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** Over several episodes in Season 8, Barney runs a big Batman Gambit [[spoiler:to get Robin to agree to marry him. Somehow he knew, among other things, that she would break into his apartment to steal his playbook and that Ted would tell her about the fake proposal to Patrice.]]
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* Michael Garibaldi of ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' never starts a conversation before first figuring out where it'll lead. As an inversion, he also prepares a bonus for those who manage to positively surprise him.
** The implications of having such a mind is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TheScrappy Byron]] when he mocks Garibaldi by pointing out what a sad, lonely life he must lead. It might have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, if the fandom had actually liked the character of Byron.
** The implications of having such a mind is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TheScrappy Byron]] when he mocks Garibaldi by pointing out what a sad, lonely life he must lead. It might have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, if the fandom had actually liked the character of Byron.
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* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Michael Garibaldiof ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' never starts a conversation before first figuring out where it'll lead. As an inversion, he also prepares a bonus for those who manage to positively surprise him.
**him. The implications of having such a mind is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TheScrappy Byron]] when he mocks Garibaldi by pointing out what a sad, lonely life he must lead. It might have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, if the fandom had actually liked the character of Byron.
** Michael Garibaldi
**
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** The whole episode of [[spoiler:''Roulette'']] is one courtesy of Chloe Sullivan. BonusPoints for doing it right under Clark's nose. Like all things involving Oliver, it is of rather dubious morality. She claims [[IDidWhatIHadToDo she did what she had to do]], and for the most part she anticipated Oliver's actions, but with [[PhysicalGod Clark]] involved but not knowing the plan, it could go horribly wrong very easily.
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** The whole episode of [[spoiler:''Roulette'']] is one courtesy of Chloe Sullivan. BonusPoints for doing it right under Clark's nose. Like all things involving Oliver, it is of rather dubious morality. She claims [[IDidWhatIHadToDo she did what she had to do]], and for the most part she anticipated Oliver's actions, but with [[PhysicalGod Clark]] involved but not knowing the plan, it could [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong wrong]] very easily.
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* Amanda Waller pulls of one in the ''{{Smallville}}'' episode "Extreme Justice". It looks like she's having the members of the long-retired JusticeSocietyOfAmerica killed as a continuation of the government frame that originally put them out of business. Reality is [[spoiler: she's provoking the surviving JSA members to come out of retirement to get back in the game, and meet and inspire the new generation of superheroes, because of something coming that will cause the planet to need all of its heroes]].
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**The whole episode of [[spoiler:''Roulette'']] is one courtesy of Chloe Sullivan. BonusPoints for doing it right under Clark's nose. Like all things involving Oliver, it is of rather dubious morality. She claims [[IDidWhatIHadToDo she did what she had to do]], and for the most part she anticipated Oliver's actions, but with [[PhysicalGod Clark]] involved but not knowing the plan, it could go horribly wrong very easily.
** Amanda Waller pulls
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* Richard Pryor's "Prison Play" skit involves the play's producer promising [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the warden that]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst "The Nigger gets killed"]] as LaserGuidedKarma [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous for daring to fall in love with]] [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt a White woman.]] However, it ends with the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming father-in-law accepting the suitor and wanting to becoming a paragon of true love.]] [[EvillyAffable The]] [[VillainousBreakdown Warden isn't happy.]]
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* Richard Pryor's "Prison Play" skit involves the play's producer promising [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the warden that]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst "The Nigger gets killed"]] as LaserGuidedKarma [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous [[FelonyMisdemeanor for daring to fall in love with]] [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt a White woman.]] However, it ends with the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming father-in-law accepting the suitor and wanting to becoming a paragon of true love.]] [[EvillyAffable The]] [[VillainousBreakdown Warden isn't happy.]]
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* Used by "Boston" Rob Mariano on Season 7 of ''TheAmazingRace'', during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. After deciding that eating four pounds of meat was impossible, he quit the task and took the four-hour penalty. Since the penalty did not start until the next team showed up, he used that to his advantage, waiting for his own penalty to start before convincing two other teams to also quit the task, counting on their initial squeamishness at starting the task to cause them to follow his lead. Cue EvilGloating about how he could not get eliminated that leg.
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* Used by "Boston" Rob Mariano on Season 7 of ''TheAmazingRace'', ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. After deciding that eating four pounds of meat was impossible, he quit the task and took the four-hour penalty. Since the penalty did not start until the next team showed up, he used that to his advantage, waiting for his own penalty to start before convincing two other teams to also quit the task, counting on their initial squeamishness at starting the task to cause them to follow his lead. Cue EvilGloating about how he could not get eliminated that leg.
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** Also recall Sawyer's explanation of the Long Con: "[It's] when you get people to think it's their idea, but it's really your idea."
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* Used in the ''Series/AshesToAshes'' episode "Traitor". Gene Hunt gives all the suspects a safety deposit box number, along with some bogus evidence. He instructs each person to safe guard their information. Gene Then waits outside the post office with his DI - Alex Drake - and arrests the traitor's correspondent as he leaves. Gene then proceeds inside to find that the locker missing evidence was entrusted to [[spoiler: DC Chris Skelton.]]
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* Used in the ''Series/AshesToAshes'' episode "Traitor". Gene Hunt gives all the suspects a safety deposit box number, along with some bogus evidence. He instructs each person to safe guard their information. Gene Then waits outside the post office with his DI - Alex Drake - and arrests the traitor's correspondent as he leaves. Gene then proceeds inside to find that the locker missing evidence was entrusted to [[spoiler: DC Chris Skelton.]]]]
* In The Tenth Series of Red Dwarf Episode 2 Fathers and Suns. Lister[[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]] pulls this on himself. Every year [[Itmakessenseincontext He writes himself a fathers day letter]] then gets really drunk so he wont remember what he wrote. This year the next morning he finds a video from the perspective of his father talking to him like a son telling him he's a dissappointment and to go get his tooth filled and join the engineering corps before watching the next message. Dave being dave skips ahead immediately only to find message two rebuking him for just skipping ahead and tells him to go do what he said once more. Dave skips again only to be threatened with having his guitar flushed out an airlock if he skips once more. Dave skips again and at first the message acts like he believed Dave completed his tasks and to go over and play a song on the guitar. When Dave goes he finds it's a cutout and his real guitar is floating in space and he's warned to go do it now or he'll get more of daddy's discipline.
* In The Tenth Series of Red Dwarf Episode 2 Fathers and Suns. Lister[[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]] pulls this on himself. Every year [[Itmakessenseincontext He writes himself a fathers day letter]] then gets really drunk so he wont remember what he wrote. This year the next morning he finds a video from the perspective of his father talking to him like a son telling him he's a dissappointment and to go get his tooth filled and join the engineering corps before watching the next message. Dave being dave skips ahead immediately only to find message two rebuking him for just skipping ahead and tells him to go do what he said once more. Dave skips again only to be threatened with having his guitar flushed out an airlock if he skips once more. Dave skips again and at first the message acts like he believed Dave completed his tasks and to go over and play a song on the guitar. When Dave goes he finds it's a cutout and his real guitar is floating in space and he's warned to go do it now or he'll get more of daddy's discipline.
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* Used masterfully by Sunil in Season 3 of ''InTreatment'', where he convinces Paul that he's more troubled than he actually is, and that he presents an imminent danger to his daughter-in-law. Sunil does this knowing that Paul will react by warning Julia, and that Julia will respond by calling the police. When Sunil refuses to show the police his immigration papers, he is deported back to Calcutta, which was what he wanted all along.
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* Used masterfully by Sunil in Season 3 of ''InTreatment'', where he convinces Paul that he's more troubled than he actually is, and that he presents an imminent danger to his daughter-in-law. Sunil does this knowing that Paul will react by warning Julia, and that Julia will respond by calling the police. When Sunil refuses to show the police his immigration papers, he is deported back to Calcutta, which was what he wanted all along.along.
* Used in the ''Series/AshesToAshes'' episode "Traitor". Gene Hunt gives all the suspects a safety deposit box number, along with some bogus evidence. He instructs each person to safe guard their information. Gene Then waits outside the post office with his DI - Alex Drake - and arrests the traitor's correspondent as he leaves. Gene then proceeds inside to find that the locker missing evidence was entrusted to [[spoiler: DC Chris Skelton.]]
* Used in the ''Series/AshesToAshes'' episode "Traitor". Gene Hunt gives all the suspects a safety deposit box number, along with some bogus evidence. He instructs each person to safe guard their information. Gene Then waits outside the post office with his DI - Alex Drake - and arrests the traitor's correspondent as he leaves. Gene then proceeds inside to find that the locker missing evidence was entrusted to [[spoiler: DC Chris Skelton.]]
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* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Root gets the better of Reese and Finch by counting on them to do what they do best: helping the helpless. She puts a hit out on her own alias and leaves a digital trail for the Machine to spot, knowing that it will tag her as a POI and bring Reese and Finch to her.
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* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Root gets the better of Reese and Finch by counting on them to do what they do best: helping the helpless. She puts a hit out on her own alias and leaves a digital trail for the Machine to spot, knowing that it will tag her as a POI and bring Reese and Finch to her.her.
* Used masterfully by Sunil in Season 3 of ''InTreatment'', where he convinces Paul that he's more troubled than he actually is, and that he presents an imminent danger to his daughter-in-law. Sunil does this knowing that Paul will react by warning Julia, and that Julia will respond by calling the police. When Sunil refuses to show the police his immigration papers, he is deported back to Calcutta, which was what he wanted all along.
* Used masterfully by Sunil in Season 3 of ''InTreatment'', where he convinces Paul that he's more troubled than he actually is, and that he presents an imminent danger to his daughter-in-law. Sunil does this knowing that Paul will react by warning Julia, and that Julia will respond by calling the police. When Sunil refuses to show the police his immigration papers, he is deported back to Calcutta, which was what he wanted all along.
