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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Averted in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]". Creator/AlysonHannigan was a self-admitted poor singer and requested that she be given minimal singing lines in the episode to the point where "I'm Under Your Spell was changed from a duet between Willow and Tara to a solo for the latter. Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg also requested that Dawn's singing be minimized, and was given a ballet number to perform instead.
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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Averted in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]". Creator/AlysonHannigan was a self-admitted poor singer and requested that she be given minimal singing lines in the episode to the point where "I'm Under Your Spell was changed from a duet between Willow and Tara to a solo for the latter.latter - though ironically when she saw the finished episode, she was surprised that her singing sounded better than she'd expected, and regretted not doing more. Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg also requested that Dawn's singing be minimized, and was given a ballet number to perform instead.
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** "There's three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public." When forced to do the last at Lorne's karaoke club in the second-season opener "[[Recap/AngelS02E01Judgment Judgement]]", Angel's completely monotone, and badly off-tempo. (Then the outtakes of David Boreanaz that close the episode turn into one huge [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] of this trope.) This was later lampshaded as being because of shyness and being self-conscious about picking love ballads every time.
*** However, when Creator/DavidBoreanaz sings on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', (which he does in a couple of episodes) he has a perfectly respectable voice.
*** However, when Creator/DavidBoreanaz sings on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', (which he does in a couple of episodes) he has a perfectly respectable voice.
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** "There's three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public." When forced to do the last at Lorne's karaoke club in the second-season opener "[[Recap/AngelS02E01Judgment Judgement]]", Angel's completely monotone, and badly off-tempo. (Then the outtakes of David Boreanaz that close the episode turn into one huge [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] of this trope.) This was later lampshaded as being because of shyness and being self-conscious about picking love ballads every time.
***time. However, when Creator/DavidBoreanaz sings on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', (which he does in a couple of episodes) he has a perfectly respectable voice.
***
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* Creator/KateySagal is a good singer (she got her career start as one of Music/BetteMidler's Harlettes), but her character of Peg Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' isn't.
** She fakes bad again as [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Leela]] (see below).
** She fakes bad again as [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Leela]] (see below).
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* Creator/KateySagal is a good singer (she got her career start as one of Music/BetteMidler's Harlettes), but her character of Peg Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' isn't.
**isn't. She fakes bad again as [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Leela]] (see below).
**
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* Cleo in ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' is revealed to be a horrible singer in the episode "The Siren Effect". Even the dolphins dive underwater for cover when she starts to sing. Rikki parodies the trope later on in the episode when she sings karaoke so dreadfully she's clearly doing it on purpose.
** The plot of "The Siren Effect" was that under the power boost of the full moon, Cleo's singing enthralled everyone around her. Someone even called a radio DJ who immediately recorded her. After the moon set, even the playback of the performance sounded like tone-deaf scales.
** The plot of "The Siren Effect" was that under the power boost of the full moon, Cleo's singing enthralled everyone around her. Someone even called a radio DJ who immediately recorded her. After the moon set, even the playback of the performance sounded like tone-deaf scales.
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* Cleo in ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' is revealed to be a horrible singer in the episode "The Siren Effect". Even the dolphins dive underwater for cover when she starts to sing. Rikki parodies the trope later on in the episode when she sings karaoke so dreadfully she's clearly doing it on purpose.
** Thepurpose. Then the plot of "The Siren Effect" was that under the power boost of the full moon, Cleo's singing enthralled everyone around her. Someone even called a radio DJ who immediately recorded her. After the moon set, even the playback of the performance sounded like tone-deaf scales.
** The
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-->''Goodbye to the people who hated on me''
-->''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
-->''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
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-->''Goodbye to the people who hated on me''
-->''Goodbyeme''\\
''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
-->''Goodbye
''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
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* ''Series/TheRegime'': At a banquet, Chancellor Elena Vernham performs Music/{{Chicago|band}}'s "If You Leave Me Now" as a combination of spoken word and singing. Many in the audience are visibly trying not to cringe; Zubak ([[ItMakesSenseInContext whose only duty is to walk before her measuring the room's humidity level]]) stares at her with adoring eyes.
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-->'''Grace:''' ''(singing)'' "My baby don't mess around becaus she loves me so and this I know for sure...''HEEEEY YAAA! HEEEY YAAA! HEEE--'' *phone rings* Hello? ...I'm sorry, I'll stop. Hold on, I have another call...hello? Yes, I'm sorry, I'll stop."
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-->'''Grace:''' ''(singing)'' "My "[[Music/OutKast My baby don't mess around becaus because she loves me so and this I know for sure...sure]]...''HEEEEY YAAA! HEEEY YAAA! HEEE--'' *phone rings* (''phone rings'') Hello? ...I'm sorry, I'll stop. Hold on, I have another call...hello? Yes, I'm sorry, I'll stop."
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* Hyacinth in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. Fits this trope to a T because Patricia Routledge is an accomplished stage actress with a more-than-adequate singing voice.
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* Hyacinth in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. Fits this trope to a T because Patricia Routledge Creator/PatriciaRoutledge is an accomplished stage actress with a more-than-adequate singing voice.
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Disambiguated trope per TRS thread, Wick Cleaning Projects
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* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}},'' Hazel affects a terribly fake "bad" singing voice when she is trying to show off her vocal skills to Paige and Ashley. Further proof that the voice was fake came when Andrea Lewis released a music video on the same channel and sang just fine. In season 9, Fiona auditions for the musical and has a similarly fake failure.
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* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}},'' ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration,'' Hazel affects a terribly fake "bad" singing voice when she is trying to show off her vocal skills to Paige and Ashley. Further proof that the voice was fake came when Andrea Lewis released a music video on the same channel and sang just fine. In season 9, Fiona auditions for the musical and has a similarly fake failure.
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* Scully in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Detour", after being cajoled by Mulder into singing despite warning him that he wouldn't want to hear her singing, as she "can't carry a tune".
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* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Scully in ''Series/TheXFiles'' the episode "Detour", "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E04Detour Detour]]", after being cajoled by Mulder into singing despite warning him that he wouldn't want to hear her singing, as she "can't carry a tune".
