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• La madrastra: In this Mexican telenovela María is the first to find her best friend Patricia's lifeless body.
  You'd expect: Maria to check Patricia's pulse, anything except to touch the gun lying next to the corpse in case fingerprints are on the gun, or at least keep hers off.
  Instead: She picks up the murder weapon and gets her prints on it, and is thus convicted of Patricia's murder and sentenced to life in prison.
• MacGyver (1985): In "Phoenix Under Siege," a deadly assassin has MacGyver on the ropes. She is about to finish him off.
  You'd expect: While Mac is sprawled on the ground, she walks one room back to retrieve the gun she lost earlier and just shoots him.
  Instead: She waits until he gets up, and then decides to jump kick him (to death, I guess). He's standing in front of a plate glass window. Mac helps along the inevitable by leaning slightly to one side. And this after the assassin displays remarkable caution by, among other things, trying to take care of Mac herself instead of assuming the building-killing bomb will finish him. She doesn't even have the excuse of fighting honorably for her idiocy.
• Mad Men:
  • In the penultimate episode of Season 1, Pete Campbell happens upon a box containing proof that Don Draper is really Dick Whitman, a soldier who was listed as KIA in the Korean War, and that he stole the identity of the real Don Draper, his former commanding officer who was killed and burned beyond recognition in an explosion. He then attempts to use this information to blackmail Don into giving him a promotion.
    You'd Expect: Pete to hang on to the box until he's got his promotion. Just the fact that he knows Don's real name and background should be proof enough that he has the ability to prove his accusations if need be.
    Instead: He gives Don the box back, then tries to blackmail him. After initially freaking out and almost skipping town, Don comes to his senses and points out that Pete has no way of actually proving his claims. This leads to Pete fruitlessly trying to prove the details of Don's Dark Secret to Bert Cooper, and without any way of actually substantiating his accusations, Pete naturally ends up coming across as a complete tool (and to add insult to injury, it turns out that Cooper wouldn't have fired Don even if Pete could prove his accusations).
  • In Season 5, Don, Roger, and Pete take a Jaguar executive on a night out to a brothel, which results in the account being terminated when the executive's wife discovers his infidelity. Lane, who brought in the account, is absolutely furious about this and royally chews the three out, especially Pete.
    You'd Expect: Considering that Lane — typically the personification of the Stiff Upper Lip — is seriously pissed off about this, and even Bert is obviously annoyed by the loss of the account, the other three partners not to push the matter any further, and to apologize.
    Instead: While Don and Roger at least recognize how annoyed Lane is, Pete decides to further provoke him, calling his sexual preferences into question, and telling him that he's never done anything for the company. This leads to a fistfight between the two, which Pete loses. Badly.
• Make It or Break It: In the Season 1 episode "Between a Rock and a Hard Place", The Rock is competing against Denver Elite (their rivals) in an invitational to prepare for the upcoming Nationals. As the pressure will be on the girls from The Rock to defeat Denver on their home territory, Sasha vetoes a difficult bar move from Emily's routine, much to her anger.
  You'd Expect: For Emily to just listen to Sasha and trust that he knows what he's doing, especially since as Damon points out - Sasha's won Olympic Gold more than once, so there's probably a good reason as to why he doesn't want Emily having that move in her routine.
  Instead: She disobeys Sasha and unsuccessfully implements the move while the girls happen to be behind Denver by a couple of points.
  As a Result: The Rock loses to Denver and Emily not only gets kicked off the National Team by a furious Sasha, but also suspended from The Rock.
• Married... with Children:
  • In the Season 4 episode "976-SHOE", Al believes that he can make money with his own hotline about shoes, so he goes to his banker neighbor Steve to get a loan for $10,000.
    You'd Expect: He would either turn him down flat (which he initially did, calling it a "bunny-brained idea) or at least take out the loan for the ten grand or something significantly less.
    Instead: He gives him a $50,000 loan just so that he could win an office sweepstakes trip to Hawaii.
  • Later in the episode, when we see that the shoe hotline failed (big shocker, right?), an angry Marcy, who knew it would fail, owing to her good credit at her bank, decides to loan Al 50 grand to repay back Steve and so he can keep his job, as his boss told him if he ended up with one more bad loan, he'd be fired.
    You'd Expect: That Al would pay back the loan and just owe $50,000.
    Instead: He decides to reinvest in the phone line in spite of its failure of epic proportions and rationalizes in him having to owe $100,000 instead of just 50 just to see if it works. As expected, Steve was fired, Marcy was demoted and a judge puts a lien on Al's earnings, which allows him to be able to pay back the loan a hundred years for now.
    Final Point of Idiocy: Steve gave the loan in the first place just so he could go to Hawaii, which look worse, since an earlier episode had Steve surprising Marcy for their first anniversary with tickets to Hawaii which he bought with little fuss.
  • "The Mystery of Skull Island" has Bud jumping through hoops in an attempt to impress a pretty girl, who more or less isn't interested in him unless he engages in high-risk, life-threatening stunts and flirts with other men who are more handsome and physically stronger than him.
    You'd expect: For Bud to forget all about this obviously Manipulative Bitch and hold onto his pride and, literally, his life.
    Instead: Considering what a love-starved loser Bud was morphing into, he insists on going all out for this girl, in spite of the injuries and embarrassment this causes him.
  • "It's A Bundyful Life" has Al finally having Christmas money to buy presents for the family and has to get over to Marcy's bank before it closed to get the money when an elderly woman and her slow-moving mother come into the store at the last second.
    You'd expect: For Al to turn them away; it's not only the last minute and he needs to get to bank as soon as possible, but he's also a misanthrope so he would have no need to be diplomatic.
    Instead: He lets them in and they ate up plenty of his time, causing him to be late and get to the bank just as it was closing for their Christmas party. Great going, Al; the Spirit of Christmas made you look like a foolish ass and your family hate you.
  • Also from "It's A Bundyful Life", right after coming back to the shoe store, a woman and her bratty son come in wishing to try on shoes and she offhandedly expresses for someone to look after him for an hour, which gives Al a great idea to babysit some children for extra cash.
