History Series / FXTheSeries

The show performed a {{Retool}} at the opening of its second season, killing off one of the main characters and replacing them with Det. Mira Sanchez (Jacqueline Torres), who remained for the remainder of the show's second (and final) season.

* CacophonyCoverUp: In the first-season episode ''Target'', a sniper uses fireworks to mask his sniper shot on Leo to prevent anyone from noticing the noise. However, Rollie's team (in addition to protecting Leo by projecting his reflection in a pane of glass pointed at the window) has special software that can isolate the gunshot and counter with an appropriate gadget.

* CounterfeitCash: Episode 12 of season 1, "Shivaree". The criminals have access to a money printing machine and plates to create currency, and when discovered, were going to take the plates with them if it weren't for the police raid.

** The criminal in episode 12 tries claiming diplomatic immunity while being arrested in the counterfeiting operation.

* FauxtasticVoyage: Used frequently by the team.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Detective Mira Rodriguez (Jacqueline Torres), who joins the team after [[spoiler:Leo is killed]] at the beginning of the second season.

* UncertainDoom: In the final episode of the series, Angie (incensed over The Chameleon nearly escaping after a chase scene and offering to surrender himself) unloads an entire pistol magazine into a river as he turns tail and flees once again. The show ends without answering if he was fatally wounded or managed to escape once again.

%%* MagicianDetective

%%* ProsceniumReveal: This happens OnceAnEpisode.

The show focused on Rollie Tyler (Creator/CameronDaddo), a special effects technician living in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] with his assistant Angie (Creator/ChristinaCox). Tyler assists a NYPD detective named Leo [=McCarthy=] (Creator/KevinDobson) with capturing dangerous criminals. Tyler would often have to use his knowledge of special effects to outwit his enemies and stop them. The show also featured Creator/CarrieAnneMoss (''Franchise/TheMatrix'') as a recurring character--aspiring actress and stunt-person Lucinda Scott--who would often be enlisted to aid in Tyler's illusions. Later episodes also introduced the "Chameleon", a dangerous criminal who had the same ability to create special effects like Tyler, and used his skills to create chaos in the New York area.

* AuthorTract: Angie's general outfit is a cropped shirt that nicely shows off her toned abs. A first-season episode also has a moment where Lucille's shirt is ripped off (when she's kidnapped by gangsters who realize she's wearing a wire), and she is tied to a chair [[{{Fanservice}} in that position]] for half of the episode.
* AutomatedAutomobiles: An automated car that can arrest criminals...[[spoiler:is a remote-controlled prop used in a ShowWithinAShow]].

* CacophonyCoverUp: In episode ''Target'', the sniper uses fireworks to mask his sniper shot on Leo to prevent anyone from noticing the shot. However, Rollie's team has special software that can isolate the gunshot and counter with an appropriate gadget.

* ContinuityNod: [[spoiler:Leo]] is mentioned in two casual conversations by Rollie many episodes after he died.

* ExternalCombustion: Used at least once in the series to eliminate an inconvenient witness. [[spoiler:Or, rather, to eliminate the stand-in so that the witness can get off scot-free.]] It first sets the car on fire, killing the driver, then blows up in a huge explosion several seconds later.

* MagicianDetective

* ProsceniumReveal: This happens OnceAnEpisode.

* SerialEscalation: Want to stop an illegal car ring? Set up your own fake car ring in an arena and push them out of business! Want to make a criminal believe his building robbery has gone south? Pretend to have a plane crash into your building, then trick him into thinking the whole place is on fire! Want to take down an elite criminal who gambles on a casino airliner? Go undercover as a fellow high-roller, commit legal acts of thievery and bankrupt the casino!

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After randomly disappearing at the end of the first season, Lucille shows up again in the second-season episode "Flashback", where she tells Rollie and the team that she got a bit part on a show. Although she helps them solve the case in the episode, she disappears after and isn't seen again.

* BareYourMidriff: Angie's general outfit is a cropped shirt that nicely shows off her toned abs. A first-season episode also has a moment where Lucille's shirt is ripped off (when she's kidnapped by gangsters who realize she's wearing a wire), and she is tied to a chair [[{{Fanservice}} in that position]] for half of the episode.

* MakeMeWannaShout: In episode 12, a high frequency noise is used that shatters glasses and [[SonicStunner causes people hearing it to collapse in pain]].

The show focused on Rollie Tyler (Cameron Daddo), a special effects technician living in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] with his assistant Angie (Christina Cox). Tyler assists a NYPD detective named Leo [=McCarthy=] (Kevin Dobson) with capturing dangerous criminals. Tyler would often have to use his knowledge of special effects to outwit his enemies and stop them. The show also featured Creator/CarrieAnneMoss (''Franchise/TheMatrix'') as a recurring character--aspiring actress and stunt-person Lucinda Scott--who would often be enlisted to aid in Tyler's illusions. Later episodes also introduced the "Chameleon", a dangerous criminal who had the same ability to create special effects like Tyler, and used his skills to create chaos in the New York area.

