[[RedHerring http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goldfish.gif]]
[[caption-width:400:This is you.]]

-->'''Naruto''': Want me to have a flashback of what just happened 13 seconds ago?\\
'''Everyone''': No!\\
'''Naruto''': Aww...
-->''NarutoTheAbridgedSeries''

Sort of like how executives think [[ViewersAreMorons viewers are stupid]], they also think you have the [[DidNotDoTheResearch memory of a goldfish; about three seconds]]. Because remembering what happens over the course of a ''whole thirty minutes'' or, god forbid, ''an hour'', is too difficult for [[YouSuck your general media consumer,]] there is a handy little device called a {{Flashback}} that can be used to rewind, oh, five minutes or so to say, "Hey! This just happened, moron!"

Sort of like how executives think [[ViewersAreMorons viewers are stupid]], they also think you have the [[DidNotDoTheResearch memory of a goldfish; about three seconds]]. Sometimes a necessity in videogame plots, due to the possibility of the player saving the game, taking a break of, say, two or three months, and then coming back, having forgotten important plot points during that time. In this case, the flashbacks will only seem insulting to the player's intelligence during a non-stop play.

Compare {{Nohamotyo}}, where executives believe that they can recycle whole plots due to this short memory.

[[OverlyLongGag Sort of like how executives think]] [[ViewersAreMorons viewers are stupid]], [[SelfDemonstratingArticle they also think you have the]] [[DidNotDoTheResearch memory of a goldfish; about three seconds]].
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* ''KatekyoHitmanReborn'' has an entirely unnecessary recap at the beginning of each episode that recaps ''the entire arc so far. In every episode.'' Sometimes this gets so bad that the actual episode doesn't start until six minutes after the show starts. That's right. They waste a quarter of the entire time block on recap.
* ''{{Noir}}'' does this, having a series of flashbacks late into ''the first episode.'' However, this seems to be less about them assuming that ViewersAreMorons and more about [[StockFootage conserving the budget by repeating the same sequence over and over]].
** Also, a certain important sequence of events gets flashbacked every other episode for a reason, as it gradually reveals more and more of a defining moment in pasts of the characters.
* An instance of this on ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic X]]'' leads to a quite jarring moment when edited by [[FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]], making it seem like Cream just ran out of a room crying ''twice''!
** I'm pretty sure this was just bad editing around commercial breaks, rather than a recap.
* The quote at the top of the page isn't too much of an exaggeration of the ''{{Naruto}}'' anime, with whatever happened in the last five minutes of one episode being recapped in the opening five minutes of the next, and whatever happened in the last minute before a commercial being repeated over the next twenty second after. Although the actual purpose of this is more {{Padding}} than anything else.
** This happens less often in Shippuden, though, although the Sasuke and Sai arc frequently reminded viewers that [[spoiler:Sasori's last words]] gave Sakura a tip on where to find one of his spies among Orochimaru's followers. The manga does this from time to time, although often as a way of illustrating what characters are thinking about.
* Just over halfway through the anime series ''StreetFighter II V'', Bison has Ken sedated and gets into a fight with Chun Li, ending with him suffocating her. Ken was apparently conscious enough to witness this, because for the next four episodes, he does nothing but have flashbacks of that fight.
* ''YuGiOh TheMovie'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this during the Pegasus Versus Kaiba duel, where Pegasus started to ramble off the effect of his recently-played card (Cost Down) -- only for Kaiba to butt in and say that he already knows what the card does (though while this would normally be a subversion, Kaiba goes on to give a Cliffs Notes version of the effect, thus making it a LampshadeHanging instead).
** Although the volume forms of the manga can be pretty bad about this. While it would make sense to recap the last climactic action in one-chapter-a-week form, when you read them straight, it turns into
--> "I play my trap card!"\\
''(Next chapter starts)''\\
"I play my trap card!"