    You'd Now Expect: For him to, if not actually watch the kid, at the very least let him run loose for the time to collect some easy money for presents, if not for himself.
    Instead: He ties him and some other children up with garland, potentially traumatizing them and screwing up his chances of having a decent Christmas while also making himself look like a scrooge.
    Result: One of his "charges" inform the mothers, who proceed to beat him with their purses, tie him up and take their money back. Then the mall closes and the episode ends.
  • "Weenie Tot Lovers and Other Strangers": Peg gets greedy and destroys Al's entire year supply of weenie tots thinking they won the $50,000 prize. When Al gets home, only one box remains.
    You'd Expect: Al would take the box from her when he gets a beer from the fridge.
    Instead: He tells Peg not to open it, and being Peg, she immediately ignores him and opens it anyways.
• M*A*S*H:
  • In the episode, "The Sniper", the doctors and nurses are trapped in Post-Op while six patients are in the ambulance in need of assistance. Hawkeye comes up with this master plan: to surrender to the sniper. His reasoning: if they surrender, they can help the patients in the ambulance.
    You'd Expect: Someone, anyone, to question how surrendering to a sniper is even possible or how this would help.
    Instead: Hawkeye and Trapper carry a white flag out of the building and walk toward the sniper. Then, they're surprised when the plan doesn't work and the sniper starts shooting at them.
  • In "Adam's Ribs", Hawkeye spends the entire episode getting a take-out order from the titular restaurant routed all the way to Korea from Chicago. The Stinger has Hawkeye and co. finally sitting in front of the coveted ribs. Then they're called into surgery before they can dig in.
    You'd Expect: Hawkeye would take a fork and a knife and get one bite of the ribs before leaving for surgery.
    Instead: Hawkeye loses it and complains that he spent all this time to get the ribs only to be called into surgery. Trapper and Henry Blake have to carry him out of the mess tent kicking and screaming, not even getting one taste of his beloved ribs. Hopefully he can come back for them later after surgery.
• MasterChef Australia:
  • In season 6, an elimination challenge involved the chefs cooking in three rounds, with the best dishes from each round saving the chefs that made them. The catch is that they only had one snapper for all three rounds, and any dish they made had to include snapper.
    You'd Expect: All of them would try to keep enough snapper for the later rounds. Snapper is not a small fish, so filleting it properly would easily produce more than enough for three dishes.
    Instead: Nicole decided to use the whole fish for her first dish, despite the judges' warnings. When she's not saved in the first round, she has no more snapper to make her next dish with and is eliminated without the need for the second or third round.
  • In season 7, the contestants are in a relay challenge where the team captain has to choose a dish and tell the next chef what they're making, who tells the next chef, and so on. On the blue team, the captain decides on a mussel coconut broth with tomato, saffron, and basil- an accessible yet flavorful seafood dish that's easy to communicate.
    You'd Expect: The rest of the team would stick to this dish, making small changes at most. They have to be able to relay this information to the next chef, after all.
    Instead: John "went rogue" by adding ten ingredients to the dish including white chocolate to make a velouté with. The next chef is overwhelmed by the number of unfinished components (that weren't in the original dish), and the last chef has to create an entirely new dish in five minutes. This results in the final dish having raw components and not resembling the original dish at all, placing the team in an elimination challenge.
• MasterChef Canada:
  • After winning the Mystery Box challenge, Cody is now safe from elimination and gets the chance to pick one of three ingredients (Salmon, Lobster, Truffles) chosen by the previous MasterChef Canada winner.
    You'd Expect: Cody to pick an ingredient he knows the remaining Chefs will struggle with, and sit back on the balcony to watch just that.
    Instead: To prove just how superior he is, Cody gives up his immunity in order to cook with his chosen ingredient, Truffles. He then uses three different kinds of Truffles in his dish, muddling the taste so much that he ends up being up for elimination. He only avoids being sent home because one chef ran out of time and ended up using barely any Truffles, thus having a dish that was just barely worse.
• MasterChef Junior:
  • In the semi-finals, Troy wins the challenge competition (cooking a soft-boiled egg) and is given two advantages: he gets to pick which cut of a chicken (from best to worst - breast, thigh, wing and liver) to take for himself, and which of the other three to give to the other competitors. He ends up taking the thigh for himself, and has two of them to work with.
    You'd Expect: That Troy would hedge his bets and cook both thighs, especially when Joe (one of the judges) points the opportunity out to him. After all, he's in the semi-finals and has enough time to do it, and there's no room for error.
    Instead: He decides not to cook the second thigh, and goes with his gut instinct that just cooking one is enough. When it comes time for judging, both he and Gordon are disheartened to discover that the thigh is raw on the inside. He is subsequently eliminated that night.
• Mayor of Kingstown: In the first episode, Alberto kills two very well-connected people to grab a large stash of cash for himself.
  You'd Expect: Alberto to run as far as he can as soon as he has the money.
  Instead: He goes back home, where the local Corrupt Cops quickly find him.
  As a Result: He's killed in a staged shooting.
  • Multiple factions at the male prison agree to murder an inmate over the accidental death of a child in exchange for some concessions from the guards, including better food and more time in the yard.
    You'd Expect: The guards honor at least some parts of the deal and ease up a bit.
    Instead: The guards get offended at the thought of conceding to inmate demands and crack down harder in an attempt to assert dominance.
    As a Result: The inmates riot and kill dozens of guards before the violence is quelled.
• The Mentalist: The killer in Red-Handed is completely aware that whoever has the victim's lucky poker chip would immediately become a major suspect as well. He also knows that Patrick is investigating the case.
  You'd Expect: He'd keep a low profile until the case trail goes cold.
  Instead: He bets said poker chip on a game against Patrick.
  As a Result: He's arrested less than two minutes after.
