny.
    Arthur: ...Have you been on the cider?
    Merlin: It is your fate to be the greatest King Camelot has ever known... and your victory today will be remembered, by every age; 'till the end of time. (long silence)
    Arthur: There are times, Merlin, when you display a sort of... I don't know what it is. I want to say — it's not wisdom. But yes. That's what it is. (long silence fraught with meaningful looks) Oh, don't look so pleased, the rest of the time you're a complete idiot.
• Mocked in Mystery Science Theater 3000. In the episode featuring Theater/Hamlet, when Polonius walks in on King Claudius and Queen Gertrude flirting around, Crow quips "What is it, Cold-Water-On-The-Groin... I mean, Polonius?"
• In the opener of one episode of The Nanny when everyone is chatting excitedly that Maxwell's latest play is nominated for five Tonys, Fran's mother Sylvia comments on how embarrassing it would be to be up for five awards and not win one, causing an awkward silence as everyone disperses.
  Fran: (To Maxwell) You know, next time you kvetch about my therapy bills, would you remember this moment?
• The Office (US):
  • In the fourth season finale, Jim is about to propose to Pam, which the show had been hinting at in recent episodes, when Andy asks Angela to marry him.
  • Earlier seasons often featured Jim and Pam having a moment, only for it to be interrupted by the people they were actually with at the time...
• A non-romantic version in The Pacific: Sledge and Snafu have just shared a sweet moment in which Snafu wordlessly comforts his friend over the death of his dog by leaning against his shoulder...and then Hamm barges in to announce that his brother was on a ship that was attacked by kamikazes. (Snafu: "Wow.")
• Parks and Recreation has two examples of this, both being of the "Deliberate Destruction" variety :
  • Leslie takes this to a different level in "Road Trip" when she is forced to go on a trip for work with Ben, who has a lot of UST with her, but can't date her because he is technically her superior. She compiles a list of un-sexy conversation topics, such as university bed-lofting rules and the history of the ladder. She even goes as far as making an un-sexy CD mix, which includes whale noises and Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech.
  • In "Born & Raised", Tom and Ben take local Talk Show host Joan Callamezzo out to lunch in order to persuade her to include Leslie's book in her book club. While her and Tom usually flirt playfully, she gets drunk and starts taking it too far. Tom tells Ben to talk about nerdy stuff to deescalate the conversation. Right after he finishes she starts talking about bending them both over.
• Happens a few times in Power Rangers
  • Happened at least once between Wes and Jen in Power Rangers Time Force. And even after everything the two never kissed.
  • Koda walks in at an inopportune moment in Power Rangers Dino Charge and stops Tyler and Shelby from kissing.
• Radio Enfer: Just when Vincent is about to finally reveal his feelings to Camille, Carol (Camille's ex) appears in the room, much to Vincent's frustration. Fortunately, Carol is only there to announce that he's no longer in love with Camille, and it doesn't take too long before Vincent admits to Camille that he loves her.
• In-Universe in Reboot (2022): a touching and emotional father-daughter reunion between the fictional characters of Lawrence and Whitney is broken up by the character of Jake flushing the toilet.
• Remington Steele: According to Steele, the entire universe was involved in a vast conspiracy to prevent him from getting chummy with Laura Holt.
  Laura: Why are they shooting at us?
  Steele: Because we were kissing. Somebody always shoots at us when we're kissing!
• Schitt's Creek: After their store opening is a big success, David and Patrick hug for a longer time than is appropriate for platonic colleagues. One of them seems assured to say something until the lights flicker, and the pair is reminded that the lights need fixing.
• Scrubs:
  • Named from a running gag in one episode. Whenever J.D. worked up the nerve to ask Kim out on a date, Elliot would step in and chat with her girl-pal. Cue title-card: "Elliot Reid: Moment Killer". The series itself is filled with many other examples.
  • Elliot/J.D. had this happen to them in one of the earliest episodes, when J.D. is growing closer to Elliot and were about to kiss for the first time, only to be interrupted by Dr. Cox. J.D. noted that in such a situation he had 48 hours to actually kiss her before he entered "The Friend Zone" and spent the next two days trying to get that kiss. Right at the buzzer they were about to kiss again, only for Elliot to confess their work life was too hectic to consider a relationship at that point. Note that J.D. and Elliot are the Official Couple of the series, so that was just the start of their Unresolved Sexual Tension.
  • According to Elliot, he does this a lot. Immediately after she warns him not to do this with Julie, ruins the moment by telling her she smells like his mom, which he saw as a compliment. The next day, he tells her what he actually said she smells like "mummum, a rare flower".
• It wouldn’t be called Sex Sent Me to the E.R. without it.
• Single Drunk Female: In "Sober For the D and V" Sam tries to masturbate with a vibrator while looking at the photo of a hot, muscular guy, but hearing her mom having sex with her boyfriend stops her in disgust.
• Smallville:
  • In "Shimmer", Lionel drops in on Lex as the latter's in the middle of making out with Victoria.
  • Done to an extreme in "Tempest": after building up for several episodes, Chloe and Clark is about to kiss at the dance before being interrupted by a tornado warning.
  • In "Bound", a mother and her kids appear when Chloe and Clark are, er, alone in the elevator.
    Chloe: Nothing was happening! We weren't doing anything!
  • "Bride": Clark and Lois are about to kiss for the first time, "officially", when there is a shout of "Oh my god!" and Clark's ex, Lana Lang, walks in.
  • "Instinct": Lois interrupts Clark and Maxima's wild romp in the elevator, which actually manages to break off Clark from the lust daze Maxima's kiss put him in.

