History PoorCommunicationKills / LiveActionTV

* In the TV movie ''The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax,'', the title character has been meddling in a CIA operation. CIA chief Carastiers tells his underling to convey a message to their man abroad to "take care" of her. The underling tells the agent that "she's sanctioned" and to take Polifax out. He tells his boss he conveyed the message and the agent will call "once it's done." At which point, Carastiers clarifies how he meant "take care of her" as in keeping a watch on her before putting her on a plane back home and his underling has just ordered the assassination of an innocent American senior citizen.

** ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'': After Touma refuses to join the Southern Base faction of the Sword of Logos, Reika turns the Northern Base against him by telling them he's a traitor and giving them orders from their superiors to detain him. While the Northern Riders don't seem completely convinced of this, they admit that it's plausible (they'd recently had other traitors like Calibur in their ranks; and Touma had spent time fighting Calibur unobserved where, Reika suggests, Calibur possibly swayed him to his cause) and confront him. Touma, however, has trouble defending himself without looking guilty (he hasn't betrayed the order, but ''is'' taking Calibur's argument seriously) and ends up convincing the others that he really ''is'' a traitor. It doesn't help that shortly after this, the Megid start transforming humans into the MonsterOfTheWeek, which makes Touma look even more guilty when he tries to protect them.

** During the second season, Angel [[FaceHeelTurn becomes evil]], and Spike [[EnemyMine forms an alliance with Buffy]], but neither of these developments lasts that long; by the time Season 3 starts, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Angel's back to being a good guy, and Spike's back to being a villain]]. No one told Joyce this, however, so she welcomes Spike into her home and locks Angel out when he comes to save her.

** ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'': After Touma refuses to join the Southern Base faction of the Sword of Logos, Reika turns the Northern Base against him by telling them he's a traitor and giving them orders from their superiors to detain him. While the Northern Riders don't seem completely convinced of this, they admit that it's plausible (they'd recently had other traitors like Calibur in their ranks; and Touma had spent time fighting Calibur unobserved where, Reika suggests, Calibur possibly swayed him to his cause) and confront him. Touma, however, has trouble defending himself without looking guilty (he hasn't betrayed the order, but ''is'' taking Calibur's argument seriously) and ends up convincing the others that he really ''is'' a traitor.

** Played straight in ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'', after Touma refuses to join the Southern Base faction of the Sword of Logos, Reika turns the Northern Base against him by telling them he's a traitor and giving them orders from their superiors to detain him. Having recently dealt with two other traitors in their ranks, they believe her and decide to confront Touma, which then escalates into a full-on battle after Touma refuses to comply because ''he's'' wary of treason. But downplayed since orders were involved; even if the Northern Base was willing to give Touma the benefit of the the doubt, they still have to follow the chain of command.

** Played straight in ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'', [[spoiler: after Touma refuses to join the Southern Base of the Swords of Logos, Reika turns the Northern Base against him by telling them he's a traitor. Having recently dealt with both the original Calibur, Hayato, and the original Saber and next Calibur, Daichi, both being traitors, they believe her and decide to attack Touma]].

** In a later episode, Pearl pleads with Mike to provide a distraction to prevent the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Observers]] from dissecting [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes Bobo]]. Mike asks the [[{{Nanomachines}} Nanites]] to [[ExactWords "take care of our little problem."]] They do...by [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up the planet.]]

