History ChekhovsGun / LiveACtionTV

* In {{Breaking Bad}} episode "One Minute", introduces a Chekhov's BULLET. At the beginning of the episode one of The Cousins is given a hollow point bullet, and promptly forgets about it. It isn't until the end that it is finally used, but in a suite improbable circumstance.

* In ''DoctorWho'', the 3-D glasses that the Doctor wears throughout the episode "Doomsday", for no apparent reason until the climax. He [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on it, asking if [[BunnyEarsLawyer anyone's going to ask why he's wearing them]].

* "Rick's grenade" in ''{{Series/The Walking Dead}}''. At the beginning of the first-season episode "Guts", when Rick prepares to escape the tank, he picks up an Army-issue grenade off a ledge and stuffs it in his pocket. The grenade is seemingly forgotten about (as Rick gets to the survivors' camp and has his clothes washed) until the first-season finale "TS-19", when the survivors are trying to escape the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. When the attempts to break the bulletproof glass fail, Carol suggests that Rick use the grenade, which she's been holding in her bag. Rick then uses the grenade to blow the window, allowing the survivors to escape in time.
** Also in "Guts", during the scene when Andrea, T-Dog and Jacqui flee the department store roof, Merle Dixon is still chained to a radiator. As T-Dog flees, he drops a pack of tools (in a split-second shot) in his haste to flee the roof. In the opening of the next episode, "Tell It To The Frogs", Merle manages to use his belt to reach a hacksaw that fallen out of the same bag of tools and escape by sawing off his hand.

** A particularly cool (and long lasting) example of a [=~Chekhov's Gun~=] is the Doctor's hand. It was first severed in "The Christmas Invasion," Jack kept it in his office in ''{{Torchwood}}'' and used it to find the Doctor in "Utopia," the Master used it so he could age the Doctor with his laser screwdriver in "The Sound of Drums," and finally in "Journey's End," the Doctor pushed his regenerative energy into it and when Donna touched it there was a two way "Time Lord-human meta-crisis," in which ''another Doctor'' grew from the hand and Donna was turned half-Time Lord. Which meant that a [=~Chekhov's Gun~=] first appearing in 2005 finally went off in 2008.
*** It's pretty much Chekhov's Six-Shooter at that point.
*** Speaking of "Journey's End", the previous episode introduced the Osterhagen key, established as a rather obvious Chekhov's Gun; the finale also introduced ''two'' further devices with the potential to end Davros' plans, and characters threaten to use all three at the same time. The whole thing is cleverly subverted when the Daleks casually separate the characters from their respective doomsday devices. All seems lost until the ''real'' Chekhov's Gun goes off when Donna's Time Lord consciousness is awakened from the afore-mentioned "meta-crisis".

* Emma Peel has a Chekhov's Wardrobe in ''TheAvengers'' (original series). Her clothing style either involved wearing a skirt or a skin-tight SpyCatsuit. Proper British ladies cannot fight in skirts, so she was always wearing her catsuit whenever she became involved in a fight. This may suggest otherwise unmentioned psychic powers she possessed, as her unerring ability to recognize hours before a fight that she would later be involved with one, sometimes requiring her to go home and change clothes before taking other actions. Likewise, if she is seen infiltrating enemy territory in a dress or skirt, it's clear that she will not be caught or otherwise need to pound on said enemies. Either this or we must assume that catsuits cause fights and skirts create peace.

* ''{{Party Down}}'' Somewhat lampshaded in the episode "Investor's Deal". A prop gun is brought out and assumed to be real, a scuffle occurs so they decide to hide the prop gun. Casey delivers the line "Well, you know what they say about a gun in the first act". Later a real gun is pulled on party guests and assumed to be the fake prop gun. This turns out to be a real gun while the prop gun remained in the bag.

