History EnforcedMethodActing / LiveActionTV

* The episode "Revelations" of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' called for the [=UnSub=] of the week, played by [[Series/DawsonsCreek James Van Der Beek]], to pick up Reid by the shirt and verbally terrorize him. The threats that made it onto the screen were comparatively tame; however, in the DVD commentary on that episode, actor Matthew Gray Gubler reveals that the episode's director instructed Van Der Beek to shout whatever frightening obscenities he could think of in order to provoke a realistic, terrified reaction shot. The result was apparently so impressive that the writers were "pretty sure that he was actually going to kill him," and so filthy that Gubler couldn't repeat them, even in the DVD commentary. And it shows in the reaction shots.

* In the episode "Waking Moments" of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Tuvok dreams that he reports to the bridge naked. The people who are already there burst out laughing when they see him - and it's not acting. Apparently, Tim Russ attached really big fake genitals over his own, just to get the right reaction.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin Of Evil]]", during Tasha Yar's memorial service, Creator/MarinaSirtis was actually sobbing as Troi because she and Creator/DeniseCrosby (Yar) [[FriendshipOnTheSet had become good friends]] and was saddened to see her go.

** Geordi [=LaForge=], blind engineer, wears a metal sensor package called a VISOR over his eyes to permit him to see, but the stream of sensor data tends to overwhelm his brain and give him headaches. Actor Creator/LeVarBurton had a similar problem—the bolts used to keep the VISOR prop secured firmly against his temples were so tight that, twenty minutes into a day of shooting, he would start getting headaches.

** In [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E3TheSurvivors The Survivors]], "Kevin" (an immortal EnergyBeing who has lived the past 50 years disguised as a human) gives a powerful and heartfelt speech about how he "wished he could've died with her", referring to his recently deceased (human) wife, who died fighting the aliens who destroyed their planet, never knowing her husband wasn't human. In reality, the actor playing Kevin, John Anderson, had just lost his wife of 43 years, and almost turned down the role because of it. His speech comes across as really genuine, because it was. Anderson himself died of a heart attack less than 3 years later.

** When Creator/SeannWilliamScott hosted SNL, there was a sketch where Creator/WillFerrell walked in [[FanDisservice wearing a red-white-and-blue thong]] (this episode aired about a month after the September 11th attacks). In the dress rehearsal, Ferrell wore short shorts, instead, so the other actors actually were shocked to see him wearing the thong, leaving them, particularly Creator/RachelDratch, [[{{Corpsing}} visibly struggling to not break character]].

** When Creator/SeannWilliamScott hosted SNL, there was a sketch where Creator/WillFerrell walked in [[FanDisservice wearing a red-white-and-blue thong]] (this episode aired about a month after the September 11th attacks). In the dress rehearsal, Ferrell wore short shorts, instead, so the other actors actually were shocked to see him wearing the thong, with Creator/RachelDratch visibly struggling to not break character.

* This is the reason why the actors in ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' seem really awkward at times. For instance, [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/tim-and-eric,22902/2/ they tell Steve Brule's actor what to do right before they say "action" so he doesn't have enough time to process the directions. And while they were filming a commercial for season 4, they told the cameraman to zoom in, but the woman on screen didn't know where the camera was, so she kept making funny faces.]]

* Rather sickeningly occurred in an episode of ''Jim'll Fix It'', where a child whose wish was to appear in kids' school drama ''Series/GrangeHill'' played a scripted scene, which was then followed by an unscripted and unexpected scene where he was subjected to ''school bullying''. Even after he realised it was a set-up, the child did not look happy ''at all''.

* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "Abyssinia, Henry", the final page of the script, in which Radar comes into the operating room and announces that [[McLeaned Col. Blake's plane was shot down with no survivors]], was handed to the cast a few minutes before the scene began. The scene in question was so [[WhamEpisode shocking]], an [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mash.asp urban legend]] sprang up that the cast didn't know about the death until Gary Burghoff read his lines on the air. What ''really'' happened was that, with the exception of the director, none of the ''crew'' knew about the death, and their gasps of shock upon hearing the line ruined the first take. There was enough shock left over during the second (and final) take that someone dropped some prop metal surgical instruments, creating an [[ThrowItIn entirely unplanned but also entirely appropriate]] sound effect.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' called "Night of Terror", ComicBook/LoisLane is supposed to be knocked out when a thug punches her. Unfortunately, the actor accidentally missed his "air punch" and really did hit her, knocking Phyllis Coates unconscious. She had to go to the hospital, and he felt incredibly guilty.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' did this with two of the actors in the first season who were [[EvilAllAlong secretly playing bad guys]]. [[spoiler: Creator/BrettDalton]] wasn't told that his character was actually evil until about two episodes until TheReveal so that he would play the role as a genuine good guy without revealing at his true nature, while [[spoiler: Creator/BillPaxton]] knew he was playing a bad-guy-pretending-to-be-good-guy from the very beginning.

