What An Idiot / Live Action TVO To R

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O

• The Office (US) has more than its share of these, but a few examples stand out:
  • In "The Negotiation", Michael is trying to get a raise. His review to determine whether he gets one and how much of one he gets is being conducted by Jan, who Michael is currently in a relationship with. Jan, knowing Michael, has already specifically told him not to bring up said relationship, as it won't be considered.
    You'd Expect: Considering Michael has a list about the length of his arm of completely legitimate reasons as to why he deserves a raise, he'd have the presence of mind to at least bring a few of them up.
    Instead: His relationship with Jan is the first, last, and only argument he puts down in favor of his raise. Idiot Houdini works in his favor, though, as he manages to get a decent raise anyway.
  • "Stress Relief" has a doozy of one for the inciting incident. Dwight is the appointed office safety inspector, and he notes that no one was paying attention to the meeting on orderly evacuations during a drill.
    You'd Expect: Dwight would consult the fire department on how to conduct a drill safety and remind his coworkers about procedures. They could set off the alarms and remind people to evacuate, in an orderly fashion. The whole point of a drill is so that people don't panic during a real emergency.
    Instead: He not only starts a fire, but locks the normal exits to remind people to use the emergency exits. (This is very dangerous, by the way in real life, and Dwight would have been terminated if not arrested for arson and endangerment.) When Stanley suffers a potentially fatal heart attack, Dwight shows No Sympathy while Michael displays Worst Aid.
    The Result: Mass "Oh, Crap!" ensues. Rather than learning the procedure from Dwight, who is shouting instructions, everyone panics when they realizes that someone locked them inside and there is a real fire. They start trying to smash the windows and go through the vents. To top it all off, when the CEO David Wallace finds out, O.O.C. Is Serious Business is in effect. He tells off Dwight for reckless activity that could have gotten someone killed and nearly did, and Michael strips him of his safety officer position.
  • While taking over as safety officer, Michael actually has a good idea: teach a course on CPR. The training dummy comes with an instructor named Rose, who is quite reasonable. When Michael applies chest compressions to the dummy too fast, Rose advises that using the chorus of "Stayin' Alive" is a good trick to press at 100 beats per minute. Unfortunately, just as it seems Michael is getting the hang of it, the whole group gets derailed by singing the rest of the song, and he joins in; Rose has to point out that by stopping the chest compressions and no one calling 911 means that the "person" is dead.
    You'd Expect: Dwight is already on thin ice for the fire incident and nearly killing Stanley. He should stand back and let the actual, certified and competent instructor explain what to do when your CPR victim's heart stops and isn't resuscitated.
    Instead: He pulls out a knife and declares they need to harvest the body for organs. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" (again) from his coworkers and Rose, who futilely tries to point out that it's not what you're supposed to do. Then he proceeds to wear the dummy mask on his face.
    The Result: Once again David Wallace calls him out for several reasons. One is that Dwight derailed the course that was teaching a legitimate life-saving procedure. Two is that the training dummy was worth over five thousand dollars, and that will be coming out of Dwight's paycheck. Three is that he is traumatizing his coworkers for the sake of his ego.
  • To avoid getting fired, Dwight has to receive a signature of forgiveness from everyone in the office in response to a statement of regret. Michael is willing to let off Dwight with a warning, but David Wallace says that's not happening.
    You'd Expect: Michael would, if he does care about Dwight not getting fired, work with him on the statement of regret. He's an idiot but an idiot with a big heart, and knows how to show that he is truly sorry about things. In fact, his attempts to make amends for causing stress that nearly killed Stanley forms the second part of "Stress Relief".
    Alternatively: Dwight would swallow his pride and ask for Michael to save his butt and help him draft a statement. This is his job on the line, and the CEO has his number.
    Instead: All Dwight does is draft one line — "This is my statement of regret"—  and announces it to the office.
    Predictably: No one wants to sign since he is a jerk and nearly got them killed via smoke suffocation. He ends up having to trick them to save his job, but they still hate his guts. 
  • In "Survivor Man", Michael's Zany Scheme of the week leaves Jim in charge of the office for the day. Someone's birthday is that day, and since it's during a month in which several other characters celebrate their birthday as well, Jim gets the idea to celebrate them all on the same day for efficiency's sake. No one else in the office is fond of the plan.
    You'd Expect: When Jim is going around to ask what people think of the idea, they'd, y'know, tell him. Even if they're somehow worried about being singled out, it quickly becomes clear that most of the people in the office are aware of all of the other characters who don't like the idea either; it wouldn't be hard to go to Jim as a group to voice their concerns.