• Merlin (2008):
  • In the second episode of the series, a knight called Valiant is revealed to be cheating in Camelot's sword-fighting tournament, via a magic shield that can summon snakes. One knight is mortally wounded during a fight, but luckily Merlin manages to obtain the antivenom and save him, allowing said knight to testify against Valiant. Merlin and Arthur bring their case to King Uther, but unfortunately when they summon the knight as a witness, the court physician Gaius reveals that the knight had passed away, due to a further attack from the magic snakes.
    You'd Expect: For Merlin to have the knight's corpse shown to the King. Even if Valiant's word means more as a knight, there is undeniable proof that the other knight has multiple snakebites in his neck received after the fight. Valiant's shield is covered with snakes, and as Merlin tells Arthur, there aren't many snakes in Camelot. It would be better than saying absolutely nothing.
    Instead Merlin and Gaius say absolutely nothing, Arthur looks like a fool in front of the King, and Valiant goes on to almost get away with murdering Arthur in their final tournament battle.
  • At one point, Merlin, Arthur, and Sir Gawain are referred to, respectively, as Magic, Strength, and Heart.
    You'd Expect: For Gawain to put two and two together, especially considering the incredible amount of weirdness that happens around Merlin, and to realize that Merlin's a sorcerer. Even if he didn't say anything to Arthur, you'd expect him to start acting differently around Merlin, or at the very least to tip Merlin off so that he doesn't have to hide his nature around him.
    Instead: Gawain continues on in blissful oblivion.
  • Later on, Merlin is given a prophecy that Mordred will kill Arthur.
    You'd Expect: Merlin to tell Arthur about this-even if he doesn't reveal that he himself is a sorcerer, enough weird stuff happens around him that Arthur would believe him. Then Arthur would be on his guard.
    Even Worse: Merlin treats Mordred with hostility and suspicion, meaning that the young man who used to hero-worship him becomes alienated and angry.
    Instead: Merlin is a total Jerkass towards Mordred, meaning that the latter's Face–Heel Turn becomes all but inevitable anyway, Arthur dies at Camlann, Camelot falls apart, etc, etc.
• M.I. High
  • A teen invents a device that can disarm nuclear missiles, even if they're in flight, wherever they're from, in the hope of creating world peace.
    You'd Expect: The world to figure out that such a device would only make nuclear warfare impossible, and that countries would still be capable of going to war.
    Instead: The device is treated as something that will make war completely impossible, with a General Ripper even going so far as to destroy the prototype and try and start World War Three in order to prevent the army from becoming obsolete, a danger IT WASN'T. EVEN. FACING. His stupidity and utterly pointless plan would probably net him a dishonourable discharge, if he was LUCKY.
• Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters by Bobcat Goldthwait:
  • In the episode "Bubba the Bear", Nobel Bartell voices the titular cartoon character. He ends up bringing Bubba to life. That is, Nobel's ability to voice Bubba gave Bubba a real-life presence that is tied to Nobel's ability to voice Bubba. Bubba's not happy about his cartoon making him The Ditz. Did we mention that Bubba also has Toon Physics that can also affect the real world?
    You'd Expect: Bubba would go after the writers, or again, the editors, or, better yet, the creator, and, one way or another, get any of them to depict him intelligently.
    Alternatively: Bubba would go after the director's boss (or higher in the management chain), depending on how much control management has over the cartoon. (Because Bubba's goal would be the cartoon depicting him intelligently, one of his better interests would be keeping the people involved working on the cartoon.)
    Instead: He goes after Nobel (who is just a voice actor), forcing him to keep Bubba's existence a secret (even though no one would believe that the cartoon character that he voiced became real). Bubba also goes after Nobel's family.
    The Result: When Nobel tries to get the director to depict Bubba intelligently, the director shoots down Nobel. Nobel ends up cutting off his own tongue, making Bubba disappear. A new actor ends up getting hired, bringing Bubba back to the real world.
    Even Worse: Had Bubba managed to kill Nobel, Bubba would have disappeared. After all, Dead Men Tell No Tales. Judging from Bubba's scared reactions when he was disappearing, Bubba does not seem to be a Death Seeker, either. Worse, a new actor would have replaced Nobel all the same.
• Mission: Impossible: In "The Counterfeiter", Raymond Halder owns a successful line of medical clinics, and a very lucrative operation that counterfeits drugs, such as insulin and various heart medicines, out of various ingredients such as milk powder and food coloring. He also makes sure his personal and legal businesses' taxes are properly paid to the penny.
  You'd Expect: He'd be at least as smart as the Joker and see that the income taxes from his illegal business are paid as well, and that he would keep the amount of fake drugs released into the system to levels only local enforcement will worry about.
  Instead: He doesn't pay taxes on his illegal income, is a Smug Snake that the laws of the time mean only a slap on the wrist when he gets caught counterfeiting drugs, and saturates the market with his fakes to the point the MI team is called in to stop him.
  The Result: The team gets him on tape admitting the fortune he's made selling fake drugs, and sends it off to the IRS.
• Money Heist:
  • Near the end of Episode 4 of Season 1, Denver decides to bring Moscow to the Mint's rooftop so he can breathe some fresh air, both to solve his breathing emergency and allow him to calm down from thinking Denver had killed a hostage (whom Denver was actually faking her death for at the moment). Among the hostages with fake firearms sent to set "defenses" around Moscow and Denver at the rooftop, which is being vigilated by a team of police snipers, is Arturo, who overhears Denver telling Moscow that he didn't really kill the aforementioned hostage; Arturo quickly figures that the hostage in question is Mónica, his pregnant lover who had gone missing from his sight after he told her to go to his director's office and get his phone.
    You'd Expect: Arturo to try his best to avoid causing a scene at the rooftop, even if his breakdown from thinking Mónica was killed was inevitable. He already knows that the pistol he has in hand is fake (meaning he'd have to use his fists instead if he wanted to fight off Denver and Moscow) and can clearly see the police snipers, not to mention that Arturo was already told by Denver not to fuck around and he was quite collected before overhearing Denver talking to Moscow about Mónica.