** That's fairly standard with most chapter-based manga, really. ''{{Naruto}}'' and ''[[{{Tsukihime}} Lunar Legend Tsukihime]]'' do the same thing. This is easily explained. Mangas often run in a serial with multiple series, such as Shonen Jump, before they are collected into a volume containing a single series. Serials are normally released monthly format, and thus when a new chapter comes out, it's much easier on the reader to have a quick refresher on something they read a month ago, sometimes more, then it is for them to have to look up last month's issue to remember what happened last time.
**The ''YuGiOh'' {{anime}} did the same thing in the Battle City arc, with Marik explaining [[spoiler:"Those fools don't realize I am Marik!"]] in an internal monologue. At least three times an episode.
** Also, in the duels against Arkana and Umbra & Lumis, said characters had to add at least once per commercial break that whoever lost would be sent to the Shadow Realm thanks to the spiritual saws/glass. [[NeverSayDie 4Kids really wanted to make its point...]]
** ''YuGiOh'' does that in almost every episode.
* Roughly every fifth episode of ''InuYasha'' begins by recapping both what's currently happening and the backstory for most of the characters involved.
** If you watch all the dubbed episodes all in one go, you get very tired of hearing the story of how Kikyo and Inuyasha died... especially since they replay Inuyasha's death scene ''every single episode''.
* Like many other animes, including ''CowboyBebop'', ''{{Slayers}}'' and ''SamuraiGun'', the anime version of ''RanmaOneHalf'' split each episode in half for their single commercial break. As a result, immediately after the second half's eyecatch, the episode would replay the last scene of the first half. How jarring this was varied between episodes- the episode "Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen" was particularly jarring, repeating as it did a minute-long sequence of Cologne mocking Ranma for being foolish enough to challenge her, and Ranma's defiant retort.
** ''Digimon'' did the same thing, sometimes making the repeat trivially different.
* ''PrincessResurrection'' did a few same episode flashbacks, the most extreme case being episode 8 where they did a flashback to a scene that happened 51 seconds ago. (About 2 to 5 minutes ago for the characters.)
* ''DragonballZ'' sometimes had this with commercial breaks, but it was more stark when an episode would start by spending at least a couple of minutes repeating what happened in the last episode. Made a little strange and amusing by the fact that the repeat could sometimes be ''very'' different than what happened previously. One explanation offered for this was the series changing animation directors often... a new director would show up, decide he wanted someone to emote differently, be positioned differently, or say something different from what the last guy did, and thus essentially RetCon the last few minutes of the previous episode so as to do it his way.
** Of course, this was also stacked on top of the recaps at the start of every episode, which just ends up hilarious as [[KyleHebert the narrator]] always begin with '''"[[LargeHam LAST TIME, ON DRAGONBALL Z]]!"'''
*** As a result, combined with all the {{padding}} and {{filler}}, you only needed to watch every fifth episode or so to keep up with the plot.
* ''FushigiYuugi'' was a notoriously frequent offender, in the anime format at least (not in the manga, or at least, not enough to be particularly noticeable). How many times did Tamahome rip up that damn love letter?
* Lampshaded in the first episode of ''NerimaDaikonBrothers'', with the scene from before the commercial repeating almost immediately after, and one character commenting, "We already said these lines."
* Like the other {{Shounen}} examples above, done incessantly with ''{{Bleach}}'', to the point where almost five minutes (out of a 20-minute episode) can be the last moments of the previous episode.
** This is mainly so that they don't overtake the manga again, and they don't have to resort to godawful filler. Instead, they stay behind the manga a little bit, and they resort to SoBadItsGood filler.
* ''FutureDiary'' has the next chapter start off with a slightly abridged version of the last few pages of the previous chapter. This was probably a good thing while being published in serial format but utterly annoying and pointless in the collected volumes. This doesn't just happen in the start of a volume, so the recap is often to something literally ''one'' page away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''Uncanny {{X Men}}'' # 153 features a helpful sequence of flashback pages that explains how Kitty Pryde ended up in a car with (someone who appeared to be) her arch enemy Emma Frost... but the final panel of the flashback recalls an event that happened only a few pages earlier in the same issue.