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* In ''Series/TheFlash'' a criminal mastermind gathers a team to supposedly steal a foreign treasure. While the police sit on the treasure, he sends them out to pick the city clean. As it turns out they're just distractions to pull the police away so he ''can'' steal the treasure.
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* In ''Series/TheFlash'' a criminal mastermind gathers a team to supposedly steal a foreign treasure. While the police sit on the treasure, he sends them out to pick the city clean. As it turns out they're just distractions to pull the police away so he ''can'' steal the treasure.treasure.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Root gets the better of Reese and Finch by counting on them to do what they do best: helping the helpless. She puts a hit out on her own alias and leaves a digital trail for the Machine to spot, knowing that it will tag her as a POI and bring Reese and Finch to her.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Root gets the better of Reese and Finch by counting on them to do what they do best: helping the helpless. She puts a hit out on her own alias and leaves a digital trail for the Machine to spot, knowing that it will tag her as a POI and bring Reese and Finch to her.
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** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and Creator/WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
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** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard Penny leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and Creator/WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
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* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" has WilWheaton pull off one of these, to win a card game against Sheldon.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
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* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" has WilWheaton Creator/WilWheaton pull off one of these, to win a card game against Sheldon.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified andWilWheaton Creator/WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and
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* Sticking with Star Trek, there is the big one pulled during the GrandFinale of ''StarTrekVoyager''. Getting everyone home safe involved one hell of a BatmanGambit on the Borg. [[spoiler:Admiral Janeway from the future steals a time-traveling ship and knowledge of a neurolytic pathogen and travels to present Janeway's timeline so as to speed up the trip home by some 19 years, thanks to a Borg Transwarp Hub and a some subtle mindgames she plays with the Borg Queen. The mindgames continue until the Queen finally "checkmates" Future!Janeway and assimilates her...which was ''exactly'' what Future!Janeway wanted, as she had taken the pathogen...an anti-Borg weapon. Assimilation meant the Borg-killing bug would hit the Borg collective from the top down, crippling them and allowing ''Voyager'' to complete its daring run for home.]]
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* Sticking with Star Trek, there is the big one pulled during the GrandFinale of ''StarTrekVoyager''.''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Getting everyone home safe involved one hell of a BatmanGambit on the Borg. [[spoiler:Admiral Janeway from the future steals a time-traveling ship and knowledge of a neurolytic pathogen and travels to present Janeway's timeline so as to speed up the trip home by some 19 years, thanks to a Borg Transwarp Hub and a some subtle mindgames she plays with the Borg Queen. The mindgames continue until the Queen finally "checkmates" Future!Janeway and assimilates her...which was ''exactly'' what Future!Janeway wanted, as she had taken the pathogen...an anti-Borg weapon. Assimilation meant the Borg-killing bug would hit the Borg collective from the top down, crippling them and allowing ''Voyager'' to complete its daring run for home.]]
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* When the Goa'uld of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' are threatened they like to remind humans that their hosts, who are typically human, die with them. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.
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* When the Goa'uld of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' ''Series/StargateSG1'' are threatened they like to remind humans that their hosts, who are typically human, die with them. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.
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* Sticking with Star Trek, there is the big one pulled during the GrandFinale of ''StarTrekVoyager''. Getting everyone home safe involved one hell of a BatmanGambit on the Borg. [[spoiler:Admiral Janeway from the future steals a time-traveling ship and knowledge of a neurolytic pathogen and travels to present Janeway's timeline so as to speed up the trip home by some 19 years, thanks to a Borg Transwarp Hub and a some subtle mindgames she plays with the Borg Queen. The mindgames continue until the Queen finally "checkmates" Future!Janeway and assimilates her...which was ''exactly'' what Future!Janeway wanted, as she had taken the pathogen...an anti-Borg weapon. Assimilation meant the Borg-killing bug would hit the Borg collective from the top down, crippling them and allowing ''Voyager'' to complete its daring run for home.]]
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* When the Goa'uld of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' are threatened they like to remind humans that their hosts, who are typically human, die with them. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.
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* When the Goa'uld of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' are threatened they like to remind humans that their hosts, who are typically human, die with them. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.hostage.
* In ''Series/TheFlash'' a criminal mastermind gathers a team to supposedly steal a foreign treasure. While the police sit on the treasure, he sends them out to pick the city clean. As it turns out they're just distractions to pull the police away so he ''can'' steal the treasure.
* In ''Series/TheFlash'' a criminal mastermind gathers a team to supposedly steal a foreign treasure. While the police sit on the treasure, he sends them out to pick the city clean. As it turns out they're just distractions to pull the police away so he ''can'' steal the treasure.
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* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld like to remind humans that their hosts die with them when they're threatened. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.
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* In When the Goa'uld of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld are threatened they like to remind humans that their hosts hosts, who are typically human, die with them when they're threatened.them. Or if they really need things to go their way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent people hostage.
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* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld like to remind humans that their hosts die with them if they're threatened. Or if they really need things to go their way, they start taking innocent peoples hostage.
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* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld like to remind humans that their hosts die with them if when they're threatened. Or if they really need things to go their way, way in spite of the SGC, they start taking innocent peoples people hostage.
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* ''GameOfThrones'': Tyrion Lannister is trying to find out which member of the Small Council is feeding the Queen Regent (his sister) info on him. He tells Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger he needs their help to give away Princess Myrcella in an ArrangedMarriage to secure allies, but tells each of them a different destination for her. He also tells them both to not say a word to Queen Cersei. When Cersei angrily confronts Tyrion about this later, he knows who spilled the beans.[[hottip:*:It was Pycelle]]
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* ''GameOfThrones'': Tyrion Lannister is trying to find out which member of the Small Council is feeding the Queen Regent (his sister) info on him. He tells Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger he needs their help to give away Princess Myrcella in an ArrangedMarriage to secure allies, but tells each of them a different destination for her. He also tells them both to not say a word to Queen Cersei. When Cersei angrily confronts Tyrion about this later, he knows who spilled the beans.[[hottip:*:It was Pycelle]]Pycelle]]
* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld like to remind humans that their hosts die with them if they're threatened. Or if they really need things to go their way, they start taking innocent peoples hostage.
* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the Goa'uld like to remind humans that their hosts die with them if they're threatened. Or if they really need things to go their way, they start taking innocent peoples hostage.
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* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Founders pull off a pretty cool one that may actually be the result of a {{retcon}}. Season four ends with Odo being taken inside the Founders' "Great Link" to be judged for killing one of his own, during which he can sense that they're trying to keep certain faces and names secret from him in the telepathic orgy. He figures that these are people who the shape-shifting Founders have killed and are impersonating, and later realizes that one of them was Gowron, the leader of the Klingons. The season five premiere features a mission to expose this Founder, and the only way to do it is to kill him. Luckily, Odo realizes at the last moment that the real Founder is the Klingon general Martok, who would be perfectly positioned to take over the empire after Gowron was killed, with the Federation thinking he was dead.
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* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Founders pull off a pretty cool one that may actually be the result of a {{retcon}}. Season four ends with Odo being taken inside the Founders' "Great Link" to be judged for killing one of his own, during which he can sense that they're trying to keep certain faces and names secret from him in the telepathic orgy. He figures that these are people who the shape-shifting Founders have killed and are impersonating, and later realizes that one of them was Gowron, the leader of the Klingons. The season five premiere features a mission to expose this Founder, and the only way to do it is to kill him. Luckily, Odo realizes at the last moment that the real Founder is the Klingon general Martok, who would be perfectly positioned to take over the empire after Gowron was killed, with the Federation thinking he was dead.
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* Barney Stinson's Scuba Diver play in The Playbook episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. The Scuba Diver, Barney tells a meddlesome female friend, in this case Lily, about the Playbook, a book of schemes he's invented to pick up women. He then uses a scheme from the playbook to hit on her coworker, making Lily angry enough to steal the Playbook and tell her friend all about the scams he pulled. Barney then puts on a scuba suit and tells Lily that he's going to pull one more scam called the Scuba Suit on a hot girl standing at the bar. This causes Lily to go and tell the girl about the Playbook and incensed they both come back to Barney and demand to know what the scheme is. Barney then makes up a spiel about his deep insecurities, causing Lily to feel bad for Barney and eventually convince the girl to go out with him.
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* Barney Stinson's Scuba Diver play in The Playbook episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. The Scuba Diver, Barney tells a meddlesome female friend, in this case Lily, about the Playbook, a book of schemes he's invented to pick up women. He then uses a scheme from the playbook to hit on her coworker, making Lily angry enough to steal the Playbook and tell her friend all about the scams he pulled. Barney then puts on a scuba suit and tells Lily that he's going to pull one more scam called the Scuba Suit on a hot girl standing at the bar. This causes Lily to go and tell the girl about the Playbook and incensed they both come back to Barney and demand to know what the scheme is. Barney then makes up a spiel about his deep insecurities, causing Lily to feel bad for Barney and eventually convince the girl to go out with him. After they leave, he reveals hat was the scheme and his plan all along to get that girl to go home with him.
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** For example, one suspect was a stage magician with a guillotine trick. Columbo secretly switched the gimmick to its lethal state before submitting to a demonstration, expecting that the suspect would switch it again in an attempt to kill him. If the suspect were innocent, Columbo would die; rotten luck for the suspect. Luckily Columbo never errs, and the suspect unwittingly switched the gimmick back to safe, saving Columbo from suicide.