    Instead: He gets aggressive with Denver and Moscow and threatens them with his fake pistol out of a sudden, inadvertently causing panic among the other hostages at the rooftop. Moscow and Denver only comply with Arturo forcing them to kneel before him because they're aware the snipers would pass them off as hostages for doing so.
    The Result: The police mistake Arturo for a robber about to execute a number of hostages in line, and one of the snipers shoots him in the shoulder at Suárez's suggestion and Raquel's order, leading to the events of the next episode, where Arturo has to be treated from his bullet wound. Sure enough, the police try to approach the sending of a medical team to get the upper hand against the robbers, but it was still a consequence of Arturo putting the lives of himself and numerous other hostages at risk with his idiocy.
  • In Episode 7 of Season 1, to give out an act on his part as a return for Raquel's several previous ones, the Professor offers the police the choice of receiving either Alison Parker (the most crucial hostage for the Mint heist to go well) as a single released person, or eight of her Brighton College classmates. While Raquel is considering what to do, Colonel Prieto quickly steps in to take the decision himself.
    You'd Expect: That knowing the robbers are unpredictable in what they can do to fight the police and how much they particularly emphasized on Alison since the police first knew that she's a hostage at the Mint (especially due to Alison's active attempts in defying them), Prieto would choose to have the eight classmates released. Even if it's not the option he'd prefer, it's more likely to be the more believable and effective one, since the police already have plenty of evidence implying that the robbers are trying to keep Alison inside as long as possible to fortify their hold on the Mint.
    Instead: Without a second thought, Prieto just orders Raquel to choose Alison, on the grounds that keeping the relations between Spain and the United Kingdom positive is more important to the Spanish government than saving as much hostages in a national-level heist as they get the opportunity for.
    The Result: Prieto's decision ends up being useless, since Alison isn't freed at all, first teased to him when the Professor tells Raquel that he already chose his own decision if he doesn't call her later. Furthermore, the Professor takes advantage of this by releasing an audio recording of the moment to the Spanish public in order to damage the government's reputation.
  • In Episode 5 of Season 2, Raquel has an "Eureka!" Moment and realizes that her boyfriend Salva is the elusive Professor at the cafeteria she frequently goes to. She lures the Professor into a trap and arrests him in the cafeteria's female restroom.
    You'd Expect: That she would take the Professor to a police establishment right away, or call the police and wait for reinforcements to take him while holding him there.
    Instead: She does not tell anyone, and brings the Professor to the country house where the heist team organized the Mint heist (a place without anyone in it, and in the middle of nowhere) to interrogate him herself.
    The Result: Things go exactly as you'd expect. Even though she's able to get legitimate information from him with her own interrogation, the Professor manages to overpower and knock out Raquel the moment she begins to actually try bringing him to the police. Then in the next episode, the Professor is able to leave Raquel via using her car as she proves unwilling to kill him with a pistol he gave her.
  • In the premiere episode of Season 3, "We're Back", Prieto successfully gets Rio captured with a police boat crew sent to his location, which the rest of the heist team aren't too fat away from.
    You'd Expect: That Prieto would take advantage of the now-captured Rio to find the other robbers, be it by forcibly asking about their whereabouts or using him as a negotiation to get the team to surrender against the police for once.
    Instead: He has Rio tortured by several contractees in Algeria under the oversight of Sierra just to spite the robbers.
    The Result: Not only does Prieto inadvertently motivate the robbers to start the Bank of Spain heist that carries over Season 3 and the next two ones, but he ends up losing Rio to a prison exchange that wasn't under his control, and the heist team eventually exposes his order of Rio's torture to the press and the public, ruining Prieto's reputation permanently.
• Monk:
  • In general, someone commits premeditated murder and has a rock-solid alibi. Monk or his assistants start to suspect them anyway.
    You'd Expect: They would not try to taunt Monk and his assistants.
    Instead: With very few exceptions, like the suspect who was in a coma and another who specifically befriended Monk to acquire crucial evidence, most of the murderers are jerks towards Monk, Natalie, or Sharona and taunt them about not having proof, or in one case attempting to seduce them.
    The Result: Monk gains the motivation to find the crucial evidence. And he does, because as the now-imprisoned murderers put it, he's Monk.
  • In "Mr. Monk Goes To The Carnival", Monk is hoping to be reinstated to the police force at a hearing. He expects Stottlemeyer to speak for him and give a recommendation. Stottlemeyer knows that Monk isn't ready with his OCD and trauma.
    You'd Expect: Stottlemeyer would tell Monk he needs to recuse himself because he doesn't think his friend is ready to return to the police force. Would Monk be angry? Yes. Would it also mean he's not blindsided? Yes as well.
    Instead: Stottlemeyer, without warning, says bluntly at the hearing in question that Adrian Monk in his opinion is not ready to return to the police force. Even if you argue that he needed to do it for the greater good, it's a crappy thing to do to a friend.
    The Result: Monk nearly quits on him during an investigation to clear another cop's name of murder, and is furious with Stottlemeyer for being a bad friend. All Stottlemeyer can say is for Monk to "not give up," which is a pretty condescending reassurance. It takes several episodes for Monk to forgive Stottlemeyer, and a decade before Adrian returns to the police force and realizes that it's no longer what he wants out of life.
  • "Mr. Monk Goes To The Circus": A clown is going around imitating the police force, doing mime work. During The Summation where Monk is accusing Natasha Lovara of murdering her husband and an elephant trainer, Monk and Stottlemeyer ask him politely to stop copying them so that Monk can focus on laying out the case.
    You'd Expect: The clown would listen. This is a case of murder.
    Instead: He keeps interrupting with some miming of Monk laying out the case, like Natasha used Dede the elephant to break her foot after the murder.
    The Result: When Randy sends the incriminating walkie-talkie to the lab and Monk says that Natasha must have forgotten to wipe her fingerprints off the batteries, the mime interrupts by imitating Stottlemeyer. Stottlemeyer hits his Rage Breaking Point and moves to arrest the clown on the grounds of Impersonating an Officer. Natasha takes the opportunity to pull herself into a getaway jeep and nearly runs Sharona over, if not for Dede the elephant.