** Are you sure it's on #153? I have it, and Emma Frost doesn't even appear on it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* The BMovie ''Future War'' had a [[{{Montage}} montage]] of flashbacks, arranged chronologically, while the protagonist was in prison. By the end, the scenes being flashbacked had been shown less than five minutes ago. [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike and the bots]] did not let this go without comment.
* In UweBoll's ''House of the Dead'', a character has a flashback of ''the entire movie up to that point'' while standing in the middle of a zombie-filled graveyard.
* Parodied in the musical version of ''TheProducers'', where Max's eleventh-hour solo recaps the entire plot up to that point (including the intermission in the stage version).
* Parodied in ''{{Clue}}'', in which the Butler recaps every action that has taken place in the movie (including [[RefugeinAudacity slapping Mrs. Peacock repeatedly]]!), until the characters yell at him to {{get on with it already}}!
* ''SpyHard'' parodied this when WD-40 meets his old spy buddy. When he reminisces about the good times they had, he remembers only meeting him moments ago.
* ''[[TitanicTheLegendGoesOn Titanic: The Legend Goes On]]'' abuses this one, mostly because the animators were lazy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* ''{{MythBusters}}'' tends to be an offender whenever they don't have enough [[strike:[[EducationThroughPyrotechnics TNT]]]] material to fill an hour. Segments are usually started by a recap of what happened five minutes ago and ended by a preview of what's coming up next, making about a third of the whole show pure repetition.
** This from the very show that [[TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters debunked the myth of goldfish only having a three-second memory]]. OK, so Adam's tank had about a three-second ''lifespan''.....
*** Granted, it does mean you can tune in at almost any time and not miss a beat.
**** ....but they do miss the explosions.
* ''AmericasNextTopModel'' is really bad for this. It's particularly annoying for British viewers, because the advert breaks are arranged differently - a reminder of something that happened ten minutes ago on the show when it is shown in the U.S. may have happened two minutes ago for British viewers.
** Most American documentaries are completely unwatchable due to the constant recapping of the first three minutes, which also leaves little time to impart any actual information.
*** It gets even more ridiculous when the BBC's ''own'' programs do this, and the obvious implication that they're doing it for the benefit of whichever commercial network ends up buying it can be almost insulting at times. Especially when they show you the same recap/coming soon segment twice in quick succession, either side of the non-existent ad break.
* ''TruCalling'' often had flashbacks during the second half of the episode to events from the first half. Probably done because, for much of its run, the show's first half hour aired at the same time as ''{{Friends}}''.
* The ''Wildest Police Videos'' series are made almost exclusively of repeated previews and reviews. This may be explained by the fact that this repetition is not for the benefit of the viewers but to somehow stretch less than five minutes of actual footage into an hour long episode.
* Many episodes of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' begin by repeating part of the last scene of the previous episode. Sometimes this gives you the impression the continuity editor is a goldfish; in one instance, Claire woke up and declared "Holy [[CurseCutShort shi-]]" as the credits rolled, but in the next episode, where the scene continued, she instead said "Oh my God". This is not a great instance of thinking ahead, guys.
* ''{{CSI}}'' does this all the time. First you see the crime scene, then they talk about the evidence, then they process it in the lab and remember collecting it, then they about why it matters and when someone has a EurekaMoment, they show you which specific piece of evidence was important.
* The PreviouslyOn ''BattlestarGalactica'' segments are included in the DVD versions. This gets annoying as you re-watch a scene you just saw, then bizarre as they show scenes that [[RetCon never happened before.]]
* Always done on ''Medium'': Whenever Allison has her [[EurekaMoment ding ding ding! moment]], we get a flashback to earlier in the episode so the show can reinforce the connection she's making -- even if it just happened 20 minutes ago.
* Very frequently, {{ESPN}}'s ''{{Sportscenter}}'' will begin with a recap of the sporting event that the network just televised.
* The dying WB network came with a PreviouslyOn stunt that recapped the first half-hour of hourly shows, apparently for the benefit of viewers who were watching other channels for the previous half-hour. Programs subjected to this included ''GilmoreGirls''.