** In "The One Where No One Proposes", after Joey finds a ring on the floor, Rachel accidentally thinks he is proposing to her and accepts. Instead of simply telling Rachel the truth about his "proposal", Joey spends most of the episode embarrassed about the misunderstanding and getting into awkward situations with Ross, who was actually the one who wanted to propose to Rachel.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'', any series under the writing of Toshiki Inoue tends to suffer from this.
** ''[[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]'' all had near-identical situations: a member of the secondary cast[[note]]Ryo Ashihara[=/=]Gills, Yuji Kiba[=/=]Horse Orphenoch, and Keisuke Nago[=/=]IXA, respectively[[/note]] is friends with the main character while wrongly thinking that their Rider identity is evil because of some crime or deed[[note]]Ashihara believes Agito killed the woman he loved, Yuji believes Faiz is a pawn for Smart Brain, and Nago believes Kiva is an OmnicidalManiac[[/note]]. The protagonist never thinks to reveal his identity in order to defuse the situation, which lets the tension build. In the end, [[spoiler:everything is resolved peacefully when the secondary character learns the hero's identity by accident, since he knows that the hero is a good person and therefore realizes that his hatred of their Rider identity was misplaced.]]
*** There are a couple of minor tweaks to this formula. In ''Agito'', Ashihara arrived only after Shouichi had just destroyed the MonsterOfTheWeek that really killed his girlfriend, so all he saw was Agito with her. It wasn't really hard for him to believe the truth later on, since it makes more sense than Shouichi of all people killing her. In ''Faiz'', it's the fact that the Rider Belts get passed around like Halloween candy, and one character actively uses the Faiz Gear to try and sow discord because he hates both Takumi and Kiba. This particular part even results in Takumi letting Kiba have the Faiz Gear for a couple of episodes. ''Kiva'' had an incident where Wataru half-admits it (Nago asks "Where did Kiva go?!" and Wataru wordlessly points at himself), but Nago just brushes it off as a bad joke; [[spoiler:also, it's later revealed that there the Kiva who was active in the 1980s really was an OmnicidalManiac (and Wataru is his RedeemingReplacement), so Nago's suspicions weren't completely unfounded]].

*** There are a couple of minor tweaks to this formula. In ''Faiz'', it's the fact that the Rider Belts get passed around like Halloween candy, and one character actively uses the Faiz Gear to try and sow discord because he hates both Takumi and Kiba. ''Kiva'' had an incident where Wataru half-admits it (Nago asks "Where did Kiva go?!" and Wataru wordlessly points at himself), but Nago just brushes it off as a bad joke; [[spoiler:also, it's later revealed that there the Kiva who was active in the 1980s really was an OmnicidalManiac (and Wataru is his RedeemingReplacement), so Nago's suspicions weren't completely unfounded]].

** To Minbari, it is common courtesy to show all your weapons to other soldiers, so they can see that you have nothing hidden and mean no treachery. Which on a warship means getting all your weapons ready but leaving defenses powered down. The humans noticed the first part and mistook a power spike for powering up the weapons (also, the Minbari sensors overpowered their own sensors) and started firing in presumed self-defence, killing the Minbari's revered leader, resulting in them declaring holy war against the human race and making no attempt to communicate with the humans, neither to tell them the reason the Minbari are trying to kill them all, nor to get any explanation for the humans' actions. Ironically Dukhat, the Minbari leader, had ordered to close the gunports to avoid this in the exact same moment the Human commander ordered to open fire.

'''Algae:''' I should very well say so, old fruit!\\
(''Biggles shoots Algae'')

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}''

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is built on this trope. You can actually watch the writers become more dependent on this trope as the series progresses.
** The best (worst?) example is when Chandler attempts to masturbate and Monica (his wife) interrupts him. He quickly changes the channel to a show about sharks, and Monica presumes this means he finds sharks sexually stimulating.