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** For example, one suspect was a stage magician with a guillotine trick. An example from an early episode sees Columbo secretly switched trying to catch a doctor who had murdered his wife, and given himself a perfect alibi by persuading his mistress to disguise herself as the gimmick to its lethal state before submitting to a demonstration, expecting that wife, making it look like she was elsewhere at the suspect would switch it again in an attempt to kill him. If time of the suspect were innocent, murder. With no evidence, Columbo's only chance to catch him is to persuade the mistress to admit the truth of her part in the plan. He does this by turning the doctor's scheme against him: He hires a actress to dress up as the mistress, who then stages her own suicide. When the doctor sees the scene, believing all ties to the murder are gone, he callously admits to Columbo would die; rotten luck he was just using her for his scheme... and his mistress is right behind him, hearing the suspect. Luckily Columbo never errs, truth and the suspect unwittingly switched the gimmick back ready to safe, saving Columbo from suicide.turn him in.
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* In ''{{Series/Friends}}'' Chandler pulls one of these off to trick his pregnant friend Phoebe into naming one of her triplets after him, by faking a name-based existential crisis, which Phoebe attempts to resolve by using his name over Joey's.
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* In ''{{Series/Friends}}'' Chandler pulls one of these off to trick his pregnant friend Phoebe into naming one of her triplets after him, by faking a name-based existential crisis, which Phoebe attempts to resolve by using his name over Joey's.Joey's.
* ''GameOfThrones'': Tyrion Lannister is trying to find out which member of the Small Council is feeding the Queen Regent (his sister) info on him. He tells Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger he needs their help to give away Princess Myrcella in an ArrangedMarriage to secure allies, but tells each of them a different destination for her. He also tells them both to not say a word to Queen Cersei. When Cersei angrily confronts Tyrion about this later, he knows who spilled the beans.[[hottip:*:It was Pycelle]]
* ''GameOfThrones'': Tyrion Lannister is trying to find out which member of the Small Council is feeding the Queen Regent (his sister) info on him. He tells Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger he needs their help to give away Princess Myrcella in an ArrangedMarriage to secure allies, but tells each of them a different destination for her. He also tells them both to not say a word to Queen Cersei. When Cersei angrily confronts Tyrion about this later, he knows who spilled the beans.[[hottip:*:It was Pycelle]]
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* In ''{{Supernatural}}'', the psycho hunter, Gordon, uses one on Dean to get to Sam. After capturing Dean, he forces Dean to call Sam to bring him to a specific place, but putting out the caveat that if Dean said one word about being captured, he was going to blow his head off. During the conversation, Dean uses the word "funkytown," which is a pre-arranged code for "Someone has a gun on me." However, Gordon was ''expecting'' Dean to get a warning to Sam. Which is why he had the back door armed with a tripwire and explosives. Sam hears the warning, scouts the place, sees Gordon in the front window, goes around back, trips the explosives, and ka-bam.
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* In ''{{Supernatural}}'', the psycho hunter, Gordon, uses one on Dean to get to Sam. After capturing Dean, he forces Dean to call Sam to bring him to a specific place, but putting out the caveat that if Dean said one word about being captured, he was going to blow his head off. During the conversation, Dean uses the word "funkytown," which is a pre-arranged code for "Someone has a gun on me." However, Gordon was ''expecting'' Dean to get a warning to Sam. Which is why he had the back door armed with a tripwire and explosives. Sam hears the warning, scouts the place, sees Gordon in the front window, goes around back, trips the explosives, and ka-bam.ka-bam.
* In ''{{Series/Friends}}'' Chandler pulls one of these off to trick his pregnant friend Phoebe into naming one of her triplets after him, by faking a name-based existential crisis, which Phoebe attempts to resolve by using his name over Joey's.
* In ''{{Series/Friends}}'' Chandler pulls one of these off to trick his pregnant friend Phoebe into naming one of her triplets after him, by faking a name-based existential crisis, which Phoebe attempts to resolve by using his name over Joey's.
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** The finale reveals (though doesn't outright state) that [[spoiler: the ''entire Dark Curse'' was caused by him so that he could get to the real world, and once he did he manipulated everything so that he would get his True Love potion and use it to bring magic to Storybrooke so that he could find his son. (Who had been transported to the real world long before the curse).]]
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** But, when things are just about to go wrong for the gambit (which is usually once an episode right before a commercial break, just to keep viewers glued to their seats), XanatosSpeedChess ensues or a DeusExMachina will come around and distract the mark and draw them away from discovering TheMasquerade. And they also had one episode that used a XanatosGambit instead of the usual BatmanGambit.
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** But, when things are just about to go wrong for the gambit (which is usually once an episode right before a commercial break, just to keep viewers glued to their seats), XanatosSpeedChess ensues or a DeusExMachina will come around and distract the mark and draw them away from discovering TheMasquerade. And they also had one episode that used a XanatosGambit instead of the usual BatmanGambit.
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* These fly left, right and center on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', but the characters most prone to them are villains [[MagnificentBastard Irina]], [[AffablyEvil Sloane]], and [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Sark]]. In contrast, [[GuileHero Jack]] prefers {{Xanatos Gambit}}s mixed with his [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] skills.
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* These fly left, right and center on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', but the characters most prone to them are villains [[MagnificentBastard Irina]], [[AffablyEvil Sloane]], and [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Sark]]. In contrast, [[GuileHero Jack]] prefers {{Xanatos Gambit}}s other {{plan}}s mixed with his [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] skills.
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*** It is of course, quite possible that they can't rebuild the computer anymore. After all they've been killing about three million people a year for 500 years. That many people die and its probably not going to do wonders for you in the sciences department.
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** In Season 5, Chip & Kim built up Colin & Christie's egos and made them over-confident, trusting that any sort of struggle later would cause them to [[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]]. Earlier in the Season their plan was to encourage the rivalry between Colin and Mirna in order to get them to focus more on each other than the race, however Charla & Mirna got eliminated too quickly for this to come to fruition.
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** In Season 5, Chip & Kim built up Colin & Christie's egos and made them over-confident, trusting that any sort of struggle later would cause them to [[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]]. Earlier in the Season their plan was to encourage the rivalry between Colin and Mirna in order to get them to focus more on each other than the race, however Charla & Mirna got eliminated too quickly for this to come to fruition.fruition.
* In ''{{Supernatural}}'', the psycho hunter, Gordon, uses one on Dean to get to Sam. After capturing Dean, he forces Dean to call Sam to bring him to a specific place, but putting out the caveat that if Dean said one word about being captured, he was going to blow his head off. During the conversation, Dean uses the word "funkytown," which is a pre-arranged code for "Someone has a gun on me." However, Gordon was ''expecting'' Dean to get a warning to Sam. Which is why he had the back door armed with a tripwire and explosives. Sam hears the warning, scouts the place, sees Gordon in the front window, goes around back, trips the explosives, and ka-bam.
* In ''{{Supernatural}}'', the psycho hunter, Gordon, uses one on Dean to get to Sam. After capturing Dean, he forces Dean to call Sam to bring him to a specific place, but putting out the caveat that if Dean said one word about being captured, he was going to blow his head off. During the conversation, Dean uses the word "funkytown," which is a pre-arranged code for "Someone has a gun on me." However, Gordon was ''expecting'' Dean to get a warning to Sam. Which is why he had the back door armed with a tripwire and explosives. Sam hears the warning, scouts the place, sees Gordon in the front window, goes around back, trips the explosives, and ka-bam.
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* In the ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' episode "Objects in Space," River pulls one of these on [[PsychoForHire Jubal Early]], using both his insecurities and the rest of the crew to maneuver him into position to be ambushed by Mal. The only thing she didn't factor in was [[SpannerInTheWorks her brother's]] rather suicidal devotion to her.
-->'''Mal:''' C'mon, you can yell at your brother for ruining your perfect plan.
-->'''River:''' ''(sigh)'' He takes ''so'' much looking after.
* A standard of many spy stories. There was a top quote from an episode of ''BurnNotice'' that featured Michael Westen on the unfortunate receiving end of a gambit by a rival spy. This required him to formulate his own gambit to counter how effective the first gambit was. As for Michael himself, despite not having personally killed anyone since the first episode, he's indirectly responsible for 90% of the deaths on the show. Another quote from the show:
-->'''Michael:''' ''(voice-over)'' In the spy game you spend a lot of time getting people to betray their own. Most do it for money, some do it for spite. But the greatest achievement is to get a guy to turn on his own people because he thinks he's being loyal.
* About 90% of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' episodes center around a BatmanGambit on the part of the IMF. The remaining 10%, and [[TheMovie the first movie]], center around what happens when such a gambit goes horribly wrong.
** But, when things are just about to go wrong for the gambit (which is usually once an episode right before a commercial break, just to keep viewers glued to their seats), XanatosSpeedChess ensues or a DeusExMachina will come around and distract the mark and draw them away from discovering TheMasquerade. And they also had one episode that used a XanatosGambit instead of the usual BatmanGambit.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Seventh Doctor is a master {{Chessmaster}} setting up all the pieces and having his enemies and friends effortlessly go where he wants them to go in order to save the day... at first glance. However, many of the TV stories involving this aspect of his character end up revolving around the sudden realisation that something is happening that he didn't actually plan for (such as two factions of Daleks seeking out the Hand of Omega rather than one), or someone does something that he didn't expect, necessitating a frantic run-around as he desperately tries to improvise some stop-gap solution to get things back on track.
-->'''Doctor:''' Ace, do you have any of that nitro-9 I told you not to bring with you?\\
'''Ace:''' Yes.\\
'''Doctor:''' Good girl.
** Also in ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Tenth Doctor is taken to task by Davros for doing precisely this. Davros points out to the Doctor that he makes a big point of how pacifistic he is, while at the same time manipulatively turning those around him into the kind of people who will blow up their own planet to stop an invasion.
** The Tenth Doctor is pretty fond of this -- [[ObfuscatingStupidity feigning ignorance]] and getting himself captured so he can be brought face to face with the bad guy of the week. Ninth plays around with it too -- "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."