* It's easy to miss and the gun gets fired right away, but at the very opening of BurnNotice, 4x14, Mike and Sam are sitting in a car and Mike is fiddling with a pair of sunglasses. A few minutes later Narrator!Michael says that getting caught with a lockpick set in a police station is a bad thing, but a pair of cheap sunglasses will do the trick. If you've [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent prepared them beforehand]], it's a moment's work to get your lockpicks ready and if you get caught, you're just a guy with broken sunglasses.

* In the ''FullHouse'' episode "Knock Yourself Out," Stephanie gives Danny a colourful tie tack as a present. Later that night, while on TV as a sportscaster, he interviews a boxer called "The Sandman" and asks about his wife leaving him. Apparently, the boxer never knew this and gets knocked out in the next round. Danny later apologizes to him on the air, and the boxer forgives him, but then fires his trainer for keeping it from him. Infuriated, the trainer punches Danny in the abdomen, but Danny is still standing and unhurt while the trainer holds his fist and moans in pain as he walks off. Looking in the camera, Danny opens his suit jacket and reveals the tie tack pinned to his tie, and thanks Stephanie on the air.

** Also, Chekhov's Earrings: the pair of earrings Irina brings with her to the CIA, leaves for Sydney in "A Dark Turn", and transmit a message to her in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Truth"]] [[TitleDrop "Takes"]] [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor "Time"]].

* In the ''FullHouse'' episode "Knock Yourself Out," Stephanie gives Danny a colourful tie tack as a present. Later that night, while on TV as a sportscaster, he interviews a boxer called "The Sandman" and asks about his wife leaving him. Apparently, the boxer never knew this and gets knocked out in the next round. Danny later apologizes to him on the air, and the boxer forgives him, but then fires his manager for keeping it from him. Infuriated, the manager punches Danny in the abdomen, but Danny is still standing and unhurt while the manager holds his fist and moans in pain as he walks off. Looking in the camera, Danny opens his suit jacket and reveals the tie tack pinned to his tie, and thanks Stephanie on the air.

* In the FullHouse episode "Knock Yourself Out," Stephanie gives Danny a colourful tie tack as a present. Later that night, while on TV as a sportscaster, he interviews a boxer called "The Sandman" and asks about his wife leaving him. Apparently, the boxer never knew this and gets knocked out in the next round. Danny later apologizes to him on the air, and the boxer forgives him, but then fires his manager for keeping it from him. Infuriated, the manager punches Danny in the abdomen, but Danny is still standing and unhurt while the manager holds his fist and moans in pain as he walks off. Looking in the camera, Danny opens his suit jacket and reveals the tie tack pinned to his tie, and thanks Stephanie on the air.

* In one episode of ''TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'', the TheDragon escaped from a jail cell and leaves the keys to the cell on the cell's cot. Naturally, the fact that the keys to the cell are ''inside'' the cell becomes important later when someone needs to escape from the jail.

* The finale of ''BattlestarGalactica''. [[spoiler: "[[RacetracksNukes Racetrack's Nukes]]"]]

* Vin's earring in the Mistborn Chronicles.]]

* Humourously subverted in an episode of ''Fringe'', where Peter decides he needs some protection and buys himself a shotgun at the end of the first act. It never appears again.. all the more effective because this show has quite a few Chekhov Guns usually..

* [[{{Supernatural}} Dean]] has an [[IconicItem amulet]] that he wears at all times. In the third season episode "A Supernatural Christmas," we find out that Sam gave it to him as a Christmas gift years ago. For many fans it [[MementoMacGuffin represents]] the (sometimes disturbingly) [[HeterosexualLifePartners close]] [[HoYay relationship]] between the two brothers. This was highlighted when Sam was shown to have worn the amulet while Dean was dead (Sam returned it when they were reunited at the beginning of the fourth season). Fast-forward to the second episode of the fifth season, when [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Castiel]] reveals that he needs to borrow the amulet, because [[spoiler: God is missing, and it can be used to find Him, since it glows hot in His presence]].