History ThrowItIn / LiveActionTv

* The studio audience for the ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' episode "Edith's 50th Birthday," in which Edith is nearly raped by an intruder, became so enraged at watching a beloved character under attack that when Edith hits her attacker with a cake pan and runs for the front door, a number of women in the audience can be heard screaming "RUN!"

** Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8QKYHX5g6w That is all.]]

** In the episode "The One With Phoebe's Uterus", Joey walks into the apartment wearing a blue blazer. Creator/MatthewPerry (Chandler), while making a joke, accidently said "black" instead of "back", but the actors' reactions to the mistake were so funny, they decided to put it in the episode:
--->'''Joey:''' Guess what job I just got?\\
'''Chandler:''' I don't know, but Donald Trump wants his blue blazer black. ''(pauses)''\\
'''Ross:''' What?\\
'''Chandler:''' Blue blazer ''back''. He wants it ''back.''\\
'''Rachel:''' But, you said "black". Why would he want his blue blazer black?\\
'''Chandler:''' Well, you know what I meant.\\
'''Monica:''' No, you messed it up. You're ''stupid.''\\
'''Chandler:''' ''(changing the subject)'' So what job did you get, Joe?
** Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8QKYHX5g6w That is all.]]
** "TOW The Cheap Wedding Dress" has a DeletedScene (present in the DVD cut) that seems be an ad-lib from Matt [=LeBlanc=]: After a love interest ditches both Ross and Joey at a restaurant, Ross asks if Joey is hungry, to which Joey replies, "Does a bear shit in the woods?"

* ''Series/MadDogs'' featured a major antagonist who was ''supposed'' to be known as "Tony Blair", after his distinctive mask of [[UsefulNotes/TonyBlair the former British Prime Minister]]. However, the casting call accidentally spelt his name as ''Tiny'' Blair, leading a number of dwarf actors to interview for the role. Rather than correct the mistake, the producers just ran with it, hired one of the dwarf actors, and the "Tiny Blair" name stuck.

* An infamous scene in the ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' episode "The Moment of Truth" was at least partly just a joke Creator/BradleyJames came up with -- he deliberately waited for Creator/ColinMorgan's take, and then... kicked him in his face. Morgan's reaction is completely genuine, and they did a take without it, though thankfully that's not what ended up in the episode.

'''Chuck!''' I love you. I love you. That's three. Here's four -- I love you.
* According to [[http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/matlock.htm this page]], the first episode of the cop show ''Matlock Police'' (not to be confused with the more famous ''Series/{{Matlock}}'') had a car chase, where "the more dramatic aspects of it happened by accident -- literally." (See link for details.)

* As much as 90% of ''Series/LetTheBloodRunFree'' was this, as the scripts were written based on audience votes, so the cast (all veterans of the original improv show) wouldn't see them until days before the episode aired.

* The opening of the ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode "Deathlock" shows a helicopter very nearly losing control due to ground resonance. However, the pilot averts disaster by lifting off, and the actors seem none the wiser.
* Speaking of ''Concentration'', the 1980s revival ''Classic Concentration'' had large fake palm trees brought in for a themed week. They later became permanent set pieces mainly because the people on the show liked how it looked. More foliage was later added to the set to give it more of a "California" feel.
* Many of Mork's lines on ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' were nothing but this. The writers would actually [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny leave whole pages of the script blank and just let]] Creator/RobinWilliams [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny do what he wanted]].

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'':
** In the first episode, there is a scene establishing the UnresolvedSexualTension between Nate and Sophie and Hardison rolls by on an office chair saying "oooooh...." Aldis Hodge wasn't even in the scene, but had stuck around to watch.
** "The Iceman Job" has Hardison asking Eliot to "hug it out," "it" being the conflict brought about by Hardison's Big Lipped Alligator grift persona. Christian Kane is clearly surprised by the attempt at hugging.
** In "The Rashomon Job", Parker's victory dance/weapon brandish is ad-libbed.
** Ditto the hug which Eliot gives Hardison as Hardison stands with his arms open after Parker obliviously walks away from his attempt to hug her.
** "High five for morale," after "The Gone Fishin' Job". Word of God states that the actors throw it in once in a while as an indicator of how much the friendship between the two Vitriolic Best Friends has evolved.
** ''Leverage'' actor Aldis Hodge also goes by the credo used by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane in ''Film/TheBirdcage'', he'll do one take straight and then "give 'em hell" the rest of the takes.

* A few instances happened on ''Series/{{Monk}}''.
** For example, in "Mr. Monk and the Leper," the scene where Randy goes to Dr. Polanski's office to take down some pretty embarrassing photos depicting him with severe acne, having been told of their existence by Natalie. He tries to take one down, but it turns into an epic struggle, and when the photo does come off, it takes part of the wall plaster with it...just as Dr. Polanski walks into the room. According to sources, Randy was only supposed to do a simple swipe, but the set designer nailed on the picture so well that it took several tries and some loosening of the original photo for Jason Gray-Stanford to get the photo down.

* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', the character of Sawyer was supposed to be a slick, suit-wearing city con-man. However, during his audition, Creator/JoshHolloway (who ended up with the part) forgot his line and so kicked a chair in frustration while swearing profusely. The producers liked the edge he gave, and so the character was rewritten to be a darker Southern grifter.
** In a similar vein, Charlie was originally envisioned to be an aging rocker from the 80s with a heroin addiction. Dominic Monaghan's audition as Sawyer impressed the producers and Charlie was changed to a recent OneHitWonder burnout.

* An InUniverse example from ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' - while writing a script for a video game the game keeps crashing when the player tries to speak to a specific character. Because it would be too difficult to debug the character has to be removed, except that [[MrExposition he has crucial information related to the game's story]]. A programmer suggests that Jessica change the script so that another character give the same information in order to keep the information relevant.

* This often happened on ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' but Rogers would insist the scenes be left in to show that mistakes can always happen. Incidents included messing up his zipper during the opening, interrupting his song, and another episode where he and a friend try to get the fish in his tank to make noises to no success.
* The cast of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' ad-lib so many of their lines that they sometimes need to be reminded that they actually need to say at least the exposition for the scene.
* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' had a VideoGame theme, with the Gashats, the show's {{Transformation Trinket}}s, being based off of game cartridges. While filming an early episode, Ex-Aid's suit actor Seiji Takaiwa pantomimed "blowing" into the Gashat before performing a FinishingMove, which amused the staff so much that it became one of Ex-Aid's CharacterTics.
** In an even bigger example, one early episode's script had the note "Kuroto laughs at Emu Hojo[=/=]Kamen Rider Ex-Aid's despair" with no further elaboration. Kuroto's actor Tetsuya Iwanaga decided to go full-on LaughingMad, which started the process that completely redefined the character, changing him from a bog-standard CorruptCorporateExecutive into an [[ItsAllAboutMe egomaniac]] whose [[AGodAmI God complex]] is matched only by his [[LargeHam hamminess]].
* Going back to the 70s, while filming an early episode of ''Series/KamenRiderSkyrider'', lead actor Hiroaki Murakami accidentally drove the title character's motorcycle into a wall. The writers drew inspiration from this and gave Skyrider the "Rider Break", a FinishingMove where he [[RammingAlwaysWorks rams the enemy with his motorcycle]] (sometimes busting through a wall in the process); it also lead Toei to require all ''Franchise/KamenRider'' stars to have motorcycle licenses in order to prevent further accidents.