** Twice in series 5, [[spoiler: the freakin' ''Daleks'']] pull one on [[spoiler: the Doctor]].
*** First, in [[spoiler:"Victory of the Daleks", they let him declare himself as the Doctor and identified his enemies. This was exactly what the Daleks wanted, as their Progenator wouldn't recognize their spoiled DNA. They needed their oldest and most powerful enemy to tell the Progenator who they were, setting off the creation of a new bigger, badder, and [[ColorCodedforYourConvenience technicolor]] Dalek race. NiceJobBreakingItHero...]]
*** Then, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]": [[spoiler:the alliance of the Doctor's enemies sets up the message that "the Pandorica is opening", so that the Doctor will arrive to find and stop the SealedEvilInACan inside. Of course there's actually nothing inside, they just wanted the Doctor to show up so they could [[SealedGoodInACan seal him]].]]
** In series 6, the Doctor defeats the Silence by [[spoiler:scattering his allies, building a prison and cloaking the TARDIS, all to get a Silent to say ''one phrase'']].
* The Argentinian series ''LosSimuladores'' is entirely about pulling Batman Gambits on unsuspecting people to make them change somehow or right a wrong. One episode, for example, features a faked bank robbery meant to delay the purchase of a bank, while another involves staging a date with a PaulMcCartney impostor in order to bring up her self-esteem and make her more socially active.
* ''PrisonBreak.'' The initial prison break from Fox River was ''one big'' BatmanGambit. Note how Michael included the reactions of criminals he doesn't even know in his plans. It is also interesting that Michael learns that it ''isn't'' as easy as he thought, leading to some use of XanatosSpeedChess. However, he also requires dumb luck (if it weren't for circumstances changing for characters included in his BatmanGambit, such as Sucre and Westmoreland, they would never have played along).
** It's actually {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Lincoln, who tells Michael that he may have the blueprints of Fox River and a plan to break out, but that he can't rely on or predict criminals.
** In the ''PrisonBreak'' episode "Hell or High Water", Scofield tells the other would-be escapees that once he cuts the power, there's only 30 seconds to get across the no-man's-land surrounding Sona and through the electrified fence before the backup generator kicks in. The three looking out only for themselves insist on going first and are caught out in the open when the lights come back on 10 seconds later. Their recapture then serves as a diversion while he and the rest escape.
** [[spoiler: Christina Rose]] shows in ''S.O.B'' that the BatmanGambit is hereditary, manipulating an alleged buyer for Schylla into instead becoming an unknowing sacrificial lamb that catalyzes the change necessary to maximize Scylla's true worth, while getting Lincoln Burrows and his posse to ignorantly take the fall for said lamb's slaughter.
* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Founders pull off a pretty cool one that may actually be the result of a {{retcon}}. Season four ends with Odo being taken inside the Founders' "Great Link" to be judged for killing one of his own, during which he can sense that they're trying to keep certain faces and names secret from him in the telepathic orgy. He figures that these are people who the shape-shifting Founders have killed and are impersonating, and later realizes that one of them was Gowron, the leader of the Klingons. The season five premiere features a mission to expose this Founder, and the only way to do it is to kill him. Luckily, Odo realizes at the last moment that the real Founder is the Klingon general Martok, who would be perfectly positioned to take over the empire after Gowron was killed, with the Federation thinking he was dead.
** And, even better, in Season 7 this turns out to be a ''two-way'' BatmanGambit, because it is revealed that Section 31 had infected Odo with a Founder-killing virus and used his "trial" as a way of infecting the whole Great Link with it.
*** They shouldn't have been surprised. After all, the Founders fairly effortlessly managed to manipulate the secret police of both Romulans AND Cardassians into the mother of all massacres -- when of course, they thought that THEY would be exterminating the Founders... and again, this was all thanks to Odo.
** The season 5 episode "For The Uniform" features one of these: After Eddington, a traitorous former Starfleet officer poisoning colonies, gives Sisko a copy of Les Miserables, Sisko realizes that Eddington is living out the role of Jean Valjean. Sisko uses this knowledge to convince Eddington to give himself up, as part of his Hero Fantasy.
** Better than all of the above: [[MemeticMutation IT'S A FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!]] Almost a GambitRoulette -- the plan relies on the FAAAAAAAAAKE being discovered in order for it to work -- and Sisko could have ended it all if it weren't so damn awesome. Brilliant BatmanGambit in that it's fueled by [[CrazyPrepared crazy preparedness]], like predicting how one character will react... and then predicting another character's reaction to the reaction.
*** However, the plan didn't require that the fake be discovered. The Romulan could have left for home believing the recording to be genuine, Garak still would have assassinated him by planting a bomb, and the Romulan government would respond accordingly.
** Quark pulled one in the Season 3 episode "The House of Quark." Quark finds himself in charge of a Klingon house, and the only way to save it from being conquered is to face his rival in a duel to the death. Rather than try to fight someone he has no hope of beating, he shows up for the duel, but [[ISurrenderSuckers immediately surrenders.]] He then goads his opponent into trying to kill him, all while reminding the crowd they all knew the outcome before they even walked into the room. His opponent is more than happy to oblige -- until Gowron stops him and strips him of his honor for trying to kill someone as pathetic and low as Quark. Just as planned.
* Captain Kirk lived for this trope. The aptly titled episode "The Carbomite Maneuver" features Kirk bluffing a powerful alien force. He later reuses this particular ploy in "The Deadly Years". His entire battle with the Romulan commander in "The Balance of Terror" features him and the Romulan commander pulling these on each other in rapid succession. Kirk and the Romulan are able to predict each other's behavior as being "just what they would have done." And in "A Taste of Armegeddon", Kirk is able to stop a centuries-old "clinical war" by destroying the war computers, abrogating the treaty between the two worlds. The two planets were now faced with the prospect of the horrors of real war, or actually working for peace.
-->'''Kirk:''' Death, destruction, disease, horror... that's what war is all about, Anan. That's what makes it a thing to be avoided. But you've made it neat and painless -- so neat and painless, you've had no reason to stop it, and you've had it for five hundred years. Since it seems to be the only way I can save my crew, my ship... I'm going to end it for you -- one way or another.
** And when Spock points out the possibility that the gambit may have failed:
--->'''Spock:''' Captain, you took a big chance.\\
'''Kirk:''' Did I, Mr. Spock? They had been killing three million people a year. It had been going on for five-hundred years. An actual attack wouldn't have killed any more people than one of their computer attacks, but it would have ended their ability to make war. The fighting would have been over. Permanently.\\
'''[=McCoy:=]''' But you didn't know that it would work.\\
'''Kirk:''' No. It was a calculated risk. Still, the Emenians keep a very orderly society, and actual war is a very messy business. A very, very messy business. I had a feeling they would do anything to avoid it, even talk peace.
** No one brings up the possibility that they will simply rebuild and continue their neater war.
** Spock's fiancée T'Pring pulls one on him in "Amok Time". Rather than choose her actual boyfriend as her champion in a duel to the death to dissolve the engagement, she chooses Kirk, reasoning (correctly) that whoever wins will be too upset about killing his best friend to go through with the wedding. [[spoiler: Even when [=McCoy=] [[TakeAThirdOption Takes A Third Option]] and both Kirk and Spock survive, she still gets her way.]]
* Marya does this casually in ''HogansHeroes''. She purposefully makes things hard for Hogan, including having him taken hostage in a rocket factory they both know has a bomb planted inside it and throwing doubts on her loyalty, because she's sure Hogan will figure something out that will also kill her Nazi contact as collateral damage.
* Most of the cons used in ''{{Hustle}}'' rely upon this.
** Mickey can sometimes get a bit Batman-y. The crowning example is probably when, in a competition with Danny, he bases a scam not just on assuming [[spoiler: Danny will try and steal his mark]], but also ''how he'll try to do it''.
* Ditto ''{{Series/Leverage}}''.
** The Season 1 finale of ''Leverage'', "The Second David Job", specifically draws attention to this:
--->'''[[spoiler:Jim Sterling]]:''' Your entire plan counted on me being an arrogant, utter bastard.\\
'''Nathan Ford:''' Yeah, that's a stretch.
** One episode revolves around the team working with Nate's ex-wife, Maggie. She points out a flaw in his plan: you can't just ''make'' people do what you want them to. The team reacts with surprise, horror, and amusement to this revelation.
* Spike of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' uses this to good effect in the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]". Knowing the personalities and temperament of each character, he casually plants information with each of them to turn them on each other. He does it in a way that's particularly ingenious: he relies on their own expectations of ''him'' to lead the characters into "discovering" the false rumors for themselves... so that each of them thinks it was their own idea.
** YMMV on whether it counts as "ingenious" - the fight lasted less than an episode, and directly led them to the idea which helped them destroy the season's BigBad. If it was a BatmanGambit, it wasn't a very good one.
*** The fight only ended so quickly because [[GoneHorriblyRight Spike realised that if they weren't talking, Willow wouldn't decode the]] MacGuffin [[GoneHorriblyRight for the team]] and so he had to remind her to do it, which led to the gang talking, which led to them figuring out that Spike had been manipulating them the whole time. [[ForWantOfANail If Spike and Adam had given it a little more thought, it would have worked perfectly.]]
** Giles pulls one on Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope & Trick]]" to get her to reveal what happened when she killed Angel back in "Becoming Part 2". By asking her under the pretext of needing information to create a binding spell to prevent Acathla from being re-awakened, Giles not only guesses correctly Buffy's training will eventually mean she will reveal what happen, it also means she won't question his motives in asking. Doubles as somewhat of a TearJerker and a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Giles.
* Todd Gack from ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'' has figured out a "dating loophole" where he makes a bet with a woman about something he knows isn't true, offering to treat her to dinner if he loses. This allows him to essentially go on as many dates as he wants without ever having to actually ask any women out.