* ''[[FlashForward2009 FlashForward]]'' has repeated Mark and Olivia Benford's flashforward at least once per episode, more or less beating the viewer over the head with reminders that he's drinking and she's cheating. Word is that viewers might have ExecutiveMeddling to thank for this. Unsurprisingly, the more popular storylines tend to involve characters whose flashforward was only shown once, or who didn't have one at all.
* ''ArrestedDevelopment'', a show praised for being one of the most intelligent on television, succumbed to this later in it's run, due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the higher-ups complaining]] [[ViewersAreMorons the plot was too conviluted for people to follow.]] So, generally, in the last season the first half-minute after the commerical break is devoted to the narrator summerizing everything else to happen in that episode at speeds that would make the ''RockyAndBullwinkle'' narrator blush.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* This is very common in episodic newspaper comics, but ''AlleyOop'' makes an art of it. Sometimes only a single panel will be devoted to advancing the plot that was summarized in the other two.
** ''Dick Tracy'' spends every Sunday rehashing the previous week's action.
*** The Comics Curmugeon once congratulated ''Dick Tracy'' for going BeyondTheImpossible with its recaps; it spent so long in one strip rehashing what happened yesterday that it ended with the plot ''less advanced'' than it had been the day before!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling]]
* {{WWE}}'s and {{TNA}}'s ProfessionalWrestling programs are absolutely peppered with "Moments Ago" replays, usually upon returning from commercial breaks. (In the case of RAW, which is shot live, this will usually be something that happened ''during'' the commercial break.)
** Also in the case where a storyline and/or character is quickly chucked out and it's expected that people will simply not remember it or will be nice enough to overlook it. [[FanDumb The IWC]] frequently does neither.
* ProfessionalWrestling of all things subverts this trope. Jim Cornette declared the "Seven Year Rule", which states that after 7 years have passed it's safe to recycle a character, gimmick and/or storyline. For example, Carlito Caribbean Cool's gimmick had a substantial overlap with that of Razor Ramon, but because enough time had passed since Scott Hall quit portraying Razor, Carlito got over.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Role Playing Games]]
* A smart DungeonMaster will recap what happened last play session if it's been more than a week. Otherwise the first hour of play will be wasted with questions like "Wait, who was the guy in the gray cape and why are we working for him, again?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theater]]
* Lampshaded in DirtyRottenScoundrels TheMusical. At the beginning of Act Two, the exact last few lines from Act One are repeated, with Freddy then commenting, "Didn't we do this part already?" and Lawrence replying, "I enjoyed it so much the first time."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The ''AceAttorney'' series might as well have a warning: Don't Bother Taking Notes (we'll let you know if something important is said...over and over and over and over and...)
** Particularly bad in Apollo Justice. Did you like Lamiroir's song? You damn well better, considering you get to see the scene of it about 20 bazillion times.
** On the other hand, considering it's a {{Nintendo DS}} game, and many gamers will only play parts of a case at a time, it's actually quite useful to recap those things. It can be hours or days since the last time you picked it up, and unlike other games, this sort of information is required to be able to figure out what to do next.
*{{Pokemon}} [[VideoGameRemake FireRed & LeafGreen]] do this so often that, although it lets you save at any point, it reduces a lot of FakeLongevity by using [[{{Emulation}} Save States.]]
** One can press the Start button to skip the recaps, thankfully.
* ''PokemonMysteryDungeon: Time/Darkness'' uses this a lot more than it should.
* A variation of this in the ''{{Lost}}'' video game Via Domus: the game is (like the show) split into episodes, and each one starts with a "Previously on ''{{Lost}}''" segment recapping the game so far. This would be fine, except that there's no way to quit the game in between episodes, so you're invariably recapping something you've just seen. The previously part does show up again when you reload the game where it might actually be needed, though.
** Also used in ''Blood Curse: Siren.'' The episodes are so short you wouldn't normally stop after just one, yet they remind you of what you just did twenty minutes ago.