  • In Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa, Monk shoots and injures a suspect who is dressed in a Santa costume with his own weapon. Thanks to an overzealous sensationalist reporter, and the large group of children who witnessed the incident, Monk is branded as "The Man Who Shot Santa" and Monk and Natalie are harrassed everywhere they go. He attempts to clear his name by going onto said reporter's talk show and making a public apology.
    You'd Expect: Natalie to prepare Monk with an eloquent line, something like "The man I shot was not Santa Claus. He was some loony dressed as Santa Claus who had a revolver in his hand."
    Instead: She offers him little more than a pat on the back. Monk gets chewed up and spit out by the hardball reporter, and makes things even worse by telling the children that Santa isn't real.
    You'd Also Expect: That Stottlemeyer would realize that Monk would become a target for harassment and would put him and Natalie under police protection or at the very least in a safe house until the heat died down.
  • "Mr. Monk And The Three Julies": Monk recounts the following; the real killer was Mr. Teeger. Here's what happened: Julie Teeger the college student delivered a package to Mrs. Julie Teeger the housewife. The package was from Mr. Teeger's mistress, with a bunch of evidence revealing that the man had an affair. College student Julie saw a fight breaking out between the married couple, and went Oh, Crap! that her good deed went wrong.
    You'd Expect: College student Julie would call 911 when she sees the hints of a domestic altercation, or run and get help from one of the nearby neighbors if she doesn't have a phone. Adrian says that she had a reputation of being a dutiful citizen.
    Instead: She discreetly leaves.
    The Result: Mr. Teeger succeeds in stabbing his wife, and leaves her to bleed out on the floor. To preserve his alibi that this was a break-in and not a domestic altercation, he chases down college student Julie and runs her down in the park. While the cops note that it was impressive how long she lasted, she still died and this led them on a Wild Goose Chase for a potential serial killer.
  • In "Mr. Monk Buys a House," Monk and Natalie are taken hostage by a handyman, "Honest" Jake, and are chained up to a clawfoot bathtub that is interestingly freestanding. They manage to temporarily knock out Jake by causing a wall to fall on him.
    You'd Expect: That Monk or Natalie would have enough thought of mind to disarm Jake while he was incapacitated, since he wouldn't be able to harm them, allowing them enough time to call for help.
    You Might Also Expect: That Natalie would have thought to have her cell phone so she could call 911, which could have likely saved the life of Jake's partner if she did.
    Instead: Monk and Natalie crawl down the hallway, dragging the bathtub with them. Natalie then lights some rags and puts them in the fireplace, then uses the floo to send up smoke signals that Stottlemeyer and Disher happen to be see from a few blocks away. By the time she lights them, notice that Jake is already starting to come around and free himself.
  • Also in that same episode:
    You'd Expect: That the police would naturally think it suspicious that a wheelchair bound man who can only walk short distances somehow managed to walk up a flight of stairs without even a walker, and then fall to his death.
    Instead: They only take the word of the patient's nurse, the only other person in the house at the time.
  • In "Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival":
    You'd Expect: That Leonard Stokes, after killing his girlfriend, would run out of the carnival.
    Instead: He decides to hide in the ferris wheel, which seems plain stupid considering that Sharona finds him there while getting up in the ferris wheel to locate him.
  • In part, Monk and Natalie have each been taken hostage a number of times or gotten into near death experiences very frequently.
    You'd Expect: That either of them would have learned from these incidents where one or both of them has nearly been killed by a captor and started carrying at least a pistol around on their person at all times.
    Instead: By not carrying firearms, these hostage situations are able to happen
  • In "Mr. Monk and the Panic Room", Darwin the chimp is framed for his owner's murder despite the fact that the guy was shot twice in the back.
    You'd Expect: Stottlemeyer and the others to realize no monkey could handle a handgun so adeptly. After Sharona points this out, Stottlemeyer takes Darwin into an interrogation room with what he assumes is an unloaded gun; it's not. Darwin shoots without aiming and only hits the room's window.
    You'd Then Expect: The cops to admit Darwin could not have killed Ian Blackburn, his owner.
    Instead: They continue to insist Darwin is the killer until Monk's summation.
  • In "Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf", Sharona continually sees a blood-soaked man with a knife in his chest and a screwdriver in his ear who disappears as soon as she runs screaming for help. On both occasions, this man speaks to her, calling her by name and saying things like, "Daddy needs you."
    You'd Expect: Monk, Stottlemeyer, Disher, or Dr. Kroger to look into Sharona's childhood history or ask her where her father is.
    You'd Then Expect: One of them to ask who, besides Sharona, knew said history. One answer would've been, "My creative writing teacher," for whom Sharona wrote an essay about her mentally ill dad, and who turned out to be the killer.
    Instead: Everyone believes Sharona is reacting to stress or even crazy, right up to the summation.
  • In "Mr. Monk and the Rapper," a car bomb has killed rapper Extra Large and severely injured his limo driver.
    You'd Expect: For Stottlemeyer or someone with authority to arrange for police protection on the driver, since the driver is the primary witness for the investigation.
    Instead: No protection is given to the driver, allowing the killer to enter his hospital room and strangle him.
  • "Mr. Monk Is On The Run": After having faked his death and being on the lam, Monk and his crew realize that the governor has a bomb attached to his car during a parade, and the trigger is on the parade banner. Stottlemeyer and Randy run out as the real criminal is trying to get the governor blown up, shouting for the parade to stop. They wave their badges around while screaming at the top of their lungs. Natalie and Monk are hiding while trying to figure out how to get to the transmitter.
    You'd Expect: Given that Stottlemeyer shouts that he's SFPD, that everyone in the parade would stop. While the cops are confused by the Jurisdiction Friction, the marching band is damn well within hearing range as is the driver.
    Instead: Everyone keeps moving on blithely, with the governor and his wife completely unaware of the danger.