** Attempted by Jerry and George to switch Jerry's girlfriend with her roommate by offending her by suggesting a mengé á trios. It all blows up in their faces when it turns out [[spoiler: the girlfriend and roommate were both "into it."]]
* Friar Tuck pulls one of these in the first episode of the third series of the BBC's ''Series/RobinHood'': Robin has become disillusioned, so Tuck gets the rest of the gang captured. Naturally, Robin goes to save them, which also rekindles the myth - the population think he's dead, so naturally, appearing just after an eclipse is quite a spectacle...
* Awesomely implemented in ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger''; the title team tricks one of the {{Big Bad}}s into kidnapping one of them instead of the baddie's original target in order to find out where she's holding the rest of her captives. Unfortunately, the BigBad ''knew'' they were going to do this, and had her minions kidnap the real target, anyway, using the Shinkenger in her custody to lure the others into a trap. However, the Shinkengers anticipated ''that'', and replaced the real target with ''another'' of their members, using ''him'' to find out the location of the BigBad and using shadow puppets to make it look like they had fallen for her trap.
* Gregory {{Series/House}} pulls off a small scale Batman Gambit: when his game in the 4th season ended, he wanted to hire Kutner, Taub and Thirteen. But since Cuddy already hired Foreman, he could only hire two. Solution: hire the two male ones to let the slightly feminist director let him hire Thirteen.
** Cuddy originally says it's about how he needs a woman on the team, but admits later it's because Thirteen gives a rat's ass about other human beings, whereas Foreman and Taub are just ambitious and House and Kutner are mostly in it for the puzzle. Not really feminism, more like House knows Cuddy sorta likes Thirteen.
* ''{{Dollhouse}}.'' Specifically, [[spoiler: the ''entire first season'' was one long BatmanGambit by Alpha to get inside the Dollhouse and recover Echo.]]
* In ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', the characters will occasionally form Batman Gambits with some degree of success. In the episode 'Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom', Charlie forms a Batman Gambit in response to finding out that Mac had slept with Dennis and Dee's mom. At first, in order to get out of menial work, Dennis threatens to sleep with the Waitress, who is the object of Charlie's desire. However, Charlie brings Dennis to witness Mac leaving Dennis' mom's house, but prevents Dennis from physically confronting Mac, suggesting the alternative of having Dennis sleep with Mac's mom. Charlie then enlists the help of Dee by promising to relieve her of the menial labor bestowed upon her the previous episode. Dee brings the Waitress to witness Dennis attempting (and failing) to seduce Mac's mom. Dee then suggests to the Waitress that she get back at Dennis by sleeping with Charlie. The Gambit inevitably fails, however, as the Waitress opts to sleep with Dennis' dad instead, much to Charlie's chagrin.
** Dennis pulls a successful one later, when he has a conflict with a local hippie trying to save a tree. Dennis offers to chain himself to the tree, which makes him look selfless and goads the hippie into chaining himself there instead. While he stands in the rain all night, Dennis bangs his girlfriend. Then he comes back the next day, unchains him, and makes him watch the tree being bulldozed.
* The titular character of ''{{Series/Nikita}}'' pulls one of these in practically each episode of season 1, before finding herself more frequently as the recipient in season 2.
* Barney Stinson's Scuba Diver play in The Playbook episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. The Scuba Diver, Barney tells a meddlesome female friend, in this case Lily, about the Playbook, a book of schemes he's invented to pick up women. He then uses a scheme from the playbook to hit on her coworker, making Lily angry enough to steal the Playbook and tell her friend all about the scams he pulled. Barney then puts on a scuba suit and tells Lily that he's going to pull one more scam called the Scuba Suit on a hot girl standing at the bar. This causes Lily to go and tell the girl about the Playbook and incensed they both come back to Barney and demand to know what the scheme is. Barney then makes up a spiel about his deep insecurities, causing Lily to feel bad for Barney and eventually convince the girl to go out with him.
** Barney plans another one in [[spoiler: "The Broath" alongside Quinn to freak his friends out and teach them not to meddle in his affairs.]]
* The ''{{Sanctuary}}'' episode [[spoiler: Veritas]] features a Batman Gambit by [[spoiler: the immortal doctor/scientist Helen Magnus]] which involved [[spoiler: self-induced madness and the apparent death of a friend at her own hand.]] It's not clear exactly who is/are the target(s) of this gambit until the very end--unless you caught a fleeting glimpse of the little smile on the face of the guilty party at a highly inappropriate moment.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" has WilWheaton pull off one of these, to win a card game against Sheldon.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
---> '''Wil''': You don't really think I'd break up a couple just to win a bowling match, do you?
---> '''Sheldon''': No, I guess not.
---> '''Wil''': ''[grins]'' Good. Keep thinking that.
* Cal Lightman on ''Series/LieToMe'' uses this incredibly often, much to everyone's annoyance.
* Amanda Waller pulls of one in the ''{{Smallville}}'' episode "Extreme Justice". It looks like she's having the members of the long-retired JusticeSocietyOfAmerica killed as a continuation of the government frame that originally put them out of business. Reality is [[spoiler: she's provoking the surviving JSA members to come out of retirement to get back in the game, and meet and inspire the new generation of superheroes, because of something coming that will cause the planet to need all of its heroes]].
* Michael Garibaldi of ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' never starts a conversation before first figuring out where it'll lead. As an inversion, he also prepares a bonus for those who manage to positively surprise him.
** The implications of having such a mind is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TheScrappy Byron]] when he mocks Garibaldi by pointing out what a sad, lonely life he must lead. It might have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, if the fandom had actually liked the character of Byron.
** Sheridan also performs one in ''Rumors, Bargains and Lies''. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds are rebuffing his attempts to set up a border patrol system, seeing ulterior motives where there aren't any. He provides them with plenty of ParanoiaFuel via Ivanova's [[spoiler:completely truthful]] SuspiciouslySpecificDenial. By the end of the episode, they're ''demanding'' to be protected by the White Star Fleet.
** Going back to season 3, Nightwatch seems on the verge of taking over the station. Zack informs the leader of a bunch of Narns coming in supposedly to replace them: the smoking gun they've needed to arrest Sheridan for sedition. So every able hand is summoned to the docking bay to capture the evidence. Only there is no evidence. [[spoiler:Sheridan had known they couldn't pass up such a prospect, and it helps to have a FakeDefector to lead most of Nightwatch into your well-laid PPG-proof trap.]]
* In ''{{Series/Lost}}'', [[spoiler:Desmond Hume]] in the [[MindScrew parallel-alternate-off-island reality]] ran one of these gambits to [[spoiler:get everyone to remember their lives on the island]].
* At the very least played with in ''DesperateHousewives'', when [[spoiler: Angie is forced to make a bomb for her terrorist ex-lover. When he tells her he planted the bomb in the house to kill the son she took from him, she runs, seemingly to try and save his life. In reality, she was just getting a safe distance, because unbeknownst to the ex-lover, the bomb was in the remote he was holding.]]
* In ''{{Frasier}}'' episode ''The Apparent Trap'', his and Lilith's son pulls one on them, by setting them up [[spoiler:so that they would feel so bad about dashing his hopes they'd buy him his minibike.]] Lilith figures him out, though.
* ''RumpoleOfTheBailey'': Rumpole becomes a minor master of these, pulling them off with some regularity as time went on. His most fascinating and [[Awesome/RumpoleOfTheBailey awesome]] one involved him settling [[TwoLinesNoWaiting both major plotlines]] in one move, [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead faking his death]] to both collect from a [[AmoralAttorney shady]] and notoriously hard-to-find solicitor known to try and bargain down his back payments to barristers with grieving widows (thus solving some money trouble that had gotten him in serious trouble with She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed[[hottip:* :i.e. his wife Hilda]]). This allowed him to then serve a subpoena to the solicitor; the solicitor's testimony won him the case he was arguing.]]
* In the eleventh episode of ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'', Batiatus sets in motion his own revenge-driven BatmanGambit by [[spoiler:kidnapping Magistrate Calavius, and instructing Ashur only to kill him at the appropriate time. Batiatus times this with Pompey's primus so that he can get close to Calavius' son, Numerius, and have an alibi.]] Meanwhile, Ashur has been gaining the trust (read: money) of Solonius by warning him of attempts Batiatus has made on his life. Ashur is too frightened of the repercussions of this plan to talk about it however. Eventually, Ashur wants out and wants to spiel on Batiatus's plan in exchange for enough cash to get out of town. [[spoiler:When Ashur leads him to the magistrate, he already has had his throat cut. Batiatus then conveniently bursts in with his guards and with the magistrates son and Asher goes to his side. Solonius is then caught over the dead Magistrate holding a dagger and seized at Batiatus' order.]]
* [[TheRockfordFiles Jim Rockford]] is a master of these, whether as part of a con, or to catch a criminal. Two of his best appear in the episodes "There's one in Every Port" and "Joey Blue-Eyes." They are far too beautiful to describe.
* Patrick Jane in ''TheMentalist'' constantly pulls these off. Most episodes involve him "fishing"--setting up a trap, and then just waiting to see if it works. As Jane himself pointed out, "if not, we get a relaxing day out of it."
* These fly left, right and center on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', but the characters most prone to them are villains [[MagnificentBastard Irina]], [[AffablyEvil Sloane]], and [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Sark]]. In contrast, [[GuileHero Jack]] prefers {{Xanatos Gambit}}s mixed with his [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] skills.
* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' is a master of this, often using it to get the villain of the week to incriminate themself.
** For example, one suspect was a stage magician with a guillotine trick. Columbo secretly switched the gimmick to its lethal state before submitting to a demonstration, expecting that the suspect would switch it again in an attempt to kill him. If the suspect were innocent, Columbo would die; rotten luck for the suspect. Luckily Columbo never errs, and the suspect unwittingly switched the gimmick back to safe, saving Columbo from suicide.