    Instead: They act as if they like the plan whenever Jim is around, while behind his back they sit around impotently grumbling about how Jim's "gone mad with power" despite the fact that, not only has no one done anything to suggest that the plan is disliked while Jim is around to notice, they actively hide that bit of information from him. By the time Jim has overheard enough bits and pieces of their whining to realize what's going on, it's already the end of the day, forcing Jim to scramble to arrange the birthday that's supposed to be celebrated that day.
  • Doomsday: Dwight installs a failsafe system that counts the mistakes made by employees. If they make more than five, a message is sent to Robert California and they will all be given their first infraction notice.
    You’d Expect: Oscar to take the threat seriously. Dwight is a lot of things, but he is not one to make idle threats.
    Instead: Oscar makes an intentional mistake to test the system. Sure enough, it goes off, counting as their first mistake. Good job Oscar.
    Soon After: In a cutaway segment, Oscar says that when the chips are down, he doesn’t trust a calculator or computer, just one powered by Thai food and Spanish reds (i.e. himself).
    You’d Expect: For Oscar to realize this is not a time to show off your over inflated ego and admit you need all the help you can get, especially considering your job and everyone else’s jobs are on the line.
    Instead: Oscar makes a mistake because he refused help, the final mistake, causing the system to go off. It is only because the others showed Dwight empathy that everyone was able to save their jobs.
  • Scott's Tots: Michael made a promise ten years ago to a group of disadvantaged kids that if they graduate high school, he would pay their college tuition. Apparently, Michael actually believed over the next ten years, he would be so successful and wealthy that he could really do this. Now the kids are about to graduate high school, and the school invites Michael to come and keep his promise, forcing Michael to admit he can't afford to keep his promise. Granted, we already know Michael is an idiot who tends to overpromise without considering future consequences if said promises can't be kept. However...
    You'd Expect: Between the time Michael made his promise and when he confessed he couldn't pay, SOMEONE, whether that be the students, their parents, their teachers, the principal, the media (Michael's pledge was a newspaper story), or anyone really, would have asked if this random person promising to pay full college tuition for fifteen students in ten years was or would actually be fiscally capable of carrying out such a promise.
    Instead: For ten years, everyone accepted this person's incredible promise at face value, and believed it really would happen right up until Michael said he couldn't do it.
• One Tree Hill
  • In the final few months before graduation, Brooke finds out that she's failing Calculus & that if she doesn't get her grades up, she won't be graduating with her friends.
    You'd Think: That with Haley working for the school as a tutor, Brooke would ask her for help in getting her grades up.
    Instead: She goes along with Rachel's idea to outright steal the exams, which would result in her getting expelled if she was caught.
  • During the fourth season, Lucas & Peyton finally became a couple & end the season very much in love. When the show came back for it's fifth season, a Time Skip of 4 years had taken place, and it was revealed that they broke up several years earlier. The episode "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" reveals that the break-up happened because Lucas flew to Los Angeles to propose, and Peyton asked him to wait a year.
    You'd Think: That Lucas would explain he's not asking her to fly to Vegas to get married the next day & he's willing to wait as long as she needs before they actually get married, he just doesn't see the point in putting off the inevitable.
    Instead: Lucas takes Peyton's request to wait a year as an outright refusal, and breaks up with her by leaving her alone in their hotel room.
    As A Result: When they finally see each other again after three years, he's in a relationship with another woman who winds up leaving him at the altar after she realises that Lucas is still in love with Peyton.
    Ironically: A year after the breakup, Lucas invites Peyton to his book signing in L.A. in attempt to fix the relationship - except upon arriving, Peyton misinterprets a platonic kiss on the cheek from Lucas’ editor as a sign that he moved on so she leaves the signing before Lucas spots her, which results in Lucas thinking that Peyton’s absence is a sign that she moved on.

• 1 vs. 100:
  • One for the One: The very first One on the American version to lose to the Mob got handed a question that he used both of the Helps that were allowed at the time on it. At this point in the game, about half of the Mob was still around, including Ken Jennings. The first help, "Poll The Mob", had only 4 players picking the answer he asked about, and Jennings wasn't one of them.
    You'd Expect: For him to realize that at this relatively early stage, Four Is Death, and the answer they chose is clearly wrong.
    Instead: He uses his other Help, still thinking that answer. This can be somewhat justified, but...
    This Results In: The second Help, "Ask The Mob", picks two members, one who had the correct answer, and, as it turns out, one of the 4 players who gave the answer he polled about earlier. They have to be honest with which answer they chose, but can be deceptive about why. This knocks out the other incorrect answer, by the way.