    'The Result: Natalie has to risk her life to grab the trigger, with the terrorist's men grabbing her before she can. Monk has to dive into the governor's car to turn off the car, blowing his cover and necessitating Stottlemeyer to reveal the bomb. Everyone goes Mass "Oh, Crap!" at their stupidity.
  • "Mr. Monk and the Magician": Kevin Dorfman is back to accounting after he blows his lottery winnings. He mentions that a magician named Karl Torini had discrepancies on his airline receipts and suggested Torini was getting ripped off. Torini is actually smuggling heroin.
    You'd Expect: Torini would let it slide. Kevin is too naive to consider the possibility of drugs.
    Instead: He concocts a complicated plot where he creates an alibi that seems foolproof and murders Kevin after asking him to fill in on a magic show, reasoning that Kevin knew too much.
    The Result: Monk takes Kevin's death personally and sets out to solve the case.
• In the televison special The Muppet Musicians of Bremen, T.R. the rooster is told by his owner Lardpork that he'll cook him for being useless around the barn, so T.R. decides to escape before Lardpork comes back, and takes the opportunity to join Leroy the Donkey to become traveling musicians. However, T.R. wants to say goodbye to the chickens before he runs off.
  You'd Expect: He would just say goodbye and leave.
  Instead: He sings them a song before leaving them, and as soon as he's done with his song, Lardpork shows up with an ax, ready to chop him. Though T.R. does end up escaping.
• The Muppets (2015): In the episode "Hostile Makeover", Fozzie is invited to a party at Jay Leno's house. He is so excited that he decides to get a souvenir - via stealing a candy dish. Eventually he realizes that this wasn't exactly the best idea aned when Jay invites him back to his house, he plans on giving it back, only to accidentally drop it, smashing it to pieces.
  You'd Expect: Fozzie to explain to Jay what happened and apologize.
  Instead: While Fozzie is there, Jay tells him that he'd like for Fozzie to open for him in Las Vegas. Fozzie is so excited that he promptly forgets about the candy dish and TRIES TO STEAL SOMETHING ELSE.
  Then: Jay sees him attempting to steal his brass rooster. He's actually pretty understanding, admitting that one time he stole a candy dish from George Carlin... the very same candy dish that he then finds out Fozzie stole.
  You'd Expect: Him to let Fozzie explain why he stole it and let him apologize.
  Instead: He gets angry that Fozzie stole something that he in turn stole and shouts at him to get out of his house.
  For Extra Idiot Points: After Jay tells him to leave, Fozzie asks if he can have his pen.
• A Running Gag on The Muppet Show is someone mentioning a word one might associate with an explosive, and Crazy Harry appearing and setting of an explosion as a result.
  You'd Expect: Everyone to eventually realize that saying those words will set Harry off and stop saying words related to explosives.
  Instead: They never do- in one episode Kermit sets Harry off twice in quick succession, and in another Harry gets set off six times, including thrice in the same segment!
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Mike Nelson should have this tattooed on his forehead:
  • The Deadly Mantis: Professor Bobo and Peanut ^note Doctor Peanut! are trying to fix a thermonuclear bomb for the Cargo Cult that's next door to Deep Ape, and solicit Mike's help. It does start out promisingly enough with him rightfully protesting that they're trying to reactivate a thermonuclear device with the capacity to destroy the Earth.
    You'd Expect: Mike to keep cognizant of what he realized only thirty seconds earlier and deny them any help.
    Instead: He forgets the severity of the situation when the apes complain of a stuck lugnut. Cue Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
  Mike: Well, why not just use a pair of locking pliers and a spanner?
  • Riding With Death: Pearl, Brain Guy and Bobo are trapped in combat with killer androids and need a diversion from Mike. He decides to make a baking soda and vinegar bomb.
    You'd Expect: He'd keep an eye on just how much baking soda he's putting into the bomb.
    Instead: He starts to ruminate over past injustices (including being fired from a job for making a baking-soda-and-vinegar bomb), losing track of how much he's putting in to the casing. Cue Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
  • Agent For H*A*R*M: On trial for his planet destruction tendencies, Mike IS this trope incarnate:
    • First as he's being arraigned, the omniscient judge annouces he's being charged with crimes against man and nature.
      You'd Expect: Mike to keep his mouth shut.
      Instead: He asks if this means that a traffic violation he'd gotten (and was apparently avoiding) has finally turned into a bench warrant. The judge replies it hadn't... until that exact moment.
    • Second, Mike is given his choice of defense attorney. He's given the choice of Socrates, King Charlemagne, Clarence Darrow... or Professor Bobo.
      You'd Expect: Mike to mull over the choice or at least ignore the obvious Schmuck Bait at the end.
      Instead: He shouts out "Bobo?!?" in surprise, and the Literal-Minded judge takes it as his choice.
    • Third, he's allowed to pick his own prosecutor. This time, it starts out so promising, as he immediately requests St. Therese of Liseux (denied, as she was tied up with a prosecution for the Bronx DA). The judge offers the choices of King Solomon, Hildegarde of Bingen, Thomas Jefferson, or... Pearl Forrester.
      You'd Expect: He'd continue to learn from his previous mistake and say absolutely ANYTHING but Pearl's name.
      Instead: Literally the first words out of his mouth are a sarcastic "Oh yeah, I'm gonna choose Pearl Forrester..."
      —>Mike: Oh, I don't learn very quick, do I?
  • Hamlet: A Two-for-one here:
    • First, Mike challenges Pearl to a game of "find the lady", and the gambling-addicted Pearl agrees, over Brain Guy's objections that it's rigged and there is no way for her to win.
      You'd Expect: Pearl to at least consider Brain Guy's warnings, and cut her losses.
      Instead: Not only does Mike take Pearl to the cleaners, he even wins the right to choose that episode's movie. He chooses Shakespeare's Hamlet.
    • But which version?: You'd Expect Mike to make a definitive choice and demand one of the better versions being shown, knowing that any wiggle room with Pearl would be wildly abused.
