History Main / WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties

Sometimes played for BlackComedy if the presentation of the message sharply contrasts with the horror of the scene. An even darker version is when [[BlanantLies the message is displayed]], but the horrible noise in the background indicates what is actually going on.

Sometimes played for BlackComedy if the presentation of the message sharply contrasts with the horror of the scene. An even darker version is when the message is displayed, but the horrible noise in the background indicates what is actually going on.

* The hotel-room-esque Relaxation Chamber you start ''{{Portal 2}}'' in has a TV in the corner; the first time you wake up it's off, and the second time it displays this message. It's pretty redundant with everything else going on.

* TheSpoonyExperiment combines this with HeroicBSOD when Spoony sees the VHS case for ''{{Highlander}} 2'' call itself "the smartest sci-fi thriller since ''BladeRunner''."
* TheNostalgiaCritic sometimes switches to this when he really loses it; the "Technical Difficulties" screen shows him in a straitjacket (much like the one on the season five ''Simpsons'' episode "Marge on the Lam.")

* This has happened at least twice in the William Weaver series of novels by JohnRingo. Once it was in connection with DeadlineNews, another time a reporter "failed a SAN check" and started to scream, "I'm reading this on my [=TelePrompTer=], but it's not really happening!"

* ''ShaunOfTheDead'' features a sequence where a character flips through the channels and sees nothing but Technical Difficulty screens, even on the cable niche-broadcasting networks (such as the DiscoveryChannel).

* In {{Terminator 3}} a Gas station clerk flicks though multiple channels, each with a test card on. Further proof that [[spoiler:Skynet/the virus is taking over]]

* In Terminator3 a Gas station clerk flicks though multiple channels, each with a test card on. Further proof that [[spoiler:Skynet/the virus is taking over]]

* Happens on the ''BeavisAndButthead'' episode "Tornado" where B&B are watching "Barney Bakes a Cake". [[BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]] sets himself on fire and we hear him [the guy in the highly flammable Barney suit] screaming "Ow, ow! I'm burning! Kids, help! This sucks!" behind the caption (the EditedForSyndication version immediately cut to the technical difficulties card featuring a blue Big Bird rather than show Barney's hands catching fire and shortened his line to "Kids, help! This sucks!") [[CatchPhrase Heh-heh. Heh-heh]].

** Also happens to Krusty the Clown's show during the "[[ZombieApocalypse Dial Z For Zombies]]" segment of the third Halloween episode, with the graphic card showing a drunken cameraman.

* This has happened several times during [[KentBrockmanNews Kent Brockman]]'s news reports on ''TheSimpsons'', with technical difficulties graphics that included a puppy that has pulled a plug on the wall, a bird flying into powerlines, and Kent Brockman wrapped in a straitjacket with a cuckoo clock bird coming out of his head.
** Also happens to Krusty the Clown's show during the "[[ZombieApocalypse Dial Z For Zombies]]" segment of the third Halloween episode where the graphic is a drunken cameraman.

** ''DawnOfTheDead'' starts with two of the main characters leaving the TV studio where they work, as this type of message is put on.

* In the 60's, one Jackson, Mississippi TV station, owned and managed by a very racist man, would often suddenly have "technical difficulties" (and throw up a slide to that effect) whenever a network news report about the Civil Rights movement and its activities would be broadcast.

* ''Network'' has one of these after Howard Beale sarcastically announces that he's going to commit suicide on camera. Technicians and directors start asking him what's going on; he replies that he can't hear what they're saying, they have to physically remove him from behind the desk, and just as the mayhem really starts the PLEASE STAND BY card flips up.

** ''TheOuterLimits'' was originally titled ''Please Stand By''. However, the title was changed because the producers and the network were afraid that between the title and the famous OpeningNarration ("There is nothing wrong with your television set..."), people might mistake the opening sequence for a real emergency alert. (To add some historical perspective, the series premiered not long after the Cuban Missile Crisis.)

* HomestarRunner has used this both ways. In the Strong Bad Email "pizzaz", Strong Bad is interviewing himself (don't ask; it's that kind of cartoon), and at one point the interviewee gets mad and shouts "This interview is OVER!" Cut to the card shown at the top of the screen. Later, the cartoon "Fall Float Parade" cut to a similar card with a turkey instead of The Cheat when the Marshie balloon crashed into the hosts' booth (and, presumably, broadcast equipment).

* Early in ''ApeEscape 3'', Specter's taunting message to the heroes is interrupted by Dr. Tomoki's overdramatic posturing. When Specter loses his patience, the screen briefly cuts to a "Technical Difficulties" card showing a sad monkey.

* On 4 June 1989, what was then known as Radio Beijing began its shortwave broadcast with a brief statement that protesters in Tiananmen Square had been killed by army troops. The announcer then apologized for not being able to provide any more information or to continue the broadcast and then played classical music without interruption for the rest of the hour.

* In one rather hilarious example on BillNyeTheScienceGuy this happens when Bill flicks a red-kneed tarantula onto the cameraman, causing the cameraman to drop the camera onto the floor. The cameraman screams "THE TARANTULA'S CRAWLING IN MY PANTS!!" while the trope name is broadcast on the screen.
* DeadSet features any number of them. In this case the hopelessly non-descript "PLEASE STAND BY" of the messages serve to underline just how quickly and violently overrun everything was.
* The "Commentary by Gernot Hassknecht" in the german political satire show "heute show" ''[[RefugeInAudacity always]]'' ends with this, after Hassknecht starts his inevitable [[ClusterFBomb Cluster F Bombing]].

* A move named "Devour" in ''FinalFantasy VIII'' involves characters running up to the target of the attack and... a picture of a pleasant, flower-covered field displaying, along with a scrolling message indicating technical difficulties. After a few seconds, the screen changes back to scene of the fight, where the target has mysteriously vanished.
* BioShock is littered with [=TVs=] that show nothing but a flickering test card reading "PLEASE STAND BY", emphasising the theme of Rapture being essentially abandoned.