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* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' justified it in "No Rest For The Wicked". Creator/JensenAckles is known to be a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuACuW519Zo very good singer]] yet when Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" comes on the radio, Dean (and later Sam) sings it obnoxiously loudly and badly. Why? Because it's his last day alive and he wants to cheer Sam up like the awesome big brother he is, that's why.
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* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' justified it in "No "[[Recap/SupernaturalS03E16NoRestForTheWicked No Rest For The Wicked".for the Wicked]]". Creator/JensenAckles is known to be a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuACuW519Zo very good singer]] yet when Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" comes on the radio, Dean (and later Sam) sings it obnoxiously loudly and badly. Why? Because it's his last day alive and he wants to cheer Sam up like the awesome big brother he is, that's why.
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* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': Laszlo reveals that he had a career as a singer/songwriter dating back to the 1850's, though when we hear his records, he sounds ridiculous. Creator/MattBerry is actually an accomplished singer in real life, and there is a ''very'' stark difference between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDzBVxCugM his comedic singing on the show]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEOOB3-gqQ his actual music career]].
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* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019'': Laszlo reveals that he had a career as a singer/songwriter dating back to the 1850's, though when we hear his records, he sounds ridiculous. Creator/MattBerry is actually an accomplished singer in real life, and there is a ''very'' stark difference between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDzBVxCugM his comedic singing on the show]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEOOB3-gqQ his actual music career]].
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* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In real life, of the younger four, Mike Lookinland was a very good singer, and as Barry Williams (also a very good singer) said, was the most musical of the six kids, but he had two left feet when it came to dancing. On the other hand, Eve Plumb and Susan Olsen were varying levels of tone deaf, but Chris Knight was the most obvious one; by his admission, he cannot sing a note. This worked perfectly into the Season 3 episode "Dough Re Mi," where Peter's voice is going through puberty and begins to crack just as the kids are rehearsing Greg's newly written song. Still, Chris did record an entire album of duets with Maureen [=McCormick=] (who is a decent singer) and got a solo on ''[[Series/BradyBunchSpinOffs The Brady Bunch Variety Hour]]'' (covering The Carpenters' "Sing"). If you are familiar with the lyrics, "Sing" is the perfect song for the worst singer in the group.
* In the "Just Move Your Lips, Sergeant" episode of ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'', Sgt. Carter, who fancied himself as quite a singer in his youth, decides to coach some of the troops when they're singing, but his voice is so raspy, he thinks that someone in the group is off-key, failing to recognize that he's the one whose voice is so bad, the other Marines go sour whenever he insists on singing along with them, and they try to rehearse in secret without him, until he gets laryngitis and the others have him join the group and lip-sync to cover for his hoarse throat.
* Justified in ''Series/GrangeHill'': When the school auditions for the school play of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'', there is a scene of a boy (successfully) singing badly. Later, when Andrew Stanton who normally sings well is rehearsing, Mr Sutcliffe whispers that he's completely flat.
* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': Both the Oleson girls. With Nancy, it's funny because her portrayer, Allison Balson, is a very talented singer. Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie, will be the first to admit she is a very bad singer.
* A prime example of this is Madame Edith from ''Series/AlloAllo'', who fancies herself a cabaret singer, and insists on singing to the customers of her cafe. (Some customers jam cheese in their ears to avoid the horror.)
* Lilly in ''Series/HannahMontana'', London on ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', a subplot on ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'', Paolo was exposed by Gordo, Isabella, and Lizzie to put a stop to his lip-synching in ''The Series/LizzieMcGuire Movie''....is there a Creator/DisneyChannel show that hasn't featured this?
* Echo in another Disney series, ''Series/MrYoung'', is a very off-key singer. Naturally, she believes otherwise, and the episode we find out is, of course the one where her friends try to stop her from embarrassing herself at the school talent show. Though unlike others, Echo doesn't learn she can't sing by the end, even attacking Adam for admitting she can't sing seconds after telling him he could tell her honestly.
* That one episode of ''Series/FullHouse'' where Jesse gives Rebecca singing lessons. Becky is shown to be a horrible singer when she joins Jesse, Danny, and Joey in singing Nicky and Alex to sleep. Jesse attempts to surreptitiously give her singing lessons and HilarityEnsues. [[spoiler:However, it's later shown that she's a wonderful singer when she's singing them actual lullabies.]]
** Another example from ''Full House'' is Kimmy Gibbler, as exhibited during the 1989-90 season. One episode where D.J. is having trouble with her first babysitting job leads to Kimmy showing up early in the episode where the kid doesn't go to bed and Kimmy volunteers to sing (or more accurately, scream) a lullaby to him. Later that season, after Stephanie somehow backs the car into the kitchen window, she walks in nonchalantly. At that point, we hear Kimmy singing a little bit of the chorus of "Straight Up", sounding much better.
* Hyacinth in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. Fits this trope to a T because Patricia Routledge is an accomplished stage actress with a more-than-adequate singing voice.
* A non-singing example is Klink's violin playing in ''Series/HogansHeroes''. His violin playing is hideous but he's the only one who doesn't seem to notice. Of course, in real life Werner Klemperer was a concert-level violinist.
* In an episode of ''Series/MamasFamily'', Mama has to audition to sing the town's anthem "Raytown, O Raytown" for a Founder's Day event and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYzv5YpLSvs&feature=related mangles it rather badly]] before getting the part anyway [[AnAesop and refusing it]]. The actress, Vicki Lawrence, had a #1 hit in 1973 with "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia".
* ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' gives us Casey, who is (or appears to be) a severely mentally challenged young adult, who suffers emotional breakdowns on stage, in addition to having poor singing talent. Note that Tim Heidecker is actually a skilled musician. In fact, ''most'' singing on the show isn't that great, but considering Tim and Eric's [[SoBadItsGood pool of actors,]] [[PoesLaw it's a mystery as to which singers are faking it and which ones are genuinely bad.]]
* Any show on the "TNBC" Saturday-morning block had at least one episode dealing with someone who's "tone deaf" (and usually a love interest who's lying to them, saying their singing is wonderful.) Fun Fact: The ''Series/CaliforniaDreams'' episode of this trope (in which the girlfriend of the lead guitarist tried to join the band so she wouldn't be a "groupie") was named... "YokoOhNo!" (No bands were disbanded, however.)