* ''Series/DropDeadDiva'': The ''entire romantic subplot'' of Season 5 could have been solved by Jane just explaining [[spoiler: that Grayson kissed her without any provocation on her part]] to Owen rather than keeping it to herself and angsting over it until it was too late.
* A literal example in ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'' as season three has them tangling with Hullens, specially created aliens in human form who heal quickly from injury. In "Attack the Rack," Dutch stages an assault on the RAC to expose the Hullens in their ranks to the human agents and have them fight back. She's looking in a room when attacked by Banyon, the recently appointed RAC boss. Naturally, Dutch believes she's a Hullen and they start fighting it out with [[spoiler: Dutch stabbing Banyon in the side. To her shock, Banyon doesn't heal from it and Dutch realizes she's human. It turns out Banyon didn't know a thing about the Hullens and was just looking into what happened to missing agents. She assumed Dutch and her crew were somehow involved and that's why she was so hostile to them. Both women realize that they've been on the same side but mutual suspicion (and Dutch not wanting to reveal the Hullen threat until she was ready) caused this with Banyon dying of her wound.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** The War of the Five Kings results at least partially from very poor communication between the Starks and the Lannisters when Catelyn arrests Tyrion with little evidence and without questioning him at all first. In addition, Cersei never even tries to explain to Ned Stark that she didn't actually kill Jon Arryn.
** It is revealed in the Season 7 finale that [[spoiler:Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark really do fell in love with each other and secretly married in Dorne. While it did disproved the fact about Lyanna being kidnapped and raped by Rhaegar and confirmed that Jon Snow (or Aegon Targaryen) is the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, [[LoveRuinsTheRealm the whole love affair still led to a civil war]] that affected several houses for a long run. Had Lyanna or Rhaegar told their families about it instead of running away together and eloping somewhere else, many deaths could have been prevented]].
** Tywin taught Tommen that a wise king listens to his advisers, however, Cersei and the small council made no effort to advise him on running the kingdom and refused to make him a part of their plans and affairs. So when Tommen attempted to confront the High Sparrow on his own, he found himself swayed by his charm and his platitudes and ended up allying the Crown with the Faith Militant. Now under the High Sparrow's guidance, Tommen makes new acts and decrees without consulting his mother or the small council.
** Curiously [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in series 8. [[spoiler: While other issues contributed as well Daenerys' SanitySlippage is in part caused by increasing Paranoia as her advisors become aware of the secret of Jon's parentage and begin plotting against her.]]
* The ''Series/HoratioHornblower'' TV-series starring Ion Gruffudd (maybe also the original books) had a group of deserting British sailors (their ship's crew was besieging the Spanish) [[MeleeATrois captured by Dominican rebel slaves]] (ItMakesSenseInContext), and so the rebel commander rows out to the sailors' original ship, to bargain with the captain to leave the island in peace (with one of their sailors at gunpoint). The ships' Royal Marines train their weapons on the rebels, and the Captain is asked whether they should open fire. He replies with "Fire?", the others understand it as "Fire!" and [[ShootTheDog shoot the rebels and their hostage]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero declaring an outright war]] between the ship's crew and the rest of the rebels. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVo7OpOv__Y&feature=relmfu Seen here]].
* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' Gemma is upset because Tara wants to move away from Charming and take her kids (Gemma's grandkids) with her. Tara is under investigation and Gemma has used this threat to keep Tara in Charming. Suddenly, Gemma finds out Tara's charges have been dropped and Tara is free to go where she pleases. Gemma assumes this is because Tara made a deal to turn on Jax (Tara's husband, Gemma's son, and the leader of a less than legal motorcycle club). Without asking any questions, Gemma violently attacks Tara and brutally kills her to protect Jax, only to later find out that Tara's charges were dropped because '''Jax''' made a deal to get Tara's charges dropped. And everyone '''but''' Gemma knew that was the case.
* Scores of examples on ''Series/GossipGirl'' with the characters just failing to make the logical connection of talking rather than jump to the wrong conclusions.
** The best example may be when Lilly visits Serena's school and hears some girls talk about how Serena has been having an affair with her teacher, Ben. Concerned, Lilly reports Ben to the school board, expecting them to just fire him and hush it up. Instead, they want Ben prosecuted for statutory rape. Wanting to spare Serena a trial, Lilly forges a statement from Serena on what Ben did and he goes to jail. This later causes Ben's sister, Juliet, to embark on a wild scheme of revenge on Serena that nearly ruins her. When Juliet snaps she's paying Serena back for ruining her brother, Serena cuts her off by saying she has no idea what Juliet is talking about. After Lilly is forced to confess what she did, Serena drops the bomb: The "rumors" were just that, Ben never laid a hand on her. Serena openly lampshades how Lilly didn't even bother asking her daughter if the rumors were true before destroying an innocent man's life.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is built on this trope. You can actually watch the writers become more dependent on this trope as the series progresses.
** The best (worst?) example is when Chandler attempts to masturbate and Monica (his wife) interrupts him. He quickly changes the channel to a show about sharks, and Monica presumes this means he finds sharks sexually stimulating.
** The infamous break up between Ross and Rachel stems heavily from this trope. Had Rachel been more clear on what "being on a break" meant, Ross would not have misinterpreted it as a break up. Of course, a running joke in the later seasons was that her reasoning on this made sense only to her.
** The season 9 opener episode, The One Where No One Proposes, is built around this trope.
* So much of the comedy of ''Series/ModernFamily'' relies on family members completely misunderstanding a situation which makes it more chaotic.
** Phil realizes that Luke mistook a facial tink as a winking signal for him to ruin Claire's attempt to buy a shed. It also turns out Luke has been doing this thing a lot over the years.
-->'''Luke''': You think Alex's cello set itself on fire?
** A frequent bit is that between Gloria's bad English and Luke and Haley's dim-wittedness, miscommunication can abound over the smallest things.
** Manny is a classic case of a child older than his years and enjoying a more cultured lifestyle and assumes almost everyone in his school is the same way. Thus, he won't grasp that trying to theme a dance to an obscure classic musician won't go over well.
** There's also the way the various spouses will attempt to one-up each other and cause more chaos.
** Really, it was all summed up in a rare bit of wisdom by Luke: "90 percent of your problems would be solved if you just ''talked'' to each other more."