      Instead: While he suggests Franco Zefferelli's and Kenneth Branagh's versions (both lauded as well-done adaptations of the play), he ultimately says to Pearl "your choice." She gives him a no-budget 1960 dubbed West German TV version of Hamlet starring Maximilian Schell, and with dub voices played by Ricardo Montalbán and John Banner.
  Pearl: OK, you get Hamlet. Oh, boy, do you get Hamlet!
• My Name Is Earl:
  • The warden has been giving Earl certificates for time off his sentence in exchange for helping out with various prison problems. When the time finally comes that Earl has earned enough time off that he can leave, he panics, because he's too incompetent without Earl there.
    You'd Expect: The warden to just let Earl go, and possibly offer him a job as a general adviser or something.
    Instead: He panics, tears up Earls certificates, and expects him to just go on for the rest of his sentence. He throws him in solitary when he gets pissed.
  • Earl's side of the story:
    You'd Expect: Just nod quietly, and let the warden forget he could use Earl with his sociopathic means.
    Instead: He practically handed him a weapon against himself.

N

• NCIS:
  • In "Till Death Do Us Part," Director Vance and his SUV are abducted by Harper Dearing, who has a serious nut against NCIS. However, both the director and his vehicle are found, and Vance is unhurt.
    What You'd Expect: That NCIS would give Vance a new car, and take his original car apart piece by piece in case Dearing planted a bomb in it (since something like that would be part of his modus operandi). If a bomb is there, they could call in the bomb squad, defuse the bomb, and everyone would be A-OK.
    Instead: They let Director Vance continue driving the same SUV. He parks it right in front of NCIS headquarters. Dearing calls in and lets everyone know that he has a bomb on the Navy Yard and it's about to blow up in front of NCIS. Team Gibbs concludes that it's in Vance's SUV (they're right). They call for an immediate evacuation of the building.
    You'd Expect: That everyone to run to the back staircases and exits of the building (to distance themselves from the epicenter of the blast), and get the hell out of there as quickly as humanly possible.
    Instead: Abby stays behind in her lab at the front of the building, so Gibbs has to run back in to rescue her. McGee lollygags in the squad room. Tony and Ziva take the elevator in the front of the building.^note Which goes against all evacuation codes—you're NEVER supposed to use an elevator when you're evacuating a building because of the possibility that you will become trapped in the event of sudden power loss. Of course, all of them are present when the bomb goes off. Poor Ducky has a heart attack when he hears about it. McGee ends up with a shard of glass to the abdomen, and Abby develops serious psychological issues following the attack.
  • In the followup episode "Extreme Prejudice," President Barack Obama himself authorizes every federal agency to deal with Dearing with extreme prejudice. One of Fornell's agents, a woman named Lorraine, finds Dearing watching reports of the NCIS attack through a store window. She makes small talk with him.
    You'd Expect: Agent Lorraine to just pull a gun on Dearing and subdue him, or just shoot him, or the FBI to have a sniper nearby since they were able to find Dearing so damn quickly.
    Instead: Agent Lorraine uses seduction and lures Dearing to an apartment. He asks to use the restroom. While he's in there, a SWAT team enters the apartment and unloads several rounds on the bathroom. When they open the door, they find that he's jumped out the window and has left a small bomb set to explode in ten seconds.
    You'd Expect: Agent Lorraine to run over and just chuck that bomb out the window. If she got lucky, maybe she'd hit Dearing, or at the very least, the bomb would safely detonate out of range from anyone. At the very least, she could yell for everyone to clear the apartment.
    Instead: She just stands there like a deer in the headlights. The bomb goes off. She dies.
    Even Worse: It's like the entirety of the federal law enforcement didn't bother to surround the apartment building with SWAT personnel, or at the very least do something as simple as aim a thermal-imaging satellite at the apartment complex so they could track Dearing in case he got away.
• NCIS: New Orleans:
  • In an early episode, three girls are out driving when they watch a bus crash. As they pull over to see what happened, three unpleasant-looking guys in prison jumpsuits pull themselves out of the bus and begin walking towards the girls.
    You'd Expect: The girls to get the hell out of there.
    Instead: They don't. A scene later, it turns out that the three prisoners stole the girls' car. It could've been much, much worse.
  • A woman shows up with Lasalle with a baby she claims is his, and implores Lasalle to take them both in.
    You'd Expect: Lasalle to IMMEDIATELY have a paternity test done.
    Instead: Lasalle doesn't do anything of the sort, despite Pride actually asking if he's sure the kid is his, and takes both the boy and his mother in to treat like his own without question.
    As A Result: A several episode long arc about Lasalle and his "family" ensues that could have been avoided. It turns out episodes later that oops! Lasalle isn't really the father when the real Dad walks right up to him and slugs him in the face. Turns out the mother was just using Lasalle to get away from her abusive ex.
    You'd Also Expect: Lasalle to immediately arrest the man for striking a federal agent if nothing else, find out about the arrest warrants he has in the process, and solve the issue 5 minutes into the episode.
    Instead: Lasalle lets the father off, later risks losing his job getting into a fight over warning the man to stay away from the kid and his mother, before finally finding out about the warrants and using those as pretext to have him arrested.
  • Pride is kidnapped by an obviously very unstable woman, taken to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and tied to a chair while she rants at him, and she uses his phone to trick the team into thinking he's fine, but manages to get free while she's out of the easily escapable cabin.
    You'd Expect: Pride to immediately GTFO of the place or at least grab one of the nearby weapons to defend himself with when she does get back.
    Instead: Pride wastes time trying to text his team to tell them where he is while not even bothering to check regularly if the woman is around, and gets hit over the head while he's not looking and tied right back on the chair while he's passed out.
  • Pride is the target of a smear campaign by an unknown person with a grudge using leaked info on him alleging Pride's use of police brutality. The original leaked suspect is found dead, leading to the team suspecting a coverup.
    You'd Expect: Pride to back off and not be confrontational with people to prove that the allegations are just allegations and the reporter was skewing the truth while his team worked to find who was leaking the info and potential cover-up.