* In the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' episode "Act of Contrition", when [[spoiler:Starbuck tells Commander Adama she's responsible for the death of his son, Zak]], Edward James Olmos scared actress Creator/KateeSackhoff into thinking he was actually going to hit her, which is why she puts her hands over her head as she walks out of his cabin.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven'' is full of unexpected explosions: the reactions (shrieking and/or being thrown through the air) were often genuine, because the directors neglected to warn the actors about just what was going to go off and where.

* [[http://www.cc.com/video-clips/5ownbt/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-britain-s-fallen-soldiers This clip]] from ''Series/TheDailyShow'', in which John Oliver reads out a list of funny names. Between rehearsal and the final recording, the list was changed. Nobody told Jon Stewart.

* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Creator/NayaRivera did in fact slap [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtfSUFpjHo Cory Monteith in the face]] as part of a scene of Santana being upset with Finn. It was not scripted.

* The creators/director of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' decided to make use of this regularly. They noticed that [[ToughRoom sitcom characters rarely laugh at each other's jokes or other funny bits]], which is unrealistic, and so allow the actors to react naturally to each other by laughing when something is funny, etc rather than needing a straight-faced retake.

* The Disney Channel series ''Series/JustRollWithIt'' looks like a standard sitcom. But at three points in every episode, a foghorn blows as the audience votes on three choices of what will occur next. The actors are unaware of the choice until they come to set and have to "roll with" some wild stunt-filled situation.
** Situations have included mom Rachel sprayed by robots; daughter Blair making a sandwich with her feet; various disgusting meals; and full blown dance numbers.

-->'''Owen''': This is not what we rehearsed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Jack, Kate, and Charlie come across the plane's cockpit angled upright in the jungle. The cast members had not yet seen the set before filming began, so the looks of wonder on their faces were legitimate.

* ''Series/RedDwarf''

* In ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch from 1993, about the parents of two teenagers finding pot in the house and hire motivational speaker Matt Foley (Creator/ChrisFarley)(who "lives in a van down by the river") to talk to them , Creator/DavidSpade and Creator/ChristinaApplegate [[{{Corpsing}} couldn't keep a straight face]] during his antics, and Spade's reaction when Farley jumps onto the table and causes it to break is completely genuine. They weren't told that the table was a breakable prop, nor did they know that Farley was going to jump onto it.
** A surprise appearance by Creator/BarbraStreisand for the ''[[https://youtu.be/oiJkANps0Qw Coffee Talk with Linda Richman]]'' sketch forced Creator/MikeMyers, {{Music/Madonna}}, and host Roseanne Barr to engage in this, squealing like fangirls as they got to meet their idol in-person.
* Frequently in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' when the Janitor does a freakish rant, the astonishment of the characters listening is often genuine. Creator/NeilFlynn was given a long leash with ad-libbing lines, with the script often stating "Janitor: [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny What Neil Says]]".
** Specific example: One teaser has Elliot telling old jokes and having everyone else finish them for her. She finally shrieks [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PEliTwhqtHw#t=24s "STOP FINISHING MY AWESOME JOKES!"]] Creator/SarahChalke didn't tell anyone she was going to play the line like that, and J.D.'s holding his ear and yelling "Oh my God!" was a real reaction on Creator/ZachBraff's part to keep himself from {{Corpsing}}, at which he just barely succeeded.

* The famous ''Series/SesameStreet'' scene announcing the death of Mr. Hooper. Everyone in the cast loved actor Will Lee, so they all fought back genuine tears. They barely got through it. One line didn't come out quite right, so a second take was attempted. The cast didn't make it through the second try. As a result, the first take was used, in an unusual application of ThrowItIn.