** Subverted on ''Series/CityGuys'' as the gang is concerned Cassie's bad singing will humiliate them at a public contest. They let her go on stage alone...at which point, Cassie reveals she's a great singer and faking being bad in order to get the spotlight solo. Rather than be upset, the others have to give her credit for fooling them and the fact she is the best singer.
* This was a running gag on ''Series/ILoveLucy''. Creator/LucilleBall was a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y1UEMU1gBk decent, if not quite stellar]], singer in real life.
* Beautifully averted in an episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', with a little girl singing along -- only slightly off-key and off-rhythm -- to a CD as she gets dressed in the morning. As a bonus, the fact that she wasn't singing quite right took the scene from overly-cute to realistic and affecting.
* Averted in ''Series/PeepShow'' when Mark decides to sing "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" to Sophie, in a romantic moment. He's in tune - he just sounds nervous and as if he isn't putting much breath into it.
* Scully in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Detour", after being cajoled by Mulder into singing despite warning him that he wouldn't want to hear her singing, as she "can't carry a tune".
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Averted in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]". Creator/AlysonHannigan was a self-admitted poor singer and requested that she be given minimal singing lines in the episode to the point where "I'm Under Your Spell was changed from a duet between Willow and Tara to a solo for the latter. Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg also requested that Dawn's singing be minimized, and was given a ballet number to perform instead.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** "There's three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public." When forced to do the last at Lorne's karaoke club in the second-season opener "[[Recap/AngelS02E01Judgment Judgement]]", Angel's completely monotone, and badly off-tempo. (Then the outtakes of David Boreanaz that close the episode turn into one huge [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] of this trope.) This was later lampshaded as being because of shyness and being self-conscious about picking love ballads every time.
*** However, when Creator/DavidBoreanaz sings on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', (which he does in a couple of episodes) he has a perfectly respectable voice.
** In "[[Recap/AngelS02E17Disharmony Disharmony]]", Cordelia takes Harmony to sing for Lorne. After listening to her butcher "[[Music/BarbraStreisand The Way We Were]]" he comments, "I think your friend should reconsider the name Harmony." (In truth Mercedes [=McNab=] sings a bit too well in that scene.)
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' justified it in "No Rest For The Wicked". Creator/JensenAckles is known to be a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuACuW519Zo very good singer]] yet when Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" comes on the radio, Dean (and later Sam) sings it obnoxiously loudly and badly. Why? Because it's his last day alive and he wants to cheer Sam up like the awesome big brother he is, that's why.
** Dean seems to alternate between being completely unable to sing a note and not being all that bad. He's not awful doing the REO Speedwagon tune, but when he sings a Christmas carol at one point, he's awful. Jensen Ackles actually said in an interview that he thinks Dean is the kind of character that couldn't carry a note if he tried, so he makes a deliberate attempt to sing badly.
** Jensen also confirmed at a convention that the writers wrote on his copy of the script, "JENSEN--DON'T SING ON-KEY."
** Averted by Creator/JaredPadalecki, who plays Sam and genuinely can't sing.
*** Not necessarily. Jared may not be the best singer in existence, but he's not [[https://youtu.be/Hgt81jAr_88 tone-deaf.]]
* Barney Fife had a whole episode devoted to how bad of a singer he is on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', even though he had sung with Andy on earlier shows, and Don Knotts had a fine country tenor voice.
* Averted in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', featuring someone who is superior to Frasier in many ways but is a somewhat realistically awful singer.
* Played straight in ''Moesha''. Professional R&B singer Brandy has [[IronyAsSheIsCast a terrible voice]] in the show, to make way for the talents of her co-stars.
* Averted in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': When he's singing his girlfriend's children to sleep, Dexter's voice isn't horrible, just a little off-key. In real life, Michael C. Hall's a trained singer and Broadway performer with a very good voice. Jennifer Carpenter, on the other hand...
* Averted in ''Series/GilligansIsland'': Dawn Wells by her own admission is a terrible singer, so whenever an episode called for her to sing, her voice would generally be dubbed in by a professional singer. However, the episode "The Second Ginger Grant" called for an amnesiac Mary Ann, believing herself to be Ginger, to sing badly. Rather than faking a bad singing voice, Wells, knowing her own restrictions, made an earnest attempt to sing the song properly. The result ended up being just off-key enough to sound believable and fit the plot at the same time.
* Creator/AndyKaufman's AlterEgoActing persona Tony Clifton, a LoungeLizard, averted this. Tony's problem wasn't that he couldn't hit notes, but that 1) his voice itself was incredibly nasally and unpleasant by nature, and 2) he was a usually grouchy {{Jerkass}} who picked on his audience. This aversion was probably one of several reasons many people (at least at first) were successfully fooled into thinking Andy and Tony were separate people.
* Subverted by Grace in ''Series/WillAndGrace''. In real life, Creator/DebraMessing has a perfectly serviceable, if not gorgeous, singing voice. Her character Grace kept to the tunes relatively well, but always started out way too high, and when the key of a song was supposed to change, she changed too far. A lot of poor singers actually do sing this way. Grace was also incredibly loud.
-->'''Grace:''' ''(singing)'' "My baby don't mess around becaus she loves me so and this I know for sure...''HEEEEY YAAA! HEEEY YAAA! HEEE--'' *phone rings* Hello? ...I'm sorry, I'll stop. Hold on, I have another call...hello? Yes, I'm sorry, I'll stop."
* ''Series/WorldsDumbest'' has featured quite a few musicians unlikely to ever get an award:
** One spot featured a Polish singer mangle the "Star-Spangled Banner" before a boxing match (including a mention of ''Madonna''), coining a word in the process
-->''And the rockets would glrrr''[[note]]Instead of "the rockets' red glare".[[/note]] (subtitled as "glure")
-->'''Danny Bonaduce:''' "Butterbean"[[note]]one of the fighters[[/note]] weighs ''four hundred ninety'' pounds, has an American flag and wears red, white and blue trunks. F**king up the national anthem, bad call.
** On another occasion, the show had had a song entitled "Goodbye", performed by a young aspiring "rapper" from England. The lyrics were basically out of rhythm, and the singer had serious issues with the Auto-Tune.
