History HoistByHisOwnPetard / LiveActionTV

* In the FailedPilotEpisode of ''Film/WEIRDWorld,'' all three main villains end up falling victim to their own machinations:

!!Often a DeathTrope, so expect to see unmarked spoilers ahead.

* In the ''Creator/RayBradbury Theater'' episode "By The Numbers", a disciplinarian father indoctrinates his son to stand at attention, unmoving no matter ''what'' happens, as his watch counts down an hour. The last time he orders the boy to do this, he trips and falls into the swimming pool, and his son is too convinced it's a trick to move a muscle, standing mutely at attention as his father drowns.

* In the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "The Tower", the villain dies due to a scratch from his own poisoned dagger. It is likely that this is a deliberate reference to the work of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, where Claudius and Laertes are both done in by the very poison they had conspired to kill Hamlet with. (Well, Claudius also gets ''stabbed'' a little bit. And, in one notable adaptation, [[FallingChandelierOfDoom hit by a chandelier]].)

-->'''Harvey:''' Damn! Hoist by my own [[Main/IncrediblyLamePun pet toad]]!

* In ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "The Stormy Present", CJ [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] it almost word for word when she was handed the ''supposedly'' classified budget for DARPA, ''the creators of the internet'', by Carol because it found '''ON''' ''the internet''.

* In the [[OneEpisodeWonder pilot episode]] of ''W.E.I.R.D. World,'' all three main villains end up falling victim to their own machinations:

* PlayedForLaughs in one sketch on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' hosted by Larry David. Bernie Sanders(played by Larry) loses the Iowa Caucus to Hillary Clinton by ''five votes'' because he didn't shake hands with a black woman because she sneezed into her hand and didn't help a lady who just got into a car accident fix her dislocated shoulder. As result, the black woman and her three family members and dislocated shoulder lady, who were Sanders supporters, voted for Hillary instead to spite him and lose to Hillary.

* In a flashback during the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Out of Gas", Mal is upset that the ''Serenity'' has been grounded on a planet for several days, while his (supposedly)BrilliantButLazy(''very'' lazy) mechanic Bester is busy sleeping with a local girl he brought on board in the engine room. Unfortunately for Bester, his present lover is Kaylee, who has managed to not only figure out the problem(yes, while having sex with Bester), but also manages to fix it before she's even finished putting her clothes back on. Mal pretty much fires Bester on the spot and gives Kaylee his job.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', the title chracter's dad Martin and producer Roz team up with Bulldog to scare Frasier with a prank involving zombies. The joke goes off without a hitch, and Frasier is terrified... until one of the actors they hired actually drops dead. Martin and Roz panic, while Frasier grabs a walkie-talkie to call for help... or rather, announce the greatest prank ever. He figured out that Martin and Roz secretly joined forces with Bulldog, and the [[EnemyMine two created their own alliance to get back at them]].

** In "Escape Clause," a hypochondriac man makes a deal for a million years of immortality and then amuses himself by attempting suicide. When his wife falls off an apartment building, he decides to experience the electric chair and claims that he killed her. He's sentenced to life in prison instead.
** In "The Jeopardy Room", an assassin tries to kill his target with a bomb that will be set off by picking up the phone. He waits and waits but the target, somehow sensing something is wrong, manages to escape. The killer and his aide check the place out to figure out what went wrong. When the phone rings, the aide picks it up on instinct. BOOM.
** In "The Brain Center at Whipples", a factory owner replaces all his workers with robots, bragging about how they're much better to handle and far more efficient. When he shows up for work, he discovers ''he's'' been replaced by a robot.
** In "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", corrupt CEO Feathersmith makes a deal with a female demon to go back in time to 1910 and rebuild his empire from scratch with just $15,000. He figures this will be easy with his knowledge of the future. Feathersmith buys up 1400 acres of land that he knows sits on a huge oil field and brags to the owners they just gave away millions. He's thrown when they tell him they knew full well about the oil but don't see why it's a big deal as it's a mile underground. Too late, Feathersmith realizes the technology to drill that far below won't be invented for 30 years and thus he just spent nearly all his money on over a thousand acres of worthless land.