    You'd Expect: For him to get it right. There is really no reason to trust one of the four at this point when everyone else said the other one.
    Instead: He locks in the answer the 4 players chose, because that was "his first instinct."
    The Result: To not many people's surprise, he gets it wrong, and loses the entire game alongside the "fantastic four" plus one other person who had given the other wrong answer, losing his money to the Mob and Ken Jennings, who all got it right.
  • February 2008: The American version aired a pop culture-themed episode and brought on a contestant who claimed to be a pop culture buff. He was asked which movie — The Simpsons Movie, Spider-Man 3, or Superbad - had fittingly premiered in Springfield, Vermont.
    You'd Expect: The guy knows The Simpsons takes place in a town called Springfield, and goes with The Simpsons Movie.
    Instead: He leaned towards Superbad; he Polled the Mob about it, and found that only three of them had chosen it. Still unsure, he Asked the Mob; the two Asked members had chosen Simpsons and Superbad, which ruled out Spider-Man 3.
    You'd Then Expect: The contestant figures Simpsons is correct, since only a few Mob members chose Superbad.
    Instead: STILL unsure, he wasted his one remaining help by Trusting the Mob. He moved on and got a sneak peek at the next question — it was about Patti Scialfa, whom he had never heard of before.
    You'd THEN Expect: The contestant takes his stupidly-earned money and leaves.
    INSTEAD: He kept going, despite having no helps and knowing nothing about the question's subject.
    FINALLY: The question asked which musical artist Scialfa used to sing back-up for. The correct answer was Bruce Springsteen, but the contestant ruled him out and chose someone else, thus leaving the show with nothing while the surviving Mob earned his money.
    Contestant's "Justification": He didn't know anything about Springsteen's backup singers, so he decided it couldn't be him. That was literally his reasoning.

• Only Fools and Horses:
  • In "May the Force Be With You", the Trotters get arrested by Del Boy's former childhood friend and long-standing rival, Roy Slater, for possession of a stolen microwave. While at the police station, Del tries offering Slater £50 to let them go. Slater, probably not wanting this long-awaited arrest to be even easier than Del is already making it, says "I didn't hear that," in a manner clearly hinting to Del that he should shut up.
    You'd Expect: That Del would take the hint and not hand over even more reason for this notoriously Corrupt Cop to toss him in jail.
    Instead: He takes Slater literally and loudly repeats his offer for all — including Slater's sergeant, Hoskins — to hear, resulting in him ending up with "attempting to bribe a police officer" added to his already-lengthy rap sheet.
  • Later on, Del strikes a deal with Slater to be given immunity from prosecution in exchange for giving up the identity of who he purchased the stolen microwave from.
    You'd Expect: Slater to keep Hoskins around as a witness in case Del attempts anything shifty. Part of the reason why Slater views Del as a Worthy Rival is that Del's as slippery as Slater is corrupt, after all.
    Instead: He sends Hoskins out to have a tea break — five minutes after the canteen closes — then gets Del to sign the immunity form, only for Del to falsely incriminate himself as the microwave's thief. Had Hoskins been around then he could have testified that Del had a conversation with Rodney immediately beforehand that indicated Del was clearly not the true thief, which would have voided the immunity agreement, but with Slater himself as the only witness, no court would ever believe he wasn't just reneging on the deal For the Evulz.
• Operation Repo: You are driving a hook and chain tow truck that has an expensive BMW on the back with a cameraman inside. You have to pee badly, and drive faster than usual. Your partner suggests you slow down to prevent an overturn. You nearly have an accident when you run a stop sign. Your partner repeats his suggestion more vehemently.
  You'd Think: You slow down, and/or maybe find a McDonald's to pee in.
  Instead: You keep going too fast. The car flips going round a corner, is totaled, the cameraman narrowly avoids death, and you get fired. Temporarily.
  * Ozark: Ruth Langmore had just murdered Javier Elizondro, the nephew of Cartel boss Omar Navarro, to avenge her cousin Wyatt. She then inherits a fortune from Wyatt's late wife Darlene.

You'd Think: She'll use the money to flee North America with her other cousin Three, her one surviving relative.
Instead: She remains in the Ozarks, wipes her slate clean and becomes a prominent businesswoman. She buys out the Byrdes' casino and puts a stop to their money laundering, putting them in danger. This leads to them cutting a deal with Javier's mother Camilla to assassinate Omar. Camilla forces a confession out of Clare Shaw and kills Ruth.
Later on, private investigator Mel Sattem unearthed the ashes of Wendy Byrde's missing brother-in-law.