The show focused on Rollie Tyler (Cameron Daddo), a special effects technician living in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] with his assistant Angie (Christina Cox). Tyler assists a NYPD detective named Leo [=McCarthy=] (Kevin Dobson) with capturing dangerous criminals. Tyler would often have to use his knowledge of special effects to outwit his enemies and stop them. The show also featured Creator/CarrieAnneMoss (''Film/TheMatrix'') as a recurring character--aspiring actress and stunt-person Lucinda Scott--who would often be enlisted to aid in Tyler's illusions. Later episodes also introduced the "Chameleon", a dangerous criminal who had the same ability to create special effects like Tyler, and used his skills to create chaos in the New York area.

* ProductPlacement: Rollie is often seen using an Iomega Jaz drive and disks.

* CounterfeitCash: What the criminals use in episode 12 of season 1.

* DiplomaticImpunity: Used in episode 14 of the first season. The son of a diplomat runs over a police officer during a drug bust and claims immunity.

* FakedRipVanWinkle: Used on a member of a terrorist squad to convince him that a planted bomb had already gone off, so that he would reveal its location.

''F/X'' was filmed in and around the UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, Ontario area in Canada, where many landmarks could be glimpsed during the series. The show also featured a wide variety of guest stars (including Maria Conchita Alonso, Creator/JohnSpencer, Michael Ironside and others). The show was a mix of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' and ''Series/MacGyver''.

''F/X'' was filmed in and around the UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, Ontario area in Canada, where many landmarks could be glimpsed during the series. The show also featured a wide variety of guest stars (including Maria Conchita Alonso, John Spencer, Michael Ironside and others). The show was a mix of ''Series/MissionImpossible'' and ''Series/MacGyver''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** After randomly disappearing at the end of the first season, Lucille shows up again in the second-season episode "Flashback", where she tells Rollie and the team that she got a bit part on a show. Although she helps them solve the case in the episode, she disappears after and isn't seen again.

* ConspiracyTheories: A government cover-up of alien landings are the basis of a first-season episode, where a conspiracy theorist turns up dead after filming what he believes to be a cover-up of a secret government facility. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a secret base, but the glowing shapes and the footage of the burnt airman is due to a radiation accident]].

* CaliforniaDoubling: The show is filmed in Toronto, but is ostensibly set in New York. Each episode ends with a camera shot of a two-story advertisement for ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', which was playing ([[LongRunners and still is]]) in New York.

* BillingDisplacement / RetroactiveRecognition: On the DVD cover for the first season, Carrie-Anne Moss is featured front-and-center. Makes sense from a marketing standpoint since she's the most recognizable face thanks to ''The Matrix''. What was odd is that the distributors also chose to include two other female co-stars and completely excluded the two male leads making the cover look like some sort of ''Charlie's Angels'' rip-off.

''F/X: The Series'' (1996-1998) was a [[TitleTheAdaptation spinoff TV series]] which ran for 40 episodes in the late 90's, and was based on the films ''Film/FXMurderByIllusion'' and ''F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion''.

The show focused on Rollie Tyler (Cameron Daddo), a special effects technician living in [[BigApplesauce New York City]] with his assistant Angie (Christina Cox). Tyler assists a NYPD detective named Leo [=McCarthy=] (Kevin Dobson) in capturing dangerous criminals. Tyler would often have to use his knowledge of special effects to outwit his enemies and stop them. The show also featured Carrie-Anne Moss (''Film/TheMatrix'') as a recurring character--aspiring actress and stunt-person Lucinda Scott--who would often be enlisted to aid in Tyler's illusions. Later episodes also introduced the "Chameleon", a dangerous criminal who had the same ability to create special effects like Tyler, and used his skills to create chaos in the New York area.

* ConspiracyTheories: A government coverup of alien landings are the basis of a first-season episode, where a conspiracy theorist turns up dead after filming what he believes to be a cover-up of a secret government facility. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a secret base, but the glowing shapes and the footage of the burnt airman is due to a radiation accident]].

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Detective Mira Rodriguez (Jacqueline Torres), who joins the team after [[spoiler:Leo]] is killed at the beginning of the second season.

''F/X: The Series'' (1996-1998) was a [[TitleTheAdaptation spinoff TV series]] which ran for 40 episodes in the late 90's, and was based on the films ''[[Film/{{FX}} F/X: Murder By Illusion]]'' and ''F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion''.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The show is filmed in Toronto, but is ostensibly set in New York. Each episode ends with a camera shot of a two-story advertisement for ''PhantomOfTheOpera'', which was playing ([[LongRunners and still is]]) in New York.

ProsceniumReveal: This happens OnceAnEpisode.

* MagicalDatabase: Rollie's computers are pretty close to magical in terms of the data they can access when needed.