-->''Goodbye to the people who hated on me''
-->''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
* ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' has Monica, who is also a bit self-conscious about this, because, as an angel, she loves to sing.
* Averted on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', where Broadway star Jason Alexander was able to sound quite convincingly amateurish on George's musical answering machine message in the episode "The Suzie". But played straight when Jerry's girlfriend (Miss Rhode Island) tries to sing in "The Chaperone".
* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Broadway actors Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois sing "You Can't Take That Away From Me" together. Brooks' character has a good voice, but Auberjonois sings in Odo's gravelly monotone, even though he's appeared on Broadway in musicals like ''Dance of the Vampire'', ''Big River'' and ''Coco''.
* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' has a recurring category that avoids this: the clues will be the lyrics to a song, which are read automatically by either Alex Trebek himself, or occasionally by TheAnnouncer, Johnny Gilbert.
* ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' has Cheyenne Jackson's character Danny Baker doing this very intentionally during a duet with diva Jenna Maroney in the 2009 Christmas Special so as not to steal her spotlight. At one point, he slips into his natural (and excellent) singing voice and quickly switches back to tone-deaf after a DeathGlare from Jenna.
** Bonus points for knowing that Cheyenne Jackson and Jane Krakowski were both in the stage play of Xanadu before ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' started (though not in the same cast. Jane was in an industry-only workshop performance of the musical with a different actor. Cheyenne joined the show later when the original male lead was injured and performed on Broadway with Kerry Butler.)
* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}},'' Hazel affects a terribly fake "bad" singing voice when she is trying to show off her vocal skills to Paige and Ashley. Further proof that the voice was fake came when Andrea Lewis released a music video on the same channel and sang just fine. In season 9, Fiona auditions for the musical and has a similarly fake failure.
** This trope was also averted in that same episode with Hazel's "bad singing". When the girls perform at a talent show, Paige sees her rapist sitting in the audience. After this, she grabs the microphone from lead singer Ashley and sings the song (which happens to be about rape) herself. Her singing was a little bit...rough, but realistically so.
* Creator/KateySagal is a good singer (she got her career start as one of Music/BetteMidler's Harlettes), but her character of Peg Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' isn't.
** She fakes bad again as [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Leela]] (see below).
* Parodied in ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums''. When Lance makes a painfully bad attempt to sing "Who's That Girl Running Around With You", Lee attempts to put him right by inserting correctly-pitched noises such as "bing", "bong", "ding" and "dong" into the melody. Lance begins to get the hang of this, only to revert to his initial attempt when the noises are removed. He then remarks that he's only tone-deaf in English, and not in Italian, proving this by launching into an impressive rendition of an operatic piece.
* Played straight in the ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episode "Laryngitis", when Rachel gets sick and loses her voice. Kind of subverted earlier in the series when Kurt blows the high F in "[[Theatre/{{Wicked}} Defying Gravity]]". His voice doesn't slide so much as break, ''very'' realistically, even though Chris Colfer really can hit the note.
** Mike Chang doesn't think he can sing, so when he has to do a duet with Tina, they play this trope for laughs with a rendition of "Sing!" from ''Theatre/AChorusLine''.
*** He later proves himself wrong in season 3, when he auditions for ''West Side Story''. His singing is actually not that bad.
** Let's not forget Sugar's awful rendition of "Big Spender." Vanessa Lengies is a pretty accomplished singer (''Series/AmericanDreams'').
* On a ''Series/PrivatePractice''/''Series/GreysAnatomy'' crossover episode, Naomi (Music/AudraMcDonald) and Sam (Taye Diggs) were heard singing quite badly. - [=McDonald=] in particular is a ''six-time Tony winner!''
* The opening to ''Series/AllInTheFamily''. Jean Stapleton could apparently sing quite well in real life.
** [[https://youtu.be/nMBgRZMagHw Carroll O'Connor was no slouch, either.]]
* Galina Sergeevna from ''Series/DaddysDaughters'' screeches through a song in Episode 14.3. Her actress, Music/LizaArzamasova, can actually sing decently, so to sing badly, she has to caterwaul.
* There was an episode of the TV series "Film/{{Clueless}}" where Cher tried out for her school's Holiday play. Problem was, she couldn't sing to save her life ([[InformedFlaw or so we were supposed to believe]]). Of course, her "bad singing voice" was so fake that it was laughable to anyone who's heard genuine bad singing. This ended up being [[ReVision revised]] later in the series when the writers decided they wanted Cher to sing in her school's production of ''Grease''. Turned out, she actually had a pretty good voice once she learned the right technique (which was said to be something along the lines of squeezing your buns and breathing).
* In the KoreanDrama ''Series/TwinkleTwinkle'', Jung Won loves to sing popular music and trot tunelessly. I mean, ''really'' tunelessly.
* Averted in ''Series/TheNightShift'', when Olafur sings for a judge on the Icelandic version of ''Series/TheXFactor''. It's realistically weak - generally in tune but a little strained and with a trying-too-hard kind of sound to it.
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': Tori's sister Trina is a terrible singer compared to her sister and her real singing voice is closely resembling to that of a person shrieking. In fact the main reason that Trina was enrolled into Hollywood Arts was because Sikowitz had drank rotten coconut milk which made him have hallucinations during Trina's audition, and every other judge was out at the time.
* The Orgs in ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' are this: They consider human music to be repulsive, yet Flute Org's terrible tunes are music to their ears.
* Averted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', in the episode "The Vengeance Formulation", when Howard is singing a song for Bernadette. He actually sounds like he's trying to sing well, and while it definitely doesn't sound ''good'', it's still possible to understand why he doesn't get that.
** Played straight in the first season episode "The Loobenfeld Decay" with Penny's painfully awful singing to play as Mimi in ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''. It's implied that it's mostly that she did not have the talent for a boisterous stage solo number, in later episodes she sings a bedside lullaby to Sheldon "Soft Kitty" that, while not pristine, shows a passable singing voice.