You'd Think: He'll go to FBI Agent Maya Miller with the evidence. It may not count due to being stolen, but it's worth a shot.
Instead: He decides to confront the Byrdes in person, not to blackmail them, but to gloat that he'll have them arrested. The Byrde son Jonah shoots him dead.

P

• Peaky Blinders Tommy has some IRA members who know that he has the guns after him, because they suspect the Peaky Blinders killed a member of theirs in Birmingham. They basically blackmail him into meeting him alone at The Garrison to hand them over. Tommy knows this is a trap, so he pretends to go along with it, calls the police to let them know the IRA members will be there at 6pm so that they will arrest/kill the IRA and the Peaky Blinders won't be connected to their deaths, but he needs more backup. Unfortunately, his family are angry with him for driving away Ada, so they aren't speaking to him.
  You'd Expect: Tommy tells his family what's going on, because no matter how mad they are at him, they aren't going to want him dead and all of them are experienced with firearms. Also he makes sure that the police will arrive by the appointed time, since he isn't exactly on great terms with the law enforcement.
  Instead: Tommy trusts Grace, of all people, a barmaid he knows next to nothing about except that she's lied to him twice about her true origins and allegiances, but he still gives her a gun and tells her some men are coming to kill him and he needs her to hold them off until the police arrive. (And she's the one who killed the first IRA member.) When the men show up, Grace instead shoots one of them in her own revenge scheme, the police don't show up on time because they hope Tommy and the IRA members will kill each other and Tommy ends up beating the other man to death instead of letting the police kill him, so now the IRA have even more reason to come after the Peaky Blinders.
  Also: Instead of confronting Grace over disobeying his orders, she cries about how "She didn't know she had it in her like that" and Tommy comforts her instead, not thinking to question why a simple barmaid knows so much about firearms and they later have sex and Grace is allowed to continue her work as The Mole even though Tommy should have suspected something fishy about her long ago.
• Person of Interest
  • In the S02 E14 episode "One Percent" someone tries to kill Logan Pierce, billionaire genius and creator of a successful social networking site named FrienCzar. Reese explicitly tells Pierce that he needs to lay low for a couple days.
    You'd Expect: Pierce would take seriously the attempt on his life and lie low where he is hiding in St. Petersburg, Russia.
    Instead: Pierce texts his location to a few dozen 'friends' and invites them to a party.
    Result: Another murder attempt. The only reason Pierce survives is because Reese, who had gotten fed up with Pierce's Too Dumb to Live attitude and left, changes his mind and saves him
  • Bad things happened, and now the Machine's code is compressed into Harold Finch's briefcase computer. It will need a server farm to supply the necessary hard drive space and computing power needed to decompress the Machine back into its normal operating form. Fortunately, the protagonists of the show have found themselves in a warehouse filled with high-end computer hardware for them to take advantage of.
    You'd Expect: Our heroes to take one of the many pallets shown in the background stacked high with Mac Pro computers. These are the "power" Mac units that boasted 8- to 16-core Intel processers, huge hard drives, and tons of RAM making them ideal for building a server farm for the Machine.
    Instead: They go right for the warehouse's supply of PlayStation 3 consoles. Game consoles of that generation were inferior in spec to just about everything else in the warehouse. To make matters worse, the original-model PS3 used in the show was as terrible at managing heat as the competing original-model Xbox 360, and so was prone to heat-related hardware failures of its own at the time this episode aired.
    Result: They build their PS3 server farm and get the Machine decompressing...and then have to scramble to douse it in liquid nitrogen to cool it when the consoles start bursting into flames and melting down mid-process. They chose their Product Placement poorly.
• The final storyarc of The Practice, "The Case Against Alan Shore", is full of this. The titular firm of Berlutti, Young and Frutt ultimately fires Alan Shore for being an Amoral Attorney who ultimately went a step too far for their liking... while subsequently denying him a share of the massive profits he brought in for the firm, which kept it financially afloat and led to Alan functionally becoming the sole breadwinner for the other attorneys. He points this out for them several times after being let go, but is functionally stonewalled at every turn, leading him to take more desperate measures (couched in Refuge in Audacity) in an attempt to gain access to financial records and validate his claims. This is done due to Eugene ultimately having it out for Alan due to the latter's code of conduct, despite Eugene (and the rest of the film) being Not So Above It All.