* In the ''Series/MidnightCaller'' episode "Kid Salinas," the villain tells Jack, "You sure do have some brass cannolis coming back here!" Needless to say, that wasn't what the script said.
* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' has some of its title character's dialogue ad-libbed or rewritten during star Creator/PedroPascal's ADR sessions.[[note]]Lip-syncing doesn't provide an issue for Pascal and the show runners, since the Mandalorian almost always wears a mask.[[/note]]

* Similarly, Creator/CraigFerguson has left in a lot of bloopers. For instance, he's had the lights go out on him twice (once due to a power failure), and on another occasion, he slapped his teleprompter too hard and shattered it.

* How about throwing in an entire interpretation of a character? As noted under PlayingAgainstType, Marc Warren, known for smooth cockney scoundrel Danny in ''Series/{{Hustle}}'' played a frightening PsychopathicManchild as Jonathan Teatime in ''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Hogfather]]''. What's interesting is that he was hired to play Teatime [[AffablyEvil similarly to Danny]], but instead chose an interpretation inspired by Creator/JohnnyDepp's creepy Music/MichaelJackson-esque Willy Wonka. And it works horrifyingly well.

* When filming the fifth episode of ''Series/{{Glee}}'', when Kristin Chenoweth (April) finishes her first take of "Maybe This Time", Creator/ChrisColfer actually cries at her performance. He was surprised to find out that they would use a shot of him crying as his character Kurt's reaction to April's performance.
** Speaking of ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Brittany's non-sequiturs were all ad-libbed at first, and the confused stares she got from the others were real. And thus her famous DumbBlonde persona was born. Heather Morris's ad-libs during table readings, often playing on the previous dialog of characters, are sometimes penciled in after the initial readings.
** Creator/ChrisColfer ad-libbing again: At the beginning of the second episode, when [[JerkJock Pu]][[JerkWithAHeartOfGold ck]] and the other jocks are about to [[StuffedIntoATrashcan throw him into a dumpster]], Kurt glares at them with contempt and says: "One day, you'll all work for me."
** More broadly, the character Kurt Hummel can be considered this. Creator/ChrisColfer actually auditioned for the role of Artie, but the show's creators were so impressed by his talent and charm that they wrote an entirely new character loosely based on the openly gay actor.
** Sam's line "Some people just don't know how to screw things" to Mercedes was ad-libbed. When she laughs, she's laughing for real.
** In season 5, after Blaine confronts Elliot about his friendship with Kurt, Elliot ends up helping Blaine work through some of his insecurities. At the end of the scene, Elliot suggests they jam out, hands Blaine a guitar, and Blaine proceeds to make up a song called "Glitter Rock Vampire" on the spot (referencing the nickname Blaine had earlier given Elliot). The entirety of the latter half of the scene was improvised by Darren Criss and Adam Lambert.
** In season 6, almost all of Kurt and Blaine's dialogue in their [[LockedInARoom trapped in an elevator]] scene was ad libbed, which made it all seem more natural and organic.
** In season 6, when many of the New Directions confront the Tea Party Patriots club, Sam bumps into Quinn and she laughed. This was actually Chord Overstreet bumping into Creator/DiannaAgron, and her laugh was genuine.

* In the season three finale of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' Barney is in a meeting with a bunch of Japanese men when Lily calls him to tell him that [[spoiler:Ted has been in a car accident]]. He gets up, tells them in Japanese that his best friend needs him and he has to go, and hurries out the door. One of the men then turns to the others and asks, in English, "What did he say?" That line was ad-libbed during rehearsals by one of the extras in the scene, however it was given to one of the others to say in the actual episode.
** In "The Final Page", the tears in Ted and Robin's eyes when Ted tells Robin [[spoiler: to go after Barney]] weren't in the script. The scene was so emotional that Josh Radnor and Cobie Smulders couldn't help themselves.

* In the final scene of ''Series/GossipGirl'''s second season Chuck was supposed to tell Blair "I love you too" and then, after she kisses him, "I'm not Chuck Bass without you." The second line ended up being moved to the season three premiere, since they instead went with a take where the actors ad-libbed the following:
-->'''Blair:''' But, can you say it twice? No I'm serious, say it twice.\\

* Burton Richardson announced the first episode of the game show ''Series/{{Greed}}'' until it was decided to replace him with Mark Thompson. When announcing the first episode, Burton accidentally called a contestant "Michelle Smith" instead of Michael. Mark Thompson "re-created" this blooper when he was chosen as the series' announcer (all his work was done in post).
* In an episode of ''Series/TheGoodies'', Graeme and Bill have just had a fight with Tim, and attempt to leave the room in a huff...but break down crying on the way out. Tim loudly mentions how he could use someone to work for him, at which point they both barrel back into the room. Fairly ordinary stuff...except Graeme slipped on the carpet while running back in, slid momentarily, and grabbed onto Tim to keep from falling over, nearly knocking him down on the process. They kept on with the scene as scripted, and it was kept in the final cut -- you can see Bill covering his face to stop himself giggling.

* The hidden-camera show ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'' had this happen with Q when his tooth fell out on a speed-date, and the guys simply challenged him to act like a pirate.

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'': In one episode, Rue [=McClanahan=] and Bea Arthur break character and begin laughing on camera as Betty White delivers a funny monologue about a "herring war". According to interviews with the cast, this was actually a taped rehearsal for the scene, but the producers liked the spontaneous reaction so much, it became the final version of the scene.

* Many of the bloopers in ''Series/HeeHaw'' were funnier than the actual jokes, so they just left the camera rolling.

* {{Invoked}} in ''Series/TheJoyOfPainting'', in which host Bob Ross encouraged this mindset when painting landscapes.
--> "There's no 'mistakes' in painting, just happy accidents."

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse" is widely considered [[TearJerker the most emotionally moving in the entire series]] (for full effect [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmerFuzRNZ4 the scene is here]]). Creator/WillSmith's final line in it was unscripted - he had been channeling [[RealitySubtext childhood memories of friends who went through]] what the show's Will Smith does (contrary to popular belief, he had a wonderful relationship with his own father).

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' had several jokes where the approach was clearly to give the actor instructions to say ''something'' absurd, but not ''what'', such as Janet misidentifying a basketball and Jason trying to guess how he died ("Some sort of stingray jousting accident?").

* ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'': During the show's first season in 2003, [[SlowPacedBeginning the show was struggling to find its tone]]. Towards the end of one episode, which Creator/JimmyKimmel believed was very weak, he ad-libbed the line "Apologies to Creator/MattDamon, we ran out of time.". The audience was so amused that this became Jimmy's SigningOffCatchphrase, and [[ActuallyPrettyFunny Matt Damon himself was amused]] that it gave birth to a long-running "feud" between them, with Matt acting as Jimmy's SitcomArchNemesis, thinking he's constantly getting being denied guest appearances.

* ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' has quite a few improvised moments, largely due to the fact that the titular character is a baby; as Leigh-Allyn Baker (Amy) says, babies are the ultimate improv partner. In one early example, Baker deadpans something along the lines of "No more bananas for you" after baby Charlie picks up her plate of banana slices and dumps it on her head. This was actually baby Mia Talerico ''really'' getting into her snack and Baker just rolling with it.

--> Listen to how Gibby delivers his line: 'Uh-oh! Looks like trouble off the stern... port... bow.' You'll notice how he seems confused and slows down at the end of that line. The reason? Noah ("Gibby") forgot the line as he was saying it! He couldn't remember how it ended. Later, when I watched it in editing, I felt it played really funny, so I used the take where he forgot the line.