• In season one of Soap, Burt and Mary attempt to have sex after he's cured his guilt-driven impotence with both of them being awkward and nervous as it's been a long time. As they start making out on the bed, a burgular tries to rob their house and then they receive a phone call that Jodie has tried to kill himself.
• Almost every serious romance between main characters in Star Trek is replete with moments where someone phones in and tells one or both to report to the bridge. In addition, the moment killing between Picard and Crusher reached such heights that they eventually hang a lampshade on it by having him literally disappear into thin air just as she's about to tell him her true feelings.
  Chakotay: Next time, we deactivate the comm system.
• Step by Step: A season 2 episode saw Dana and a boy named Mike go to a Make-Out Point-type location to... well, make out. Cody learns about the date and informs Frank that Mike is bad news, and the two make a buffoonish attempt to make sure Mike is not doing anything bad to Dana. Frank climbs onto a tree and tries to get a closer look when he falls into the back seat of Mike's car. Dana, needless to say, is very angry at this "Random Accident"/"Deliberate Destruction" attempt — but not as angry as she would have been had Frank accepted Cody's stupid suggestion to don a beaver suit. (Cody's perception of Mike turns out to be well-founded, as later in the episode, he tries to get Dana to let him go up to her room to have sex and gets aggressive. Frank walks in and runs Mike off.)
• A non-romantic example in Supernatural. As Michael and Lucifer are getting ready to throw down, it's a dead serious moment, full of dramatic tension, Lucifer's "last temptation" to Michael, and they are ready. Then Dean rolls down the road, his car blasting Rock of Ages by Def Leppard. Cue Lucy and Mike going "WTF?" And then, of course, two seconds later when things have gotten tense again— "HEY, ASSBUTT!"
  • Cas and Dean are alone in a motel room. Cas has been acting edgy and Dean is gently (well, gently for Dean) coaxing him to open up about it. Cas breaks down and confesses that he's been suicidal—then Sam Winchester the Psychological Health Cockblock barges into the room and Cas goes back to repressing anything that might burden Dean.
• Temps de chien: While inside Stéphane's caravan, Antoine and Kim are making out. However, they're interrupted by Stéphane arriving and brushing his teeth, doing so in a disgusting way.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: In the Season 2 finale "Born to Run", John was checking Cameron's power cell while lying on top of her almost naked body, with her face inches apart from his. As he presumably plans to kiss her, she says "John. It's time to go." and ruins the moment.
• In True Blood, Tara and Eggs' first near-makeout is interrupted by Maryanne's servant carrying towels. Maryanne is not happy about this.
  Maryanne: They didn't need any God damn towels!
• The West Wing: In the second season episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit", President Bartlet kills the moment with Abbey himself, right before they're about to have sex for the first time in 16 weeks; he makes light of a trip she took earlier that day to dedicate a statue to Nellie Bly, which offends her:
  President Bartlet: You know what I did, just then, that was stupid? I minimized the importance of the statue that was dedicated to Nellie Bly, an extraordinary woman to whom we all owe a great deal.
  Abbey: You don't know who she is, do you?
  Bartlet: This isn't happening to me.

• In The X-Files episode "Small Potatoes" Scully is just about to kiss a shapeshifter disguised as Mulder... when the real Mulder bursts in and kills the mood. However, that moment killer was appreciated by all involved and watching. And in true Mulder and Scully style, they never speak of that moment again (excluding one little teasing remark from Mulder).
• In Zoey 101, this becomes a Running Gag. Every time Chase tries to tell Zoey he's in love with her, someone always interrupts. Fittingly, he ends up telling her completely by accident.

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