  You'd Expect: At some point, the senior partners would collectively agree that it would just be better to pay Alan a share of the profits (even if it puts the firm on shaky financial footing), as the problem isn't going away and Alan's acts of defiance are getting more extreme (to the extent that he ropes in paralegal Tara to help him). Ultimately, Ellenor expresses concern with what's happening, but is ultimately overruled by Eugene (who is deadset on making sure Alan doesn't get a dime of the firm's money) and Jimmy, who ultimately goes along with Eugene's mindset.
  Instead: Finally fed up, Alan takes the firm to court over the matter in order to get his "slice of the pie". Not only does the resulting trial cause Alan to be awarded much more than he initially asked for, from a jury that completely sympathizes with his argument and believes that he ultimately ended up conducting the majority of profitable work for the firm, but Eugene, Ellenor and Jimmy's reputations are so thoroughly destroyed as a result of the public trial that all three attorneys are forced to shutter the firm and take up alternate jobs in a bid to restore their reputations.
• Preacher (2016):
  • Jesse learns that The Saint is now susceptible to his The Word after giving The Saint 1% of his soul. Jesse refuses to send The Saint to Heaven believing he doesn't deserve happiness (breaking his deal with The Saint) but won't send him to Hell because he has part of Jesse's soul.
    You'd Expect: Jesse to order The Saint to be his faithful servant. Having a superhuman killing machine on your side while searching for God can only be an asset.
    Or: Order The Saint to never try to kill Jesse and his friends ever again and then make him go away.
    Instead: Jesse locks The Saint in an armored car and sinks him in a swamp. The Grail find him and release him. Now the superhuman killing machine is very angry for being betrayed and seeks out Jesse and his friends. It's only because the agents of Hell arrive and take The Saint back that Jesse and his friends manage to survive.
• In a first season episode of Prison Break, the lawyers try to figure out what to do next now that the execution's been given a two-week stay. Burrow's son LJ, who's understandably a bit cranky, what with his mother being murdered in front of him and him being chased by the police for a double homicide he didn't commit, declares that trying to work within the legal system is a waste of time. The lawyers tell him that the legal system the only way that's going to work. They then get the idea to go back to the cabin where they left Quinn to try and recover info. Upon arrival, they lower LJ into Quinn's well with a rope to get Quinn's cell phone. LJ sees that Quinn scrawled out a name on the wall.
  You'd Expect: LJ to realize that the lawyers aren't being goody-two-shoes. This is an insanely elaborate conspiracy they're dealing with, one which only stopped trying to kidnap or kill the lawyers and LJ when they went public. The name of one of the people who's been chasing them would be insanely helpful for figuring out who's in on the conspiracy, especially since the conspirators don't know they have it.
  Instead: LJ doesn't tell them the name, grabs a gun from the cabin, finds the guy on the Internet, breaks into his house, and tries to kill him. Where to even start with how stupid this is...will killing this guy going to magically put a stop to Burrow's execution and shut down the conspiracy? Will it clear LJ of double homicide? Not really, no- seeing as how now he'd be an actual murderer on top of a framed one. Oh, and remember how if the lawyers had the name they could investigate and trace him to figure out who he's meeting with? Well that plan's toast, now that the conspiracy knows they're on to him. Come on, LJ. It was a long car ride back from the cabin. How the heck do you fail, so epically, to realize the colossal failures inherent in your plan when you have hours to think about it?
• Project Runway:
  • In Season 16 Claire is one of the talented potential designers. Her twin sister got eliminated, but she still has a chance to win. One of the rules is that designers are not allowed to bring in their own tools, including tape measures.
    You'd Expect: Claire would follow the rules.
    Instead: She uses a retractable tape ruler and tape measure outside the workroom and admits it on camera while working.
    The Result': Michael and Margarita are already annoyed with her "borrowing" one of Margarita's designs and tell Tim after Michael does a dramatic walk off the runway following Claire winning the Dixie Cup challenge in Episode 9. As Tim puts it, "But if Claire used a measuring tape or other tools outside the workroom, that is absolutely against the rules and there will be consequences.” She ends up disqualified and eliminated after she's forced to admit she broke the rules. It says something that the eliminated contestant of the episode, Batani, didn't look worried at all after being told she was out; she knew very well that Claire would go in her place.
• The Punisher (2017): Madani and her DHS team have been ambushed by a mysterious, highly trained mercenary unit. The DHS team suffers heavy losses, but kills most of them. Sam manages to get the drop on the last one and has him on his knees with his hands behind his head.
  You'd expect: Sam, who is no rookie, 1) has him lie face down on the ground with his arms and legs spread, 2) stays a safe distance away with his weapon trained on the merc, and 3) waits for backup. This is standard procedure for disarming an armed and dangerous foe, in any law enforcement agency in the world. Precisely to avoid what happens next.