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}''

* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': In "The Ecstasy of Agony," Henry has been kidnapped and is being [[ElectricTorture tortured]] by Molly's stalker. When the police arrive to arrest him he attempts to kill Henry with maximum voltage. However, the villain is positioned in such a way that Henry - who is bound at his wrists - can grab ahold of his arm, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard allowing the current to flow through him, too]]. The stalker [[ElectricityKnocksYouOut collapses]] and Henry is saved.

* Nonfatal example: the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat humourless forum administrator]] in the children's television program ''Series/LiftOff'' was in the habit of digging up new things to ban, at one point producing a ban sign with a mirror on it. Then he was convinced to turn it around. Then pure force of LawfulNeutral kicks in.

* On Creator/SpikeTV's ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'', a pair of dimwitted terrorists were blown up by their own bomb when they forgot about daylight savings time while setting the device's GPS-based timer.

* This happens a couple of times in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' finale. [[spoiler:Jesse, having been held captive for months by Todd and Jack, strangles Todd with his handcuffs and breaks his neck. Walt kills Jack with Jack's own Browning Hi-Power. Walt catches a bullet from the machine gun he set up.]]

'''Bishop''': [[spoiler:She]] dead?\\

'''Bishop''': She dead?\\

'''[=McGee=]''' Can't say the same for [spoiler:Ms. Gussman].\\

* The ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' Season 11 episode "Bulletproof" centred around faulty body armor being sold to US military personnel - the manufacturer had passed the defective batch on to their recycling contractor to be disposed of, but the contractor instead sold them through a middleman (who ended up as the BodyOfTheWeek). At the end of the episode, the team confront the recycling company's director, who hides inside a caravan and opens fire on the agents. The agents return fire, and the director is killed - not by the bullets, but by her defective body armor shattering, causing fatal lacerations. For bonus irony points, Bishop was actually hit in the lower abdomen, but thanks to her own perfectly-functional body armor, she survived with only bruised ribs.

** Bob Provost betrays his sister Patty by stealing her prototype time machine, fully intending to kill her once he's finished. However, he also uses said time machine to dodge W.E.I.R.D. Labs' security by sending himself back twenty minutes before he arrived at the labs that evening... and unfortunately for him, this results in him getting [[TemporalSuicide accidentally run over by his past incarnation]] on his way to the labs.
** Finally, Dr Bryan Mayhew once again muscles in on another one of Dr Abby O'Reardon's experiments, fully intending to take all the credit for her success in much the same way as he's always done, all while denying her the child he'd promised her at the start of their relationship. Abby agrees to his terms... and gives Mayhew a very prominent role in her project by testing the prototype youth serum on him: by the end of this plotline, Mayhew has been regressed to infancy and adopted by his former research partner.

** Non-death example: In the sixth-season episode "Older and Far Away", Dawn mentions to a guidance counselor that she wishes everybody would spend more time with her. The counselor turns out to the Vengeance Demon Halfrek, who makes the wish come true by magically making it impossible for any of the guests at Buffy's birthday party to leave the house. She then comes and taunts them... until she realizes that ''she'' can't escape the house, either, and reluctantly reverses the spell.

** Non-death example: In the sixth-season episode "Older and Far Away", Dawn makes a wish to the vengeance demon Halfrek that everybody would spend more time with her. Halfrek makes the dream come true by magically making it impossible for any of the guests at Buffy's birthday party to leave the house. She then comes and taunts them... until she realizes that ''she'' can't escape the house, either, and reluctantly reverses the spell.

** Giles uses a spell from Roden's spellbook to kill him.

** Catherine Madison wants to curse Buffy and cast a spell on her. But Buffy simply counters this spell with a mirror, and he is thrown back at her.
** The lawyers who have resurrected Darla to use her against Angel are eventually killed by her and Drusilla as soon as Darla becomes a vampire again.
** Gio was a demon hunter who made [[VanHelsingHateCrimes no difference in killing evil or good demons]]. Eventually, he and his party ambush a demon bar, killing several innocent demons while knowing that they can not attack him because of a spell. As soon as this spell has been opened, the only demon that Gio did not kill kills him.