* InUniverse in ''Series/TheDeuce'': During one of the amateur porn videos shown as an emerging market in the third season, the woman realizes she's ''literally'' getting a package delivered as well; she and her partner answer the door while continuing to have sex.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' dealt with a woman calling Chandler and Joey believing she's calling a guy named Bob, and Chandler picks up, pretends to be Bob, sets up a meeting with her and then shows up to win her over when she's "stood up". The tag scene for that episode had the woman calling again, looking for Bob, this time with Joey hearing the message. The script called for Joey to pick up and say "Bob here", but Matt [=LeBlanc=] tripped and fell, desperately trying to grab the phone as he went down. This ended up a lot funnier than the scripted version and was kept for the episode.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Kelsey Grammer is supposed to rattle off the line "Fault-finding, flaw-fleeing Frasier" and end the scene by striking a confident pose, but he accidentally says "Flasier" instead. David Hyde Pierce proceeds to make fun of him, still in-character, ("You said 'Flasier'!", with a Niles-esque smug grin), and Grammer responds also in-character, protesting that he did ''not'' say "Flasier", since he's been saying his own name for forty-some-odd years. The two then ad-lib talking over each other, tailing off into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdhKBodaVxw one of Niles and Frasier's very frequent scene-fade-out squabbles]]. Coincidentally, Grammer saying "forty-some-odd years" instead of whatever Frasier's exact age was (Grammer probably didn't know it off the top of his head) was completely appropriate in the context of the preceding conversation.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' had a lot of this too... a fair amount of it probably stemmed from Creator/EdwardJamesOlmos' MethodActing. The most famous ThrowItIn was probably the scene when in a fit of rage over losing someone, Olmos-as-Adama destroyed a model ship that his character had been building. Olmos thought that the model was just a prop, and smashed it in a single infuriated take that made it into the show. Little did he know the model was actually on loan from a maritime museum, and had a value of around $100,000. Fortunately, it was insured.
** When Roslin promotes Adama to Admiral, she was supposed to kiss him on the cheek. Olmos kissed her on the lips instead, and it was used in the episode. Creator/MaryMcDonnell would later go on to say that she believes it is during that scene that Roslin falls in love with Adama, although it would take them another two seasons to get around to admitting it.
** Grace Park threw in the lullaby that Boomer hums to the Raider and Athena hums to Hera, which is a traditional Korean lullaby.
** Gaeta's savage baiting of Starbuck with the line "I suppose a pity frak is out of the question, then?" at the end of their mess-hall conversation in the episode 'A Disquiet Follows My Soul' was improvised on the first take by Alessandro Juliani. The entire set cracked up; then Ron Moore decided he liked it and asked AJ to keep it in in subsequent takes.

* In ''Series/DefyingGravity'' Wass's remark that he could "sleep through World War IV" caused a lot of fannish speculation as to whether this was a hint of the state of the world in 2052. When creator James Parriott was asked about it however, he claims not to remember writing the line, and that it must have been a throw in by the actor.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'':
** In the episode "'Til Death Do We Part," Mac comes in to the lab to talk to Stella. At the end of the scene, someone comes in and gives Stella a crucial piece of evidence, to which she says "Best part of the job" and kisses Mac on the cheek. According to Creator/MelinaKanakaredes, who plays Stella, while filming that scene, she just spontaneously kissed Creator/GarySinise on the cheek and they decided to keep it in.
** The b-plot of season 2's "Recycling" involved a murder and behind-the-scenes escapades at a dog show, which Mac and Stella attend at the end of the episode. Stella remarks that she's never seen him without a tie before. Sinise stayed in character and, with a mouth half full of hot dog, replied, "I never wear a tie to a dog show." Kanakaredes didn't miss a beat, shrugged and said, "Okay." The writers enjoyed it so much they left it in.

* One of the most badass of all time: in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' episode [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E6CrazyHandfulOfNothin "Crazy Handful of Nothin'"]], Raymond Cruz improvised [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome stubbing out a cigarette on his tongue]]. Creator/BryanCranston's reaction is quite genuine.
** In a later episode, Jesse had to get into Walt's car quickly to get away from the cops, but the door jammed while Creator/AaronPaul was trying to open it. Paul and Cranston reacted in character, and director Creator/VinceGilligan left it in the final cut of the episode.
** The show has always excelled at communicating non-verbally while never underestimating the power of words. Holly saying "mama" in [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E14Ozymandias "Ozymandias"]] was not scripted; the baby "playing" Holly saw her mother who was nearby and called for her. The director, Creator/RianJohnson left it in because it expressed so well what Cranston was originally going to sell with a look.

* When one of the {{pilot}}s for ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' was filmed, the puzzle board was originally intended to be mechanical and self-revealing, like the rebus board on the old ''Series/{{Concentration}}''. There wasn't enough time to finish building it, so the producers just gutted what they had and hired Susan Stafford to turn the letters manually. After the show got picked up, they kept the board as it was. Of course, the letter-turning position was later taken over by the iconic Vanna White. The board was enlarged a year before she took over, and changed to a set of touch-activated monitors in 1997 (which were converted to LCD screens in 2007).
** They've left in a lot of glitches over the years, particularly when the board refuses to cooperate. One episode not long after the introduction of the electronic board had Vanna hitting a monitor with her fist before it cooperated.
** On April 20, 2012, the lights all went out after the BonusRound. Surprisingly, for a show with a lot of edits, this was left in.

* While filming the scene from the pilot of ''Series/TheBorgias'' where Rodrigo Borgia is elected Pope, Creator/JeremyIrons decided to [[TakeThatKiss gleefully kiss]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Cardinals Orsini and della Rovere on the mouth]]. The looks on Creator/ColmFeore and Creator/DerekJacobi's faces are ''priceless''.

* The studio audience for the ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' episode "Edith's 50th Birthday," in which Edith is nearly raped by an intruder, became so enraged at watching a beloved character under attack that when Edith hits her attacker with a cake pan and runs for the front door, a number of women in the audience can be heard screaming "RUN!"
** The exceptionally powerful audience response is explained by the director, Paul Bogart, choosing to tape the entire sequence straight through, without a break, allowing the tension to continue mounting until her thrilling escape provided them with well-needed catharsis. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poNqlw5WhQM Bogart explains his rationale in this interview segment]]. The episode would win Bogart that year's Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series and remains one of the greatest arguments for a live StudioAudience over a LaughTrack.
** David Dukes, who played Edith's would-be rapist, stated that the audience grew so hostile during the filming of this episode, [[ButIPlayOneOnTV he was afraid that audience members would rush onto the set and attack him.]]
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''
** In the pilot, Tobias Fünke auditions for the Community Theater of Orange by singing "I'm Bad, Bad Man" from ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun''. Actor Creator/DavidCross accidentally stuttered during one take. The stutter take was used in the episode.
** The scene in episode "Motherboy XXX" shows Buster accidentally slamming the door on Michael's face as they go after Lucille. This was unplanned, but the director liked Creator/JasonBateman's reaction so much that it was allowed in the final cut.
** Later Tobias, in disguise as a Film/MrsDoubtfire {{expy}}, tries to make a Film/MaryPoppins-like stunt with an umbrella to entertain Maeby. It results in David Cross loosing his balance, crashing into a coffee table, and smashing it. Amazingly, Cross, despite clearly being in actual pain, manages to stay in-character, and, even more amazingly, Creator/AliaShawkat, aside from making a quick AsideGlance, manages to keep a somewhat straight face throughout the whole thing.