* If the Earth Administrator had just started his speech in ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E4TheMutants The Mutants]]" by saying he was granting Solos their independence, the whole plot would have been avoided and he'd have saved his own life.

* Jeff in ''Series/{{Coupling}}'''s entire personality comes from this trope. He's the page quotation provider for DiggingYourselfDeeper.

* The climax of the ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' episode "[[{{Recap/FireflyE12TheMessage}} The Message]]" has the intrepid crew under siege and almost certainly about to die at the hands of an overzealous cop hunting down Mal and Zoe's friend, Tracey. Shepherd Book hatches a plan: the first part is surrendering to the cop and telling him they're going to turn Tracey over to him. Tracey overhears this part of the plan and grabs a gun and fires at the crew, [[KickTheDog holds Kaylee hostage]], refuses to put down his weapon when cornered, and finally is mortally wounded by Mal. It isn't until he lays dying that the plan is revealed to be to lure the corrupt cops into a trap and confront them with the fact that they're outside their jurisdiction. Tracey didn't ask if there was any more to the plan, and Mal never bothered explaining the plan after Tracey started shooting up the ship and took one of his crew hostage, meaning poor communication from both sides got Tracey killed.
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', the whole Human[=/=]Minbari war starts because of this, mostly because they don't know each-others language or cultural traditions.
** To Minbari, it is common courtesy to show all your weapons to other soldiers, so they can see that you have nothing hidden and mean no treachery. Which on a warship means getting all your weapons ready but leaving defenses powered down. The humans noticed the first part and mistook a power spike for powering up the weapons (also, the Minbari sensors overpowered their own sensors) and started firing in presumed self-defence, killing the Minbari's revered leader, resulting in them declaring holy war against the human race and making no attempt to communicate with the humans, neither to tell them the reason the Minbari are trying to kill them all, nor to get any explanation for the humans' actions. Ironically Dukhat, the Minbari leader, had ordered to close the gunports to avoid this in the exact same moment the Human commander ordered to open fire.
** Interestingly, when a Minbari warship shows up at Babylon 5 showing all weapons as common courtesy, the warship's captain Neroon arrogantly refuses to explain himself; the more level-headed Minbari Ambassador Delenn goes to the bridge to enlighten the Bab 5 crew about this tradition and invite them to confirm that the weapons are not powered. Apparently, even ten years after the Earth-Minbari War, all the details of the misunderstanding that kicked it off are still not common knowledge in the Earth Alliance, due to the Minbari's poor communication skills. Also, Delenn probably could've warned the humans ''before'' the warship arrived.
** Sheridan once mentions that the need for proper communication was the first thing he learned at the Academy.
*** In the ''In the Beginning'' TV movie, Sheridan even warns his superior not to send that particular commanding officer with a bad record of FirstContact situations (such as something called the Omega Incident) to meet an ancient and powerful race, claiming he was impulsive. Had a less impulsive officer been in command, it's possible the whole war would've been averted. The superior officer unfortunately didn't listen, citing that Jankowski had been cleared of responsibility in the Omega Incident.
*** Later, Sheridan is sent to meet a friend of Delenn's who wants to open a back-channel of communications between humans and Minbari hosted by G'Kar. Unfortunately, Londo assumes that the Narns are scheming against the Centauri and sends a warship to attack the meeting. Sheridan, Franklin and G'Kar are the only survivors.
** There's a ''whole'' lot of other unnecessary lack of communication. Just watch the end of Season 1[=/=] the beginning of Season 2.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'':
** The show's HypercompetentSidekick Stiles Stilinski [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this trope and states that a complete lack of communication is the main reason why all of the characters are having so many problems in season two. He points out that nobody trusts anyone else and the inability to effectively communicate between werewolves and humans was eventually going to get someone killed.