  Instead: Sam approaches him and attempts to disarm and unmask him by himself. It turns out to be Billy Russo, who dispatches Sam with his hidden Blade Below the Shoulder as soon as he gets close enough.

Q

• Quantum Leap:
  • "Lee Harvey Oswald": Sam has leapt into Lee Harvey Oswald, and takes on bits of Oswald's personality as he bounces around Oswald's timeline. Ziggy comes to the conclusion that Sam is unstuck more than usual because the parts of Oswald's mind and the parts of Sam's mind are trying to reunite. Ziggy comes up with a solution involving identifying Sam's neurons through DNA sequencing, putting Oswald into the quantum leap accelerator, and leaping the individual neurons and mesons back to Sam to sort out the two men's minds.
    You'd expect: Al to run this by Sam first, as Sam is the person who knows better than anyone else — Ziggy included — how the accelerator works.
    Instead: They just do it, and Al tells Sam after the fact. Sam is aghast, because, "You can't leap isolated mesons and neurons without drawing other neural energy with it!" Meaning there's more of Oswald's mind in Sam than there was before.
  • "Deliver Us from Evil": Sam leaps back into Jimmy LaMotta, a young man with Down syndrome, for a second time. He's absolutely flummoxed when Al tells him that the good history originally ensured by Sam's previous actions is somehow being undone, and Jimmy's family is falling apart. Not long after, Sam discovers that another leaper, Alia, has leaped into Jimmy's sister-in-law. Sam is excited, but Al has reservations.
    You'd expect: Sam to be just as suspicious of Alia, given how badly the LaMotta family is getting screwed up in the future.
    Instead: Sam confides in Alia about his leaping, and begins to blindly trust that she's also there to put things right. She's not.
    Then: She says that she's lonely, and begs Sam to make love to her, claiming that it's okay since they don't see each other as their leapees.
    You'd then expect: Sam to be completely squicked out, given his fondness for the LaMotta family from his previous leap into Jimmy. True, Sam and Alia would see each other as each other, but the rest of the world would see a man with Down's having sex with his sister-in-law. In any case, Alia's desire to do this in the face of everything else going on in the leap should raise some tremendous red flags for Sam.
    Instead: Sam begins making out with Alia with his shirt off (!!), but is stopped by the sound of his leapee's brother Frank coming home. While Sam scrambles to get out of this awkward situation, Alia then pulls a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to get Frank to think that Jimmy tried to rape her.
• Quantum Leap (2022):
  • "Ben, Interrupted": Addison lies and convinces the morally ambiguous leaper Martinez to help Ben out with the leap, which he does since they share the same end goal to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. They rescue a woman from an abusive asylum, make their way through some service tunnels, find a ladder leading to a manhole cover in the asylum's parking lot, where the woman's sister is waiting with a getaway vehicle.
    You'd expect: Ben to climb out first, since Martinez has given him very ominous warnings during their first two encounters. Or at the very least, you'd expect Addison to whisper to Ben not to trust Martinez, who she saw was willing and prepared to stab an innocent nurse in order to save the woman.
    Instead: Martinez climbs out first, has the woman follow him, then — since he has the high ground — violently stabs Ben in the neck with a scalpel. Ben nearly dies as a result.
  • "Judgment Day": Ben leaps into his younger self in 2018 on the night of his first date with Addison. Present-day Addison warns him that they absolutely must not change a thing, otherwise it will change their personal histories in unforeseen ways. Ben sticks to the original history until Present-day Addison tells him that the Project in 2022 has detected Martinez leaping in.
    You'd expect: Ben to continue sticking to the original history as much as possible, since his and Addison's relationship is important to both of them. As Martinez's goal is to apparently kill Past Addison, Ben can solve that problem when/if Martinez shows up. In fact, he could even suggest the 2022 Project or Present-day Addison check in on their past selves to see if Martinez leaped into any one of them, since they'd be the ones closest to Past Addison.
    Instead: To present-day Addison's horror, Ben breaks character, tells Past Addison that he's himself from the future, sends her home, and completely blows the date. He does this because he figures that his and Addison's love is written in the stars, even though it's literally their first date and they don't yet have anywhere close to the same level of relationship and trust that they have in 2022. The Project back in 2022 all find themselves in a "quantum bubble" that could pop at any time, and are horrified that their memories and personal histories could irrevocably change at any moment.