* An initial plot point in ''{{Series/Nashville}}'' is that Juliette Barnes is a bad singer who'd be lost without [=AutoTune=], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9YDpFd_vE as illustrated in this clip]], but it sounds suspiciously like Creator/HaydenPanettiere deliberately singing off-key as called for in the script. Ironically, while the show itself regularly claims Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is more talented than Juliette, more than a few people find Panettiere to be the better singer of the two... and it's telling that the show's stopped pretending Juliette sucks.
* Aethelwynne in ''Series/{{Pixelface}}'' is constantly shown as this, and most of the cast appears to suffer from this in "Rock Star" (the only episode where most of them sing).
* Cleo in ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' is revealed to be a horrible singer in the episode "The Siren Effect". Even the dolphins dive underwater for cover when she starts to sing. Rikki parodies the trope later on in the episode when she sings karaoke so dreadfully she's clearly doing it on purpose.
** The plot of "The Siren Effect" was that under the power boost of the full moon, Cleo's singing enthralled everyone around her. Someone even called a radio DJ who immediately recorded her. After the moon set, even the playback of the performance sounded like tone-deaf scales.
* This [[http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/wy96gz/macroeconomics godawful rendition]] of "One Love" by ''Series/TheDailyShow'''s Creator/StephenColbert, a very able singer who has performed in musical theatre.
* Gloria from ''Series/ModernFamily'' after she got a karaoke machine. Her husband Jay once dropped a metal spoon in the garbage disposal in the hopes of drowning her out with a more ''pleasant'' noise.
* Summer in ''Series/SchoolOfRock''. Her actress is actually a fairly good singer but in "Cover Me", she is awful.
* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': Most of Starsky's attempts at singing sound like this, although he manages to sing on-key in "The Avenger."
* ''Series/SesameStreet'': Downplayed in "The Golden Cabbage of Snufertiti". One of the many differences between Bob and his AdventurerArchaeologist brother Minneapolis Johnson is that Bob loves to sing but Minneapolis prefers adventure and being active. Minneapolis' singing voice on their duet "A Sibling" wavers and is often off-pitch, but it's not unpleasant. He's played by Creator/JeffGoldblum, who is best-known as an actor but is also a professional-quality jazz pianist more than capable of carrying a tune (as the masses found out a few decades later, when he began recording albums with his band after years of concerts in Los Angeles).
* ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'': In the episode "Menergy Crisis", Blake has a singing voice more reminiscent of screeching than anything else. His singing is so bad, Ders and Adam end up editing him out of their song.
* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': Laszlo reveals that he had a career as a singer/songwriter dating back to the 1850's, though when we hear his records, he sounds ridiculous. Creator/MattBerry is actually an accomplished singer in real life, and there is a ''very'' stark difference between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDzBVxCugM his comedic singing on the show]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEOOB3-gqQ his actual music career]].
* ''Series/KirbyBuckets'':
** In the episode "The Gil in My Life", it's revealed that Dawn has an absolutely horrendous singing voice which only improves when she is looking at a reflection of herself, especially with toilet water. When she tries to audition to have her voice used in a commercial, the judges instead decided to use the toilet instead of her.
*** She gets another short song in "Battle of the Ballot" when she is happy she no longer has to listen to Kirby's chewing in the cafeteria, and everyone boos her and throws garbage at her.
*** Of course, this trope gets turned on its head in "Queen for a Dawn" when Dawn is treated like royalty in an alternate medieval universe. Kirby tries to get her to sing in order to convince her to return home, but it backfires because she actually can sing in the universe.
*** That being said, Dawn's singing was just fine in "All Hands on Dexter", which predated "The Gil in my Life", when she was auditioning for a spot on a TV talent show.
** In the episode "The AV Kid", Chip, the titular AV kid, is also a terrible singer with the short friendship song he dedicates to Kirby over the school intercom.
** The band in ''Series/HospitalPlaylist''. Song-hwa is ''quite'' tone deaf, while the rest of the band are a much milder example of this, [[https://soundcloud.com/thaovimuoiba/mido-and-falasol-me-to-you-you as heard here]]. The difference is very starkly heard in the [[https://soundcloud.com/thaovimuoiba/mido-and-falasol-me-to-you-you album recording.]]
* ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'': Juna and Topan's bad and loud singing in episode 47 sounds like they're trying to hit the wrong note.
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* In the "Just Move Your Lips, Sergeant" episode of ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'', Sgt. Carter, who fancied himself as quite a singer in his youth, decides to coach some of the troops when they're singing, but his voice is so raspy, he thinks that someone in the group is off-key, failing to recognize that he's the one whose voice is so bad, the other Marines go sour whenever he insists on singing along with them, and they try to rehearse in secret without him, until he gets laryngitis and the others have him join the group and lip-sync to cover for his hoarse throat.
* Justified in ''Series/GrangeHill'': When the school auditions for the school play of ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'', there is a scene of a boy (successfully) singing badly. Later, when Andrew Stanton who normally sings well is rehearsing, Mr Sutcliffe whispers that he's completely flat.
* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': Both the Oleson girls. With Nancy, it's funny because her portrayer, Allison Balson, is a very talented singer. Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie, will be the first to admit she is a very bad singer.
* A prime example of this is Madame Edith from ''Series/AlloAllo'', who fancies herself a cabaret singer, and insists on singing to the customers of her cafe. (Some customers jam cheese in their ears to avoid the horror.)
* Lilly in ''Series/HannahMontana'', London on ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', a subplot on ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'', Paolo was exposed by Gordo, Isabella, and Lizzie to put a stop to his lip-synching in ''The Series/LizzieMcGuire Movie''....is there a Creator/DisneyChannel show that hasn't featured this?
* Echo in another Disney series, ''Series/MrYoung'', is a very off-key singer. Naturally, she believes otherwise, and the episode we find out is, of course the one where her friends try to stop her from embarrassing herself at the school talent show. Though unlike others, Echo doesn't learn she can't sing by the end, even attacking Adam for admitting she can't sing seconds after telling him he could tell her honestly.
* That one episode of ''Series/FullHouse'' where Jesse gives Rebecca singing lessons. Becky is shown to be a horrible singer when she joins Jesse, Danny, and Joey in singing Nicky and Alex to sleep. Jesse attempts to surreptitiously give her singing lessons and HilarityEnsues. [[spoiler:However, it's later shown that she's a wonderful singer when she's singing them actual lullabies.]]