* In series 3 of ''Series/{{Skins}}'', there's a scene where magician JJ breathes fire. Creator/KayaScodelario, Luke Pasqualino and Jack O'Connell (Effy, Freddie and Cook) were all told that the fire would be added in post-production as a special effect - nobody told them that they'd actually taught Ollie Barbieri how to perform the stunt. Kaya's scream is completely genuine.

* ''Series/StargateSG1''

* Geordi [=LaForge=], blind engineer on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', wears a metal sensor package called a VISOR over his eyes to permit him to see, but the stream of sensor data tends to overwhelm his brain and give him headaches. Actor Creator/LeVarBurton had a similar problem—the bolts used to keep the VISOR prop secured firmly against his temples were so tight that, twenty minutes into a day of shooting, he would start getting headaches.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''

* An episode of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' called for Louie [=DePalma=] to whisper something to Elaine Nardo, and for her to respond by slapping him and saying "That's disgusting!". Creator/DannyDeVito whispered such sweet things to Marilu Henner during rehearsals that she was genuinely shocked when he started whispering not-so-nice things, and she blew several takes because of it (to [=DeVito=]'s delight).

* Creator/ArmandoIannucci likes to enforce method acting while directing ''Series/TheThickOfIt''. The scripts are often changed without the knowledge of certain actors to make their reactions more convincing. In addition to this the show is partly improvised, so the actors constantly have to come up with new lines--and as the show is a comedy, they have to be ''funny'' lines. This pressure makes everyone look as panicky as... well, the incompetent staff of a busy government department.

* ''Series/MorkAndMindy'': Much of Mork's dialogue and antics were ad-libbed by Creator/RobinWilliams, and so Mindy's surprise and confusion were often genuine. In one "It's A Wonderful Life" episode Mindy isn't supposed to react to the invisible Mork's antics, but Pam Dawber is visibly struggling to keep a straight face.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' did this similarly to the ''Breaking Bad'' example with two of the actors in the first season who were [[EvilAllAlong secretly playing bad guys]]. [[spoiler: Creator/BrettDalton]] wasn't told that his character was actually evil until about two episodes until TheReveal so that he would play the role as a genuine good guy without revealing at his true nature, while [[spoiler: Creator/BillPaxton]] knew he was playing a bad-guy-pretending-to-be-good-guy from the very beginning.

** The First Doctor's increasingly irascible and contemptuous demeanour was [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007x9vc/clips said by Peter Purves]], who played the companion Steven towards the end of Creator/WilliamHartnell's tenure as the Doctor, to be partially a result of the memory problems that Hartnell was experiencing. His inability to remember his lines and the extra time and effort required to get them right would make him flustered, exhausted and annoyed with himself, which made him play the character with a sense of InferioritySuperiorityComplex, weary-old-man pathos and pent-up frustration. Purves said he found it fascinating.
*** Similarly, in many later scenes, you can see Hartnell's eyes flicking about in deep thought as he concentrates really hard on remembering his lines — which again works, as his character is an ImpossibleGenius with a lot of mysteries and secrets, and it makes him appear to be constantly calculating his next moves.

** In the last scene of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]], the Doctor's surprise when the TARDIS turns out to have a ''biscuit dispenser'' in the console is completely genuine: the crew [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments put it in as a surprise for]] Creator/JodieWhittaker, and she wasn't told about it prior to filming.
*** Even better? They're [[YourFavorite Jodie's personal favorite flavor.]] Custard Creams for the curious.

* In the ''Film/{{Hogfather}}'' TV film, when Michelle Dockery has to ride the hogs at the end, the director Jean Vadim kept her working for hours, finding picky fault after picky fault with her performance until she was literally screaming with anger, exhaustion and frustration. That was the shot he wanted.

** Also, L. Scott Caldwell and Creator/SamAnderson intentionally did not meet until the filming of Rose and Bernard's reunion in "Collision". It really says a lot about the actors when you consider how SugarWiki/{{heartwarming|Moments}} the scene is.

** Similarly, a surprise appearance by Creator/BarbraStreisand for the ''[[https://youtu.be/oiJkANps0Qw Coffee Talk with Linda Richman]]'' sketch forced Creator/MikeMyers, {{Music/Madonna}}, and host Roseanne Barr to engage in this, squealing like fangirls as they got to meet their idol in-person.
* Frequently in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' when the Janitor does a freakish rant, the astonishment of the characters listening is often genuine. Creator/NeilFlynn was given a long leash with ad-libbing lines, with the script often literally stating "Janitor: [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny What Neil Says]]".