* On the ''Series/ColgateComedyHour'' anything funny which came up during pre-show rehearsal would likely be written into the script.
** During a sketch in one episode hosted by Martin and Lewis, a prop towel dispenser fell open when Creator/JerryLewis yanked a towel from it. After several failed attempts to close it, Lewis broke character, walking off-stage and dragging the man responsible for the prop onto the set, and made him stand there, holding the cover of the dispenser in place for the rest of the sketch.

* On ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', Creator/BillCosby often kept the camera rolling when his many child co-stars would make mistakes because he felt it was funnier that way. In general, there was a lot of ad-libbing that made it into the final cut of each episode. Examples include:
** Rudy's friend Peter was never supposed to be silent. The child actor froze once he was on camera and Bill took the opportunity to turn the character into the SilentBob.
** Then there was the episode where he was taking care of Sondra and Elvin's twins. They would continually look up at the obvious stage lights. Bill played off on it as if the babies kept staring into space. One of the babies spit-up in the very same episode but Bill cleaned the baby up and kept going.
** One episode was to just show Cliff making a meal, and Cosby turned it into an extended bit lampooning Creator/JuliaChild.
** Early seasons had Rudy forgetting her lines, so Creator/BillCosby just spoke them for her and kept going.
** One actor continually rendered "Doctor Huxtable" as "Dostor Husstable". It simply became a trait of his character.

* ''Series/FatherTed'':
** "[[Recap/FatherTedS1E5AndGodCreatedWomen And God Created Women]]" features Mrs Doyle recites a long list of profanities which she has read in a steamy novel, supposedly to demonstrate how offensive she found it. The last one, just as Ted ushers her out of the room and slams the door, was "'Ride me sideways!' - that was another one!" That was an ad-lib by Pauline [=McLynn=], which was left in, though the scene had to be ended immediately afterwards as Creator/DermotMorgan (as Ted) promptly burst out laughing.
** "[[Recap/FatherTedS3E2ChirpyBurpyCheapSheep Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep]]" had Father Dougal giving a number of increasingly ridiculous descriptions of the "Beast of Craggy Island," culminating in the LogicBomb claim of "instead of a mouth, it's got two faces." Ardal O'Hanlon didn't think this was funny, and so during filming changed it to "instead of a mouth it's got four arses," which caused the studio audience to laugh for so long that Dermot Morgan had to wait nearly a minute to continue, and the writers had to concede that, low-brow as it was, O'Hanlon's version was the funnier one.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': A particularly interesting form of ad lib occurred in the third-season episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E02Convictions Convictions]]". There is a scene where G'Kar and Londo (who hate each other) are trapped in a lift car. The original script called for G'Kar to speak to Londo about his lack of sympathy for their situation in a cold and heartless tone. But for whatever reason, Andreas Katsulas (who plays G'Kar) delivered his lines in a completely different tone: that of ComedicSociopathy, laughing like a madman at times. It completely puzzled Creator/JMichaelStraczynski at the time, but once he realized what happened, he realized that Katsulas had outdone the script. Not only did he throw it in (a rare event indeed), but he remembers it as one of his favorite moments of the series.
** In general, this trope was an enforced aversion during the series. JMS had so many clues and hints to the show's overall MythArc layered all over the place, some so subtle they weren't caught for years, so the actors straying from the script risked derailing a lot of hard work that went into creating the multilayered, complex narrative.
* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "[[Recap/FireflyE04Shindig Shindig]]" called for Mal and Inara to dance, and for Mal to [[ICantDance suck at it]]. However, Creator/NathanFillion and Creator/MorenaBaccarin spent so much time practicing the scene that Fillion learned it quite well and couldn't convincingly play someone who couldn't dance. They left that take and dubbed in a line by Mal saying "This dance I think I actually know."
* ''Series/FawltyTowers'' mostly kept to the script, although there was one case in "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS2E6BasilTheRat Basil the Rat]]", where Basil and Manuel are busy talking about a rat, with Manuel denying that it is a hamster. Normally, he speaks in broken English, but in one instance mutters, in perfect English, "[[spoiler:It's not a rat, it's a hamster!]]". The shock on Creator/JohnCleese's face is priceless, and as a result it's become rather memetic.
** The scene in "[[Recap/FawltyTowersS1E4TheHotelInspectors The Hotel Inspectors]]" in which Basil needs [[RuleOfThree three tries]] to open a wine bottle because the cork keeps breaking, was a complete accident. Cleese admits that it could never have worked that well if they'd tried to do it deliberately.
* In the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "The Final Nail", Beckett interrogates a man with a thick Russian accent. During the interrogation, she ends up [[GotMeDoingIt mimicking his speech pattern, rolling the 'r' in "cry"]] before catching herself. Stana Katic does speak fluent Russian and her slip was purely unintentional, but it added levity to the scene so they kept it in.

* In the ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' episode "[[Recap/BlackadderS4E5GeneralHospital General Hospital]]", Blackadder mentions that only two of the following three universities - Oxford, Cambridge, and Hull - are truly great. Creator/StephenFry, who attended Cambridge, while Creator/RowanAtkinson attended Oxford, made a completely improvised jab at his alma mater's rival by saying "Indeed! Oxford's a complete dump!", catching Atkinson off-guard.

* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', in its early seasons, was virtually performed live, with no time allotted for retakes. As a result many flubs and errors were kept in. Some were surprising, such as one early Creator/HonorBlackman episode in which a camera crashes into a piece of scenery mid-scene, making it appear - and sound - as if a bomb had gone off in the studio, and in another episode, actress Julie Stevens stammered over introducing John Steed to another character, getting his name garbled, leading Creator/PatrickMacnee to ad-lib a joke in-character to cover.
* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': After writers saw Jack Soo eat take-out Chinese food using a pair of pencils as chopsticks, they had his character, Nick Yemana, do the same thing. The bit where Yemana accidentally ate the eraser off the end of a pencil was the writers' invention.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In-universe with Abed's movie in "[[Recap/CommunityS6E08IntroToRecycledCinema Intro to Recycled Cinema]]." First Annie decides to pull a "laser bomb" [[VictoriasSecretCompartment out of her cleavage]], and later, in a DeathTrap, [[ShipTease Annie and Jeff confess their love for each other]]. This second one turns into some in-universe IncestSubtext, since they had both forgotten that their characters were supposed to be father and daughter.
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': After [[Series/Daredevil2015 Matt Murdock]] shows up in full Daredevil armor to assist Series/JessicaJones2015 in stopping Murakami's attempt to kill [[Comicbook/PatsyWalker Trish Walker]], Jessica turns to Matt and tells him "The scarf looked better." Creator/KrystenRitter then ad-libbed an extra remark of "Nice ears", to which Creator/CharlieCox immediately replied, "They're horns", without missing a beat.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** In "S.O.S. Part 2", Fitz uses his tech to block Gordon's teleportation. When Gordon demands to know how he did this, Fitz answers, "Science, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch biatch!]]" The original line was just "Science!" but Iain De Caestecker's ad-lib was kept.
** Toward the end of "Bouncing Back", when Simmons and Fitz agreed to put their baggage behind them and give their relationship a second chance, the scene ends with the two re-introducing themselves to each other and shaking hands. As the camera pans away from them, they give each other a fist-bump. The fist-bump wasn't scripted but was so in-character for the two that the producers kept the scene as shot.