** Also, most of the plot of the first five episodes in season one could have been skipped if Derek had just taken five minutes out of brooding and TOLD Scott he hadn't been the one to bite him.
** Victoria Argent wasn't able to talk to Allison one last time before she kills herself (to stop from becoming a werewolf), so she is unable to tell her daughter what led to her death (that she tried to kill Scott and Derek bit her in Scott's defence). Then Scott doesn't tell Allison what happened either, because he doesn't want to [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead damage Allison's memory of her mother.]] This allows Gerard to manipulate Allison by casting Derek in the worst light possible.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'', any series under the writing of Toshiki Inoue tends to suffer from this.
** ''[[Series/KamenRiderAgito Agito]]'', ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Faiz]]'', and ''[[Series/KamenRiderKiva Kiva]]'' all had near-identical situations: a member of the secondary cast[[note]]Ryo Ashihara[=/=]Gills, Yuji Kiba[=/=]Horse Orphenoch, and Keisuke Nago[=/=]IXA, respectively[[/note]] is friends with the main character while wrongly thinking that their Rider identity is evil because of some crime or deed[[note]]Ashihara believes Agito killed the woman he loved, Yuji believes Faiz is a pawn for Smart Brain, and Nago believes Kiva is an OmnicidalManiac[[/note]]. The protagonist never thinks to reveal his identity in order to defuse the situation, which lets the tension build. In the end, [[spoiler:everything is resolved peacefully when the secondary character learns the hero's identity by accident, since he knows that the hero is a good person and therefore realizes that his hatred of their Rider identity was misplaced.]]
*** There are a couple of minor tweaks to this formula. In ''Faiz'', it's the fact that the Rider Belts get passed around like Halloween candy, and one character actively uses the Faiz Gear to try and sow discord because he hates both Takumi and Kiba. ''Kiva'' had an incident where Wataru half-admits it (Nago asks "Where did Kiva go?!" and Wataru wordlessly points at himself), but Nago just brushes it off as a bad joke; [[spoiler:also, it's later revealed that there the Kiva who was active in the 1980s really was an OmnicidalManiac (and Wataru is his RedeemingReplacement), so Nago's suspicions weren't completely unfounded]].
** Played with, but ultimately averted in ''Series/KamenRiderBlade''. After spending almost the whole series fighting each other, all four Kamen Riders are finally united as a team during the last arc of the show. Logically, this is not desirable for the BigBad, who sends out a monster capable of disguising itself as the Kamen Riders, tasking it with turning the Riders against each other. Luckily, the Riders realize the BigBad is trying to invoke this trope.
** It gets played with in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''. Takatora, at least in [[TheHero Kouta]]'s eyes, is the BigBad he must defeat. When he confronts him for a second time, [[spoiler:Takatora [[SubvertedTrope stops the battle and shows Kouta precisely why he's doing what he is instead of letting his hatred towards him fester]]. His original intent is to break Kouta's idealism, but that fails, and later Kouta manages to appeal to Takatora's own idealism once he finds a peaceful solution to their problem. Too bad Yggdrasil's inner circle had other plans...]]
** It's played straight in ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'', but not without some resistance and subverting. Despite all the good reasons to keep secrets, Shinnosuke has pointed out just how troublesome keeping things a secret is and even his superior felt the need to [[spoiler:[[TheUnmasquedWorld reveal who the Kamen Riders are]]]]. However, keep in mind that it's straight. Three of the major characters (TheMentor, TheRival, and the {{Tsundere}}) all have knowledge [[spoiler:of a guy who [[MadScientist isn't right in the head]]]]. However, their insistence on keeping secrets is what got [[spoiler:said scientist to pass by undetected and eventually hijack the position of BigBad]].
** In episode 15 of ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'', Taiga and Hiiro learn that Emu [[spoiler: is PatientZero of the Bugster Virus]], and seemingly attack him out of nowhere, believing that telling him the truth would make things worse. [[spoiler: Their point is proven when Kuroto ends up revealing the truth to Emu, spiking his stress levels and worsening his disease.]]