* ''TheAndyGriffithShow'' was built around this trope. Usually involving Andy using the BMG to get people to solve their own problems/benefit themselves.
* Abed from ''{{Series/Community}}'', thanks to his GenreSavvy-ness and prophetic ability to predict the action of those around him will occasionally pull this off. A prime example he was able to manipulate both Jeff's TeamDad and Britta's Team Mom instincts in order to finish a student film.
* Goren does these almost OncePerEpisode on ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. He's usually compared to SherlockHolmes by the series' creators, but he's really a lot more like Series/{{Columbo}}.
* Walt does this throughout ''BreakingBad'' and he continually gets better at stringing together assassination plans and manipulating those around him as the show progresses. Eventually, he pulls off a huge gambit in the season 4 finale where he manipulates an elaborate set of events and people in order to[[spoiler: arrange for the ''BigBad'' of the season, Gus, to be blown up in a retirement home.]].
* Happens quite frequently on ''Series/CornerGas'', occasionally resulting in a GambitPileup, although they are probably for the most mundane things on this list, like not owing someone a favor, and most of the humor comes from how well (or not) the characters are able to pull off the gambit, but that shouldn't be surprising given the sitcom's premise.
* PlayedForLaughs on ''Series/ThirtyRock'': Jack cracks a joke about Liz, who then hands him an envelope with the exact words of his joke written inside. Taken UpToEleven when Jack responds by handing her an envelope that says "You will hand me an envelope with my joke written on it"
* Mr. Gold's plan to help Emma win a municipal election in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. While Emma is in the Mayor's office arguing with Regina, he sets fire to City Hall, giving Emma a chance to rescue Regina and be shown to be a hero. When Emma finds out about this, she is furious, but Gold points out that if she denounces him, she loses the election and disappoints everyone. [[spoiler: She does denounce him and wins anyway, which Gold then reveals was AllAccordingToPlan. Saving the rather unpopular Regina wouldn't have been enough to win Emma the election. Showing everyone that she was tough enough to stand up to Gold, the most feared man in town, however, was a different story.]]
* In ''Series/NewsRadio'', Jimmy James has proven himself able to use these upon his employees. Most of the other employees have managed to pull off one or two of their own as well.
* Richard Pryor's "Prison Play" skit involves the play's producer promising [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the warden that]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst "The Nigger gets killed"]] as LaserGuidedKarma [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous for daring to fall in love with]] [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt a White woman.]] However, it ends with the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming father-in-law accepting the suitor and wanting to becoming a paragon of true love.]] [[EvillyAffable The]] [[VillainousBreakdown Warden isn't happy.]]
---> '''Warden''': Horseshit! Wait a minute! Just wait a goddamned minute! You said the nigger got killed! I wan' me a goddamn dead nigger up in here else I'll hang here one of these homosex-u-als!
* Used by "Boston" Rob Mariano on Season 7 of ''TheAmazingRace'', during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. After deciding that eating four pounds of meat was impossible, he quit the task and took the four-hour penalty. Since the penalty did not start until the next team showed up, he used that to his advantage, waiting for his own penalty to start before convincing two other teams to also quit the task, counting on their initial squeamishness at starting the task to cause them to follow his lead. Cue EvilGloating about how he could not get eliminated that leg.
** In Season 5, Chip & Kim built up Colin & Christie's egos and made them over-confident, trusting that any sort of struggle later would cause them to [[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]]. Earlier in the Season their plan was to encourage the rivalry between Colin and Mirna in order to get them to focus more on each other than the race, however Charla & Mirna got eliminated too quickly for this to come to fruition.
-->'''Mal:''' C'mon, you can yell at your brother for ruining your perfect plan.
-->'''River:''' ''(sigh)'' He takes ''so'' much looking after.
* A standard of many spy stories. There was a top quote from an episode of ''BurnNotice'' that featured Michael Westen on the unfortunate receiving end of a gambit by a rival spy. This required him to formulate his own gambit to counter how effective the first gambit was. As for Michael himself, despite not having personally killed anyone since the first episode, he's indirectly responsible for 90% of the deaths on the show. Another quote from the show:
-->'''Michael:''' ''(voice-over)'' In the spy game you spend a lot of time getting people to betray their own. Most do it for money, some do it for spite. But the greatest achievement is to get a guy to turn on his own people because he thinks he's being loyal.
* About 90% of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' episodes center around a BatmanGambit on the part of the IMF. The remaining 10%, and [[TheMovie the first movie]], center around what happens when such a gambit goes horribly wrong.
** But, when things are just about to go wrong for the gambit (which is usually once an episode right before a commercial break, just to keep viewers glued to their seats), XanatosSpeedChess ensues or a DeusExMachina will come around and distract the mark and draw them away from discovering TheMasquerade. And they also had one episode that used a XanatosGambit instead of the usual BatmanGambit.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Seventh Doctor is a master {{Chessmaster}} setting up all the pieces and having his enemies and friends effortlessly go where he wants them to go in order to save the day... at first glance. However, many of the TV stories involving this aspect of his character end up revolving around the sudden realisation that something is happening that he didn't actually plan for (such as two factions of Daleks seeking out the Hand of Omega rather than one), or someone does something that he didn't expect, necessitating a frantic run-around as he desperately tries to improvise some stop-gap solution to get things back on track.
-->'''Doctor:''' Ace, do you have any of that nitro-9 I told you not to bring with you?\\
'''Ace:''' Yes.\\
'''Doctor:''' Good girl.
** Also in ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Tenth Doctor is taken to task by Davros for doing precisely this. Davros points out to the Doctor that he makes a big point of how pacifistic he is, while at the same time manipulatively turning those around him into the kind of people who will blow up their own planet to stop an invasion.
** The Tenth Doctor is pretty fond of this -- [[ObfuscatingStupidity feigning ignorance]] and getting himself captured so he can be brought face to face with the bad guy of the week. Ninth plays around with it too -- "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."
** Twice in series 5, [[spoiler: the freakin' ''Daleks'']] pull one on [[spoiler: the Doctor]].
*** First, in [[spoiler:"Victory of the Daleks", they let him declare himself as the Doctor and identified his enemies. This was exactly what the Daleks wanted, as their Progenator wouldn't recognize their spoiled DNA. They needed their oldest and most powerful enemy to tell the Progenator who they were, setting off the creation of a new bigger, badder, and [[ColorCodedforYourConvenience technicolor]] Dalek race. NiceJobBreakingItHero...]]
*** Then, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]": [[spoiler:the alliance of the Doctor's enemies sets up the message that "the Pandorica is opening", so that the Doctor will arrive to find and stop the SealedEvilInACan inside. Of course there's actually nothing inside, they just wanted the Doctor to show up so they could [[SealedGoodInACan seal him]].]]
** In series 6, the Doctor defeats the Silence by [[spoiler:scattering his allies, building a prison and cloaking the TARDIS, all to get a Silent to say ''one phrase'']].
* The Argentinian series ''LosSimuladores'' is entirely about pulling Batman Gambits on unsuspecting people to make them change somehow or right a wrong. One episode, for example, features a faked bank robbery meant to delay the purchase of a bank, while another involves staging a date with a PaulMcCartney impostor in order to bring up her self-esteem and make her more socially active.
* ''PrisonBreak.'' The initial prison break from Fox River was ''one big'' BatmanGambit. Note how Michael included the reactions of criminals he doesn't even know in his plans. It is also interesting that Michael learns that it ''isn't'' as easy as he thought, leading to some use of XanatosSpeedChess. However, he also requires dumb luck (if it weren't for circumstances changing for characters included in his BatmanGambit, such as Sucre and Westmoreland, they would never have played along).
** It's actually {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Lincoln, who tells Michael that he may have the blueprints of Fox River and a plan to break out, but that he can't rely on or predict criminals.
** In the ''PrisonBreak'' episode "Hell or High Water", Scofield tells the other would-be escapees that once he cuts the power, there's only 30 seconds to get across the no-man's-land surrounding Sona and through the electrified fence before the backup generator kicks in. The three looking out only for themselves insist on going first and are caught out in the open when the lights come back on 10 seconds later. Their recapture then serves as a diversion while he and the rest escape.
** [[spoiler: Christina Rose]] shows in ''S.O.B'' that the BatmanGambit is hereditary, manipulating an alleged buyer for Schylla into instead becoming an unknowing sacrificial lamb that catalyzes the change necessary to maximize Scylla's true worth, while getting Lincoln Burrows and his posse to ignorantly take the fall for said lamb's slaughter.
* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Founders pull off a pretty cool one that may actually be the result of a {{retcon}}. Season four ends with Odo being taken inside the Founders' "Great Link" to be judged for killing one of his own, during which he can sense that they're trying to keep certain faces and names secret from him in the telepathic orgy. He figures that these are people who the shape-shifting Founders have killed and are impersonating, and later realizes that one of them was Gowron, the leader of the Klingons. The season five premiere features a mission to expose this Founder, and the only way to do it is to kill him. Luckily, Odo realizes at the last moment that the real Founder is the Klingon general Martok, who would be perfectly positioned to take over the empire after Gowron was killed, with the Federation thinking he was dead.
** And, even better, in Season 7 this turns out to be a ''two-way'' BatmanGambit, because it is revealed that Section 31 had infected Odo with a Founder-killing virus and used his "trial" as a way of infecting the whole Great Link with it.
*** They shouldn't have been surprised. After all, the Founders fairly effortlessly managed to manipulate the secret police of both Romulans AND Cardassians into the mother of all massacres -- when of course, they thought that THEY would be exterminating the Founders... and again, this was all thanks to Odo.
** The season 5 episode "For The Uniform" features one of these: After Eddington, a traitorous former Starfleet officer poisoning colonies, gives Sisko a copy of Les Miserables, Sisko realizes that Eddington is living out the role of Jean Valjean. Sisko uses this knowledge to convince Eddington to give himself up, as part of his Hero Fantasy.