** Another example from ''Full House'' is Kimmy Gibbler, as exhibited during the 1989-90 season. One episode where D.J. is having trouble with her first babysitting job leads to Kimmy showing up early in the episode where the kid doesn't go to bed and Kimmy volunteers to sing (or more accurately, scream) a lullaby to him. Later that season, after Stephanie somehow backs the car into the kitchen window, she walks in nonchalantly. At that point, we hear Kimmy singing a little bit of the chorus of "Straight Up", sounding much better.
* Hyacinth in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. Fits this trope to a T because Patricia Routledge is an accomplished stage actress with a more-than-adequate singing voice.
* A non-singing example is Klink's violin playing in ''Series/HogansHeroes''. His violin playing is hideous but he's the only one who doesn't seem to notice. Of course, in real life Werner Klemperer was a concert-level violinist.
* In an episode of ''Series/MamasFamily'', Mama has to audition to sing the town's anthem "Raytown, O Raytown" for a Founder's Day event and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYzv5YpLSvs&feature=related mangles it rather badly]] before getting the part anyway [[AnAesop and refusing it]]. The actress, Vicki Lawrence, had a #1 hit in 1973 with "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia".
* ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' gives us Casey, who is (or appears to be) a severely mentally challenged young adult, who suffers emotional breakdowns on stage, in addition to having poor singing talent. Note that Tim Heidecker is actually a skilled musician. In fact, ''most'' singing on the show isn't that great, but considering Tim and Eric's [[SoBadItsGood pool of actors,]] [[PoesLaw it's a mystery as to which singers are faking it and which ones are genuinely bad.]]
* Any show on the "TNBC" Saturday-morning block had at least one episode dealing with someone who's "tone deaf" (and usually a love interest who's lying to them, saying their singing is wonderful.) Fun Fact: The ''Series/CaliforniaDreams'' episode of this trope (in which the girlfriend of the lead guitarist tried to join the band so she wouldn't be a "groupie") was named... "YokoOhNo!" (No bands were disbanded, however.)
** Subverted on ''Series/CityGuys'' as the gang is concerned Cassie's bad singing will humiliate them at a public contest. They let her go on stage alone...at which point, Cassie reveals she's a great singer and faking being bad in order to get the spotlight solo. Rather than be upset, the others have to give her credit for fooling them and the fact she is the best singer.
* This was a running gag on ''Series/ILoveLucy''. Creator/LucilleBall was a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y1UEMU1gBk decent, if not quite stellar]], singer in real life.
* Beautifully averted in an episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', with a little girl singing along -- only slightly off-key and off-rhythm -- to a CD as she gets dressed in the morning. As a bonus, the fact that she wasn't singing quite right took the scene from overly-cute to realistic and affecting.
* Averted in ''Series/PeepShow'' when Mark decides to sing "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" to Sophie, in a romantic moment. He's in tune - he just sounds nervous and as if he isn't putting much breath into it.
* Scully in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Detour", after being cajoled by Mulder into singing despite warning him that he wouldn't want to hear her singing, as she "can't carry a tune".
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Averted in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]". Creator/AlysonHannigan was a self-admitted poor singer and requested that she be given minimal singing lines in the episode to the point where "I'm Under Your Spell was changed from a duet between Willow and Tara to a solo for the latter. Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg also requested that Dawn's singing be minimized, and was given a ballet number to perform instead.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** "There's three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public." When forced to do the last at Lorne's karaoke club in the second-season opener "[[Recap/AngelS02E01Judgment Judgement]]", Angel's completely monotone, and badly off-tempo. (Then the outtakes of David Boreanaz that close the episode turn into one huge [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] of this trope.) This was later lampshaded as being because of shyness and being self-conscious about picking love ballads every time.
*** However, when Creator/DavidBoreanaz sings on ''Series/{{Bones}}'', (which he does in a couple of episodes) he has a perfectly respectable voice.
** In "[[Recap/AngelS02E17Disharmony Disharmony]]", Cordelia takes Harmony to sing for Lorne. After listening to her butcher "[[Music/BarbraStreisand The Way We Were]]" he comments, "I think your friend should reconsider the name Harmony." (In truth Mercedes [=McNab=] sings a bit too well in that scene.)
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' justified it in "No Rest For The Wicked". Creator/JensenAckles is known to be a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuACuW519Zo very good singer]] yet when Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" comes on the radio, Dean (and later Sam) sings it obnoxiously loudly and badly. Why? Because it's his last day alive and he wants to cheer Sam up like the awesome big brother he is, that's why.
** Dean seems to alternate between being completely unable to sing a note and not being all that bad. He's not awful doing the REO Speedwagon tune, but when he sings a Christmas carol at one point, he's awful. Jensen Ackles actually said in an interview that he thinks Dean is the kind of character that couldn't carry a note if he tried, so he makes a deliberate attempt to sing badly.
** Jensen also confirmed at a convention that the writers wrote on his copy of the script, "JENSEN--DON'T SING ON-KEY."
** Averted by Creator/JaredPadalecki, who plays Sam and genuinely can't sing.
*** Not necessarily. Jared may not be the best singer in existence, but he's not [[https://youtu.be/Hgt81jAr_88 tone-deaf.]]
* Barney Fife had a whole episode devoted to how bad of a singer he is on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', even though he had sung with Andy on earlier shows, and Don Knotts had a fine country tenor voice.
* Averted in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', featuring someone who is superior to Frasier in many ways but is a somewhat realistically awful singer.
* Played straight in ''Moesha''. Professional R&B singer Brandy has [[IronyAsSheIsCast a terrible voice]] in the show, to make way for the talents of her co-stars.
* Averted in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': When he's singing his girlfriend's children to sleep, Dexter's voice isn't horrible, just a little off-key. In real life, Michael C. Hall's a trained singer and Broadway performer with a very good voice. Jennifer Carpenter, on the other hand...
* Averted in ''Series/GilligansIsland'': Dawn Wells by her own admission is a terrible singer, so whenever an episode called for her to sing, her voice would generally be dubbed in by a professional singer. However, the episode "The Second Ginger Grant" called for an amnesiac Mary Ann, believing herself to be Ginger, to sing badly. Rather than faking a bad singing voice, Wells, knowing her own restrictions, made an earnest attempt to sing the song properly. The result ended up being just off-key enough to sound believable and fit the plot at the same time.