* One of the most famous examples in TV history comes from ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. Creator/JohnRatzenberger initially auditioned for the part of Norm, but correctly suspected that the team wasn't interested. He then asked the producers if they'd cast the "bar know-it-all" yet, explaining that every pub worth its salt had a local idiot who [[KnowNothingKnowItAll waxed poetic--and incorrectly--about every topic under the sun.]] The intrigued producers (who hadn't even thought about that character, much less created him) asked what he meant, so Ratzenberger launched into an improvised speech. The creators were so impressed and thought it so hilarious that they created the role of Cliff Clavin on Ratzenberger's hastily-asked question and ad-libbed monologue alone. (This also explains why Cliff doesn't have many lines in the first few episodes--they were written before Ratzenberger was a major part of the cast.)

* ''Series/TheUntamed'':
** Jiang Cheng's eye-rolling wasn't directed, Wang Zhuocheng just did it because it seemed to fit the situation.
** Guo Cheng (Lan Jingyi) says that when he dropped his chicken wing it was something he and Zheng Fanxing (Lan Sizhui) claimed happened as a coincidence, but thought would be funny and it was kept in the final cut.
** Ji Li (Nie Huaisang) was told to just dust off Jin Guangyao's hat, but he accidentally touched the blood on it. The director liked it so much he filmed an extra scene of Nie Huaisang looking at the blood on his hand that made it into the final cut.
* Jenny Richardson, Dagny Rollins and Trixie Hyde closed the GrandFinale of the 2017 series of [[Literature/TheWorstWitch The Worst Witch]] with Ethel, Felicity, and Sybil embracing each other, following Mildred's speech after [[spoiler:being appointed as Head Girl]]. Jenny says that it was Trixie's idea to improvise that part and it fleshed out beautifully right on the spot and it wasn't in the script.
* Some of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s most memorable moments are either this trope or HilariousOuttakes that turn into Throw It In after much [[{{Corpsing}} cracking up]] and struggling to keep composure. Of course, since it's a live show, if the moment happens for the first time during broadcast, Throw It In is the ''only'' option.
** One of the earliest, and one of the most famous: during Creator/ChrisFarley's "Matt Foley" sketch, guest star Creator/ChristinaApplegate and cast member Creator/DavidSpade can be seen trying (and failing miserably) not to laugh while Farley goads them on with his famous "I LIVE IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!" line. The [[{{Corpsing}} confusion and smirking]] on Creator/PhilHartman and Jan Hooks' faces are genuine, and the camera cuts to the cast members repeatedly laughing out loud.
*** Also thrown in was Chris Farley falling and smashing the living room table. That originally wasn't supposed to happen, but it was kept in because it was funny.
*** Jay Mohr also relates an anecdote of playing a teenager opposite Farley's Matt Foley and being unable to contain his laughter. After failing to hide it, he opted to incorporate it into his performance, rationalizing that a teenager would also probably find Foley pretty funny.
*** A lot of Chris Farley's most memorable moments on the show were ThrowItIn moments that stemmed from something bad happening on the set. When he played Weekend Update correspondent Bennett Brauer who used air quotes all the time, he suddenly found himself flying over the Weekend Update set (or, rather, about to, but ended up getting tangled in one of the stage lights). Farley ad-libs, "I have a weight problem. Can't they lift me?"
** When Bill Hader couldn't stop cracking up during his lines as Stefon, he started covering his mouth with his hands. Originally, it was just supposed to be a character tic (since part of the inspiration for Stefon came from a barista that Bill Hader knew who dressed in Ed Hardy, had his hair cut like that, and often had his hands to his face as some sort of nervous habit).
*** The "Stefon" segments are full of ThrowItIn, in the sense that Creator/JohnMulaney threw in a lot of changed jokes minutes before Hader's cue, often causing him to crack.
** The Debbie Downer sketches became recurring due to the popularity of the first sketch which involved the entire cast (including host Lindsay Lohan) trying desperately to keep from laughing at Rachel Dratch's performance (as well as some misplaced sound effects).
** On an Creator/EddieMurphy skit where he was playing a militant black historian, he stumbled over some of the dialogue. Staying in character, he glared at the audience and yelled, "So I messed up, shut up! Stop clapping before y'all make me smile!"
** Creator/BarbraStreisand's cameo on the ''Coffee Talk'' sketch with Music/{{Madonna}} and Creator/RoseanneBarr repeatedly discussing her "like buttah" was completely unplanned, as she just happened to be in the building at the time. You can see Creator/MikeMyers' jaw drop when he looks off camera a few seconds before she comes in.
* This often happened on Creator/ConanOBrien's ''Series/LateNight'' as well. Whenever things went wrong (special effects not working, problems with costumes), Conan would often declare the screw-up to be better that what had originally been planned. In one particularly funny incident, a fire alarm went off in the middle of taping the show. Once it was established that there was no emergency, Conan decided to abandon the planned bit and air the resulting debacle. In another, when a technical glitch stalled a bit he was doing, Conan jumped up on his desk and began ''performing a striptease'' in order to pass the time until the problem was fixed.
** A bizarre moment occurred during an interview with Creator/JamesSpader which was interrupted when a recording of a voice actor stating "Now that's a good Friday", apparently intended for a skit, was accidentally piped into the studio, leading to some good-natured ribbing of the production team.
** To celebrate 20 years as a late night host, Conan put together a blooper reel of the last two decades. Not to spoil it, but [[spoiler:the blooper reel experiences technical difficulties. Conan insists on leaving in the resulting footage of the crew trying to fix the problem.]]
* Similarly, Creator/CraigFerguson has left in a lot of bloopers. For instance, he's had the lights go out on him twice (once due to a power failure), and on another occasion, he slapped his teleprompter too hard and shattered it.
* The GameShow ''Series/SuperPassword'' was almost ridiculously prone to set breakdowns, most of which were not edited out of the broadcast (for instance, the door sticking, the whole puzzleboard accidentally being revealed, etc.). To say nothing of Convy's utter inability to keep his mouth shut, which often led to him blurting out the puzzle answer prematurely and therefore leading to the whole round being scrapped.
* An episode of ''Series/TheJamieFoxxShow'' features Mark Curry guest starring as a traffic school instructor who takes his job far too seriously, reaching borderline drill sergeant levels, and eventually breaking into full-fledged military maniac troop leader. While one can't be sure, many of his gags seem improvised, such as one in which he walks into the classroom, trips, and stands up quickly, proclaiming "Any of y'all laugh, you ain't gonna graduate!" and another in which he slips while running towards Braxton's desk before loudly telling him what a "square" he is. In both instances, a number of the cast members couldn't help but laugh, including Jamie Foxx himself, and were forced to turn their heads away from the camera to conceal their laughter.
* ''Series/ICarly'': On "iQuit iCarly", Creator/DanSchneider remarks:
--> Listen to how Gibby delivers his line: 'Uh-oh! Looks like trouble off the stern... port... bow.' You'll notice how he seems confused and slows down at the end of that line. The reason? Noah ("Gibby") forgot the line as he was saying it! He couldn't remember how it ended. Later, when I watched it in editing, I felt it played really funny, so I used the take where he forgot the line.
** Creator/DanSchneider's propensity for [[ThrowItIn throwing in]] elements of his previous shows in his newer ones was what led to the creation of the Series/NickVerse.

