So Much for Stealth in Live-Action TV series.
- Battlestar Galactica (2003). Helo and Sharon are hiding in a store while a Cylon patrol goes by. Unfortunately a few minutes before, they had decided to make toast, which pops up at just that moment. Also counts as a Visual Pun as the derogatory nickname for Cylons is "toasters".
- In one episode of Benson, Benson discovers a crime in progress. He happens to have a camera with him, so he takes a photo through a window. Unfortunately, the flash is on.Benson: So much for the element of surprise.
- In one of the season 3 episodes of Chuck, Chuck gets through a Laser Hallway, but then gets distracted and manages to bump into the system on the other side.
- There's also an episode in the same season where the team are assigned to test a building's security by breaking in. Chuck gets through the Laser Hallway with ease, but later he and Sarah have to break into the same place for real. Chuck goes through the hallway just like before... only to Faceplant into the pane of security glass the Laser Hallway's been replaced with. They manage to bluff their way through by pretending to be conducting a surprise reinspection.
- Doctor Who:
- "The Empty Child": Nancy is hiding under a table from the titular Creepy Child, when one of the apples in the bag of food she's carrying rolls out just as the Child was about to leave.
- "The Lie of the Land": The Doctor returns to Britain after months on a prison ship. Bill notes that they could have just snuck back into the country, but the Doctor being the Doctor he's got to make a Dynamic Entry; in this case involving ramming the nearest harbour with the prison ship.
- Father Brown: The 'stepping on a twig' version happen to Inspector Sullivan in "The Owl of Minerva" as he is sneaking up on a secret meeting being held by Father Brown. Fleeing, he runs straight into the murderer.
- One episode of Flashpoint the team intended to approach a home where a family was being held at gunpoint silently. Then a patrol cop pulls up, siren blaring. Parker takes the officer aside for a few words about that.
- In Grimms "Cry Havoc", Nick, Hank, Wu, Monroe and Trubel team up to sneak into a rented estate and take out the Verrat sentries before they can sneak into the premises. Once they split up, they were doing okay until Wu comes across a Verrat Hundjäger. He throws the three-bladed knife away since he's not proficient in close quarters and blasts him with his shotgun, making Rispoli alert to the sound of intruders.
- iCarly: In "iSpy a Mean Teacher", Carly and Freddie are trapped in Ms. Briggs' house and Sam distracts her; after she is caught, Carly and Freddie take their cue to escape, but Freddie steps on Ms. Briggs' bagpipes sounding them off, alerting the teacher to their trespassing.
- On How I Met Your Mother, Marshall and Lily are in pause so they can have sex after being apart for a week, but will start the fight after. Marshall succeeds in putting Lily to sleep but as he tries sneaking back into the hotel room, he steps on the toy he brought from Ted's house which loudly says, "I wuv you, Mommy!". Unpause!!
- MythBusters, in an episode concerning classic Air-Vent Passageway: they used Jamie's magnetic clamps to try and scale a vertical vent. The result is nicely summed up by Adam.Adam: Thor, the god of thunder, is trying to enter my building!
- The New Avengers: At the start of "The Lion and the Unicorn", Steed and Purdey are listening at the door of the hotel room of Professional Killer the Unicorn when Purdey knocks over an ashtray and they have to flee for their lives.
- Cohen in the episode "The Family Ties" of The O.C.. Ryan and he are trying to quietly enter the Cohen house - and fail at the car. Pretty much because of the fact, that Cohen is wasted. Stealth fails.
- Person of Interest:
- Lampshaded when Finch, annoyed at Shaw's tendency to sneak up on him, asks if she can't step on a twig. A flashback episode later reveals that Finch witnessed Shaw carrying out her first assassination. When Finch tries to sneak off, he steps on a twig and freezes in place. Fortunately he's behind a tree so when Shaw turns to look, she doesn't see anyone.
- At the start of Season 4, Team Machine are supposed to be laying low. While investigating this week's POI, Reese does a Dynamic Entry with a Grenade Launcher, followed by a Bar Brawl with Destination Defenestration and Perp Sweating, only to be knocked unconscious and dragged out of there by Shaw, as he's doing all his signature moves, which will only draw attention to them.
- Power Rangers Wild Force, "Forever Red" - On Earth's moon, Andros is spying on the last of the Machine Empire, who are busy unearthing Serpentera. Seeing that they've almost finished digging it out, he turns to leave - and dislodges some rocks, sending them tumbling down the slope he was watching from. The robots give chase... on horses. Robots. Riding horses. On the moon.
- In one episode of Stargate Atlantis, O'Neil and Woolsey are hiding out in a damaged part of the city. O'Neil is off scouting, and when Woolsey hears a noise, he starts whisper-shouting "General?!?", only for O'Neil to suddenly pop out from around a corner and call him out on it.O'Neil: "And if I was [the enemy]…?"Woolsey: defeated "…then I've just given away our position."O'Neil: exasperated "…Again!"
- In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Balance of Terror" the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird are both attempting Stealth in Spacenote . Both fail. On the Romulan ship, one of the officers violates Radio Silence to send a report home; the commander chews him out and demotes him but the damage is done. On the Enterprise, Mr. Spock accidentally activates a control, giving their position away — and, making matters worse, the Romulans are now known to be an off-shoot of the Vulcan race, so a bridge officer is instantly suspicious of his motives.
- In the Supernatural episode "What Is And What Should Never Be", Dean warns Wishverse-Sam to keep quiet, but Sam can't help gasping in horror when he sees the djinn drinking blood and almost reveals their hiding place.
- On a Top Gear episode that focused on finding the best car for a 17-year-old, one challenge was to see whose car could approach a house late at night with the least amount of noise (to avoid waking the parents). James May's car had a remote for the stereo and horn. Jeremy somehow got hold of it...
- Walker, Texas Ranger:
- In Season 6's "Small Blessings", orphans Derek and Cathy Jones run away from home after listening in on their foster parents saying they can't afford both of them, when in fact, they couldn't afford two cars. However, while the two siblings wander around an alley late at night, they witness a murder being committed by the episode's villain, Tony Chan, who is the leader of a gang running illegal sweatshops across the country, and the victim was one of his workers who continually protested for her rights and those of her fellow workers. Despite Derek's attempts at getting Cathy to keep quiet, they end up knocking over trash cans, alerting Tony and his gang to their presence and now seeking to murder them. When Chan and his gang set an old building they were hiding in on fire, Walker saves them Just in Time and they are named key witnesses to the murder of that sweatshop worker.
- In "Saving Grace" (also in Season 6), Walker and Trivette secretly follow two convicts who escaped from a prison bus in a blue Chevrolet Caprice they hijacked, wondering where the other three escapees are. While doing so, a Dallas Police car happens to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. With Dallas officers having spotted the Caprice and pulling ahead of Walker and Trivette, the two Rangers are too late to tell them to back off, and after they run the plates, upon which they come back stolen, a Chase Scene ensues. The chase eventually leads Walker to a church where their three accomplices are holding two nuns and Alex and her support group captive.