* Creator/AndyKaufman's AlterEgoActing persona Tony Clifton, a LoungeLizard, averted this. Tony's problem wasn't that he couldn't hit notes, but that 1) his voice itself was incredibly nasally and unpleasant by nature, and 2) he was a usually grouchy {{Jerkass}} who picked on his audience. This aversion was probably one of several reasons many people (at least at first) were successfully fooled into thinking Andy and Tony were separate people.
* Subverted by Grace in ''Series/WillAndGrace''. In real life, Creator/DebraMessing has a perfectly serviceable, if not gorgeous, singing voice. Her character Grace kept to the tunes relatively well, but always started out way too high, and when the key of a song was supposed to change, she changed too far. A lot of poor singers actually do sing this way. Grace was also incredibly loud.
-->'''Grace:''' ''(singing)'' "My baby don't mess around becaus she loves me so and this I know for sure...''HEEEEY YAAA! HEEEY YAAA! HEEE--'' *phone rings* Hello? ...I'm sorry, I'll stop. Hold on, I have another call...hello? Yes, I'm sorry, I'll stop."
* ''Series/WorldsDumbest'' has featured quite a few musicians unlikely to ever get an award:
** One spot featured a Polish singer mangle the "Star-Spangled Banner" before a boxing match (including a mention of ''Madonna''), coining a word in the process
-->''And the rockets would glrrr''[[note]]Instead of "the rockets' red glare".[[/note]] (subtitled as "glure")
-->'''Danny Bonaduce:''' "Butterbean"[[note]]one of the fighters[[/note]] weighs ''four hundred ninety'' pounds, has an American flag and wears red, white and blue trunks. F**king up the national anthem, bad call.
** On another occasion, the show had had a song entitled "Goodbye", performed by a young aspiring "rapper" from England. The lyrics were basically out of rhythm, and the singer had serious issues with the Auto-Tune.
-->''Goodbye to the people who hated on me''
-->''Goodbye to the people who loved... me''
* ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' has Monica, who is also a bit self-conscious about this, because, as an angel, she loves to sing.
* Averted on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', where Broadway star Jason Alexander was able to sound quite convincingly amateurish on George's musical answering machine message in the episode "The Suzie". But played straight when Jerry's girlfriend (Miss Rhode Island) tries to sing in "The Chaperone".
* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Broadway actors Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois sing "You Can't Take That Away From Me" together. Brooks' character has a good voice, but Auberjonois sings in Odo's gravelly monotone, even though he's appeared on Broadway in musicals like ''Dance of the Vampire'', ''Big River'' and ''Coco''.
* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' has a recurring category that avoids this: the clues will be the lyrics to a song, which are read automatically by either Alex Trebek himself, or occasionally by TheAnnouncer, Johnny Gilbert.
* ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' has Cheyenne Jackson's character Danny Baker doing this very intentionally during a duet with diva Jenna Maroney in the 2009 Christmas Special so as not to steal her spotlight. At one point, he slips into his natural (and excellent) singing voice and quickly switches back to tone-deaf after a DeathGlare from Jenna.
** Bonus points for knowing that Cheyenne Jackson and Jane Krakowski were both in the stage play of Xanadu before ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' started (though not in the same cast. Jane was in an industry-only workshop performance of the musical with a different actor. Cheyenne joined the show later when the original male lead was injured and performed on Broadway with Kerry Butler.)
* In ''Series/{{Degrassi}},'' Hazel affects a terribly fake "bad" singing voice when she is trying to show off her vocal skills to Paige and Ashley. Further proof that the voice was fake came when Andrea Lewis released a music video on the same channel and sang just fine. In season 9, Fiona auditions for the musical and has a similarly fake failure.
** This trope was also averted in that same episode with Hazel's "bad singing". When the girls perform at a talent show, Paige sees her rapist sitting in the audience. After this, she grabs the microphone from lead singer Ashley and sings the song (which happens to be about rape) herself. Her singing was a little bit...rough, but realistically so.
* Creator/KateySagal is a good singer (she got her career start as one of Music/BetteMidler's Harlettes), but her character of Peg Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' isn't.
** She fakes bad again as [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Leela]] (see below).
* Parodied in ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums''. When Lance makes a painfully bad attempt to sing "Who's That Girl Running Around With You", Lee attempts to put him right by inserting correctly-pitched noises such as "bing", "bong", "ding" and "dong" into the melody. Lance begins to get the hang of this, only to revert to his initial attempt when the noises are removed. He then remarks that he's only tone-deaf in English, and not in Italian, proving this by launching into an impressive rendition of an operatic piece.
* Played straight in the ''Series/{{Glee}}'' episode "Laryngitis", when Rachel gets sick and loses her voice. Kind of subverted earlier in the series when Kurt blows the high F in "[[Theatre/{{Wicked}} Defying Gravity]]". His voice doesn't slide so much as break, ''very'' realistically, even though Chris Colfer really can hit the note.
** Mike Chang doesn't think he can sing, so when he has to do a duet with Tina, they play this trope for laughs with a rendition of "Sing!" from ''Theatre/AChorusLine''.
*** He later proves himself wrong in season 3, when he auditions for ''West Side Story''. His singing is actually not that bad.
** Let's not forget Sugar's awful rendition of "Big Spender." Vanessa Lengies is a pretty accomplished singer (''Series/AmericanDreams'').
* On a ''Series/PrivatePractice''/''Series/GreysAnatomy'' crossover episode, Naomi (Music/AudraMcDonald) and Sam (Taye Diggs) were heard singing quite badly. - [=McDonald=] in particular is a ''six-time Tony winner!''
* The opening to ''Series/AllInTheFamily''. Jean Stapleton could apparently sing quite well in real life.
** [[https://youtu.be/nMBgRZMagHw Carroll O'Connor was no slouch, either.]]
* Galina Sergeevna from ''Series/DaddysDaughters'' screeches through a song in Episode 14.3. Her actress, Music/LizaArzamasova, can actually sing decently, so to sing badly, she has to caterwaul.