** Better than all of the above: [[MemeticMutation IT'S A FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!]] Almost a GambitRoulette -- the plan relies on the FAAAAAAAAAKE being discovered in order for it to work -- and Sisko could have ended it all if it weren't so damn awesome. Brilliant BatmanGambit in that it's fueled by [[CrazyPrepared crazy preparedness]], like predicting how one character will react... and then predicting another character's reaction to the reaction.
*** However, the plan didn't require that the fake be discovered. The Romulan could have left for home believing the recording to be genuine, Garak still would have assassinated him by planting a bomb, and the Romulan government would respond accordingly.
** Quark pulled one in the Season 3 episode "The House of Quark." Quark finds himself in charge of a Klingon house, and the only way to save it from being conquered is to face his rival in a duel to the death. Rather than try to fight someone he has no hope of beating, he shows up for the duel, but [[ISurrenderSuckers immediately surrenders.]] He then goads his opponent into trying to kill him, all while reminding the crowd they all knew the outcome before they even walked into the room. His opponent is more than happy to oblige -- until Gowron stops him and strips him of his honor for trying to kill someone as pathetic and low as Quark. Just as planned.
* Captain Kirk lived for this trope. The aptly titled episode "The Carbomite Maneuver" features Kirk bluffing a powerful alien force. He later reuses this particular ploy in "The Deadly Years". His entire battle with the Romulan commander in "The Balance of Terror" features him and the Romulan commander pulling these on each other in rapid succession. Kirk and the Romulan are able to predict each other's behavior as being "just what they would have done." And in "A Taste of Armegeddon", Kirk is able to stop a centuries-old "clinical war" by destroying the war computers, abrogating the treaty between the two worlds. The two planets were now faced with the prospect of the horrors of real war, or actually working for peace.
-->'''Kirk:''' Death, destruction, disease, horror... that's what war is all about, Anan. That's what makes it a thing to be avoided. But you've made it neat and painless -- so neat and painless, you've had no reason to stop it, and you've had it for five hundred years. Since it seems to be the only way I can save my crew, my ship... I'm going to end it for you -- one way or another.
** And when Spock points out the possibility that the gambit may have failed:
--->'''Spock:''' Captain, you took a big chance.\\
'''Kirk:''' Did I, Mr. Spock? They had been killing three million people a year. It had been going on for five-hundred years. An actual attack wouldn't have killed any more people than one of their computer attacks, but it would have ended their ability to make war. The fighting would have been over. Permanently.\\
'''[=McCoy:=]''' But you didn't know that it would work.\\
'''Kirk:''' No. It was a calculated risk. Still, the Emenians keep a very orderly society, and actual war is a very messy business. A very, very messy business. I had a feeling they would do anything to avoid it, even talk peace.
** No one brings up the possibility that they will simply rebuild and continue their neater war.
** Spock's fiancée T'Pring pulls one on him in "Amok Time". Rather than choose her actual boyfriend as her champion in a duel to the death to dissolve the engagement, she chooses Kirk, reasoning (correctly) that whoever wins will be too upset about killing his best friend to go through with the wedding. [[spoiler: Even when [=McCoy=] [[TakeAThirdOption Takes A Third Option]] and both Kirk and Spock survive, she still gets her way.]]
* Marya does this casually in ''HogansHeroes''. She purposefully makes things hard for Hogan, including having him taken hostage in a rocket factory they both know has a bomb planted inside it and throwing doubts on her loyalty, because she's sure Hogan will figure something out that will also kill her Nazi contact as collateral damage.
* Most of the cons used in ''{{Hustle}}'' rely upon this.
** Mickey can sometimes get a bit Batman-y. The crowning example is probably when, in a competition with Danny, he bases a scam not just on assuming [[spoiler: Danny will try and steal his mark]], but also ''how he'll try to do it''.
* Ditto ''{{Series/Leverage}}''.
** The Season 1 finale of ''Leverage'', "The Second David Job", specifically draws attention to this:
--->'''[[spoiler:Jim Sterling]]:''' Your entire plan counted on me being an arrogant, utter bastard.\\
'''Nathan Ford:''' Yeah, that's a stretch.
** One episode revolves around the team working with Nate's ex-wife, Maggie. She points out a flaw in his plan: you can't just ''make'' people do what you want them to. The team reacts with surprise, horror, and amusement to this revelation.
* Spike of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' uses this to good effect in the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]". Knowing the personalities and temperament of each character, he casually plants information with each of them to turn them on each other. He does it in a way that's particularly ingenious: he relies on their own expectations of ''him'' to lead the characters into "discovering" the false rumors for themselves... so that each of them thinks it was their own idea.
** YMMV on whether it counts as "ingenious" - the fight lasted less than an episode, and directly led them to the idea which helped them destroy the season's BigBad. If it was a BatmanGambit, it wasn't a very good one.
*** The fight only ended so quickly because [[GoneHorriblyRight Spike realised that if they weren't talking, Willow wouldn't decode the]] MacGuffin [[GoneHorriblyRight for the team]] and so he had to remind her to do it, which led to the gang talking, which led to them figuring out that Spike had been manipulating them the whole time. [[ForWantOfANail If Spike and Adam had given it a little more thought, it would have worked perfectly.]]
** Giles pulls one on Buffy in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick Faith, Hope & Trick]]" to get her to reveal what happened when she killed Angel back in "Becoming Part 2". By asking her under the pretext of needing information to create a binding spell to prevent Acathla from being re-awakened, Giles not only guesses correctly Buffy's training will eventually mean she will reveal what happen, it also means she won't question his motives in asking. Doubles as somewhat of a TearJerker and a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Giles.
* Todd Gack from ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'' has figured out a "dating loophole" where he makes a bet with a woman about something he knows isn't true, offering to treat her to dinner if he loses. This allows him to essentially go on as many dates as he wants without ever having to actually ask any women out.
** Attempted by Jerry and George to switch Jerry's girlfriend with her roommate by offending her by suggesting a mengé á trios. It all blows up in their faces when it turns out [[spoiler: the girlfriend and roommate were both "into it."]]
* Friar Tuck pulls one of these in the first episode of the third series of the BBC's ''Series/RobinHood'': Robin has become disillusioned, so Tuck gets the rest of the gang captured. Naturally, Robin goes to save them, which also rekindles the myth - the population think he's dead, so naturally, appearing just after an eclipse is quite a spectacle...
* Awesomely implemented in ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger''; the title team tricks one of the {{Big Bad}}s into kidnapping one of them instead of the baddie's original target in order to find out where she's holding the rest of her captives. Unfortunately, the BigBad ''knew'' they were going to do this, and had her minions kidnap the real target, anyway, using the Shinkenger in her custody to lure the others into a trap. However, the Shinkengers anticipated ''that'', and replaced the real target with ''another'' of their members, using ''him'' to find out the location of the BigBad and using shadow puppets to make it look like they had fallen for her trap.
* Gregory {{Series/House}} pulls off a small scale Batman Gambit: when his game in the 4th season ended, he wanted to hire Kutner, Taub and Thirteen. But since Cuddy already hired Foreman, he could only hire two. Solution: hire the two male ones to let the slightly feminist director let him hire Thirteen.
** Cuddy originally says it's about how he needs a woman on the team, but admits later it's because Thirteen gives a rat's ass about other human beings, whereas Foreman and Taub are just ambitious and House and Kutner are mostly in it for the puzzle. Not really feminism, more like House knows Cuddy sorta likes Thirteen.
* ''{{Dollhouse}}.'' Specifically, [[spoiler: the ''entire first season'' was one long BatmanGambit by Alpha to get inside the Dollhouse and recover Echo.]]
* In ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', the characters will occasionally form Batman Gambits with some degree of success. In the episode 'Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom', Charlie forms a Batman Gambit in response to finding out that Mac had slept with Dennis and Dee's mom. At first, in order to get out of menial work, Dennis threatens to sleep with the Waitress, who is the object of Charlie's desire. However, Charlie brings Dennis to witness Mac leaving Dennis' mom's house, but prevents Dennis from physically confronting Mac, suggesting the alternative of having Dennis sleep with Mac's mom. Charlie then enlists the help of Dee by promising to relieve her of the menial labor bestowed upon her the previous episode. Dee brings the Waitress to witness Dennis attempting (and failing) to seduce Mac's mom. Dee then suggests to the Waitress that she get back at Dennis by sleeping with Charlie. The Gambit inevitably fails, however, as the Waitress opts to sleep with Dennis' dad instead, much to Charlie's chagrin.
** Dennis pulls a successful one later, when he has a conflict with a local hippie trying to save a tree. Dennis offers to chain himself to the tree, which makes him look selfless and goads the hippie into chaining himself there instead. While he stands in the rain all night, Dennis bangs his girlfriend. Then he comes back the next day, unchains him, and makes him watch the tree being bulldozed.
* The titular character of ''{{Series/Nikita}}'' pulls one of these in practically each episode of season 1, before finding herself more frequently as the recipient in season 2.
* Barney Stinson's Scuba Diver play in The Playbook episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. The Scuba Diver, Barney tells a meddlesome female friend, in this case Lily, about the Playbook, a book of schemes he's invented to pick up women. He then uses a scheme from the playbook to hit on her coworker, making Lily angry enough to steal the Playbook and tell her friend all about the scams he pulled. Barney then puts on a scuba suit and tells Lily that he's going to pull one more scam called the Scuba Suit on a hot girl standing at the bar. This causes Lily to go and tell the girl about the Playbook and incensed they both come back to Barney and demand to know what the scheme is. Barney then makes up a spiel about his deep insecurities, causing Lily to feel bad for Barney and eventually convince the girl to go out with him.
** Barney plans another one in [[spoiler: "The Broath" alongside Quinn to freak his friends out and teach them not to meddle in his affairs.]]