    Instead: Pride decides to go gun-ho on the crowd with his team, not only proving the allegations correct but also just giving the reporter, Oliver, even more material to work with. Pride also insists on spearheading the case, which just makes everyone think he's the one trying to cover things up.
  • Following that, it turns out said person wants to frame Pride as some kind of terrorist to further his own agenda, turning Pride into a wanted fugitive.
    You'd Expect: Pride to realize that maybe he shouldn't show his face until cleared of charges and be suspicious of everyone except those he trusts the most. Or at the very least bring creditable witnesses to all of his "investigations" to at least have an alibi.
    Instead: Pride goes about investigating his own case with nary a backup and often with people not from his close circle of friends, leading to him being betrayed by one of them and being physically present at the worst possible location to be framed for yet another terrorist act. It is only because his friends had the foresight to gather enough evidence and predict the enemy's movement that Pride didn't end up killed.
  • The CIA agent Sutter that is supposed to be handling the Boxed Crook Kurtz in "Monster" lets a dead police officer and mounting amounts of chaos rack up on her doorstep because of Kurtz being involved with arms deals. This not only has NCIS, but several other federal departments on the case, especially when an armed military drone gets mixed up in the matter and escalates the threat severely.
    You'd Expect: She would quickly move to cooperate with the opposing agencies, and stop trying to stonewall the investigation.
    Instead: Sutter basically blocks off everyone from nosing into her business, enacting Interservice Rivalry for no good reason whatsoever, and thumbs off the officer's death as a necessary step for catching terrorists while ignoring the increasing signs that Kurtz is fully going rogue until it's too late.
    Result: Kurtz kills her when she tries to rein him in by herself with no backup at an isolated location in the middle of the night, and nearly screws over New Orleans with collateral damages until NCIS stops him at the very last minute.
• The Next Food Network Star
  • At least twice somebody has had to open a bottle or jar and failed terribly.
    • You'd Think: They'd open it conventionally, by, y'know, twisting the top. If it's stuck, maybe stick it under some hot water. No biggie, they're chefs, they can handle this.
    • Instead: They decide to either tap it against the counter or cut off the top of the bottle with a knife. In both cases, glass got too close to the dishes they were making, forcing them to throw them out.
  • In Season 5, Eddie made an absolutely rancid watermelon-and-onion salad for a challenge, and was a candidate for elimination.
    • You'd Think: He would attempt to take the criticism gracefully, in the hopes that maybe a show of contrition would earn some mercy from the judges.
    • Instead: Eddie tried to save himself by claiming "It was from a Paula Deen recipe." Thereby not only admitting that he had ripped off a recipe from one of the network's highest-profile stars, but that he didn't even rip it off correctly! Needless to say, the judges eliminated his ass with extreme prejudice.
• Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn: In "Santa's Little Harpers", Tom and Anne swap jobs for a while when they want to see what it's like. Tom is studying the recipe to make cookies and proceeds to heat up the oven.
  You'd Expect: Tom to put the recipe in a safe spot before he turns the oven on.
  Instead: He still holds onto it and happens to hold it above the burner, causing it to catch fire and ruin it.
• This pops up frequently in No Ordinary Family:
  • In "No Ordinary Ring", the Powells are at a wedding which gets crashed by a gang of robbers. When they begin to escape, Jim chases after them and sees they are being hoisted up the side of a building.
    You'd Expect: Jim, who can jump over and onto buildings, to leap onto the top of the building and surprise the robbers (or anyone helping to hoist them up) as they reach the top.
    Instead: He tries jumping directly towards one of the robbers as he ascends. He misses, hits the wall, and falls flat on his behind.
  • In "No Ordinary Vigilante", Daphne's mind reading powers allow her to learn that a cashier at a local store is lifting money from the register. Later, she thinks she could use this knowledge as leverage to get booze for a party despite being underaged.
    You'd Expect: Daphne to take a moment to get any sort of concrete leverage against the cashier, or just realize that her word alone against the cashier's won't hold water.
    Instead: She smugly goes to the cashier and demands he sell her the booze or she'll rat him out. The cashier calmly points out that she has no proof of her claim, while the store's security camera provides him with footage of her trying to illegally purchase alcohol. He calls the police, and Daphne gets in trouble.
  • JJ, who used to have a learning disorder, gets "enhanced cognition" powers that basically enable him to become an expert at any science for a short period of time. He uses this to get better grades at school, arousing suspicion from his teacher, Mr. Litchfield, who soon accuses him of cheating.
    You'd Expect: JJ to offer to take a spontaneous oral exam immediately upon being accused, proving to Litchfield that he legitimately understands the class material. Even if Litchfield were to bring up his former deficiency, there would be no concrete proof that JJ cheated or took any sort of performance-enhancing drugs (which is something Litchfield later accuses him of), nor any irrefutable reason why the disorder couldn't just have disappeared.
    Instead: JJ attempts to draw suspicion away from himself by getting lower test scores, gradually working his way back up to higher ones, then uses his superior understanding of physics to join the football team despite his short stature. Litchfield becomes more and more suspicious. Eventually, Litchfield accuses another student that JJ tutored of copying off him because of very similar test answers, leading to JJ attempting to hack into the school computers and change the grades. Litchfield catches him doing this and soon afterward gets caught in a near-fatal car crash, which JJ blames himself for.
• Discussed in the finale of NUMB3RS.
  • A guy escapes from prison and manages to disappear by taking on a false identity.
    You'd Expect: He'd do his absolute best to lay low and try to stay off police radar.
    Instead: He bullies and terrorizes his neighbors nonstop, to the extent that the conflict gets the attention of the FBI (and even if it hadn't connected to an FBI case, it was only a matter of time before someone would catch him in the act and he'd be arrested by the LAPD).
    Furthermore: When the FBI tries to talk with him, he antagonizes them too, which fuels their suspicions about him.
    The Result: The FBI runs his fingerprints, revealing his true identity. He's promptly arrested and sent back to prison.

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