* Dear Lord, ''Series/{{Roswell}}''. Max and Liz have a giant misunderstanding in season two that fans will never get over.

* Much of the latter half of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', if not the entire series, could have been avoided if the humans and cylons had ever just sat down and compared notes, but even after the humans have cylon allies, they still don't even seem to consider sharing information with each other, despite all the half-information and lingering questions they all have about prophecies, the backstory, etc.
* In ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel'', Paladin's business card can cause some confusion over his profession that can occasionally lead to rather unfortunate mix-ups. More often than not the confusion is resolved without anyone dying, but every now and then... This is actually what gets him started as a hero in the pilot, he was tricked into fighting a "notorious killer" who was actually also a good guy and ended up taking on the dead man's quest after learning the truth.
* If you've seen the Series/{{Survivor}} end game...
* This happens twice in ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' with disastrous results.
** When the producer of a local television mentions that there is room for only one more dancer (either Theo or Cockroach), Theo repeatedly insists on Cockroach going in. At first, Cockroach objects, because Theo had the tickets. Eventually, Cockroach accepts, causing Theo to become extremely bitter about it. He starts acting like a jerk around his family until Clair tells him that it was his own fault for being dishonest.
** A few years later, Sondra has to forfeit a night out with Elvin and two friends, but she repeatedly insists that Elvin continue as originally planned. She thinks that Elvin will make a final objection, but he caves in and accepts. Later on, she gives Elvin the silent treatment until Clair puts the blame on Sondra for not expressing her true feelings.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'':
** Harm and Captain Reed in "Desert Son" do not get along, and Reed gives the bare minimum of assistance when Harm and Meg go to investigate the accident site. This plus one knocked over road sign nearly get Meg and Harm killed when they accidentally enter the Free Fire Zone.
** In "Scimitar", Meg is not let in on the secret part of their mission and is left to improvise when she discovers that Harm is in danger.
* Series/{{Frasier}} often relied on the titular character, an eloquent, educated man who could often string together the most complicated of sentences, being rendered incoherent when a simple explanation could extricate him from a difficult situation. One episode played with this dynamic when Frasier's dad tried to return $40 that was mistakenly given to him by a bank's ATM. He patiently, articulately explains the situation in terms so clear even a child could understand...and the bank employees all misunderstand him and what he wants.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': There's an episode where Barney runs the New York City marathon without any prior training. He finally feels the effects while riding the subway a little later: his legs lock up and he can't stand. Eventually, a pregnant woman, an old lady and a little boy in crutches enter the crowded train and ask for his seat. Instead of just explaining that his legs don't work, he simply mutters, "I'm sorry. I can't." Now, New York being New York, it's possible no one would have believed him, but the explanation would have been better than the vague thing he actually did say.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' focused on the effects JD's insane hours at the hospital were having on his life. It manifested in particularly dramatic fashion on a date, where JD, upon looking at the incredibly gorgeous girl he was about to kiss, instead saw the hideous cancer patient he was treating earlier in the day. He mumbled something incoherent and walked away. The next day, when the girl asked him why he bailed, JD actually said ''nothing'' instead of explaining the situation. JD's narration even lampshaded the communication failure, and it was included in a trio of scenes where males proved utterly incapable of communication with their girlfriends.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** About half of the Winchester family drama could have been avoided if Sam and Dean simply ''told'' each other about their problems rather than insisting they're fine.
** Castiel's [[spoiler:slide into evil]] in Season 6 could have been avoided if he'd simply asked the Winchesters for help, and if the Winchesters hadn't blown off the ''civil war in heaven'' as [[BystanderSyndrome somebody else's problem]].
** The final seal keeping Lucifer imprisoned could have remained intact if certain parties who wanted the Apocalypse to happen didn't do their best to make sure the Winchesters don't learn until it's too late that [[spoiler:Lilith's purpose isn't to break the final seal, she ''is'' the seal and her purpose is to be slain by Sam, Lucifer's true vessel.]] It also doesn't help that Sam made the spectacularly poor decision to [[spoiler:trust a ''demon'']] and that Dean all but disowned Sam when he found out instead of reaching out to him. Bobby called Dean out on that.
** And poor poor Kevin. If only Dean had bothered to tell him that [[spoiler:Sam]] might be dangerous when he ''straight up asked''. Maybe the man just didn't have enough reasons to wangst.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Granny's decision not to [[spoiler:tell Red that she's actually [[TheBigBadWolf the wolf]]]] gets many people [[spoiler:including Red's LoveInterest]] killed. Afterwards, Granny [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] [[IdiotBall how stupid doing so was]].
* So many problems on ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'' could have been solved instantly if Merlin wasn't almost pathologically secretive - and not just on his magical abilities (which he is justified in keeping to himself) but things such as traitors in Camelot and other characters getting magically brainwashed.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' combines this with HaveAGayOldTime and BuryYourGays.
-->'''[[HeteronormativeCrusader Biggles:]]''' Are you gay?\\
'''Algae:''' I should very well say so, old fruit!\\
(''Biggles shoots Algae'')
* In the ''Series/EverDecreasingCircles'' episode "Manure", laid-back Paul Ryman is away at a Pro-Am golf tournament and asks his neighbour Martin Bryce to take a delivery of manure for him. However, Martin is busy obsessing over the fact that Paul's garden seems to be free of molehills, unlike his own, so when the tractor of manure arrives, he is standing in Paul's driveway when he tells the driver, "Well, I don't want it on my driveway, do I!? Put it on Mr. Ryman's!" The driver promptly dumps the manure in ''Martin's'' driveway.