* The ''{{Sanctuary}}'' episode [[spoiler: Veritas]] features a Batman Gambit by [[spoiler: the immortal doctor/scientist Helen Magnus]] which involved [[spoiler: self-induced madness and the apparent death of a friend at her own hand.]] It's not clear exactly who is/are the target(s) of this gambit until the very end--unless you caught a fleeting glimpse of the little smile on the face of the guilty party at a highly inappropriate moment.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" has WilWheaton pull off one of these, to win a card game against Sheldon.
** Later Wil returns as a member of a rival bowling team. He talks Penny into dumping Leonard during a vital tournament. Leonard leaves in tears, Sheldon's team is disqualified and WilWheaton is cemented as the MagnificentBastard of the series.
---> '''Wil''': You don't really think I'd break up a couple just to win a bowling match, do you?
---> '''Sheldon''': No, I guess not.
---> '''Wil''': ''[grins]'' Good. Keep thinking that.
* Cal Lightman on ''Series/LieToMe'' uses this incredibly often, much to everyone's annoyance.
* Amanda Waller pulls of one in the ''{{Smallville}}'' episode "Extreme Justice". It looks like she's having the members of the long-retired JusticeSocietyOfAmerica killed as a continuation of the government frame that originally put them out of business. Reality is [[spoiler: she's provoking the surviving JSA members to come out of retirement to get back in the game, and meet and inspire the new generation of superheroes, because of something coming that will cause the planet to need all of its heroes]].
* Michael Garibaldi of ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' never starts a conversation before first figuring out where it'll lead. As an inversion, he also prepares a bonus for those who manage to positively surprise him.
** The implications of having such a mind is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TheScrappy Byron]] when he mocks Garibaldi by pointing out what a sad, lonely life he must lead. It might have been a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, if the fandom had actually liked the character of Byron.
** Sheridan also performs one in ''Rumors, Bargains and Lies''. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds are rebuffing his attempts to set up a border patrol system, seeing ulterior motives where there aren't any. He provides them with plenty of ParanoiaFuel via Ivanova's [[spoiler:completely truthful]] SuspiciouslySpecificDenial. By the end of the episode, they're ''demanding'' to be protected by the White Star Fleet.
** Going back to season 3, Nightwatch seems on the verge of taking over the station. Zack informs the leader of a bunch of Narns coming in supposedly to replace them: the smoking gun they've needed to arrest Sheridan for sedition. So every able hand is summoned to the docking bay to capture the evidence. Only there is no evidence. [[spoiler:Sheridan had known they couldn't pass up such a prospect, and it helps to have a FakeDefector to lead most of Nightwatch into your well-laid PPG-proof trap.]]
* In ''{{Series/Lost}}'', [[spoiler:Desmond Hume]] in the [[MindScrew parallel-alternate-off-island reality]] ran one of these gambits to [[spoiler:get everyone to remember their lives on the island]].
* At the very least played with in ''DesperateHousewives'', when [[spoiler: Angie is forced to make a bomb for her terrorist ex-lover. When he tells her he planted the bomb in the house to kill the son she took from him, she runs, seemingly to try and save his life. In reality, she was just getting a safe distance, because unbeknownst to the ex-lover, the bomb was in the remote he was holding.]]
* In ''{{Frasier}}'' episode ''The Apparent Trap'', his and Lilith's son pulls one on them, by setting them up [[spoiler:so that they would feel so bad about dashing his hopes they'd buy him his minibike.]] Lilith figures him out, though.
* ''RumpoleOfTheBailey'': Rumpole becomes a minor master of these, pulling them off with some regularity as time went on. His most fascinating and [[Awesome/RumpoleOfTheBailey awesome]] one involved him settling [[TwoLinesNoWaiting both major plotlines]] in one move, [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead faking his death]] to both collect from a [[AmoralAttorney shady]] and notoriously hard-to-find solicitor known to try and bargain down his back payments to barristers with grieving widows (thus solving some money trouble that had gotten him in serious trouble with She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed[[hottip:* :i.e. his wife Hilda]]). This allowed him to then serve a subpoena to the solicitor; the solicitor's testimony won him the case he was arguing.]]
* In the eleventh episode of ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'', Batiatus sets in motion his own revenge-driven BatmanGambit by [[spoiler:kidnapping Magistrate Calavius, and instructing Ashur only to kill him at the appropriate time. Batiatus times this with Pompey's primus so that he can get close to Calavius' son, Numerius, and have an alibi.]] Meanwhile, Ashur has been gaining the trust (read: money) of Solonius by warning him of attempts Batiatus has made on his life. Ashur is too frightened of the repercussions of this plan to talk about it however. Eventually, Ashur wants out and wants to spiel on Batiatus's plan in exchange for enough cash to get out of town. [[spoiler:When Ashur leads him to the magistrate, he already has had his throat cut. Batiatus then conveniently bursts in with his guards and with the magistrates son and Asher goes to his side. Solonius is then caught over the dead Magistrate holding a dagger and seized at Batiatus' order.]]
* [[TheRockfordFiles Jim Rockford]] is a master of these, whether as part of a con, or to catch a criminal. Two of his best appear in the episodes "There's one in Every Port" and "Joey Blue-Eyes." They are far too beautiful to describe.
* Patrick Jane in ''TheMentalist'' constantly pulls these off. Most episodes involve him "fishing"--setting up a trap, and then just waiting to see if it works. As Jane himself pointed out, "if not, we get a relaxing day out of it."
* These fly left, right and center on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', but the characters most prone to them are villains [[MagnificentBastard Irina]], [[AffablyEvil Sloane]], and [[ManOfWealthAndTaste Sark]]. In contrast, [[GuileHero Jack]] prefers {{Xanatos Gambit}}s mixed with his [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] skills.
* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' is a master of this, often using it to get the villain of the week to incriminate themself.
** For example, one suspect was a stage magician with a guillotine trick. Columbo secretly switched the gimmick to its lethal state before submitting to a demonstration, expecting that the suspect would switch it again in an attempt to kill him. If the suspect were innocent, Columbo would die; rotten luck for the suspect. Luckily Columbo never errs, and the suspect unwittingly switched the gimmick back to safe, saving Columbo from suicide.
* ''TheAndyGriffithShow'' was built around this trope. Usually involving Andy using the BMG to get people to solve their own problems/benefit themselves.
* Abed from ''{{Series/Community}}'', thanks to his GenreSavvy-ness and prophetic ability to predict the action of those around him will occasionally pull this off. A prime example he was able to manipulate both Jeff's TeamDad and Britta's Team Mom instincts in order to finish a student film.
* Goren does these almost OncePerEpisode on ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. He's usually compared to SherlockHolmes by the series' creators, but he's really a lot more like Series/{{Columbo}}.
* Walt does this throughout ''BreakingBad'' and he continually gets better at stringing together assassination plans and manipulating those around him as the show progresses. Eventually, he pulls off a huge gambit in the season 4 finale where he manipulates an elaborate set of events and people in order to[[spoiler: arrange for the ''BigBad'' of the season, Gus, to be blown up in a retirement home.]].
* Happens quite frequently on ''Series/CornerGas'', occasionally resulting in a GambitPileup, although they are probably for the most mundane things on this list, like not owing someone a favor, and most of the humor comes from how well (or not) the characters are able to pull off the gambit, but that shouldn't be surprising given the sitcom's premise.
* PlayedForLaughs on ''Series/ThirtyRock'': Jack cracks a joke about Liz, who then hands him an envelope with the exact words of his joke written inside. Taken UpToEleven when Jack responds by handing her an envelope that says "You will hand me an envelope with my joke written on it"
* Mr. Gold's plan to help Emma win a municipal election in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. While Emma is in the Mayor's office arguing with Regina, he sets fire to City Hall, giving Emma a chance to rescue Regina and be shown to be a hero. When Emma finds out about this, she is furious, but Gold points out that if she denounces him, she loses the election and disappoints everyone. [[spoiler: She does denounce him and wins anyway, which Gold then reveals was AllAccordingToPlan. Saving the rather unpopular Regina wouldn't have been enough to win Emma the election. Showing everyone that she was tough enough to stand up to Gold, the most feared man in town, however, was a different story.]]
* In ''Series/NewsRadio'', Jimmy James has proven himself able to use these upon his employees. Most of the other employees have managed to pull off one or two of their own as well.
* Richard Pryor's "Prison Play" skit involves the play's producer promising [[DeliberateValuesDissonance the warden that]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst "The Nigger gets killed"]] as LaserGuidedKarma [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous for daring to fall in love with]] [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt a White woman.]] However, it ends with the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming father-in-law accepting the suitor and wanting to becoming a paragon of true love.]] [[EvillyAffable The]] [[VillainousBreakdown Warden isn't happy.]]
---> '''Warden''': Horseshit! Wait a minute! Just wait a goddamned minute! You said the nigger got killed! I wan' me a goddamn dead nigger up in here else I'll hang here one of these homosex-u-als!
* Used by "Boston" Rob Mariano on Season 7 of ''TheAmazingRace'', during the four pounds of meat Roadblock. After deciding that eating four pounds of meat was impossible, he quit the task and took the four-hour penalty. Since the penalty did not start until the next team showed up, he used that to his advantage, waiting for his own penalty to start before convincing two other teams to also quit the task, counting on their initial squeamishness at starting the task to cause them to follow his lead. Cue EvilGloating about how he could not get eliminated that leg.
** In Season 5, Chip & Kim built up Colin & Christie's egos and made them over-confident, trusting that any sort of struggle later would cause them to [[VillainousBreakdown self-destruct]]. Earlier in the Season their plan was to encourage the rivalry between Colin and Mirna in order to get them to focus more on each other than the race, however Charla & Mirna got eliminated too quickly for this to come to fruition.