    Even Worse: Ben goes back to the past Project and runs into Past Addison, who holds him at gunpoint because she doesn't trust him or his intentions. Lockdown protocols are initiated. The present Project then find that Martinez has made it into the past Project and is locked in there with everyone, and discover that Martinez has leaped into their boss, Magic. Because of Ben's amnesia (a side effect of quantum leaping), the past Project team doesn't believe him when he claims that there is another leaper.
• The Queen's Gambit: The Methuen Home where Beth grows up gives its orphans a daily tranquilizer "to even their temperaments". Eventually the government makes it illegal to give the drug to children, forcing the orphanage to stop administering them and resulting in all the orphans Going Cold Turkey and suffering withdrawal.
  You'd expect: The orphanage to remove the pills from the premises, or at least lock them up out of sight. Addiction wasn't as well understood in The '50s, but they should at least know when you cut off a junkie's supply you need to hide the drugs.
  Instead: They leave the pills in a giant glass jar in plain sight, where the orphans see them every day when they get their daily vitamins.
  The Result: Beth, being 9 years old, addicted, and thus having no self control, becomes desperate enough to break into the office and stuff her mouth with handfuls of pills, resulting in an OD.
  Even Worse: Beth is the one punished for this, being forbidden from playing chess for the remainder of her time at Methuen.

R

• Red Dwarf:
  • The event that kicks the entire series off — which is lampshaded in the episode "Justice" — comes when the ship's drive plate turns out to be dangerously faulty, and in need of repair to prevent it from exploding.
    You'd Expect: The job to be given to the best engineer aboard the vessel.
    Instead: It's given to Arnold Rimmer, the lowest-ranking officer on the entire ship (not counting Dave Lister, who is in stasis for breaching regulations on bringing pets on-board). He naturally screws the job up, and the drive plate explodes, causing a radiation blast which instantly kills the entire crew.
  • In "Dimension Jump" Ace Rimmer crosses over into the Dwarfers' reality and unwittingly causes Starbug to crash. Ace lands and boards the craft to help out, but — unaware that this reality's Rimmer is less of an Ace Pilot and more of a lowly, clueless technician — asks him to do jobs such as assist with fixing a damaged engine and rebooting Kryten.
    You'd Expect: Rimmer to point out that he's a soft-light hologram and thus physically unable to do the jobs that Ace is asking of him, which will at least save face on admitting that he doesn't actually know how to do them.
    Instead: He simply admits that he has no idea how to do the jobs, making it clear to Ace what a total smeghead he is.
  • In the episode "The Inquisitor", the titular villain — whose MO is erasing unworthy people from history and replacing them with alternative versions — removes Kryten and Lister from the timeline, but a series of events lead to him going on a rampage and killing Kryten's and Lister's replacements, then Cat and Rimmer, and finally Kryten. Lister, by now the sole survivor, threatens to drop the Inquisitor off a ledge but then saves him, saying that if he erases Lister from history he won't be there to save him.
    You'd Expect: The Inquisitor to point out that he's already erased Lister from history and doesn't need to do it again, then just vaporize him, since we've seen him do that to people without removing them from the timeline.
    Instead: He points out that Lister's threat is empty since he was the one who put him in danger to begin with (which is technically true), then tries to re-erase Lister... and in doing so, erases himself from history thanks to Kryten sabotaging his time gauntlet, undoing all of his work.
• Robin Hood:
  • "Brothers in Arms": Guy of Gisborne confiscates a necklace from a woman so that he has a gift for Marian. Robin Hood tells Marian about its origin.
    You'd expect: Marian to return the necklace to its owner herself, and tell Guy that she does not accept stolen gifts.
    Instead: Marian gives the necklace to Robin, who returns it to its owner. Predictably, Sir Guy finds out and starts suspecting that Marian spies for Robin Hood. This starts the chain of events which ends with Marian being forced to promise to marry Guy, to dispel the suspicion.
  • In the third series Robin meets Isabella, likes what he sees, implicitly trusts her, and starts up a sudden romantic relationship with her despite the fact that she's the sister of the man who killed his wife.
    You'd expect: Robin to at least try and remember his dead wife and the possibility that the sister of the man who murdered her might be just as untrustworthy, dangerous, and unhinged as her brother.
    Instead: He doesn't, and she kills him.