* Creator/{{Fox}} and Creator/{{NBC}}'s live musical productions (to date: ''The Sound of Music'', ''Peter Pan Live'', ''The Wiz'', ''Grease'', ''Hairspray'', ''A Christmas Story'', and ''Jesus Christ Superstar'') all begin rehearsal several weeks before going to air, using the script as a template. The production team tweaks things as time goes by, such as the characters' actions and lines, based on what they want to contribute in addition to trial and error. That's why there are sometimes inconsistencies between the shows' live performances and their respective soundtrack albums, for which some of the audio is recorded fairly early on during the rehearsal period.
* On the commentary for the season 2 DVD of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', the creator comments that scenes written for the Janitor often had the addendum [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny "or whatever Neil decides to say,"]] due to Creator/NeilFlynn's frequent habit of improvising usable material.
** In Creator/JohnRitter's guest spot, on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', he improvised the line "I pooed a little" after his pull my finger gag. Creator/ZachBraff immediately had to bite down on his cheeks to keep from laughing.
** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEliTwhqtHw&feature=related "STOP FINISHING MY AWESOME JOKES!"]] scene, J.D.'s "Oh, my God" while holding his ears was unscripted -- he actually didn't expect Creator/SarahChalke's voice to get as high-pitched as it did.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' examples:
** The puppet characters occasionally malfunctioned; Tom Servo's head, in particular, would often fall off during production. Sometimes this worked well enough to keep; for example, in a sketch where Tom and Crow were Secret Service agents getting increasingly worked up about protecting Mike, Tom's bubble jarred loose and fell off at the climax, leading them to shout "HEAD! AHHHHHHH!" and panic.
---> '''Crow:''' ''[Having knocked off Tom's head during a martial arts duel]'' Uh-oh...I broke him.
** Another skit involved Servo blasting Crow with his 'peaceful' death ray. When Crow comes from off-screen, he's quite damaged and has a small fire in his head-net, and the gang have a good laugh about it. However, it turns out that ping-pong balls, such as the ones Crow's eyes were made out of, were rather flammable, and the fire [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CISRRn3wolk quickly escalated]], and everything from Crow's screams to Servo and Mike's increasingly nervous laughter are legit. The edit cuts off before the actors can break character:
--->'''Crow (as his puppeteer, Trace Beaulieu):''' "Ah well, I'll be in my trailer..."
** Perhaps the greatest example of this was during the riff filming for a first season episode, when Josh Weinstein, still performing Servo at the time, sneezed violently. Nobody missed a beat.
** According to some accounts, Joel Hodgson was really tired during the filming of the first KTMA episode because he had stayed up late the night before building the set and the robots which caused Joel Robinson to have a dopey laid-back demeanor. The crew decided to keep this as a character trait for Joel. Other accounts, however, state that Hodgson had used the same laid-back character performance in his prop-comic standup long before ''[=MST3K=]'' as a way of coping with his stage fright.
* As mentioned in the film section, ad-libs are rare in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', but at least one has been noted. In the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1ccguXiws Exploding Penguin on the TV Set]]" sketch, Creator/GrahamChapman got away with this exchange...
-->'''John Cleese:''' Penguins don't come from next door, they come from the Antarctic!\\
'''Graham Chapman:''' '''''[[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext BURMA!]]'''''\\
'''John Cleese:''' ''(looks around the room nervously, [[EnforcedMethodActing a genuine reaction]])'' ... Why'd you say "Burma"?\\
'''Graham Chapman:''' I panicked.
** The line "intercourse the penguin" was also thrown in by Graham Chapman. You can definitively tell that Creator/JohnCleese wasn't expecting it and he nearly corpses. In the final version the scene actually cuts to another camera after a few moments and Creator/TerryJones, sitting in front of another camera elsewhere in the studio with his image transmitted to the TV set in the skit, stumbles over his words for a moment and nearly corpses too, suggesting he was caught off-guard, too).
* In ''Series/TheSchoolNurseFiles'', the sequence where Eun-young and In-pyo lie down on the roof, exhausted after defeating the monster, was almost entirely ad-libbed.
* Not an on-screen example, but Creator/AaronSorkin once ran across Creator/AllisonJanney entertaining the cast and crew of ''Series/TheWestWing'' by lip-syncing to a jazz piece by Ronny Jordan called "The Jackal". He liked it so much he had Janney's character, CJ, do it in an episode, and had the characters imply that it was a ritual at the White House's victory parties.
** Richard Schiff did this in turn to Aaron Sorkin; Schiff showed up to filming wearing a wedding ring, prompting Sorkin to inform him that his character, Toby, was not actually married. Schiff replied that he agreed -- and it was consequently Sorkin's job to figure out why Toby still wore his wedding ring. The two men ultimately had different explanations; Sorkin wrote that Toby was divorced but still carried a torch for his ex-wife, while Schiff had originally approached the character as a widower who threw himself into politics out of grief.