* There was an episode of the TV series "Film/{{Clueless}}" where Cher tried out for her school's Holiday play. Problem was, she couldn't sing to save her life ([[InformedFlaw or so we were supposed to believe]]). Of course, her "bad singing voice" was so fake that it was laughable to anyone who's heard genuine bad singing. This ended up being [[ReVision revised]] later in the series when the writers decided they wanted Cher to sing in her school's production of ''Grease''. Turned out, she actually had a pretty good voice once she learned the right technique (which was said to be something along the lines of squeezing your buns and breathing).
* In the KoreanDrama ''Series/TwinkleTwinkle'', Jung Won loves to sing popular music and trot tunelessly. I mean, ''really'' tunelessly.
* Averted in ''Series/TheNightShift'', when Olafur sings for a judge on the Icelandic version of ''Series/TheXFactor''. It's realistically weak - generally in tune but a little strained and with a trying-too-hard kind of sound to it.
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': Tori's sister Trina is a terrible singer compared to her sister and her real singing voice is closely resembling to that of a person shrieking. In fact the main reason that Trina was enrolled into Hollywood Arts was because Sikowitz had drank rotten coconut milk which made him have hallucinations during Trina's audition, and every other judge was out at the time.
* The Orgs in ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' are this: They consider human music to be repulsive, yet Flute Org's terrible tunes are music to their ears.
* Averted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', in the episode "The Vengeance Formulation", when Howard is singing a song for Bernadette. He actually sounds like he's trying to sing well, and while it definitely doesn't sound ''good'', it's still possible to understand why he doesn't get that.
** Played straight in the first season episode "The Loobenfeld Decay" with Penny's painfully awful singing to play as Mimi in ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''. It's implied that it's mostly that she did not have the talent for a boisterous stage solo number, in later episodes she sings a bedside lullaby to Sheldon "Soft Kitty" that, while not pristine, shows a passable singing voice.
* An initial plot point in ''{{Series/Nashville}}'' is that Juliette Barnes is a bad singer who'd be lost without [=AutoTune=], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9YDpFd_vE as illustrated in this clip]], but it sounds suspiciously like Creator/HaydenPanettiere deliberately singing off-key as called for in the script. Ironically, while the show itself regularly claims Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) is more talented than Juliette, more than a few people find Panettiere to be the better singer of the two... and it's telling that the show's stopped pretending Juliette sucks.
* Aethelwynne in ''Series/{{Pixelface}}'' is constantly shown as this, and most of the cast appears to suffer from this in "Rock Star" (the only episode where most of them sing).
* Cleo in ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' is revealed to be a horrible singer in the episode "The Siren Effect". Even the dolphins dive underwater for cover when she starts to sing. Rikki parodies the trope later on in the episode when she sings karaoke so dreadfully she's clearly doing it on purpose.
** The plot of "The Siren Effect" was that under the power boost of the full moon, Cleo's singing enthralled everyone around her. Someone even called a radio DJ who immediately recorded her. After the moon set, even the playback of the performance sounded like tone-deaf scales.
* This [[http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/wy96gz/macroeconomics godawful rendition]] of "One Love" by ''Series/TheDailyShow'''s Creator/StephenColbert, a very able singer who has performed in musical theatre.
* Gloria from ''Series/ModernFamily'' after she got a karaoke machine. Her husband Jay once dropped a metal spoon in the garbage disposal in the hopes of drowning her out with a more ''pleasant'' noise.
* Summer in ''Series/SchoolOfRock''. Her actress is actually a fairly good singer but in "Cover Me", she is awful.
* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': Most of Starsky's attempts at singing sound like this, although he manages to sing on-key in "The Avenger."
* ''Series/SesameStreet'': Downplayed in "The Golden Cabbage of Snufertiti". One of the many differences between Bob and his AdventurerArchaeologist brother Minneapolis Johnson is that Bob loves to sing but Minneapolis prefers adventure and being active. Minneapolis' singing voice on their duet "A Sibling" wavers and is often off-pitch, but it's not unpleasant. He's played by Creator/JeffGoldblum, who is best-known as an actor but is also a professional-quality jazz pianist more than capable of carrying a tune (as the masses found out a few decades later, when he began recording albums with his band after years of concerts in Los Angeles).
* ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'': In the episode "Menergy Crisis", Blake has a singing voice more reminiscent of screeching than anything else. His singing is so bad, Ders and Adam end up editing him out of their song.
* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'': Laszlo reveals that he had a career as a singer/songwriter dating back to the 1850's, though when we hear his records, he sounds ridiculous. Creator/MattBerry is actually an accomplished singer in real life, and there is a ''very'' stark difference between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDzBVxCugM his comedic singing on the show]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSEOOB3-gqQ his actual music career]].
* ''Series/KirbyBuckets'':
** In the episode "The Gil in My Life", it's revealed that Dawn has an absolutely horrendous singing voice which only improves when she is looking at a reflection of herself, especially with toilet water. When she tries to audition to have her voice used in a commercial, the judges instead decided to use the toilet instead of her.
*** She gets another short song in "Battle of the Ballot" when she is happy she no longer has to listen to Kirby's chewing in the cafeteria, and everyone boos her and throws garbage at her.
*** Of course, this trope gets turned on its head in "Queen for a Dawn" when Dawn is treated like royalty in an alternate medieval universe. Kirby tries to get her to sing in order to convince her to return home, but it backfires because she actually can sing in the universe.
*** That being said, Dawn's singing was just fine in "All Hands on Dexter", which predated "The Gil in my Life", when she was auditioning for a spot on a TV talent show.
** In the episode "The AV Kid", Chip, the titular AV kid, is also a terrible singer with the short friendship song he dedicates to Kirby over the school intercom.
** The band in ''Series/HospitalPlaylist''. Song-hwa is ''quite'' tone deaf, while the rest of the band are a much milder example of this, [[https://soundcloud.com/thaovimuoiba/mido-and-falasol-me-to-you-you as heard here]]. The difference is very starkly heard in the [[https://soundcloud.com/thaovimuoiba/mido-and-falasol-me-to-you-you album recording.]]
* ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'': Juna and Topan's bad and loud singing in episode 47 sounds like they're trying to hit the wrong note.
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