* In the ''Series/DadsArmy'' episode "Ring Dem Bells" Wilson and Pike go into the Eight Bells pub with the platoon dressed as Nazis for a training video. Instead of just explaining to the barman what's going on, they cause widespread panic.
* ''Series/{{House}}'':
** Several episodes actually are this trope. Any kind of small detail about the patient or their family members not revealed, generally ends with the patient having at least one near death experience.
** An early episode revolved around a lacrosse player who got injured during a game. The answer to his problem stems from the kid [[spoiler:actually being adopted and his biological mother not being vaccinated]]. This is entirely the parents' fault, as this fact was never revealed by them. Although the kid already knows.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** During the second season, Angel [[FaceHeelTurn becomes evil]], and Spike [[EnemyMine forms an alliance with Buffy]], but neither of these developments lasts that long; by the time Season 3 starts, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Angel's back to being a good guy, and Spike's back to being a villain]]. No one told Joyce this, however, so she welcomes Spike into her home and locks Angel out when he comes to save her.
** In Season Six, Riley neglects to tell Buffy he needs the demon he's just sent her after captured alive. His new wife criticizes him for it.
** Faith's induction into the Scoobies helped to temper her lawless approach to slaying (which Buffy initially didn't know about). However, Buffy lied to her about Angel's resurrection, which allowed Gwendolyn Post to use this to turn Faith against the gang.
* In ''Series/ChicagoPD'', Voight continually clashes with Violent Crimes, with their Lieutenant annoyed that Voight doesn't share information - to which Voight retorts that neither does Violent Crimes share any information with Intelligence. Both parties claim to leave voice messages for each other. Towards the end of the episode, Intelligence rolls up to an apartment where they believe a drug dealer is going to be killed... and Violent Crimes rolls up, telling Voight they're following up on the car belonging to some cartel hitmen, which was spotted at the apartment. It results in one Intelligence detective being shot in the neck, and pronounced dead on arrival.
* In the ''Series/{{Intelligence|2014}}'' episode "Delta Force", Gabriel's old Delta Force friend Norris committed a series of political assassinations because [[spoiler:his CIA handler somehow misinterpreted a very terse message from D.C. saying that the U.S. was in favor of Bolivian presidential candidate Javier Leon as "eliminate Javier Leon's competition"]].
* The ''Series/{{Nova}}'' episode [[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/spy-factory.html "The Spy Factory"]] accuses the UsefulNotes/{{NSA}} and UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} of this during the lead-up to 9/11, sitting on intelligence they had on al-Qa'ida rather than passing it along to the FBI so they could do something with it.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]", multiple examples.
** Spock would literally rather die than have [[MateOrDie the problem]] explained to Starfleet Command. This is apparently true of all Vulcans at this point in history.
** It's possible that Kirk could've explained things to Komack in a way that would've gotten him permission to go to Vulcan without letting too much slip. Kirk even had his Chief Medical Officer's statement that Spock would die if he didn't return to Vulcan, and didn't bother to mention it to the Admiral.
** Poor communication also almost killed Kirk in this episode. Would it have hurt T'Pau to tell him that the fight was a death match ''before'' he signed up?
* Huge example in season 3 of ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Wesley translates a prophecy that Angel will kill his son, Connor. Instead of telling Angel (or Gunn, or Fred), Wesley kidnaps Connor and loses him to Angel's archenemy, which results in Connor being raised in a Hell dimension and growing up to hate Angel fiercely. While the urge to protect baby Connor is understandable, everyone gives Wesley a hard time about not just telling them what was going on in the first place so they could help him make a better decision. On top of it all, it turns out the prophecy was a fake the whole time, meaning Wesley's actions were AllForNothing.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'':