* Creator/RichardArmitage was literally [[WaterTorture waterboarded]] on the set of ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' when he joined the cast as Lucas North and the screaming was not part of the acting, Richard really was screaming in terror.

* In an episode of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Andy Dwyer shows up at Leslie's house naked due to a miscommunication. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTP0pE-eTKM Apparently]] in the first few takes, Amy Poehler's reaction on opening the door wasn't convincing enough, so Chris Pratt took off the skin-coloured briefs without telling her...

** A lot of Rimmer and Lister's snide remarks and mockery to each other in early series can seem quite genuine, that's because for a long time, Chris Barrie and Craig Charles genuinely hated each other.

* Occasionally happens with the actors on the hidden camera show ''Series/WhatWouldYouDo''. For example, in one episode, a [[TeenPregnancy pregnant teenager]] denies her unborn child to some expectant adoptive parents.[[note]]All an act, of course, to see how people would react.[[/note]] During the scenario, two ladies approach the actress playing the sobbing mom-to-be. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments The women comfort her]], and one of the ladies says a prayer about motherhood, moving the actress--WWYD veteran Traci Hovel, who had been fake-crying up to that point--to genuine tears.

* ''Series/InLivingColor'': The first [[AbhorrentAdmirer Ugly Wanda]] skit was a ''[[Series/TheDatingGame Dating Game]]'' parody, but the other actors hadn't seen Creator/JamieFoxx in drag until filming, so their reactions to Wanda were real, from Creator/JimCarrey's "Holy crap" to Creator/DavidAllenGrier bursting out laughing at the end. This also led to a hilarious adlib from Carrey:

-->'''Jim Carrey (as the host):''' I'm going to Europe.

* ''Series/InLivingColor'': For the very first [[AbhorrentAdmirer Ugly Wanda]] sketch, a ''[[Series/TheDatingGame Dating Game]]'' parody, the other actors hadn't seen Creator/JamieFoxx in drag before filming the sketch, so their reactions to "her" were real, from Creator/JimCarrey's "Holy crap" to Creator/DavidAllenGrier bursting out laughing. This also led to a hilarious adlib from Carrey:

-->'''Jim Carrey:''' I'm going to Europe.

* While they were told prior to filming the scene, TheReveal in season 1 of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' [[spoiler:that they weren't in the Good Place at all]] was kept secret from most of the actors for much of the season, in order to avoid it influencing their performances.

** In [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E3TheSurvivors The Survivors]], "Kevin" (an immortal EnergyBeing who has lived the past 50 years disguised as a human) gives a speech about how he "wished he could've died with her", referring to his recently deceased (human) wife, who died fighting the aliens who destroyed their planet, never knowing her husband wasn't human. In reality, the actor playing Kevin, John Anderson, had just lost his wife of 43 years, and almost turned down the role because of it. His pained speech comes out as really genuine, because it was. Anderson himself died of a heart attack less than 3 years later.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E3TheSurvivors]]", "Kevin" (an immortal EnergyBeing who has lived the past 50 years disguised as a human) gives a speech about how he "wished he could've died with her", referring to his recently deceased (human) wife, who died fighting the aliens who destroyed their planet, never knowing her husband wasn't human. In reality, the actor playing Kevin, John Anderson, had just lost his wife of 43 years, and almost turned down the role because of it. His pained speech comes out as really genuine, because it was. Anderson himself died of a heart attack less than 3 years later.

** In [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E3TheSurvivors]], "Kevin" (an immortal EnergyBeing who has lived the past 50 years disguised as a human) gives a speech about how he "wished he could've died with her", referring to his recently deceased (human) wife, who died fighting the aliens who destroyed their planet, never knowing her husband wasn't human. In reality, the actor playing Kevin, John Anderson, had just lost his wife of 43 years, and almost turned down the role because of it. His pained speech comes out as really genuine, because it was.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the episode ''A Piece Of The Action''. Kirk has been captured by a bunch of 1920s gangsters (ItMakesSenseInContext), and has to escape by distracting his guards by teaching them ''Fizzbin'', an extremely complicated card game whose rules Kirk [[CalvinBall Made up on the spot]]. In reality, neither Creator/WilliamShatner or the extras playing the guards was given a script for this sequence. So Kirk's constant pauses while thinking and the guards confusion were genuine.