* In the original scripts for ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', Lurch was [[TheSpeechless a mute]] -- but Ted Cassidy ad-libbed his CatchPhrase "You rang?" in his basso profondo voice while filming the pilot, and the producers liked it so much they gave Lurch a voice, too.
* In the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "[[Recap/SeinfeldS3E6TheParkingGarage The Parking Garage]]", the characters spend almost the entire episode trying to find their parked car in a parking garage. The original ending was for them to find it at the end, drive off, but then be unable to find the exit to the mall. However, when filming the scene where they were supposed to drive off, the car wouldn't start up. Deciding that was funnier, they used that as the ending instead. If you look closely before they cut away to a long shot, you can see Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus and Creator/JasonAlexander shaking with laughter as the car refuses to start.
** At the end of "[[Recap/SeinfeldS3E13TheSubway The Subway]]", Elaine is cranky after missing the lesbian wedding she was best man at. Jerry says "So, you missed the wedding. You'll catch the bris!", and Elaine tries to stare at him furiously, for a moment, before her expression dissolves into a resentful grin. This take was kept in.
** In another episode, Creator/JasonAlexander sneezes just as Jerry tells him, "I blamed it on you." They felt it was funnier that way and kept it.
** In "[[Recap/SeinfeldS4E20TheJuniorMint The Junior Mint]]", Jerry's line "We'll watch them slice this fat bastard up" was ad-libbed. You can see the actors holding back laughs when he says this.
** Kramer's now-iconic sudden entrances into Jerry's apartment began when Richards was late for a cue during one of the first shows, and entered quickly through the door. The audience got such a kick out of it that he kept entering that way in subsequent episodes. It has become one of the character's most lasting trademarks.
** According to Jason Alexander in the DVD special features, Jerry Stiller's oddly paced line deliveries were due to him actually forgetting his line for a second, then continuing right when the words came back into his head. Plus, one where he completely gave up made it into the episode "[[Recap/SeinfeldS9E10TheStrike The Strike]]":
-->You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe...I lost my train of thought.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
** "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing The Conscience of the King]]": In the original script for this episode, there were two people who can identify Kodos the Executioner: Kirk and Lieutenant Robert Daiken. The casting director cast the latter role with Bruce Hyde, who had played Lieutenant Kevin Riley in the episode "The Naked Time". The producers decided to roll with it and re-wrote Daiken as another appearance of Riley.
** "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]": After Captain Kirk apparently dies during a duel with Spock, Spock has an emotional reaction when he learns Kirk is alive. When he denies doing so, Dr. [=McCoy=] says "In a pig's eye!". According to the science fiction author Creator/TheodoreSturgeon, who wrote the script for "Amok Time", the line was ad-libbed by Creator/DeForestKelley.
** "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]": The iconic "buried in tribbles" scene took ''eight'' takes to pull off. By the time the scene was shot properly, Creator/WilliamShatner as Kirk looks quite disheveled and exasparated. Not to mention (due to the set design) he was occasionally getting more tribbles dropped on him from oblivious production staff who were simply trying to add to the pile (that had already been dumped). That look of frustration on Shatner's face was ''not'' staged but it (and the continuously-dropping tribbles) were so appropriate for the scene they not only threw it in, [[ContinuityNod they added to the canon]] when ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' revisited the scene in "Trials and Tribble-ations": they made it so it was Sisko and Dax inadvertently dropping tribbles on Kirk.
** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E1SpocksBrain Spock's Brain]]", the oft-derided third-season premiere, may have gotten to the point of being a camp classic because of this trope. Gene Coon, who wrote this under his "Lee Cronin" pseudonym, since he had left Desilu for Universal and could thus not, contractually, write for the show under his own name, had already delivered six scripts for the season when Gene Roddenberry asked him for yet one more. Annoyed, Coon supposedly wrote "Spock's Brain" as a pointed parody of what he saw as Roddenberry's limited understanding of science fiction as a whole, and may well have not expected, for this reason, that the episode would actually be produced. But apparently the show was too desperate for scripts for anyone to pick this up and ask for a rewrite.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' had a season one episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21Symbiosis Symbiosis]]", where in one of the last scenes Tasha Yar is in the background. Blink and you'll miss it, she waves at the camera. This was the last episode filmed with Denise Crosby as a regular cast member. The next episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin of Evil]]", where the ''character'' leaves, was filmed before "Symbiosis".
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The GrandFinale has one of these involving the [[CharacterDevelopment villain-turned-not-quite-hero-but-honorable-and-somewhat-admirable-leader]] Damar. When he and his followers storm the Dominion HQ on Cardassia, he is fatally wounded. His final word was "Keep..." That was not scripted -- the actor who played Damar felt that a ''silent'' death scene wasn't right. And even he isn't sure how he would have finished the line. But by finishing it as "Keep going," they turned it into a proper dying wish that fit the scene very well.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Non-Trekkie Creator/RobertPicardo ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a night light," in his audition for the role of The Doctor while having no conscious idea that "I'm a doctor, not a [something]" was Dr. [=McCoy=]'s famous CatchPhrase. The particular line didn't make it into an episode, but was liked enough that The Doctor would come to use "ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder" phrases on a fairly regular basis, making him the only doctor to do it anywhere near as much as [=McCoy=] had; while it wasn't unheard of for other Trek doctors to use the phrase, it was much rarer.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** The ManHug between Hugh and Picard in "The Impossible Box" [[https://twitter.com/JonathanDelArco/status/1233524414752468992 wasn't part of the script.]] Jonathan Del Arco wanted to include it because, "I kept thinking of my dad who's been gone some 17 years and what I would do if he were standing in front of me."
** Del Arco also [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-star-trek-picard-actor-crafted-shocking-hugh-scene-1282615 improvised]] Hugh's ManlyTears in "Nepenthe."
--->'''Del Arco''': It wasn't scripted for me to sob at all at that point, but I did it -- and every single time we had to shoot that scene, I lost my shit.
*** As a result of the [[https://twitter.com/JonathanDelArco/status/1250830661994156033 seven hours of crying,]] Del Arco felt so numb afterwards that it naturally led to Hugh's ThousandYardStare.
** According to Evan Evagora in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpoBL6z49 this interview,]] Harry Treadaway ad-libbed the line "I do. I very much choose to live" in "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2."
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** Much of Jack O'Neill's [[DeadpanSnarker wisecracking]] for the first couple of seasons were ad-libs by Richard Dean Anderson. After that the writers gave up and started working more jokes into the script.
** Creator/AmandaTapping was cast as Samantha Carter on after ad-libbing how the dialing computer for the Stargate had been {{MacGyver|ing}}ed to work, since it was [[ActorAllusion an acknowledgment]] of Richard Dean Anderson's previous role as ''Series/MacGyver1985''. Unlike the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' example, this one was kept in.
** The concept of Jaffa performing a meditation called "kel'no'reem" apparently was inspired by Creator/ChristopherJudge falling asleep on set during one take, and Michael Shanks quipping "Oh, he's not sleeping, he's ''meditating''."
** In season one's "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E17Solitudes Solitudes]]" RDA and Tapping ad-libbed a joke that actually led to a minor StoryArc between O'Neill and Samantha Carter. Trapped in an Antarctic ice cave, they snuggle together for warmth.
---> '''Sam:''' Sir?\\
'''Jack:''' [[OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe It's my sidearm. I swear it's my sidearm.]]
*** [[http://www.mania.com/gate-crashing-part-2_article_27867.html And thus was born]] eight seasons of UnresolvedSexualTension.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' apparently had quite a bit of this going on, starting at around about the time Ben Browder ended a scene of armed guards chasing him by whirling around to face them, putting his gun to his own head, and shouting [[Film/BlazingSaddles "Nobody move or the white boy gets it!"]]
** In Gigi Edgeley's first appearance as Chiana, the character wasn't intended to stay on the show so she was given painful contact lenses that severely restricted her vision. When it was decided to make her a main character the lenses were modified to be more comfortable, but all the exaggerated head movements Edgeley had done to be able to see what she was doing were kept in as a character trait.
** Another example happened in the third season episode "[[{{Recap/FarscapeS03E18Fractures}} Fractures]]". Crais and Jool are taking cover behind a med-lab table from someone shooting at them, when suddenly parts of the (still alive and conscious) alien they had been trying to reassemble got blown off the table and landed in their laps. Although it was scripted that only Tammy Macintosh, who played Jool, was supposed to scream at this, she convinced Crais actor Lani Tupu to scream along with her despite it being out of character for the veteran combat commander. The resulting take was considered so hilarious that it was the one used in the episode.
** There's also the episode "[[{{Recap/FarscapeS03E12Meltdown}} Meltdown]]", during a scene in which Aeryn and John are romantically entwined while still fully dressed in their leather Peacekeeper uniforms. At one point there's an almighty creaking noise as leather meets leather, and you can see Creator/ClaudiaBlack struggle to keep a straight face.
** The cast, starting with Ben Browder, frequently ad-libbed physical contact with the puppets (mostly beating up Rygel), because it made the puppets more believable as real characters if the actors interacted with them physically. The folks from the Jim Henson company were understandably concerned about actors breaking very expensive animatronics.
* At the end of a sketch on ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'' where Creator/RitaMoreno plays a director trying to get Creator/BillCosby to get his line right, Creator/MorganFreeman cracks up and walks off the set.
** And in another sketch about a boxing match between the letter combinations "ea" and "ee", Cosby is handed a trophy... which falls apart in his hands accidentally. Skip Hinnant ad-libs: "Sorry we couldn't have sprung for a better trophy." Morgan Freeman cracks up again.

* In a form of inversion, ''Series/YesMinister'' star Paul Eddington had a number of lines cut after he demonstrated that he was capable of expressing everything of significance in the discussion with expressions alone, particularly in the later episodes.

* Jenny Richardson and Trixie Hyde closed the GrandFinale of the 2017 series of [[Literature/TheWorstWitch The Worst Witch]] with Ethel and Sybil embracing each other, following Mildred's speech after [[spoiler:being appointed as Head Girl]]. Jenny says that it was Trixie's idea to improvise that part and it fleshed out beautifully right on the spot and it wasn't in the script.