  • Kate's introductory episode involves her attempting to save her brother's life by a) trying to move him in a conspicuous cart during the middle of enforced conscription instead of just hiding him in the house, b) screeching "there's nothing there, there's nothing there!" when Guy investigates the suspicious sight of a woman talking to what's meant to be an empty cart, c) sabotaging the outlaws' ambush to free her brother by rushing in and attacking the guards prematurely without even a weapon to defend herself with, d) abandoning the outlaws and sneaking into the castle by herself with no clear plan on what she intends to do, e) forgetting to take out the distinctive braid across her forehead that makes her instantly recognisable to Guy of Gisborne who orders her restrained, f) trying to cut a deal with Guy by revealing to him that Robin, the man who would have saved both her brother and the rest of the prisoners had Kate just let him, is hiding amongst the prisoners, and g) flailing helplessly when Guy ends up killing her brother when he rushes to her defense, mistakenly believing that Kate is being threatened by Guy.
    You'd expect: Kate to learn a valuable lesson about the importance of patience, timing, competence, discretion, silence, and letting the professionals do their job without interference. Or, if she does really want to help, at least try to make herself useful to the group by training, learning other skills, etc.
    Instead: The next time a tax-collector comes to Locksley, she loudly and aggressively insults him in front of a large crowd of people, resulting in the destruction of her family's pottery business, her own capture and near-rape, and the audience being subjected to her presence for the rest of the series when the outlaws rescue her and then inexplicably invite her to join the team despite the fact that she's completely useless.
    Furthermore: Why on earth did the outlaws want her on the team in the first place? All she ever did was bitch and moan at them, and act impossibly ungrateful whenever they went out of their way to save her life.
• Roots (1977):
  • In the penultimate episode, one slave character discovers a thief in a food storage shed who messed the place up and runs off when discovered.
    You'd expect: "Virgil" to go to his masters and tell them about the thief to minimize the risk of being beaten when the thief runs off.
    Instead: Virgil nonchalantly tries to clean up the mess whereupon his masters come across the scene seconds later. They don't believe him when he tells them about the thief and he is promptly used as a punching bag by his handlers.
• Usually in the UK stand-up show Russell Howards Good News, Russell makes fun of idiots. This time he manages to screw up completely during his usual 'Guest' segment he is being given directions on how to stage a fake fight. During all this he is shown a small stool which he is told is breakable and is to be hit on the stunt-man's back.
  You'd Expect Russell to listen and work the scene as intended.
  Instead Russell, right before the scene is about to begin, decides to do a push up on the stool, causing it to collapse, with him breaking a couple of fingers in the process.
• Roseanne: Dan and Roseanne are presented with the opportunity to open up a bike shop.
  You'd Expect: They would pass up the opportunity, given that the shop was previously failing, it is located in a small town like Lanford, where the bike demographic would be very small, and they have no education in business or economics, or experience in running a business.
  Instead: They open up the bike. They end up having to close it.
  Also: Shortly after they open the bike shop, Becky learns that even though she is a good student, she has no college fund. One of the contributing factors was opening the shop. She is furious at them when she realizes she will not be able to attend college like a traditional freshman. It is one of the factors that later leads her to elope with Mark, which leads to Dan not wanting to speak to her.
• Royal Pains: In the fourth season, Hank is happily dating another doctor named Harper Cummings, who has had issues with dating doctors because of the hectic work schedules, but made an exception for Hank. In the season finale, Hank is discussing a medical case with Harper as they're preparing to leave for her family reunion. Before they board a boat to Rhode Island, Hank realizes that he may have misdiagnosed his patient, and the patient could be in danger.
  You'd Expect: Hank to call Dr. Sacani, who is still on call, to go check on the patient. In fact, the patient is a volleyball player at a tournament where HankMed is already the onsite medical care, so Dr. Sacani would be right there anyway. Plus, Dr. Sacani helped Hank treat the patient before, so he's well aware of her symptoms and history.
  Instead: Hank abandons Harper, calls Dr. Sacani to meet him, and both of them check on the patient. The patient is fine. Not surprisingly, Harper breaks up with Hank when he calls to tell her.
• Rupauls Drag Race: The "Snatch Game" is a Once a Season challenge where the contestants must imitate a celebrity and perform their best improvisational comedy. In UK Season 1, contestant Sum Ting Wong is torn between doing TV chef Nigella Lawson or naturalist David Attenborough.
  You'd Expect: Sum Ting to go with Lawson since she's best known for her sex appeal and food-based innuendos, meaning the jokes would practically write themselves in a challenge like this. Considering improv isn't Sum Ting's usual forte, you'd think she'd want an "easy" celeb to impersonate.
  Instead: She goes with the man best known for narrating nature documentaries. And while Sum Ting's age makeup is impressive, she predictably fails at making him funny, leading to her elimination. Some celebrities just don't lend themselves to parody as easily as others. What makes this worse is that she asked a few other contestants for advice and they convinced her to do Attenborough; one can't help but wonder if they deliberately played her by steering her away from Lawson.
  

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