** This is how Joel got off the Satellite of Love. Gypsy had caught a transmission from Deep 13 with Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank plotting to kill Mike Nelson, utterly sick of how he's marching around like he owns the place. Gypsy misinterprets this as them wanting to kill ''Joel'' and sets off to "save" Joel from the Mads. While she does save Joel, she doesn't save the other robots or herself and leads to ''Mike'' being the one stuck up there.
** In a later episode, Pearl pleads with Mike to provide a distraction to prevent the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Observers]] from dissecting [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes Bobo]]. Mike asks the [[{{Nanomachines}} Nanites]] to [[ExactWords "take care of our little problem."]] They do...by [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up the planet.]]
-->'''Crow:''' Here comes [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds Mike, Destroyer of Worlds]]!
-->'''Servo:''' Oh, god of fire and vengeance -- get away from me, you knob!
* In ''Series/TheMusketeers'', when Athos has been forcibly dragged back to the lands he owns to see how badly they're doing without a lord, he says to his sister-in-law that "I should have signed the land over to you" before he left, but he would do so now. She immediately starts wearing her finery again and talking about what a wonderful thing he's done for her. And somehow, he doesn't realise that she thinks the land is going to be gifted to her ''personally'', not a group "you" meaning "the tenants".
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}''
** Bruce goes looking for Reggie Payne at gun ranges based on Alfred's statement that he's probably holed up in "a shooting gallery". The more streetwise Selena explains the other meaning of the term (a place where people hole up to do drugs).
** A lot more people would still be alive, and a lot less trouble gone to if Cobblepot could've just told Nygma [[spoiler: that he's in love with him.]]
* ''Series/SuperiorDonuts'' has this almost happen when the shop introduces their new PB & J donuts.
-->'''Tush:''' Oh! I can't feel my face! Quick, are there peanuts in those donuts?\\
'''Arthur:''' There's peanut butter. What did you think the "PB" stood for?\\
'''Tush:''' Probably Bacon!
* ''Series/{{ER}}'' once had a Hispanic woman brought in showing mysterious symptoms. Susan talks with her husband and discovers that the patient is overdosing on medication. The directions said to take it "once a day", but she thought it meant "eleven a day". ("Once", pronounced on-say, is Spanish for eleven.) Despite them figuring out the problem, the patient still dies.
* In ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'', mystic Allanon is told by his mentor Bremen that he will one day have a successor. Allanon is convinced this is Bandon and goes overboard in driving the young man to learn all the magic he can and prove himself. All this ends up doing is turning Bandon to darkness and to become a major threat. Badly injured, Allanon meets with the spirit of Bremen who reveals his true successor is [[spoiler: Mareth]]. Allanon lampshades that maybe so much trouble could have been avoided if Bremen had just [[spoiler: ''used a gender pronoun'']] to give a hint Allanon's successor would be [[spoiler: a ''woman'']].
* An almost literal example happens in a ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' sketch, where Jordan Peele's character sends a series of text messages to Keegan's character that were meant to be casual in tone but gets interpreted as dismissive to the point that an invitation to go hang out at a bar gets interpreted to a challenge to a fight. This leads to the latter storming into a bar with a nail-bat, only to find the former happily waiting for him (and thinking that the bat was meant as a gift).
* ''Series/TheTribe'':
** So many problems on the show stem from characters simply not explaining what they mean to each other or making assumptions based on incorrect/incomplete information.
* ''Series/SchittsCreek'':
** In the early seasons, Alexis falls for the very quiet and introverted Mutt. They begin a romance, but his inability to communicate and her talkativeness kills their relationship.
** David falls in love with NiceGuy Patrick, who generally expresses himself well. However, Patrick is sometimes reticent to reveal information that he feels will upset people. This leads to him [[spoiler: not communicating his feelings to David early on and Stevie having to point out to David that he is in a NotADate situation with Patrick. Also, Patrick neglects to tell David he was once engaged to a woman until the woman shows up in town looking to reunite with him. Later, David invites Patrick's parents to a SurpriseParty only to discover Patrick hasn't come out to them.]] Thankfully, David learns to be understanding of this quirk of his boyfriend and they work things out.
* In the final season of ''Series/{{Veep}}'', Selina is trying to handle the antics of her ex-husband Andrew, who's threatening her campaign. Aide Quinn (whose affleable image hides his ruthless nature) presses Selina who snaps "take care of it," meaning to pay Andrew off. Instead, Quinn assumes he's been given a ''murder'' order and arranges for Andrew to be killed in a boat explosion. Selina is rocked to realize she accidentally ordered her ex-husband's death.