* Jenny Richardson and Trixie Hyde closed the GrandFinale of the 2017 series of [[Literature/TheWorstWitch The Worst Witch]] with Ethel and Sybil embracing each other, following Mildred's speech after [[spoiler:being appointed as Head Girl]]. Jenny says that it was Trixie's idea to improvise that part and it wasn't in the script.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Giles walks into a tree when Buffy reveals that [[{{Telepathy}} she knows]] he had sex with her mother under the effects of magical chocolate. This was unrehearsed and done at the last minute, to comical effect.
** Two more hilarious examples come from the first season episode, "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E9ThePuppetShow}} The Puppet Show]]". Nicholas Brendon screaming "[[Film/TheShining REDRUM]]!!!" while playing with the [[DemonicDummy puppet suspected of being a killer]] was shot between takes and thrown in, while Willow suddenly running offstage during their talent show performance of ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' was improvised by Creator/AlysonHannigan.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E17Enemies}} Enemies]]", when the Mayor suggests miniature golf to take her mind off her troubles, Faith (Eliza Dushku) unscriptedly cracks up at the absurdity.
** [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments "... And I've been sleeping with Spike."]] {{Corpsing}} [[HilarityEnsues ensues]].

* On the commentary for the season 2 DVD of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', the creator comments that scenes written for the Janitor often had the addendum [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny "or whatever Neil decides to say,"]] due to his frequent habit of improvising usable material.
** In Creator/JohnRitter's guest spot, on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', he improvised the line "I pooed a little" after his pull my finger gag. Zach Braff immediately had to bite down on his cheeks to keep from laughing.

* In the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "[[Recap/SeinfeldS3E6TheParkingGarage The Parking Garage]]", the characters spend almost the entire episode trying to find their parked car in a parking garage. The original ending was for them to find it at the end, drive off, but then be unable to find the exit to the mall. However, when filming the scene where they were supposed to drive off, the car wouldn't start up. Deciding that was funnier, they used that as the ending instead. If you look closely before they cut away to a long shot, you can see Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus and Jason Alexander shaking with laughter as the car refuses to start.

* In an exception to the comedy rule, the last episode of the third season of ''[[Series/{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' had, at the end, the characters having a moment of silence [[spoiler:upon learning that their former commanding officer Henry Blake's plane was shot down, with no survivors.]] At the very end of the scene, someone drops a scalpel, shaking everyone from their thoughts; this was unscripted and left in.

** One episode features Mrs Doyle recites a long list of profanities which she has read in a steamy novel, supposedly to demonstrate how offensive she found it. The last one, just as Ted ushers her out of the room and slams the door, was "'Ride me sideways!' - that was another one!" That was an ad-lib by Pauline [=McLynn=], which was left in, though the scene had to be ended immediately afterwards as Dermot Morgan (as Ted) promptly burst out laughing.
** Another episode had Father Dougal giving a number of increasingly ridiculous descriptions of the "Beast of Craggy Island," culminating in the LogicBomb claim of "instead of a mouth, it's got two faces." Ardal O'Hanlon didn't think this was funny, and so during filming changed it to "instead of a mouth it's got four arses," which caused the studio audience to laugh for so long that Dermot Morgan had to wait nearly a minute to continue, and the writers had to concede that, low-brow as it was, O'Hanlon's version was the funnier one.

* ''Series/FawltyTowers'' mostly kept to the script, although there was one case in "Basil the Rat", where Basil and Manuel are busy talking about a rat, with Manuel denying that it is a hamster. Normally, he speaks in broken English, but in one instance mutters, in perfect English, "[[spoiler:It's not a rat, it's a hamster!]]". The shock on Creator/JohnCleese's face is priceless, and as a result it's become rather memetic.
** The scene in "The Hotel Inspectors" in which Basil needs [[RuleOfThree three tries]] to open a wine bottle because the cork keeps breaking, was a complete accident. Cleese admits that it could never have worked that well if they'd tried to do it deliberately.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'', Blackadder mentions that only two of the following three universities - Oxford, Cambridge, and Hull - are truly great. Creator/StephenFry, who attended Cambridge, while Creator/RowanAtkinson attended Oxford, made a completely improvised jab at his alma mater's rival by saying "Indeed! Oxford's a complete dump!", catching Atkinson off-guard.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''; In "S.O.S. Part 2", Fitz uses his tech to block Gordon's teleportation. When Gordon demands to know how he did this, Fitz answers, "Science, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch biatch!]]" The original line was just "Science!" but Iain De Caestecker's ad-lib was kept.

* ''Series/TheUntamed'': In an interview, some of the cast members mannerism or improvisations made it into the show.

** "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing The Conscience of the King]]": In the original script for this episode, there were two people who can identify Kodos the Executioner: Kirk and Lieutenant Robert Daiken. The casting director cast the latter role with Bruce Hyde, who had played Lieutenant Kevin Riley in the episode "The Naked Time". The producers decided to roll with it and replaced Daiken with Riley.

* One of the most famous examples in TV history comes from ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. Creator/JohnRatzenberger initially auditioned for the part of Norm, but didn't get the role. He then asked the producers if they'd cast the "bar know-it-all" yet, explaining that every pub worth its salt had a local idiot who [[KnowNothingKnowItAll waxed poetic--and incorrectly--about every topic under the sun.]] The intrigued producers asked what he meant, so Ratzenberger launched into an improvised speech. The creators were so impressed and thought it so hilarious that they created the role of Cliff Clavin on Ratzenberger's words alone! (This also explains why Cliff doesn't have many lines in the first few episodes--they were written before Ratzenberger was a major part of the cast.)

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' often includes ad-libs. The most notable of which is the long-running gag of Shawn introducing Gus using absurd, fake names -- sometimes resulting in AwesomeMcCoolName or UnfortunateNames. The first use was a surprise ad lib by James Roday. Eventually, the names became written into the script.

** During the filming of a scene in a stripper club, Creator/DebraJoRupp gets very enthusiastic cheering on one of the strippers. In the televised episode, you can see Creatr/MilaKunis lose it first, which is left in. In the blooper reel, though, the scene goes on to show everyone losing it, including the stripper - except Rupp herself!

* Similarly, according to the book ''[[Theatre/TheOddCouple Odd Couple Mania]]'', there were numerous times on that show where blank script pages are preceded by the phrase "Oscar teaches Felix". Tony Randall and Jack Klugman would then improvise the teaching scene.

** David Dukes, who played Edith's would-be rapist, stated that the audience grew so hostile during the filming of this episode, he was afraid that audience members would rush onto the set and attack him.

** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEliTwhqtHw&feature=related "STOP FINISHING MY AWESOME JOKES!"]] scene, J.D.'s "Oh, my God" while holding his ears was unscripted -- he actually didn't expect Sarah Chalke's voice to get as high-pitched as it did.

** During the filming of a scene in a stripper club, Debra Jo Rupp gets very enthusiastic cheering on one of the strippers. In the televised episode, you can see Mila Kunis lose it first, which is left in. In the blooper reel, though, the scene goes on to show everyone losing it, including the stripper - except Rupp herself!

* In ''Series/TheSchoolNuresFiles'', the sequence where Eun-young and In-pyo lie down on the roof, exhausted after defeating the monster, was almost entirely ad-libbed.