* The ''{{Metal Gear Solid}}'' series can sometimes be guilty of this. Not to mention the fact that Snake ''[[ParrotExposition repeats everything everyone tells him, but in an inquisitive tone]].'' "The key is made of a shape-memory alloy!" "A ''shape-memory alloy''?!" "Yes! It changes based on the temperature!" "It changes based on the temperature, huh?"
* ''{{Disgaea}} 2'' has the infamous scene where [[spoiler:[[CloudCuckoolander Taro]] falls into a river]]. The scene is played over ''three times'' before the player can regain control, and two of these are completely unskippable. It was likely to segue dialogue, but it also plays during the Next Chapter skit for almost no reason.
* There's a series of rapid flashbacks in ''{{Bioshock}}'' during the [[spoiler: "Would you kindly"]] reveal, even though the player can hardly have missed [[spoiler: seeing it written in red on the bulletin board outside Ryan's apartment.]]
* ''ArTonelico 2'' has a couple of series of flashbacks that end with one of these. Particularly egregious [[spoiler: when Cocona tells you to Dive into her to stop [[{{Instrumentality}} Hibernation]], causing a series of flashbacks that end with one of Cocona telling you to Dive into her to stop Hibernation [[strike:causing a series of flashbacks...]]]]
*In ''[[TalesofSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'', literally about 80% of the occurrences of anyone saying or Emil remembering Richter's phrase "courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality" follow [[FlashbackToCatchPhrase with a flashback to when he first said it]], despite the fact that it was unusual for a guy like him to say that kind of thing it would be impossible to forget he said it even if you tried.
* An inversion, in Chrono Cross, if you put down the game and come back later, you will have no way to know what's going on or what you should even be doing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* The [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad Email]] "accent," on the DVD:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' Here's my accent a few years ago.\\
'''Flashback Strong Bad:''' Do joo take of jor face and hands before joo go to bed?\\
'''Strong Bad:''' Here's my accent a few seconds ago.\\
'''Flashback Strong Bad:''' Here's my accent a few years ago.
**Also, the email "vampire", which ends with [[ReallyDeadMontage a flashback memorial in honor of Trevor]], who Strong Bad only met 30 seconds ago.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* The very ''second'' episode of ''ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'' did this with its ''first'' episode. Though that's [[RefugeInAudacity the entire point]].
** The second episode of ''DeadLikeMe'' did this too.
* Lampshaded in the ''{{Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' episode, "Over the Hill Hero." After finally catching Sonic, Dr. Robotnik exclaims that Mobius is his. [[LargeHam HIS!]] [[MemeticMutation His!]] '''[[MemeticMutation ALL HIS!]]''' Then, after the commercial break, he announces "With Sonic trapped in the forcefield, ''Mobius is mine! MINE!''" Then, he pauses, scratches his chin, and wonders "Or did I say that already?"
** It's a fairly common joke in comedy cartoons in the '80s and '90s, especially since so many serious cartoons play it straight, repeating the last scene you saw before the commercial break (this is extra funny on releases with no commercials).
* The ''TransformersGeneration1'' episode "Auto-Bop" has a flashback to something that happened less than a minute before.
* Parodied in a ''FamilyGuy'' flashback: after Peter rejects a free boat in favor of a MysteryBox, he responds to Lois' complaint by saying, "I've done crazier things than this. Remember that time I won a boat?" Cue flashback to Peter choosing the box over the boat.
-->[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Lois: ]]
Peter, that '''just happened!'''
*''WolverineAndTheXMen's'' constant recaps of the first couple of episodes in almost every single episode's PreviouslyOn sequence. It... didn't take me ''months'' to come to the gripping realization that mutant-hunters are ''bad'' and the X-Men being back together is ''good.'' No, ''really,'' it didn't.
* This troper is surprised that no one mentioned DoraTheExplorer yet. Seriously, repeating a sentence 6 times a minute? Do I look like a goldfish?
[[/folder]]

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